Can the beta-backers have a little private meeting?

[smsKONG]

I couldn't care less about PP or CQC.
I would like to see the game I backed being developed instead of watching it get systematically abandoned. The house we were sold is not being furnished, the money we spent is funding creating toys for neighbours kids.
I want the neighbours kids to have nice toys of course. I also feel a bit rubbish that my the house I invested in has been abandoned. An explanation would provide some clusure but no. Only some other voices on the forum to indicate that I am not an isolated unreasonable old guy.

Yep - I've said it before and I'll say it again:

FD need to give us a statement about the future of DDF features that are still awaiting implementation.
Has the DDF been abandoned for a different direction or will twiddling our thumbs and being patient pay off?

PP is a waste of time from the looks of things but I don't mind it's addition.
Arena mode is something that I think the game has needed for a while - for those who want a bit of consensual fun; because I'd rather the pvp crowd could go and do that, than have them interdicting and killing players will nilly! I'm sure it won't help that much but it's not a bad thing.
I'm not bothered by the console exclusive either.

I'm just bothered by the fact we're being treated like mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed on...
Newly thought of features are welcome but they are not what I payed for.
I payed for the game being described in the DDF - I want THAT game before anything else.

 

[MattBW]

No matter what they do people will whinge. It's the introllnet after all.

 

[Trenchfoot321]

No matter what they do people will whinge. It's the introllnet after all.

And someone will inevitably whine about whining, as you've here demonstrated.

 

[Winterwalker]

I'd like to request please, a remote debug camera so I can fly it around inside CQC, and watch the kids duke it out, safe in the knowledge that may game is docked safe outside, guarded by GalCops, while I sip a martini (stirred, not shaken). I do feel (and yes, have to have faith) continuing faith actually, that this does not spell the beginning of the end for the stellar forge but the opposite.

I'd rather FD grab this proactively now, than see anyone have to resort to it later (as last ditch) if people stop buying paintjobs. Quite seriously, for how long is paintwork really going to keep a team of developers creating the massive content to propagate 400bn stars? Internet people are notorious for not paying for things if they can help it, and even deep pockets eventually find something else to spend money on. How many colours of Cobra do we all really want??

FD will always be chasing content and open quite a range of possibilities, as above. But to make my point, taking PP for example, saw a big investment in FD time to "provide content" (to a sandbox) where people "get" the concept in two minutes flat, saying seen that, I'll play it if I want, when I want, what else have you got? I see this development adding models, superstructures, 3D modeling, but taking nothing away from the game present, and as backed .. Power play has given space for writers, the 3D modelers must be going to work on next generation stations and bases which will be needed to populate planets. This fight mode will take place in a futuristic city, I believe.

 

[ZeeWolf]

I backed at Alpha level to finally see Elite IV become a reality.

That's already happened.

I didn't back an unrealistic ambiguous set of features that a small team can't produce. Big space games always disappoint somebody and you can't please everyone.

It's Frontier's baby and they have to make business decisions to ensure the continued development of an online game that isn't subscriber based.

If the original Elite had been an Acornsoft exclusive back in the day I'd never have got to play it.

What we have here is an exclusive 'demo' for the Xbox to attract some new funding. At the very worst Microsoft have pledged some cash for ED's continued development in exchange for a unique 'outpost' for a few months.

Lastly. I don't really care that much because I'm a grown up.

 

[V3teran]

Yep - I've said it before and I'll say it again:

FD need to give us a statement about the future of DDF features that are still awaiting implementation.
Has the DDF been abandoned for a different direction or will twiddling our thumbs and being patient pay off?

PP is a waste of time from the looks of things but I don't mind it's addition.
Arena mode is something that I think the game has needed for a while - for those who want a bit of consensual fun; because I'd rather the pvp crowd could go and do that, than have them interdicting and killing players will nilly! I'm sure it won't help that much but it's not a bad thing.
I'm not bothered by the console exclusive either.

