I am a little concerned

[MASTER_DEATHDEALER]

Yea, this game is very "shallow." Theres just not much to do. U grind creds and then bounty hunt or pirate. i killed 250 Pirates in Gamma waiting for a wile and it got rather boring. I have since wiped myself and started over and im at the hauler.

As of right now, this game will flop and not be very successful (make a lot of money) unless FD adds a lot more content. EVE has a fanatical following and makes 70 MILLION a year, but i cant see ED, even with its history and hype, being anywhere as successful as EVE unless the content is dramatically increased to make the game more fun. I keep hoping and hoping and hoping DEVS will listen, but they will have to listen when they see the dismal sales but will it be to late by then?

 

[DreamlnCode]

Yea, this game is very "shallow." Theres just not much to do. U grind creds and then bounty hunt or pirate.

As of right now, this game will flop and not be very successful (make a lot of money) unless FD adds a lot more content. EVE has a fanatical following and makes 70 MILLION a year, but i cant see ED, even with its history and hype, being anywhere as successful as EVE unless the content is dramatically increased to make the game more fun. I keep hoping and hoping and hoping DEVS will listen, but they will have to listen when they see the dismal sales but will it be to late by then?

You obviously did not see EVE on launch, you think it started out the Goliath it is now? Considering the Development time of ED I'm impressed at what we have currently. This argument has no merit.

 

[xyphic]

how FD will survive till the end of development if the game won't sell ?!

The game has already sold enough copies to fund development to this point. The company has untouched cash reserves and bank credit they can call on if they need to. Every game sold at release adds £40 to the company's top line, and roughly 100,000 copies sold would equate to one year's development at the current team size. They obviously aren't going to keep all the team working on maintenance and improvement of what's already there, so it's likely they'll move onto the expansions (as that will allow them to leverage funds from existing customers as well as new ones). ED isn't the only game that Frontier are working on; they have been a successful game developer for a long time, and will continue to be.

The reason for the release date is twofold. Firstly, they want to release the game before the end of the financial year as they've got significant cash still tied up in preorders. They can't declare that as income until the game is released. Secondly, prior to Christmas is when the potential market for the game really opens up. Parents (who may have had experience of previous incarnations of the game) will buy it for their kids. People will see the adverts and ask for the game as a Christmas present or buy it with Christmas money shortly afterwards. Release it in April and you've lost a lot of the impulse buys.

why they are risking so much releasing an unfinished product ?

The question you should ask yourself is not why they are risking so much, but why would a developer and company with 20 years of experience in the gaming industry go to release with what they have? Have you considered that they might know something you don't? They most definitely will have weighed up the risks against the rewards, and the fact that they're going to release now indicates that they think the rewards are worth those risks. Nobody has forced them to release in 2014. That's a decision they came to on their own.

[Of course, it might turn out that Frontier and DB are entirely misguided and releasing now is a recipe for the doom of the game and the company. But I'm willing to give them a bit of credit and assume they have a modicum of an idea of what they and their industry are about.]

 

[xyphic]

EVE has a fanatical following and makes 70 MILLION a year, but i cant see ED, even with its history and hype, being anywhere as successful as EVE unless the content is dramatically increased to make the game more fun.

Frontier aren't making a game that will bring in £70m (or even $70m) a year at inception. They're making a game that will allow them to make a tidy profit (at this point any sales are profit), continue to invest in development and use as a showcase for their engine and distribution platform which they'll be looking to license out when everything's stable.

As of right now, I predict that the game will review fairly well, as the majority of the magazines that have covered it so far have been pretty effusive in their praise. The majority of people complaining here about it being boring have put hundreds of hours into the game already, which is a huge amount compared to what most casual gamers will be able to manage. That's at least 6 months of game time for me! We don't know what features are coming when, so really it's about continual development and addition of content, which can only happen after release. We don't know what the demise of the Emperor will do, and what content is coming at release to support that. I can't wait to find out.

 

[FaolGlas]

I don't think FD are viewing this as an "EVE-beater." I don't think they are aiming for $70 million a year.

All the same criticisms leveled at this game could be leveled at the original Elite, yet it was a success. "But games have changed since then!" you cry - yes they have, and they aren't nearly as engaging. The thing about Elite-then and Elite-now is it does depend on what you bring to it yourself. I bring imagination, and that means I have 100s and 100s of hours of playtime ahead of me as my imagination is unlimited and has expansion packs released every day!

"Just running these missions are boring. Fighting the ships at nav points is boring.' - all depends on what goes on in your head, This will definitely mean the game is not for some - but it also means those it is for, will love it! Because there is nothing else out there offering anything like it. A smaller market than the MMO crowd and EVE crowd, but one that has no place else to go. This is what FD know and who they have built the game for. If you are not one of those people... ED is not for you, and was never meant to be for you.

 

[NeoRacer]

I dont think people understand just how HUGE this game is and the resources required to 'fill it up' with stuff to do is gonna take a lot of time, or FD are gonna have to go on a hiring spree. Its either time or manpower. If you guys want custom content thats what its gonna take.

