Lifetime pass and general update questions

[-VR- Max Factor]

The absolute lack of communication from FD I find even poorer than their normally close mouthed approach. Give us the outline of your plans officially, don't muck about with 'leak' teases or other gimmicks which we can't even be sure is what is officially planned. We are your customers, tell us something more than; ' you may get something at the end of 2020 ' .

Maybe they will tell us when they have something to show. Why do you need to know? I am a happy customer and I really don't care when they show us what is happening. It's not going to get the next expansion to me any earlier, so whats the rush in finding out?

 

[[VR] wi03016]

They're working on both:



For context, they developed the launch title while working on 5 other titles:



Given JWE, a flagship IP tie-in, drew down from 100 staffing post-launch, and ED retains over that for ongoing dev, it seems likely that it's the favoured title in their portfolio in that sense.

So yeah, it's not their only game. But it's certainly not forgotten in favour of other titles ultimately.

No I don't think so and don't believe in marketing bingo by FD regarding ED. In my opinion ED is on hold or nearly final.

 

[Eidolon]

Well the LEP may pay for itself eventually. But what a wait!
At least if the leak comes true I can finally uninstall, so that's nice. More room for Doom and Cyberpunk \o/

 

[Viajero]

The absolute lack of communication from FD I find even poorer than their normally close mouthed approach. Give us the outline of your plans officially, don't muck about with 'leak' teases or other gimmicks which we can't even be sure is what is officially planned. We are your customers, tell us something more than; ' you may get something at the end of 2020 ' .

This topic was addressed by FDEV not too long ago:

That’s a good question!

While we’d love to tell you everything as we find it out, the reality is that we need to show things when they’re ready, and in the best shape possible. Every single feature, in every single game, goes through multiple iterations, bug tests and redesigns before they’re released to the public. As such, if a company were to release all the information they have, you’d end up with a lot of convoluted and eventually incorrect content.

We know it’s exciting to get a sneak peek at things in development, but as mentioned, things change and when that has to happen, we wouldn’t want to let anyone down. You also have to understand that you can’t just speak about a feature, you have to show it. That requires development time to teach the feature, tech time to set up the build, creative services time to make images and videos and community time to design a release plan and get that information out.

To do all that for information which will change very quickly doesn’t make a lot of sense. So, in order to make sure that what we present to you is as correct as possible, sometimes we have to hold our secrets to our chest and ensure it’s right before we show it off to you all.

TL;DR – Games development is constantly in flux and features constantly change. Showing off information early leads to misinformation and potential disappointment. There’s also a lot more to releasing info than simply putting a post on the internet.

We hope this information helps explain the situation a little!

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

Except it wasn't really addressed, they used to share what their next idea was but after cutting 'carriers' they went full radio silence. I get they got a bit burned with that but to clam up entirely is not the best response.

 

[Viajero]

Except it wasn't really addressed, they used to share what their next idea was but after cutting 'carriers' they went full radio silence. I get they got a bit burned with that but to clam up entirely is not the best response.

Carriers was not originally planned to be part of the new Era paid content referred to above and in the OP. It was part of a free update.

The Beyond update was actually announced along the lines described by Paige.

If FDEV continues their modus operandi I would imagine the new Era will receive a similar communications treatment to the Beyond and Horizon announcements, typically a few months before release.

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

Ok, well I can see most are happy with the 'mushroom' model of information sharing FD have decided upon so I shall check back with it in another 6mnths or a year , peace brothers; keep buying the paintjobs.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

No I don't think so and don't believe in marketing bingo by FD regarding ED. In my opinion ED is on hold or nearly final.

So you are saying the people that acutally visited FDev towers are liars and made up a load of rubbish?

Personally I like to base my opinions on something that can back up my stance.

 

[VR Golgot]

No I don't think so and don't believe in marketing bingo by FD regarding ED. In my opinion ED is on hold or nearly final.

Your call. The parallel development is a matter of public record. The launch game still made it under that system, and I presume you kinda like it? . (Honestly, I'm kinda amazed they got the full product out in two years, with that overall staffing, while working on 5 other products. It explains some of the gaps in the launch game, but it's still a bit of a feat to be honest).

