Notice GalNet changes

[Old Duck]

I just heard the news. Frankly, I am not surprised. Like a lot of other people, my future hopes rest upon Odyssey. Right now I can entertain the notion that Odyssey is going to be so full of content and new features, that such niceties as CGs and GALNET are no longer going to be necessary.

The problem I have with this is that Odyssey is DLC. Imagine Skyrim (the base game) having content and lore removed, forcing people to buy Dawnguard to experience any of this. Or ESO, or any game with DLC. The only way this would be acceptable is if the content that Odyssey provides that replaces Galnet* is backported into the base game of Elite.

* Galnet primarily being the communication tool for Interstellar Initiatives, Community Goals, and "cool stuff" to be found in the game.

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

Perhaps it would have been wiser of frontier to have enough people on staff to cover all their bases

 

[amigacooke]

Perhaps it would have been wiser of frontier to have enough people on staff to cover all their bases

I thought with 100 staff they did.

 

[Old Duck]

I thought with 100 staff they did.

99 of them are working hard to push out WEEKLY paint jobs.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Perhaps it would have been wiser of frontier to have enough people on staff to cover all their bases

What rankles me is we were told FD could not do the writing for Fleet Carriers and Galnet together, and to get FCs they had to prioritize.

Is there that much text in FCs? I'm kind of hoping we get a massive lore injection in EDO otherwise it shows that lore in ED was on a sticky wicket from Day 1.

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

I thought with 100 staff they did.

I think thats 100 between all of their games and such. Id find no surprise to learn less than a handful work on elite specifically, not counting CMs of course. I would think if there were we would get more done more often.

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

What rankles me is we were told FD could not do the writing for Fleet Carriers and Galnet together, and to get FCs they had to prioritize.

Is there that much text in FCs? I'm kind of hoping we get a massive lore injection in EDO otherwise it shows that lore in ED was on a sticky wicket from Day 1.

They make more money selling the lore in paperback im sure

 

[Drelthar]

I think thats 100 between all of their games and such. Id find no surprise to learn less than a handful work on elite specifically, not counting CMs of course. I would think if there were we would get more done more often.

Nah they specifically stated it was 100 devs on elite itself.

 

[VR StarLightPL]

If I'm being completely honest, I don't miss this fluff. If it contained something that would tie-in with the game, other than completely irrelevant and optional news, that would be something. Like new FSD drives thread which never materialised further. I found it mildly entertaining when they introduced the text to speech method as something to alleviate long and ultraboring SC flights, but nothing more than that. Unpopular opinion, I know, sorry not sorry.

Nah they specifically stated it was 100 devs on elite itself.

Citation needed. Badly.

 

[Drelthar]

If I'm being completely honest, I don't miss this fluff. If it contained something that would tie-in with the game, other than completely irrelevant and optional news, that would be something. Like new FSD drives thread which never materialised further. I found it mildly entertaining when they introduced the text to speech method as something to alleviate long and ultraboring SC flights, but nothing more than that. Unpopular opinion, I know, sorry not sorry.


Citation needed. Badly.

Someone will find it, it's this "big thing" people keep bringing up. I remember reading the stuff it actually came from - was sometime around when they brought all those youTubers into the office to look round and chat to them about stuff.

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

Nah they specifically stated it was 100 devs on elite itself.

Id imagine a literal 'one hundred developers' could have made quite a few full games and dlcs for each in the time its been since we were told that. I remember my parents once specifically told me santa clause was real, just saying. If theres are 100 developers working on this game, what have they been doing? Of course, Odyssey trailer looks promising, i know better than to have faith in promises though so

 

[Old Duck]

If I'm being completely honest, I don't miss this fluff. If it contained something that would tie-in with the game, other than completely irrelevant and optional news, that would be something. Like new FSD drives thread which never materialised further. I found it mildly entertaining when they introduced the text to speech method as something to alleviate long and ultraboring SC flights, but nothing more than that. Unpopular opinion, I know, sorry not sorry.

