An announcement of a future amazing and wonderful announcement.

[Mole HD]

Everyone ever hopeful for some new and exciting mechanics in E-D seem to be forgetting that the focus of the Q4 update and it's headline feature is 'Squadrons'.

You can bet that the exciting new gameplay and content will be tied to that rather than all the...frankly amazing and imaginative suggestions... (looking at you space-legs and atmospherics) I've seen mentioned here on the forum.

Someone at boardroom level at FDev is still insistent on pushing the MMO portion of E-D hoping to attract a new 'casual' player base, not placate the old timers with a completely different view on E-D's imagined direction.

 

[IamMe]

First whats wrong is FD leave us with speculation, it would be ok if they didn't failed in the past with their updates and development but with constant disappointment and update downgrade they could give something in return and say more details.
In il2box when they postponed Pacific theatre game producer explained why they did it, they moved to other theatre while they gather more information on Jap planes so he makes clear what to expect in the future, community was disappointed but understood and give them full support without being negative.
Now that's good PR!

Communication and secrecy is what makes FD worst studio i've ever seen. This game and company was raised trough KS and while game is quite unfinished and in ongoing development (according to KS) good communication and dev's diaries are essential to keep positive community and support, hell it's their obligation.
So some stating other game studios doing the same is silly, cos those studios release finished game and just updating it with small addons like vehicles or campaigns so ED can't be compared to them.

GOOD thing may be they postponed major Q4 content meaning they finally started working on meaningful content rather than on small features which showed not so good so far, so my bet is on Atmospheric planet landings even Legs wouldn't be bad, maybe both.
Again it's just speculation and we could be disappointed again as history with FD learned us.

 

[GraXXoR]

More like they added something to Q4 that wasn't planned before.

You can be absolutely certain that if they did, it would have been well emphasised in Zac's statement.

Oh and it would have been summarised in Zac's statement's TLDR.

TLDR;
It would have been clearly stated in Zac's statement
and in summary it would have been repeated in his TLDR summary.

 

[GraXXoR]

It's sad to think that, after all these years, Frontier PR think their community, in general, will accept such drivel from the 'community manager'.

Well, judging by the roaring acclaim his message got, they have pretty much read a large portion of their audience correctly. (The portion that will continue to pay micro transactions in lieu of actual content.)

When did Braben dismiss VR? I'm not aware of that.

 

[GraXXoR]

Communication and secrecy is what makes FD worst studio i've ever seen.

Let's not go overboard. There are worse companies than FD and I'm sure you've seen them in action unless you've never seen an EA game (or Star Citizen - and I'm a backer of that KS, too.)

This game and company was raised trough KS and while game is quite unfinished and in ongoing development (according to KS) good communication and dev's diaries are essential to keep positive community and support, hell it's their obligation.

Unfortunately, their obligations were over the moment they released 1.0. OUR expectations, however, quite rightly hold them to their name.

So some stating other game studios doing the same is silly, cos those studios release finished game and just updating it with small addons like vehicles or campaigns so ED can't be compared to them.

Finished game? Arkham Asylum, anyone?
NMS, ring any bells. (Admittedly NMS's team of 12-16 devs is the redemption story of the decade, though, since they have pretty much delivered 95% what they showed in the teaser trailers as opposed to FDEV's delivering far less.)

GOOD thing may be they postponed major Q4 content meaning they finally started working on meaningful content rather than on small features which showed not so good so far, so my bet is on Atmospheric planet landings even Legs wouldn't be bad, maybe both.
Again it's just speculation and we could be disappointed again as history with FD learned us.

There is no indication that they are working on meaningful content... They just make vague statements about wonderful, era changing stuff.... Remember winter is coming?

 

[misokatsun]

Did winter ever come?

 

[NotBiffle]

Did winter ever come?

First USS on the right, can't miss it.

 

[CMDR Dumbfries]

Is anyone actually expecting some new and earth shattering gameplay in Q4?
They can't even manage to deliver fleet carriers.
If you stop to think about it, how hard could it really be to add a bigger space ship that's designed to carry smaller space ships in a game that primarily revolves around flying space ships?

 

[Mengy]

Is anyone actually expecting some new and earth shattering gameplay in Q4?

I am expecting Frontier to turn exploration into a wonderful content full experience with fun and engaging mechanics.

Of course, losing the improved ice planets is already a negative for explorers in Q4, so not off to a good start.

If after four years of waiting for exploration to finally get development attention I do not get this, then I'm moving on and uninstalling the game. I am not waiting past 3.3, my patience is at an end and I'm just tired of waiting while they focus on other things which don't apply to me as a player. It's meaningful exploration or bust for me this year.

 

[Devari]

Is anyone actually expecting some new and earth shattering gameplay in Q4?
They can't even manage to deliver fleet carriers.

They could very easily manage it if they actually had "over 100 people" working on Elite for a full year like they claimed, but someone obviously decided that they would try to sell it as paid DLC at some point in the future instead of developing it as part of Beyond.

If you stop to think about it, how hard could it really be to add a bigger space ship that's designed to carry smaller space ships in a game that primarily revolves around flying space ships?

