Do you think they are going to release a bunch of new stuff on release?
- Thread starter Beatz0121
- Start date
Probably not. FD are keen on keeping ED independent.
Based on the additions seen in Beta, I still think that FD has some more 'ooohs' and 'aaahhh's in the bag at launch.
If this game where being published by one of the behemoth gaming companies, I would say probably not.
But, from what I have seen so far, each build makes me think their might just be a surprise or two..
I expect to see some fleshing out of the existing game functions, and possibly a couple of new small features, for the gamma build, but most likely no major changes.
At this point they would be incorporating what they know from the branch builds into the main release candidate, so gamma will essentially be the test build for that. The fact that they have promised no wipes at the end of gamma unless absolutely necessary would suggest they will only include the features they are certain will run correctly. Gamma will be the pre-release final test to pick up anything truly catastrophic.
The game has to be released at some time, and the business plan has been in place for years now. I'd guess that part of that plan was to try and release in early 2014 (as originally advertised) but with a built in 6 months leeway to account for unexpected issues. These issues did in fact eventuate, mainly with regard to the netcode, so the game is now being released at the final time stipulated in the business plan, ie before Christmas to coincide with the retail and holiday season. They would have been concentrating their efforts towards that goal for some time now.
After looking at the DDA again recently I feel like we have about 90% of what I'd call the core game - basic fighting, trading, exploration and mining - set in a sandbox that feels pretty well developed. It's feeling like a real game, and not a test build.
However there are about a dozen fairly big things that will not make it into the release build including scavenging, comprehensive player logs, etc. Passenger transport, player to player trading and other features might squeeze in, but I'm doubtful - they would have announced it by now.
What I'd expect is a rolling series of DLC to include things such as passenger transport at maybe two monthly intervals post-release. That would keep us confident that the game is progressing, encourage new customers and fill in the spaces while the work continues on the really big expansions for first person activity and planetary landings, which will probably roll out over the next 2-4 years.
TL;DR
Bottom line, I think we'll eventually see almost everything promised in the DDF proposals, but no way at gamma or first launch.
At this point they would be incorporating what they know from the branch builds into the main release candidate, so gamma will essentially be the test build for that. The fact that they have promised no wipes at the end of gamma unless absolutely necessary would suggest they will only include the features they are certain will run correctly. Gamma will be the pre-release final test to pick up anything truly catastrophic.
The game has to be released at some time, and the business plan has been in place for years now. I'd guess that part of that plan was to try and release in early 2014 (as originally advertised) but with a built in 6 months leeway to account for unexpected issues. These issues did in fact eventuate, mainly with regard to the netcode, so the game is now being released at the final time stipulated in the business plan, ie before Christmas to coincide with the retail and holiday season. They would have been concentrating their efforts towards that goal for some time now.
After looking at the DDA again recently I feel like we have about 90% of what I'd call the core game - basic fighting, trading, exploration and mining - set in a sandbox that feels pretty well developed. It's feeling like a real game, and not a test build.
However there are about a dozen fairly big things that will not make it into the release build including scavenging, comprehensive player logs, etc. Passenger transport, player to player trading and other features might squeeze in, but I'm doubtful - they would have announced it by now.
What I'd expect is a rolling series of DLC to include things such as passenger transport at maybe two monthly intervals post-release. That would keep us confident that the game is progressing, encourage new customers and fill in the spaces while the work continues on the really big expansions for first person activity and planetary landings, which will probably roll out over the next 2-4 years.
TL;DR
Bottom line, I think we'll eventually see almost everything promised in the DDF proposals, but no way at gamma or first launch.
TBH, I hope they still have quite a bit of stuff in the pipeline. The game is still extremely elementary. Missions are repetitive, bounty hunting while fun lacks real substance, exploration is cool for sight seeing but otherwise not particularly entertaining or engaging for the average player who isnt interested in that, let alone worth while. And most importantly theres no real motivation for social interaction since anything in the game can be done (and frequently better) by a single person. Most "online" games like Elite is aiming to be live and die by their community. Good channels of social interaction vastly improve the players experience, and many of which are frequently driven by teaming up to accomplish huge goals that are otherwise insurmountable alone which will keep people coming back again and again day after day. However, theres a huge stopper right now from making that happen...
