How do you feel about Elite today?

Pretty good, actually.

The Odyssey content's become a seamless part of the experience for me.
As in...
...flying regular sorties and weaving in an ammo restock run to a settlement where I also help myself to their store of schematics.
...cherry-picking the occasional Odyssey mission in which I always help the locals rid them of their power regulator and give them some excitement to boot.

With the additional 1000 material storage the Bartenders now offer to their carrier owner, it's already filling up nicely with hundreds of extra schematics that I might need for when Odyssey specific content goes live.

Bring on the Thargoid Regents and their stuphz for me to loot!

As an aside; someone in charge of a 400+ employee company doesn't spend time moping about some game on a forum -- they've got more important things to do.
 
On Sunday, just one Braben tunnel at the mining CG, but no other Cmdrs = 8
Minus the console Cmdr surcharge of 50%, overall score = 4

Meanwhile over in Star Citizen a nice chap with a German sounding name helped me to put my helmet on so I didn't die = 9.5 (would have been 10 but having a helmet meant I could get in my ship, where I died 2 minutes later, ooops)
 
Same as yesterday... 9

I'm just the opposite. Here's how I felt about EDH "yesterday":
Today? Elite Dangerous: Horizons -> THREE.

I have no explanation for this. I can only surmise that I'm not actually Old Duck, but rather a clone with OD's memories but alien DNA. I do retain all of OD's complaints about long outstanding bugs and half-finished content, but unlike OD, I'm actually getting enjoyment from the game after a year hiatus. It is very disconcerting.

The back story is that after a long hiatus, the news about consoles brought Elite to the foreground of my mind, enough that I logged in and joined a bounty hunting CG and had a surprisingly good time. However (there's always a "however"), I later found* out that bounty hunting CGs are incredibly rare these days, so the gameplay that I enjoyed enough to rate Horizons a smiley face has changed.

Today, today my feelings about EDH are SEVEN based on the provided chart. That's a sad face. I'm sad that bounty hunting CGs are so rare anymore. Back when I played more seriously, every cargo hauling CG had a corresponding bounty hunting CG in order to keep the peace, or a combat zone CG to help determine the outcome of some conflict. Now it seems that the majority of CGs cater to haulers, leaving us combat pilots out in the cold. Having played the single-player content to "completion", the CG is now my favorite part of the game, as it brings players together in a single system with a common game-provided goal, facilitating the perfect atmosphere for PvE and PvP cooperative gameplay. So to find out that combat-focused CGs are pretty much dead (with the occasional exception) makes me sad. I went from playing up to a couple hours a day during that last BH CG to not logging in at all, again, at least until the next combat-focused CG comes along. I wonder when that will be?

That's my own personal story, it is what it is, and the OP asked, so I don't mind sharing it here. 🤷‍♂️

* this is what people have told me in multiple social forums, so I'm taking their word for it because I've not been around. The last two CGs do collaborate this claim.
 
but unlike OD, I'm actually getting enjoyment from the game after a year hiatus.

Really? That's exactly what i did. Called a vote of no confidence in odd after a few patches. Cut all mind share from elite until about mid december. Spent a few literal days having a blast tweaking odd to no luck, i tried, had fun, it didn't work. Was a bit in limbo until the announcement for cancelling consoles, after which at least somewhere horizons is safe.. elite is safe.. so im unleashed again. Great.

Yeah i came back in december to a broken and dismayed forum. I think it was a tough year for those who stayed. ObiW deleted his account a few weeks ago. Imagine a battlefield from witcher 3 with horizons planets instead of limbs.
 
See my last post (right above this one) for details of what brought me back to playing Horizons (and why that return may be short-lived).

