I'm thinking of participating in the Beta (Need Help)

[Forceof8]

Hi all,
I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this post but I've been occasionally checking on the statuses of a few space sims in development. Namely this and Star citizen. I'm happy to see that the beta is available for purchase but the 150$ is pretty steep for an impulse purchase.

I have a few questions before I make a decision to buy or pass, I would appreciate some input.

1. How stable is the beta? I understand the game isn't in a complete state, but I don't want to rage at glitches too much.

2. How is the experience in regards to X3? I've invested a ton of time in that game but I got tired of fighting with the "mechanics and controls."

3. How are the controls? Is it overly complicated? Do I have to navigate menus upon menus to do simple tasks?

4. Is it fun? This is obviously the biggest point here, I can overlook a lot of things in favor of good gameplay and an immersive experience.

Thanks in advance guys, I mainly looking for someone to convince me to make the buy right now. After the travesty that was X Rebirth, I'm a bit hesitant to dive headfirst into a significant purchase. Just need a little reassurance that the game is a good time. I loved the setting of eve online but combat was boring, and I loved X3 but it was too intuitive and the lack of multiplayer killed my motivation to stay invested. This looks like a beautiful mix of the two.

 

[Pappy55uk]

1. How stable is the beta?

It's pretty unstable at times but it is a late alpha build more than a beta at the moment fixes are coming. (Your mileage may vary just make sure you send crash reports with your hardware report)

2. How is the experience in regards to X3?

I would say the controls are simple to learn hard to master. If you have invested time in X series you have the required patience already..
Not all the mechanics are fully implemented yet but what we have so far is nice.

3. How are the controls? Is it overly complicated? Do I have to navigate menus upon menus to do simple tasks?

No the menus are pretty simple if a little weird. you have a left and right holographic panel in the cockpit EVERY function for game play is accessed from there.

4. Is it fun? This is obviously the biggest point here, I can overlook a lot of things in favor of good game play and an immerse experience.

Yes its fun. If you can accept it's a very early build and overlook the current bugs it is shaping up nicely.


It will take you a while to learn the controls and mechanics but they are pretty good once you adapt. As for multilayer there is not much to do currently apart from kill each other. Once we near release and the galaxy opens up this will happen considerably less.

 

[Half Giant]

I would describe the Beta at this stage as almost a proof of concept. Personally I know I am going to be absorbed by the final game so playing now lets me start learning skills I will need and keeps me engaged with the development process and discussions. I am enjoying ducking into a bit of combat, make a cheeky few thousand credits and saving up to try an equipment upgrade. But from your questions it sounds like you are looking for a more complete game experience. In the last newsletter they said next week there would be some mention of the next upcoming release. You might want to wait for that and see what is changing.

There is no doubt the final game will be amazing. But specifically at this stage, which is what you are asking about, I'd say it isn't what you are looking for.

 

[Flavio]

If you are unsure if you want to spend so much on an unfinished game, my advice is to wait for the premium beta to end and buy the beta which will be more stable and you can check out the videos and judge for yourself if you would enjoy it and as a bonus, it should be slightly cheaper to join at that point, if you can wait that long.

 

[Roughrider]

Forceof8 - i'm in completely the same boat as you, though for different reasons. I'm not worried about stability or hardware, its all part of early betas. What I am however worried about in the long term is this:

After twiddling my thumbs for quite some time now, I **think** I've decided to back SC as opposed to ED. Let me explain, ED looks and plays thus far (and probably in the long run) much better than SC ever will. The caveat? ED is not a MMO. Its such a huge universe to explore, fight, mine and trade in; which is a shame, because ED looks like it would absolutely crush the genres game-space if having the Oracle stacks, server clusters, and development time to support it as an MMO.

Very disappointing. Before anyone rails me here saying that ED is "kinda" a persistent world, let me stop you right there - ED is a multiplayer game, not a persistent massively multiplayer game in the general sense from everything I've gathered and I'm extremely bummed, really... I've been holding off and holding off, hoping and praying for a "new evolution in multiplayer design" to be announced at E3 2014- and it seems its not going to happen 

From everything I've read, I don't think I've misunderstood the multiplayer portion of ED, and if I have - could someone please enlighten me?

 

[Dr Wookie]

I would say the same thing to you that I say to everyone else... If you have to ask, you're not excited enough to buy right now ! At the very least I would recommend holding off until we see what Premium Beta 2 holds in store (we should know the release date next week).

