So what exactly IS being added in 2.4 beta? Anything?

[Marc_Hicks]

We'll be testing just how much Salt (TM) we can extract from the Colonel & Stitch, amongst others.....it's gonna be "fun on the bun" .

My guess is that, aside from the aforementioned changes to limpets (hull repair & synthesis) there is the new Search & Rescue Contact to test, almost certainly material & data brokerages via the Science & Research contact, & almost certainly extra improvements to Missions & Passenger Contracts (maybe an extension of the follow on mechanics brought in with 2.3).

My hopes are for at least 1 new ship & 1 new SLF.....but my expectations aren't very high.

I've lost all hope with FD, each new patch makes them look cheap and incompetent, not to worry it will soon be F2P...

Well, you know where the door is. Nobody is holding you here against your will.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I can almost see the reprimanding error line in MS Word, telling me off for fragmentation.

For you, I will finish the sentence <3

"When players realise "we're scrapping seasons to make improvements to the core gameplay" means "we're going to develop almost nothing", they'll probably moan a bit more before bending themselves over the barrel a little further".

Why would you think they are developing almost nothing?

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I can almost see the reprimanding error line in MS Word, telling me off for fragmentation.

For you, I will finish the sentence <3

"When players realise "we're scrapping seasons to make improvements to the core gameplay" means "we're going to develop almost nothing", they'll probably moan a bit more before bending themselves over the barrel a little further".

Thank you.. appreciate a completed thought. From what I've gathered though, and it could just be me, 2.4 signals the end of the "placeholders", with the addition of Science contacts and Salvage contacts - I'm going to wager these will be a bit vanilla - alternate market places to sell Occupied Escape Pods, Wreckage and those Data Packages we sometimes find in deep space USS. After that, going in to what we will simply refer to as "Season 3", despite whatever new structured terminology Frontier wants to give it, we'll start seeing meat form on the bones we have at the end of 2.4, though how things finally take shape and where is likely to be anyone's guess - they may still follow the "whatever we pull from Sandro's hat" method, updating a little of this and a little of that - or they might surprise us and flesh out one area of gameplay at a time - Exploration, then Mining, then Bounty Hunting then whatever.. either will do, as pretty much everything except combat would benefit greatly from some Substance. And to put some sprinkles on top, they can still toss in the random QoL upgrades (like the [ ] Lights indicator below [ ] Cargo Scoop that has long been missing), as well as fund the company pizza-party jar with Store goodies (like the Shark paintjobs for Saud Kruger ships and the Hula Dancer Dashboard bobble that has somehow been overlooked all this time).

Elite is soon to come out of its chubby, wobbly toddler-years and become a full-fledged pimple-riddled teen before growing into a drunken frat boy, then on to an awkward grad and then finally a mostly-responsible adult.

I haven't heard about this "Science" contact. Interesting. NOW my interest is piqued.

All the other "fixes" are basic things such as law etc that should have been done a long time ago. Those changes are all welcomed but quite a bit late if it were designed right from the start. So they are inconsequential "fixes" that just reduces frustration. Why I'm actually concerned is that there is nothing new AGAIN except more assets to interact with. Art and sound .. more eye candy but just like the whole new thargoid ruins - it'll be interesting for about 2 days and then back to doing the same core boredom.

Mine too. But be sure to read above - I don't expect 2.4 to be ground-breaking. I do expect it to mark the end of Elite's infancy though. Much in the same way the most spectacular skyscrapers are build, foundations have to be laid first, then framework put in place. Then the exterior and interior go in, infrastructure placed, and finally the painters and decorators can transform it into something workable, livable and viable.

Of course, I could be off my mark, and should probably not drink the beige kool-aid, but like the man said:

I really do want to believe.

 

[Barking_Mad]

One thing I did notice from the images released at Lavecon was one of the UI messages which reads:

Audio Log: Alliance reporting issues at Andr...

https://i0.wp.com/i.imgur.com/zwIcG9f.png?zoom=2

 

[mojonaut]

Ed said in the stream last night they were excited, that's a worry in itself.

