Is it weird that I'm not excited about season 4?

[amadeus1171]

From what we've seen so far I don't have great expectations for season 4.

We should have had atmospheric landings by now with interactive life forms.

We should have space legs (and hands) with proper content. It was said before that to implement space legs the entire game would practically have to be rewritten. This does not give me hope.

Speaking of content, I would have expected more mature interactive content by now. The game is still stuck in 1984.

And bugs, bugs, bugs! And I'm not talking about thargoids (are arachnids bugs)? As I've stated in a previous post, I couldn't believe that the blocked landing pad bug still existed.

Usually, this post would be titled, "Let's start talking about 4.0." But I'm disheartened. I had great hopes for Frontier and Elite. When I first heard that DBOE was getting the band back together for Elite: Dangerous my mind swelled with possibilities and excitement. But now the expectations have mostly filled. And the excitement? meh.

So, are you excited about 4.0? Or are you of the same mind as me?

 

[Deadlock-3000]

That's a lot of "should have"'s. Are they based on anything tangible and verifiable, or is it just your own dream sequence?

But no, I'm not excited about 4.0. "Beyond" gave me a bunch of ships I don't want to fly, a radio-tuning minigame that I would place below Angry Birds but above Snake in terms of immersion, some Guardian tech locked behind a golf buggy assault course which has exactly one useful thing on the roster with a whole bunch of other stuff I'll never ever need, a seriously annoying crime and punishment overhaul complete with a special police file for my flight seat's cupholder, and even more things to do with limpets, like, so much goddamned limpetry. On the plus side they gave us wing missions which are so broken in terms of game balance that I'll never need to earn another credit again. But no, I'm not stoked for the next update, given the track record.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Difficult to be excited when I have no idea what it is. As to life with complex life, if we want NMS life and planets then yes i'm sure we would have had it by now. If its to be done well and properly it will take a lot longer.

I would much prefer FDev to take their time and get it right to be honest.

 

[Iskariot]

From what we've seen so far I don't have great expectations for season 4.

We should have had atmospheric landings by now with interactive life forms.

We should have space legs (and hands) with proper content. It was said before that to implement space legs the entire game would practically have to be rewritten. This does not give me hope.

Speaking of content, I would have expected more mature interactive content by now. The game is still stuck in 1984.

And bugs, bugs, bugs! And I'm not talking about thargoids (are arachnids bugs)? As I've stated in a previous post, I couldn't believe that the blocked landing pad bug still existed.

Usually, this post would be titled, "Let's start talking about 4.0." But I'm disheartened. I had great hopes for Frontier and Elite. When I first heard that DBOE was getting the band back together for Elite: Dangerous my mind swelled with possibilities and excitement. But now the expectations have mostly filled. And the excitement? meh.

So, are you excited about 4.0? Or are you of the same mind as me?

In my opinion your expectations of what we already should have had are extremely unrealistic and absurd.

If you just think about what is needed to create acceptable atmospheric environments (with interactive lifeforms!) in this day and age of highly detailed graphics and extremely spoiled gamers, then you ask the impossible.

We are not talking about a single open world environment comparable to Skyrim or GTA or Wildlands. We are talking about semi-realistic procedural design on a galactic scale. This has never been done before. FDev is a pioneer in the gaming industry.
This is not just about pg design of alien morphology, but also about creating behaviours that do not feel as ridiculous and artificial as they do in NMS for example.

And then on top of that saying we also should have had full fps and fpa content is just beyond preposterous.
Have you even spent a single minute to think about what that entails?

Your demands are ridiculous.

 

[CaptainCaboose]

I think you need to be happy with what we've gotten so far and stay optimistic about future additions and fixes to the game. Compared to the game I paid for back on release, and compared to the game state when I bought Horizons, Elite is now 10x more enjoyable than ever and I'm thoroughly immersed in the current content.

We got what we were told we would, for the most part, and considering the fact that since release, we've only been charged for a single expansion that MASSIVELY improved major aspects of the game, I have no complaints. When I look at time played vs money spent, I've more than gotten my money's worth.

If you're down in the dumps about what you think the developers "should" have delivered to you, disappointed that you don't have features that were never given a release date in the first place, maybe your unrealistic expectations are more to blame than the developers and you should take the time to either play and enjoy the game as it stands or find something else to bide your time until those features come to fruition.

