News Elite Dangerous: Arena Removal From Sale

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note about Arena below:

'Elite Dangerous: Arena will be removed from sale on Steam, Frontier store, and on the Xbox store. This change is planned for later today.

We’ve been looking at our metrics which suggest that the vast majority of new and regular Arena players tend to play Arena through the main Elite Dangerous client rather than the standalone Arena one. We’ve made the decision to remove the standalone version of Elite Dangerous: Arena in order to reduce the number of builds that have to be maintained and managed across Steam, Xbox One and in 2Q'17 PlayStation Network, as well as clarifying the choices for new players of Elite Dangerous on these storefronts.

Elite Dangerous: Arena continues to be available and supported as part of the wider Elite Dangerous game. Existing and new players that join the Elite Dangerous galaxy will continue to be able to enjoy the fast-paced action of Arena through the main menu. Existing Elite Dangerous: Arena client owners will still be able to enjoy Arena as they have always done.

Not much change but we just wanted to give you a quick heads up, to avoid any confusion.'

Thanks
 
Any chance that we'll ever be able to queue for CQC from the main game? This seems fundamentally similar to the new multicrew lobby.

The major reason I don't play more CQC is that waiting in the CQC lobby for a game is as dull as a staring at a box of nails. If I could queue from my ship while playing the main game, I'd be queued for CQC all the time.
 
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I was half expecting this announcement to be because you'd made the standalone Arena free to anyone, to encourage enough players to make it worthwhile queueing.
 
Not to be a negative nancy... ok, i am being... but any one of us could have told FD years ago this wasn't going to work. People need a reason to play CQC (ie: worthwhile main game benefits) or it needs a very active population with active development.... which FD was clearly never going to muster up for it.

While i do at times wish Ziljan would chill a little on certain topics, this is one thing i do agree with him on. For CQC to actually have an active population, there needs to be some mechanic whereby people can easily get a game.

Oh, and lobbies, where peopel can chat, and set up games of their own. I presume it was initially done with auto match making to try and make it competitive and you later would add ladders and stuff, but that is obviosuly dead in the water, so come on FD, let us make our own matches. Seems like a no-brainer at this point.
 
People ALREADY don't play it because it's repetitive, so you up the price? Way to make it harder to play something that is already unpopular.

Read what he said. Basically nobody was buying the standalone version. There are probably costs associated with that. Even if its only maintaining a standalone branch and some sort of Steam tax? There is no price increase, because those who were playing CQC/Arena were already playing it through the main client.
 
Elite Dangerous: Arena continues to be available and supported as part of the wider Elite Dangerous game. Existing and new players that join the Elite Dangerous galaxy will continue to be able to enjoy the fast-paced action of Arena through the main menu. Existing Elite Dangerous: Arena client owners will still be able to enjoy Arena as they have always done.

Right and if you checked why few people buy/play Arena/CQC, it's because it needs more maps, game modes and most importantly AI/NPCs to fill the lobbies.

Any chance that we'll ever be able to queue for CQC from the main game? This seems fundamentally similar to the new multicrew lobby.

The major reason I don't play more CQC is that waiting in the CQC lobby for a game is as dull as a staring at a box of nails. If I could queue from my ship while playing the main game, I'd be queued for CQC all the time.

Seconded. Add CQC to the main-game. So while we play the game we can hop into CQC virtual matches.
 
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It was a good idea. It could have brought players into the main Elite. It should have been free from the start. RIP
 
Nooo, my hopes of having it disappear from the main game are dashed! :(

I know I'm going against the grain, but those that have no interest in CQC like myself would like to be able to turn off the jarring red rank in the right panel, thanks. Maybe an option added to the function panel? :)
 
But what if in the moment you get released into a CQC session you already would be under attack (or short before)? Artificial CL then? :p
You could of course restrict this function to a docking state but would this be so much different than to the current situation?

They can handle it the same way they'll handle the lobby for Multicrew. Think about that for a second.

I'm sure it's a 15sec timer if you're currently in combat, the same as switching to the main menu is currently.
 
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How's about making the multicrew passive observer role available via a free-as-in-beer demo product?

This would allow prospective buyers to experience the action of the full game in the company of existing Cmdrs, using a non-persistent save and randomly generated avatar.
 
Can't say I'm too sad to see the back of it, you may as well remove it from the main game too. It's just tedious and boring after the first few matches.

Whilst you are at it though, can you please implement the feature where you lose target lock and ship from the scanner when it goes behind a celestial object.
 
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you mean people play CQC where are they hardly get a match . Hardly if ever meet cmdrs in open game space.

rather than look at 'metrics' look at what cmdrs post on forums. You have a captive user base respect it.

having the CQC 'rank' displaced alongside the others in the made game is grating. Its a sideshow.

The game is poorly marketed outside core audience.. Cant get the SC crowd? Female gamers?

The potential for cross play planet coaster and Ed - Deliver metals and visitors to PLanet Coaster :)

CQC had a potential as a esport.
 
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I still don't know if a 15 sec delay would work. Could run into problems...

You do realise that is already how it works right? Exiting to the main menu from combat results in a 15 sec timer with the question "are you sure you want to go to the main menu?"

If there was a change to the existing "legal CL" mechanics just for Multicrew, that would be astonishing.

Furthermore, anything that works for Multicrew works doubly well for CQC, since an ingame CQC lobby would be more popular than multicrew.

I predict multicrew will be a short lived gimmick that will become quite unpopular once people figure out how to troll each other with it, intentionally or unintentionally. Would love to be proved wrong though :)
 
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Furthermore, anything that works for Multicrew works doubly well for CQC, since an ingame CQC lobby would be more popular than multicrew.

I predict multicrew will be a short lived gimmick that will become quite unpopular once people figure out how to troll each other with it, intentionally or unintentionally. Would love to be proved wrong though :)

Not to mention too that an in-game lobby for CQC would something useable by all as opposed to multicrew only really being useful to a subset (at least in this inital iteration). I too fear mulicrew will simply turn out to be a gimmick used by only a minority once the novelty wears off. But that's off topic here I suppose....
 
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You do realise that is already how it works right? Exiting to the main menu from combat results in a 15 sec timer with the question "are you sure you want to go to the main menu?"

If there was a change to the existing "legal CL" mechanics just for Multicrew, that would be astonishing.

Furthermore, anything that works for Multicrew works doubly well for CQC, since an ingame CQC lobby would be more popular than multicrew.

I predict multicrew will be a short lived gimmick that will become quite unpopular once people figure out how to troll each other with it, intentionally or unintentionally. Would love to be proved wrong though :)

I personally think it will be a shortlived gimmick because the game already makes you feel insignificant enough, without you becoming second-in-command to someone insignificant, in charge of nothing but given some turrets to shoot. Other than helping a friend on a tough mission I cannot really see why someone would want to do it more than once when they can pilot their own ship which offers greater depth, challenge and reward. NPC multicrew on the other hand, would be a welcome addition even if only to fill the empty seats.

Anyway - I agree with you as I often do, being able to queue for CQC while playing would be awesome. I don't understand why this hasn't been introduced yet, this was brought up before CQC was initially released. I'm sure many a post could be found where players highlighted that they wouldn't queue to play CQC because they would be too busy playing the main game.
 
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