I feel empty after the beta

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Now that its over, somehow i feel a little discontent about how the beta feedback forums were handled thoughout.

Regardless of the threads i raised, i never for a moment ever expected frontier to actually change course, i've been playing elite for too long to know that's a fools game. But given how much passion and time i invested in experiencing, raising feedback and bugs the pretty much complete silence from frontier on all these contributions has me sitting here at the end feeling a little foolish. This is the first beta that i've contributed to on the forums, so maybe its always been like this, but i swear there was a time where most non trivial issues were handled via some communication during the beta process. The whole experience feels like a futile one sided relationship.

The volume and nature of changes that each beta patch had also stated really clearly the features were effectively finished, and the whole scope of beta feedback was no where near as great as i and ill venture to assume much of the community was assuming.

While i still love elite the game, i don't think i'll be doing that again, and as is probably healthy with all games just meeting frontier at the via the patch notes interface. It was nice being a "fan" for a bit there though.

.... Yeah i do remember them. For a number of patches during the horizons year the beta processes were much more 2 way and engaging. We were provided with reasons for why things were the way they are. Times are definitely different at frontier.

 

[Gaarp Kobayashi]

(...) The whole experience feels like a futile one sided relationship.

(...) For a number of patches during the horizons year the beta processes were much more 2 way and engaging. We were provided with reasons for why things were the way they are. Times are definitely different at frontier.

Very emotional input Commander. Thank you for it.

I'd consider four major factor If I'd be you though:

1) There's ONE Frontier for you, while there are thousands of thousands of you-alike for Frontier. You, me and their whole fan-base;

2) Ofcourse times are different at Frontier now. Elite Dangerous is now a tripple A, multi-platform title with a solid position in the industry and on the market. I'd be astonished If they would handle things and developing process same way as two years ago;

3) It's a feature of a small developer to discuss it's decisions with their player-base as it was happening to be during the rise of Elite Dangerous. They're far from small developer now. And ponder yourself if this is the industry's standard to engage time of developers' crew to explain why and what to the fans instead of working on the content;

4) You have contributed yourself to the beta feedback, which was a part of the community's contribution as a whole. I can assure you a dedicated ppl at Frontier were working further with what you have gave them to work on. But please do keep in mind it's a bricks you've been submiting alongside other Commanders. Without you the building would have no walls, but it's impossible to build a house with just one brick.

I encourage you to feel proud of yourself and your time invested in beta's feedback of yours. Now when you'll be diving into the void post-"Beyond", you should keep in mind you had your very own input on how the void feels and looks like A.D. 3304

Hope to meet you there someday Commander. Fly dangerously! o7

 

[Weps]

I know how that feels, I had the same feeling two years back and decided not to do FDEV betas since.

On one hand I completely understand that the betas aren't there to redesign features or to get some "seal of approval" from the community.

But on the other hand, the joy I get from seeing old community members, experienced community members raising the same issues, making the same points, being concerned about similar aspects, in general, having a similar vision of what they expect from the game, is only matched by the disappointment when all of them get the cold shoulder from FDEV.

 

[Arkadi]

At least you don't have to pay for Beta access anymore. Still, would be nice to hear a "Thanks for testing".

Thanks to all the testers from my side.

I didn't, because I felt the same as OP in the last beta. I am just looking forward for the full release.

 

[Guest 161958]

Just my take, do not want to offend anyone.

Elite Dangerous has become a mainstream AAA game. Spirit changed.
Bilateral communication with customers is a thing of the past not because of FD, but because
of the new customers.
To make it more widespread and lucrative, plans are to transform it into EVE online II.

 

[Vasious]

Always there is someone who says
The game was not charged to reflect my feed back alone and entirely ergo FDev listens to no feedback from the community as a whole.

And thus ignored the changes actually made from the feed back given.

 

[Taimaru]

Still, would be nice to hear a "Thanks for testing".

There was a thank you for testing in the thread where they announced the beta end date.

 

[Arkadi]

There was a thank you for testing in the thread where they announced the beta end date.

