Ok, I'm sure some people won't be happy with this, but here goes.
Disclaimers first. This is just about why the Old and New could not just simply have been had together. It is not:
- An argument for or against the FSS or ADS
- Saying that nothing can change
- Saying that a different approach to it all couldn't have been taken
Hopefully that will tackle the usual 'so you're saying x'.
Also, I realise that the conversation is already effectively advanced well past this for some, so it's not directed at all.
To the crux of the matter, the reasons are:
- The differences between the two mechanics in terms of the information revealed, and the awareness and accessibility of things which is provided
- Normal human behaviour
- Existing disparities between those who are in the right out-of-game places and those who aren't
To start with, the human behaviour. To cut this short, what this boils down to in the event of a different parallel mechanic being used, some will by default use the new thing and some will by default stick with what they know. Some will also give the new thing a bit of a try and then make a call (there'd be a lot of variance within this group though).
Working on the basis of an even split, then 1/3 of people will just keep doing what they're used to. (Actual amounts could be much higher or lower, obviously.)
What this means is that where there are substantive differences between the two things, a disparity between different sets of players will emerge en-masse.
The effects of that are reduced for those who are in the right out-of-game places, as information will flow between the different sets of players who are in those places. However, a lot of people are not going to be in the right places, and so again what this results in is a disparity between different sets of players.
In this case the disparity is in information, and awareness and accessibility of things. In particular this is with regard to all the things that the FSS brings to the fore and which people would never even know were there with the old ADS & DSS.
In other words, a not inconsiderable number of players would effectively be excluded from a whole load of stuff.
Again this isn't so bad for people who are in the right places out-of-game, but that's only so many, and there's already plenty of disparity in information, and awareness and accessibility of things, largely linked to being whether someone is in the right places out-of-game. (And personally I would say it's very palpable that a big theme of 3.3 has been reducing that disparity.)
And that's really the core of this particular matter. Asking for the same old ADS as well as the new FSS is unfortunately not asking for something which doesn't effect anyone else, it's asking for the aforementioned disparity to be put in place, and for other players to get excluded from things (though obviously this reduces as the time without the old ADS increases).
Personally I think it's pretty important to actually consider this when calls for changes are made, or there are demands for a compromise.
And talk of solutions all needs to take that stuff into account.
(Again, I'm not saying there are no viable options. This is just something which effects which options are viable at certain times and needs to be considered.)
Good response, these threads would be rather more interesting to read if more contributors too the time to consider the bigger picture.
These topic have all been discussed already, by me if nothing else. Your description of why the two cannot exist separately (therefore potentially excluding some players from access to new content requiring a functioning FSS) is why the two should work together.
It's also worth bearing in mind that some players may have no interest in these new features and only wish to continue to explore the work of genius that is the stellar forge - the galaxy is still there and motivation to just get out there & see it is unchanged since before launch.
The reasoning behind the removal of the old modules was that a new module would replace them, and that players already away from dock should not be required to return. This was not a good reason to remove the modules from the game but it was a reasonable justification for removing the old modules from player ships.
However the FSS was then converted to be an integrated component, removing that part of the (mechanical) justification for removing the old modules. Nevertheless there may have been some incompatibility that meant we could not simply have had the FSS added to our existing loadouts.
Then the way the discovery process works was changed such that in a previously tagged system a lits of [unexplored] bodies was shown along with every body being shown (with limited, unscanned data). I understand this was to placate concerns from players that did not intend to travel into untagged systems - ie non-exploration activities.
This change confirmed that there was no incompatibility between the old & new discovery processes, and shortly after this I flagged up in the beta forum that the ADS (and IDS/BDS) did not need to be removed and should not be removed. This wasn't long before 3.3 was due to go live though.
To me this was so obvious that when the first patch for 3.3 was released on Dec 19th I expressed disappointment that the old modules had not been reinstated into the game.
The psychological aspect you describe has also been discussed (by me if nothing else). The new process includes an ability to DSS a body from a distance that is massively more powerful than the pre-3.3 process of travelling close enough to the body to scan it (which the new mapping feature neatly complements btw, like it was designed to work with the old method). This feature alone would ensure that even those who prefer to travel around a system would likely familiarise themselves with it for those occasions when they cannot be bothered to travel to that distant body just to tag a bunch of boring (to them) planets.
The removal of the ADS (and IDS/BDS) was simply an oversight. Had it been spotted in time the Devs could have saved themselves some time during the creation of what seems to have been a rushed release.
Had the old modules remained and the FSS not been included in this release at all (not a path I am suggesting should have been made) players would still be delighted with the mapping functionality and 'magic' auto-resolving of nearby bodies.
Quite simply, there was no need to remove the old stuff. And in my view no justification for not putting them back in for the benefit of players that still want to fit one, and to the detriment of no one.