 

[Iskariot]

Sorry, no time for a long reply:
On the first statement: how FD will survive till the end of development if the game won't sell ?!
I think that this video will clarify how they're are presenting ED to the gamers market at launch and how the game really is.

http://youtu.be/DZeO-4F45WM

I was not too happy with that trailer either. I think the previous trailers were much better than this one.
It is nice to watch, but does not represent the game very well.

but why they are risking so much releasing an unfinished product ?

This is a weird statement to me. The game is unfinished and will still be unfinished in a year's time and in two year's time. But that is because the game will be added to and improved upon for many years to come. This is an extremely positive thing, not a bad thing at all. And what's more this has been announced and explained from the start.

The game in its current version has more than enough to make many people very happy for many hundreds of hours of gameplay and is fit for release I think (although some bugs need to be squashed still). It is a magnificent Elite game. And if the buyers inform themselves on the kind of long term project this is, I am sure nobody will be disappointed. There are a lot of tantrums thrown on this forum by people (not by you as far as I know ) who do not understand this at all.

 

[CmdrKull]

Because at the moment the game is boring...
There're a ton of features but no one is really complete.
Tranding was the only path quite completed but since Gamma 2, it's a non-sense gameplay.
Mining is useless and disconnected from the trading and exploring path and too less profitable.
Bounty hunting lacks of informations about where to find the enemy and wich type of ship he/they have..
Probably the only funny path is the Piracy but...for the same problem, fitting an high-end ship, independently from the class, it's quite impossible due to overpriced components.
So who will buy the actual game after 16 Dec. will think that is really boring and an unfinished game...if Frontie won't sell the game, we won't play the complete game in the next years.

I don't think reviews will be as hard on the game as some here do. There WILL be harsh reviews, but that would always be the case. I don't think Elite is boring and I suspect plenty of people will agree. When you haven't wiped and started in a sidey and wiped and started over in a sidey and wiped and started again... You get the point.... For most people, starting in a sidewinder, taking a mission to earn a few thousand by running fruit to a nearby system and seeing your factions go up, finding that you can buy a new laser after a few missions, stopping at a USS and blowing up another sidey, etc, etc, etc will be fun! Because it IS fun, we're just a bit worn out by it. And why are we worn out by it? Because we paid extra to buy and play a game that was empty and incomplete because we loved its potential. So what was that about no one being willing to buy this game because it's incomplete?

There will be bad reviews in the future, there will be people that are unhappy that development isn't even done, there will be people that come on the forums and proclaim that they wasted their money! Through it all, I suspect FD will be earning enough to feel it was the right decision to release on their schedule while they continue to improve this game into:
THE
BEST
SPACE-SIM
EVER




Just my opinion of course, I have no more access to a crystal ball than those prophesying doom.

 

[Gorodd]

Because at the moment the game is boring...
There're a ton of features but no one is really complete.
Tranding was the only path quite completed but since Gamma 2, it's a non-sense gameplay.
Mining is useless and disconnected from the trading and exploring path and too less profitable.
Bounty hunting lacks of informations about where to find the enemy and wich type of ship he/they have..
Probably the only funny path is the Piracy but...for the same problem, fitting an high-end ship, independently from the class, it's quite impossible due to overpriced components.
So who will buy the actual game after 16 Dec. will think that is really boring and an unfinished game...if Frontie won't sell the game, we won't play the complete game in the next years.

Well judging by your comments on your other 3 posts, ED is not up to your measure...but personally I think they do have something extra coming for Dec 16 - no foundation for this other than the frequency and scale of changes and fixes they appear to be able to churn out - something's coming and we'll like it.

 

[boborene]

Yea, this game is very "shallow." Theres just not much to do.

As much l loved original elite, I have to agree this version is a desert feeling. At least they should let planet landing viable, to increase exploring attraction. For how much EU are asking this version is far from finished.
I am afraid will get a lot of bad reviews and very little people will subscribe to this version of game.
After you play few days you get the feeling here are many more missing features to be implemented and game has artificial difficulty implemented only to force a grind. Very bad path to choose for emblematic concept game.

 

[Sounder Deeps]

Judging by the torrent of tweaking pretty sure the backbone will be getting some meat on release.

 

[StuartGT]

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=71327

 

[Iskariot]

As much l loved original elite, I have to agree this version is a desert feeling.

Have you played the originals (by that I refer to Elite and Frontier)? This game is already much richer in content, except for the planetary landings of course.

At least they should let planet landing viable, to increase exploring attraction.

That really is an absurd demand. You seem to have no idea about what planetary landings in ED entail. It is going to be of the same detail and quality as the current game. It is impossible for FD to include it now. David Braben stated it should be a rich experience and I agree. What good is planetary landing if there is nothing on them to experience yet. Just be patient, give FD the time to develop this to the high standard they have set for themselves. It will be awesome.

And as far as grinding is concerned, if you played the previous games you know that ED is not more about grinding than the previous ones. The problem is that many gamers these days focus on wanting the best stuff, and wanting it now. That is the wrong attitude for this game's universe. Experiencing the universe should be number one. Grinding in ED has many facets and if you focus on just enjoying the ride and if you flexibly alternate the stuff you can do in the game you won't notice the grind... at least not in a negative way. I enjoy every minute of it. Grinding in ED for me is a positive experience, so is the traveling.