ANNOUNCEMENT Community Update (22/10)
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Ok, this dont' make any sense because if they were on track to fix the bugs and release FC's then this entire post wouldn't have been necessary, instead Wil could have gone 'Hey we should have all this addressed by the Dec update and we'll even be throwing in a beta release to address your concerns about bugs'.
That isn't what happened, as to 'taking time and resources away, no. What takes time away from bug fixes is priorities being set that don't allow it, what takes time away from development is if your managing a project poorly otherwise the 'communities' asking for a bunch of things to be addressed shouldn't be an issue. The fact that the community ASKING had to happen is signs that there is an issue, the fact that FDEV's main voice's amongst the community when it comes to content are those who signed the letter (which I've now read and the reddit responses) speaks volumes given some of those same people have been some of FDEV's biggest defenders up until recently.
This entire year was meant to be reduced content and fixes to the CORE GAME and it's functionality while fixing bugs that was the reason we got given last year for the lack of expansion, while yes they have fixed a bunch they also managed to now on TWO SEPERATE patches break the game majorly. Ontop of that a certain community Rep comes out and goes 'well you've not paid for the past year of updates' (go read the reddit),despite the fact that a lot of people paid for that stuff IN ADVANCE through the purchase of Life Time Expansion passes or the like and NO ONE in the community forced Fdev to not put out a 'season' this year, they just knew they wouldn't be able to sell the 'updates' they have given us and the lack of content for the price of a season pass this year. That choice is on them, not us just like the choice to go games as a service was THEIR choice not ours, given we were originally promised a game that didn't require them to maintain a server backend.
To say the Customer is at fault here like many others have is also wrong, does this community like many at times get over entitled? Yeah we are only human, do we at times seem to forget that there are a lot of people who pour their hearts and souls into this game trying to make new things a reality? Yeah we do, but then we don't exactly get to SEE them doing that these days do we so unlike the early days when we felt at least some companionship with them because we were 'along for the ride' that's started to become a feeling of 'no ones listening' and again when people point this out the community tends to polerize and either shout them down because apparently if your critical of FDEV your 'wanting the game to suck' or something... which is likely anything or jump on the band wagon because there just as frustrated as the person who posted. But the big thing is every person who actually posts about Bugs, about issues etc is doing so because They want a good game, they want ELITE: DANGEROUS to live up to the vision DAVID sold us. But as I've said over the years yeah you have a possibly growing subsection who are rightfully in a lot of ways bitter about the way the customers been treated and the only ones to blame for it in the end are Frontier Development, because communication has never ever been their strong point after the initial kickstarter and alpha buy in.
Honestly again why is it soo bad for companies these days to be honest with their user base? Why have to HIDE behind stuff with 'we don't like to show it until it's almost complete' when there are plenty of cases of developers doing the exact opposite and it actually helping them develop a better product! People have pointed out DE and Warframe as an example and its not a bad one, they learnt the HARD way that not listening could be damaging it resulted in them reworking their entire game.. they then released something which was less then what they wanted (arcwing) rather then going oh well too bad lets just drop it and move on they have over time worked it into what's one of their major content releases and gotten feedback not only during Tennocon etc but from Dev Diaries and forum feedback over what people think of the look and feel of the update, letting them address concerns PRIOR to it releasing be them about requirements for systems, changes to game play etc. Yeah there are still bugs but the open cycle of this dev loop seems to keep em some what limited on a game that is in the end in some ways just as complicated, just in different ways.
In the end though we all want the same thing, a better Elite Dangerous with less bugs that we can enjoy, I just wish Frontier would stop hiding behind excuses and start being transparent and including the community in that process it might prevent a lot of the mess in the first place.
I would disagree only because i've seen frontier not make crap. There was a time when frontier cared, when they had more riding on elite being a success. It was amazing and inspiring what they put into elite actually.
Was it around late 2017? Frontiers attitude completely changed. I think making it work is a decision of people who approve salaries and expenses for the staff working on it and their priorities have been in the wrong place. Im happy to be wrong, but if i am, the possibilities are only bad, its either theyre doing a star citizen (billions spent for mistakes and no output) or stuck with a b team who just aren't very good (saying it politely).
Things just don't add up with 100 people spending years designing, developing and testing.. theres a tangible gap between effort and changes to the game for some reason.
I hope they can do their internal soul searching and fix it for space legs at least.
I play videogames from 1979 and Elite Dangerous is the game I’ve spent more time on. Must have a very personal idea of what is a good game I guess
All the above sounds like a very good idea.
Sure, I want my Fleet Carrier as well. Best Yesterday. But since I'm not a 5 year old anymore, I learned to have patience at some point and can wait a bit until I get my hands on new toys.
Hooray for bug squishing! Kill em all!
The majority of these are still working on the 2020 update. Which has been pointed out before. Over and over and over again.
And it's also been stated before that it's 100 developers, not including HR, PR, janitorial staff, sales personnel, or the retiree staffing the employee cafeteria.
