This is what Maintenance Mode must be like :(

[Red Anders]

I played a game that was genuinely in maintenance mode. No communication of any kind from the dev team for two years. No updates of any kind for two years. Literally nothing at all changing about the game experience for two years.

Whatever people think of the direction of the game at the moment and the dev team's priorities, this is not maintenance mode.

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

sorry, but that's actually a good definition of maintenance mode. a mode that isn't necessarily terminal, and the game has been in several times, sometimes officially, sometimes not.

Sorry, That's not my definition of Maintenance mode though. Like I said before, in the MMO world; Maintenance Mode is when you just have the servers left running and that's it. (Normally six months before sunset, eg MXO, SWG, actually most old SOE games).

it's actually you guys (posts like this) who play the doom card when confronted with criticism or description that seems too much for you to process or tolerate.

Now that's just personal, I've never said the game is doomed, quite the opposite, in fact. It's in a low priority state at the moment, we all know that. However, people shouting that the game is maintenance mode (and so will be sunset soon) are just getting people all worked up over nothing. They certainly haven't played an MMO when it is in Maintenance Mode because that is a lot worse than the present situation with Elite.

 

[marx]

If you want to look at an MMO that is in maintenance mode, take a look at Guild Wars 1. It has been in maintenance mode since 2013 or so: the game is still up and the servers are running, but no new content is planned, and the few patches that are released occasionally are for fixing severe bugs only. They did make the servers less expensive to run prior to this, mind.

 

[babelfisch]

We will only find out in 2020. Either FD round out ED and make it coherent, or they go back to old habits and glue on more dodgy features.

Probably both, depending on your viewpoint.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

We will only find out in 2020. Either FD round out ED and make it coherent, or they go back to old habits and glue on more dodgy features.

I'd certainly like to think that the recent changes we've seen and recent announcements are an indicator of Frontier going in a more logical direction. Elite hit the ground running, and never learned to crawl or walk, and we're seeing now what the result of that has been. If they take some time, master the crawl and the stand, we'll be walking soon enough, and the next time we run, we'll lap Usain Bolt. And yes, we may fall down, but as long as we get up again then nothing will keep us down.

 

[znôrt]

Sorry, That's not my definition of Maintenance mode though. Like I said before, in the MMO world; Maintenance Mode is when you just have the servers left running and that's it. (Normally six months before sunset, eg MXO, SWG, actually most old SOE games).

that's a very narrow definition i doubt you can substantiate as common acception. it's actually a generic and very unspecific term that basically means 'not in active development, just maintained'. or are you really implying people is saying ed will "sunset" in 6 months? with a dlc announced for release in about 8?

what people mean is that frontier isn't doing substantial development on the current version of the game. carriers is a featurette for the future which they have been dragging along for ... 2 years already? and which they have just 'prioritised'. so doesn't really sound as 'active development'. new era is indeterminate, could be a completely new game, so doesn't count for ed even if 99 of those mythical 100 developers are on it.

It's in a low priority state at the moment, we all know that.

yes. maintenance mode describes it well, unless someone isn't willing to do the minimal interpretation effort before making a fuss about those pesky 'doomsayers'. sorry but i still interpret most of these interactions as just reactionary. on the plus side, some are quite fun!

 

[Rubbernuke]

Probably both, depending on your viewpoint.

As an example: is lore officially dead? Is it back in 2020 or is this 'it' now?

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

that's a very narrow definition i doubt you can substantiate as common acception. it's actually a generic and very unspecific term that basically means 'not in active development, just maintained'. or are you really implying people is saying ed will "sunset" in 6 months? with a dlc announced for release in about 8?

what people mean is that frontier isn't doing substantial development on the current version of the game. carriers is a featurette for the future which they have been dragging along for ... 2 years already? and which they have just 'prioritised'. so doesn't really sound as 'active development'. new era is indeterminate, could be a completely new game, so doesn't count for ed even if 99 of those mythical 100 developers are on it.

Sounds like you don't believe they have anyone working on it.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

DOOM:
We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite. Millions of years after your playerbase has been eradicated and forgotten, we will endure.

CMDR Shepard:
Where are the rest of the Doommongers? Are you the last of your kind?

DOOM:
We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your DOOM.

Repent! And restore your souls to glory.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

As an example: is lore officially dead? Is it back in 2020 or is this 'it' now?

Just curious, what "lore"? I've been trying to find the Lore section of the Codex since it was released. It seems rather lacking. Same with the "Story Progression" section.

 

[Mengy]

If you want to look at an MMO that is in maintenance mode, take a look at Guild Wars 1. It has been in maintenance mode since 2013 or so: the game is still up and the servers are running, but no new content is planned, and the few patches that are released occasionally are for fixing severe bugs only.

