Some people here will still be insisting the game's not dead even after the servers shut down.
Is ED nearing the end of its lifespan?
- Thread starter Einar Donarsson
- Start date
This got more likes than anything else I've ever posted... Hmm.I don't know about Elite... But I'm nearing the end of my lifespan as an Elite player.
It's actually better for the person involved to think the game is dead when it isn't than to think the game is not dead when it is. Put another way, if I'm no longer playing Elite (which I assume is the status of all the "It's dead!" folk), and Frontier pulls the plug, then it's not really a big deal to me. But if I'm totally in love with a game, and the studio pulls the plug (I'm looking at you MAG and Paragon), then that really hurts!
I don't think Elite is dead, but it's not exactly "alive" for me personally, so I'm safe from disappointment if and when Frontier does pull the plug. Though I do grow tired of the whole "pull the plug" aspect of online games in general... At least I don't have to worry about this with my single player games!
An that entirely frontier fault because they do these videos with nearly zero information, which then allows content creators to fill in the gaps for themselves. They should have learn that by now. There a update out this month for example and all they tell us is there a update,, how about they tell what in that update and give us a early list of bugs to tackle. It give content creators content to talk about instead of theorising and making up content.
Just as some will insist that it is, even before the servers shut down..
I'd imagine that it's more fun to just play the game, than argue on a forum if it's dead or not.. Still if the game can't hold one's attention, then the forum game is also pretty good..
Development lifespan? Yes, to me it looks like Frontier is wanting to tie up loose ends, document and then turn over to a vended or shared support service. Just my hunch...
Lifespan of people playing? Depends... I'm curious of the operating costs. I know stellar forge itself isn't too heavy but the storage of all the discovered systems and their related activities (player and NPC) seems it would be expensive.
Lifespan of people playing? Depends... I'm curious of the operating costs. I know stellar forge itself isn't too heavy but the storage of all the discovered systems and their related activities (player and NPC) seems it would be expensive.
It's embarrassing to call that a roadmap - that's not a roadmap, it's the same tired old line designed to desperately try to keep people in the game until the end of the year with the promise of "something great" that simply never arrives or, worse, is an unmitigated disaster like ODYSSEY, dropping a 1990's era FPS into a game that has always been about FLYING SPACESHIPS.
Long before the end of the year the "renewed communication", which has, so far, delivered exactly NOTHING NEW, and has already, after just 7 shows been cut from once per week to once per fortnight, will be gone, replaced with deafening silence YET AGAIN. We'll see nothing but the usual stream of "fixes" that always break more than they fix, more nerfing in favour of more grind, and the "narrative content" will be nothing but text in Galnet that nobody cares about.
This is a clear indication that FDEV has abandoned this game. It may survive to the end of the year, but I'll be exceptionally surprised if it's still around by the end of 2023.
Oh well, we can always look forward to the SC beta in 2060.
LOOK at the "roadmap" - it's NOTHING; there's NOTHING THERE. They're promising patches on top of patches to deliver stabilisation, bug fixes (which ALWAYS introduce more bugs than they fix) and text in GalNet. That's ALL they have in the works for the next 6 months. The game is already dead.
A little harsh...but a little true
I mean, Hello Games made a game I have no interest in...even after the iterations.
Egosoft is great with X4 but that really is something totally different too. (I play it almost exclusively right now, BTW)
Elite is still the only game that scratches my space sim itch...and, personally, I think Frontier's "roadmaps" have taken in a direction I'd rather they didn't. I'd be fine with them to stop trying and just call the game finished after some fixes and polish. and delete EDO
Depends how it's implemented but it shouldn't be that big or expensive. The whole dataset of EDSM in bloaty json format isn't that big, and doing the math from the percentage of the galaxy EDSM knows vs the percentage of the galaxy Frontier says has been explored to estimate what a full dataset would look like doesn't lead to scary numbers.