I have really enjoyed the alpha and beta process so far, but I have been a fan of the series for the last 30 years, and really want to help make it the best it can be.

 

[Hellhawk666]

1. How stable is the beta?

Some glitches seem to depend on when you log in, whilst others are local to the client. It's a work in progress but generally speaking pretty good now, however you can still expect the occasional lockup or CTD for no apparent reason. Stuttering and odd instancing effects also happen.

2. How is the experience in regards to X3? I've invested a ton of time in that game but I got tired of fighting with the "mechanics and controls."

As a long time fan of the X franchise my opinion is that if you like it you'll love ED, but don't expect the same type of empire-building game. The mechanics are different and don't require the sort of business micro-management that X games do.

3. How are the controls? Is it overly complicated? Do I have to navigate menus upon menus to do simple tasks?

The controls are well designed and not overly complicated at all - in fact quite intuitive, however like all great games it is easy to learn but takes time to master. It does not have the level of complexity of a true flight simulator, but it's not just a point'n'click arcade game either. There are some menus, but not as complex as in the X games. I would strongly recommend a joystick or HOTAS. Many people are using TrackIR and/or VoiceAttack as well, but I'd consider them "accessories" rather than essentials.

4. Is it fun? This is obviously the biggest point here, I can overlook a lot of things in favor of good gameplay and an immersive experience.

I'm finding it enormous fun, and have done so since alpha 1.0 Right now we are in a sort of dead zone between builds. I've progressed to a maxed-out Cobra III but given that there will be progress wipes between builds I'm not playing much right now. The economic system has also been thrashed to death in the current test-build area and it's a grind to get anywhere just by trading now. This is only an immediate issue. Combat is good. Flying the ships is quite like flying in X - you actually have to pilot your ship, not just set it on autopilot and magically pop up at your destination. The gameplay is immersive, especially the sound effects which are exceptional and deserve an industry award.

Thanks in advance guys, I mainly looking for someone to convince me to make the buy right now. After the travesty that was X Rebirth, I'm a bit hesitant to dive headfirst into a significant purchase. Just need a little reassurance that the game is a good time. I loved the setting of eve online but combat was boring, and I loved X3 but it was too intuitive and the lack of multiplayer killed my motivation to stay invested. This looks like a beautiful mix of the two.

From what you say I think you will fall in love with ED immediately If you are prepared for progress wipes and the price is not out of reach I'd say join now. If you prefer to have a fuller, more stable build and don't want to spend as much, wait for standard beta.

 

[Daffan]

It is very fun.

However, I'd wait until they patch the save system before dropping any $$ on the game.

 

[kilvenny]

Playing the original Elite in my early twenties -this was how I imagined it would be. Great fun. Flying into a space station is an awesome experience. The sound something else. I am a fan boy and it was an easy purchase at the current price.

However it is as others have said an Alpha build, it is frustrating at times. So unless you want to practice and know that in the next minute you could lose everything you have accrued, I would suggest waiting.

 

[Asp Explorer]

If you want to join in and help testing - by all means sign up right now!

However - if you want a playable game - it may be better to wait until normal Beta has settled down a few stable versions.

So many threads started by frustrated testers who thought they were getting early access - alpha and now, beta - were nothing of the sort, I'm still amazed that peeps could even think that would be the case.

Anyway - it's up to you. Join or wait, but either way, enjoy it

 

[Cobbler]

......

 

[Alric]

Don't buy it on the basis of it being good to play right now.
The core gameplay is great, and there's definitely fun to be had, but not enough of the game is implemented to keep you entertained like a full game. And the multiplayer - which is currently the only way you can play other than scenarios - is very much unstable enough to be frustrating at this point.

From what you say you're looking for, this will be a game you'll want to play. But it's a few months off yet.

 

[Half Giant]

Forceof8 - i'm in completely the same boat as you, though for different reasons. I'm not worried about stability or hardware, its all part of early betas. What I am however worried about in the long term is this:

After twiddling my thumbs for quite some time now, I **think** I've decided to back SC as opposed to ED. Let me explain, ED looks and plays thus far (and probably in the long run) much better than SC ever will. The caveat? ED is not a MMO. Its such a huge universe to explore, fight, mine and trade in; which is a shame, because ED looks like it would absolutely crush the genres game-space if having the Oracle stacks, server clusters, and development time to support it as an MMO.

