Have FD lost their way?

[Boomer Kay]

I want nothing and I'm not complaining, I am genuinely worried that by pandering to the impatient, It is sending the game into a shorter version of what it could be. STOP and get the foundation of the game stable and get back into a marathon.

I took a completely unmodded T6 to Jacques.
Nearly 20 hours .. that's the entire "gameplay" content of some triple A title (which usually bores me to death after 2 hours, because it's exactly the same gameplay I've had in hundreds of other games before)... And now I have to go back.. or to sag a* .. or to beagles point... or..

The marathon is still there..you just need to let the tourist crowd move on and then (re)discover things. Simple things. The best things. Those things that the tourist crowd can not wrap their minds around.

Personally, I do not care the slightest what kind of gameplay they implement or how they implement it. I play it or ignore it depending on my mood.
I would prefer they'd add more actually innovative tools like the bgs instead of dead horse "me too" gameplay elements like "crafting" (all games have that now.. even a moba PvP title like league of legends.. And it is the same rubbish like everywhere else.. If you want to let me craft, give me some clay .. It's that simple), but it doesn't actually "offend" me, if they don't. Certainly no reason to stop playing, as long as it's ignoreable enough. Maybe that's just because the numbers of titles on the market that have any innovative element can be counted on 80% my fingers.

In the light of the current political situation in the sol system I'd say.. I have the freedom not to bear arms, and as long as I have that, I don't worry.

 

[CMDR pollycough]

"Certainly no reason to stop playing"
No worries, I am not going anywhere. Just planning the next 10 years, I like to be organised.

 

[Jason S]

Well if they have lost their way I am sure I could dig out an old map of Cambridge and lend it to them.

 

[Thetele]

I am just sad that frontier released elite back in 2014. They should have made release maybe 2017. They should have added much more. Elite dangerous is so shallow game without life in its world. Elite is two years old soon, none of the dlc or seasons will ever sell anywhere near what elite dangerous sold. They simply won't have money to do 10 years with elite dangerous because even if they fix elite and add a lot of stuff not that many will play it. They came early to space game market with incomplete product and they have showed that they can't improve it fast or add good gameplay/mechanics to game. Frontier played their cards wrong time. They should have done what no man sky and star citizen are doing finishing their game before release rather than release early and hoping that people will buy dlcs for game that you haven't supported like you promised.

Unfinished game will always have its bad history, which give you less new customers and make old customers leave and you need both of those to keep developing that game.

 

[Enderby]

game is dying

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

Has it become, not a 10 year plan but a 6 month plan repeated 20 times

That's the impression that I get since release. It's all about the huge new feature purely designed to get as much publicity on social media as possible to increase sales.

Understandable - FD needs to pay their salaries and in the age of Pokemon-Go, that's probably necessary for a company like FD.

It's certainly a game I'll keep checking out as long as it exists and I already got more than my moneys worth out of it. Still sad to see all that potential go to waste.

 

[Boomer Kay]

Weird, I bought ED on steam sale and thought it's a pretty finished game on the level of Elite Frontier (give or take a bit).
A solid few dozen hours of gameplay with a decently steep learning curve.

Then I joined the forums 3 month later and discovered that ... all of you are wrong and going ballistic over a list of features from a piece of paper that are supposedly "missing from the complete game".

And those "gameplay" features you seem to miss are the same rubbish that I don't want to see in the game at all, so let's call it a draw.

 

[Enderby]

Weird, I bought ED on steam sale and thought it's a pretty finished game on the level of Elite Frontier (give or take a bit).
A solid few dozen hours of gameplay with a decently steep learning curve.

Then I joined the forums 3 month later and discovered that ... all of you are wrong and going ballistic over a list of features from a piece of paper that are supposedly "missing from the complete game".

And those "gameplay" features you seem to miss are the same rubbish that I don't want to see in the game at all, so let's call it a draw.

Well you're wrong cos it's went wrong and there is no game here.

 

[Boomer Kay]

Well you're wrong cos it's went wrong and there is no game here.

That is not even English.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I am just sad that frontier released elite back in 2014. They should have made release maybe 2017. They should have added much more. Elite dangerous is so shallow game without life in its world. Elite is two years old soon, none of the dlc or seasons will ever sell anywhere near what elite dangerous sold. They simply won't have money to do 10 years with elite dangerous because even if they fix elite and add a lot of stuff not that many will play it. They came early to space game market with incomplete product and they have showed that they can't improve it fast or add good gameplay/mechanics to game. Frontier played their cards wrong time. They should have done what no man sky and star citizen are doing finishing their game before release rather than release early and hoping that people will buy dlcs for game that you haven't supported like you promised.

Unfinished game will always have its bad history, which give you less new customers and make old customers leave and you need both of those to keep developing that game.

I am sure FD would have loved to do that if you could fork over the dozens of millions of pounds they've gotten from sales and need for development...

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

That's the impression that I get since release. It's all about the huge new feature purely designed to get as much publicity on social media as possible to increase sales.

Understandable - FD needs to pay their salaries and in the age of Pokemon-Go, that's probably necessary for a company like FD.

It's certainly a game I'll keep checking out as long as it exists and I already got more than my moneys worth out of it. Still sad to see all that potential go to waste.

There is a huge difference between what you think would be awesome and potential.

 

[OriginalBadBoy]

So the question, Has FD deviated from its original path?

2 million odd sales suggest otherwise. Also the whole 'shareholder' pressure is utter rubbish.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

There is a huge difference between what you think would be awesome and potential.

Now that's an interesting post. Please tell me about the difference between things I consider awesome and potential.

