PVP arena mode confirmed - xBox Trailer

[DangerousLarry]

I'm losing faith in FD. They've consistently handled things wrong. 1.3, 1.3's "beta", their announcements, Powerplay in general(Which s everyone over it turns out even though it's focused on combat???), the slow ass power struggle(Every god damn week... It's already proving to be far too long!) and now this: CQC is a standalone module, has nothing to do with the universe. This means the universe is going to be emptier than ever. Why bother playing the game if you can load up a module instantly in a ship of your choosing for free to play versus players in an instance far better than anything you'll get in-game? It's just so, so, so... it makes no sense!

WE NEED SOMETHING IN THE FD UNIVERSE TO MAKE IT INTERESTING! GIVE US THE TOOLS TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING IN THE IN-GAME UNIVERSE!!!

 

[Jockey79]

In other words, you want us to buy another copy if we don't have patience?

Nice.

Bet some folks do.

Some will for the PvP and some because having the choice of chilling on the sofa or excitement with the HOTAS on the PC really does open up ways of playing the game.
After all, in your jammies sprawled out on the sofa with a nice cup of tea, if I liked the XBox that is how I'd become a miner

 

[Dave1235]

I plan on spending this evening with the XB1, a hub and a packet sniffer and finding out all the juicy details

Mate, if you want to spend the night.... oh, I get it your a techie not a druggie, my mistake, sorry

How did they smell? I don't have an XB1 or a hub (unless a wifi thingymagig counts, and I have not noticed any odours, is there one I should be aware of?)

Ps I just had a look in Diso in open, when I left one (1) CMDR tried to follow me (I saw about five (5)), on my return ~ 30 mins later I saw zero (0). Those blockades don't seem to be working too well.

 

[Robert Graham]

ok so people are like what is the big deal right? here's my dot point version


1. First off just before release Frontier pulled Single Player OFFLINE mode, they did this with little in the way of communication with the user base, despite it being a KICKSTARTER feature and promised to the Alpha backers (who all paid 200 POUNDS to be allowed to play the game).

2. There is this great document that was supposed to be the 'game' it's called the design document and it was made with Backer input Frontier Development seems to be ignoring it.

3. David Braben says one thing in interviews and to people then does another and wonders why people get upset.

4. Mel Brooks who is meant to be the face, voice and direction of Elite dangerous doesn't bother to communicate a lot of the changes with the player base at all in a timely fashion indeed appears to do so half the time after the fact and then goes 'what's the big deal'? (Take off line mode as an example here and now this).

5. Elite Dangerous sold out to the Consoles (not a big deal) and in doing so took content that should be avalible to the PC gamers and made it XBOX ONE exclusive until FDEV and Microsoft Decide otherwise (BIG DEAL).

6. There is no reason why anything should be Xbox One exclusive in Elite Dangerous at all, zip nada.. Kickstarter, Alpha and Beta backers where made a promise that they would ALWAYS be the first to test any new feature, that has been broken.

7. Frontier has in most peoples minds taken a lot of player money put down for a PC based game and funneled that into a console version or at least that is how the (upset) user base is seeing it, because hey Frontier doesn't bother to explain how/why they are mistaken in any shape or form.

8. The current release 1.3 for PC is buggy more so than any other major release that Frontier has done and it leaves a lot of players wondering if the reason we have a buggy release is due to Frontier moving developer resources from PC to their Xbox one version.

9. Frontier still haven't delivered everything they promised for the BASE PC/MAC game yet.. we still do not have the 25 ships + 5 extra promised because hey we lied about offline mode... Yet apparently we should be happy at resources being diverted.

10. Frontier have not learnt to communicate with the people who pay their wages in the end.. Their Fan and user base. With out communication in the end people are going to get upset, jump to conclusions etc... We see next to no weekly dev update any-more in the forums, they should/could have easily offset the annoyance level of this announcement simply by talking to their users, instead no like always they treat their fans like crap.

11. It leaves a bitter taste in a lot of people who paid a LOT of money to Frontier based on the promise of X (Go watch the original kickstarter items and you'll see what X was ) when it seems X will not actually ever come to be and instead we'll see our game dumbed down for console kiddies who want everything NOW.

 

[knowles2]

Are you kidding me?! WOW. What the , FD?!

This is so mind numbingly STUPID. ED is a simulation game, not an arcade shoot 'em up so why do this with CQC? Why not have it in a neutral system you jump to and have it effect your own account? This is just... why??? Why on earth take the one thing to livin' up the universe and stuff it as a standalone module?!

Because they are stupid or worst they are letting Microsoft have veto over the design of the game and it microsoft that insisted on a disconnected combat mode to appeal to COD fans.