It's actually not that unpopular an opinion. Many of us wanted RELEVANT stories in Galnet, stories that reflected what was going on in the game. I remember the Galnet story about some week-long music festival happening in some system. I actually flew to that system hoping to see extra NPCs in limousine ships, texting "Rock on, dude!" But when I got there, it was no different than any other system, with no evidence of a galactic "party of the century". I felt let down.

The problem is, Frontier cut off the head to spite the nose (or however that saying goes). Galnet was amazing during the time of Interstellar Initiatives IMO. Even when I didn't participate in an II, I enjoyed following along via Galnet. This was especially true later on as Frontier got better at weaving story-based IIs (Galaconda, Palin's kidnapping, etc). In fact, I had shelved ED indefinitely until these Interstellar Initiatives brought me back. This direction of the game not only was enough to get me playing again, it actually played a role in me finally switching from PS4 to PC!

So for me personally, my sorrow with the loss of Galnet is joined at the hip with my sorrow with the loss of Interstellar Initiatives and Community Goals. I think this bothers me more than any other change to the game (except the introduction of EBL on PS4, but that's a different category of "change"), as it changes the very feel of the game itself. Unfortunately the removal of the ADS, followed by Frontier's refusal to change their minds despite desperate pleas and the tangible loss of many loyal players, leaves me with little hope for the future of Galnet, IIs, or anything else Frontier removes from the game "because".

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

It's actually not that unpopular an opinion. Many of us wanted RELEVANT stories in Galnet, stories that reflected what was going on in the game. I remember the Galnet story about some week-long music festival happening in some system. I actually flew to that system hoping to see extra NPCs in limousine ships, texting "Rock on, dude!" But when I got there, it was no different than any other system, with no evidence of a galactic "party of the century". I felt let down.

The problem is, Frontier cut off the head to spite the nose (or however that saying goes). Galnet was amazing during the time of Interstellar Initiatives IMO. Even when I didn't participate in an II, I enjoyed following along via Galnet. This was especially true later on as Frontier got better at weaving story-based IIs (Galaconda, Palin's kidnapping, etc). In fact, I had shelved ED indefinitely until these Interstellar Initiatives brought me back. This direction of the game not only was enough to get me playing again, it actually played a role in me finally switching from PS4 to PC!

So for me personally, my sorrow with the loss of Galnet is joined at the hip with my sorrow with the loss of Interstellar Initiatives and Community Goals. I think this bothers me more than any other change to the game (except the introduction of EBL on PS4, but that's a different category of "change"), as it changes the very feel of the game itself. Unfortunately the removal of the ADS, followed by Frontier's refusal to change their minds despite desperate pleas and the tangible loss of many loyal players, leaves me with little hope for the future of Galnet, IIs, or anything else Frontier removes from the game "because".

Cut off the nose to spite the face, however, i like your version considerably more in this situation.

 

[Thatchinho]

I get where you are coming from and agree about source mixing, but I also see the need for simplicity + consistency too.

Galnet for me to be perfect only needs the seeds of clues to be highlighted, and that fluff stories separated from 'real' ones (for example Galnet has a 'main news' section plus an 'in other news' section, and that in the manual this separation is explained so players instantly filter and know the difference).

I think rather than local Galnet, I'd love NPC tip offs from local chatter or shadowy messages, or message intercepts (via coded transmissions or downed ships).

If FD were smart they could weave huge amounts of stuff to find using all these methods, but I think we are beyond that possibility sadly and we are into least effort required territory.

Missed off the last paragraph in the previous reply @Rubbernuke , sorry!

On one hand I completely agree. There is no way any of that is happening in the pre-Odyssey period. With almost all ED staff focused on Odyssey (which will be even more in the period properly building up to its launch*), there's not going to be any resources available to do hardly anything in the live game, let alone adding new mystery content.

On the other hand, what the situation will be in Odyssey itself, and how FD GM (for want of a better term) the game in the new era, is completely unclear.

There's a lot of mystery related content that's been on pause for a while. IMHO, there's various factors in that, but a key one is that new mechanics is going to be necessary to progress them effectively. Legs is one of those mechanics. Atmos Landings is another. We're not getting full Atmos Landings in Odyssey, and we might only be getting Planet Legs, not full Space Legs. So just how much scope for progression of those things there actually is in Odyssey remains to be seen. It has had narrative staff working on it for quite a while now, so there's definitely a bit of potential there, but then again there's all the more basic side of legs stuff which is going to need scripting, so who knows.

