April Alpha

To be honest I do not see a PR problem, neither do I see a 2-tier customer base ... Yes the Alpha peep's (IMO) are lucky sod's for being able to test now ... If I had a spare £100 I would be right in there with them .. maybe even getting a little bored with the content because of the length of the Alpha and reported lack of content .. would I then suddenly be more informed than before .. No, I don't think so ... The Alpha backers have no clue when Beta starts ... and i suppose FD don't either (although I hope they have some clue :D)

To be honest, testing ED alpha can be very taxing and frustrating as hell. Because, well, it's actual alpha, not glorified prototype we see in Early Access games. Thus it require patience and cool head to report on findings, go in, test it, crash it, got griefed, start from Sidewinder again...

I really don't get these "ohhh where's my beta" tunes...believe me, it's coming, and when it will arrive, it will be a much better game than we have it at the moment (and atm we already have lot of really beautiful things, but they are neither fluid, nor stable).
 
Even I've been vocal about my disappointment of not being able to take part in the early version of the game yet, I think that Frontier Games has been good in delivering information via the update videos, forum posts etc ..

Only thing I'm disappointed about is that there hasn't been any mention on the early Beta being late. Hopefully that will be addressed in the coming updates.
 
Last edited:
I think it is perfectly fine that alpha lasts 5 times longer than what people paid for, and everyone else gets nothing, not even a spinning ship although the delivery date has passed months ago.
Really, nothing wrong with it.
Do it the right way, the Frontier way

You have a nervous breakdown ? Overworked ? Flu-like state? The loss of a dear being ? You do not appear in your normal state... Ah I understood it is an April fool !

:D
 
I'm part of your "2nd tier" and have no problem waiting patiently for Premium Beta..

Please don't project your own point of view onto all - or even the majority of - non-alpha backers and suddenly claim that FD have a "growing PR problem". Three or four incredibly vocal critics do not make a "growing PR problem", they just make threads like these that won't die.

Please don't project that everything said relates to you personally. Did I ever mention "all Beta backers"? Nope.

But if anyone asks me "where's the Beta that was due in January", my answer will be along the lines of "late, with no revised schedule". Like it or not, for FD that's a growing PR problem.
 
I'm part of your "2nd tier" and have no problem waiting patiently for Premium Beta..

Please don't project your own point of view onto all - or even the majority of - non-alpha backers and suddenly claim that FD have a "growing PR problem". Three or four incredibly vocal critics do not make a "growing PR problem", they just make threads like these that won't die.

Well said, Premium Beta here as well, and happy to wait. In fact, from outside looking in I think the rate of progress in pushing out the stages of Alpha are impressive and indicative of much hard work behind the scenes. In particular, the rate at which patches are coming down the pipe for Alpha 3.0 gives me confidence that the beta, when it arrives, will be a generally good experience.

In terms of communication, I think it has been very good. Particularly since we've all been given access to the Developers Log. When there is solid information on release dates for a particular patch, we get it. What we don't get is speculation and estimates for releases which are some distance away. Given the response of some to the Kickstarter estimates, I can understand this :)

One final thing for those who are aggrieved that the Kickstarter estimates have not become a reality: just be happy you'll be able to play it when it does arrive. My firstborn is due to arrive within the next fortnight. If beta had been on time I would have had a couple of blissful months flying around the galaxy: now it looks like I'll be spending most of my time in dock piloting a nappy changing station. Such is life!
 
Well if you're currently unhappy about waiting for beta I don't think Newsletter #18 will cheer you up much...

For anyone still interested in joining the Alpha now but unsure if it is worth it for a short period of time before we start the Premium Beta - here are two fantastic reasons;
- As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first.
- Also, all Alpha players will be granted a life time discount of 50% on ship insurance in game as a thank you for your support!
 
Please don't project that everything said relates to you personally.

Your exact words were "FD's actions and poor communications have created a 2-tier customer base, the larger of which are getting fed up with the attitude of the minority that FD are actively servicing.", which kinda suggests you believe that the majority of non-alpha backers are discontent.

"Did I ever mention "all Beta backers"? Nope.

er.. I did include " - or even the majority -", did you miss that? I think I understood what you were trying to say. I'm just respectfully disagreeing with you. I don't think FD have "a growing PR" problem. I think you want that to be the situation so that you are more likely to get the outcome you want.

But if anyone asks me "where's the Beta that was due in January", my answer will be along the lines of "late, with no revised schedule". Like it or not, for FD that's a growing PR problem.

The vast majority of the PR on E: D has been overwhelmingly positive. I think I've seen a total of five individuals out of about 45k complaining about this being late. Truth is, I think overall the E: D community wants this thing released when it is ready.
 
