Modes ED "Beyond" Disappointing, anyone have similar feelings?

I find the codename beyond amusing. For me, the 2018 roadmap look like below-minimal-plan and i find its beyond disappointing. Shocking in fact.

I can see where you're coming from ... As for me :

Pros :
- I'm happy FD goes back to the core game : this is needed to get rid of the "a mile wide and an inch deep" problem.

Cons :
- I regret the game cannot push forward and offer the atmos planets / space legs I dream about.

Overall I think FD did the right thing and that one year working on the core gameplay could do wonders. But there is another problem. So far, I feel (personal opinion here, no need to white knight over this guys) that FD failed to deliver when it comes to gameplay. For instance, after a lot of different changes, missions are still a chore to me. I'm afraid their vision of gaming is very different from mine and I'm not sure they'll succeed in making exploration gameplay semi-decent for me. Nor mining or any other major feature for that matter. No need to say, I'd be delighted if they do though.

So, while I'm rather happy with the decision to return to core gameplay, I'm not sure FD's work will solve my problems with Elite. As for me, time will tell. Best of luck to the devs, because if they succeed, I'll have the game I've been waiting for all my life.
 
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You have the right to say that the game would be better with this or that. You can say you're disappointed.

But, please, stop saying bad stuff about the people working on the game cause clearly you have no idea about what it's like and how long a complex game can take to be completed. Elite is still evolving, a 2nd pass on core gameplay is mandatory as we had only basic stuff for now so that's what they're focusing on. That's not all though as we'll also have loads of new ships, new weapons, new gameplay mechanics for trade, mining and exploration, planetary surfaces enhanced (corlors and shaders first, then localized "decorum" and effects). And squadrons ! I mean, this will probably be huge !

Then, as others suggested, take a break, come back in six months, after the Q1 update, and keep saying the game is bad then. Or don't. But i'm sick of the endless "fdev doesn't know how to make a game" rants from people who truly have no idea about how to make a game, but somehow thinking they know better.

Guys :)

In my first post i stated that i am taking a break untill q1 update hits, so no need to copy-paste my line.

I pointed out, in (not-so) insulting way that the current game severely lacks content and has multiple flaws in design that could be done in a much better way. Somehow noone picks up a discussion that current combat model offers neverending CZ/RES/crimesweep farm and nothing else. No organized PVE for multiple player. No large scale feeling for single player. Take trading - clicking slider to the left, jumping x times, clicking slider to the right. Fun? Really? Are you having fun trading in elite?

If they create space legs, or attempt atmospheric landing even more empty spaces appear (barren planets are easy. enter atmospheric landing and you hit the problem no-man-sky has)

Appearance of thargoids would be awesome if there was actual content that these thargoids can interact with. With the lack of any organized combat mechanic (stuff like healing beams, being reliant on lucky roll OR regrinding engineer ?2/3?->5 multiple times over) they are loosing out BIG time on such an amazing lore opportunity. I mean: "we would have a big fight with thargoids ships, but we cant, because we dont have a working combat system still"

And so on, so on.

I look on the roadmap and read:
- some visual changes
- bugfixes
- some new ships
- maybe a mining refactor in q4
- possibly some changes to exploration

If an important highlight of yearly roadmap is something like "each engineer upgrade will be better than the previous one" then i am disappointed. Not to mention it shows even more how bad the whole idea is - *everyone evetually* will have the best rolls. Some will roll jackpot in 3 rolls, others will be grinding forever. And you will read on the forums "why do i have to grind 50-100 technetium and pray to RNG jesus". And they will be right.

Speaking of design. Whats the meaning of material/data storage in the current design? Imagine i have a ship, like cobra. Does it have 200tonnes of storage? No. BUT if i have 500 iron and 500 <whetever> i can craft 50 batches of 4 limpets in my ship. I guess i have some paralel universe harry potter bag that keeps this cargo for me. Good design? :) Pushing it further - that magical storage is limited to 1000 items! Why? Noone knows.

