My visit to Frontier Developments and the Future of the Game

[WR3ND]

As much as I was pleased and reassured by OA's and others comments in this thread, I can't help but totally agree with you 100%.

Those rumors on Reddit that the cheaters were only given a 30 day game ban and ALLOWED TO KEEP THEIR CHEAT SHIPS, fills me with far more dread and disappointment if true than ANYTHING positive Frontier could possibly be planning for us in future updates.

The game can not continue with that dark cloud of injustice hanging over the community.

Those Cheat Ships NEED TO BE GONE PERMANENTLY from the game. There is no gray area here whatsoever.

If that means deleting the offender's accounts completely in order to remove their ill gotten gains then so be it! You won't see anyone around here shedding any tears over such a move from Frontier.

I have to agree with this. The exploit generated mods need to be removed at the very least. Punishment or the like is a secondary concern to me. If it takes wiping player accounts to get them out of the game, I'm perfectly fine with it.

But yes, I'm glad the game is progressing along elsewhere in ongoing development, of course, and for the insights from OA and others.

 

[EidLeWeise]

Spot-on. if I had rep to give, I'd give it to you. You'll have to settle for this: [up]

I repped for you to since I'm an enterprise developer myself

 

[mossfoot]

I have to agree with this. The exploit generated mods need to be removed at the very least. Punishment or the like is a secondary concern to me. If it takes wiping player accounts to get them out of the game, I'm perfectly fine with it.

But yes, I'm glad the game is progressing along elsewhere in ongoing development, of course, and for the insights from OA and others.

Especially when you see Ziljan break down the numbers and showed the odds for any of us who didn't use the exploit to get similar results, it seems unfair and unbalanced for them to keep their ill gotten mods.

I can only assume that there's no reliable way to determine (other than through confession) who exploited this and who didn't. For example, I used massive amounts of Level 1 mats in order to unlock Level 5 the long way (to save on other mats I didn't have, especially back when commodities were involved).

That's not an exploit, it's just long slow mechanics (going from level 1 to 2 takes only 3 rolls, but 2 to 3 takes 9 rolls, then 27 rolls for 3-4...) but the end result is that I have a crap load of level 1 rolls on my record for a completely different reason.

 

[Mephane]

Obsidian, I would normally be cheering after seeing such a video, but given that we don't have any proof that the recent engineer-hacked modules have been removed from the game, it's very tough to log into Elite these days, let alone get excited about the future.

Considering how utterly atrocious the RNG and grind is, this is really a huge issue, much bigger than any money exploits (or exploit-ish but technically legit things). Here I am actively held back from doing anything in the game by that terrible grind (as I mentioned in my longer post above), yet people who exploit their way past this terrible grind can keep their stuff?

 

[Lightspeed]

Haven't read all of this thread, but did FD say anything about LXP owners and if this new sales model will affect them?

It's all very well saying that FD will honour the LXP, but FD certainly don't help themselves when they make a comment about a new sales model. This kind of comment, with no clarfication (as usual), leaves some LXP owners scratching their heads wondering if FD are toying with the idea of reneging on it. Some clarification would be useful now, not later.

Well let's look at it this way, and I have a LEP (LXP). Through the lifetime of the game, FD is going to HAVE TO charge for new stuff because they are in a business intending to make a profit, or they may as well fold now. So just hold off negative speculation on that because there is much more coming, beyond fixing stuff, and we won't be paying for it.

In fact, I'm hoping they issue another lifetime pass, because it will give others the advantage of not worrying about whether to pay for new updates or not, and will bring more revenue into the game.

 

[Darth Ender]

meh. I'll start playing again when there's a reason to. Repeating the same actions every single session with nothing to show for it - i can do that without booting into windows.

I keep my eye out for news that player activities matter (beyond the impotent BGS or manual manipulation during CG's) or that there's something to do with money in the game other than buy ships when you can't utilize more than one at a time. There's always hope that some year it'll get there, or that the competition will fill the needs not being met in elite.

 

[Lightspeed]

Considering how utterly atrocious the RNG and grind is, this is really a huge issue, much bigger than any money exploits (or exploit-ish but technically legit things). Here I am actively held back from doing anything in the game by that terrible grind (as I mentioned in my longer post above), yet people who exploit their way past this terrible grind can keep their stuff?

But exploiters don't sleep well at night and they have to look at themselves in the mirror every morning

 

[sorcer3r]

cough pr cough

All sounds too good to be true. Or maybe Powerplay, CQC, Multipew... were developed by the thargoids?

Anyways 2.4 is the last hope at least for season 2...

 

[mossfoot]

What? If the'd do that I'd never ever would buy an LTP again! "Lifetime" means Lifetime. Period.

I think you're misreading what he said.

 

[Panticus]

Don't tell me - I bet it was a roller-coaster of fun. Did you speak to the creatives / writers - oh, sorry, I forgot that Braben doesn't need them.

 

[Jenner]

I'm super jealous!