Very disappointing. Before anyone rails me here saying that ED is "kinda" a persistent world, let me stop you right there - ED is a multiplayer game, not a persistent massively multiplayer game in the general sense from everything I've gathered and I'm extremely bummed, really... I've been holding off and holding off, hoping and praying for a "new evolution in multiplayer design" to be announced at E3 2014- and it seems its not going to happen 

From everything I've read, I don't think I've misunderstood the multiplayer portion of ED, and if I have - could someone please enlighten me?

Hi, do you mean the fact that there will be yourself and, up to, 31 other player ships together in any instance bubble at one time? You're not going to get a space equivalent of hundreds of scantily dressed elves twerking in a city square. Personally I think it is a very clever design. I don't want space to seem like a traffic jam. So we'll have the player interaction and all fly in the same persistent universe but not an over crowded version of that. Is that the aspect you are concerned about?

 

[Seonid]

Very disappointing. Before anyone rails me here saying that ED is "kinda" a persistent world, let me stop you right there - ED is a multiplayer game, not a persistent massively multiplayer game in the general sense from everything I've gathered

Everyone is playing in the same galaxy and it is persistent and evolving, under AI control but player affected with the ability for Frontier to manually inject major events. Assuming the "All" group you are surrounded by an "invisible island" and if other players are in the same area as you the "islands" get merged and you will all see each other. In very crowded areas you will (currently) only see up to 31 other players due to technical reasons, but everyone else is still in the same galaxy as you.

 

[Razorwire]

... ED is a multiplayer game, not a persistent massively multiplayer game in the general sense from everything I've gathered...
...
From everything I've read, I don't think I've misunderstood the multiplayer portion of ED, and if I have - could someone please enlighten me?

You've misunderstood.
ED is one persistent, player influenced universe, and everyone is playing on the same shard. If there are more than 32 players in your shared sensor range, the extras will be in another instance. There are a few MMOs that work like this at a zone level, with larger cap numbers, but none that have dynamic instance areas.
Because the play areas are so big compared to the sensor ranges, I personally doubt you'll see many places that even get instanced.

Current beta build does not quite work like this, it has a few separate servers, but the final game will.
Hope this helps.

(I backed ED and SC, for what it's worth).

 

[Roughrider]

Hi, do you mean the fact that there will be yourself and, up to, 31 other player ships together in any instance bubble at one time? You're not going to get a space equivalent of hundreds of scantily dressed elves twerking in a city square. Personally I think it is a very clever design. I don't want space to seem like a traffic jam. So we'll have the player interaction and all fly in the same persistent universe but not an over crowded version of that. Is that the aspect you are concerned about?

This was really helpful - especially the quip about the elves - was a nice touch. So can I hunt down other specific players when they are online, or will they have the option to play in full hidey hide mode whenever they want?

 

[Half Giant]

So can I hunt down other specific players when they are online, or will they have the option to play in full hidey hide mode whenever they want?

I think both. At the extreme Commanders will have the option of playing without ever meeting another player. Not sure how many people will do that. I think people will have options to not participate with various groups. Exactly how we all fall into different groups, I'm not sure and I think is still being discussed. But it's an interesting question that raises other questions. For instance there are bounties and bounty hunters. If I invoke a bounty on my head and you are a bounty hunter can I use these social tools to hide from you (and other player bounty hunters). Hopefully someone is more up to date than I am. I'll see what I can find out.

Edit - actually it is all spelled out in the 'Groups' DDF. Worth a read. In my example a Bounty hunter will be able to find someone who has a bounty even if they add you to their 'ignore' list.

 

[Olrik]

occasionally checking on the statuses of a few space sims in development. Namely this and Star citizen...Is it fun? This is obviously the biggest point here

The flight /combat system is superb,its unique and amazingly fun. In this there is almost a unanimous agreement.

I mainly looking for someone to convince me to make the buy right now

Buy the game. You will not regret it.

 

[Robert Maynard]

So can I hunt down other specific players when they are online, or will they have the option to play in full hidey hide mode whenever they want?

Grouping has been a stated part of the game from the time of the Kickstarter. Whether a player wants to exist in the All Group, a Private Group or Solo-Online is their choice.

From what I have read, I think that gaining a (PvP) bounty can kick a player from a Private Group into the All Group. If the player has no bounty then you may not be able to encounter them if they were in a different group. Even if they were in the same group, how we might expect to track down a single player in the galaxy, given the size of it, is anyone's guess at the moment.