The Elite Dangerous Release and what we can be certain of...

[orfeboy]

There are a lot of threads flying about with doom and gloom in the air regarding the finished state of the game. I too am nervous but am trying to be optimistic. I would like to start a thread concerning what we actually know or expect backed up with reasonable evidence. These other threads are going round in circles, so here is my 2p worth!

There are some on here who believe the full release is as seen on Beta 3 + a few bug fixes.

There are things we do know however as follows:

Passengers: We have seen the new passenger ships like the Orca and the Dolphin which seem to be passenger ships. This means there has to be passengers to transport. We have not seen this in the Beta. If however these are just crappy bulletin board clicks and another kind of cargo remains to be seen....

Reputation: We have been officially told that non Beta/Alpha backers will need to build up their rep in order to enter Sol system. This means there is a reputation system already in place in the game for final release. This was not in the Beta and is again a pretty dead cert for the final game.

New Spaceships: We have all seen lists and artwork concerning new craft. We are promised 25 playable ships. I see no reason for them not to be there on release although I never questioned this aspect of the game. It hardly deserves a mention as 'new features'.

Can anyone else add to this? I would prefer this thread did not degrade into fears as to what we do and don't expect to see. Try and keep it factual if you can guys. There are plenty of other threads to cater for debate on wether the game is ready or not.

 

[KING5TON]

If they get in the Galaxy Evolution, Dynamic events, the player alliance stuff, dynamic missions, the missing ships (25 wasn't it?), the missing Hyperspace and SC stuff (linking drives etc..), the Alliance (are the Empire in the game currently?) and firm up the online side and quash the bugs people are having then I'd say we're golden

 

[StayFrosty]

Different start options: They were promised in the Kickstarter, and the Freagle with the Mercenary pack is yet another start option.

It's a small thing, but hey, it's there.

Otherwise, one of the big components that's missing to the game is NPC interaction, which is pretty much the cement that binds everything, such as reputation, piracy, passengers, and many other opportunities. We can really suppose it's there, I don't think they'd ship the game without it.

 

[orfeboy]

Different start options: They were promised in the Kickstarter, and the Freagle with the Mercenary pack is yet another start option.

It's a small thing, but hey, it's there.

Otherwise, one of the big components that's missing to the game is NPC interaction, which is pretty much the cement that binds everything, such as reputation, piracy, passengers, and many other opportunities. We can really suppose it's there, I don't think they'd ship the game without it.

If you rewatch the last newsletter video you will see the fiction writer guy with the beard says that his hopes for expansion are getting out of your ship and talking to NPC's that you only dealt with on the bulletin board. This suggests to me that NPC interaction is something that is coming in the later expansions! Shock horror!

I am in complete agreement with you. NPC's and proper missions are the glue the game really needs. Can anyone provide any solid basis to say I am wrong about this observation?

 

[StayFrosty]

If you rewatch the last newsletter video you will see the fiction writer guy with the beard says that his hopes for expansion are getting out of your ship and talking to NPC's that you only dealt with on the bulletin board. This suggests to me that NPC interaction is something that is coming in the later expansions! Shock horror!

I am in complete agreement with you. NPC's and proper missions are the glue the game really needs. Can anyone provide any solid basis to say I am wrong about this observation?

Yeah I remember that part, but I think he meant "interact with them physically", which implies fully animated models and voice acting.

Among the features originally planned for release, we have:
- Hailing NPC ships in space, to trade, call for help, ask directions, or declare piracy
- Persistent characters you'll interact with in stations, and even some you can call from your ship in a nearby station
- Communication with passengers/slaves on board your ship

All of this implies at least remote text-based communication, and if it's not there at release, then other missing features are pretty much cancelled along with it, because they'd either make no sense or just couldn't be possible anymore. Among this, I'm thinking about NPC crew, something else which we haven't heard of for quite some time. So either NPC interaction is there in some form, or there'll be no new interesting features shown on the 22nd.

 

[nosscar]

it appears to me that a lot of the more interesting features will come with future expansions, so much of the things mentioned in the DDA section is still missing, and time is so short now unless they held a lot back that is ready.
I think we can expect the full map to be opened up, maybe some more ships, and better multi player interactions.
Other than that, most will come after release, via updates and expansions, ED will continually evolve over the years to become the great game we all want.
Only my theory of course I could be totally wrong.

 

[orfeboy]

Another way to look at all of this is to consider that the game as it stands at the moment is pretty much just the original elite game but with fancier graphics. The only thing that is significantly different is supercruise. I am hoping that this is intentional since everything we seen of the promises made in those first videos David did for the kickstarter seems absent from the present build. This would basicly mean that we were all told a bunch of cobblers and that Elite is what we asked for and Elite is exactly what we got.

Now consider this, Star Citizen is a rival game and due for release in 2015. Elite Dangerous needs to be out and making money so the two don't clash and will rake money in from the same customers. Sure many people will buy both but if faced with a choice many punters will simply pick whichever they think is best. The staggered releases help counter that issue. It is a common business tactic. On the other side of the coin there is the competition between the two games to be considered. Friendly rivalry is all well and good but Elite has delivered on all its old features. Everything else is hearsay. Star Citizen has promised the Earth. Again - all hearsay as none of it has come to light yet. Therefore, FD do not want to show all their cards until the last minute. The last thing they wanted to do was show all they were doing and cause a scare with the SC developers and give them a head start in going one better. This is a business afterall even if its rivals are not sworn enemies.