 

[Hellhawk666]

It uses an existing asset (the flight engine) that is polished and works well - arguably the most polished part of the game.
A restricted area PvP mini-game sounds like the ideal focus for a console release.
It will probably "feel" more arcadish, but also more intuitive and fun than Arena Commander, so good PR for ED on the whole.
It captures a new audience to expand the support base.
It will generate more funding for the game as a whole.

CQC looks like a very sensible marketing decision. Zero interest myself, but I can't argue with it as a development priority.
The PC will get some love further down the line. Patience.

 

[Daffan]

having an arena will kill any pvp elsewhere in pp and cg

gg

 

[kapparomeo]

11. It leaves a bitter taste in a lot of people who paid a LOT of money to Frontier based on the promise of X (Go watch the original kickstarter items and you'll see what X was ) when it seems X will not actually ever come to be and instead we'll see our game dumbed down for console kiddies who want everything NOW.

Think about this statement next time you, or another backer, or any other stuck-up PC snob on the forums whinges about a DDF feature not being implemented yet. You wouldn't want to be a console kiddie who wants everything NOW, would you?

 

[DangerousLarry]

--snip--

VERY valid points about communication. Frontier Developments have very, very little communication going on. The changes to any patch were never conveyed properly and always consist of manuals(No one reads manuals in this day and age) buried in these forums to read. We're only lucky we got a three part video series on PP, a series that was actually delayed two days after the patch hit. It's just incredibly poor on FD's side. They need a PR guy, they need someone to post on the forums, help out with meaningful information, push for proper communication and proper series of videos or posts(Dedicated sections that should be seen from the instant you open the forums) detailing changes well before a patch is released. The community site is a good step forward but currently? There's no in-game or launcher way to actually click and visit them. There isn't even a quick way to navigate to them from the forums. They also, obviously, purposefully omitted any link to the forums from the main E: D page and community page.

Communication is everything. If you convey changes, explain what's going on and do so before such things land(Besides announcements of course) you won't have so many off customers.

 

[knowles2]

Really? As I keep reading the blog and seeing "on Wednesday our Close Quarter Combat design team will explain how CQC works, " So unless you have a time machine and went to Wednesday and back....
I would not be so sure you understand how it works yet.

You might be right, but then again, you may be reading too much into that blog - only Wednesday will tell, so I'll wait until then

And this morning we’re also announcing Close Quarter Combat – instant-action PVP combat in the Elite: Dangerous galaxy for PC, Mac and Xbox One.

Unless they are providing instant teleportation for our ships in the live galaxy, which would be beyond a stupid decision by Frontier and go completely against every other design decision in the game, the only way they can provide such instant action if this mode is completely separate from the main game and similar to how the current training missions are implemented.

What they will be showing off on wednesday is all the fancy power ups, which is another thing that goes against the game design, we saw two in the trailer, instant shield regen and a weapon pick up which is capable of disabling multiple vessels at once. They will probably introduce a couple of game modes like capture the flag and deathmatch.

This is a far cry from how such a arena could have been implemented in the live galaxy. Where the powers could use them like Rome use colosseum games to distract the population, where a small colony on the fringes of space set up a big prize competition to attract tourists and traders and fighters to that region of space. This could also have different out comes, a colony try this but it cause civil war and rebellion, even leave behind half completed arenas.
Where winning a tournament could allow you retrieve secret missions from the tournament sponsors or imagine players get contracts to kill fighters before they can reach the tournament. Anarchy systems where the normal arena rules don't apply and it more free for all than the arena games that take place in the Federation and Empire.
Arenas could have added so much depth to this game, instead they have been shunted off to a separate mode which is a shame. I would love to be proven wrong but what frontier current marketing tells me this is essentially separate game with zero feed back into the main game, apart from all the xbox players who will rightly think the entire game is one be combat arena.

 

[Milkdragon]

CONDOR Confined!?!?!?!?!?!

 

[Beetlebum]

Wow, some people here are so arrogant, it is disgusting. I hope the console gamers who are soon going to join the forum won't get the impression that the Elite community is mostly immature.

 

[knowles2]

It uses an existing asset (the flight engine) that is polished and works well - arguably the most polished part of the game.
A restricted area PvP mini-game sounds like the ideal focus for a console release.
It will probably "feel" more arcadish, but also more intuitive and fun than Arena Commander, so good PR for ED on the whole.
It captures a new audience to expand the support base.
It will generate more funding for the game as a whole.

CQC looks like a very sensible marketing decision. Zero interest myself, but I can't argue with it as a development priority.
The PC will get some love further down the line. Patience.

Problem is how are they going to transition players who experience constant pow pow in the arena to much slower and more sedate main elite universe, without weapon power ups and instant shield regen?

