Complaints will never end. And that's ok.

[Retrograde]

Since update 1.3, we have lots of players complaining that the game is going the wrong direction or failing and raging over Powerplay or CQC. Whatever they announce at Gamescom, a considerable proportion of players will almost surely hate it. Here's why I think most of these complaints should be taken with a grain of salt.

Elite is played by people with a wider range of playstyles than almost any other game. Elite ranges from social MMO players to solo people who just want to be left alone. There are older, time-strapped players and hardcore gamers putting in 100s of hours. We have traders and miners avoiding all combat and twitch players whose only interest is combat. We've got astronomy buffs who just want to explore as well as role-players, casuals, guild-mates, and those whose only goal is maximizing credits per hour.

Some of these groups overlap, but many don't. Basically no announcement or expansion can please all of us at once.

Elite supports this playstyle versatility, and it's one of its greatest strengths. But it also means that whatever is coming next might not be of any interest to you. In fact, it probably won't be, statistically. FD have said time and again that they're in this for the long haul, so whatever aspect of the game you're into, FD will probably get around to it at some point...

Of course there are lots of valid criticisms, including bugs and balance isues, but I think most of the complainers just want their own interest to be catered to first. Given the wide-ranging playstyles, such complaints won't stop. Ever.

In short, forum negativity is inevitable and means the game is thriving and evolving, not failing.

I guess this post is fairly obvious, but with the rise in complaints since 1.3, I think it's worth making the point.

 

[Tinman]

No.

The game is doomed! Doooooooomed I tell you!!!

 

[ZeeWolf]

Any open world game of reasonable scope that isn't drawing criticism surely can't be very popular?

The task of building a modern online open world game that caters for every conceivable play style in a manner that every possible player can't, under any circumstances, perceive something to be "broken" is a complete in-probability.

Probably.

 

[bigtaff]

I can confirm I am totally happy with the current version of ED!

 

[Leo Sagan]

I agree with you when it comes to the vast variety of playstyles in E : D and the fact that a single update cannot possibly satisfy more than a fraction of the community.

It seems to me though that a mining update for instance would get FD less flak than, say, PP, because PP seems to be considered as something nobody was waiting for.

Sure, ppl would complain as well, but they would complain less. I'm convinced that a lot more players would be satisfied, even if they don't mine. I know I would.

TL, DR : You can't make everyone happy but you can make less ppl angry by sticking to the old DDA

 

[M00ka]

Since update 1.3, we have lots of players complaining that the game is going the wrong direction or failing and raging over Powerplay or CQC. Whatever they announce at Gamescom, a considerable proportion of players will almost surely hate it. Here's why I think most of these complaints should be taken with a grain of salt.

Elite is played by people with a wider range of playstyles than almost any other game. Elite ranges from social MMO players to solo people who just want to be left alone. There are older, time-strapped players and hardcore gamers putting in 100s of hours. We have traders and miners avoiding all combat and twitch players whose only interest is combat. We've got astronomy buffs who just want to explore as well as role-players, casuals, guild-mates, and those whose only goal is maximizing credits per hour.

Some of these groups overlap, but many don't. Basically no announcement or expansion can please all of us at once.

Elite supports this playstyle versatility, and it's one of its greatest strengths. But it also means that whatever is coming next might not be of any interest to you. In fact, it probably won't be, statistically. FD have said time and again that they're in this for the long haul, so whatever aspect of the game you're into, FD will probably get around to it at some point...

Of course there are lots of valid criticisms, including bugs and balance isues, but I think most of the complainers just want their own interest to be catered to first. Given the wide-ranging playstyles, such complaints won't stop. Ever.

In short, forum negativity is inevitable and means the game is thriving and evolving, not failing.

I guess this post is fairly obvious, but with the rise in complaints since 1.3, I think it's worth making the point.

.
Great post and deserves a REP!
.
Throughout my decades of gaming - yes I am an old codger - I have found the majority of players of whatever game never come near the forums. Only those that either have something interesting to contribute or those that like to complain. And the latter is the always the most vocal group.
.
This is why I am quite happy that FD refuse to release the actual roadmap of where they want to go. If they did, immediately 1/3 would and moan that what they want isn't listed and the game will die, 1/3 will like what is listed but want everything slight changed to suit what they actually want, and the final 1/3 will immediately demand that everything on the roadmap is released by Saturday!