ED has only shown the features that were always shown in its original Elite game and that was always going to be a dead cert. This might very well be intentional. Friendly competition is healthy but you can't tell me the devs at FD don't want their game to be better than Star Citizen? Of course they want their game to dazzle and shake up the competition. The longer they hold back the less time the competition has to counter that and implement major changes. So we wait in hope...

 

[Philip Coutts]

Death and taxes!
.
We can be sure the core game will be there. Trading, missions, mining etc. We also know there will be 25 playable ships and a few non-playable. What we don't know is will there be stuff like military missions and corporation missions. My guess is yes, all those things will be in.

 

[noodle]

This would basicly mean that we were all told a bunch of cobblers and that Elite is what we asked for and Elite is exactly what we got.

Speak for yourself. I was more interested in Frontier Elite

 

[mitth'raw'nuruodo]

Otherwise, one of the big components that's missing to the game is NPC interaction, which is pretty much the cement that binds everything, such as reputation, piracy, passengers, and many other opportunities. We can really suppose it's there, I don't think they'd ship the game without it.

This is the single most important thing for me. I am counting NPC Crew and Wingmen as part of this as well.

 

[Kemo]

...the fiction writer guy with the beard....

"The fiction writer guy... with the beard"

go sit in the corner.

 

[Darth-Simba]

I want a military career option like elite 2 and 3

 

[orfeboy]

This is the single most important thing for me. I am counting NPC Crew and Wingmen as part of this as well.

Yes and the proper missions outside of a bit of text and a button to click are so important to me to breath life into the game. I would be happy with just that. It is paramount to give people a reason to explore deeper space. There needs to be the possibility that off on some far off planet there is a string of missions to do that are highly entertaining. That is the fuel for exploration and lastability. Even if nobody ever finds them all it doesn't matter. Simply saying there are fancy balls in nice coulrs floating in space is not enought to motivate people for long. So lets hope they realise this.

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"The fiction writer guy... with the beard"

go sit in the corner.

Now he's hardly JRR Tolkien now is he?

 

[Dreadknott]

Is there gonna be an early acess before 16 Dec. or no and wipe ?

 

[orfeboy]

As far as I understand it on 22nd Nov Beta will end. Then Gamma will start. That is your early access if you have already signed up for Beta. Then come 16 DEC the Gamma will end and the game goes live. I do not think they will wipe your progress from Gamma.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

There are a lot of threads flying about with doom and gloom in the air regarding the finished state of the game. I too am nervous but am trying to be optimistic. I would like to start a thread concerning what we actually know or expect backed up with reasonable evidence. These other threads are going round in circles, so here is my 2p worth!

There are some on here who believe the full release is as seen on Beta 3 + a few bug fixes.

There are things we do know however as follows:

Passengers: We have seen the new passenger ships like the Orca and the Dolphin which seem to be passenger ships. This means there has to be passengers to transport. We have not seen this in the Beta. If however these are just crappy bulletin board clicks and another kind of cargo remains to be seen....

Reputation: We have been officially told that non Beta/Alpha backers will need to build up their rep in order to enter Sol system. This means there is a reputation system already in place in the game for final release. This was not in the Beta and is again a pretty dead cert for the final game.

New Spaceships: We have all seen lists and artwork concerning new craft. We are promised 25 playable ships. I see no reason for them not to be there on release although I never questioned this aspect of the game. It hardly deserves a mention as 'new features'.

Can anyone else add to this? I would prefer this thread did not degrade into fears as to what we do and don't expect to see. Try and keep it factual if you can guys. There are plenty of other threads to cater for debate on wether the game is ready or not.

Reputation is in Beta already, and people have seen lot of changes while doing stuff - like selling exploration data, doing missions, etc.
Passengers - enough said, they will be in game.
Spaceships - I really don't see why they all can't be in game. It's not like we should have tested them all.

Background sim - they have mentioned it in many newsletters, Beta 1 and Beta 2 saw a testing phase for it (although they didn't explain how Eranin conflict ended, and that maybe has made some people doubtful, but I think they just got what they needed and collected meta data)
Damage model visual appearance - this has been explained as in works during Lavecon 2014 FD dev QA session, with Anaconda mentioned as something close to finish. It was in july. Game already tracks damage model with overall complexity (you see one unified number, but there's more going on in background)
User disconnects - Beta 2 changelog there's simple bits explaining that default time is 15s for leaving ship on if it's in danger. However I suspect it is disabled in Beta 3 due of networking issues.
Wings - same Beta 2 have few mentions of wing comms. Again I expect reason why we haven't tried out wings is networking.

I will continue later

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Is there gonna be an early acess before 16 Dec. or no and wipe ?

So far FD has said no wipe for gamma, except if something extreme occurs.