Previously engineers required micromaterials. For those who do not remember micromaterials did 2 things:
- prevented anyone with vessel smaller than python from using engineers (rng mission rewards and limited cargo vs what-do-i-gather-mats-for problem)
- prevented anyone with micromaterials going into RES zone (you were instantly attacked by any passing pirate)
Luckily someone managed to convince the Architect, that this was not the smartest design ever and it was changed. So the Architect can be made to change opinions. This leaves me with some hope.

The good thing about elite is that you can watch youtube channels for an hour every quarter and you have seen all the content changes it has.

Fly safe commanders o7, over and out :)
 
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Yes, I think if you take out the nonsense rant from the OP this is what he was trying to say.

I share your concerns but the detail of Beyond is only going to become clear closer to the time of release....we'll have to be patient.

IMO the problem with that is that it's too late to give FD feedback so they can change course.
Lets say that the exploration improvements is a new scanner you need to hold a button down to scan plus a few new USSs to drop into to find "Stuff".
Would you not be disappointed with that?
Would not prefer that FD told you that's all it will be now so you can tell FD "That's not good enough, please can you do better?"

I'm not saying exploration will definitely only be that but we've been round this several times now with things like powerplay, multicrew etc...
If you'd known Powerplay would be delivered how it was 6 months before it was released which would give FD time to change course on it would you not jump at the chance to tell FD, "No, that's rubbish, develop a better solution please?"

All FD are doing by holding their cards close to their chest is kicking disappointment down the road IMO, it serves no one but them.
 
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How can anyone even have an opinion considering the vagueness of it all?
Take the future of exploration, absolutely void of content if the expo recaps are any indication.
Why not wait for the releases, then complain?
Another example, USS. Is it a placeholder? Looks pretty permanent to me, but again, no communication regarding it.

If you wait till it's released to complain then it's too late IMO, FD will have moved onto whatever else their developing. Now is the time to help FD develop what's important and not just deliver any old guff because it's cheap and easy so you can tick a box saying "Mining Improved" tick
 
Doesnt change the fact there are still problems and im not the only one complaining about this stuff dude. There are massive amounts of people that see it.

Again dont think I dont appreciate what they are bringing to the table. But they hardly addressed the problems that we had before the expo. And they still exist after it with no mention of fixing them. Sorry man, the problems still exist. Even for you. You may not see it or understand it. But they do exist.

thanks god there is you that show me what I can't see or can't understand.
really appreciated.
 
Disappointed

I do agree with some points but I feel like you may be judging them in a line up along side products made by far, far bigger companies. It's just not sensible to expect such a high standard on such an ambitious project. Something has to give when a monumental task is taken on by a smaller team. Im also a firm believer in using a compliment sandwich, easier for people to swallow. I think to be truely critical you also need to highlight what you like as well, otherwise it just comes across as ranty and less constructive.

Your points on planet surfaces and Engineers are more or less spot on. Lots of wasted potential and poor design.
I think FD had two options.. a) Deliver something first then add to it over time or b) spend ages and ages adding everything and then release a finished product. I'm personally really glad they didn't opt for option b becuase if they did I wouldn't be spending several nights a week flying around in VR having an absolute blast!

I heavily disagree with your suggestion to remove sounds. Their sound team are amazing and it's some of the best work I've heard in years. Can you imagine how niche and small the market for the game would be if that was the case? I can guarantee to you now that if Star wars, Star trek, Home world... just any space franchise had gone down this route of space silence it would have been dead on arrival. It may not be factually correct but we are talking about science fiction entertainment here... It's a design choice which is intended to stimulate rather than educate.

Not sure I understand your complaint about ship design... I mean, it's not like the guns are repeatedly developed in FPS games, nor are they equal or particularly balanced. Each one has a purpose and almost everyone uses the most effective ones for said purpose. I don't think you have really said what you find horrible about them. In your example of the AspX being the goto ship for getting about, FD have two choices. Either a) make everything have the same jump range so that it doesnt matter what ship you are in, they are all as good as each other and they are just copy paste capabilities with a different looking hull or option b) make every ship have different strengths and weaknesses. I mean although its the goto ship for getting about I would rarely consider engaging in combat while flying in one, because its got a weakness. To eradicate the min-maxing choices made by everyone resulting in everyone picking the same ship you would have to make them more similar to each other, but then they all sort of cease to have purpose or character.

