I have noticed a trend frequenting these forums of people posting massive threads that list the ways in which this game is boring, buggy or broken compared to other games they have enjoyed in the past. They then receive a wave of responses that boil down to either yes they are right or no the game is not for them/take a break.
They go on to explain that frontier have got it wrong and that the player base is shrinking and we need to have X,Y and Z in the game before it will be fun. It seems to me though that its all gone to Frontiers plan and we have so far received exactly what they intended (bar a few bugs which is expected in any game that is still being developed.)
To my knowledge, there is a 10 year plan for this game that started less than 2 years ago. We got a base game for the cost of a regular game and an alpha release of 1 expansion pack. There is 4 updates planned for this first expansion throughout its 'early access' stage and then when its complete it will in total have added quite a lot of new content to the base game. Over the rest of the 10 year plan they intend to release possibly 8-9 more expansions (seasons) and in there 'early access' stage too so people can get the new content as soon as possible but essentially its not the complete expansion being released until the last update of that season.
The problem seems to be that we are all involved in the early stages of this 10 year development and many seem to be expecting all of those future features now. Thinking about this game in 2 or 3 seasons time, there will be a base game that is addictive enough that it hooks you in. Its one of those games that makes you completely forget about time and is sandbox enough that you choose how to spend it. The ships are Great, combat is solid, all the base ingredients are there to hook you in and make you want more.
People will be able to buy the base game, if they like it they can buy some of the expansions, each one adding a chunk of new things to do. If you really like the game then you wont mind buying extras for a richer game experience. If you don't like it, well you only bought the base game and its not a major loss. As far as I can see this is Frontiers plan and we are just going to have to remember that we are playing a base game that needed to introduce people to the elite universe so that if they liked it, they would buy the expansions too to get the most out of the game. If they continue to add as many features through the rest of the seasons as is promised with this one, then in 3-4 years time this game is going to be very rich in features and content.
So lets play the waiting game, enjoy the game for what it is right now and DON'T burn out on it as it is still in the early stages of a long development plan. Given the options of either wait 5 years before you can start playing a game that is half way through the development plan or wait 0 years and start playing now in a game that is just starting the long development plan I know which I choose.
I welcome all the comments that explain how I am wrong, but please lets just cheer up and enjoy what there is right now. Then put it down, enjoy something else for a while and come back when there is more to do. This game has huge potential, I believe that it will hit most of that potential but jeez, we need to show them some patience while they make it happen.
"Rome wasn't built in a day"
(and they're trying to make a whole freaking universe!
)