They were excited for CQC, Powerplay, Multicrew, Engineers etc.

Expectations at an all time low

 

[Soopyyy]

I'm expecting UI changes in the Beta and Thargoid CZ's in full release.

 

[Enderby]

I think they only care about their 'exciting' new, optional, alien stuff at the moment.

They decided to add this before fixing the stuff they've already thrown, scattershot, at the 'game'.

 

[babelfisch]

Shamelessly copy&pasting the most excellent summary by Barking Mad, you can +rep him three posts above:


The Return: 1.9 & 2.4
Posted on 13/04/2017Categories 2.4, elite dangerous, pc, PS4, thargoids, trailer, xbox

Updated: 5th August 2017

BETA RELEASE

The Beta release for 2.4: The Return will take place on the 17th August 2017. Frontier commented,

“Previously we’ve held live streams on the run up to our releases, featuring details all about the features in the update. However, due to the nature of this update we wouldn’t want to spoil the narrative or interactions that the community will have so we won’t be broadcasting these reveal streams in the build up to the upcoming beta for 2.4. We’ll still keep things going with small sneak peeks here and there, but largely we really want you to discover 2.4’s secrets for yourself. After release, we’ll be hosting streams that focus on the narrative, explaining what our Commanders are discovering, explaining how you can get involved and hinting at things to come.

“Although you won’t see them in the beta, from day one after 2.4’s final release the Thargoids will make their return. We can’t wait to see your interactions with the most mysterious and terrifying things you’ll have seen in the Elite Dangerous galaxy to date. The dev team have put a lot of love in to 2.4 and we can’t wait to share that hard work with you.”

RELEASE DATE & BACKGROUND

The 1.9 & 2.4 update will be the final release in the Horizons season of Elite: Dangerous. On the 13th June 2017 Frontier announced that the 2.4 update will feature the return of the Thargoids. The release date will fall between July and September 2017. You can see the short promotion trailer for it below. Details will be added to this page when appropriate.

[video=youtube_share;jmVEYZnDZf8]https://youtu.be/jmVEYZnDZf8[/video]

Frontier have commented,

“The Return will play out differently to previous releases in Elite Dangerous: Horizons, with content and story beats affecting all Commanders releasing in the months following its initial release.

“As a story-centric update, showing too much ahead of time would spoil the surprise and make for a lesser experience for the community. We want The Return to surprise and shock you as much as possible, but that said, you can expect for further reveals and information about the future of Elite at various community and gaming events throughout the year, such as the upcoming Lavecon.

“David Braben talks about the history of the Thargoids, and about how 2.4 The Return will unfold, in the video we posted to our YouTube account:”

David Braben did a short piece to camera about the Thargoids and their history. You can see this below.

[video=youtube_share;PX49v8zYutI]https://youtu.be/PX49v8zYutI[/video]

FEATURES & CONTENT

During E3 Frontier showed some video to members of the gaming press. You can read a report on that here – warning it does of course contain spoilers. The Official Frontier twitter account has posted this teaser:

“We’re slightly confused but enthralled by this amazing shot from @TheYamics. What do you reckon this is, Commanders?”

At Lavecon 2017 Frontier announced a few new updates coming with 2.4. These can be seen below:

‘A suite of weapons, modules and devices’ that will be used against the Thargoids:

Repair limpets for hull (to be used on yourself or other ships):

UI improvements for the inbox.

Note the third message down on the screenshot above and the comment about an ‘Audio Log’.

The UI menu showing the completion of what could be a chained courier mission.

Search & Rescue Agent contact and also a Science & Research Contact.

Search & Rescue Agent missions look to be a part of 2.4 and look like featuring multi-part quests to collect various items from crashed/lost ships.

Screenshot showing the completion of a search and rescue mission.

