CM Communication

[Bard Voronwe]

It depends on how FD view the game and if they see it whole or a collection of features.

Powerplay was supposed to be the flashy counterpart to the BGS (which at the time was primitive) but over time Powerplay was just left and the BGS grew and was shown dev time.

Today Powerplay lives as a pale shadow of the BGS, so FD need to ask themselves "what is Powerplay for?". It would be stupid to try and duplicate the BGS again, because what audience is it attracting? FD need to give Powerplay a place in Elite now that is apart from the BGS and gives something the rest of the game does not do.

FD have all the answers, they just lack the courage to follow them through. I mean, that first proposal (the one from Discord) must still be knocking about under someones coffee mug....

We both know what we are talking about and how THAT is never gonna happen.

At this point I mostly consider even pointless to have hope in some change of heart about that. Elite Dangerous is currently the biggest and most complex screenshot generator in the market, with some mini-games in it to take time, with no real consequences to the things you do in the game itself. Yes, Archon Delaine had his time in the GalNet, but the Kumo Council faction is unfavourable to Archon Delaine as a Power. They don't care. At least that's what they proved until now.

 

[Rubbernuke]

We both know what we are talking about and how THAT is never gonna happen.

At this point I mostly consider even pointless to have hope in some change of heart about that. Elite Dangerous is currently the biggest and most complex screenshot generator in the market, with some mini-games in it to take time, with no real consequences to the things you do in the game itself. Yes, Archon Delaine had his time in the GalNet, but the Kumo Council faction is unfavourable to Archon Delaine as a Power. They don't care. At least that's what they proved until now.

All we can do is wait for the livestream, and hope it gives answers- not to mention FD actually listening to the people who make / made Powerplay work for all these years.

 

[Bard Voronwe]

All we can do is wait for the livestream, and hope it gives answers- not to mention FD actually listening to the people who make / made Powerplay work for all these years.

I'm always happy to be proved wrong. But my expectations have never been so low.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I'm always happy to be proved wrong. But my expectations have never been so low.

I know what you mean. My enthusiasm tank is running empty too.

 

[stormyuk]

@Zac Cocken Can you please work on getting a straight answer to the question of a native PS5 / Xbox Series version, many thanks!

I too would love to know if this has been re-looked at considering the current gen has now been here for 7 months with many developers embracing them with new games, reworks and upgrades. I have a feeling Odyssey would benefit greatly.

The PS5 seriously needs a 4K mode to match that of the last generation Xbox One X.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

The issue will always be making long lasting and complete game loops to keep people playing. At some point people will want a cause, and might want more than what the BGS can do.

Powerplay when it works brings all the game together, and draws on huge amounts of disparate skills. If FD want ED to keep on bringing in the coin its going to need features like Powerplay working rather than being dysfunctional.

Powerplay has the potential to give deep and meaningful reasons to do gameplay too. At the moment it doesn't really do that, but I am always hopeful that it will at some point.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Powerplay has the potential to give deep and meaningful reasons to do gameplay too. At the moment it doesn't really do that, but I am always hopeful that it will at some point.

If FD had updated Powerplay at 2.x they would have had a built in free form Star Wars Squadrons for free. IMO it makes little sense for FD to duplicate what already exists (the BGS) so I hope whatever they do, they make something that stands apart.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

If FD had updated Powerplay at 2.x they would have had a built in free form Star Wars Squadrons for free. IMO it makes little sense for FD to duplicate what already exists (the BGS) so I hope whatever they do, they make something that stands apart.

I wouldn't want it to duplicate what happens with the BGS, but it sure could work more closely with it. Have it intertwined with it. Have minor factions influence the powers they are aligned to or oppose, update factions so some will align with powers, have powers influence the system states in a broader way that a faction does.

They could be so well intertwined, it could be blooming brilliant. But alas, it's just a bit meh at the moment. Having this layer on top of the BGS that looks good, but doesn't really do anything just doesn't do it for me.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I wouldn't want it to duplicate what happens with the BGS, but it sure could work more closely with it. Have it intertwined with it. Have minor factions influence the powers they are aligned to or oppose, update factions so some will align with powers, have powers influence the system states in a broader way that a faction does.

They could be so well intertwined, it could be blooming brilliant. But alas, it's just a bit meh at the moment. Having this layer on top of the BGS that looks good, but doesn't really do anything just doesn't do it for me.