I'm just bothered by the fact we're being treated like mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed on...
Newly thought of features are welcome but they are not what I payed for.
I payed for the game being described in the DDF - I want THAT game before anything else.

+1 TO ALL OF THAT!
Some good points raised here tbh.

 

[Mazuo]

I have my issues with the game as it is now and always hope for more fixes and content. That being said I'm generally satisfied. This CQC thing I'm mostly indifferent to, but hopeful it could be a really cool addition for everyone eventually.

 

[bladebss]

I hope people who play elite now on the pc beta test the xbox verion I feel anxious about people who havent played the game on pc judging the arina when they dont even know what the game is all about. I think pvp in an arina is fine as I get to ignor it if I want to... witch I do lol. If it was forced upon me I would have to turn my back on frontier just like I have with bungi and it would make me so sad, a nother little pice of my gameing soul would have died.

 

[clavain]

Problem Is there are many here who also think you ARE being unreasonable. Its now gotten to the point where there is a huge division in opinion regarding the vision of this game and it will only get bigger.

No, it won't. People will just stop playing if this is the path FD are going down.

- - - Updated - - -

I couldn't care less about PP or CQC.
I would like to see the game I backed being developed instead of watching it get systematically abandoned. The house we were sold is not being furnished, the money we spent is funding creating toys for neighbours kids.
I want the neighbours kids to have nice toys of course. I also feel a bit rubbish that my the house I invested in has been abandoned. An explanation would provide some clusure but no. Only some other voices on the forum to indicate that I am not an isolated unreasonable old guy.

This, +1. FD's communications and perception management have been pitiful.

 

[Ian Phillips]

I payed for the game being described in the DDF - I want THAT game before anything else.

Actually - if you are a kickstarter backer - no you didn't.

You paid upfront for A game to be developed. After you paid, the DDF was set up to DISCUSS the design of that game.

Whatever came out of those discussions was AFTER that fact of paying and official funding of the development effort.

 

[KING5TON]

Actually - if you are a kickstarter backer - no you didn't.

You paid upfront for A game to be developed. After you paid, the DDF was set up to DISCUSS the design of that game.

Whatever came out of those discussions was AFTER that fact of paying and official funding of the development effort.

uWhat about the game as described during the kickstarter campaign?
Can we have that or at least some communication why we can't have it.

 

[Ian Phillips]

What about the game as described during the kickstarter campaign?
Can we have that or at least some communication why we can't have it.

Don't ask me - I'm not responsible for the game

 

[KING5TON]

Don't ask me - I'm not responsible for the game

Fair enough

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

uWhat about the game as described during the kickstarter campaign?
Can we have that or at least some communication why we can't have it.

Almost all of it except for scavenging and wrecks are in there. Yes, that's all we got during KS campaign - basic gameplay, good enough background sim to keep people going (faction/powerplay), and Windows and Mac version.

Ok, not all 25 ships are there yet too.

Please, stop spreading information that this is not a game we backed. We did. Just after it DDF discussions inspired lot of us to dream bigger. And it seems FD wants to do lot of those things (I don't expect all of DDF to be implemented as it is written down, too many maybes). However what confuses me is speed and priorities, and their awkward, strange insistence to keep quiet.

 

[Lord_Crazy]

Sure, in any group people have different opinions but when so many beta-backers say arena mode is for consoles, doesn't it make sense they release it to consoles first? Isn't that, ironically, an example of them listening to you?

Exactly. What it shows is that a lot of people are simply ungrateful and/or need to complain about everything even if it does not make sense.
A lot of us alleged that arena is for console (yeah because you know, we, PC players, are adults, not childish little tu***, and we all love exploring and hate shooting stuff), and now a lot us again are crying because that arena will be tested on console first. This endless whining does not make our community shinier. Maybe a better think would be to be happy to a new addition to the game, regardless of whether we will beta test it a week earlier or later than other players?

 

[Thorn Black]

Well for me mostly is I DONT LIKE CONSOLES ... but thats me and nobody cares i guess.

