Attachment wont load ...
Notice GalNet changes
- Thread starter Stephen Benedetti
- Start date
Here's the jpg version:
Attachments
The evidence is in the game imho.
So many narrative was started, based on the lore, but none of it has reached any completion, they just stopped short and that was it.
What narrative based on the lore is active at the moment? What's been added regarding the "stories" that were and are evolving in the Elite universe during the last many updates?
There's only stuff being stopped or taken out in that regard.
I'm a veteran player since 1984 and I've never found a spacegame with such a rich lore, I simply love it.
It's a pitty to witness this lore being tossed out, neglected, while it added so much to the series.
It's being said by other members and I agree, Fdev shot me in the knee and it hurts.
Yes I'm very much inclined to say that they don't care anymore.
Last edited:
I will be politically correct and say, "I strongly believe they don't care anymore."
I answered someone else: I will bet you serious beer they do (care] and that's the reason things have ground to a halt. The design principle is probably "When in doubt don't fracking touch it."
Look its easy to speculate when we're not entirely happy. Storytellers are A LOT harder to find than developers or programmers (No offense to those wonderful people). And I'm not talking about "ideas" guys who invent a scenario. I'm talking about the guys who turn it into a piece of technical writing that can exist in a game world. Finding someone who can efficiently and effectively churn out high quality fables PLUS turn it into quests and blurbs and adverts and articles.. Creative writing is REALLY hard and very under appreciated.
SO I think if they do have that guy or guys they are 100% assigned to Odyssey right now. NOT ALLOWED to touch anything else.
ANd in the meantime NOONE without real skill will be allowed to touch Lore because LORE = FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.
They are not doing anything with it precisely because its so important. If they didnt care any more you'd be seeing low quality mass produced crap being churned out.
I strongly believe that there are still devs and writers within Fdev who do care alot.
However I also strongly believe that something changed in the higher ranks, maybe after Micheal Brooks left I don't know.
Imho Fdev shifted their focus towards accumulating more new players, whether they hang around or not, more sales, this instead of maintaining the excisting playerbase, the veterans.
Regarding low quality mass stuff being released, please take a look at the store.
Every week there's something new you can spend your real money on, alas profit.
However I also strongly believe that something changed in the higher ranks, maybe after Micheal Brooks left I don't know.
Imho Fdev shifted their focus towards accumulating more new players, whether they hang around or not, more sales, this instead of maintaining the excisting playerbase, the veterans.
Regarding low quality mass stuff being released, please take a look at the store.
Every week there's something new you can spend your real money on, alas profit.
The game has to make money. I don't understand that last point at all. Of course they're going to try and pay wages. The minute this game stops making money it dies. I have no problem paying monthly for packs and stuff - I just hope when spacelegs come the cosmetics will come too.
How about this: The game double its active player base in the last few months because of carriers. So they are doing the RIGHT thing right now no matter how much we want to complain about stuff. I have faith that they will make a success of Odyssey. It will bring new players and new interest. Maybe the player base doubles again?
Maybe this game needs the influx of attention and capital next year before the devs can prioritize what WE want. That's OK. The trick here is just to stay positive and poltiely remind them that just because we are quietly waiting doesn't mean we forgot or don't care about these features.
But name calling and accusing them of not giving a damn about lore or just cashing in with the shop? No. I dont agree and don't support that behaviour to be honest. It's honestly that is so last century and I think they deserve better than that.
Imho it's just a matter of choice how they want to continue the development of ED.
I think that if they wanted to they'd be perfectly capable to continue creating narrative based on lore.
The last years however the scale tipped farther and farther towards shallow features, SLFs, Multicrew, FCs, etc., stuff that might bring in new players but don't add anything to the richeness or narrative of the game.
Maybe Odessey will bring a change, I truly hope so, maybe they'll pick back up on the Thargoids, Guardians and whatnot.
I'm not incredibly confident that will happen though, we'll see.
I think that if they wanted to they'd be perfectly capable to continue creating narrative based on lore.
The last years however the scale tipped farther and farther towards shallow features, SLFs, Multicrew, FCs, etc., stuff that might bring in new players but don't add anything to the richeness or narrative of the game.
Maybe Odessey will bring a change, I truly hope so, maybe they'll pick back up on the Thargoids, Guardians and whatnot.
I'm not incredibly confident that will happen though, we'll see.
Last edited:
Also remember one point; Elite Dangerous is a kickstarter project and received around 2m euros in support.
And yep should make money you are right but must meet his expectations for players.
ED is wasnt a simple space combat game, wasnt a grinding game,
all supporters initially supported the "space simulation" video game.
i would like you to read here because this statement earned about 2 million euros!
[
“Elite: Dangerous” is the latest installment of a long series of epic space games, starting with "Elite" - one of the most successful games of the 1980s.
If you cannot use Kickstarter to pledge then visit our website to pledge via PayPal.