Considering that they already have this in-game right now with megaships, and only have to scale them down and add a system that allows players to determine where they jump to, it can't be that hard at all since they've already managed to develop the gameplay they need for it and just need to make it player-controllable.

 

[Virgile]

You can be absolutely certain that if they did, it would have been well emphasised in Zac's statement.

Oh and it would have been summarised in Zac's statement's TLDR.

TLDR;
It would have been clearly stated in Zac's statement
and in summary it would have been repeated in his TLDR summary.

Yeah exactly.According to Zac we are getting this : " Visual update, significant Mining enhancements, exploration, Codex. "

So when they will tell more about chapter 4 there will probably be some details and mechanics in those features that we've never seen, just like they do with every release keeping one or two last minute surprise.
Won't be anything big but some here will say that's the reason they dropped carriers and planet updates...

 

[kofeyh]

No, they mostly don't. This repeats elsewhere with same story. That's why devs don't tell anything till beta hits.

Zac tried, it was a bit of a s**t sandwich to be fair and at least the owned up to the fact they'll miss the dates. It's a shame given the two deliverables happened to be two aspects that have been awaited and planned for, for some time. Expectation set, and so on.

I think the frustration comes not because Frontier aren't working hard, it's that Frontier are shifting delivery goal posts on (at times) little more than a whim (or because saying "we ran out of time" was too hard?) and creating a great deal of drama in the process. It destabilises the community understanding; which just causes more crap fights and you'd think after four plus years Frontier would cotton on to that not being particularly constructive.

This, after people asking quite a bit "please, just can we have a little certainty and clarity for some of the planned changes so we have an idea of what the creative direction is". lol. They mean well, but that was probably a little tone-deaf, you have to admit.

I have a lot of respect for what Frontier do, and how hard they work. You know that. However the approach taken has caused a fair amount of confusion when that's probably not overly constructive. I really wish they'd bring the Dev Diary back. Not to spoiler. Just to provide that clarity into where the developer's heads are at, so we can have a bit more confidence about future moves. It was little snippets into direction that didn't really say much, but helped people understand what was coming.

Frontier have a habit of a bit of internal existential panic about something and then dive off in a random direction and forget if people aren't kept up to date; that will necessarily create confusion when you eventually tell them that things changed some time back and it's only now being advised.

In order for the alternative to exist during Q4, it would have necessarily needed several months lead time to develop? Something like that? So when did Frontier actually change tack? We will never know. But it might have been more useful to advise then, rather than now. The developer can't offer certainty, but they could be a little more timely with fairly important delivery changes. No?

I do look forward to hearing what was so important it had to bump two (well, three if you include the Powerplay discussion) fairly important update components. I really hope they haven't misread the room and undone otherwise stellar work.. because Beyond was literally a reaction to mis-reading the room (seasons) and adding that all-important core content. So we've been here before, in a way.

 

[Mengy]

I do look forward to hearing what was so important it had to bump two (well, three if you include the Powerplay discussion) fairly important update components. I really hope they haven't misread the room and undone otherwise stellar work.. because Beyond was literally a reaction to mis-reading the room (seasons) and adding that all-important core content. So we've been here before, in a way.

Yeah, this. I just wish Frontier would take the time to finish what they've promised (and made us wait a whole year for) first, before moving onto something else.

If Zac had said that Carriers and Ice Planets would miss Q4 but be coming in early 2019 instead then I don't think too many people would be all that upset. HOWEVER, they've cut content we've all been waiting for and instead told us it might come someday later but maybe not too because they've moved on already before finishing what their already working on. That's deceptive and disingenuous, thus people being upset.

 

[Deareim]

Their PR is as good as their game designer.... it says everything.

 

[Allin]

Give your players a clue at least about what is coming.
Build some hype or expectation. Not a another year of player speculation.

Isn't that what they did on Expo Talked about the roadmap that was pie in the sky anyways?

I think the future jam is now reaching critical mass and all the announcements are about how amazing the game will be somewhere in the future because of some thing we can't talk about (because we would not like to backpedal on what we've said, right?), trust us, why wouldn't you - after all we delivered everything* as of now!

*mileage may vary, MVP features count as delivered, CQC+MC counts as delivered, cut features are not considered as "supposed to be delivered". Terms and conditions apply.

 

[Whitmann]

I reckon I must be an outlier round here at the moment, as I'm ambivalent about the direction of ED. I'm an explorer at heart, so I'm awaiting Q.4's content with interest.

What I want is access to the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, with 'war fog' but the ability to transfer data to Universal Cartographics. What I suspect we'll get is probes to lob at planets to more easily discover POIs, and possibly lightning effects in nebulae.

But much like I'm at peace with the realisation I'm unlikely to marry Scarlett Johansson, bang in a stoppage-time winner for Barcelona or play guest flugelhorn on a Nick Cave song, I'm OK with whatever happens.

I think maybe after all the hours of enjoyment I've had out of ED, I've not just had a hundred times my money's worth, but it just doesn't matter so much. I'll likely continue to tootle round the place til they switch the servers off, enjoying what I like (low density traversing, surface prospecting, mining, finding unusual systems), and largely ignoring everything else (alien combat, what passes for a plot, PP, puzzles, lore, CQC, POIs).

Easy to please, me.