All that being said, I'm always excited to see what the future holds for Elite.

 

[krylite]

I'm looking forward to season 4 and after. ED is an unprecedented massive scope of a spacesim with a good tasteful mix of sci-fi realism vs. fantasy, more of an update sequel to Elite2:Frontier than the original 1984 Elite. Taking into account the progress of game dev technology with the tradeoff of scope vs. fidelity, ED imo still rates as the bar-setting leader of the massive scoped modeled galaxy along with many elements in between /w the stellar forge. Unrealistic expectations of an "everything" game would take hundreds of thousands of designers and developers to implement unique hand-crafted gameplay and assets for thousands of ED "lore" systems and locations. It would have to be a pet project of a billionaire or a national defense or nationwide infrastructure project like the Hoover Dam or even require "holodeck" game tech evolved a century more from now. (Even X4 migrants from ED are now realizing the illusion and limited scope of X games in general no longer believing the "it's like ED but better" nonsense bandied by the trollish naysaying and are quietly returning to ED)

So taking into account realistic expectations, I think Frontier has done a great and innovative job with gradually fleshing out the ED world with what they've been able to do procedurally otherwise. . They did what they had to do to sustain the company with PC, ps4 port, and JWE, and so sustain the ED world and infrastructure without going bankrupt or worse becoming corrupted into CIG Star Citizen marketing shenanigans and the like. So I think it's realistic and hopeful to be patient for spacelegs and atmospherics and groundbreaking new features to come in the next five years of the ten year planning, or even ten more, or even twenty years. However long it takes. Meanwhile there is a great spacesim game already there to enjoy, and so many details of the game with hard work done by the devs over the years that are quickly taken for granted or forgotten from awareness.

It's all very hopeful. A new building transition. Hundreds of new staff in Frontier. And last year's announcement of next new milestones for ED which they mentioned had been worked on long before October. An un-"doomed" game and resurgent playerbase activity, where many planetoids in the bubble are increasingly mapped and a void-opal rush enjoyed by many. And the new astounding record of 9000+ signing on for DW2. (leaving the shilled SC meets in the dust)

 

[Bryan K]

I would be excited if they’d give us something to be excited about. But nooooo, FDev clings to secrecy like an excitable 12-year-old who just started keeping a diary.

 

[Brrokk]

Yes, I'm massively impressed with the last update and looking forward to what season 4 might bring.

 

[Aekero]

definitely excited, this is a game with so much potential, and I've mostly enjoyed what they added/changed this year

 

[OHMSS]

I’ll come back to you when i know what season 4 will focus on. That’s the best I can do OP.

 

[Vedmo]

I'm still excited about Beyond.

 

[CMDR Woland92]

From what we've seen so far I don't have great expectations for season 4.

We should have had atmospheric landings by now with interactive life forms.

We should have space legs (and hands) with proper content. It was said before that to implement space legs the entire game would practically have to be rewritten. This does not give me hope.

Speaking of content, I would have expected more mature interactive content by now. The game is still stuck in 1984.

And bugs, bugs, bugs! And I'm not talking about thargoids (are arachnids bugs)? As I've stated in a previous post, I couldn't believe that the blocked landing pad bug still existed.

Usually, this post would be titled, "Let's start talking about 4.0." But I'm disheartened. I had great hopes for Frontier and Elite. When I first heard that DBOE was getting the band back together for Elite: Dangerous my mind swelled with possibilities and excitement. But now the expectations have mostly filled. And the excitement? meh.

So, are you excited about 4.0? Or are you of the same mind as me?

Yes, it’s weird. Satisfied? We done here?

I’m psyched for season 4. It’s going to be great. Elite is an amazing game and I’m so excited to see what comes next. I could be pessimistic and focus on the things that I don’t like about what is an incredible labor of love performed for a relatively small player base. But life is too short for that.

You’re overthinking it, OP. Just relax and enjoy the ride. Or play something else.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

I'm not sure what the devs would have to do to keep people happy here. Creating life on all the elws, which is unique to each world in order to be realistic (otherwise people would complain that the animals are the same)? Creating a first person environment similar to the Mass Effect series with meaningful gameplay to go with it in a game initially designed solely around space flight?