Well, that's nice. Friendly brits are friendly.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Always there is someone who says
The game was not charged to reflect my feed back alone and entirely ergo FDev listens to no feedback from the community as a whole.

And thus ignored the changes actually made from the feed back given.

There don't appear to be any mining changes at all from any feedback in Beta.

 

[Valorin]

Very emotional input Commander. Thank you for it.

I'd consider four major factor If I'd be you though:

1) There's ONE Frontier for you, while there are thousands of thousands of you-alike for Frontier. You, me and their whole fan-base;

2) Ofcourse times are different at Frontier now. Elite Dangerous is now a tripple A, multi-platform title with a solid position in the industry and on the market. I'd be astonished If they would handle things and developing process same way as two years ago;

3) It's a feature of a small developer to discuss it's decisions with their player-base as it was happening to be during the rise of Elite Dangerous. They're far from small developer now. And ponder yourself if this is the industry's standard to engage time of developers' crew to explain why and what to the fans instead of working on the content;

4) You have contributed yourself to the beta feedback, which was a part of the community's contribution as a whole. I can assure you a dedicated ppl at Frontier were working further with what you have gave them to work on. But please do keep in mind it's a bricks you've been submiting alongside other Commanders. Without you the building would have no walls, but it's impossible to build a house with just one brick.

I encourage you to feel proud of yourself and your time invested in beta's feedback of yours. Now when you'll be diving into the void post-"Beyond", you should keep in mind you had your very own input on how the void feels and looks like A.D. 3304

Hope to meet you there someday Commander. Fly dangerously! o7

5) Toxic behavior and moblike witch hunting made the devs think thrice before answering and giving statements. Stupid people are another reason why we can't have nice things.

There don't appear to be any mining changes at all from any feedback in Beta.

There are actually a few changes. There is more to be found in motherlodes and the scanner is better at highlighting now. Sure, no game-changing all-is-different things, but I guess it's not exactly easy to balance. Like the rest of the game apparently. We'll see if there are a few changes coming with release. I sure hope my main issue with Q4 will be resolved as well...

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

I agree with you on one point.
FDEV should hire some people to provide more feedbacks to the community. The frontier logo on our discussions was extremely rare. There should have been some guy replying to big discussions (3 pages or more) saying something like:

- you proposal is interesting but not technically possible at the moment
- we're evaluating this proposal for the current beta
- this proposal is not according to our vision of the game so it won't be implemented but thank you for your feedback

BUT

I actually enjoyed the beta.
I've found interesting content in it and FDEV really used some of our feedbacks to improve them.
We have to distinguish between personal feedbacks and community feedbacks.
Personal feedbacks are based on our tastes and our own game style. When many other people share our same point of view then our feedbacks grow up in big discussions and they become community feedbacks. Only now they ged FDEV attention.

I'm sure FDEV received Mining and Mamba feedbacks loud and clear.

We must admit that we probably proposed things that are not technically possible in this time frame. For example I guess that everyone in this community is willing to have a Universal Limpet Controller. I think FDEV received that but it could take time to rewrite the limpets code so we won't see it anyway anytime soon.

 

[avow555]

I would hardly call them beta testing anymore, these are pretty much full release.

Sad thing is so many people get sucked into these early looks.

 

[Ian Skippy]

There was a thank you for testing in the thread where they announced the beta end date.

I think they thanked us at least half a dozen times in the streams.

Anyway, I told the OP weeks ago constantly starting new topics about the same opinion wasnt gonna help. I agree more feedback is much welcome, and important for us to understand what we are testing. But with b2 half the stuff I asked for was added. You win some you lose some.

 

[smiths121]

I agree with you on one point.
FDEV should hire some people to provide more feedbacks to the community. The frontier logo on our discussions was extremely rare. There should have been some guy replying to big discussions (3 pages or more) saying something like:

- you proposal is interesting but not technically possible at the moment
- we're evaluating this proposal for the current beta
- this proposal is not according to our vision of the game so it won't be implemented but thank you for your feedback

BUT

I actually enjoyed the beta.
I've found interesting content in it and FDEV really used some of our feedbacks to improve them.
We have to distinguish between personal feedbacks and community feedbacks.
Personal feedbacks are based on our tastes and our own game style. When many other people share our same point of view then our feedbacks grow up in big discussions and they become community feedbacks. Only now they ged FDEV attention.