Yeah i came back in december to a broken and dismayed forum. I think it was a tough year for those who stayed. ObiW deleted his account a few weeks ago. Imagine a battlefield from witcher 3 with horizons planets instead of limbs.
I logged into the forum after having deleted my password (found it on a backup drive) to comment on the console announcement by Braben. I typed a well-thought out and reasoned response, but ended up pressing delete rather than post, because I didn't want to subject myself to the vitriol of a specific forum subset. But then you started a thread that I felt deserved support, just in case Frontier is still reading the forum and taking notes, so I decided to weather the trolling and go ahead and post my thoughts. Same goes for this thread, since who knows, maybe by vocalizing what I actually like about Elite (CGs that provide content for combat pilots), Frontier might bring that content back. 🤞
 
See my last post (right above this one) for details of what brought me back to playing Horizons (and why that return may be short-lived).


I logged into the forum after having deleted my password (found it on a backup drive) to comment on the console announcement by Braben. I typed a well-thought out and reasoned response, but ended up pressing delete rather than post, because I didn't want to subject myself to the vitriol of a specific forum subset. But then you started a thread that I felt deserved support, just in case Frontier is still reading the forum and taking notes, so I decided to weather the trolling and go ahead and post my thoughts. Same goes for this thread, since who knows, maybe by vocalizing what I actually like about Elite (CGs that provide content for combat pilots), Frontier might bring that content back. 🤞

Deleting the forum password, i should try that. It does feel wholesome to think about being in the game rather than issues and debates when you think about elite. I try and be a better person, facepalm.

Yeah well i think from the start i chose to be honest here, and so accept as normal not everyone will agree to what i type. Never thought about conforming to the flow actually, novel idea. In real life, there's a very few people who are similar to any one person anyway so it makes sense.

For playing elite, im celebrating a few things: 1) The possibly naive assumption that horizons is protected indefinitely, and finally i have in my hands that fixed, stable, final version. The same joy i get when i decide never to hit update again on an apple device. 2) Accepting that instead of playing some fantasy of announced features yet to be built, its finished, so lets love the one you're with. Turning eyes back to the game and being free of care for anything else. Im sure i'll cut down more once this gum is chewed, but elite will have a place in the simulator rotation, more often now that there's some hope of safety.

Sounds good to me. Overplaying it in anticipation of the next patch is not appealing anymore.
 
I started playing Elite around March of 2021 primarily because of VR; I'd just gotten a VR headset. It was AMAZING! Then Odyssey came out and we all know that story.

Today, I've given up on Odyssey VR and my 3070 is still getting 20-25FPS in Conflict Zones and 35-45 FPS in stations (doesn't matter what I set my graphics settings to). Those who have watched my live streams have seen this on multiple occasions though when streaming it's even worse.

Aside from the performance problems, which now I am convinced cannot be fixed (it would already be fixed if it were possible), I have very little interest in the first-person-shooter content. The first-person-shooter of Odyssey is just so subpar compared to other games, even if I got 60+ FPS.

I feel this game is stalled and I do not think it can recover in its present form. Odyssey was its last big push and with its failure, I think the game will be limped along with minor updates until it becomes economically unviable to continue to do so.

I've come to more or less hit pause on Elite until they merge Horizons and Odyssey back together and can see what that is going to look like. I have zero expectations for another major development moving forward. At some point, I think another company will fill this niche with something better and scoop up a primed fanbase. I just can't help but think Frontier is looking in other directions now.
 
It does feel wholesome to think about being in the game rather than issues and debates when you think about elite.

One of the reasons that the last bounty hunting CG put a smile on my face is that I encountered dozens of friendly players (and a couple not-so-friendly), and not a single one was from this forum. It reminded me that in contrast to the official forum, the actual player base is much more friendly overall. And if you're looking for a place to have honest, uncensored conversations about the game, system chat in a popular CG system is a great place to do so!

The one purpose this official forum continues to serve for me personally is posting feedback that might, just might, influence future decisions at Frontier, be it returning the bounty hunting component to CGs or keeping Horizons separate from Odyssey. I doubt Frontier is reading system chat at CGs or comments on OA's videos or Discord channel :p

Fly safe, CMDR! o7
 
The forum is so different than the game, i tend to see if there is more updated information. I usually try to avoid the flamewar posts as it achieves nothing.

Playing ED:O i do tend to play it more like ED:H but now i dont have to take the scarab bay i can disembark on a planet to look around which is nice :). Yes its not everyone's cup of tea and Elite:CoD it isnt, but take it as a alternative to driving around it does make a nice change exploring the surface zones and walking around on planets.

