News Elite Dangerous: Arena Removal From Sale

[Cosmo]

Any chance that we'll ever be able to queue for CQC from the main game? This seems fundamentally similar to the new multicrew lobby.

The major reason I don't play more CQC is that waiting in the CQC lobby for a game is as dull as a staring at a box of nails. If I could queue from my ship while playing the main game, I'd be queued for CQC all the time.

This could revitalize CQC with enough players.

 

[DoctorDanny]

I think CQC has the potential to be a nice feature in the Elite galaxy, but it needs some rework in order to find a place and use that players can not only take advantage of, but WANT to take advantage of. If I was to somehow magically be put in charge of revamping CQC, this is how I’d do it:

• Transform the concept of CQC away from a “real thing” with real ships and locations and instead turn it into the galaxy’s favorite competitive virtual e-sport. Commanders all throughout the galaxy can easily log into GalNet from their ship’s left panel (or from starbases) and queue up for CQC where they can virtually fly against the galaxy’s best (and worst) pilots! All within the main game of course, although CQC itself remains a separate “mode”.
• Implement CQC seasons, divided quarterly or bi-annually. Have leaderboards for most points, most hours played, most kills, most deaths, etc, all available for browsing at any time via GalNet in the main game.
• Implement rewards for seasons. Credit rewards of course, but also one free paint pack from the store for reaching season milestones. The best of the best would get more, maybe two free paints. Also award medals for each season for achieved ranks, and each player can display these medals on their space suit via the commander creator. Not that the free paint pack per season should NOT be only for the top 10 and the like, this incentive needs to be attainable for everyone who puts in time and effort, no matter how bad you are and how poorly you rank. An expert combat pilot would earn it sooner, but even the worst combat pilot should be able to earn their way up to the reward, it would just take longer and more time. CQC needs attainable and worthwhile rewards in order to get people playing it, this is very important!!!
• Implement AI bots. There needs to be a way to fill up matches and allow people to actually play CQC even during times with no one else queuing. Bots can be worth less points, and Sally should be allowed to really ramp up the AI difficulty on them. It’s okay to have players absolutely murdered by incredible AI bots as long as losing matches still provides player progression (slower of course) towards season goals. Losing should not equal wasted time!!!!!
• Implement active CQC queues. Players can queue up from their ship’s GalNet panel but still fly around in the main game and do things while waiting for matches.

I think something like this could really turn CQC into a tremendously great and fun feature that is much more easily accessible, with real game rewards and competitive visible leaderboards to stir competition and incentivize participation, while also giving it a believable and “realistic” lore explanation for it existing at all. Just the thought of deep space explorers or tired traders taking a break and parking their ships to log into CQC to “virtually” compete against real pilots all the way across the galaxy sounds like a fun idea to me, but the way CQC is currently implemented makes it so difficult to accomplish, or even believe it from an immersion point of view.

Mengy, those are some great ideas. Would add some extra life and depth to the universe too.
Could I offer you some of this delicious rep?

 

[sgurr]

I think CQC has the potential to be a nice feature in the Elite galaxy, but it needs some rework in order to find a place and use that players can not only take advantage of, but WANT to take advantage of. If I was to somehow magically be put in charge of revamping CQC, this is how I’d do it:

• Transform the concept of CQC away from a “real thing” with real ships and locations and instead turn it into the galaxy’s favorite competitive virtual e-sport. Commanders all throughout the galaxy can easily log into GalNet from their ship’s left panel (or from starbases) and queue up for CQC where they can virtually fly against the galaxy’s best (and worst) pilots! All within the main game of course, although CQC itself remains a separate “mode”.
• Implement CQC seasons, divided quarterly or bi-annually. Have leaderboards for most points, most hours played, most kills, most deaths, etc, all available for browsing at any time via GalNet in the main game.
• Implement rewards for seasons. Credit rewards of course, but also one free paint pack from the store for reaching season milestones. The best of the best would get more, maybe two free paints. Also award medals for each season for achieved ranks, and each player can display these medals on their space suit via the commander creator. Not that the free paint pack per season should NOT be only for the top 10 and the like, this incentive needs to be attainable for everyone who puts in time and effort, no matter how bad you are and how poorly you rank. An expert combat pilot would earn it sooner, but even the worst combat pilot should be able to earn their way up to the reward, it would just take longer and more time. CQC needs attainable and worthwhile rewards in order to get people playing it, this is very important!!!
• Implement AI bots. There needs to be a way to fill up matches and allow people to actually play CQC even during times with no one else queuing. Bots can be worth less points, and Sally should be allowed to really ramp up the AI difficulty on them. It’s okay to have players absolutely murdered by incredible AI bots as long as losing matches still provides player progression (slower of course) towards season goals. Losing should not equal wasted time!!!!!
• Implement active CQC queues. Players can queue up from their ship’s GalNet panel but still fly around in the main game and do things while waiting for matches.

