April Alpha

[devastat]

- As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first.
- Also, all Alpha players will be granted a life time discount of 50% on ship insurance in game as a thank you for your support!

I think this is fantastic

Well, I would rather save the £100 and have a nice meal in a fancy restaurant ..

---

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Getting beta build few days sooner isn't much of priviledge, but I guess they want to do little accept testing before release it to thousands of people.

Insurance isnt that big of a deal, but I will look for option to turn that off - no need for any special priviledges to me.

Nice to see beta approaching

 

[Fromhell]

OK I take back most of what I have said here, after reading the New Newsletter .. we Do have a two tier system

Clearly the Beta backers have not supported the game in FD's minds, this is terrible news ... pay us more money and you get preferential treatment EVEN NOW !..so pay us more money and beat the rest.

I know I am going to get shot down for this statement, but I think it is appalling, Middle finger pointing at Beta backers .. " you didn't pay enough!"

Not happy !

no, you are absolutely correct with this statement.
Gamma backers get the middle finger too, and Alphas get more preferred treatment and further prolonged "exclusivity" while FD is pretending the delivery intervals on Kickstarter do not exist.

This is either
a) a terrible April Fools joke, and some people will spend money on it today actually believing this
or
b) it is true and they finally managed to treat their customers worse than EA would

 

[Amorelia]

Really? Did I miss something? Aren't you the OP?

Sorry, I meant "Original Post" rather than "Original Poster".

 

[deusx_ophc]

obvious April Fool mocking of backers.
Nice touch, adding insult to the injury. Would be audacious to milk the money cow further, after missing three Kickstarter delivery dates.

FDEV put up estimate delivery dates in a kickstarter campagin 18 months ago.

and to anyone involved in this game for the good of the game, they have so far delivered.

yeah, i do have the odd niggle but hey, this is alpha.

FDEV have been nothing short of talkative *eeek* since alpha 1.0 and also have been running very well at the same time on a business front. wait for the annual report (and also "ups, here is premium beta") and see the share price jump another few pounds.

the only insult to injury is your simplicissimus pretending not to understand the very basics of economics while claiming supreme knowledge of the game industry and space in general

you are to be excused sir

 

[Rollo]

I think Fromhell's inputs are refreshing in a way. Everyone's opinion matters, and he does have some points.

I might not be as negative though, but if the last newsletter is not partly a bad april's joke, I have to confess I'm getting a bit annoyed myself. I could have bought the alpha myself but I chose not to, but for those that just can't justify that amount of pledge...well, it's kind of insulting imho.
If it's going to be like this that money buys you certain privileges, single player option seems more and more my choice.

 

[Mazhurg]

Getting beta build few days sooner isn't much of priviledge, but I guess they want to do little accept testing before release it to thousands of people.

Insurance isnt that big of a deal, but I will look for option to turn that off - no need for any special priviledges to me.

Nice to see beta approaching

SotA does the same thing. Enable access to Dev+ a few days/hours prior to releasing to the early backers.

Does ensure that major show stoppers are captured and fixed before larger availability. --- and it works very well as intended

 

[Amorelia]

The vast majority of the PR on E: D has been overwhelmingly positive. I think I've seen a total of five individuals out of about 45k complaining about this being late. Truth is, I think overall the E: D community wants this thing released when it is ready.

Once more, you've equated early release with revised schedule.

Please quote me once - just once - when I have ever stated they should accelerate the development cycle.

 

[deusx_ophc]

I think Fromhell's inputs are refreshing in a way. Everyone's opinion matters, and he does have some points.

I might not be as negative though, but if the last newsletter is not partly a bad april's joke, I have to confess I'm getting a bit annoyed myself. I could have bought the alpha myself but I chose not to, but for those that just can't justify that amount of pledge...well, it's kind of insulting imho.
If it's going to be like this that money buys you certain privileges, single player option seems more and more my choice.

well then what is half the insurance cost exactly?! for who?!

very pointless currently in game, very pointless and surely just a token (another word fromeveonline might struggle to grasp) gesture.

oh yes, thanks for the update and newsletter #18. sad & happy at the same time to see alpha come to an end.

once alpha is done i will stop by far less frequently, try to enjoy the summer and jump into my cobra come autumn 2014

 

[Smugallo]

Why are people complaining? What deadline was 6 months late exactly? Alpha took longer than anticipated because FDev decided to work towards a quality goal, rather than a set date. As frustrating as it is waiting, my hat goes off to them for blowing me away with every single release they have made; it gives me great confidence, and they seem to know what they are doing.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Once more, you've equated early release with revised schedule.

Please quote me once - just once - when I have ever stated they should accelerate the development cycle.