Most of a players motivation is driven exclusively towards reaping in money to upgrade their ship. Anything that impedes that is on a whole undesirable. Two bounty hunters cant cooperatively work together to take down a particularly dangerous bounty (not like anything short of an anaconda qualifies) since one player will get screwed while the other gets all the cash. Two players mining together can end up being more of a detriment than a boon, since good worth while deposits of resources are rare, and a player will want to scoop all that up for themselves. You cant have 1 person scoop the ore while the other mines since you cant split money.
Theres also no trading or industry. Theres no crafting system (making anything less than the most profitable ores worthless to mine) and I dont think Frontier has any intention of adding one either.
The only instance I can think of for players to team up and have all parties actively gain something in return for it, is piracy, since a tag team or trio of players can work together with significantly reduced risk to themselves to crack the cargo holds of large targets. Since something like a Lakon can easily drop more cargo than a single cobra can pick up, everybody wins. Soon as the players start scaling up though, this benefit quickly diminishes.
Which sucks.
Piracy can be a fun and interesting aspect of the game, for sure. But being that its the only real source of player interaction, it really means that outside of cooperative piracy ops, all other player interactions are negative or undesired, including the PVP that piracy will generate (from the traders perspective, this is nothing short of "getting screwed". People have little reason to be anything other than bitter or at the very least suspicious when another player shows up, because it can very well mean that theyre negatively impacting their own profit margins. Whether thats another miner showing up to scoop your ore debris, a bounty hunter competing with you for kills, another explorer who could turn in those newly discovered astrological scans or even rival traders who encroaching on your trade routs.
I'm sure I'll get neg repped for pointing all this out by some optimists who can think of some obscure scenarios that at least dont negatively impact the parties involved, but the fact of the matter is that the average gamer is very self concerned. If an interaction doesnt benefit them, or at least seem immediately appealing, they arnt likely to do it.
Its my genuine hope that Frontier's next step now that all the groundwork (which imo is very solid) is in place, that they'll start developing the infrastructure to support player and social interaction in a positive, beneficial way, and create content that draws players in and actually WANT to be together. Its in my honest opinion that good and worth while cooperative and group content will be the strongest lure to draw players into open play.
Most of a players motivation is driven exclusively towards reaping in money to upgrade their ship. Anything that impedes that is on a whole undesirable. Two bounty hunters cant cooperatively work together to take down a particularly dangerous bounty (not like anything short of an anaconda qualifies) since one player will get screwed while the other gets all the cash. Two players mining together can end up being more of a detriment than a boon, since good worth while deposits of resources are rare, and a player will want to scoop all that up for themselves. You cant have 1 person scoop the ore while the other mines since you cant split money.
Theres also no trading or industry. Theres no crafting system (making anything less than the most profitable ores worthless to mine) and I dont think Frontier has any intention of adding one either.
The only instance I can think of for players to team up and have all parties actively gain something in return for it, is piracy, since a tag team or trio of players can work together with significantly reduced risk to themselves to crack the cargo holds of large targets. Since something like a Lakon can easily drop more cargo than a single cobra can pick up, everybody wins. Soon as the players start scaling up though, this benefit quickly diminishes.
Which sucks.
Piracy can be a fun and interesting aspect of the game, for sure. But being that its the only real source of player interaction, it really means that outside of cooperative piracy ops, all other player interactions are negative or undesired, including the PVP that piracy will generate (from the traders perspective, this is nothing short of "getting screwed". People have little reason to be anything other than bitter or at the very least suspicious when another player shows up, because it can very well mean that theyre negatively impacting their own profit margins. Whether thats another miner showing up to scoop your ore debris, a bounty hunter competing with you for kills, another explorer who could turn in those newly discovered astrological scans or even rival traders who encroaching on your trade routs.
I'm sure I'll get neg repped for pointing all this out by some optimists who can think of some obscure scenarios that at least dont negatively impact the parties involved, but the fact of the matter is that the average gamer is very self concerned. If an interaction doesnt benefit them, or at least seem immediately appealing, they arnt likely to do it.
Its my genuine hope that Frontier's next step now that all the groundwork (which imo is very solid) is in place, that they'll start developing the infrastructure to support player and social interaction in a positive, beneficial way, and create content that draws players in and actually WANT to be together. Its in my honest opinion that good and worth while cooperative and group content will be the strongest lure to draw players into open play.