I'm sure FDEV received Mining and Mamba feedbacks loud and clear.

We must admit that we probably proposed things that are not technically possible in this time frame. For example I guess that everyone in this community is willing to have a Universal Limpet Controller. I think FDEV received that but it could take time to rewrite the limpets code so we won't see it anyway anytime soon.

Well they could have answered with a Ed-bot, but hiring people to say "no" seems a bit redundant to me.

I'd also say maybe 3 pages is not enough, to peek FDs attention! Not sure how many were in beta, but normal game was quite empty.

We have had changes of design in Beyond based on player beta feedback. Engineering being the big one, material conversion rates were reduced and pinning, pinned all levels of a recipe. I remeber these as I did take part in the forum debates, and promote the idea of Pinned recipes being all levels. I am sure there are many other changes, taken from the beta, I just remember that one as I was part of it. I think it takes a land swell of opposition to a feature for the proposed feature set to get anything other than tweaks in beta. Its beta .... not alpha.

Cheers
Simon

 

[Winterwalker]

For what it's worth I think FDev take a systemic approach to bugs discovered in beta and game.

Critical game breakers they have a good record of jumping on and fixing imo. When it comes to more minor bugs though - eg. mission bugs in an unfinished mission system, with a dedicated mission server en route - I think they probably make note and bear in mind, when designing a more robust mission system 2 or 3.0.

In other words, do you fix a leak on your shed's roof when you know next week you'll be knocking the whole thing down to build a better shed?

I don't think you do and don't think FDev do either. Though you would make a note of what caused the leak in the first place - and make sure the second shed is designed to avoid the problem - fully fixing a leak on a shed you plan to replace is wasted effort?

My two credits.

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

raising feedback and bugs the pretty much complete silence from frontier on all these contributions has me sitting here at the end feeling a little foolish. This is the first beta that i've contributed to on the forums, so maybe its always been like this, but i swear there was a time where most non trivial issues were handled via some communication during the beta process. The whole experience feels like a futile one sided relationship.

Sadly its been quiet in betas for a long long time from the Devs PoV basically because of the below;

5) Toxic behavior and moblike witch hunting made the devs think thrice before answering and giving statements. Stupid people are another reason why we can't have nice things.

There don't appear to be any mining changes at all from any feedback in Beta.

^^ this one is an oddball because they went off piste to what the FFF suggested & when the feedback on the Beta echoed similar themes obviously there is no communication back but i'd like to think its been considered - especially as some of the feedback wasnt a 5 minute fix

Have to see the Patch notes on the 11th *fingers crossed*

 

[znôrt]

i've been playing elite for too long to know that's a fools game.

no, you apparently hadn't.

But given how much passion and time i invested in experiencing, raising feedback and bugs the pretty much complete silence from frontier on all these contributions has me sitting here at the end feeling a little foolish.

now you have.

it's called 'getting wiser'. right on!

 

[babelfisch]

There are actually a few changes. There is more to be found in motherlodes and the scanner is better at highlighting now. Sure, no game-changing all-is-different things, but I guess it's not exactly easy to balance. Like the rest of the game apparently. We'll see if there are a few changes coming with release. I sure hope my main issue with Q4 will be resolved as well...

Ammo count was also changed.

Some other stuff I remember:
Probes are infinte (although that was changed after feedback before the beta)
ADS became a standard module
Tweaks to the Mamba
Surface POIs get named
Some changes to keybinds

 

[babelfisch]

I would hardly call them beta testing anymore, these are pretty much full release.

Sad thing is so many people get sucked into these early looks.

The most important point of beta is not designing the game for them but finding and fixing bugs, just by looking at the patch notes it looks like they found a lot.

 

[babelfisch]

While I agree that it would be nice to get more feedback on our feedback I don't believe it is possible to address every single point, the beta forums had 2,371 threads and 25,285 posts.