*The bracketed part isn't an official FD statement, it's just me saying it, but it will almost certainly (99%) be the case.

 

[Krieger]

It will be interesting to ser what Odyssey is actually about... If they will ever get around to letting players know.

Based on what we now from the Odyssey announcement and the trailer I'll make a guess: Space Legs will be the main (only?) new feature of Odyssey. Most or all new gameplay and associated in-game assets will be based on walking around. FDEV already said base building is not on the roadmap. So what's left to do when you can walk around on planets armed with a gun and with armed ships flying overhead? Fighting of course! I suspect planets with tenuous atmospheres will be permanent battle arenas. The social hubs are where you recruit people, plan battles, negotiate with other factions, etc, etc.

PS: This is not wishful thinking on my part. Space Legs isn't even on my wishlist.

 

[Old Duck]

Based on what we now from the Odyssey announcement and the trailer I'll make a guess: Space Legs will be the main (only?) new feature of Odyssey. Most or all new gameplay and associated in-game assets will be based on walking around. FDEV already said base building is not on the roadmap. So what's left to do when you can walk around on planets armed with a gun and with armed ships flying overhead? Fighting of course! I suspect planets with tenuous atmospheres will be permanent battle arenas. The social hubs are where you recruit people, plan battles, negotiate with other factions, etc, etc.

PS: This is not wishful thinking on my part. Space Legs isn't even on my wishlist.

Fortnite In Space... or Eve Dust 514...

Space legs ARE on my wishlist, but these are not the legs I'm looking for.

 

[thistle]

I think we might need to wait to find out what is in Odyssey.

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

Fortnite In Space... or Eve Dust 514...

Space legs ARE on my wishlist, but these are not the legs I'm looking for.

Im sorry, you left me no choice

 

[Old Duck]

I think we might need to wait to find out what is in Odyssey.

Too bad there isn't anything CURRENT in the game to discuss. If only there was some exciting Interstellar Initiative happening, covered by Galnet....

Sure, I suppose we could complain about all the bugs in the Fleet Carrier update, but I've been complaining about bugs for three years, so this thread is a nice change of pace.

Or do you just want to sit around the campfire singing kumbaya? "Someone's crying, Lord Braben, kumbaya."

 

[Everin Grace]

As a new player I'm a big fan of the lore. It was very upsetting to see that Galnet and a lot of the community-involved content (such as community goals) had basically been mothballed. I really feel like I came to this beautiful game but it is like Disneyland under Covid.

I have questions that I hope our new community manager can help with:

1. Will there still be background lore and updates to the powerplay universe? Political strife / Storyline stuff? Will the community be allowed to contribute to it?
2. Will community events come back and be integrated into Galnet? When you say Galnet is coming back and focusing on in-game content does that mean community goals will reappear, or do you mean strictly dev-created content. To be honest that doesn't happen a lot and I think the community wants to pick up the slack.

On a general story-line level, especially with Spacelegs in Odyssey coming soon, immersion in this universe has never been more important.

3. How will stories be told? Will the community have a say in that? For example installations seem to be setup for space-legs content. Is that an opportunity for player/universe interaction that might be galnet material?


Generally towards galaxy fiction and powerplay:

4. Is there room for discussion about improving some of the actual powerplay interaction with the fiction and galnet articles? For example that galnet announces when a power is expanding / receding into systems or when a power is being wiped from the map (looking at you Winters).

5. Is there room to describe player factions and squadrons growing or generally becoming more significant in the universe?




I guess my focus is perhaps not so much on what FDev can deliver to us by way of "new stuff" but how the community can be involved and contribute to it. Galnet if its just going to be a narrative on "whats going on at the moment" will be a shadow of what it could be and what it tried to be. I hope FDev arent simply giving up on it and reducing it to simply to a web window on the game.

6. You gave us this beautiful sandbox and filled it with great stories. What can we do with them? How can we help? Is Galnet still going to be part of that?