Drew Wagar's Thoughts

[Darth Ender]

The only area I kinda disagree with Drew is the regarding gating. I'm definitely not a supporter of grind, but I do think there should be a sense of progression and leveling up. New players shouldn't get a G5 Corvette for free just so they can fight a Thargoid 10 minutes after they start a new CMDR. On the other hand, if humanity is at war with the Thargoids, then humanity should be supplying the necessary weapons to fight those Thargoids.

This is where I wish ED had a proper player-driven economy and supply chain. Anti-Thargoid weapons should be purchasable, but imagine if Guardian materials are needed by factories to assemble them. This would allow CMDRs who love hauling stuff to gather and sell Guardian materials to factories which in turn create weapons that combat pilots can buy for their ships. This allows people with different play styles to embrace those play styles with a sense of purpose without forcing one player to be a "jack of all trades" just to do the one thing they really want to do.

Same goes for engineering - some CMDRs love the process of gathering materials and engineering modules, where others just want the end product so they can play the game they want. A [regulated] player market that would allow players to exchange goods (engineered weapons, suits, and even ships) would be amazing IMO. This could even be done between players in solo based on how the game works. Of course to prevent the market from getting flooded, rebuys would need to be reconsidered (no more magic resurrection of engineered modules).

Yes, I know, it kinda sounds like Eve, but I'm thinking more like Eve Lite, where the nuances of the economy is handled behind the scenes and balanced by the fact that NPCs also interact with Elite's galaxy. I'm also thinking of using the cool part of Eve to make Elite less grindy rather than more grindy, while still maintaining a sense of progress (because you'll still need credits and reputation to buy all this stuff).

well in imaginationland... this game is amazeballs.

you know what would be great. Is if we understood what the actual direction fdev wants to take the game in these various game loops and roles in the game. Is it done as far as they're concerned? Do they have an immediate direction they're moving it towards? But we wont get that.

so it's just more of the same "gameplay that's minimally viable" - "community sprouting ideas of what would be better" - "updates that introduce regressions and new features built on a minimally viable base (totally ignoring community in the process)" - "everyone saying they should work on what they want to see improved since the new feature in inevitably a poor fit in many areas" - "periodic narrative update"

It would just be nice to know what parts of future game development are worth dreaming about and which are totally set in stone.

Then we can finally let rubbernuke down with the cold hard truth that powerplay is never changing from what it is...

 

[CMDR Von Abrahart]

Our Holy Braben will provide

 

[Darth Ender]

Our Holy Braben will provide

View attachment 251389

Looks like he's having a gamma issue there

 

[CMDR Von Abrahart]

Looks like he's having a gamma issue there

Its not gamma - his radiance is not for mortal eyes

 

[Bottom Hat]

Yes.
that'll be a fiver please...
... or access to the stuphz cupboard*

*: damp tesco bag under the hedge in the park.

In which case, I will happily pay you a tenner...



It used to be a bag under that hedge, but the badgers kept getting a bit randy with passing dogs, so I had to move the whole lot into my storage unit (a crappy old shed).

Now I have the whole problem living/being stored in the garden, but at least I have gotten the council off my back. Plus it means I don't hang around the park so much, which is a good thing for everyone I imagine....



Being the owner of so much stuphs is not an easy job...

 

[Darth Ender]

these videos (drew's and others) will fall on deaf ears. you dont behave a certain way for 7 years by accident. none of what happened in odyssey is really new, it's just never been so impactful to as much of the playerbase (and fdev hasn't been caught in such obvious lies before).

they're reacting out of financial motivation alone, as much as they're reacting at all right now, and i dont think we've seen any evidence of any actual concern for the game's integrity or the integration of features to bring some internal consistency and balance to the game as a whole. Just working on regressions and damage control.

Who's knows if there is a plan beyond consoles. I kind of get the feeling that they were hoping they'd be bought out by tencent instead of sumo and not have to think about it (which drove them to pad their financial year numbers despite the inevitable backlash).

 

[Royston Hill]

Drew's video has some "interesting" comments regarding the volunteer moderators on the Forums. I'm sure they're just exaggerations though.

 

[CMDR Von Abrahart]

The truth will out

 

[Old Duck]

Who cares, I played EVE years and years ago with one of those free trial weeks and the economy is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen in a multiplayer game.

