Gnosis event - the actual content is fun!

[Factabulous]

As to the explorers what exactly did you expect to do in a completely permit locked sector. You would all be stuck in one system for a week and it would be even worse if FDev added nothing to the system I would have laughed so hard if it was a single star with nothing else in it.

Permits went in a week earlier - no reason FD couldn't have dropped them again if The Gnosis jumped. Would have just needed a Galnet to say 'Oh, Gnosis attempted to jump in, we had to disable the recent permits to save independent CMDR lives'.

Of course now with our 20/20 hindsight spectacles on we can laugh at that idea, but it was as valid as any other until the probability fields collapsed

 

[gooddoc]

Sorry OP, for players like me, that have no interest in pewpew, I didn't find it fun at all.

That's even when I was considering leaving the game until Q4 was introduced, but then this EXPEDITION came along. I didn't have to do anything for mats or modules, all that was sorted months ago. I was lucky (unlike some) I only put in the hours to get to the Gnosis & now get back home.

I went out when Jaques Station was found, along with others spent 6 months trying things out, only for FD to shun us single players, by turning the region into a popularity competition.

Now this debacle!

I'm riled, because this lack of respect that FD seem to have for the Exploration community is unrelenting.

I can't wait until Q4 is announced with more combat ships & weapons & feeble improvements for the exploration community!!

 

[Mengy]

Sorry OP, for players like me, that have no interest in pewpew, I didn't find it fun at all.

That's even when I was considering leaving the game until Q4 was introduced, but then this EXPEDITION came along. I didn't have to do anything for mats or modules, all that was sorted months ago. I was lucky (unlike some) I only put in the hours to get to the Gnosis & now get back home.

I went out when Jaques Station was found, along with others spent 6 months trying things out, only for FD to shun us single players, by turning the region into a popularity competition.

Now this debacle!

I'm riled, because this lack of respect that FD seem to have for the Exploration community is unrelenting.

I can't wait until Q4 is announced with more combat ships & weapons & feeble improvements for the exploration community!!

You are not alone Doc. It's become very tiresome.

 

[Winterwalker]

basically if you 'signed up' at the start of the event you had a six week build up ... to a non-explorer event. With one Galnet hinting there may be Thargoids, but none saying 'ooh, explorers evacuate'. Winterwalker is still very positive, not sure I would be

Don't get me wrong, I was aboard anyway. I'm thinking about - rather insanely - taking a 24Ly Chieftain into the Rift meaning my game is already quite Gnosis centric.

I think the Galnet release was probably the worst technical thing that happened. The NFZ bug I think people over react to because when can you ever shoot in the NFZ? (Wait for orders or don't shoot, or if you do, the management can't be held responsible). Even though it was a bug (or an oversight see below*) though, the mechanics already in game happend to work in such a way that some people were 'rescued' to the California Nebula (held detention, for decontamination, restored by support in the end). This obviously wasn't quite intended but I think it was fantastic .. because one way to make a megaship different from a starport for me is to make it a challenge to (a) get aboard and (b) STAY aboard. That's a good game for my money and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see that fined up for megaships in future. I hope so.

* And for me that is the point of Gnosis, and it DOES say on the megaship blurb that embarking IS at your own risk. It is a research vessel, not only in game let's be real but also a research vessel in dev, partly because I think it's the only one and partly because this stuff happening 'in the wild' of the game can't be predicted (read up on Ian Malcolm Chaos Theory) and tests the system in a way no solo Q&A guy ever could really. No design is omniscient, engineering (and I'm a trained one, R&D) is always a process of trial, error, refinement then more trial and error until you approximate to the best solutions you can.

If I had any criticism of FD yesterday - and I mean this in the kindest way I can without not saying it (and it all comes with proviso that the development roadmap HAS changed since Gnosis iteinerary was announced) - regardless I thought a little too much breaking of the fourth wall by community team comms. Player/Community Comms have been an issue for a bit and while Frontier were right to communicate here I think they're (a) a bit edgy and (b) could have done so (in this situation) "in character" so to speak. By this I mean, don't tell me we were never going to get to the Cone anyway! Say "Gnosis was hyperdicted" then if necessary seed the idea that the Cone itself will be 10x more dangerous than this ever was.

