Features left to rot: PowerPlay, CQC... and now Multi Crew?

[Neofactor]

In my opinion, bots would ruin the CQC stat. CQC is about the only stat that requires actual skill and SERIOUS perseverance to reach Elite. The others are just grind/time based. Even then, you could in theory reach Elite in CQC without shouting a single bullet by getting the 50xp per game for showing up.

No, what CQC needs is the same sort of lobby as MC or even an ACTUAL PHYSICAL PRESENCE in the game...

Simply fly to one of the many CQC hubs situated throughout the bubble. Purchase a "fighter" and take part using telepresence. None of this 15 minutes waiting for a match malarky.

Rewards would be proper in-game ones with skins, cockpit decorations and wads of credits PLUS a VISIBLE and prominent league table shown on Galnet to get the juices flowing. Hero and Elite would get their avatar's picture displayed when promoted.

Faction CQC and CQC CGs and Prominently Publicised Power Play Punchups like the old Roman solving dispute by Gladiatorial Combat.

That would be fun...

Ah well, we can always dream.

I only mentioned the Bots, because halfway through some rounds had my team would leave and it would be 2 on 4 and we would get crushed. The titan-fall route with a bunch of useless foot soilders (maybe small drones?) that got in the way to assist a short handed team so it wouldn't be such a shut out?

Regardless, that's probably one of the smaller things. I do like the idea of integrating it in the same way multi-crew has been. The idea of being able to make a wing of 4 people in the main game and enter into the CQC "lobby" from you ship would make it so much easier to hop in and out of CQC in a way that felt seamless.

So many ideas for the various features, but only the shallowest are used. I'd have to agree with the assumption that it's due to the time constraints. The only other example of people trying to do something similar is Star Citizen and look how long those "no compromise" features take to develop.

 

[mojonaut]

...... CQC would be used a lot more if it was integrated in the main-game

I really had my hopes up that it would be the big surprise of 2.3

I should have known better after all this time.

 

[NMS]

Yeah this was a bit of a breaking point for me as well.

FDEV: "Use this half baked, skeletal feature or we won't make it any better."

Community:
https://media.giphy.com/media/l3q2K5jinAlChoCLS/giphy.gif

I think that by itself, it shows everything about development. As I have said many times, they are lost.

 

[krylite]

I'd doubt ED is "rotting and dying". It's back to the top 50 on steamcharts beating many AAA games of the last two years and when the ps4 version is released new word of mouth will spread for this unique classic game/simulator.

 

[Straha Yeagar]

I'd doubt ED is rotting and dying. It's back to the top 50 on steamcharts beating many AAA games of the last two years and when the ps4 version is released new word of mouth will spread for this unique classic game/simulator.

I agree that it is not rotting and dying, but there have got to be some changes from FD's side. First and formost, I think they do need to move away from the Seasons packaging and delivery method, and go to a single DLC method. I think that will give players more choice, while at the same time will force more accountability onto FDev.

I also think they need to reevaluate their whole paid-beta method. Every release so far has had bugs that were reported during the beta with FDev deciding to release them into the live game. Most of the time, they were relatively minor, but this time...the known bugs they decided to release are absolutely game breaking. It seriously does beg the question...why have a beta that players pay to participate in if such serious issues are found yet not acted upon? At the very least, FDev needs a little more truth in advertising and be honest about what they are calling a "beta" It is more akin to simply any other early-access release.

Not only are they game breaking, they are not going to be fixed in a timely manner...with the four day break in the UK...it is going to be at least a week post release before any possibility of a fix...for issues that should have been resolved before releasing them into the live build.

 

[Soopyyy]

I agree that it is not rotting and dying, but there have got to be some changes from FD's side. First and formost, I think they do need to move away from the Seasons packaging and delivery method, and go to a single DLC method. I think that will give players more choice, while at the same time will force more accountability onto FDev.

I also think they need to reevaluate their whole paid-beta method. Every release so far has had bugs that were reported during the beta with FDev deciding to release them into the live game. Most of the time, they were relatively minor, but this time...the known bugs they decided to release are absolutely game breaking. It seriously does beg the question...why have a beta that players pay to participate in if such serious issues are found yet not acted upon? At the very least, FDev needs a little more truth in advertising and be honest about what they are calling a "beta" It is more akin to simply any other early-access release.

Not only are they game breaking, they are not going to be fixed in a timely manner...with the four day break in the UK...it is going to be at least a week post release before any possibility of a fix...for issues that should have been resolved before releasing them into the live build.

Yeah, that is my biggest gripe. Re; Beta. Lots of people took part and lots and lots of bugs were reported with copious amounts of evidence and the very same bugs we seen in the first Beta are still evident two months later in the live build. That's a bit insulting to everyone who paid for and took part in the beta.

 

[DukeIronHand]

Agree completely, you just missed one important part on why fd dont improve the failed updates...

Because a big part of the community here are forumdads which played less than 10 games all their life and scream that all those updates are PERFECT.

People that still is trying to understand basic gaming concepts as what is grind, what is gameplay or "are rewards important in a game".

And it actually seems FD lack the proper veteran game designing skills to understand how stupid and outdated forumdads threory are.

Its crazy

Whew. That was dumb.

 

[Fire70]

Yeah, that is my biggest gripe. Re; Beta. Lots of people took part and lots and lots of bugs were reported with copious amounts of evidence and the very same bugs we seen in the first Beta are still evident two months later in the live build. That's a bit insulting to everyone who paid for and took part in the beta.

Paid betas are just a money grab tbh. Any company that uses betas as a money raising tool isn't actually trying to find bug etc they are giving selected previews...