 

[AnnuverScotinExile]

Most of the complainers, even me, are probably grown up enough to realise the truth in much of what the OP says. I have no problem with FD doing stuff that is targeted at a different audience than me, when there is clearly demand for it. But I do have problems when they never seem to do stuff targeted at my audience*, and when they are ignoring (hopefully 'just for now') much of the positioning that sold the game to people like me in the first place.

We knew from the kickstarter days that FD were going to offer the game on consoles, and if we thought about it we would have realised that that would cause a shift in the target audience. So in a sense, no surprise there. What was a surprise, to me anyway, was how willing they were to release a game that I thought was not ready (YMMV) and then to immediately go after that different audience.







* Tinman and I have had a minor spat about this elsewhere. I don't want to get into a pointless argument about whether, say, 'more ships' is targeted at my audience or not. Apart from minor stuff (first discovered tags), I feel that I have had nothing new that I wanted since before the release. If they provided a new ship that I wanted, I might get interested, but I have seen nothing that I want more than the Asp I currently have - though I may get a Vulture just to mess about fighting now and then. I will probably have another go at mining when I get back from my current journey since that has been tinkered with, and IS core stuff that I accept is targeted at my audience. But I have no interest in, and have never played CGs or Wings or PP. I do not expect to use CQC, other than perhaps a quick peek to see what the fuss is about.

 

[Jesters09]

I don't think complaints are on the rise so much as there is a new influx of players.

I used to complain a fair amount, I even stopped playing for 5 months not long after Christmas.

I would like to think I complained with a fair reason too, not that it made any difference. The things I thought needed fixing have not been fixed, I've just learned to live with them. I still believe the game would be far better and more enjoyable if those things were fixed too.

I think there is a cycle among Elite cmdrs. New players see the things that are broken and like to vent their frustrations. After a period of time, (if we are smart) we learn that our complaints mostly fall on deaf ears. We then go through a period of total frustration, where we may or may not boycott the game for a while, where after, we either get sucked back in (like me) and accept things the way they are and hope they get fixed somewhere down the line, or we don't, in which case the game becomes shelved (90% of my old playing buddies).

Elite has a lot of promise, but has a way to go for sure.
Beauty is not enough on it's own.

Of course, there will always be those who moan for the sake of it.

Now come on FD, fix the damn in game trade predictor. I'm sick of buying goods for more than they sell!

 

[azdour]

Yes there is always going to be people who will complain. What is more difficult to see is how much of the player base are complaining.

Some times the vocal few who post a lot give the impression that there is a lot of people who do not like what ever it is they are complaining about.

Then there are those that post that feel they have the right to speak for me without even asking....

So whatever they announce at Gamescom all we can say is that people will complain, but we will not necessarily how many of the player base share the same feeling

 

[DnAuK]

.
Great post and deserves a REP!
.
Throughout my decades of gaming - yes I am an old codger - I have found the majority of players of whatever game never come near the forums. Only those that either have something interesting to contribute or those that like to complain. And the latter is the always the most vocal group.
.
This is why I am quite happy that FD refuse to release the actual roadmap of where they want to go. If they did, immediately 1/3 would and moan that what they want isn't listed and the game will die, 1/3 will like what is listed but want everything slight changed to suit what they actually want, and the final 1/3 will immediately demand that everything on the roadmap is released by Saturday!

How very, very true!

 

[Deleted member 38366]

--- Deleted ---

 

[Sugarat]

ED is not just a game for grumpy old men (I include myself in that group btw)

 

[Whiterose]

Negativity is such a strong word, far more than the word complaining. I look upon all perceived negative posts as constructive criticism. I myself have offered a lot of constructive debate around powerplay. Will it stop me playing the game? no, will it influence the dev team? probably not, but the team at FD need to be aware of everybodies issues, and then they can make the decision of what to include and what not to include, and what to change and what not to change.
You can please some of the people some of the time.....

 

[CaptainKremmen]

Yep, OP is quite correct.

 

[Titler]

I hoped, with the title of this post, there would be a mature comment inside indicating at least someone on this forum had come to understand that dealing with the fact that sometimes things just aren't good is part of a healthy attitude to the world as it really is. That someone had finally realised that just because you've invested months or years and maybe hundreds of pounds into a game doesn't guarantee you that the product is worthy of your affections. And yes, the post briefly touches on the idea that people also just have different tastes, that we'll never be all of one mind, and that this doesn't mean a personal insult...