The £80 pledge tier and higher now also includes free expansions for Elite: Dangerous! For more information on likely expansions check the Development Plan video further down the page.
We have announced a stretch goal for a Mac version of the game. If we reach the stretch goal of £1.4 million through the Kickstarter we will release a Mac version approximately 3 months after the Windows PC release.
New stretch goal announced, if we reach £1.5 million then we'll add another 10 playable ships to the game.
Our galaxy. Its an awe inspiring, beautiful, vast place; with billions of star systems, planets, moons and asteroid fields just waiting to be explored, and exploited. The triumverate superpowers of the Empire, Federation and Independents dominate their core system volumes and constantly skirmish to outmaneouver one another on their frontiers. Outside their influence, in the vast majority of the galaxy, anarchy reigns supreme and spectacular discoveries await the bold.
Its dog-eat-dog out there – you need to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
Whether you want to trade for profit between systems, take part in multiplayer co-op mission alliances, free-for-all group battles and team raids to bring down planetary economies, even tip the balance of power in the galaxy (for your own advantage, of course..), or simply explore the wonders of the galaxy (and who knows what you’ll find out there..) is up to you.
Your second-to-second actions could have you taking the roles of trader, pirate, bounty hunter, leader, team player, opportunistic assassin, grand schemer, and more. You are at the centre of the action any time, any place and any way you choose – each action has a consequence, and influences the galaxy around you.
Starting with a few credits and a basic starship, carve your own path through the richest, largest gaming sandbox ever created, set against a backdrop of raw anarchy, galactic powerplays and intrigue. Do whatever it takes to upgrade your ship’s hull, engines, weapons, defences, cargo hold; constantly improve your capabilities and influence on your journey towards the most coveted rank in the history of gaming - ‘Elite’.
]
Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous
Are you seriously saying the game didn't deliver the value for those 2 million starter cash? Because arguably it has grown way way beyond that and given players pretty much what they wanted. Features way beyond the original scope. it is space simulation PLUS space combat PLUS grinding. None of these things exclude the other.
But that doesn't mean the game can go forever on the happy wishes of backers. The game isnt a museum. It has to continue to earn to develop and develop to survive. A business was established and to keep the game IN BUSINESS requires revenue.
Kickstarter backers got what they paid for. Water under the bridge. That 2 mill is LONG GONE. Backers need to stop waving the kickstarter contract around. They got their game or as close as they will get and if they didn't like it they probably moved on.
Now the question is how can the game survive into the future? For those of us here now?
By making money and turning a profit and becoming successful enough that salaries can be paid developing it.
Carriers are not stupid: it was a brilliant idea that grew the active player base. At one point a few years ago there were less than 3000 steam players a day logging in. The game was DYING despite having Community Goals and Galnet and all the things WE like. And obviously a game that is that small and only targetting so few players doesn't get a lot of resources put into it or developer attention. It goes into caretaker mode.
If FDev didnt give a crap about this game they could have kept it on life support. But they are actively putting in features. And its OK to be upset cos they are not the features WE WANT RIGHT NOW but OMG its better than MOST other Game producers would give us.
Honestly. This thread has legitimate points but please please don't turn it into a whine fest because of something said 6 years ago. We all moved on.
I dont get your point. Im a veteran too (92 not 84 admittedly) but there is nothing in this text that hasn't been delivered and as much as I want lore and storytelling and actively campaign for it, I see no mention of any such thing being promised here. BGS and PowerPlay deliver the majority of the points in this text.
If we want to prove we care about the lore, why dont we stop moaning and join in with @CMDR Kai Zen 's TDW efforts. I cant see a better way to make the point to FDev that there is a large player base that care about the lore. The initiative has already come to FDevs attention and they looked genuinely excited about it. What's more, we get to have fun and make friends at the same time rather than arguing on a forum
isnt that what ED is about?
Last edited:
I dont get your point. Im a veteran too (92 not 84 admittedly) but there is nothing in this text that hasn't been delivered and as much as I want lore and storytelling and actively campaign for it, I see no mention of any such thing being promised here. BGS and PowerPlay deliver the majority of the points in this text.
If we want to prove we care about the lore, why dont we stop moaning and join in with @CMDR Kai Zen 's TDW efforts. I cant see a better way to make the point to FDev that there is a large player base that care about the lore. The initiative has already come to FDevs attention and they looked genuinely excited about it. What's more, we get to have fun and make friends at the same time rather than arguing on a forum
I'm already involved in the TDW event and am enjoying myself greatly, I'm very surprised and excited by the fact that we managed to expand TDW and am very curious to see where this leads.
I said it before, there are still player initiated events, events that are realy good imho, those are the only events still bringing narrative to the game though, Fdev is dropping the ball here, not the players.
These player initiated events do make one point very clear though, that there are a lot of players who play the game for it's lore, not just for min-maxing or accumulating the biggest toys as quickly as possible which are also perectly plausible ways to play of course.
