How is it possible that there is no official wiki or codex after almost four years?

[Cosmos]

I know there is a codex coming at the end of this year but I am baffled that it has taken this long for such a basic in-game feature. There isn't even an official, external wiki, only the one that's contributed to by fans. Who knows how reliable that info is. How is this even possible? When I first started playing this game I was trying to find out the differences between the Alliance, Empire, and Federation. Guess what? There is NO DESCRIPTION of the three major factions in-game. Surely I can't be the only one who finds this REALLY REALLY STRANGE (you'll just have to forgive the caps).

They can create an entire galaxy but can't be bothered to type up a few paragraphs describing the three major factions. Seriously, what does Frontier have against in-game information?

Bottom line is the entire game was put together on the cheap despite it having the benefit of its development paid for upfront.
Come to think of it most of the game folks were expecting was left on the cutting room floor.

Those who defend this situation really do look rather silly. As you say, its many years now, the excuses have gotten very old.

And they keep suggesting 'there are more people working on the game than ever'.. The output says different.

The first season didn't really deliver very much of anything.. what did we get? wings, and community goals, oh yeah and powerplay. All of which half a dozen experienced developers could have knocked out in a few months.

It really is rather baffling how slow the development of this game is. The only conclusion being is its starved of resources and staff.

If theres more than five people working on ED at anyone time I'd be surprised.

 

[777Driver]

Those who defend this situation really do look rather silly. As you say, its many years now, the excuses have gotten very old.

As opposed to people complaining about info not being in the game, when said info can be found? Jeez, people complain about anything.

 

[Vedmo]

A bit of side track - WoW and it's quest system. Years ago there was similar lack of information. You got the quest to bring 10 wolf pelts. Quest giver vaguely mentioned some location but you had to be in the exact spot to get quest item. People were wandering clueless in search for such spot. And then sites like thottbot/wowhead came with 3rd party info. Want pelts fro that quest? Go here and here.

Later on addons came (like TomTom). Addon had a database of nearly all quests, objectives and locations. It also had a nav arrow pointing toward your goal, with various distance and time indicators. It was so convenient that Blizzard incorporated such functionality into the base game. Well, we lack the arrow pointing you toward destination, but at least you get a map marker. If the quest objective is spread on some area you get a shape telling you - it's somewhere here. Some may say it's hand holding, no effort involved because you just go to where you are pointed and it's done.

Well, take a look at newcomer subforum - there's a topic from new player who attempted to Engineer with Farseer. He got there, got "hello" and left puzzled why things are locked. After 3rd party (!) info search he learned that he's supposed to go to Pleiades and bring meta alloy. ED is about flying space ships, not impersonating Sherlock Holmes. Some basic info in that case wouldn't hurt:

Oh, hello CMDR, welcome to Farseer Inc.
I'm an engineer proficient in (list of what you can get) but before we can conclude any further business I require certain item - single Meta-Alloy. Fascinating piece of organic-inorganic material. You can find it on Thagroid surface sites that are appearing in Pleiades sector. I heard that station in Maya may have some additional information about it.

And now it's clear - engineer requires something, points toward general area of interest without providing pin point location. Upon arrival at Maia new CMDR could dock to the station and read their GalNet news bulletin. Here he would learn that alien sites were reported on planet A3/system X; planet B1/system Y and planet A6/system Z. Another clear situation.

Instead it's like: bring me fish. Fish is in one of the lakes in Canada.

In-game codex is needed for such info. You want X? Go to this person (requires unlock, hyperlink to unlock requirements) and bring A, B, C (which are separate articles about how to find it and where to look).

I look back at the early questing you described in WoW, as when the game was good and immersive. What you think of as improvements, I saw turn a gaming experience that made you think and interact with their given world into a mundane repetition of copy/paste tasks. Your example with engineers though, sounds pretty good.

There is obviously a divide between people who have known and appreciated games made for people who want to live in and discover a world with little to no guidance, and those who just want to know how to get from A to B as fast as possible so they can get some reward then get from a different A to a different B again. I am not knocking those people! When I'm playing a game with arrows showing me everywhere to go, whether a story is inserted or not, I tend to ignore everything but the arrows. It makes for a boring game, to me. Elite was so refreshing to me when I started playing it. I couldn't believe, in this day and age of gaming, someone was willing to take the risk of making a game that didn't conform to cooky cutter conventional wisdom that has led to 95% of titles being skins of essentially the same money making models.