Please Frontier, to delay the beta 1 at the end of the year. Because I read that the chips Maxwell of the second generation, will not be released before the end of the year or beginning of 2015. TSMC began well to engrave the chips of 20nm, but this engraving technique is not enough developed for the GPU high performances of NVIDIA
 
Last edited:
New newsletter just arrived in my inbox. Might calm some people down a bit.

We have always said we will give prior warning of the end of Alpha, and here it is: your last chance to join the Alpha will be April 25th. After this date we will stop taking Alpha orders.

For anyone still interested in joining the Alpha now but unsure if it is worth it for a short period of time before we start the Premium Beta - here are two fantastic reasons;
- As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first.
- Also, all Alpha players will be granted a life time discount of 50% on ship insurance in game as a thank you for your support!

Your last chance to participate in Alpha will be the APRIL 25TH
From then forward you can expect our Beta to roll out for Premium Beta players - more information on that is coming soon. Watch this space!

Not exactly clear on how soon after April 25th we can expect beta to roll out but we'll know soon from the sounds of it.

While not really related to the thread I think it's kind of silly how beta builds will roll out to alpha players first. Don't really have an opinion of the insurance discount but I bet there will be some mixed opinions on that as well.
 
Well if you're currently unhappy about waiting for beta I don't think Newsletter #18 will cheer you up much...

obvious April Fool mocking of backers.
Nice touch, adding insult to the injury. Would be audacious to milk the money cow further, after missing three Kickstarter delivery dates.
 
Last edited:
Simply put, you want it to be harder to sort out problems that should be singled out, by the procedure of adressing them in the proper order. This have a tendency to carry problems into later stages, which would include the Gamma.

Nope, not true .. what I was addressing is the fact that far too many people quote that "we don't want a Buggy mess" argument for Beta being delayed when Beta will be a Buggy mess as well.. I get and understand what you are pointing out and you are correct, but in actual fact the "procedure of adressing them in the proper order" doesn't actually include polish, full sound and all the bells and whistles that ED alpha has ... that was unnecessary and it is causing delays, whilst I am totally happy that FD have gone this way .. they haven't followed normal Alpha prototypical behavior, even the head of sound said something along the lines of "this is not the dev process we are used to, normally the sound is tested over a longer period of time" (that isn't a quote I'm just para-phrasing) the game will come when it comes, remember I haven't asked for Beta to be rushed ... but don't believe that releasing the beta now would in anyway hurt development, Beta doesn't have to be (and probably wont be) the complete, content full game some people are expecting...

To be honest, testing ED alpha can be very taxing and frustrating as hell. Because, well, it's actual alpha, not glorified prototype we see in Early Access games. Thus it require patience and cool head to report on findings, go in, test it, crash it, got griefed, start from Sidewinder again...

I really don't get these "ohhh where's my beta" tunes...believe me, it's coming, and when it will arrive, it will be a much better game than we have it at the moment (and atm we already have lot of really beautiful things, but they are neither fluid, nor stable).

I'm only saying "I want my Beta" out of impatience nothing more, I know it's coming and as I have said a few times in this thread, I can wait, I am just fully understanding to people that feel they have been waiting a long time for Beta to drop ... I am not asking for the game to be rushed out, in fact that is irreverent as the game is not being rushed out hence the 3 month delay for Beta.
 
I see Fromhell still hasn't discovered the meaning of the word Estimated........... :D

For anyone still interested in joining the Alpha now but unsure if it is worth it for a short period of time before we start the Premium Beta - here are two fantastic reasons;
- As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first.
- Also, all Alpha players will be granted a life time discount of 50% on ship insurance in game as a thank you for your support!

I think this is fantastic :)
 
OK I take back most of what I have said here, after reading the New Newsletter .. we Do have a two tier system
For anyone still interested in joining the Alpha now but unsure if it is worth it for a short period of time before we start the Premium Beta - here are two fantastic reasons;
- As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first.
- Also, all Alpha players will be granted a life time discount of 50% on ship insurance in game as a thank you for your support!

Clearly the Beta backers have not supported the game in FD's minds, this is terrible news ... pay us more money and you get preferential treatment EVEN NOW !..so pay us more money and beat the rest.

I know I am going to get shot down for this statement, but I think it is appalling, Middle finger pointing at Beta backers .. " you didn't pay enough!"

Not happy !
 
OK I take back most of what I have said here, after reading the New Newsletter .. we Do have a two tier system

Clearly the Beta backers have not supported the game in FD's minds, this is terrible news ... pay us more money and you get preferential treatment EVEN NOW !..so pay us more money and beat the rest.

I know I am going to get shot down for this statement, but I think it is appalling, Middle finger pointing at Beta backers .. " you didn't pay enough!"

Not happy !

And for those who are between Alpha and Beta 1 ? (Founding member of the Elite)

:p
 
I'm really not happy about the Alpha vs Beta etc going on in this thread and Fromhell's poison pretty much singlehandedly promoting it or prompting ill-feeling from other backers.
 
Back
Top Bottom