 

[knowles2]

You forgot to add Wings, Engineers and Guardians to the title.

Guardians storyline is still be unveil and added to. This isn't something Frontier is giving to us on a plate, we got to go an find the ruins ourselves, go an find the clues, which could be in game or even in the trailers.

Engineers have constantly receive updates in the form of new recipes and the only work wings needed was networking which is constantly being work on.

 

[Soopyyy]

The biggest problem I have with the story arc, is that most of it is outside of the game. Either that or what you get in game is so threadbare as to be almost not worth the effort.

 

[fademist]

The biggest problem I have with the story arc, is that most of it is outside of the game. Either that or what you get in game is so threadbare as to be almost not worth the effort.

in other view isnt bad to do some research outside the game

 

[Soopyyy]

in other view isnt bad to do some research outside the game

For sure, I don't mind that some of it is out of the game. I just wish that there was more tangible aspects in game at the moment.

 

[timbero]

More beta testers certainly wouldn't cut it. There are still officially known bugs that already were reported many beta versions ago. Most prominent example being the 45% SRV fuel bug, and this is just a harmless one.

That bug is still in the game? Really? :S

 

[KevinMillican]

Seems like they can't really win.
Take CQC - I remember this was created partly to satisfy the quick cheap-thrill type of gamer who wanted to be able to just indulge in blasting everything without consequences, as a showcase, and as an escape for long-range explorers.
One benefit of CQC was that it pretty much eliminated the imbalance between long-term players (with larger more powerful ships) and newer players; was aiming to be just about skill.

For one reason or another this didn't really take off - question is how much was due to implementation (eg. finding other players) and how much was due to players wanting consequences?

When faced with a feature that isn't being used much, is it worth spending more time fixing it, or is that just flogging a dead horse?

As to Powerplay, I was never really into this but I accept it appealed to others. Instead of just whinging that it's dying, perhaps people who used to enjoy it can get together and provide constructive criticism as to what changes would really improve it for them. What do you like about the current implementation, what don't you like, what would you like to see? It would help if people like myself who were never really into it (except for access to certain weapons) stayed out of that discussion.

 

[WeirdWizard]

Seems like they can't really win.
Take CQC - I remember this was created partly to satisfy the quick cheap-thrill type of gamer who wanted to be able to just indulge in blasting everything without consequences, as a showcase, and as an escape for long-range explorers.
One benefit of CQC was that it pretty much eliminated the imbalance between long-term players (with larger more powerful ships) and newer players; was aiming to be just about skill.

For one reason or another this didn't really take off - question is how much was due to implementation (eg. finding other players) and how much was due to players wanting consequences?

When faced with a feature that isn't being used much, is it worth spending more time fixing it, or is that just flogging a dead horse?

What they need to do is take responsibility for their design decisions and do whatever is needed to make it work. CQC being left to rot is a big black stain on ED and Frontier, likewise the other abandoned features going right back to the core design stuff thats missing from ED. Its not good enough to just hold up your hand and say oops well that didn't work so rather than spending time and effort to make it work we'll just move onto something new and shiny. Sure some of these things maybe were bad ideas from the outset but you know what, tough, the idea was implemented its there and Frontier need to take ownership of that and make them work.

 

[Soopyyy]

Yep CQC is a good idea implemented very poorly. Not having any relevance to the core game was an absurd decision. The same can be said for Powerplay. Very cool idea, implemented badly and then they didn't even try to elaborate on it. They're both husk mechanics, a fient idea someone had and then put no further thought into them. Actually that's basically ED in a nut shell, I don't mean to be harsh, but the entire game is a really really cool idea with very little meat on the bones.

 

[timbero]

Seems like they can't really win.
Take CQC - I remember this was created partly to satisfy the quick cheap-thrill type of gamer who wanted to be able to just indulge in blasting everything without consequences, as a showcase, and as an escape for long-range explorers.
One benefit of CQC was that it pretty much eliminated the imbalance between long-term players (with larger more powerful ships) and newer players; was aiming to be just about skill.

For one reason or another this didn't really take off

Well perhaps CQC would have more players if it actually worked.

If they make it so I can actually play it ...

 

[Mephane]

pp at this point is only for the items they give

For many people it always was. It's one of the fundamental mistakes to yield actual exclusive item rewards from PP.

- - - Updated - - -

Well perhaps CQC would have more players if it actually worked.

If they make it so I can actually play it ...

http://memeshappen.com/media/created/-That39d-be-GREAT-meme-37824.jpg

The problem with CQC, right from the start (at least in hindsight) is that you can't use your ship from the main game. It's great that in CQC you just respawn for free and keep going, but it sucks that you can't pull out your Viper or Anaconda or whatever ship you fly in the main game and play in CQC style battles.

 

[Quester91]

Agree completely, you just missed one important part on why fd dont improve the failed updates...

Because a big part of the community here are forumdads which played less than 10 games all their life and scream that all those updates are PERFECT.

People that still is trying to understand basic gaming concepts as what is grind, what is gameplay or "are rewards important in a game".

And it actually seems FD lack the proper veteran game designing skills to understand how stupid and outdated forumdads threory are.

Its crazy

Spot on. Can't rep you again though.

 

[timbero]

The problem with CQC, right from the start (at least in hindsight) is that you can't use your ship from the main game. It's great that in CQC you just respawn for free and keep going, but it sucks that you can't pull out your Viper or Anaconda or whatever ship you fly in the main game and play in CQC style battles.

I couldn't even play it when I tried. I was just stuck in a "finding game" loop for infinity, gave up after leaving it searching for 30+ minutes. Tried it on a number of different occasions, no luck. Couldn't find a game.