 

[Ziljan]

Especially when you see Ziljan break down the numbers and showed the odds for any of us who didn't use the exploit to get similar results, it seems unfair and unbalanced for them to keep their ill gotten mods.

Just to put this in another perspective, we would need about 15,000 rolls just to have a 40% chance of getting even ONE of their ill-gotten god ships. You can bet the cheaters fingers went numb from all their cheating, but their carpal tunnel syndrome is small comfort when I look at the grind ahead to play catch-up.

Been hunting CIF on mission boards and outposts the last two days. I've gotten 14. At this rate it would take me 5 months just to get 1 godly dirty drive. And another 6 years to get 1 god ship.

But these guys get a 1 month ban and get to keep their stuff? Frontier, can I please be banned for 1 month and given 15000 engineer rolls at the end of it?

 

[Panticus]

I would rather have nails inserted into my eyeballs than meet the people who can be so dull as to make a great game dull. It must be dull heaven. Like going to church, but duller.

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

Like ur content Obsidian Ant, you make some good observations and I agree with much of what you say but dat monotone... you need to ditch it some how in ur videos it sounds like u r reading from a script sheet. Not saying I could do a better job btw just feeding back for your improvement and growth in social media.

 

[milligna]

I would rather have nails inserted into my eyeballs than meet the people who can be so dull as to make a great game dull. It must be dull heaven. Like going to church, but duller.

I doubt you're at risk of being invited to space church any time soon.

Great video, OA! Looking forward to checking out the goodies.

 

[Lightspeed]

I would rather have nails inserted into my eyeballs than meet the people who can be so dull as to make a great game dull. It must be dull heaven. Like going to church, but duller.

That's about the most negative comment I have seen you post (and you have plunged some deep depths), presumably triggered by the absence of negative values in the thread title. I congratulate you on your attempts to achieve further 'balancing' of the positive vibes ! Must have been a huge personal effort. Can't wait to see what you come up with next : it will be highly entertaining.

 

[Faybs]

But exploiters don't sleep well at night and they have to look at themselves in the mirror every morning

When they look at themselves in the mirror, what they see is someone smart enough to get the results without the grind.

 

[GG7]

Just to put this in another perspective, we would need about 15,000 rolls just to have a 40% chance of getting even ONE of their ill-gotten god ships. You can bet the cheaters fingers went numb from all their cheating, but their carpal tunnel syndrome is small comfort when I look at the grind ahead to play catch-up.

Been hunting CIF on mission boards and outposts the last two days. I've gotten 14. At this rate it would take me 5 months just to get 1 godly dirty drive. And another 6 years to get 1 god ship.

But these guys get a 1 month ban and get to keep their stuff? Frontier, can I please be banned for 1 month and given 15000 engineer rolls at the end of it?

This is precisely why the claims that these cheaters did this to avoid the grind is so wrong on multiple levels. They still had a major grind, and had no problem with that at all. Their goal was to create ships that could not be destroyed and that had weapons that could kill any legit G5/A rated ship with a couple of shots.

This IS NOT what a skilled pilot would be doing with their time. This is the work of inept, skill challenged, CRAP pilots looking for an unfair advantage because they SUCK at combat.

A truly skilled pilot would never need to turn to cheats to be at the top of any combat leader board.

I've been gaming for 30 years and one thing never changes... "Cheaters cheat because they SUCK at the game they are cheating in".

The only players who will have the gall to argue this fact are in fact cheaters themselves, trying to justify their lack of morals.

Nothing anyone can say will convince me otherwise. Whenever I see anyone defending or apologizing for cheating, they are immediately added to my Ignore List.

I have no time for scum bags.

 

[Lightspeed]

When they look at themselves in the mirror, what they see is someone smart enough to get the results without the grind.

No, they wonder why real life has dealt them such a shabby deal that they have to get up each morning

 

[Faybs]

This is precisely why the claims that these cheaters did this to avoid the grind is so wrong on multiple levels. They still had a major grind, and had no problem with that at all. Their goal was to create ships that could not be destroyed and that had weapons that could kill any legit G5/A rated ship with a couple of shots.

This IS NOT what a skilled pilot would be doing with their time. This is the work of inept, skill challenged, CRAP pilots looking for an unfair advantage because they SUCK at combat.

A truly skilled pilot would never need to turn to cheats to be at the top of any combat leader board.

I've been gaming for 30 years and one thing never changes... "Cheaters cheat because they SUCK at the game they are cheating in".

The only players who will have the gall to argue this fact are in fact cheaters themselves. Nothing anyone can say will convince me otherwise. Whenever I see anyone defending or apologizing for cheating, they are immediately added to my Ignore List.

I have no time for scum bags.

I disagree, but only slightly. Yes they had to grind to get materials, but while the rest of us have to try our luck for weeks scanning outposts and finding lucky signal sources, they just went to inara, found a planet with a good supply of iron, carbon or whatever and spent a couple of hours in the srv.