And the initial attack was .. delicious in it's unplayability (Corvettes getting destroyed on the pad! lol It was great! Then it settled down, spot on). By communicating the Cone might be a really really bad place without a proper battleship say, train players to decide that being stuck inside Gnosis ALL WEEK (eg. next week attempt 2) without getting insta-killed on the pad any time you try to leave (then do it, it's only a week) doesn't sound like all that much fun after all, so let's go play somewhere else shall we Cmdrs, comes from the Cmdrs. The community team is better to lead the community on it's in game thinking imo, because the salt from what was proclaimed - it's dev thing - is justified imo. Breaks the fourth wall, so bull-crap us with big grin on your face .. never, ever let the truth ruin a good story.

The most positive thing from yesterday for me is that when it turned out there was no getting off the pad first thing (as you'd expect from a surprise attack imo) Frontier were able, in short order to shift those Tharg ships away and free Gnosis up a bit. They have - from what I saw yesterday - the game on a string and were in this scenario able to turn it on a dime. That was really impressive to me and is why I remain positive. Generally the more I find out the more impressed I am about this game technically (human elements and a bit of phantom scanner signal handwavium notwithstanding .. but this isn't a life or death situation really) So the OP is +1 because ST-I d9-6 (the content) really is fun and as for the Thargoids, watch out because those guys can kill you dead.

 

[Sterlino]

OP please stop changing the reality of the facts.

it wasn't fun... at all.

it was disappointing.

..and i stop here because i could be banned.

I want add only one consideration: i was one of the most excited player on the forum about this "event" but
at the end i felt like a stupid who believed once more in something that this game, apparently, could not give me.
So what does it serve having constant online updates if events like these are always a disappointment ?
At this point was better to create a stand alone game offline as many asked during the kickstarter campaign.

 

[rootsrat]

OP please stop changing the reality of the facts.

it wasn't fun... at all.

it was disappointing.

That's not fact. That's opinion.

 

[Winterwalker]

That's not fact. That's opinion.

Too right.

Maybe it's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder kicking in .. I'm still shaking anyway.
"Came to Thargoid territory, to explore. Met Thargoids!"

(now I explore on the far side of the galaxy because, go figure lol).

 

[avow555]

Fdev are without doubt useless at creating an interesting event.
What resentment do they have towards explorers?

 

[Sterlino]

That's not fact. That's opinion.

yes... ok, it's an opinion...

I had that same usual opinion for every single event in elite dangerous.
nothing has changed, nothing ever change.

..now let me go to cry alone over my original Elite II Frontier box

 

[Slange Lands]

The sad thing is is that it is very likely that there are game designers at Fdev who know exactly how we feel and know exactly what to do to implement improvements but are prevented by:

1. Mismanagement
2. Ego
3. Ignorance
4. Greed

tldr: frontier is just like any other business

 

[Winterwalker]

Fdev are without doubt useless at creating an interesting event.
What resentment do they have towards explorers?

That's daft. (1) Gnosis never really expected to find anything inside the Cone prior to events. (2) if you don't hang about you can come and go to Gnosis, now the initial attack calmed down, no shields no problem. (3) There are barnacle and Thargoid sites to visit in the Gnosis current system and (4) Q4 slates surface probes for pinpointing POI's. Developing a spectrum of stuff to find takes time but that's only because it does. It takes a while reach a critical mass because you can only discover new things, the once.

 

[mikelowndes]

So it was basically marketed to the wrong people?

Not entirely. Some of us thought it obvious that there would be an ambush. If I wasn't a badzillion LY away I'd have been there in Rammstein not my Asp!

 

[Conde]

That's daft. (1) Gnosis never really expected to find anything inside the Cone prior to events. (2) if you don't hang about you can come and go to Gnosis, now the initial attack calmed down, no shields no problem. (3) There are barnacle and Thargoid sites to visit in the Gnosis current system and (4) Q4 slates surface probes for pinpointing POI's. Developing a spectrum of stuff to find takes time but that's only because it does. It takes a while reach a critical mass because you can only discover new things, the once.

I'm in a small explorer build parked in a nearby system although I did take AX Multis in the hope of helping out if the worst happened. l engineered boost to nearly 600 which saved my skin.
So what now? If the coast is fairly clear do I try and make it to the Gnosis and look for Alien stuff and hang around to see what develops, or if not, just fugeddaboutit and go back to the guardian sites and home?

 

[rootsrat]

I'm in a small explorer build parked in a nearby system although I did take AX Multis in the hope of helping out if the worst happened. l engineered boost to nearly 600 which saved my skin.
So what now? If the coast is fairly clear do I try and make it to the Gnosis and look for Alien stuff and hang around to see what develops, or if not, just fugeddaboutit and go back to the guardian sites and home?