See ya in the black...
 
You're splitting hairs here. EDO is part of Elite Dangerous since it won't run without the base game installed. But since it matters to you, I'll use "EDO" for the Odyssey expansion and "Elite" for the entire franchise. Does that work for you?
Not at all splitting hairs. Horizons is an expansion for Elite that now forms part of the base game, it won't get any more updates bar fixes, all further development is focused on Odyssey and what comes after that, just as it was for Horizons. So just because an expansion doesn't get any further development (ie; Horizons) barring what was initially planned which precluded ship interiors, full atmospheric landing etc., it doesn't mean that these features aren't planned for Elite, otherwise we wouldn't have space-legs. That is not splitting hairs at all.

Read the financial reports. They clearly show that EDO sales have been far below expectations and that this has been the case since it was released. Nothing they have done has improved things.
I understand the financial aspect, I'm not promoting that Odyssey is a raging financial success, there are more metrics to it than that.

As it happens, I run a company with currently 400+ employees. That gives me some insight into what a company that size will do in a given situation. And my experience as software developer and entrepreneur allows me to recognize a failed software project when I see one.
That's great, but unless you are privy to the internals of Frontier, it still doesn't add up to more than speculation. I guess it's safe to assume your company is in software development, is it in the games sector?

First, you have me confused with another poster you have been replying to. I have never mentioned Star Citizen or space legs at all. Second, my familiarity with Elite goes back to the Kickstarter days. I am not a newcomer to this franchise.
I just realized that, sorry, you are correct, disregard any that relates to that aspect, I fully take the words back that were based on that mistake. There's been a lot of tag-team replies on this subject in various threads, but that was my bad. I didn't see a notification of your reply so I checked back was actually about to edit it accordingly, not ninja style either.

Were you a Kickstarter backer?

Judging from your own words about the game's potential you think Elite is still in development and more expansions will be released in the future.
The question again is leading, let me state it clearly, as long as Elite is financially viable to receive further development, there will be further expansions. To state that isn't anything new or veer off of what has been historically said about Elite and its development by David Braben/Frontier.

Am I correct that your feeling is that there will be no new expansions due to the situation with Odyssey? If so, this is the part that is speculation. Your guess, informed or educated by whichever aspect is still a guess, time will tell.

I believe I stated it plainly enough but here it is again. I'm asking you to make a business case for continuing to expend resources on Elite when they are needed on other projects that stand a much better chance of making a profit for Frontier. How will Frontier make a profit by continuing the development of Elite?
As far as my understanding goes, Elite has historically has brought in a healthy profit for Frontier and it is reasonable to suggest that following the arc of development to conclusion will result in a product that will continue to generate income for many years ahead of it. It's not uncommon to see users with 1000s of hours in the game spread over years, I certainly plan to keep paying this game as long is possible. So, my opinion is that taking a short term view of a long term product life-span is what is skewing opinions here.

Though of course, that isn't to say that short-term circumstances can't threaten the long-term plan in place, Odyssey's initial release and the resulting fallout is definitely not a positive outcome, though whether this is a blip or full on doom, time will tell, though we are coming up to a year since release and the reviews are looking up. My belief is that if it can be made to work, David Braben will make it work.

To look at it another way; if Adobe released a new version of one of their products with major issues, which they have, their first option isn't to cease development of it, but to fix it and carry on. Though a competitor in that space may see it as an opportunity to capitalize upon it for their own gain. My view is that Elite is more like that, an ongoing franchise/product with continual development, rather than, say, Cyberpunk 2077 which is (afaik) a singular game/product that stands or falls on its own.

Except that I am an expert in software development and you are not. I don't need to be sitting in on Frontier board meetings to have at least some idea of what they're going to do. That's how I called consoles correctly. Knowledge of the cost of software development and some common business sense was all I needed.
Again, upper management decisions, in any industry, are based on information and intentions that neither of us are privy to, when talking about Frontier specifically. I won't disregard your opinion, but to say that automatically invalidates others isn't correct, you could be wrong, or do you think it's not possible for you to be wrong? You called the console cancellation, so did I as a possible outcome, so I guess we're 1:1 at the moment.