In short, forum negativity is inevitable and means the game is thriving and evolving, not failing.

... but then it all came crashing down with this ridiculous attempt to claim that because people are unhappy, that means you were right all along. Honestly, how many more posts must we get that are about nothing more than trying to shore up the bruised and insecure egos of people who are too emotionally invested in this game to actually be able to handle criticism? This post itself wasn't trolling, as such, but the sad thing is you can make entire threads mocking critics here on the forums and get mods happily commenting in them, but are endlessly reported and sanctioned for pointing out how illogical and unreal the cult like devotion can become.

Case in point; The game is getting criticism not because it's successful; remember, Pyramid Selling is insanely successful in the first few generations too. That doesn't mean that it has a long term future. Right now E : D is coasting on the back of the "brand new game hype" for XBox as well as two back to back sales, the Steam one and now it's own store one. Fantastic marketting maybe, but the reviews of the game haven't changed overall. It's still a mile wide and an inch deep, but it now has spectacular levels of bugs, core systems being constantly re-written with the audience as live testers, and huge swathes of burned out backers...

Is that ok? Do you have the strength and honesty to actually deal with E : D as it really is and say "that's ok", and strike a blow for a more honest, more customer focused gaming industry?

Maybe in the next thread.

 

[finchywinchy]

Just a marketing gag.

No gag. It's been a masterclass in misdirection. The Emperor has no clothes.

 

[Sire]

I dont't completly agree with OP because seems to me that most players complain about the aspect they play E: D for.

For example: I like dogfighting and I agree that it must very difficult, in terms of money raising, to buy and fully upgrade high end ships so good be a lot of trading grind, but when I started fighting with a good ship I realized there is no target to aim at, no rewards but money or a standalone rep raising. I keep on fighting endless battles with no short term result.

The same happens with BB missions: once you finish a mission there is nothing more than idle rewards; you can raise rep but it brings to no more advantages, you can gain permission to systems that have nothing different from no permission systems, you can get money but nothing really special. Nothing that gets you really involved and eager to see where it will bring you to in the middle/long term.

Many other games have a main story plot and hundreds of secondary missions made of tens of submissions that give you a special reward you can boost of with other players which they could be a particular paint job or decal, a particular ranking system that gives you real benefits that lower ranked people can't have that is not only that at a certain rank you can buy Clipper o FDS or that you gain access to a system that has nothing different from tne other 399,999,999,999 system. This way it only gives me the impression that everything is just sketched out or rough shaped without any further deeper development.

To sum up, the more I play E: D (seven months this far) the strongest to me is the impression that it is something like a shiny brilliant packaged gift box with nothing inside.

 

[Von Shadow]

My main concern right now is that they've repeatedly implied that something MAJOR is due to be announced at Gamescon.... however, its also obvious that PowerPlay still needs a lot more balancing / tweaking and there is an ever growing list of reasonably significant bugs/issues that remain unaddressed

So nervous they're moving on to the next big game-changer while leaving in their trail a stream of slightly unfinished / broken elements...

We had the major inter-empire tensions building in the close of 1.2 (Arissa/Aisling/Patreaus battle of wills), we had lots of CGs now almost dead, we have things like the unknown artifacts kinda bubbling along very quiet but again big intrigue gone dead, we have jaques station introduced but nothing further, we have BB missions still needing more depth, progression, variety and challenge, we need more variety in station types/interiors etc to add more depth, we need ways to manage powerplay teams/coop in-game, ideally means to manage the massive groups like Mobius / EDC in-game

I think ED needs the next 'Major Update' to be a massive deepening of the existing feature set and a major bug squash release ... focus on tuning, balancing, enhancing core functionality
I only say these things cos i adore E and want nothing but the best for it and in certain areas it doesn't need much doing but it needs focussing on to make it awesome...

We don't need more shallow unfinished features.

The next major release also needs at least a month of BETA not a week.

 

[NeilF]

Since update 1.3, we have lots of players complaining that the game is going the wrong direction or failing and raging over Powerplay or CQC. Whatever they announce at Gamescom, a considerable proportion of players will almost surely hate it. Here's why I think most of these complaints should be taken with a grain of salt.

Elite is played by people with a wider range of playstyles than almost any other game. Elite ranges from social MMO players to solo people who just want to be left alone. There are older, time-strapped players and hardcore gamers putting in 100s of hours. We have traders and miners avoiding all combat and twitch players whose only interest is combat. We've got astronomy buffs who just want to explore as well as role-players, casuals, guild-mates, and those whose only goal is maximizing credits per hour.