New synthesis recipes, including Limpet synthesis.
Improvements to salvageable wreckage and occupied cryopods:

Changes to Crime & Punishment:

Fix for Sidewinder exploit (when you do crimes in larger ships, switch to a Sidewinder and die in order to avoid a large re-buy and removing bounties on your head). So the game will look at the most expensive re-buy cost for the ship that was used during the crimes you committed, and it will add that re-buy cost as an additional penalty.

Federation bounties – If you attack a Player (not NPC) you also get a Pilots Federation Bounty, in addition to any normal bounty, which is valued everywhere.

Pay-off re-buy costs and fines with other ships – wherever you have them.

Published by Cmdr. Barking Mad

https://elitedangerous2016.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/unknown-1-9-2-4/

 

[verminstar]

Expectations are very low from me...curiosity now to see if the beigeification fix is indeed in the hands of QA like we were told, but deep down, I don't think it is, was or ever will be. Ergo there's no trust, no faith after being ignored and fobbed off fer the better part of a year.

It it will be more thargoid nonsense...maybe a few tweaks and twerks here and there but not much more than that. I've parked up and will check back now and then to see what the craic is, but not overly hopeful ^

 

[Darth Krayt]

I've parked up and will check back now and then to see what the craic is, but not overly hopeful ^

I'm parked up at Colonia as well.
I've only just realised from Ian Phillips's post that beta is next week, so we'll find out soon.
Personally I'm not in the least bit interested in the Thargoids.

 

[AvonNZ]

Hmm, a thought, maybe uniting PC/Mac and XBox and PS4 players in one truly playable MMO ? Possibly some barriers, but why ?

 

[Enderby]

Ed said in the stream last night they were excited, that's a worry in itself.

They were excited for CQC, Powerplay, Multicrew, Engineers etc.

Expectations at an all time low

Very good point. They were all .

 

[verminstar]

Very good point. They were all .

Hardly surprising, they not gonna say they aren't bothered about what their creation is, or they reading from a script and told what to say.

On a lighter note, got deus ex fer a fiver the other day...so that's a decent distraction taken care off while waiting fer the patch notes that will merely confirm that's it's just more thargoid and very little else.

Certainly not what some of us hoped against hope to see. Good news is that we will almost certainly have to pay fer the mistakes to be rectified in future, if ever ^

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Other than bug fixes and the like is there anything in the beta or is it all back end fun for the devs to mess with before they "return" the thargoids?

No explorer upgrades? No trading upgrades? No UI upgrades? Anything at all?

What have they been doing all this time? I take it they'll just drip the faucet as they go?

Have they spent all their effort into designing more art assets and less time in actual game design/ui and gameplay? That is what it seems like the past year.

I know they told us a few very basic and limited improvement at Lavecon but will those be in the 2.4 beta?

Nope, the update will be 3~gb of precisely nothing. It's all just a placebo you see. Nothing has changed since 1.0 really. We're just remembering it all wrong.

 

[Soon(TM)]

The thing that amuses me the most is that FD constantly bang on about ED being an open sandbox where we decide what to do and how to play.

But with every patch and new update they add more combat related stuff in, it's always primarily combat related.

It's like "Hey Mr sheep, you can go anywhere you like in this field, but the food and water are in this corner only. Sure you might find scraps here and there, but if your really hungry you'll have to go into this corner..."

FD can keep herding it's sheep in the combat direction, I'll come back when they do this "core update" they promised, and see if the sheep have been freed from the herd.

 

[Mengy]

Nope, the update will be 3~gb of precisely nothing. It's all just a placebo you see. Nothing has changed since 1.0 really. We're just remembering it all wrong.

