Underused or waste of programming time features

[Powderpanic]

Morning

Having tried Multicrew, I want to know what other features the community think will be the next waste of time from FDEV?

Powerplay ranks up there probably at the top - A great concept that is now used almost purely to get a special item,

Shipborn fighters with NPC Crew - Pretty much used purely as an extra hardpoint that targets for you.

Multicrew - An interesting idea with dull game play after you have tried it and realise that its more effective and fun to bring your own ship in a wing

Community Goals - Hit its height at Lugh. Since then, can you really remember the name and location of others ( Baring the Colonia grind )

Updated, Thanks Rojo - CQC .... Erm... Yeah.. enough said.

So what else do you think had huge potential and was wasted or just plain bad?

 

[Sams]

Not had your morning coffee yet?

 

[Rojo Habe]

You forgot CQC

 

[valbarr]

sigh, hes right though, so much potential, and they do halfarsed stuff, i love this game, and it kills me, when they do stuff in this manner.

 

[iFred]

Regarding CQC and Powerplay - yes, wasted.

Regarding Multicrew: I never felt that MC is in a final state when it´s going to be released. I read the early design documents and I have a strong Feeling that the MC-Patch is just a preparation for more "Things to come".

I mean, we have 1000s of possibilities with MC (Material collecting, Exploration, SRV-driving, etcpp) and I think they either just ran out of ressources/time or we have to wait until the next few Patches to see everything coming together.

 

[nanite2000]

Morning

Having tried Multicrew, I want to know what other features the community think will be the next waste of time from FDEV?

Shall we just stop right there and alert the mods to trolling?

So what else do you think had huge potential and was wasted or just plain bad?

Pretty much the entirety of your post actually.

 

[Powderpanic]

Shall we just stop right there and alert the mods to trolling?



Pretty much the entirety of your post actually.

So because I started a discussion that isn't inline with the current forums echo chamber, its trolling?

Ohwow!

 

[Bobbydylan]

TBH, It see Multi-pew going onto the same pile as CQC and Powerplay. Give it a month and no one will be using it. Not when there are so many games like Guns of Icarus and Blackwake (by small indie devs) doing it so much better.

Ship Launched fighters I actually think isn't that bad. It's just another weapon, so if nothing else, it adds variety to the enemies I fight. NPC crew is a start that I hoped grow into proper crew control.

 

[Lateralus]

I think the expansion model is the problem - trying to cram 3-4 major updates into a year is too much for them. They end up having to push every major update out half-finished or watered-down.


Let's hope they switch to a more traditional annual expansion model where they can release things like Powerplay in a more fleshed out state.

Shall we just stop right there and alert the mods to trolling?

I don't see what part of his post is trolling, it's pretty much all correct (I'd argue that CG's have fared better than the OP suggest though).

 

[cptdavep]

I think there have been some missteps but for me, overall I'm happy with the way the game has progressed. Here's my thoughts on the updates:


Wings - Hit, or would be if it worked perfectly

CGs - Hit, though they've had their share of problems, overall I've had some of my best fun running CGs. And they are popular, usually with several thousand signing up to each.

Powerplay - Miss, right idea/motivation, poor execution. Would have been better if it focused on minor factions instead of a weird middle layer between the minor and major factions which don't make much sense. Too much grind for reward.

CQC - Miss. It is good fun, but initially didn't contribute anything to main game and has limited appeal to return and play. Was blatantly made to provide an arcade mode to boost xbox sales. Had trouble getting games even when new. But, FD have made good use of the dev time wasted on CQC by bringing the fighters and art assets into the main game.

Planetary landings - Hit. Could do with a lot more stuff to do on planets and more SRVs etc... but overall a great update.

Engineers - Middle. I love my upgraded ship, but it was initially far too grindy. I enjoyed how it forced me to try new activities, though I know that's not for everyone. RNG is still a problem.

Ship launched fighters - Hit. They're great fun to fly, I just wish I could trust my NPC more to fly the mothership so I could use them more in combat. Like having an NPC crew member, hope they eventually make it to multicrew...

Passengers - Miss. I really wanted to like passenger missions, but at core they're just A-B or A-B-C flying around. If in future I can walk around my ship and interact with them it may improve. Do however like tourist beacons and how they lead me to interesting places and include some lore.

Character creator - Massive hit. I LOVE it. Hope for future enhancements like more hair, clothes, body types etc... FD at their best.

Multicrew - not actually tried it yet so can't really comment. Suspect the 3rd person gunner view is arcade mode to appeal to PS3 sales in the same way as CQC was arcade mode for Xbox sales.

Main story line - HIT have enjoyed following it, and LOVED the alien encounter. Could move faster, have less bugs and involve more Cmdrs, but overall is a massive plus for me.

Minor quality of life stuff - lots and lots of HITs. Changes to UI, addition of station voices, new station interiors, enhancements of galaxy map, neutron stars, ship naming, all this stuff is excellent, long may it continue!

 

[Bran Tse Mallory]

Legs... Well someone has to say it so it may as well be me. It being Monday and feeling grumpy will no doubt help me tackle this one.

What is the point? For you to now run around a planet instead of drive/fly? I figure most CMDR's will do this for an hour or so. Or you could go for a jog around a space station - you really think FD will make the entire station available? Of course not, there will be a small common area where you can meet up with a maximum number of CMDR's due to instancing with NPC's for you to talk to to. By talk to I mean of course look at a window full of dialog and select a binary response - thrilling - Sorry it is Monday

But Bran, I could walk around my ship! Yes, you could, but after doing it thrice what would be the point? Are you expecting FD to turn this into SC and have a fire fight on your ship for control of the helm, imagine just for one minute how the forums would look after this being available for just one hour. Open would become a barren wasteland as CMDR's try to protect the fruits of their hard labour from being stolen just because they didn't realise they had bought an FPS instead of a space sim about flying spaceships.