Some of these groups overlap, but many don't. Basically no announcement or expansion can please all of us at once.

Elite supports this playstyle versatility, and it's one of its greatest strengths. But it also means that whatever is coming next might not be of any interest to you. In fact, it probably won't be, statistically. FD have said time and again that they're in this for the long haul, so whatever aspect of the game you're into, FD will probably get around to it at some point...

Of course there are lots of valid criticisms, including bugs and balance isues, but I think most of the complainers just want their own interest to be catered to first. Given the wide-ranging playstyles, such complaints won't stop. Ever.

In short, forum negativity is inevitable and means the game is thriving and evolving, not failing.

I guess this post is fairly obvious, but with the rise in complaints since 1.3, I think it's worth making the point.

A fair and considered post... BUT, I think if there is a rise in the number of complaint on the forums, it's simply down to concern.

If you consider we're now six months since the release of ED, and although we've had regular fixes and updates, for many, they're yet to actually see any of the core gameplay element really move forwards in any significant way.

ie: Most occupations are still rather vague and simplistic. Missions are still basically take X to Y, got to X and blow up Y. Space content is rather simplistic and thin on the ground, and likewise exploration.

Now if we accept some/all of that is down to FD releasing the game to meet their Dec-15 release deadline, that's fine, but I think why people are getting worried (frustrated), is we're now six months on, those "place holder mechanics" are still there, but FD have had time to develope CQC and Powerplay, both of which do little (nothing?) to actually move the core gameplay on, and to some this suggests questionable direction/priorities.

If FD were to give us some sort of confirmation that core gameplay is going to get some much needed improvements, I think you'd see a lot of the concern/frustration disappear. But FD don't seem to want to do that, so I think the tone will remain much the same for the time being...

Note: It seems we're getting some announcements over the coming 4-6 weeks. I suspect, if these are more non-core related enhancements, or are DLC's, we may see the levels of concern grow yet even more.

My main concern right now is that they've repeatedly implied that something MAJOR is due to be announced at Gamescon.... however, its also obvious that PowerPlay still needs a lot more balancing / tweaking and there is an ever growing list of reasonably significant bugs/issues that remain unaddressed

So nervous they're moving on to the next big game-changer while leaving in their trail a stream of slightly unfinished / broken elements...

We had the major inter-empire tensions building in the close of 1.2 (Arissa/Aisling/Patreaus battle of wills), we had lots of CGs now almost dead, we have things like the unknown artifacts kinda bubbling along very quiet but again big intrigue gone dead, we have jaques station introduced but nothing further, we have BB missions still needing more depth, progression, variety and challenge, we need more variety in station types/interiors etc to add more depth, we need ways to manage powerplay teams/coop in-game, ideally means to manage the massive groups like Mobius / EDC in-game

I think ED needs the next 'Major Update' to be a massive deepening of the existing feature set and a major bug squash release ... focus on tuning, balancing, enhancing core functionality
I only say these things cos i adore E and want nothing but the best for it and in certain areas it doesn't need much doing but it needs focussing on to make it awesome...

We don't need more shallow unfinished features.

The next major release also needs at least a month of BETA not a week.

Exactly... So PP needs yet more time/effort dedicated to it, all of which is time/effort not spent on long overdue enhancements to the core gameplay.

I totally agree the core gameplay is long overdue a massive lump of attention/love. I sincerely hope V1.4 is dedicated to that purpose, even if it means PP is left in its current (questionable) state.

Note: Personally I do not think PP can even be fixed as the whole backbone relies on players actually caring about which systems belong to which Powers. Ultimately they don't as most will put their own experience/position far ahead of if a Power owns 99 or 98 systems. Without a complete change in its mechanics I simply cannot see it working in anyway other than basically a random grind war with little attention to the tactics/choices the "board game" is trying to enforce.

 

[LeetNoob]

I'd be a lot more worried for the games future if the forums went silent. If you look how fast the threads are updating it shows while the game has a lot of flaws, it still has a lot of players and still has a lot of potential.
It's a very fluid situation, let's see where it goes.

However, there does seem to be a rise in negativity around the forums, and one thing I've noticed recently is a very sharp decline in the 'white knight' kind of posts, where people jump to the games defence all the time. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.