I think you are agreeing with me....

 

[PRORABBIT67]

 

[Red Anders]

Do you have to pay to borrow @drew 's name? I hope so.

Yeah it costs five grand but you get to write a book about it afterwards.

 

[jojon]

Who's knows if there is a plan beyond consoles.

So I don't need to know-, nor be regularly updated on every little detail about what is being worked on, or planned out - I like to be surprised, but some indication of interest, commitment, and continuity, would not go amiss.

Seems to me at least half the current situation can be summed up in the stubborn skipping-record proffering of the words: "no plans for...", which really gives the impression that nothing is planned in any way what so ever, and that once again there will be a bare minimum patching up the worst malfunctions in the latest half-of-what-was-hyped release (without including community individuals' setting themselves up for disappointment with wishful reading-between-the-lines material, that they make up on their own - consciously or not); Followed by going away for a few years, before it becomes time to assemble yet a new team, to start thinking about what little tidbit to bolt onto the game next.

I am sure this impression is unfair - tons of stuff must have gone on under the bonnet, and right now firefighting is the inevitable order of the day, but it is what it all too readily looks like from the outside.

 

[Dextio]

For those who haven't seen it yet. Here are Drew's thoughts on Odyssey.

Source: https://youtu.be/qGsQUSd-9cM?t=170

Nah, I'm good. Thanks! Good to know that an author knows how to fix a videogame though. Also always a pleasure to see such general suggestions be communicated over social media to a wide audience, in order impact and enact pressure on FDev, instead of directly communicating with them.

 

[eqinox]

Drew is spot on. Doubt FDev will listen though, it's not the first time similar criticism has been given.

 

[Darth Ender]

So I don't need to know-, nor be regularly updated on every little detail about what is being worked on, or planned out - I like to be surprised, but some indication of interest, commitment, and continuity, would not go amiss.

Surprises are good. But the surprises should be limited to events. Mysteries. Not year long stints of developer work where they're far too along to do anything about fundamental problems discovered in actual user testing or too along to change gears when the playerbase overwhelmingly isn't interested in how it's being implemented.

Those are bad ways to have surprises.

 

[Darth Ender]

Nah, I'm good. Thanks though! Good to know that an author knows how to fix a videogame though. Also always a pleasure to see such general suggestions be communicated over social media to a wide audience, in order impact and enact pressure on FDev, instead of directly communicating with them.

Cuz nobody's tried direct communication before ... Who'd have thought?! and if they have, it's been working so well so far in the last 7 years!. man. good thing we have people like you to point out the flaws.

 

[Dextio]

Cuz nobody's tried direct communication before ... Who'd have thought?! and if they have, it's been working so well so far in the last 7 years!. man. good thing we have people like you to point out the flaws.

Yep, and I'm sure in those 7 years, the stick of pressure and angst has worked out real well for everyone .

 

[GroG79]

While I agree with most stated by Drew. This video is really not about odyssey.

The Odyssey release pushed Elite dangerous to the edge. Then the youtubers pushed Elite dangerous over the edge. Half of the players were cheering when this happend. Some burning their bridges behind them. I am glad the levels of toxic have gone down over the weeks and there are new people joining (the forum).

 

[Darth Ender]

Never seen so many contradictions in one post.

feel free to point them out.

And by the way, Tencent "instead of" Sumo has already been settled:

Tencent have bought another game developer, so let's see how big their collection is now

Tencent announced they're set to buy UK game developer Sumo Digital, the folks behind games like Crackdown 3, but they own so much of the industry already.

www.rockpapershotgun.com

i know. that was supposed to read bought out by tencent instead of tencent buying sumo.

fdev management probably knew a buyout of some studio was imminent and wanted to try and look more attractive so they padded the numbers with a release that wasn't ready. The plan didn't work though and tencent bought out sumo instead.

Which would be my working theory anyway. Of course, fdev could always explain why they pushed odyssey out before it was ready. ..but they wont.

 

[jojon]

I'll just point out that, as usual, the worst "toxicity" I see, is from the self appointed positivity police -- I've seen so many great communites be murdered by the harassment and suppression coming from those types.