Is it getting quieter here?

[Van R Flyheight]

Straight off this is not a flaming post or a "I quit" post. I'm still here, still playing and happy...ish.

What I am noticing is a slow down on the forums and I'm wondering why. Their is the obvious thing that 3.0 came and went which brought many returning players back and they have perhaps now put it back down. A shame but not really a loss, more a return to normality. As an active recruiter for a player group though I'm also seeing far less "LFG" posts, has everyone found their groups now?

All speculation but what I'll put out is this bit of data collection:

Patch 3.0.3 was announced at 11:10am on the 19/03/18 and 12 hours later the thread had 576 responses.
Patch 3.0.4 was announced at 3.33pm on the 26/03/18 and 12 hours later the thread had 242 responses.

There is the obvious different times which could play a factor but arguably the US time zones would actually have been more active so why is patch 3.0.4 not getting the same attention.

I guess what I'm really asking: Is this a return to normality or were those "I quit" posts for real and we've actually witnessed a mass reduction in the playerbase?

 

[zombieapocalypse]

Yup, perceived forum activity directly correlates to active player numbers

 

[Conch]

can only speak for myself.. but that C&P sucked the fun out of it for me, to much hassle. and instead of getting frustrated with it, i rather go play something else..

 

[Van R Flyheight]

Yup, perceived forum activity directly correlates to active player numbers

Yes I did say it was speculation based on my perception which is skewed by me mainly viewing patch notes and LFG posts. That said, the numbers above don't lie.

 

[Coloratura]

I doubt it's anything, honestly. Forum activity just varies, and a tiny incremental patch doesn't likely draw much in the way of attention.

 

[Imo]

That's because most old bugs appear again in any new version of the game making it not that much fun to play. So players might tend to wait for the next patch until things may work at least decent. :O

 

[zombieapocalypse]

That said, the numbers above don't lie.

But they also don't actually tell you anything about player numbers. Remember, most players don't even use the official forums. This might be a little more informative: http://steamcharts.com/app/359320#1m

 

[Aashenfox]

In the month before 3.0 the forums were pretty quiet. They've been very active since 3.0 dropped. Definitely not been quiet in here the last three weeks in my opinion. Been pretty noisy.

 

[Van R Flyheight]

But they also don't actually tell you anything about player numbers. Remember, most players don't even use the official forums. This might be a little more informative: http://steamcharts.com/app/359320#1m

Which also shows a peak at 13,783 on Sunday the 4th of March and then the most recent peak of 7402 yesterday. That's again almost half.

 

[Lanceor]

People are still suffering from mass hysteria about game bugs threatening to tear the fabric of space-time and ending the universe... so all is normal at the moment.

 

[Coloratura]

Which also shows a peak at 13,783 on Sunday the 4th of March and then the most recent peak of 7402 yesterday. That's again almost half.

It could be any number of things. For example, it was a rather nice mostly sunny, and temperate day yesterday for much of the U.S. When that happens, numbers drop because people are going outside and enjoying it. This is also Easter Week, so people are probably planning events and not spending as much time on the game.

 

[zimms]

In the month before 3.0 the forums were pretty quiet. They've been very active since 3.0 dropped. Definitely not been quiet in here the last three weeks in my opinion. Been pretty noisy.

Exactly as I see it. The forums have been really busy since 3.0 dropped.

 

[uliando]

Maybe we don't have things to complain about... yet. Oh yeah, GRIND, need more credits, material trader sux and rips you off. Anyway been there done that, nothing changed, moving on.

 

[zombieapocalypse]

Which also shows a peak at 13,783 on Sunday the 4th of March and then the most recent peak of 7402 yesterday. That's again almost half.

Indeed, now we have some more meaningful statistics to discuss and interpret! But you have to remember that games in general tend show large peaks around the time of significant patches/updates, before settling back down again. But that doesn't mean the game is dying - over the course of the last two years, average player numbers have actually gone up.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Not sure, looks loud as usual.

 

[NeilF]

Straight off this is not a flaming post or a "I quit" post. I'm still here, still playing and happy...ish.

What I am noticing is a slow down on the forums and I'm wondering why. Their is the obvious thing that 3.0 came and went which brought many returning players back and they have perhaps now put it back down. A shame but not really a loss, more a return to normality. As an active recruiter for a player group though I'm also seeing far less "LFG" posts, has everyone found their groups now?

All speculation but what I'll put out is this bit of data collection:

Patch 3.0.3 was announced at 11:10am on the 19/03/18 and 12 hours later the thread had 576 responses.
Patch 3.0.4 was announced at 3.33pm on the 26/03/18 and 12 hours later the thread had 242 responses.

There is the obvious different times which could play a factor but arguably the US time zones would actually have been more active so why is patch 3.0.4 not getting the same attention.

I guess what I'm really asking: Is this a return to normality or were those "I quit" posts for real and we've actually witnessed a mass reduction in the playerbase?

Well, can't speak for others, but I'm in a hold pattern now... Most of Season 2 passed me by as little more than shallow bolt on gameplay, and this is just underlined by Season 3 continuing the snail pace Thargoid invasion, which has been introduced on the back of such shallow mechanics, it's basically an on rails event CMDRs can't even affect.

Sure I still come to the forums, but my activity on here is less as I'm not really playing. So I'm basically just waiting now with hopes FD can finally introduce some gameplay in Q4 that actually raises the bar. I'm hoping exploration and mining get some serious upgrades/improvements, and the DLC also coming is something along the lines of atmospheric landings to further improve exploration.

 

[ITZC0ATL]

Straight off this is not a flaming post or a "I quit" post. I'm still here, still playing and happy...ish.

What I am noticing is a slow down on the forums and I'm wondering why. Their is the obvious thing that 3.0 came and went which brought many returning players back and they have perhaps now put it back down. A shame but not really a loss, more a return to normality. As an active recruiter for a player group though I'm also seeing far less "LFG" posts, has everyone found their groups now?

All speculation but what I'll put out is this bit of data collection:

Patch 3.0.3 was announced at 11:10am on the 19/03/18 and 12 hours later the thread had 576 responses.
Patch 3.0.4 was announced at 3.33pm on the 26/03/18 and 12 hours later the thread had 242 responses.

There is the obvious different times which could play a factor but arguably the US time zones would actually have been more active so why is patch 3.0.4 not getting the same attention.

I guess what I'm really asking: Is this a return to normality or were those "I quit" posts for real and we've actually witnessed a mass reduction in the playerbase?

Nothing to do with players quitting the game, I imagine there are more people playing Elite than ever at the moment.

People do however come and go a lot. People that logged back in to try out 3.0 have now gotten bored and gone back to EVE, etc.

Also, when updates drop Dangerous Discussion can get particularly filled full of complaint threads which can drive forum users away or into the subforums (which are heavenly compared to DD)

Either way, lulls and highs are very normal for both the game and the forums

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

i still like the game but dont post "quite" as much as i used to..... (which given my current post count is scary )

I am getting tired tho, both of arguing against the same types of people who want to change the game even more from the game I help KS, as well as continually hoping FD are still actively committed to releasing the missing parts of the ddf.. so i generally post a little less about both those things and just post about stuff in the game in the here and now

 

[NextGame]

Whenever there's a patch i play a bit, and see that no actual excitement or depth has been added to the game, then log out and wait for the next one.

I'd really like for frontier to start adding content depth rather than framework.

 

[Stigbob]

The forums just having it's usual post patch meltdown. For a few weeks yet it'll be wall to wall "WAH", then things will calm down and it'll be back to normal.

Until the next patch.