This codex sounds like a good thing, though. Once I discover stuff, if my ship keeps some sort of log of it all, that would be great.

 

[verminstar]

As opposed to people complaining about info not being in the game, when said info can be found? Jeez, people complain about anything.

So does that mean yer complaining about frontier introducing a codex when some players feel there’s no need?

Ye I agree some people really will complain about anything. Funny how that works both ways.

It’s alteady a given the game is getting a codex...so what’s the problem?

 

[Cosmos]

So does that mean yer complaining about frontier introducing a codex when some players feel there’s no need?

Ye I agree some people really will complain about anything. Funny how that works both ways.

It’s alteady a given the game is getting a codex...so what’s the problem?

I think a codex is a positive move. One that should have been made many moons ago. Not to spit the devs face but for too long I feel that things like this are delivered too late. I happen to know everything already, about the game, so its not going to do me any good.

I suppose my point is Frontier always seem to be reacting, not leading, and by the time they've 'caught up' everyone else is miles a head. There must be a cool tech term for hitting the target several years too late when things have moved on.. anyone?

Just my opinion.

edit: to put it into game terms, Frontier are using the trailing reticule instead of the leading one.

 

[777Driver]

So does that mean yer complaining about frontier introducing a codex when some players feel there’s no need?

Ye I agree some people really will complain about anything. Funny how that works both ways.

It’s alteady a given the game is getting a codex...so what’s the problem?

No, not at all, the Codex sounds great.

MY quote wasn't at the OP, but here is what he typed - They can create an entire galaxy but can't be bothered to type up a few paragraphs describing the three major factions. Seriously, what does Frontier have against in-game information?

Now read post #6

 

[verminstar]

No, not at all, the Codex sounds great.

MY quote wasn't at the OP, but here is what he typed - They can create an entire galaxy but can't be bothered to type up a few paragraphs describing the three major factions. Seriously, what does Frontier have against in-game information?

Now read post #6

Hmm ye my bad sorry ^

 

[verminstar]

I think a codex is a positive move. One that should have been made many moons ago. Not to spit the devs face but for too long I feel that things like this are delivered too late. I happen to know everything already, about the game, so its not going to do me any good.

I suppose my point is Frontier always seem to be reacting, not leading, and by the time they've 'caught up' everyone else is miles a head. There must be a cool tech term for hitting the target several years too late when things have moved on.. anyone?

Just my opinion.

edit: to put it into game terms, Frontier are using the trailing reticule instead of the leading one.

It would be very useful to me personally as I cant unlock several engineers as theres no information on exactly how to...not without leaving the game and spending hours researching how here or on some other site. Its something I actually couldnt do fer months because I didnt have a laptop or a pc, so internet viewing is done on a mobile phone. Not everyone has a multitude of toys at ones disposal.

Ive had occasions when I had absolutely no choice but to type random questions into google about a game which Im actively playing and seeing no relevant information in the game at all. Yes there are well made third party tools but all they do is patch over the lack of foresight that frontier had.

But...better late than never I suppose

 

[Cosmos]

better late than never I suppose

Indeed and since I haven't played in a long time nor follow all things I can see the value in it.

 

[Para Handy]

They have not even updated the manual for "Beyond" - imagine how some new player feels trying to use Engineers using the 2.4 manual, not to mention trying to understand the fines and bounties.

Some things in the way F D operate just frustrate the Hades out of me.

 

[VR jefranklin18]

I'm hoping for something really cool, like what they've shown in Jurassic World Evolution.

But...being realistic...we probably won't get anything that nice.

Instead, it will probably only show you stuff you've already personally visited, and only if you're within 40LY at the moment. In other words, it'll be mostly useless like the current in-game tools.

At least they are putting some more info in-game. We'll see how useful it turns out to be.

Likewise. I do have an uncomfortable feeling that the codex is going to be nothing more than a place where every time you go to a tourist beacon, it gets populated there as well (or instead of) a message in your inbox. It would be nice to be wrong on this, but I am now in a "keep expectations as low as possible and hope Frontier limbo underneath them" frame of mind nowadays.

 

[GG7]

I find it highly unlikely you'll ever convince me that an official wiki or an in-game codex equates to hand holding.

Agreed.

That original comment made absolutely no sense.