How can people see the term "Key Feature Overhaul" and think maintenance mode? I mean, I get that it isn't 2014. Sure. But if you read "Key Feature Overhaul", that's basically the opposite of maintenance mode. Also, when somebody uses the phrase "we're doing something totally unprecented that we've never done before", is that sort of phrasing that conjures up maintenance mode?
You won't believe the reply I have for you, it's totally unprecedented, something I've never said before! I can't tell you anything about it right now for some reason or show you a draft, but if you stick around and wait for it until near the end of financial year 2023 it'll be amazing.
Words are empty without action...
Therefore, my king, in so far as you have the power (who are all powerful), keep the discourse uninterpreted, lest mysteries of such greatness come to the Greeks, lest the extravagant, flaccid and (as it were) dandified Greek idiom extinguish something stately and concise, the energetic idiom of usage. For the Greeks have empty speeches, O king, that are energetic only in what they demonstrate, and this is the philosophy of the Greeks, an inane foolosophy of speeches. We, by contrast, use not speeches but sounds that are full of action. (Chapter XVI) — Hermes Trismegistus
Maybe because its Frontier who said it, and they have a history of saying big things and then delivering little, or disasters like Odyssey v1.0. That 'key features' thing they mentioned, and said exactly nothing about, is the kind of technique they've used time and again to keep people hanging in there just a little bit longer. Its surprising some people are still falling for it after all this time. If it'd come from someone like Hello Games, I think the majority of players would be happy and excited because they're a dev team that learned from it mistakes and went on deliver, over and over again. Trust in Frontier is at an all time low, their reputation with it. The players are not to blame for that, and those that have had the bottle to call them out on it have been vindicated time and again. I suspect that'll be the case again this time next year, but I hope I'm wrong.
Having said that I don't think the game is dead. Heading to maintenance mode, definitely one day. But not dead. As long its selling cosmetics and people are buying arx I think (and hope) it'll continue for many more years. But maintenance mode is coming sooner or later whether people want to believe it or not. The signs are there in that roadmap. In any case people should be wise enough now not to fall for Fdevs spin and not to get their hopes up when they say better days are coming and we've got some super duper new shiny stuff for you!!! That often leads to disappointment.
Seems to me that they are trying to help the console players get on to PC to bolster the numbers but this new detail of more stability and performance fixes is not really new development. An added mission type and some form of story text and maybe voice over work (which may have been made months ago) is not that exciting (tm). If enough players come across and if they start buying arx it may make FDEV put more effort in but, it may be to late. No news ships, weapons or features but a promise of something later. It will be good to see some dev live streams but maybe to little to late after the poor release of EDO. I would hope they continue but I don't feel its looking good.
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What i was really hoping for (without any actual details) was that FD would announce they had a committed full sized team working on a full scale expansion for the next paid DLC. I didnt expect dates (though a targetted year would have been cool). I am just guessing but imo given the current bad news (console dropped, planet tiling not being fixed) that if they were working on a next paid expansion they would have told us.
So all in all, imo the update was better than nothing - tho again the narrative stuff and the new mission template as well as the reworking in early 2023 - these could be massive or they could be really nothing much at all - but it wasnt a great update for the long term development of the game.
The console save transfer was fantastic - tbh the mind boggles why this was not planned and announced at the same time as the console cancellation.
The game is clearly not dead, and i would not even say it is in maintanence mode yet.
but long term wise is anyone confident that those who bought the Horizons era life time pass are ever going to end up quids in? I dont think i am.
fingers crossed however, the ball is well and truly in FDs court.
So all in all, imo the update was better than nothing - tho again the narrative stuff and the new mission template as well as the reworking in early 2023 - these could be massive or they could be really nothing much at all - but it wasnt a great update for the long term development of the game.
The console save transfer was fantastic - tbh the mind boggles why this was not planned and announced at the same time as the console cancellation.
The game is clearly not dead, and i would not even say it is in maintanence mode yet.
but long term wise is anyone confident that those who bought the Horizons era life time pass are ever going to end up quids in? I dont think i am.
fingers crossed however, the ball is well and truly in FDs court.