I think something like this could really turn CQC into a tremendously great and fun feature that is much more easily accessible, with real game rewards and competitive visible leaderboards to stir competition and incentivize participation, while also giving it a believable and “realistic” lore explanation for it existing at all. Just the thought of deep space explorers or tired traders taking a break and parking their ships to log into CQC to “virtually” compete against real pilots all the way across the galaxy sounds like a fun idea to me, but the way CQC is currently implemented makes it so difficult to accomplish, or even believe it from an immersion point of view.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Mengy again.

 

[Ziljan]

I love CQC, but the matchmaker is it's weakest link. Most of the time ( after launch, and after the hype wore off for everyone) the matchmaker wouldn't work. When it did, I'd get matched up with players who are vastly superior to me, or with players who would shove everyone down a toilet and win the match within a couple minutes.

The matchmaker works fine, it just needs more players to get a big enough pool to actually function. Giving a in-game queue would massively increase the pool of available players and solve the matchmaker issues.

Because logistics my friend.

Unless you are going to matchmake them into a game entirely full of bots and replace bots as you go you will still need a matchmaking component. That means waiting, and means either having to wait in one spot or going about your business knowing you could poof at any moment. That kinda gets messy then in combat/pirating situations etc.

By all means if a decent solution were put forward, am all for it.

It's pretty simple, you just queue and forget about it, and keep playing the normal game (just like queuing for battlegrounds in WoW). When a match is available you have a "join match" button pop up with a timer (just like the logoff to main menu timer that pops up during combat). You can then choose to actually join the game, or opt out. The match proceeds either way, and any missing players are just immediately replaced within X (timer) seconds by the next person in the queue. With enough people, replacing missing players with humans would be nearly instantaneous.

When the match is over, you can stay on for a rematch (ad infinitum), or quit CQC and go back to whatever instance you left, and the game behaves exactly as it would if you left a multicrew session.

 

[DoctorDanny]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Ziljan again. Guess I'll have to settle for some virtual rep then.

 

[StiTch]

It's pretty simple, you just queue and forget about it, and keep playing the normal game (just like queuing for battlegrounds in WoW). When a match is available you have a "join match" button pop up with a timer (just like the logoff to main menu timer that pops up during combat). You can then choose to actually join the game, or opt out. The match proceeds either way, and any missing players are just immediately replaced within X (timer) seconds by the next person in the queue. With enough people, replacing missing players with humans would be nearly instantaneous.

When the match is over, you can stay on for a rematch (ad infinitum), or quit CQC and go back to whatever instance you left, and the game behaves exactly as it would if you left a multicrew session.

I am in support of making the whole thing easy as possible but that's just gonna get messy and you know it.

We already have enough crap-slinging around intentional CLing, do we really need people to be able to join up for a game and then at any moment have an insta-log button ready to press? We'd basically be encouraging instant disappearances from the game at any given moment for a game that may not survive.

I strongly suspect that with the addition of bots a lot of the waiting game would go away...given CQC isn't precisely popular I can't see much gain in letting people queue from space itself where you would normally be doing something already. I am sure that there would be satisfactory results being able to queue while docked provided bots take the edge off the waiting game.

 

[Carroway]

I can only speak for myself, but I was never keen on the idea that CQC was essentially a seperate game. I know that it would be a way to induce the least amount of headache, but I never thought about it, because when i opened the game, it was to play Elite: Dangerous and not CQC.