Always glad to learn .

 

[Ian Skippy]

Now that's an interesting post. Please tell me about the difference between things I consider awesome and potential.

Always glad to learn .

The difference is that 'awesome' is just a word for whatever you would ideally like to see, whereas potential demands it to be actually possible. And many things people would want to see cannot be done the way they want to, either for financial or technical reasons. As you say, they need a steady stream of income to keep things going, and that means some approaches to design are flat-out not going to happen. See for example the other guy I quoted: sure you may think it would be nice to have them develop the game fully for three more years on their own dime, and presumably add everything you'd want, but since they dont have Magic Money, that is wishful thinking rather than potential.

 

[Goose4291]

I don't think it's FDEV who have really lost their way.

They're reacting to the communities responses and it's safe to safety it's probably some of us who have lost our way and have forgotten that this is just a game.

When we compare being in favour of non-consensual PvP to being in favour of non-consensual sexual relations, something is amiss.

When we think it's okay to send death threats to players or hound them out of game because they have a different viewpoint, something is amiss.

When we come to a forum to discuss a sandbox game and set people to ignore because they play the sandbox differently, something is amiss.

When you think somehow because you're part of a player group that FDEV support or you payed in early when others didnt that somehow that makes you more important than another's individual, something is amiss.

Those are just four examples of where we, as players, are going wrong.

 

[X-Terminator]

YES - They do not listen to complaints of Ship Losses!
THE END.

 

[OriginalBadBoy]

I don't think it's FDEV who have really lost their way.

They're reacting to the communities responses and it's safe to safety it's probably some of us who have lost our way and have forgotten that this is just a game.

When we compare being in favour of non-consensual PvP to being in favour of pro-    , something is amiss.

When we think it's okay to send death threats to players or hound them out of game because they have a different viewpoint, something is amiss.

When we come to a forum to discuss a sandbox game and set people to ignore because they play the sandbox differently, something is amiss.

When you think somehow because you're part of a player group that FDEV support or you payed in early when others didnt that somehow that makes you more important than another's individual, something is amiss.

Those are just four examples of where we, as players, are going wrong.

Unfortunately it's the way things are these days with gamers + internet + game forum. Once upon a time a game came out and people played and enjoyed them (or not). These days everything is micro analysed and if anything is even slightly not how it should be , the internet ***** a brick.

It's completely ridiculous at the end of the day.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

The difference is that 'awesome' is just a word for whatever you would ideally like to see, whereas potential demands it to be actually possible. And many things people would want to see cannot be done the way they want to, either for financial or technical reasons. As you say, they need a steady stream of income to keep things going, and that means some approaches to design are flat-out not going to happen. See for example the other guy I quoted: sure you may think it would be nice to have them develop the game fully for three more years on their own dime, and presumably add everything you'd want, but since they dont have Magic Money, that is wishful thinking rather than potential.

Well - we pretty much agree. Yes - FD try to sneak in one or the other improvement here and there and those were the improvements I appreciated.

- Wings: Make the game "more multiplayer". Fine with me, and probably necessary as FD advertised the game as an MMO. From my POV, this isn't a multiplayer game at all. I don't hate multiplayer - played nine years of Eve before quitting three years ago and was highly active in corps and alliances with various characters. Now if you lack the time or interest to find four "friends", wings changed open into 4 on 1. As a consequence I exclusively play solo.
- CG's: grind in masses, best done in solo.
- Arena: Hey - we can do arena Commander or Valkyrie better - it's just unnecessary for ED, but the console-Morlocks may like it.
- Horizons: We all drive the same Volkswagen on planets and get another generic type of NPC to shoot at with gimballed turrets without an alternative. Yay - Super-fun .
- Engineers: A new way to grind for upgrades not needed in the first place.
- Next up: Multicry

 

[Sentenza]

I am just sad that frontier released elite back in 2014. They should have made release maybe 2017. They should have added much more. Elite dangerous is so shallow game without life in its world. Elite is two years old soon, none of the dlc or seasons will ever sell anywhere near what elite dangerous sold. They simply won't have money to do 10 years with elite dangerous because even if they fix elite and add a lot of stuff not that many will play it. They came early to space game market with incomplete product and they have showed that they can't improve it fast or add good gameplay/mechanics to game. Frontier played their cards wrong time. They should have done what no man sky and star citizen are doing finishing their game before release rather than release early and hoping that people will buy dlcs for game that you haven't supported like you promised.

Unfinished game will always have its bad history, which give you less new customers and make old customers leave and you need both of those to keep developing that game.

That would have been a huge mistake. "First to market" is a critical concept wich often beats better but later products simply because you were there first. Every day that ED is on the market and NMS and SC are not is a huge gain.

 

[foebits]

They lost their way the moment whomever decided that game breaking issues were to never be fixed decided so.

Still waiting on functioning multiplayer (among many others)FD...

 

[Lestenio]

They have a road map that they are following. But they seem to have strayed away from what I consider Elite to be.
DB has said a few times that they are adding the features they wanted to add to previous games. But I can't imaging after DB and IB sat back and looked at the spectrum version of Elite and said,"we need to add merits and cc points".

The game (in my opinion) tries to hit to many player types. Beyond the base game very little was added that I'm intrested in. If they switched from seasons to a means where you purchase each individual update, I'd probably buy very little of them. I suspect many people feel that way, hence the feeling that FD has lost their way. But imaging that everyone likes different aspects of the game and what appeals to me doesn't hit the spot for others and vice versa.

I'd like to see a focus on making what we have better rather than adding seemingly random features no one is looking for.