I would stay mate. Look, the worst has already happened. All that's left now is the fun. You can either throw your toys outta pram or suck it up and at least enjoy what's there.

My first reaction yesterday was "screw you guys, I'm going home", but when I came back from work I went to Gnosis to see what's going on (I undocked the night before, so I didn't jump with it) and I ended up having lots of fun! (Hence this thread).

I'm definitely going to stay and see what happens.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Unfortunately this. Not being able to let go of your very narrowly defined role just shows why Thargoids content is optional. Even when telegraphed lot of people choose to ignore lot of information around them.

'Thargoids content is optional'
Except it suddenly wasn't.
And therein lies the problem. None of the 'warnings' about Thargoids indicated that FDev were suddenly about to ram them down the throat of players who were justifiably assuming they could continue to avoid NHSSs and 'Blaze their own trail'.
A misjump and a damaged Gnosis wouldn't really have surprised anyone, but the live attack - while looooong overdue - wasn't something anyone predicted.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

The sad thing is is that it is very likely that there are game designers at Fdev who know exactly how we feel and know exactly what to do to implement improvements but are prevented by:

1. Mismanagement
2. Ego
3. Ignorance
4. Greed

tldr: frontier is just like any other business

Or players are biased by
1. Lack of understanding of work involved;
2. Entitlement feeling;
3. Lack of any any human connection with developers;
4. Internet gives to let feelings out without consequences, so why not. Booze is more expensive anyway;

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

... - wasn't something anyone predicted.

thats +1 FDEV

 

[Leadfoot]

'Thargoids content is optional'
Except it suddenly wasn't.

A misjump and a damaged Gnosis wouldn't really have surprised anyone, but the live attack - while looooong overdue - wasn't something anyone predicted.

Yeah, I gotta give them a point for that, at least.
Would have preferred to have the attack happen the day before the jump if they were going in this direction.

 

[Ian Skippy]

This is Frontier. Great ideas. Ordinary execution. The spoiling was just farcical; it destroyed any sense of adventure. Which was the entire point.

Of course, a point rather overlooked, the actual impact on the experience was about 0% for the majority of us, because most of us were asleep and had to go to work afterwards when this happens. Either you follow the forums and than you know before launching the game whether it is uploaded two or six hours ago, or you dont and then it didn't matter. For me the frustration is more on a conceptual level: even if it didnt impact much at all, for me, it is just so absurdly amateurish, and it has happened so incredibly often. People who joined ED this year have no idea how borked most of the Thargoid story line was. Every single patch there would be new stuff, and it would be broken. So it became a 'looking for a needle in a haystack, knowing they may have forgotten to put the needle there', which completely pushed me away from the whole thing. To see that they keep on making multiple mistakes every single time, after so many years, is just absurd.

And it also doesnt inspire much hope for Q4, at least IMHO. So far almost anything they added to the game needed to be redone, sometimes multiple times, because the balance/numbers/ideas were so far removed from what people actually playing the game experience. We're rapidly approaching Q4, and they havent asked much for any feedback or serious discussions. The idea that FD will be able to release the Q4 patch, with the presented ton of gameplay changes and additions, on their own, without it being laughably silly is alien to me. I fully expect them to knock 95% of Q4 out of the park, but mess up 5% in a clownshoe way that will have everyone burn down the forums again.

For example: you can store the explo drones in the ADS (yes, no cargo racks needed!) and you can synthesize them (yes, long trips possible by scavenging for resources with the SRV!), all three synthesis levels require conductive components so you cant scavenge for them outside populated systems.

 

[Ian Skippy]

'Thargoids content is optional'
Except it suddenly wasn't.
And therein lies the problem. None of the 'warnings' about Thargoids indicated that FDev were suddenly about to ram them down the throat of players who were justifiably assuming they could continue to avoid NHSSs and 'Blaze their own trail'.
A misjump and a damaged Gnosis wouldn't really have surprised anyone, but the live attack - while looooong overdue - wasn't something anyone predicted.

Which is why you have had two schools of explorers since launch. On the one hand the 'I am sure the unknown will have nothing unknown or novel, so lets go completely unprepared for anything whatsoever!', and on the other hand the 'I dont care if my range is 20LY less than yours, but I am bringing proper shields, weapons. You never know!'

While noone can prepare for the exact unknown that will be happen, people who prepared for literally nothing deserve to be destroyed when something does happen. IMHO of course.