So, here I sit, safely across the Abyss after one of the more tense five hours of my Elite: Dangerous career, uncertain on whether I'll manage to get across or if I will run out of jumponium and end up having to scour the sparse systems mid-way through the Abyss for materials. The clusters of green friend icons on the Galmap has begun to scatter and spread, and there's notably fewer of them than there was before. And the cold realization that this great expedition is actually over has begun to set in.
Yes, I know that the friendships formed on the way there are still there, that some groups are still going to make the trek back to the bubble together. But there is no longer a single unified body of hundreds (!) of commanders all headed towards a common goal. The trek back towards the Bubble will be a lonely affair indeed. And perhaps that is as it should be, too. Exploration usually is; having a taste of that on the trip back will perhaps in the end make us value the trip there all the more.
It is most definitely the end of an era. A new one is about to begin. And I for one enter it with a strange dichotomy of knowing we will never see the likes of DW 3302 again, and trusting that there will be other things coming down the road that rival it in magnificence. To all of the Distant Worlds expedition members and its organizers, to those who I've come to know well, and those who have remained merely familiar names on a map or in a crowded instance, I salute you all. o7
Now, before I get downright emotional - Take a good, long look at this in the weeks to come, Frontier. THIS is a Community Goal. This is what gives you gameplay that doesn't feel mechanical or grindy. When you're planning the roadmap ahead, keep in mind what you could do to make things like the Distant Worlds expedition truly great. Luckily, I think it's safe to say Frontier is aware of the significance of such player generated content. This time, it was a decal. Perhaps next time, when someone comes up with a way to unite a large and diverse player base into a single body like this, they will take it even further. Elite
angerous seeks to be a dynamic, changing universe based on player actions. The background simulation, CGs and soforth all point towards this being their intent. Hopefully, they'll continue to nurture this aspect of gameplay by bringing an even closer integration of player events steering the game's evolution, both in regards to lore and in how they support such player generated content. (Just as an example directly related to DW, a Community Goal being put up in relation to the event, such as an exploration data submission CG at the tail end April or May)
I will see you all back in the Bubble. Some time.
CMDR Absolver
Yes, I know that the friendships formed on the way there are still there, that some groups are still going to make the trek back to the bubble together. But there is no longer a single unified body of hundreds (!) of commanders all headed towards a common goal. The trek back towards the Bubble will be a lonely affair indeed. And perhaps that is as it should be, too. Exploration usually is; having a taste of that on the trip back will perhaps in the end make us value the trip there all the more.
It is most definitely the end of an era. A new one is about to begin. And I for one enter it with a strange dichotomy of knowing we will never see the likes of DW 3302 again, and trusting that there will be other things coming down the road that rival it in magnificence. To all of the Distant Worlds expedition members and its organizers, to those who I've come to know well, and those who have remained merely familiar names on a map or in a crowded instance, I salute you all. o7
Now, before I get downright emotional - Take a good, long look at this in the weeks to come, Frontier. THIS is a Community Goal. This is what gives you gameplay that doesn't feel mechanical or grindy. When you're planning the roadmap ahead, keep in mind what you could do to make things like the Distant Worlds expedition truly great. Luckily, I think it's safe to say Frontier is aware of the significance of such player generated content. This time, it was a decal. Perhaps next time, when someone comes up with a way to unite a large and diverse player base into a single body like this, they will take it even further. Elite
angerous seeks to be a dynamic, changing universe based on player actions. The background simulation, CGs and soforth all point towards this being their intent. Hopefully, they'll continue to nurture this aspect of gameplay by bringing an even closer integration of player events steering the game's evolution, both in regards to lore and in how they support such player generated content. (Just as an example directly related to DW, a Community Goal being put up in relation to the event, such as an exploration data submission CG at the tail end April or May)I will see you all back in the Bubble. Some time.
CMDR Absolver