There will be lots of Thargoid stuff in the update, so lots of new assets related to that. Probably new (or changed) Thargoid surface stuff, most likely different ship types for them, new weapons and effects, and probably a few new engineer bases too for the new weapons. But, to expect 2.4 to be anything less than a combat focused update is not realistic. Sure there will be a some QoL stuff but it will be relatively minor. And yeah salvaging is getting a new menu option, and science is getting a new menu tab too, but they are mostly just UI changes and such, don't expect much more than that for now.


Season 2 as been great for combat players so far and that trend will probably continue with 2.4, the rest of us have to wait until next year in all likelihood and just hope the non-combat players get some much needed attention.

 

[verminstar]

There will be lots of Thargoid stuff in the update, so lots of new assets related to that. Probably new (or changed) Thargoid surface stuff, most likely different ship types for them, new weapons and effects, and probably a few new engineer bases too for the new weapons. But, to expect 2.4 to be anything less than a combat focused update is not realistic. Sure there will be a some QoL stuff but it will be relatively minor. And yeah salvaging is getting a new menu option, and science is getting a new menu tab too, but they are mostly just UI changes and such, don't expect much more than that for now.


Season 2 as been great for combat players so far and that trend will probably continue with 2.4, the rest of us have to wait until next year in all likelihood and just hope the non-combat players get some much needed attention.

I wish I had some witty response but I lost me mojo weeks ago and find that to more or less mirror my own feelings that its just all about the pew pew now. My lack of trust in them means I am doubtful that we will ever see these fabled core improvements next year either...hardly the first time we got excuses from them like claiming its in the hands of QA. From what little we can see now, its not and never was...so theres no trust in what they say anymore.

So...wait another year on the vague promise that things might get better? Nah...cut losses and walk away now because its simply not enough to make me believe it. Its sad and I dont want to leave it, but when ye realize things really arent gonna get any better anytime soon, it sorta drains what little enthusiasm is left.

I still remember all those threads that claimed 2.4 could be the very thing we were all waiting for and we should just hold on a little longer. Now we know the fixes we have been waiting on fer nearly a year is on the back burner fer potentially another year, one has to wonder what was truth and what was pure fiction. Put simply, the trust is gone ^

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

(I was being sarcastic btw)

 

[CMDR Rusty Dog]

I wish I had some witty response but I lost me mojo weeks ago and find that to more or less mirror my own feelings that its just all about the pew pew now. My lack of trust in them means I am doubtful that we will ever see these fabled core improvements next year either...hardly the first time we got excuses from them like claiming its in the hands of QA. From what little we can see now, its not and never was...so theres no trust in what they say anymore.

So...wait another year on the vague promise that things might get better? Nah...cut losses and walk away now because its simply not enough to make me believe it. Its sad and I dont want to leave it, but when ye realize things really arent gonna get any better anytime soon, it sorta drains what little enthusiasm is left.

I still remember all those threads that claimed 2.4 could be the very thing we were all waiting for and we should just hold on a little longer. Now we know the fixes we have been waiting on fer nearly a year is on the back burner fer potentially another year, one has to wonder what was truth and what was pure fiction. Put simply, the trust is gone ^

Same here. I've not touched Elite for over 3 weeks now (even then I had a previous 2 weeks without playing it) and I find it all quite sad and a shame.
There's nothing making me want to go back to it and spend more hours in the same old grind time and time and time again.
Core gameplay is very much needed urgently.
Thargoid stuff will be ok but how long before the novelty wears off ?
We need stuff in the game that keeps us coming back.
I'm sick of buying ships and then going through the dire engineering grind, and then what ? Fly around for combat or taking on low rewarding missions ? Nothing exciting for traders or explorers either. Just combat oriented updates time and time again.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

Ed said in the stream last night they were excited, that's a worry in itself.

They were excited for CQC, Powerplay, Multicrew, Engineers etc.

Expectations at an all time low

They've been excited about a bunch of things that were complete flops. They haven't changed anyone driving anything so why would we expect any different results.

While thargoids and all the eye candy is definitely very cool it is very short lived. Meat and potatoes FD... meat and potatoes..