Elite has an enormous backstory/lore, I just find it sad that utilizing this lore has come to a complete halt, taking away a great part of the immersion of the game, it becomes void, lifeless.
Hello,
I didn't object to you. You say, "Frontier should make money" and I replied it.
Frontier is making money; supporters offered kickstarter program, players buy a game and buy a DLC and ARX.
Frontier has made money and continues to win so far and we forward our and players requests for this.
We want dynamic and fresh new content to keep more players together.
We have paid for it and we will pay.
o7
I dont get your point. Im a veteran too (92 not 84 admittedly) but there is nothing in this text that hasn't been delivered and as much as I want lore and storytelling and actively campaign for it, I see no mention of any such thing being promised here. BGS and PowerPlay deliver the majority of the points in this text.
If we want to prove we care about the lore, why dont we stop moaning and join in with @CMDR Kai Zen 's TDW efforts. I cant see a better way to make the point to FDev that there is a large player base that care about the lore. The initiative has already come to FDevs attention and they looked genuinely excited about it. What's more, we get to have fun and make friends at the same time rather than arguing on a forum
Hello,
have you read more? we actually have a game development road map.
Future Plans:
- "The initial release of Elite: Dangerous doesn't mark the end of development. We intend to continue expanding the game both with new content and new features. A good example of this is planetary landings. We have an ambitious goal for landings to include new gameplay and a rich variety of worlds to explore. To achieve our goal we want the planets to come to life. We also want to add leaving the ships so you can explore space stations or board enemy vessels or even just to look around your own."
Now, we expect them to revive the planets and must get off the ships
o7
These things are not mutually exclusive. I am enjoying my new carrier AND shaking my fist and sobbing, LOL. Carrier for exploration = great. The declaration that Galnet, Community Goals, and Interstellar Initiatives have been totally removed from the Elite Dangerous roadmap = TERRIBLE!
Also, the declaration "Don't expect any part of Odyssey to support VR" = TERRIBLE as well. I happily proclaim these decisions as terrible from the deck of my lovely and useful Fleet Carrier
Wot! No bridge?
I think the issue is that it's not just about the writers at this point.
The writers and translators could probably be given a couple of hours here and there to put out some pre-2019-style Galnet articles about the latest goings on in the Imperial Senate, or some corporate dispute, or how Olav Redcourt's writing retreat is going, without putting the Odyssey schedule at risk. It might not be quite the pace of stories we got used to in 2015 or 2018, but there'd still be something.
The problem is that Frontier decided (wrongly!) not to run that sort of story any more. All stories have to be directly and immediately connected to in-game events - CGs, BGS events, new assets, etc. - which also require more operational support. So now any Galnet article or other lore event requires a full team on it, and of course that's not practical when they're already running behind.
The community gets blamed for this, but I think we who vocalized dissatisfaction with CGs and IIs a couple of years back were misunderstood by Frontier. While I never found a great deal of "exciting lore" in stories about who the purple princess was dating, that was not what really bothered me. There were two things that I and others asked Frontier to improve:
First was the "boilerplate" CGs where each week another "somebody" in a random system was throwing a party, asking for the entire galaxy to stop whatever they were doing in order to deliver a ridiculous amount of beer and food, or protect all that beer from pirates. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, week after week. Many of us wanted more variety or at least more substantial reasons, story-wise, to haul stuff and kill folk. One such example was to make station repairs their own CGs, allowing the CG tools to focus players on particular goals and provide a nice completion-feedback mechanism. Operation IDA (sorry if I got that wrong) is great and all, but like many things it relies on external tools that not all players know or care about. Another example of a cool CG was the rescuing of escape pods being scooped up by Thargoids. Whatever happened to that very interesting story line? Of course the Interstellar Initiatives were compelling as well, some more than others. I guess they were just too much work for Frontier to maintain?
The second problem was Galnet stories that implied things were happening in the galaxy when they were not. The example I gave earlier was the Galnet article (multiple articles IIRC) about a huge galactic week-long concert being held in a specific system. This was happening during a dearth of in-game content, so I went to this system expecting to see a high volume of NPC traffic, perhaps with unique NPC comms like "What an amazing party!" Nope, nothing. (Speaking of lack of writers, NPC comms suck. Just sayin.) This system was as dull and boring as every other system. My recommendation was not to remove Galnet articles such as these, but rather make the systems they refer to reflect the circumstances described in the article.
In conclusion, I don't think anybody wanted CGs and Galnet removed from the game. We wanted these things to receive MORE attention, not less. It's like being honest with your wife and telling her that the dress she is wearing really isn't that flattering, but you do like the red dress she owns, so she should wear more dresses like those. Frontier's response was, "You don't like the dress I'm wearing? Fine, I'm filing for divorce!" That I was not the response I was expecting, that's for sure...
Last edited:
Yes, this.
I can't imagine Frontier actually interpreted the communities comments as "just remove it all" rather, they interpreted it as "please make these things cooler" and thought - that's too much work...