Reminder, Beyond was announced in October 2017 for 2018.... not 2019 (let alone 2nd quarter 2020)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETiz4SQZFhs
I can understand that this has been a very difficult decision for FD, and not one taken lightly. I, as well as many other commanders, are very disappointed that fleet carriers will be delayed, but I do understand the need for the additional maintenance to the game. Bringing the open beta back into the game however is a great decision, as no amount of in house testing will show the full extent of what updates can affect, so having the player base involved will allow a much more in depth testing phase. There are so many paths and different kinds of gameplay that people can take in this, some more niche than others. We (all commanders in the Elite universe) want this to be better, a sentiment I'm sure FD also shares. Im happy that we can all work together to make sure this can realise its full potential. Keep up the good work FD, we'll all get there together.
That was BEFORE the "Open Letter Initiative"
The truth probably is, that they've been unable to get fleet carriers to work, maybe some existing bugs are contributing to the problem, maybe not, but the only option is to delay.
Yes, the upside is that they get longer to try and fix the fleet carriers problem, and can squash minor bugs at the same time.
The downside is, yet another missed feature.
I'm surprised that 8 months of nothing but bug fixes is appeasing so many people, given that 2018 and 2019 (and the bulk of 2020) were all "no new big content, we're going to concentrate on improving the core features and fixing bugs/refining elements".
The last entirely new game changing feature was ship launched fighters, in October 2016.
Since then it's been reworks of existing mechanics or thargoids (which are cool but basically turned into a boss level npc).
Thinking about this over night, I'm a bit disappointed. People have been patient, but time and again we've had these long periods of time with no progress and no communication. When I went to fx2017 it was already feeling like nothing substantial had happened since 2016, we then accepted the beyond roadmap in good faith as it was going to build up the existing gameplay, but it was on the understanding that 2019 would then be the time for big new content.
We keep hearing that multiple teams are working simultaneously on multiple upgrades, and have been for years.
Where did they go?
I've said before, the level of secrecy around everything to do with the future of the game is eroding the player base. I can't get excited about the future when, since the end of 2018, no one can tell us what the future is.
So yeah, fleet carriers is baffling. A feature that was supposed to be here in December 2018 is now going to be June 2020 at the earliest. This wouldn't be a big deal if it was one of a bunch of other new features, but it's not, it had become the only feature we had to look forward to for almost 2 years.
Yes, the upside is that they get longer to try and fix the fleet carriers problem, and can squash minor bugs at the same time.
The downside is, yet another missed feature.
I'm surprised that 8 months of nothing but bug fixes is appeasing so many people, given that 2018 and 2019 (and the bulk of 2020) were all "no new big content, we're going to concentrate on improving the core features and fixing bugs/refining elements".
The last entirely new game changing feature was ship launched fighters, in October 2016.
Since then it's been reworks of existing mechanics or thargoids (which are cool but basically turned into a boss level npc).
Thinking about this over night, I'm a bit disappointed. People have been patient, but time and again we've had these long periods of time with no progress and no communication. When I went to fx2017 it was already feeling like nothing substantial had happened since 2016, we then accepted the beyond roadmap in good faith as it was going to build up the existing gameplay, but it was on the understanding that 2019 would then be the time for big new content.
We keep hearing that multiple teams are working simultaneously on multiple upgrades, and have been for years.
Where did they go?
I've said before, the level of secrecy around everything to do with the future of the game is eroding the player base. I can't get excited about the future when, since the end of 2018, no one can tell us what the future is.
So yeah, fleet carriers is baffling. A feature that was supposed to be here in December 2018 is now going to be June 2020 at the earliest. This wouldn't be a big deal if it was one of a bunch of other new features, but it's not, it had become the only feature we had to look forward to for almost 2 years.
Yeah sure...
I just imagine you get your shiny new Clipper AND your Carrier. But you won't be able to use them because they are bugged.
But whatever...You don't give a fig about Bugs.
Thats pretty much it for Elite. We are waiting for content since 3 years now. Please have in mind that even the Horizons season, originally scheduled for one year, was delayed, and everything else after Horizons was delivered in a - lets say - annoying quality state. For whatever reason they stopped focussing on Elite. And for every fanboy and white knight here: Stop telling everybody that the delays are a good choice and healthy for the game. They are not. It´s a matter of quality and ressouces, and both of that is something that Frontier puts on Planet Zoo and maybe other projects.
Have you seen Micheal Brooks or Sandy lately? Have you heard a single word from David Braben since 2 years? No. Why? Because Elite is no longer their primary product. It just helped Frontier to grow, and the stupid community paid for it, well knowing since 2015 that they only put minimum work into Elite.
Have you seen Micheal Brooks or Sandy lately? Have you heard a single word from David Braben since 2 years? No. Why? Because Elite is no longer their primary product. It just helped Frontier to grow, and the stupid community paid for it, well knowing since 2015 that they only put minimum work into Elite.
You must be really upset about all the upcoming (and in your mind unnecessary) bugfixes then.I play videogames from 1979 and Elite Dangerous is the game I’ve spent more time on. Must have a very personal idea of what is a good game I guess
I never said customers are screwing it up. I said customers are whining cos they got what they asked for.
I work in a service company and yes I talk to my customers exactly like this. Honesty and integrity builds trust and followed up with competent performance instills respect from your customer base.
However whining spoilt gamers have very little respect for anything due to the anonymity of the interwebs so they stomp their feet and cry when they get what they asked for.
But as usual these conversations are not worth the effort so....
X4 from egosoft i just thougt about what they could Realität with the ed money. See x games there are 20 devs. And waiting for railjack in wareframe
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