 

[Ian Phillips]

However what confuses me is speed and priorities, and their awkward, strange insistence to keep quiet.

So, today there was an announcement (=not quiet)...... have you seen the forums?

Wonder why they don't do this very often?

 

[Panzer]

With every patch, the game veers further from the appearance and reasons I chose it for.

I believe I've been had.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Yep - I've said it before and I'll say it again:

FD need to give us a statement about the future of DDF features that are still awaiting implementation.
Has the DDF been abandoned for a different direction or will twiddling our thumbs and being patient pay off?

PP is a waste of time from the looks of things but I don't mind it's addition.
Arena mode is something that I think the game has needed for a while - for those who want a bit of consensual fun; because I'd rather the pvp crowd could go and do that, than have them interdicting and killing players will nilly! I'm sure it won't help that much but it's not a bad thing.
I'm not bothered by the console exclusive either.

I'm just bothered by the fact we're being treated like mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed on...
Newly thought of features are welcome but they are not what I payed for.
I payed for the game being described in the DDF - I want THAT game before anything else.

Gaming communities have proven time and time again that there is no point at all in being open and communicative as a dev. People will just take things out of context and go absolutely nuts when their interpretation turns out to be different than reality. This community has not given much reason for anyone to presume it is any different, to put it mildly. As long as communities react so aggressive to the slightest disapointment any studio knows to just keep quiet about everything. Your post is a good example: the DDF was never a solid promise, never mind on any time schedule. But just communicating and exchanging ideas somehow became a rock solid promise in the mind of people, with all the sense of entitlement that entails. Given how people consider the DDF it is just plain common sense that they keep us in the dark.

 

[Lord_Crazy]

Yep - I've said it before and I'll say it again:

FD need to give us a statement about the future of DDF features that are still awaiting implementation.
Has the DDF been abandoned for a different direction or will twiddling our thumbs and being patient pay off?

PP is a waste of time from the looks of things but I don't mind it's addition.
Arena mode is something that I think the game has needed for a while - for those who want a bit of consensual fun; because I'd rather the pvp crowd could go and do that, than have them interdicting and killing players will nilly! I'm sure it won't help that much but it's not a bad thing.
I'm not bothered by the console exclusive either.

I'm just bothered by the fact we're being treated like mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed on...
Newly thought of features are welcome but they are not what I payed for.
I payed for the game being described in the DDF - I want THAT game before anything else.

I agree with most of that except the mushroom part.

I mean, come on. As a professional if you had to report to your boss and/or your client every single line you draft you would never get the job done. Besides, we are sometimes not really helping, since we complain a lot about every single tiny detail or sometimes because of a mere misunderstanding or even worse, about something that does not exist but that we start discussing based on speculation.
Yes, having a community to discuss with is great and can help this game. But it does not mean the developers have to be tied to it and must report to us on a mere whim.
Communication is not FD's best part, but it is still decent.

As for the DDF part I am afraid FD is not supposed to give it priority just because that's the game YOU want before anything else. While DDF is significant, those who took part in it are far from being a majority and I don't see why their wishes are more legitimate than wishes of other players. It is a very nice roadmap and I hope everything in there will be in the game. That does not mean it has to come first and be above all other considerations.

- - - Updated - - -

Gaming communities have proven time and time again that there is no point at all in being open and communicative as a dev. People will just take things out of context and go absolutely nuts when their interpretation turns out to be different than reality. This community has not given much reason for anyone to presume it is any different, to put it mildly. As long as communities react so aggressive to the slightest disapointment any studio knows to just keep quiet about everything. Your post is a good example: the DDF was never a solid promise, never mind on any time schedule. But just communicating and exchanging ideas somehow became a rock solid promise in the mind of people, with all the sense of entitlement that entails. Given how people consider the DDF it is just plain common sense that they keep us in the dark.

The force is strong with this one. I wish I could give more than 1 rep