That's not to say that I don't like the concept of the CQC, I think that a arena based dogfighting match is interesting and it could certainly make sense in-universe. Therein lies the problem though, for me to engage with it and actually remember tht it is there. Then it should be in the base game as a side-activity. Something you can queue up into it, maybe even bet on or simply spectate. There are many pro's of trying to integrate it within the game, compared to the cons, I feel.

 

[Ziljan]

I am in support of making the whole thing easy as possible but that's just gonna get messy and you know it.

We already have enough crap-slinging around intentional CLing, do we really need people to be able to join up for a game and then at any moment have an insta-log button ready to press? We'd basically be encouraging instant disappearances from the game at any given moment for a game that may not survive.

I strongly suspect that with the addition of bots a lot of the waiting game would go away...given CQC isn't precisely popular I can't see much gain in letting people queue from space itself where you would normally be doing something already. I am sure that there would be satisfactory results being able to queue while docked provided bots take the edge off the waiting game.

All I know is that if they've resolved any CL issue for Multi crew sessions, then they've also resolved it for CQC sessions, because they should be handled the exact same way as far as interrupting combat.

There is no extra burden for CQC that wouldn't also exist for Multicrew/telepresence.

I guess they could add bots, but tbh, if they had in game queuing for CQC, the participation would be surprisingly large. I doubt any bot code would even get a chance to be used.

 

[Jex =TE=]

The work required to make this a success would have been trivial.. Queue from main game, leaderboards, ranks, leagues, seasons, and rewards going back to the main game. THe lack of these is why it never maintained a decent player population. Its a shame because CQC is fun and whoever is responsible for not doing the things I suggest let down all those who worked hard on making CQC the polished combat game it is.

At this stage I fear its too late now. You only get to launch a title once, and subsequent attempts struck me as being half hearted. Looking back it seems like a wasted development effort.

It was a waste of development we knew that almost as soon as it launched. The £100,000 competition went literally nowhere, dead before it got out the door. Yes some people like it - about 20 but the rest of the player base has not touched it which tells you that a cheap shooter is not what ED players are looking for. It's like they tacked on a cheap game on top of a better game and then thought "yes, people will play this more rubbish version of our game"

I have no idea who even thinks along those lines. Could you imagine COD adding in a whack-a-mole sub game into it and expecting players to go hit moles over playing the game they bought?

CQC needs a complete overhaul which isn't going to happen. If they aren't fixing powerplay they sure as hell ain't fixing CQC before that so expect it to go nowhere and if it does expect the forum to go mental as everyone yells about fixing things people are actually playing over things they're not.

 

[BurnyBurns]

If they aren't fixing powerplay they sure as hell ain't fixing CQC before that so expect it to go nowhere and if it does expect the forum to go mental as everyone yells about fixing things people are actually playing over things they're not.

If it remanifested as instanced main game team vs. team missions (think Battlefield) that actually have an ingame purpose and reward (other than CQC rank), I could well see such a match based setup succeeding. What Elite currently sourly lacks among many other things is structured PvP. Currently it has the equivalent of two or more MMO warriors hitting each other over the head in the middle of the field for no other purpose other than "they can". But apparently, structured PvP deathmatch that takes away from the already far too time consuming main game play time, is not it.

Imagine an instanced mission people can join that has one team trying to defend some "megaship" (or similar), while the other tries to destroy it or steal something from it.

 

[Trinity Star]

Does this mean they can remove that silly CQC ranking from my status panel now?

 

[Evoflash]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD,

- Add bots.
- Let me get in from the main game.

Such wasted potential, really frustrating to watch this happen to CQC.

 

[Jex =TE=]

If it remanifested as instanced main game team vs. team missions (think Battlefield) that actually have an ingame purpose and reward (other than CQC rank), I could well see such a match based setup succeeding. What Elite currently sourly lacks among many other things is structured PvP. The equivalent of two or more MMO warriors hitting each other over the head in the middle of the field for no other purpose other than "they can". But apparently, structured PvP deathmatch that takes away from the already far too time consuming main game play time, is not it.

