News Important Community Update (01/03)

Roybe · Mar 1, 2019

WesULVD said:
Mmm, I feel like I'm one of the only ones not seeing this as positive news. I'm not sure if the game in it's current form can carry players that long. Unless the small updates will bring enough new content, I don't see the majority of players hopping around this galaxy for another 1.5 years while other games will be released in the meanwhile.

But the majority that leave will buy the new content to get back to the game....

Padoh · Mar 1, 2019

Can you say if it's going to continue to be developed for the current platforms and produced for the new versions of playstation and xbox?

Bard Voronwe · Mar 1, 2019

Ok basically no 4.x until the latter half of 2020 and you will use this year to release patch/updates/overhaul (I hope) of existing mechanics.

I will be very direct and I will ask you if these things will be considered before the 4.x

- missions overhaul?
- powerplay overhaul?
- any possibility to make open play more relevant for more player interactions?
- any news about how you're going to fight the botting cancer better?
- icy planets (and surfaces) overhaul?
- fleet carriers?

Please don't let us wait "weeks".

GreyAreaUK · Mar 1, 2019

Burke said:
Will there be any changes to the FSS and more specifically is there any chance of reviving the old ADS gameplay of system trawling for odditys and interesting picture oppurtunitys?

Can't you still do that?

CMDR MRMAURICE · Mar 1, 2019

Thanks Will. Some news is better than non at all. I'll still be playing until the day Fdev turn the servers off

Burke · Mar 1, 2019

GreyAreaUK said:
Can't you still do that?

No. The FSS mechanics are the tipping point between effort and too much to bare.

OrangePheonix · Mar 1, 2019

Great to hear some information being passed to the community!
Can you clarify any of the changes and additions that will be coming before the BIG changes? Such as CG's and player involvement.
Also I am currently waiting on a Cmdr Memorial being implemented into the game. I've been advised that this isn't possible until a big update. Does this mean I'll be waiting until 2020?

Gully Foyle · Mar 1, 2019

UseLessUK said:
And the cost will be?

Will whatever the cost is cover a single update, numerous updates or a season?

Or have you not worked this detail out yet?

You work for EA or something?

You know that kind of business info is very valuable, right?

Riverside · Mar 1, 2019

Gully_Foyle said:
What? And ruin the surprise?
Not to mention the withering criticism and nonsense from the rabid forum.
Unending experts weighing in with weighty huge posts about why his/her idea is better etc.

You want that?

I'd rather see insane speculation that gets even more fantastical over the long long months
with the Legs Vs. Landings factions going NUTS

In an information vacuum, speculation runs wild

The opportunity for not wanting to spoil a surprise has long since passed, and I hope it will not be long before we get some more information.

Heater · Mar 1, 2019

Thanks for the "we cannot tell you anything yet" update,
But when are you guys going to start fixing the long running and newly introduced bugs?

Cocalarix · Mar 1, 2019

Late part of 2020 is indeed a bit far away, but I assume they'll be able to talk about it a lot sooner than that. If this update is as big as they say it is, I'm sure they'll spend some money to get a trailer in E3 2020.

The fact that they retracted the ice planet rework from the 3.3 update, makes it pretty obvious imo that it's a huge planetary update.

I wish you good luck guys, and hopefully the children won't stomp their feet too hard until then.

Souvarine · Mar 1, 2019

Great point from Voronwe above...

When do you plan to address Powerplay, Frontier? It's been well over a year since you promised that community you would address it, and since then have floated some (pretty good) ideas to fix it. When's that happening?

Rubra Govan · Mar 1, 2019

Ok a small portion of me is worried. The first 2 updates are for new players. I hope that's better tutorials or a set of linked missions. As an early player of World of Warcraft when they started focusing on new players the game lost a lot of its complexity and became a game that I lost interest in very soon after. I don't want this to be Elites fate. If you make everything easier to do it's going to get boring really quick.

SpocksOddSocks · Mar 1, 2019

I try not to show negativity towards anything here, not out of reverence for the FD, but out of respect to the hard work that goes into making my favourite game of all time. However, I do agree with these.

Souvarine said:
Could you tell us what the next big milestone update is please? Knowing what we're waiting for will make the waiting much easier.

It would be nice to know something, even if it's only a snippet.

WesULVD said:
Mmm, I feel like I'm one of the only ones not seeing this as positive news. I'm not sure if the game in it's current form can carry players that long. Unless the small updates will bring enough new content, I don't see the majority of players hopping around this galaxy for another 1.5 years while other games will be released in the meanwhile.

I did take nearly a year off before the beyond chapter 4, and struggling to find time to keep up with DW2 right now. I love some of the new exploration content, even if I'm not finding any of it myself yet, but I'm struggling to see what can keep me going much longer as well.

Gully Foyle · Mar 1, 2019

Burke said:
No. The FSS mechanics are the tipping point between effort and too much to bare.

For you maybe, I just hope they don't dumb it down. I like effort.

How much are you baring? I thought the game was rated 7 & Up

Burke · Mar 1, 2019

Gully_Foyle said:
For you maybe, I just hope they don't dumb it down. I like effort.

How much are you baring? I thought the game was rated 7 & Up

i think perhaps you want this thread. Im not going to keep responding and clutter here up cause it will bury potential answers.

GoryDamnPixie · Mar 1, 2019

Super exited for the new Era of elite, I wouldn't be surprised if this was space legs and atmospheric landings combined. 2020 can't come sooner

Gully Foyle · Mar 1, 2019

Evoflash said:
So can I buy the LEP in the meantime please?

How much would you be willing to pay?

Would you knit Dave Braben a sporran?

Old Duck · Mar 1, 2019

As long as you fix Elephant Butt Leather and Flashing Disco Shadows long before 2020, I'll be happy. It'll take me much of 2019 to visit all the assets (generation ships, INRA bases, Guardian beacons, etc.) currently in the game, but I've been holding off visiting these because of the broken graphics shaders on PS4.

So yeah, fix the bugs in what we currently have and I'll still be around in late 2020 for the "New Era"

LKx · Mar 1, 2019

dreampage said:
The latter half of 2020 is also the start of the next console generation. A new era indeed. So I guess, given this development takes 2-3 years for Frontier, the Elite experience will be completely transformed:

Brand new graphics engine (either Unreal Engine or a completely new version of Cobra)

"Space legs" + social spaces

Atmospheric landings - at least on non-water worlds and non-earthlikes

If the update was going to be released this year, I would guess only one of these would be realized. Given that it's coming at the end of 2020, which is like developing a completely new game, I do think this will contain all of the above (among a lot of other things obviously), transforming Elite really into a brand new game. This amount of development time should be enough for all these big features in my opinion. Elite will probably transform from a purely spaceship game into a first-person sci-fi adventure game (but almost certainly not like a traditional FPS). Either way, I can't wait.

Given the timeframe, i expect full athmosferic landing, with earthlikes, flora and fauna and all that.