I do share many of your heart aches and disappointments and frequently feel that features don't get the fleshing out they need, but it is still in development and they are going to tackle several of the core game play issues over the next 14 months. It's just going to take time. I get that nobody likes waiting around for things to develop but being someone that works in a company that produces software, progress can get painfully slow when you have lots of users already using it.
 
IMO the problem with that is that it's too late to give FD feedback so they can change course.
Lets say that the exploration improvements is a new scanner you need to hold a button down to scan plus a few new USSs to drop into to find "Stuff".
Would you not be disappointed with that?
Would not prefer that FD told you that's all it will be now so you can tell FD "That's not good enough, please can you do better?"

I'm not saying exploration will definitely only be that but we've been round this several times now with things like powerplay, multicrew etc...
If you'd known Powerplay would be delivered how it was 6 months before it was released which would give FD time to change course on it would you not jump at the chance to tell FD, "No, that's rubbish, develop a better solution please?"

All FD are doing by holding their cards close to their chest is kicking disappointment down the road IMO, it serves no one but them.

Yes, I do see your point but without more detail we have nothing to say or feedback on.

The problem is that I'm not sure FDev know exactly what the solutions to some of these core issues are. I'm sure they've discussed possible solutions for hours on end, have probably singled out a bunch of issues they think need to be tackled but actually having an agreed solution and a plan to implement it, I seriously doubt they know that level of detail yet.

Of course I'm guessing but reading between the lines from FX17 that's the impression I got...the stuff they discussed and showed us is being worked on, everything else is still up in the air to some extent.
 
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Fly safe commanders o7, over and out :)

Your criticism is absolutely valid and you're perfectly right. The point is that you're talking to a bunch of people who like to "pull slider right, make x jumps, pull slider left", who like to watch netflix while waiting twiddling thumbs for the ship to reach its destination and they proudly call it content. People who love the loop of shame mechanic and call it challenging. And generally people who vehemently defends Frontier no matter what because they feel like Elite is such a niche and convoluted designed game that makes them feel unique and very smart.

"If you don't like it just leave, we don't need your negativity"
"If you don't like it shut up and go play something else"
"You spent 50€ and you played the game 300 hours (250 of them were of waiting in supercruise) that seems like a good deal to me"
"If you want to have weight in the story you should play call of duty"
"Everything is better with timers, they add to the immersion"
"Why did you use the first person plural as a figure of speech? You don't speak for me"

Here's the ed community in a nutshell.

See you in Q4
 
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Doesnt change the fact there are still problems and im not the only one complaining about this stuff dude. There are massive amounts of people that see it.

Again dont think I dont appreciate what they are bringing to the table. But they hardly addressed the problems that we had before the expo. And they still exist after it with no mention of fixing them. Sorry man, the problems still exist. Even for you. You may not see it or understand it. But they do exist.

When you say "there are still problems", am I correct in translating that into "I wish this computer game was better?"?

Your criticism is absolutely valid and you're perfectly right. The point is that you're talking to a bunch of people who like to "pull slider right, make x jumps, pull slider left", who like to watch netflix while waiting twiddling thumbs for the ship to reach its destination and they proudly call it content. People who love the loop of shame mechanic and call it challenging. And generally people who vehemently defends Frontier no matter what because they feel like Elite is such a niche and convoluted designed game that makes them feel the unique and very smart.

"If you don't like it just leave, we don't need your negativity"
"If you don't like it shut up and go play something else"
"You spent 50€ and you played the game 300 hours (250 of them were of waiting in supercruise) that seems like a good deal to me"
"If you want to have weight in the story you should play call of duty"
"Everything is better with timers, they add to the immersion"
"Why did you use the first person plural as a figure of speech? You don't speak for me"

Here's the ed community in a nutshell.

See you in Q4

yeah, everyone who disagrees is a poopy-pants. Stupid them! but if you agree with me its absolutely valid and you will be perfectly right. Makes life so much easier. :p
 
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