Never listened to Galnet in 3 years , but new ships and modules ??? Panther clipper and energy bomb ???
Notice GalNet changes
- Thread starter Stephen Benedetti
- Start date
That is the inescapable conclusion at this point. Our version of ED is clearly in "maintenance mode" with very little time or resources being devoted to the game. Hopefully, it is all going towards the "New Era," something a large portion of the community expects to be an ambitious soft relaunch of the franchise, one that will take into account all the feedback Frontier had received over the years. Fingers crossed. Unfortunately, that means for the rest of us.we are stuck with not just a static game, but a somewhat shrinking game (i.e., features like CGs and a regularly updated GalNet no longer being a thing).
Fortunately, player counts have been noticeably up since the Christmas sale events. That has always been Frontier's saving grace: bugs and missteps galore, Frontier still managed to build one of the best space sims of all time. There is enough there to keep the game interesting despite it largely going dormant. And to be fair, even if we are now just getting minor patches, they managed to include some new BGS states, so technically you could argue that the game isn't strictly in maintenance mode. Eh. It is what it is at this point. o7
I feel a bit encouraged by what you say here to be honest. If there genuinely is a future then cool. Coming upon Galnet totally dead compared to all the content it had the last time I booted up the game left me feeling pretty depressed. I know a quite a few never bothered with it, but to me it definitely added warmth and colouring. If there really still are a body of players--a good few of whom are new and therefore bring fresh cash to the coffers--then I guess Frontier may well keep plugging away and produce a 'New Era' as promised, hopefully adding depth and granularity to what they have presented in the current era. More ships, meaningful customizations, generally more reasons to do things in the game.
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By all accounts, Elite is doing quite well. Frontier has said so themselves on more than one occasion. What is more, this forum is populated with some smart people who have proven to be quite good at ferreting out details from financial statements and investor reports. Based on the stuff they have posted here, Elite has proven to be a solid money-maker for Frontier even if it has since been overshadowed by bigger IPs, such as Jurassic World. By all the accounts I have seen, Elite remains one of the pillars of Frontier's financial success. I think that is why Frontier is doubling-down on the so-called "New Era." I wouldn't expect such a lengthy investment of people (around a hundred now working on it) and resources if ED was a money-loser.
(Tinfoil hat time I can't prove this, but I've always suspected that ED's developmental problems are related to the unexpected success of ED. I've always believed ED was meant to be little more than a niche title that was announced primarily to make a big media splash for Braben, something that would make it easier for him to attract investors to take Frontier public. In other words, I think ED was never expected nor designed to be a mainstream hit. Instead, it was meant to burst like a supernova and then slowly fade away and be superseded by bigger IPs, such as the aforementioned Jurassic World. Much to Frontier's surprise (and horror
), ED refused to fade away and instead garnered a growing cadre of players that demanded more and more content. Unfortunately for Frontier, ED was never designed with such long legs in mind. Having painted themselves into a corner, they now needed to return to the blackboard and redesign the core architecture of the game so that it can sustain years of new content in the fashion of a traditional MMO like Eve Online. Again, just my unproven hunch as to why this game has seemed to routinely befuddle its own creators in the years since it launched.)So, don't be depressed! I think ED has a bright future even if the current reality is...frustrating. This forum has its share of what is often termed "grognards" in wargaming - i.e., veteran "grumblers" or "grouches" who are always complaining (I consider myself part of that group) - but when you visit the ED pages on Reddit or Facebook, you find lots of players just having a good time with the game. I have also noticed lots of new players in both places who are thoroughly enjoying themselves, along with player spikes recorded on Steam stats: ~46% increase in December alone, with a little over 9K being the peak player count in the last 24 hours! Those are healthy numbers.
o7
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I'm a poodle grongard...
Only just seen this - it's such a shame, the occasionally silly Galnet articles were the only things that really gave the idea that things were happening in the ED universe and helped shape it - they can't have taken too long to write and made the game world feel alive. To be honest i'd have pushed for MORE galnet - lots of things representing things going on in the game and story lines etc.
In my opinion Elite's biggest problem is granularity. The engine works well enough and the mechanics that do exist are pretty well polished, but there just are not enough reasons to do things and not enough rewards for doing what is there. Once you are triple elite, own all three big ships and have discovered enough worlds and stars that interest you... then what? You can never really 'make your name'. Probably the only thing you can do is grief enough fellow players that you get your name on the wanted poster... Which is the last thing the programmers should be encouraging and the single worst aspect of the game.
I think you need to be able to, for instance exploit discoveries you make. Build a base on a world you are the first discoverer of, help it grow and attract players to trade there. Build automatic mines and get a regular income from selling the ore. We need to be able to buy naming rights for worlds we discover! Generally there needs to be much more to spend the money we make in the game economy--even if it is just cosmetic. I have never been much of an EVE fan given the toxic bullying culture, but I beleive in that game you build bases and start your own factions--which, to be fair I suppose 'squadrons' are to a degree--and all manner of other things. The old Galnet at least gave the impression these things were going on, even if you could never actually alter the universe by joining the Sirius Corporation or becoming an assassin for the empire or whatever.
