FD: incompetent? Neglectful? Or exactly right?

[DukeIronHand]

Let me apologize out the gate for the title but I wanted to cover all the bases.
I like ED - I really do - and spend much time with it (more then any other game ever) but am not unaware of my personal issues with it.

I was poodling about in my T9 this morning performing a public service runnings meds to a Outbreak system. Trading in a T9 gives one a few moments to ponder.

Everyone, or so it seems here with the .2% of the fanbase, has issues with ED and it's direction of development or perhaps lack of develeopment. I, as a Solo player, certainly do as the bulk of Dev time seems to be spent with major items that do nothing for me. The only thing that could be considered close for me is planetary landings and SRV use which seems to be only partially completed - to be generous.

But the one thing makes me wonder about what FD is doing: the server data.
Does FD know exactly what the player base wants - and is delivering?
Does FD know exactly what the player base wants - and is ignoring it and doesn't care?
Or am I totally off-base here about server data?

What I mean by server data is this: Doesn't FD know exactly what the player base is doing?
Types of ships flown, trading, mining, exploring, Open, Solo, PvP, PG's, SRV's, Engineers, in the bubble, out of it, piracy, combat, etc, etc, etc!

So with these "major developments" (that do nothing for me except some QoL features) is FD exactly right in what they are doing knowing the player base? Or do they know and are ignoring it or (like Engineers initially) are they trying to force players into unwanted MMO/Open activities?
Or am I totally wrong about the server data and FD is clueless about what players do or want?
Obviously this will be your opinion unless some knows what data is collected and if FD looks at it.

 

[Bobbydylan]

I don;t think anyone is incompetent. Though I think there is a disconnects between people who play the game, and the designers of the game systems. They seem more preoccupied in the mechanics of a thing, rather than the enjoyment of a thing.

 

[Whitehair]

Data is useless without some form of structure and anaylsis to give it meaning.

I think you are asking the wrong questions.

 

[CMDR Shane Kannigan]

Let me apologize out the gate for the title but I wanted to cover all the bases.
I like ED - I really do - and spend much time with it (more then any other game ever) but am not unaware of my personal issues with it.

I was poodling about in my T9 this morning performing a public service runnings meds to a Outbreak system. Trading in a T9 gives one a few moments to ponder.

Everyone, or so it seems here with the .2% of the fanbase, has issues with ED and it's direction of development or perhaps lack of develeopment. I, as a Solo player, certainly do as the bulk of Dev time seems to be spent with major items that do nothing for me. The only thing that could be considered close for me is planetary landings and SRV use which seems to be only partially completed - to be generous.

But the one thing makes me wonder about what FD is doing: the server data.
Does FD know exactly what the player base wants - and is delivering?
Does FD know exactly what the player base wants - and is ignoring it and doesn't care?
Or am I totally off-base here about server data?

What I mean by server data is this: Doesn't FD know exactly what the player base is doing?
Types of ships flown, trading, mining, exploring, Open, Solo, PvP, PG's, SRV's, Engineers, in the bubble, out of it, piracy, combat, etc, etc, etc!

So with these "major developments" (that do nothing for me except some QoL features) is FD exactly right in what they are doing knowing the player base? Or do they know and are ignoring it or (like Engineers initially) are they trying to force players into unwanted MMO/Open activities?
Or am I totally wrong about the server data and FD is clueless about what players do or want?
Obviously this will be your opinion unless some knows what data is collected and if FD looks at it.

You apparently haven't seen Massive Entertainment or played The Division. Those guys are incompetent. FD people are pretty cool. They do know what they are doing.

 

[redVENGEANCE]

Seeing as polls have been removed from the forum I guess FD don't want our opinion!

 

[VR jefranklin18]

My guess is that Frontier are trying to force more multiplayer co-operative action on the game than is wanted. Community goals are designed to for people to cooperate together to achieve whatever the goal is, wings is intended to allow players to fight together, mine together or trade together in separate vessels and all reap some rewards and multicrew is designed for players to fight together in the one ship.

My gut feel is that they want the alien invaders when they come to require teaming up to deal with them, but if people don't want to play that style, they're going to be out in the cold.