Legs takes a lot of work. Adding it to a game that clearly has not been designed from the ground up to include the feature is a waste of time in my personal opinion - I know may of you will not like this point of view but the question was asked and this is my response. I saw a feature just like this developed at Cryptic, ended up having to literally force the players to use it via a mission as it's usage fell through the floor after week one. Utter waste of time and money despite it being the number one feature requested by the players. Now the icon to enter the ship is well hidden and hardly used.

EDIT: I would point out that while I have no need or desire for Legs in the game I understand many of you do want it and hope that Frontier will develop it. I have no real problem with that and see it as just more content within the game that does nothing for me but add's to your game, so that's fine by me but the question was asked so I answered it.

 

[DukeIronHand]

Hate to join the "downer crowd" here on a Monday morning (and I have had my morning coffee) but, unfortunately, I find myself agreeing more with the OP then any sense of "fanboi outrage." And I consider myself a fanboi.

Guess one I'll add to the list is the SRV. What am I supposed to do with it again?
Besides screenshots of course.

 

[nanite2000]

I don't see what part of his post is trolling, it's pretty much all correct (I'd argue that CG's have fared better than the OP suggest though).

His post is an opinion stated as fact.

It's easy to complain. It's not so easy to come up with constructive suggestions for improvement.

Simply starting a thread that says little more than "This was a waste of time. And that was a waste of time. That was pretty rubbish too." is inflammatory, dismissive, unwarranted, and unnecessary. It was literally a waste of time reading it.

If the OP had said they "*think* something wasn't very good, and here's how FDev could improve it", followed by some actual constructive feedback, then I would have given it more consideration.

As it stands, the OP's post meets the definition of troll.

 

[Powderpanic]

His post is an opinion stated as fact.

It's easy to complain. It's not so easy to come up with constructive suggestions for improvement.

Simply starting a thread that says little more than "This was a waste of time. And that was a waste of time. That was pretty rubbish too." is inflammatory, dismissive, unwarranted, and unnecessary. It was literally a waste of time reading it.

If the OP had said they "*think* something wasn't very good, and here's how FDev could improve it", followed by some actual constructive feedback, then I would have given it more consideration.

As it stands, the OP's post meets the definition of troll.

I would argue that your posts are in definition trolling by trying to derail a very important post.

Please if you have nothing constructive to say, please refrain from trolling us.

 

[maxpayne]

I think the expansion model is the problem - trying to cram 3-4 major updates into a year is too much for them. They end up having to push every major update out half-finished or watered-down.


Let's hope they switch to a more traditional annual expansion model where they can release things like Powerplay in a more fleshed out state.



I don't see what part of his post is trolling, it's pretty much all correct (I'd argue that CG's have fared better than the OP suggest though).

I dont think they are major update. They are half-baked again and again.

The only thing added in MC is the gunner role as you can fly the SLF in 2.2 already. Engineer and technician roles are disappeared.

I don't know what FDev is spending their time with.

Mega ship/new installation as another placeholder with no gameplay.

Same RES and CZ since the "the patch number I don't even remember"

Nothing new for trading, mining, exploring, smuggling.

Commander creator is basically the game engine copied and pasted to the game and no one will use it again once they finish their avatar.

Aliens....? high possibility that it is another cut scene.

 

[DukeIronHand]

His post is an opinion stated as fact.

It's easy to complain. It's not so easy to come up with constructive suggestions for improvement.

Simply starting a thread that says little more than "This was a waste of time. And that was a waste of time. That was pretty rubbish too." is inflammatory, dismissive, unwarranted, and unnecessary. It was literally a waste of time reading it.

If the OP had said they "*think* something wasn't very good, and here's how FDev could improve it", followed by some actual constructive feedback, then I would have given it more consideration.

As it stands, the OP's post meets the definition of troll.

Huh? Fact? Opinion?
The only one who could be possibly confused with those two terms and the OP is you apparently.
Obviously it was his opinion as are 99% of the posts in here.
Solutions? Where to begin? And that would be opinion again. Not that "solution opinions" for the above items hasn't been done a couple of dozen times already.

And yes again for the massive developer time-sink "space legs" would be. And to do what? That Dev time (which is apparently quite limited) would be much better spent elsewhere.

 

[Hooplah]

We actually do have legs of a sort with the new camera suite. Using the ship as reference we can certainly move around a station or base looking at all the details with the zoom in/out/rotation controls (very similar to Frontier: Elite II). Actually walking around a park with trees and statues may not be necessary. Given player's interest some might think that is a total waste but I think it is a great edition. One doesn't have to go 25,000LY to be an explorer.

 

[nanite2000]

I would argue that your posts are in definition trolling by trying to derail a very important post.

Please if you have nothing constructive to say, please refrain from trolling us.

You do not know the definition of troll.

From wikipedia:

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community

Please tell us what part of your original post doesn't meet this definition?

In my opinion, it was inflammatory and extraneous at least.

You offered no constructive opinion or ideas. You simply whined about things you don't like. Things which have been discussed to death in many many other (more suitable) threads.

Your post was a waste of everyone's time.

 

[Powderpanic]

You use Wiki as a fact based reference system? Cute!

Your post was a waste of everyone's time.

Seems to have started a discussion.

I was going to put an Asp in front of it but didnt have the time.

Please lets keep this thread on top, your bad attempts at trolling need to stop.

 

[DukeIronHand]

And in whose opinion is the definition of a troll?
Or is Wikipedia our "fact?"
And how does it relate to your posts here?