I think you need to be able to, for instance exploit discoveries you make. Build a base on a world you are the first discoverer of, help it grow and attract players to trade there. Build automatic mines and get a regular income from selling the ore. We need to be able to buy naming rights for worlds we discover! Generally there needs to be much more to spend the money we make in the game economy--even if it is just cosmetic. I have never been much of an EVE fan given the toxic bullying culture, but I beleive in that game you build bases and start your own factions--which, to be fair I suppose 'squadrons' are to a degree--and all manner of other things. The old Galnet at least gave the impression these things were going on, even if you could never actually alter the universe by joining the Sirius Corporation or becoming an assassin for the empire or whatever.
Is it too soon to say "I told you so"?
No Galnet ... galaxy feels deader than ever.
SLOW - HAND - CLAP
No Galnet ... galaxy feels deader than ever.
SLOW - HAND - CLAP
Depends - are you annoyed that there is no fluff, or annoyed that there is actually nothing happening in game?
One I agree with you on, the other ... maybe not. Not sure we need fluff, we can read up on the Hutton thread or your own not-a-circumnavigation, and it's far more interesting than a winking cat. And if you want things actually happening in game ... maybe next time there's an Open Letter asking for less to happen then ... people shouldn't sign
Anyway - let's try and keep the complaints down - I still want to see what happens when galnet is empty at the end of next week - that will be the most exciting thing to happen on Galnet this year
So do what the tabloids do on a slow news day & make stuff up
Honestly I've barely noticed, I create my own events.
Oh so do I ... and then some! But I like to know that there's stuff going on outside my own little world and that I'm not just existing in a vacuum.So do what the tabloids do on a slow news day & make stuff up
Honestly I've barely noticed, I create my own events.
So do what the tabloids do on a slow news day & make stuff up
Honestly I've barely noticed, I create my own events.
Its what I did. I took all my rejected Holo Advert ads, did a load of ED art and went full 80's tabloid with a 5 page newspaper. 100% ED puns
The former. I never minded the "fluff" (as people are calling it). I hear about stuff in the real world news every day that doesn't affect me directly and which I won't actually run into, but knowing about things that are going on around us in the world (even things we won't see) makes our world bigger and way more colourful and stimulating. The Winking Cat stuff was a classic example of the sort of thing I especially liked because there was no ambiguity about "is it in the game or isn't it?" - we can't fly down to planets and visit art galleries so of course it wasn't "real" (if people wanted to get picky about it). There are all these Power groups in the galaxy, all these leaders and personalities, not to mention about a billion other things fdev could write stories about. Personally I feel that turning Galnet into a place for fdev to announce new "content" and NOTHING else was a MASSIVE tragedy and a HUGE loss to the game. I appreciate that not everyone is as immersed in the Elite: Dangerous galaxy (and likes to pretend it's real for an hour or so) as I do.
I guess ... kinda ... I dunno ... I just liked Galnet I guess, hard to explain.
Can't speak for others here but I didn't touch that stinking thing with a barge pole!And if you want things actually happening in game ... maybe next time there's an Open Letter asking for less to happen then ... people shouldn't sign
Basically, unless FD reverse their policy on this then Galnet will remain empty until there's development news, a new CG or a new Interstellar Initiative.Anyway - let's try and keep the complaints down - I still want to see what happens when galnet is empty at the end of next week - that will be the most exciting thing to happen on Galnet this year
If they're so sure they don't want any fiction in Galnet then they should take a leaf out of Pete Wotherspoon's book and "spin" what's actually happening (whether it be stuff that players are doing or things like the ongoing mining bulk trade tax investigations) into a story they can publish.
Sorry ... that came off as a bit of rant. Not especially aimed at you (or anyone other than Frontier) ... I just feel really quite passionate about this one.
No worries - I was worried I came off as ranting too
I'd like more in Galnet - the Merope NHSS shell has reduced in size - why? The Thargoid Incursions are greatly more difficult to clear - why? We have incursions running over multiple weeks for only the second time ever - nothing. I'm pretty cheesed off that galnet's been mostly ignoring the Thargoid story line since it was started - fair enough if they want Galnet to be unreliable, but most players don't even know anything is happening at all - at least pointing this stuff out would seem sensible, but instead we just get lies about them moving to the Witch Head nebula. Blech.
Maybe GalNet will be back with New Era. I hope....
I think they used people's complains regarding fictional news having no bearing on the game as an excuse and scrapping it was one of the ways to save some money while the game went on maintenance mode with only skeleton crew to keep it afloat.
I think they used people's complains regarding fictional news having no bearing on the game as an excuse and scrapping it was one of the ways to save some money while the game went on maintenance mode with only skeleton crew to keep it afloat.
wot no galnet it works better than valerian
Meanwhile over on Inara people still post fluff daily and a lot of it can be traced back to actual in game events. If only Galnet could have figured out how to do the same maybe it would have lasted as long as that paticular third party site has.
(The writing standard is higher in places too...)
I regularly change my HoloMe underwear and outfit, so my guy doesn’t feel smelly. I often turn off ship lights when docking so I don’t blind anyone working in the station towers. I reply to NPC texts (even if only to tell someone who tried to interdict me to f%&€ off). And I only exit the game if I am docked, so my guy can have a sleep and not feel all alone out in the black.
So, I’m with you on the Galnet thing.