 

[Bobbydylan]

Seeing as polls have been removed from the forum I guess FD don't want our opinion!

That's harsh, but I think fair. Most polls put value in things that FD seem reluctant to add to the game. Things like NPC crew, and NPC wings.

 

[Whitehair]

Seeing as polls have been removed from the forum I guess FD don't want our opinion!

LOL. Butthurt about polls being removed.

 

[Bobbydylan]

My guess is that Frontier are trying to force more multiplayer co-operative action on the game than is wanted. Community goals are designed to for people to cooperate together to achieve whatever the goal is, wings is intended to allow players to fight together, mine together or trade together in separate vessels and all reap some rewards and multicrew is designed for players to fight together in the one ship.

My gut feel is that they want the alien invaders when they come to require teaming up to deal with them, but if people don't want to play that style, they're going to be out in the cold.

Blaze your our own trail.

 

[MassiveD]

FD has proven over the years to be extremely focused and composed.

What I mean by that, is that it's clear that even today they know exactly where the game will be in 10 years, they have their roadmap written down, checked twice, and unlike many companies out there, its intoxicating how much they actually care and have passion towards their IP.

If Ubisoft is a company that s out games for mere cashgrabing purposes, than FD is on the exact opposite side of the spectrum.

Now we may not agree every time with their decisions, but we all have to admit that FD has always stayed on point, and always delivered what they promised.

Its clear that their vision is concrete, and it's not gonna change for anyone, not for your not for me, and I have to say that I admire that a lot, meaning that if ED is going to be a masterpiece (which it already is), than it will be pure and as close to the core as the visionaire behind it meant for it to be.

Face it, if the forums had a say in the development, this game would crash and burn so hard.

SO HARD.

 

[DukeIronHand]

My guess is that Frontier are trying to force more multiplayer co-operative action on the game than is wanted.

This is kind of my gut feeling also - a bit of the "we know what's good for you" syndrome.
Guess I needed a fourth choice: Developer "arrogance" to put perhaps too strong a word for it. Or maybe "this is the game WE want...like it or leave." Dunno. But I don't feel they have "10 years" to figure it out.

- - - Updated - - -

Blaze your our own trail.

.....

 

[Bobbydylan]

Face it, if the forums had a say in the development, this game would crash and burn so hard.

SO HARD.

I disagree. The forums didn't ask for CQC, Powerplay or the massive amounts of RNG in Engineers. The Forum was the place where instant ship transfer was proven to have long term negative impacts on the game, and the place were RNGineers was brought back into a (slightly more) manageable level

The Forum is the voice of FD's most hard-core fan-base, people who seem to take the game more seriously than FD do themselves.

 

[Winterwalker]

My guess is that Frontier are trying to force more multiplayer co-operative action on the game than is wanted. Community goals are designed to for people to cooperate together to achieve whatever the goal is, wings is intended to allow players to fight together, mine together or trade together in separate vessels and all reap some rewards and multicrew is designed for players to fight together in the one ship.

Not so much I think.

Multicrew is (designed to separate the player avatar from the ship, to find position on a different ship)
Wings provided the (basic networking to achieve that)
Community goals were (injected / authored events)

While the above might have the effect you've mentioned about producing more co-operative play, I don't believe that is what the updates were/are entirely for. Expansions also come with development of the game's back end code. Sure, there are headline features too, no point having any mechanic if you can't use it at all, but the driving force behind the updates we've seen is, in my humble opinion, much more influenced by creating a sophisticated set of mechanics which you really need to be in place, before you can use those mechanics to liven up the gameplay, with interesting ways to access the various background sims. To improve the background sims though, you need to be able to differentiate between inputs (ie. by identifying the 'known' mechanics beforehand).

 

[Kellan Fell]

I think one ofthe earlier posters hit the nail on the head... I don't think FD are incompetent (far from it) but I do think there is a massive disconnect between the game the players want to play and the game the developers want to deliver. And this even extends into the disconnect between the game David Braben keeps promising (and seems to think we're getting) and what is actually appearing.
I think the Devs are trying to build a massively interactive online community with lots of co-operative play (Power Play, Wings, Community Goals, Combat Zones, even Multi-Crew), however I feel that the vast majority of the player base would rather make their own way in the universe, interacting with other players only when they chose to.