It really comes down to what FD 'want'. It could go either way- PP could be an extra topping on the BGS, or it could be as it is now (in that each power has gov types it likes and hates, making defence and expansion easier / harder). Until FD have a vision and the will things will just stay as they are sadly.

 

[Bard Voronwe]

I wouldn't want it to duplicate what happens with the BGS, but it sure could work more closely with it. Have it intertwined with it. Have minor factions influence the powers they are aligned to or oppose, update factions so some will align with powers, have powers influence the system states in a broader way that a faction does.

They could be so well intertwined, it could be blooming brilliant. But alas, it's just a bit meh at the moment. Having this layer on top of the BGS that looks good, but doesn't really do anything just doesn't do it for me.

Well actually this is how it works right now and it is a little bit of a problem actually, because it makes Powerplay a little bit dispersive, if you know what I mean.

In my (countless) proposals during the years, I realised that Powerplay should probably have some minor effects over BGS (like small bonuses for factions with the same alligeance, dropping the government oriented ethos thing that made it nonsensical) but shouldn't be affected by the bgs itself (so the two things are separated), and that gameplay wise Powerplay should offer every game mechanic by dedicated missions (with different flavours considering the different Powers' concepts).

But again: not confident for something like this to happen after 6 years.

Honestly not confident for anything oriented to make Elite Dangerous a good MMO to happen, Frontier did a potentially great MMO but that was not their design, so they stick with this single-multiplayer hybrid that makes the game itself pretty bad considering both mechanics (with no real single player campaign as for the old games nor a fair and balanced multiplayer structure).

Sorry to be that bitter but that's what I think of the game actually, as some forum-dad told me straight, I might have buy a game hoping it could become better one day, and that's true, and that didn't happen, so everybody is unhappy of their "part" of gameplay.

And there's no will by FDev itself to improve any of the single or multiplayer spheres. And that's depressing. Really.

 

[Vandaahl]

Heyo - current plan is to speak about Powerplay on the first monthly developer stream at the end of the month.

Hi. Do you have an update about the new plan?

 

[Bard Voronwe]

Hi. Do you have an update about the new plan?

He said the end of the month, didn't mention what month he was talking about, or the year.

 

[Bard Voronwe]

Come on @Zac Cocken , just tell us what everybody know already: Frontier doesn't care about Powerplay and Powerplayers in general. Even you promised something very simple to us (for Powerplay to be part of some developer stream) and you were not able to deliver. Oh and don't worry: we are very well used to it, no surprises and no bad blood about it. Just a little bit of exasperation, but that's all.

 

[Pigletslastand]

Heyo - current plan is to speak about Powerplay on the first monthly developer stream at the end of the month.

That aged well

 

[Viscera]

Hi. Do you have an update about the new plan?

The new plan if I have read everything correctly, is to go dark whilst adding light... it's quite ingenious...

 

[Zac Cocken]

Come on @Zac Cocken , just tell us what everybody know already: Frontier doesn't care about Powerplay and Powerplayers in general. Even you promised something very simple to us (for Powerplay to be part of some developer stream) and you were not able to deliver. Oh and don't worry: we are very well used to it, no surprises and no bad blood about it. Just a little bit of exasperation, but that's all.

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

 

[Pigletslastand]

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

That was reallly good of you Zac, cheers for that!

 

[Rubbernuke]

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

Its good you are talking about Powerplay behind the scenes, but please, engage with the people who play it too- Powerplay is complex but people like @Bard Voronwe know it inside out and can really help you out.

As an example: you recently added a Kumo Council faction that was feudal- now, Bard and I just cried with pain when you did because instantly we knew this was a mistake. Feudal gov types are bad for the Kumo power in the control phase- so you introduced a Kumo BGS faction that is incompatible with the Power long term.

 

[Bard Voronwe]

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

So honestly just tell me: what should I say to my community, and what the feds, the blues and the alliance should tell to theirs?

To suck up all the bugs and the bad design decisions of the past that makes Powerplay the sorry mess it is right now for another 6 years? At this point just kill the thing out of respect of the people that did so much to entertain your players despite everything, included being let down another time by the Devs and the CMs. We are tired. And ed off.

 

[Bard Voronwe]

Oh and btw: you need some quickies to make "that beast" at least playable? JUST ASK US.