CM Communication

[Drelthar]

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

I get you can't release info because you're being told not to.

But can you try to negotiate being able to tell the community what kinds of things are being discussed, what elements of the design are challenging, and what the designers vision is for it - while also saying that none of this is currently being directly worked on aside from discussions?

Get some direct quotes from designers.

Just always put the caveat there, in massive bold letters.

 

[Jmanis]

It bewilders me we can even think about Powerplay when the basics of the game are still non-functional.

For example, how can there be a sane discussion around, say, Archon Delaine's "Black markets pay 15% extra for illegal goods" buff, when smuggling illegal goods is broken, incorrectly attracting the "stolen" price debuff when only illegal? Just to name one of many issues extant before Odd, and still after.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I get you can't release info because you're being told not to.

But can you try to negotiate being able to tell the community what kinds of things are being discussed, what elements of the design are challenging, and what the designers vision is for it - while also saying that none of this is currently being directly worked on aside from discussions?

Get some direct quotes from designers.

Just always put the caveat there, in massive bold letters.

I'd go further in that if FD want to make the most of their time and not waste effort (such as with the Odyssey UI issues as an example) just ask knowledgeable people before they commit to making something. The devs are coming in cold and will most likely miss important gotchas.

 

[Rubbernuke]

It bewilders me we can even think about Powerplay when the basics of the game are still non-functional.

For example, how can there be a sane discussion around, say, Archon Delaine's "Black markets pay 15% extra for illegal goods" buff, when smuggling illegal goods is broken, incorrectly attracting the "stolen" price debuff when only illegal? Just to name one of many issues extant before Odd, and still after.

I don't want to argue over table scraps, but Powerplay has had no new gameplay added to it in six years- its functionally identical (in fact, slightly less since parts were taken away) as v .1, while the BGS has had enormous amounts of love.

Powerplay is riven with exploits and issues, its functionally broken and needs attention far more.

 

[Jmanis]

I don't want to argue over table scraps, but Powerplay has had no new gameplay added to it in six years- its functionally identical (in fact, slightly less since parts were taken away) as v .1, while the BGS has had enormous amounts of love.

Powerplay is riven with exploits and issues, its functionally broken and needs attention far more.

Don't disagree, but that doesn't change the fact that, no matter how flawlessly a redo of powerplay is, if the fundamentals are still broken then, ultimately, powerplay will still be broken.

Powerplay aside, any and all future work is undermined by flawed basics.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Don't disagree, but that doesn't change the fact that, no matter how flawlessly a redo of powerplay is, if the fundamentals are still broken then, ultimately, powerplay will still be broken.

Which is true, to an extent- Powerplay is hauling and shooting, with no smuggling (nice as that would be) and has little to do with underlying mechanics.

Only NPC strength (in SC or tose hunting you) and station drop zone sizes (to allow NPCs to atatck) are beneficial to Powerplay- this is a massive oversimplification but the BGS runs differently to Powerplay.

However, only something like this https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/powerplay-in-solo.565581/page-9#post-8961161 would help the PvE alyer of Powerplay.

 

[Gleitfrosch]

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

That's good info but also the of kind of information that should come proactive.
If the devs promise info on a topic and recognize that it will take longer to get it done, then they should inform the community about this, together with the info what has been done until then (as happened with this post).

Otherwise some could think the the topic is being ignored.

 

[VR Lucian Arkright]

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

@Rubbernuke @Zac Cocken wants hassling about Powerplay, do you think you're up to the task?

 

[Rubbernuke]

@Rubbernuke @Zac Cocken wants hassling about Powerplay, do you think you're up to the task?

I don't know how much more I can actually do.

Over the years I've asked all the CMs, I've had ideas like this

Powerplay Proposal (strong anti 5C, mode specific, plus other tweaks)

This is a Powerplay overhaul proposal that uses all of Sandros ideas plus a few more based on the 3.x BGS rework to enhance the feature, and employ strong anti 5C measures. Sandro Sammarcos proposal changes are included as they were originally. Problem Powerplay does not function well across...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Powerplay in Solo

That's in the case of the current incarnation of the feature. If OP's measure was enacted, which is the substance of this thread, the roles would be reversed, or partly so. And whether or not to reverse the roles comes down to which players you want to detriment, again. In which case it's a...

forums.frontier.co.uk

I can go through mechanics but.....unless something comes of it, its just wasted time.

 

[VR Lucian Arkright]

I don't know how much more I can actually do.

Over the years I've asked all the CMs, I've had ideas like this

Powerplay Proposal (strong anti 5C, mode specific, plus other tweaks)

This is a Powerplay overhaul proposal that uses all of Sandros ideas plus a few more based on the 3.x BGS rework to enhance the feature, and employ strong anti 5C measures. Sandro Sammarcos proposal changes are included as they were originally. Problem Powerplay does not function well across...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Powerplay in Solo

That's in the case of the current incarnation of the feature. If OP's measure was enacted, which is the substance of this thread, the roles would be reversed, or partly so. And whether or not to reverse the roles comes down to which players you want to detriment, again. In which case it's a...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Send him a Meme every Monday?

 

[Rubbernuke]

Send him a Meme every Monday?

I had to Powerplay meme bomb a feedback thread ages ago (and got into deep trouble for it) to get some form of answer. How sad is that?

 

[rootsrat]

Hey Bard. You're right, I did promise some updates on Powerplay in the Developer Update stream, but unfortunately things changed behind the scenes and I wasn't able to deliver that, so my apologies to the Powerplay community for that.

I can't really say anything here that will cheer you up too much as it will sound like a generic response, but we do care about Powerplay. We've had meetings in the past couple of weeks where Powerplay feedback was the sole topic. We know you're looking for some change to how it works, and we're feeding that back to dev - what I can't give you right now is our answer, which sucks, I know.

I also know that when I say we're working on it behind the scenes that it's easy to not believe me - the tricky thing with Powerplay is that it's a huge beast, and it's not a simple undertaking to fix, we've seen the comments from yourselves and obviously Sandro's plans in the past, and all of that is being discussed to figure out what we can potentially do to improve the Powerplay landscape moving forward. It's not going to be a quick turnaround on this one, it's actually likely to be a huge project, and as you can imagine, all hands are on deck on Odyssey improvements right now.

Please, keep hassling me on Powerplay. I want to see changes too. But I can't promise you a quick turnaround.

Hey Zac. Would you guys consider adding that kind of info into the future dev update posts on the forums? You'll manage expectations and people want to know ANYTHING. If you just ignore the subject completely (in the dev udpate post, not in the office!) it looks like it's been - well - ignored. While clearly it wasn't. This would go a long way methinks.

 

[Bard Voronwe]

Funny thing is every time we ask for at least some form of feedback you guys find new ways to let us down.

And about "fixing the beast": what about you kill the old Powerplay and give something new to us?

I mean: considering the coding part itself.

 

[NETbreed]

Hey Zac. Would you guys consider adding that kind of info into the future dev update posts on the forums? You'll manage expectations and people want to know ANYTHING. If you just ignore the subject completely (in the dev udpate post, not in the office!) it looks like it's been - well - ignored. While clearly it wasn't. This would go a long way methinks.

Totally agreed. If stuff like this can be shared (and evidently it can be), adding it to the development update posts proactively would massively help to reassure the community around what things are (and are not) being actively discussed by the team.

 

[Bard Voronwe]

What I would ask @Zac Cocken right now is something even more "seminal" about the game: is Frontier Developments even interested in making Elite Dangerous a good MMO?

Because right now it is a very unbalanced, grindy and unfair MMO.