Imagine an instanced mission people can join that has one team trying to defend some "megaship" (or similar), while the other tries to destroy it or steal something from it.

ok then how about this for an idea youe reply just made me think of.

Merge powerplay WITH CQC and battle for systems acrss the galaxy? Could that work?

 

[BurnyBurns]

ok then how about this for an idea youe reply just made me think of.

Merge powerplay WITH CQC and battle for systems acrss the galaxy? Could that work?

Structured team based PvP matches for powerplay benefits sound great to me. Throw in merits, credits and actually compelling objectives to fight for, ideally determined from powerplay context and that sounds like a winner to me.

But Elite is quiet far away from such content it seems.

 

[lysan]

People have issues getting together for so much as a cup of tea in the same location. I don't think requiring in-game organisation of any kind to participate in CQC will work if we can't even do it now clicking a button in the menu.

Just leave it as a menu game where it is now, and at best allow players to queue up for participation while docked. Then if you cannot improve matchmaking through networking, just give us the damn bots guys...surely SJA will appreciate a second breed of minion?

Yeah, more minions to CQC, release the wrath of SJA!

 

[Jex =TE=]

Structured team based PvP matches for powerplay benefits sound great to me. Throw in merits, credits and actually compelling objectives to fight for, ideally determined from powerplay context and that sounds like a winner to me.

But Elite is quiet far away from such content it seems.

I'm thinking more around fighting to attack/defend a station but I think just a basic merge of the two would certainly make it a little better as long as they expanded on it. Structured PVP seems a bit weird though for this - like "ok we'll meet here and whoever wins this little fight wins the station" LOL

I'm thinking larger scale. Maybe a little like a CG where you fight for your side and we fit 16 v 16 in and the battle could go on for days? Maybe have sectors you fight for. So if you're defending and get pushed back, you lose a hex (for example) and it continues like that until an outcome is reached.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Just came back to the forum. My translator reported the OP as saying "we can't even give this away".

 

[lysan]

Just came back to the forum. My translator reported the OP as saying "we can't even give this away".

Let me say this, and listen carefully because I'm only going to say it once.

That includes you FD....



1. Make CQC a part of the main game
2. Use SJA minions mixed with players. (that means only those who actually win will move on, and it could be a SJA minion)
2A. make a tournament that runs for 3 month, 6 month or even 12 month, to get to the finals you need to compete many places mostly against NPC's however in the end the finals should be mostly players.
3. Use a tournament mechanics where players need to travels around with their competition fighters.
4. Sell awesome fighter paint jobs, think of it as "CARS" win win situation.
5. Make race tracks on planets, that include tunnels and other obstacles, let's call it race and fight (pod racers)
6. Make some awesome audio from crowds and announcers (we know the audio team can pull this one off, so no excuses)
7. And don't F-it-up as you got some serious potential here, and a lot of work i know!

 

[Jex =TE=]

Let me say this, and listen carefully because I'm only going to say it once.

That includes you FD....



1. Make CQC a part of the main game
2. Use SJA minions mixed with players. (that means only those who actually win will move on, and it could be a SJA minion)
2A. make a tournament that runs for 3 month, 6 month or even 12 month, to get to the finals you need to compete many places mostly against NPC's however in the end the finals should be mostly players.
3. Use a tournament mechanics where players need to travels around with their competition fighters.
4. Sell awesome fighter paint jobs, think of it as "CARS" win win situation.
5. Make race tracks on planets, that include tunnels and other obstacles, let's call it race and fight (pod racers)
6. Make some awesome audio from crowds and announcers (we know the audio team can pull this one off, so no excuses)
7. And don't F-it-up as you got some serious potential here, and a lot of work i know!

Initially I thought this sounded like an awful idea but to think there wouldn't be space races in the 33rd century doesn't make sense. You could do them in asteroid fields as well as planets or through massive space hulks. We have flying races on earth now so no reason why they wouldn't extended into space.

 

[lysan]

Initially I thought this sounded like an awful idea but to think there wouldn't be space races in the 33rd century doesn't make sense. You could do them in asteroid fields as well as planets or through massive space hulks. We have flying races on earth now so no reason why they wouldn't extended into space.

It would make the CQC a star shining inside the main game, but who I'm I do correct FD