You can disbelieve the dedicated staffing numbers for ED if you like, sure. Given they're a listed company I still think it's less likely that they're lying in industry press on numbers and that the CEO would state increased resourcing for the franchise publicly (given the negative implications for share pricing and reputation if such lies were rumbled). I also think it's a stretch to believe they're setting up smoke and mirrors in the office for visiting fans. But believe what you like I guess

 

[Factabulous]

Ok, well I can see most are happy with the 'mushroom' model of information sharing FD have decided upon so I shall check back with it in another 6mnths or a year , peace brothers; keep buying the paintjobs.

Maybe give it a year - after all we're still 18 17 months out from the 2020 release. meanwhile we'll get on with enjoying the current release and the one coming in 1-2 months

 

[Marshall...]

The main issue for me is that the comms now is very different to when the game was in its alpha build and earlier. Weekly newsletters with actual design stuff etc.

Also not having any comms leads to wild speculation. Look at what we thought we were getting with multicrew vs what we got!

 

[zimms]

Multicrew is somewhat of a special case anyway. It looks like at some point Frontier realized "we're supposed to release this in about two months, but none of our initial ideas are feasible". Even the promotion artwork showed all kinds of different stuff until shortly before release and roles were simply scrapped.

 

[[VR] wi03016]

So you are saying the people that acutally visited FDev towers are liars and made up a load of rubbish?

Personally I like to base my opinions on something that can back up my stance.

No I didn't but marketing tells what the customer want to hear but in the most cases it isn't the reality. The probability that ED is final is definitiely high. I guess ED2 or whatever makes more sense.

 

[VR Golgot]

No I didn't but marketing tells what the customer want to hear but in the most cases it isn't the reality. The probability that ED is final is definitiely high. I guess ED2 or whatever makes more sense.

Well you won't believe this, but the marketing department say they're not working on ED2. But on an expansion for ED. I posted the relevant bits in this thread already

What does 'The Next Era' contain?
The Next Era update will be in-game content

LEP Content
The Next Era content will be paid for content and LEP owners will receive it as part of their pass.

But, seeing as you seem determined to, believe what you like

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

No I didn't but marketing tells what the customer want to hear but in the most cases it isn't the reality. The probability that ED is final is definitiely high. I guess ED2 or whatever makes more sense.

No it doesn't. If they are continually lying about what is said about the next era of ED, then that is as bad marketing as it gets. They have explicitly said it is not ED2, they have explicitly said it will be for the current game. Not only would they loose faith with the people playing at the moment and any potential new customers, there would need to be considerably refunds to all the LEP owners.

In short it would be a marketing disaster. The probability that ED is final is extremely low in my professional marketing experience.

 

[Riverside]

If I hadn't paid extra for the LEP I'd be pretty happy with the game overall, and would have little to nothing to complain about with regard to updates or timescales for future content. Anything more than we have is just a bonus (as long as it isn't detrimental to the existing game).



But I did buy an LEP in 2015 & quite frankly I just want that extra money back. Had I known that extra would provide ZERO value four years after paying and that I would still have no information (other than a moving, ever more distant and vague date) I would not have paid that extra. I think it is disgraceful behaviour.

 

[zimms]

You got a snowflake though.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

If I hadn't paid extra for the LEP I'd be pretty happy with the game overall, and would have little to nothing to complain about with regard to updates or timescales for future content. Anything more than we have is just a bonus (as long as it isn't detrimental to the existing game).



But I did buy an LEP in 2015 & quite frankly I just want that extra money back. Had I known that extra would provide ZERO value four years after paying and that I would still have no information (other than a moving, ever more distant and vague date) I would not have paid that extra. I think it is disgraceful behaviour.

Technically it needs to be value over the life time of the game and that is how it will look legaly too. I don't think FDev have done anything particularly wrong and I don't think they have deliberatly gone out of their way to annoy the LEP owners that are upset. Yes it is taking longer then what we all want and that is probably the same for FDev too.

As to the new era we don't really know what will happen with that. For all we know there could be more then one DLC available which may make up for the time taken. We probably only have 10 months or so for something to be shown and 10 months can go pretty quickly.

 

[Marshall...]

You got a snowflake though.

The cynical side of me thinks FDev were trolling us LEP holders with that one!!!!!

 

[Wescott]

Not a huge amount. There's this kind of vague clarity:



And this apparent leak, which is 4 for 4 on its predictions, and suggests the DLC is Legs + Thargs + Base Building.

I love that wish I had thought of it first, my questions is, is it the clarity that's vague though or that the vagueness is clear. FDs approach shows they've studied the Political arena or maybe Mycology and we know how that goes..