You clearly wanted them to promise something, which they clearly weren't ready to do. It is practically the same in my book.

They have beta date now because they worked on bugs and issues, not followed some schedule.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

no, you are absolutely correct with this statement.
Gamma backers get the middle finger too, and Alphas get more preferred treatment and further prolonged "exclusivity" while FD is pretending the delivery intervals on Kickstarter do not exist.

This is either
a) a terrible April Fools joke, and some people will spend money on it today actually believing this
or
b) it is true and they finally managed to treat their customers worse than EA would

Can't beklive I am saying this (really) but I actually think you have a point. Beta was premium and standard, that was it...... not that I care about a short period 1 bit..... but the money saving for the life of the game......... this has me worried.

 

[Rollo]

well then what is half the insurance cost exactly?! for who?!

very pointless currently in game, very pointless and surely just a token (another word fromeveonline might struggle to grasp) gesture.

Not too concerned tbh, but it's a start, or a sign for what might happen and possibly escalate in the future. Just saying I'm not too comfortable with it, that's all.

 

[devastat]

Elite Dangerous is one of the many reasons why I never pledge on another project on Kickstarter again.

I'm tired of all the missed deadlines on almost every project I have backed. Also many projects seem to get "additional funding" out of nowhere after their campaign (ED included) which makes you wonder whether they needed the money from the KS campaign in the first place .. Certainly they don't seem to have to respect the KS deadlines much.

 

[Smugallo]

There was no deadline mate, never was. Deadlines are for publishers.

 

[Luniticisi]

Getting beta build few days sooner isn't much of priviledge, but I guess they want to do little accept testing before release it to thousands of people.

Insurance isnt that big of a deal, but I will look for option to turn that off - no need for any special priviledges to me.

Nice to see beta approaching

Yes it is nice to see Beta approaching, but the 25th of April is by no means a marker for when it will be released as the Alpha backers will get it first and then we will be inundated with messages that its really buggy and even more "it's ready when it's ready" Add to that the further discounts that anyone who paid £150 or over get (I really feel for the Founders of the Elite here) it's just (IMO) bad practice .. Give the Alphas everything on time (I.e Alpha dropped in Dec 2013 as promised) and F.U to the beta's for not pledging enough ... what ... are we going to get a 25% reduction in insurance cost 'cos we backed to £100 - £150 ... Not good enough Frontier .. We didn't back you to a significant level so we get a lot less? I paid for Premium Beta and I expect once it is available, to be able to download and play it ... not watch someones stream of the build ... even for a day ... Bad form my friends ... bad form.

 

[devastat]

There was no deadline mate, never was. Deadlines are for publishers.

Sorry my bad, I ment to write estimates.

 

[Luniticisi]

Getting beta build few days sooner isn't much of priviledge, but I guess they want to do little accept testing before release it to thousands of people.

Insurance isnt that big of a deal, but I will look for option to turn that off - no need for any special priviledges to me.

Nice to see beta approaching

Yes it is nice to see Beta approaching, but the 25th of April is by no means a marker for when it will be released as the Alpha backers will get it first and then we will be inundated with messages that its really buggy and even more "it's ready when it's ready" Add to that the further discounts that anyone who paid £200 or over get (I really feel for the Founders of the Elite here) it's just (IMO) bad practice .. Give the Alphas everything on time (I.e Alpha dropped in Dec 2013 as promised) and F.U to the beta's for not pledging enough ... what ... are we going to get a 25% reduction in insurance cost 'cos we backed to £100 - £150 ... Not good enough Frontier .. We didn't back you to a significant level so we get a lot less? I paid for Premium Beta and I expect once it is available, to be able to download and play it ... not watch someones stream of the build ... even for a day ... Bad form my friends ... bad form.

 

[Smugallo]

Sorry my bad, I ment to write estimates.

I admit though, when they estimated March at the beginning of the kickstarter the first thing I thought was "no chance". And I was right, simply not enough time to get everything done. The only date I would have given would have been "sometime 2014"

 

[Fromhell]

FDEV put up estimate delivery dates in a kickstarter campagin 18 months ago.

fine, so they just got all delivery dates wrong...
who cares!

and they just got all the time intervals between the delivery dates wrong...
who cares!

and Alpha backers are just getting 6 month of "exclusive" access instead of 1 month...
who cares!

and Alpha backers are just getting an additional "early access" now that everyone else is waiting for their overdue delivery...
who cares!

And in case it´s not an April Fools joke, half price insurance...
who cares!

the only insult to injury is your simplicissimus pretending not to understand the very basics of economics

at least I understand the basics of how not to treat crowdfunding backers