Yep. Another game in maintenance mode is Diablo III. Blizz still supports the game and regularly does small content updates plus new seasons, but there won't be any new expansions or large content updates for it again.

Elite Dangerous still has a large team working on it and a big update planned at the end of next year, so it is not in maintenance mode. The problem is it FEELS like its in maintenance mode due to no major content for almost two years. This is where some solid communication by Frontier would go a long way, to give the community some confidence. Silent running isn't doing the game any favors over this terribly long lull.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Just curious, what "lore"? I've been trying to find the Lore section of the Codex since it was released. It seems rather lacking. Same with the "Story Progression" section.

EDs lore has been sort of retconned (its why I split ED into eras- Brookes was the first, and established a lot of core concepts that were dropped) and now stopped. By lore I mean Tier 1 character progression, galactic goings on, general information that builds a world.

 

[znôrt]

Sounds like you don't believe they have anyone working on it.

well, someone keeps creeping bugs in, for sure.

but no, there is no rational way you could have inferred that from my post. so dunno what your goal here is but i don't think it is communication. maybe it's best we leave it at that.

 

[Lightspeed]

Yep. Another game in maintenance mode is Diablo III. Blizz still supports the game and regularly does small content updates plus new seasons, but there won't be any new expansions or large content updates for it again.

Elite Dangerous still has a large team working on it and a big update planned at the end of next year, so it is not in maintenance mode. The problem is it FEELS like its in maintenance mode due to no major content for almost two years. This is where some solid communication by Frontier would go a long way, to give the community some confidence. Silent running isn't doing the game any favors over this terribly long lull.

Excellent point made .... which is summarized by the title of this thread

 

[babelfisch]

As an example: is lore officially dead? Is it back in 2020 or is this 'it' now?

It's probably going to be back.

 

[drew]

EDs lore has been sort of retconned (its why I split ED into eras- Brookes was the first, and established a lot of core concepts that were dropped) and now stopped. By lore I mean Tier 1 character progression, galactic goings on, general information that builds a world.

The lore pretty much stopped in mid 2017 or thereabouts. Between v2.2-v2.4 came the major retcons and breaks with the established lore. Since then it was all over the place, and latterly, conspicuous by its absence.

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[Rubbernuke]

It's probably going to be back.

'Probably' is in FD terms a no. Without the lore, there is no cohesive forward momentum for EDs background. IIs certainly don't drive anything, and player based events are invisible. Compare with something like Warhammer 40K, where lore is the core of the game and its identity (and how players identify within it).

 

[sandkid]

It's hard to say, if we're being genuine. By definition, maintenance mode means no new 'substantial' content. Obviously, Frontier is communicating that isn't the case. If we can take the team at its word, there ya go: no, it's not in maintenance mode.

Fact is, it's hard to take the team at its word much more. There's a great post titled something along the lines of 'Christmas is Cancelled, Again". This is a fact, too. Ice Planets and Fleet Carriers are just two features of the litany that haven't been delivered and were declared that they would be. We're essentially running into a crisis of credibility at this stage. It's not to Peter Molyneux levels, thank goodness, but it's bad. The bugs aren't killing Elite. The lies and lack of direction are.

Bug fixing is an ongoing process in most games and particularly online titles. The decision to fix the bugs is good, yes, but that ignores the fact they should have been a general focal point all along. Rather than promise content and then delay it continuously (which communicates you're incompetent, true or not), if bugs needed more time to fix at their introduction then the correct strategy is to say so and do so.

The game isn't in maintenance mode.
The credibility of the developer is, and has been for years, in maintenance mode.
This can very quickly lead to the game having no other route but to be forced into maintenance mode.

You have to fix the developer, first, before you fix the game they build.

Unfortunately, that's not something players/consumers can really influence as the sort of developer that is influenced by the clientele doesn't make the sort of mistakes that lead to posts like this, and so many others, in the first place. Perhaps the question to ask isn't, "Is Elite a lost cause?" and instead, "Is Frontier developing Elite a lost cause?"

 

[babelfisch]

'Probably' is in FD terms a no. Without the lore, there is no cohesive forward momentum for EDs background. IIs certainly don't drive anything, and player based events are invisible. Compare with something like Warhammer 40K, where lore is the core of the game and its identity (and how players identify within it).

Whatever they are planning for the lore is probably not fully developed yet.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Whatever they are planning for the lore is probably not fully developed yet.

My guess is that its either going to be like previous Elite titles in that its missions (like the tutorials) joined into a campaign, or FD will fully rely on the BGS to provide some context, abandoning any long term direction. Both approaches cut FDs ongoing commitment to lore in the long term and make EDs overheads less.