Braben is simply putting the best face he can on a bad situation. As CEO, that's his job. That doesn't make him a liar or Frontier evil. Saying "yeah, we're done here" won't help them cut their losses. I'd do the same thing if I were in their shoes.
I fully understand that, it's not Gerald Ratner at the helm, and Elite isn't crap, though I take issue that just because it's what you would do in this situation, which is something that isn't unique to the situation for any CEO in that position, that therefore moving forward, what you would do is also what David Braben would do. It's a false equivalency to suggest they will.

But at the same time, I don't put much stock in their commitment to Elite. I've seen plenty of press releases from companies claiming to be in it for the long haul until they suddenly weren't. There is no way forward unless they are planning a ground-up rewrite of both their engine and the game. Given the niche nature of the game and potential sales there is no business case for it. Frontier is going to have to let Elite die. I'm sure they will do it regretfully but they will do it.
Absolutely companies do an about face and use their PR to sell that. None of that is shocking or new, do I think Frontier could do the same? It's entirely possible, but the point you make about Elite being niche is an interesting one as it has always occupied the niche, it was why Frontier went the Kickstarter route in the first place as no publisher would take on such a development risk. Elite is still the leading player in this space and is the franchise that established the genre with roots that go back just shy of Mario (if you count the original DK games).

I have a side business selling Doom and Gloom. Anybody want to place an order?
There's enough in the world, it's a very saturated market at the moment, I prefer a ray of sunshine or the silver lining.

Besides, I have Irish ancestry and so I love to argue. I also have an aversion to wishful thinking and rosy scenarios.
Then you're in good company as I am half Irish, as in my mother born and raised and me spending part of my childhood growing up there. I would counter that defeatism isn't an Irish trait. As I said before, you can discount the word of David Braben as wishful thinking, and forgive me if I still take his words over yours. Though one must be careful to not attribute too much dishonesty about what he says, especially if your primary source of information is based on what you would do in that situation.

This forum has historically had plenty of both but the events of the last year has allowed reality to intrude. At least, for some people.
Again, the reality you speak of is mere conjecture, as it is for all of us to be fair, so not reality at all. Time will tell. I'm betting on red, your betting on black and that pretty much sums it up, don't you agree?

All the best.
 
returning the bounty hunting component to CGs
Well, I've not long returned from a sabbatical myself but the last 2 or 3 hauling CGs did appear to have wars and CZs in the delivery system, so I had just been assuming that this pattern had been continued since way back without interruption...
 
Well, I've not long returned from a sabbatical myself but the last 2 or 3 hauling CGs did appear to have wars and CZs in the delivery system, so I had just been assuming that this pattern had been continued since way back without interruption...
Just because the system hosting a community goal has a combat zone or a RES or a nav beacon doesn't make it a combat / bounty hunting CG.
 
Just because the system hosting a community goal has a combat zone or a RES or a nav beacon doesn't make it a combat / bounty hunting CG.
Ah sorry; I guess you meant that there was previously sometimes a parallel CG for BH alongside the hauling... Had forgotten that bit!
 
Ah sorry; I guess you meant that there was previously sometimes a parallel CG for BH alongside the hauling... Had forgotten that bit!
Yes, it was quite common to couple trade and bounty CGs back in the day. For example:


Same system, same date, two different playstyles supported. That's not to say that every single CG was this way. Sometimes a CG was combat war (combat zones) only, and on rare occasion it was something unique like mining or exploration, but skimming the list from two years ago, the majority of CGs supported combat. Not sure why that's been thrown out the window in favor of trade, trade, trade, trade, mine (which is a form of trading), trade.

Oh well, I'll keep watching and hope that another combat / bounty CG is announced before summer arrives (or Horizons is replaced with OddyLite). On that day, my "How do you feel about Elite?" answer will go back to three, assuming I don't have to travel 10 minutes in supercruise to get to the nearest hunting grounds.
 
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