CQC: What Is This?

[60mm]

If only another space game had such great sounds, graphics and V/R capability....

Forum polls have been done on why people are playing ED, and a hefty chunk of the responses were, "I'm waiting for something better to replace ED."

Total shame, really. ED could easily be a long-running game but, as things stand, the day a decent spaceship game comes along and ticks the right boxes, ED is done. Recent entries to the field have all distuinguished themselves in gameplay far enough from ED to avoid direct competition . . . but someone will. Hopefully ED gets the game mechanics department in shape before then. The rest of their team kills.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I'm total tat at CQC - happy to admit it, but it is helping me fly better in the main game and does make me chuckle a lot... the other interesting side effect is in being blown up so much in CQC has me just shrugging in the main game when I get my ship detonated because of being silly and carrying on... Rather than the usual "That was stupid" type moment

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Total shame, really. ED could easily be a long-running game but, as things stand, the day a decent spaceship game comes along and ticks the right boxes, ED is done.

...any decade now.

ED is now in its sixth post-release year, still making Frontier a decent income, and its closest unreleased competitors that are known of are a game that's been in extended development for even longer than ED has with no sign of being anywhere near release soon, and a game which is taking a much more PvP-focused line (to the point where its current alpha doesn't have NPCs at all) and is again well behind its initial planned schedule. And every year, of course, ED also improves - there's still lots of it which is unsatisfying and really needs some extra work, but compared with how it was in the 1.0 release? No contest.

Would it be great if the mythical "company which was both able to get a game out the door and could make endlessly compelling space gameplay" came along with a competitor? Yes. Is there any sign that it's going to happen? No. I'm more optimistic for Frontier adding extra features to CQC than I am for that happening...

(That sort of competition would be good for ED, too - at the moment it's as if there is exactly one FPS which has to appeal to Doom-like ludicrous weapon fans, Rainbow Six tactical "realism" fans, and people who just want to be able to walk around a simulated terraformed mars without being shot at. Having multiple games in the genre would let them all specialise a bit more, and be better at what they're good at with fewer compromises)

 

[Canoe]

Welcome to another incredible piece of ED that was abandoned because we didn't play it enough, - only we couldn't play it enough because not being tied into the game left players with ridiculous wait times and near non-existent pools of competition due to AI not filling in empty spots.

 

[zimms]

People suggested years ago that G5 material rewards for CQC would be a great idea and could immensely boost player number for relatively little work. In the meantime we got mat traders but it would still help I think.

 

[znôrt]

because it was a flop and somehow they don't want to ditch it either. maybe even because removing the rank from the right hand panel would be a nuisance

for starters, as an arena game it already lacks basic technical requirements. that 'tournament' was supposed to happen on site, on a lan, with direct supervision . still, 'gameplay' wise it was a pretty good start all considering. it is indeed a lot of fun but still an early barebones version. that was just not enough to catch on how they expected and thus turned out to be a bad decision. if you want a successful arena you have to be serious about it, it's not a sideshow. they saw that early and what you see now is still pretty the original incarnation, very little was done to it.

 

[Wyaston Hypatia]

For me it simply isn't/wasn't the game I am/was looking for.

I was/am interested in ED, not a PvP arena shooter, so for at least one ED player it wasn't going to fly. There are many games I haven't or will never play, that doesn't make them bad (or good) just not for me.

 

[Kayweg]

You mentioned this to me. I really don't understand why it isn't more fleshed out like you've described. Why aren't simple things that would make it interesting like minor faction sponsorships and free ship customization and some kind of well-organized wing competition system in place?


It's mind-boggling. There is no effort whatsoever here. Seriously, if they didn't care about this mode, why do we have it?

Can't say for sure, but perhaps they figured they could make a low-effort quick buck on the back of the success of arena shooters and battle royal games ?
Then the realization that those games take a lot of work and investment to successfully pull off flew in their face, and the best option was to simply abandon it ?
Just a thought from a completely unboggled mind after following ED for 5 years.