I feel this is more the game that DB originally promised, and still talks about at every opportunity, but this is not what we are getting.

Now, before the flames begin, I would like to point out that I, too, love this game and have over 12 weeks game time logged, was a Premium Beta backer and have participated (actively) in every beta test. I also hold a Lifetime pass, so I am invested in playing the game. However I play mostly in Solo or Private Groups as the "community at large" holds little or no interest for me. If I want interaction, then I will play in Open (and while there are a lot of idiots in there, mostly around the engineers, I haven't found it to be the total gank fest it is often protrayed as being).
However I find the disconnect with the Solo player (and I think this is the majority of players - maybe not on this forum, but in the game) are beginning to feel a distinct lack of love.

My biggest fear is that the disconnect is so large that when the aliens do arrive (and assuming they are hostile) the Devs will have made them so powerful that they are impossible to defeat without Multi-Crew or Wings, thus either forcing us into the co-operative play model they seem to favour, or forcing us to abandon the game.

I do hope FDev listen to some of the opinions on the forum and work towards lessening this disconnect, as I do love this game, but I want to be able to play it my way (as repeatedly promised by DB).

 

[Bobbydylan]

My biggest fear is that the disconnect is so large that when the aliens do arrive (and assuming they are hostile) the Devs will have made them so powerful that they are impossible to defeat without Multi-Crew or Wings, thus either forcing us into the co-operative play model they seem to favour, or forcing us to abandon the game.

I do hope FDev listen to some of the opinions on the forum and work towards lessening this disconnect, as I do love this game, but I want to be able to play it my way (as repeatedly promised by DB).

I don't think that will happen. I'm reasonably sure FD have metrics on how many people play in Solo / Private. Punishing those players to the point where they risk abandoning the game would be.... unwise.

 

[CMDR Ofan]

To the greater extent, they are exactly right

 

[DukeIronHand]

To the greater extent, they are exactly right

It's hard for me to know what thousands of players are doing or want but it doesn't feel that way to me.
But I've been wrong once or twice in my life but I do know what I want from ED and hope it is coming...soon.

 

[Madrax573]

I disagree. The forums didn't ask for CQC, Powerplay or the massive amounts of RNG in Engineers. The Forum was the place where instant ship transfer was proven to have long term negative impacts on the game, and the place were RNGineers was brought back into a (slightly more) manageable level

The Forum is the voice of FD's most hard-core fan-base, people who seem to take the game more seriously than FD do themselves.

I disagree with your disagree. The majority of very vocal forum users don't have any idea what it takes to make a game of the scope of ED and if they implemented all the loudest ideas it would spell the decline of ED into obscurity.

I feel that FD have a good grasp on what they are doing and do take note of things in the forums they just don't tell us every little thing.

 

[verminstar]

A shorter reply on this thread which appears to be a clone of another thread. Much as I love this game, I have seen better work done by much smaller dev teams, although I do still play a bit of this every day...near enough. I sense arrogance on their part...some high and mighty attitude from them as they have allowed their ego to cloud their judgement calls. This braben guy has let it all go to his head and now takes the fanboi devotion fer granted. Thats what I see in this game.

Im playing other stuff more than ED right now...this game is fast slipping away, but I have hope yet. Andomeda lands in a week or two so I wont be back till summer...thats the deadline fer things to improve, although I suspect they wont. In that respect, ED has itself become a placeholder till someone else releases something shiny.

As to the OP...its not incompetence...its arrogance. The fanbois have given them their ego and now everyone is paying the price it seems. The fanbois said braben could do no wrong...some of them still do...and FD lost the plot entirely it seems ^

 

[Bobbydylan]

I disagree with your disagree.

The majority of very vocal forum users don't have any idea what it takes to make a game of the scope of ED and if they implemented all the loudest ideas it would spell the decline of ED into obscurity.

You mean ideas like NPC crew, NPC wings, Persistent materials spawn, craftable crafting requirements, and a hell of a lot more:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/307770-A-year-worth-of-Elite-photoshop-concepts!

I feel that FD have a good grasp on what they are doing and do take note of things in the forums they just don't tell us every little thing.

Or anything at all, come to think about it.