So where is the paid expansion news?

Lunchmoney

Lunchmoney
Do many games have an expansion released 6 months after initial release?

Civ 5 - Sept 2010, first expansion (Gods & Kings) June 2012, 2 years later. Second expansion (Brave New World) July 2013, 1 year later.
Xcom - October 2012, first expansion (Enemy Within) November 2013 - a year later.


Just a couple of examples. But, basically, have patience.
 

Dirk Verbeek

Dirk Verbeek
As an explorer I'd like nothing more then being abel to land on planets & to walk around in/outside of ships (maybe even have bars in stations where commanders can meet up and have a (virtual) drink.
But what I would like more is FD devoting their time to handeling the issues that the game has right now.
 

Ian Phillips

Volunteer Moderator
Ian Phillips
Alien said:
Why? Why is that "as it should be"?
<snip>
I seem to have missed why that is "as it should be" ... but I'm not in the business of making computer games, so what do I know?
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It's called PR. Companies release information when it suits them for PR and Marketing purposes.

Here endeth the business lesson for today.
 

Alien

Alien
Retracted ... just in case.
God forbid I say anything that upset someone even they do so to me.
 
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Zylark

Zylark
We'll get the news of the first DLC when they are ready to release news of the first DLC.

Meanwhile, there is a list longer than the US Tax-Code of bugs to iron out, tweaks and balances to figure out. And lest we forget; Aliens, first and foremost, Thargoids...
 

Commander Garonis

C
Lunchmoney said:
Do many games have an expansion released 6 months after initial release?

Civ 5 - Sept 2010, first expansion (Gods & Kings) June 2012, 2 years later. Second expansion (Brave New World) July 2013, 1 year later.
Xcom - October 2012, first expansion (Enemy Within) November 2013 - a year later.


Just a couple of examples. But, basically, have patience.
Click to expand...

I agree that many games have a long expansion release after initial release, however many games are shortening their development cycles to get expansions/content patches out quicker. Case in point, CCP with Eve online, or even Blizzard with WoW. Blizz lost how many millions of dollars with the lengthy wait times between Wrath and Pandara, and finally Warlords? In my opinion, a 6 month cycle is just about optimal to keep your fan/customer base happy and engaged.
 

Armour

A
Dbrn47 said:
Agreed. Everything that's been added so far really should have been in the base game so we have some way to go yet before adding really serious content expansions.
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I disagree with your assertion that the stuff added so far should already have been in the base game. I think the pace of development has been pretty rapid. Your expectations appear unrealistic. I would obviously agree that there is still plenty of room for improvement in the base game, but I don't think delaying release for another year to make those improvements would have been accepted by the backers.
I'm guessing that the difficulty of trying to make alterations to a game that is "in the wild" is not lessened when that game's player base appears to be actively fighting change when it has an effect on their virtual cashflow - or even when it doesn't ("what's the point of Powerplay if you can't make money doing it?" was/is a common refrain).
 
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Steve50

Steve50
I'm wiling to bet an expansion will be announced at E3. Personally hope it's planetary landings, but we'll see.

10 bob says one will be announced ;)
 

Jay8ch

J
They have got to seriously flesh out the main game before they stand a chance of selling any add-ons to me. Until they can make the procedural code produce more than one station interior I'm not going to expect the planetary landings to feature anything other than a red planet and a blue planet.
 
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Arkantes

Arkantes
Armour said:
but I don't think delaying release for another year to make those improvements would have been accepted by the backers.
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Were you reading the forums right before release? Because back then it was basically one side of the community saying the game wasn't ready and needed to be pushed back, versus another side saying that indeed it wasn't ready in the from we had but that Frontier was holding back a magic patch that'd add everything missing on release day (vertical slice theory, best joke of the year).

So really, if Frontier had said they were pushing the release back, I'm pretty sure most of the community would have been ok with it.

At least, I had hoped they wouldn't burst the hyperspace bubble until the hyperspace coordinates discovery gameplay was ready... it was a nice dream...
 

Obsidian Ant

Obsidian Ant
Steve50 said:
I'm wiling to bet an expansion will be announced at E3. Personally hope it's planetary landings, but we'll see.

10 bob says one will be announced ;)
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I am willing to place that bet with you. I match your 10 bob and reckon there will be no such announcement.

(But if there is, it will be walking around... :p )
 
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lefty1117

L
I'm all for planetary landings and taking missions where you have to fly somewhere on a planet or dogfight in the atmosphere or in some other way DO SOMETHING on the planet. If they're adding planet landings just have it, not sure that makes sense.

I'm less sold on the need to walk around stations or walk around inside the ships. Those features took time and money to be implemented in other games and did very little - EVE and STO are good examples. STO at least implemented some missions that were based off of going to different areas of your ship, so that's something, but the station-walking implementation in EVE was pointless.

I don't think any kind of FPS element should be added unless it's going to include combat, otherwise what's the point. Walking around in stations is a "cool" thing but not something that is going to sell the game. A full featured story, revamped missions, more MMO functionality, crafting/manufacturing, Thargoids - content - that will sell the game.
 

Herik

Herik
n13L5 said:
This is so far from GTA...

I think they have to fix the basic game first.

Then they have to design their software, so players not buying the paid expansion can still play at the original level, while only people who bought the expansion can access the new content.
And for the $150 expansion, its probably going to be either ambulation (to borrow the silly term from CCP) or landing on Planets, neither of which seems to have been tackled yet in any way.

We just got a free expansion with some relevant bug fixes, a lot of new bugs and a lot of old bug fixes and polish are still not done - and a sort of card game grafted onto Elite. Obviously some people like it, but development wise, that's definitely low hanging fruits... to add new incentives and stories to do more of the same old missions from the existing, if improved mission system. Still all cookie cutter missions, a dozen of the same ones at every station.

Multiplayer basics, like guilds, item storage, trading among players are still missing. If they don't add the tools to foster players to band together (only being able to exchange blaster fire doesn't do it) their player retention won't be very good.


The wing update went in the right direction, but Power Play is mostly air.
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Yeah go join a group.
 

Fireclown

Fireclown
lefty1117 said:
I'm all for planetary landings and taking missions where you have to fly somewhere on a planet or dogfight in the atmosphere or in some other way DO SOMETHING on the planet. If they're adding planet landings just have it, not sure that makes sense.

I'm less sold on the need to walk around stations or walk around inside the ships. Those features took time and money to be implemented in other games and did very little - EVE and STO are good examples. STO at least implemented some missions that were based off of going to different areas of your ship, so that's something, but the station-walking implementation in EVE was pointless.

I don't think any kind of FPS element should be added unless it's going to include combat, otherwise what's the point. Walking around in stations is a "cool" thing but not something that is going to sell the game. A full featured story, revamped missions, more MMO functionality, crafting/manufacturing, Thargoids - content - that will sell the game.
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Pretty much agree with everything you say.
I'd go further on the FPS elements. I don't really want them at all. What I really want are game mechanics that encourage mass pvp battles to break out.
 

Armour

A
Arkantes said:
Were you reading the forums right before release?
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Yes. I even created a poll on the subject on this forum before release. It was a small sample size, but it's all I had to go on.
According to that poll, there were a significant minority who supported holding back release, but approximately 70% of the voters were of the opinion that the game was okay to release
  • without changes
  • with minor tweaks post-release
  • with core feature updates post-release
The feeling seemed to be that a release would be needed to allow FDEV to get at that KS backer cash and keep the project rolling, after 2 years of intense development effort. Most people appeared to be on board with that idea, even if the product was a bit bare bones on day one.
 
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