 

[EISENHORN01]

People come on this forum and continually moan and moan about how there’s no depth to the ED galaxy, a codex would go a good way in helping with this issue it’s no bad thing. I would (and will) quite happily spend hrs reading back drops and histories of the the ED galaxy, for me it will bring a great deal of life to the game and the galaxy.

one of the things I remember most fondly as a kid playing elite in its first incarnation was reading the booklets, soaking up the info and how it greatly enriched my experience. admittedly the ten minute loading time by tape contributed to this but I’d spend those ten minutes avidly reading the manual or the back drop story and by the time the game was loaded i’d Be pumped with excitement, itching to get out into the galaxy and forge my own path.

 

[El Grillo]

Agree with OP, it's insane how you have to exit the game/alt tab, to go use google or youtube to work out how to actually do so many things in this game. It evidences an epidemic of unintuitive design principles.

 

[Alec Turner]

There isn't even an official, external wiki, only the one that's contributed to by fans.

Errr ...

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wiki

 

[Iskariot]

I know there is a codex coming at the end of this year but I am baffled that it has taken this long for such a basic in-game feature. There isn't even an official, external wiki, only the one that's contributed to by fans. Who knows how reliable that info is. How is this even possible? When I first started playing this game I was trying to find out the differences between the Alliance, Empire, and Federation. Guess what? There is NO DESCRIPTION of the three major factions in-game. Surely I can't be the only one who finds this REALLY REALLY STRANGE (you'll just have to forgive the caps).

They can create an entire galaxy but can't be bothered to type up a few paragraphs describing the three major factions. Seriously, what does Frontier have against in-game information?

In-game information about in-game mechanics is indeed a problem.

The engineers could use a cool information section for example. I was thinking about something akin to the PowerPlay information pages. Fdev could do something really cool and engaging with that.
Also Crime and punishment and info about the Thargoids, info about ships and the modules etc. etc.

I would prefer some kind of dynamic codex system that in some cases adds info when you discover it. This could avoid spoilers.

I hope that the coming codex will remedy this lack of info.
A cool looking codex would be a great addition to the game.

 

[insanephoton]

Likewise. I do have an uncomfortable feeling that the codex is going to be nothing more than a place where every time you go to a tourist beacon, it gets populated there as well (or instead of) a message in your inbox. It would be nice to be wrong on this, but I am now in a "keep expectations as low as possible and hope Frontier limbo underneath them" frame of mind nowadays.

That's pretty much my fear. Instead of giving useful/interesting info from the get go we might have to visit all the beacons and even then be short changed. We have been told by various sources that FD have huge amounts of background lore for the game but somehow it never really feels like it. Sure we might get some articles on GalNet, but there is no easy way to look stuff up.

If the Codex lives up to my hopes (something like the Mass Effect codex) it would go a long way to improving immersion. As things currently stand it all feels like being an outsider, never really being part of anything.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Likewise. I do have an uncomfortable feeling that the codex is going to be nothing more than a place where every time you go to a tourist beacon, it gets populated there as well (or instead of) a message in your inbox.

Honestly, I'd LOVE it if the codex did exactly that!

 

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

Because in the beginning, the game was made exclusively fer pc players who have grown accustomed to using third party fan made sites enabling frontier to take the lazy option of not being bothered. Pretty easy having the game and several websites open at the same time on the one machine.

Then along came the second wave of console players who didnt really like the idea of having a laptop running beside the console just to know how stuff is done when it really should be in the game...had frontier not taken the lazy approach of just not bothering at all.

Cue the rising tide of unhappiness about having to leave the game and pore through reams of text just to find out trivial stuff...now they realize that taking the lazy approach wasnt what ye might call the best approach. Especially not when ye consider new players that come to this place looking fer answers and are met with a wall of concentrated salt from bitter and salty players who think up new complaints every day to pass the time.

Ergo creating a codex now is like making a game manual 4 years after the game is released because the third party fan made external sites just dont appear to be scratching the itch fer everyone. Players find out about them through forums and we are constantly reminded from many quarters that at most, only 10% of the players use the forum at all and thats being optimistic ^

Pfth. Blaming consoles is just as lazy as not finding the in game background info on major factions or reading books/asking other humans on the forums about lore, or figuring out how to play the game by playing the game.

Surprising coming from a filthy consoler like yourself!

 

[Enderby]

Codex will be grind.