Spectre Alpha
Banned
When you have nothing good to say, say nothing.
OP I am pretty sure other features will be made available upon Retail Release. Beta seems to be missing plenty of features. I hope upcoming Newsletter gives us some glimps.
My expectations are a few new features that didn't make Beta 3 and are of lower priority.like NPC
communication or a few additions to mining and exploration.
The main additions will be the scope, 3 factions, 25 playable ships and 400 Bn stars.
If it is this way, and the game is more stable, I'll be perferctly happy.
communication or a few additions to mining and exploration.
The main additions will be the scope, 3 factions, 25 playable ships and 400 Bn stars.
If it is this way, and the game is more stable, I'll be perferctly happy.
I do not know if FD are planning a surprise or not, but it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense from a practical standpoint. I mean, without massive, thorough testing it would be pretty risky.
I do know that every patch we've seen has been absolutely enormous. I've honestly never seen such patch notes before, and I've beta'd several MMO's over the years.
I am willing to guess that the upcoming pre-release/gamma version will be impressive, and should add a few new features, refinements, and balancing tweaks. I just don't believe that too much can be put in without proper testing, and I mean massive player testing which almost always ends up revealing those hard to catch bugs and balance issues.
One thing's for sure, we'll all know sooner rather than later, because this game is going live one way or the other.
I do know that every patch we've seen has been absolutely enormous. I've honestly never seen such patch notes before, and I've beta'd several MMO's over the years.
I am willing to guess that the upcoming pre-release/gamma version will be impressive, and should add a few new features, refinements, and balancing tweaks. I just don't believe that too much can be put in without proper testing, and I mean massive player testing which almost always ends up revealing those hard to catch bugs and balance issues.
One thing's for sure, we'll all know sooner rather than later, because this game is going live one way or the other.
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Kinda defeats the purpose of beta testing. Which is a thing for important reasons.
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
We can only hope, excluding the marketing dept. schedule the last newsletter was less than informative -
I completely agree with your points. I very much hope they implement;
1. A better systems for the multi-player experience; grouping system to share bounties, very difficult bounty missions EG. a mission to take out whole group of pirates; 1 Anaconda with 3 Cobras and a 2 Vipers etc. Concern: Can their P2P netcode handle real multi-player groups? I'm only theory crafting here but maybe that's why they haven't added in these true multi-player features. Just a (paranoid) thought.
2. Better communication options for multi play. EG. Messaging to friends who are not close to you. Group chat, possible system wide chat (which can be toggled off if you don't want it).
3. Far more complex missions; multi stage missions, escort, defend a base.... there are SO MANY options here. Missions as they are now are quite boring after a while.
4. An in game system to help players find out about and search for player piracy. It could work something like this; There would be a player (and NPC maybe) piracy notice board which would show the last known location of where the piracy happened. When you get to that location, maybe there's a FTL wake thing which you follow to track down the pirate. Right now, my only chance of finding a player pirate is to happen to come across him or her in my travels.
5. And of course crafting but I'm guessing that will be in an expansion.
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![[VR] Mad Mike](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
You joking or serious? Maybe they should change genres whilst they are at it and make it an RTS!.
In case you are serious...... That is a completely impossible suggestion and most people regard much of what you dislike to be elites stand out qualities.
Different strokes I guess
Dont forget FD has a good Q&A testing department, we are not the only one 'testing' here. FD maybe just decided to not let us see it and save all the goodness. I certainly dont expect alot of new features but we will see
Due all respect to the Dev/QA in FD .... it is(sorry my words....) "ONLY" a Gamedeveloper .... so they can´t afford MILLIONS of €/$ for Testing. Really Testing cost 2 things Money and TIME (Testing is not only be sitting and Playing...its MUCH more !!!!). And as I see in the Job Offer they Seek a 3/6 month part Time Tester.
The way how it maybe can work is that the Beta is only an Network/MP Connection Test (maybe that why there was no Single Offline mode), and NOT the Fully Game, but than you have the Risk that the Fully Game (ONLY 6 Weeks left) crash if all start at Once... we have seen many Games in the Past which failed like this.
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