Where is the incentive for Frontier to continue to invest in the current let call it the open universe game if the majority of their user base is playing in the combat arena? Generally you invest where your main user base, not where the minority of the user base of the game is playing and I seen this occur in game after game where companies concentrate their resources on the most popular part of the game and let everything else die. These are the questions frontier needs to answer.

 

[Robert Graham]

Think about this statement next time you, or another backer, or any other stuck-up PC snob on the forums whinges about a DDF feature not being implemented yet. You wouldn't want to be a console kiddie who wants everything NOW, would you?

No but I would like to see that they are actually delivering on their original promise and have a roadmap towards getting that out, there is a difference Kapparomeo, No one would have given a damned if the release was not Xbox One exclusive, but instead we see promises being broken.. that Kickstarter and Backers would get first look and our input would be released. Plus we are over 14 months since the original alpha release So yeah sorry we HAVE been being patient.

they want to release to console great, but don't do it to the expense of those who already where promised something and have paid to get the game to this point.

 

[SkipRat]

No but I would like to see that they are actually delivering on their original promise and have a roadmap towards getting that out, there is a difference Kapparomeo, No one would have given a damned if the release was not Xbox One exclusive, but instead we see promises being broken.. that Kickstarter and Backers would get first look and our input would be released. Plus we are over 14 months since the original alpha release So yeah sorry we HAVE been being patient.

they want to release to console great, but don't do it to the expense of those who already where promised something and have paid to get the game to this point.

Not really, they want to develop the game for another 5-10 years... It has only just begun.

 

[Milkdragon]

Serious all of you guys. I get it sucks that we dont get CQC but you really want to play a buggy PVP arena. Yes there are some backer that really want this even if its buggy. And if this community did get its hands on the CQC a lot of you guys would complain just as bad as now. Its a bit immature

 

[knowles2]

Wow, some people here are so arrogant, it is disgusting. I hope the console gamers who are soon going to join the forum won't get the impression that the Elite community is mostly immature.

So you are trying to act mature by calling people on this forum arrogant instead of offering counter arguments to the points people are making? To me that is immature.

I welcome console players to the elite universe,, I'm one myself but changing a game just to suite the marketing definition of a console players beyond UI and controller has always been wrong is my opinion. Especially when games like No Man's Sky and UNRAVEL and other games that prove console players are after more than just pow pow.

- - - Updated - - -

Serious all of you guys. I get it sucks that we dont get CQC but you really want to play a buggy PVP arena. Yes there are some backer that really want this even if its buggy. And if this community did get its hands on the CQC a lot of you guys would complain just as bad as now. Its a bit immature

I personally don't care about bugs, they eventually get squash. As long as it playable, all updates so have been for me, I'm perfectly fine with playing a buggy game.

 

[Luniticisi]

can I raise a practical question? ...

Are we going to play Stonehenge tomorrow ?

Also was the arena mode the BIG Elite: Dangerous announcement at E3 .. If so I would say that the people who were on before FD must of been bad as the crowd were still booing when FD came on.

 

[Morbad]

Arena is to the sort of PvP I want to play as amateur boxing is to actual warfare.

It's meant to stand for Close Quarter Combat isn't it? As of metal gear solid 3 fame.

Metal Gear Solid fame?

CQC is terminology that has been in use since before there were electronic computers...

The term "close quarters combat" existed long, long before the Care Quality Commission.

Never heard of the latter.

It does look good and add's another dimension to the game.

At the end of the day, no one is forcing anyone to play that part of the game.

As long as I can keep doing what I want to out there, then I'm reasonably happy. It will be interesting to see how the game content evolves, this is what concerns me slightly, will Elite Dangerous be recognisable in a year + from now?

I'm concerned that this sort of thing may further fracture the player base.

Yep. I felt that deathmatches are perfectly suiting to the actual Elite universe really, in the form of challenges. I challenge you to a duel to the death and we bet credits on the outcome. Seems simple enough, fits the game, fits the galaxy, etc, etc, etc. Shame that it's been made - in my opinion - a weak version of what it could have been.

Doesn't need a distinct, codified, mode.

Same blog make it clear to that CQC have nothing to do with the main game and no different to the current training missions in that it has no effect on the main universe which is a massive shame.

If this is the case, I'd be more accepting of it.

 

[Ironlion]

CQC is an exception to this simply because it fits the Xbox audience so well. Michael

I beg your pardon, but you misspelled "Marketing".

Not that that's a bad thing; I hope there will be cross-platform interaction with our X-box cousins.

But while you're all busy debugging the X-Box Beta, Please don't forget that we still have plenty of bugs to deal with in PC land too!