None of the big stuff is going to be quick or free of bugs. I've made a fair few posts bemoaning bugs, but I'm willing to accept if they take a little longer to release new content.

Some people seem to want massive bug free updates done to the game developed in a couple of months. I'd suggest to people who do want this to get down to the Frontier store and get buying, and encourage their friends to do the same, as they'll need some serious money to give you what you want.

Despite the annoying and sometimes game breaking bugs, I've still enjoyed this more than most other games I've played in recent memory. I'm definitely looking forward to what's coming up this year.

 

[ShadowWolf Kell]

I'll be on the other side of the galaxy, so beyond the beta it'll mostly be inaccessible.

 

[Sylow]

But nooooo, FDev clings to secrecy like an excitable 12-year-old who just started keeping a diary.

You are right. I mean, it's not like people would overanalyze any single word they say, build unrealistic expectations on that and go absolutely bonkers if just one thing which was considered to maybe be done then is not delivered on time and in best shape.

Luckily such things would never happen in this community, right?

 

[MottiKhan]

I'm not excited. But the game is still ok.

 

[Maeyat]

Given the way the game is broken right now, I doubt I'll be spending money on DLC.

Besides, there's a couple of conditions that must be met before I spend any more on this or any other Frontier game.

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

In my opinion your expectations of what we already should have had are extremely unrealistic and absurd.

If you just think about what is needed to create acceptable atmospheric environments (with interactive lifeforms!) in this day and age of highly detailed graphics and extremely spoiled gamers, then you ask the impossible.

We are not talking about a single open world environment comparable to Skyrim or GTA or Wildlands. We are talking about semi-realistic procedural design on a galactic scale. This has never been done before. FDev is a pioneer in the gaming industry.
This is not just about pg design of alien morphology, but also about creating behaviours that do not feel as ridiculous and artificial as they do in NMS for example.

And then on top of that saying we also should have had full fps and fpa content is just beyond preposterous.
Have you even spent a single minute to think about what that entails?

Your demands are ridiculous.

I can tell you feel quite strongly about this... perhaps you should accept that other peoples desires and expectations are not the same as yours, insulting the poster is not a very mature way of disagreeing.
However, if gamers are demanding the impossible then who are we to blame, the media for telling them what they could have or a fertile imagination that would be a welcome commodity in an otherwise barren gaming environment?
Ideas and expectations are the same branch of the creative tree, it's just the latter is a little further along!

Considering that Elite Dangerous (then Elite 4) was conceived in 1998, there has been ample time to generate all of the basics like Story, Statistics including an economy (no, I don't mean the one we have that could have been created in an afternoon in the canteen) full working and believable Starship spreadsheets (not the arbitrarily created "that'll do" ones we have now, the ones that the Anaconda, python et all use) and a full compliment (not just a dead one and a space cabbage) of Alien races with a rich and varied history... then wait for the technology to arrive! but most of what we have seems... kinda rushed, not really thought through.
Thinking further, if there's a ten year plan is it wise to wait until the last year or so to bring in such expected features as Atmospheric landings, and the ability to leave the seat of the cockpit... after all this is the game that's considered a WORLD CHANGER!


Now, it's not nice to read a bitter post is it?

If anybody needs me I'll be in the angry dome

 

[annihilator_bg]

From what we've seen so far I don't have great expectations for season 4.

We should have had atmospheric landings by now with interactive life forms.

We should have space legs (and hands) with proper content. It was said before that to implement space legs the entire game would practically have to be rewritten. This does not give me hope.

Speaking of content, I would have expected more mature interactive content by now. The game is still stuck in 1984.

And bugs, bugs, bugs! And I'm not talking about thargoids (are arachnids bugs)? As I've stated in a previous post, I couldn't believe that the blocked landing pad bug still existed.

Usually, this post would be titled, "Let's start talking about 4.0." But I'm disheartened. I had great hopes for Frontier and Elite. When I first heard that DBOE was getting the band back together for Elite: Dangerous my mind swelled with possibilities and excitement. But now the expectations have mostly filled. And the excitement? meh.

So, are you excited about 4.0? Or are you of the same mind as me?

I fully agree with you. It is the "make it or break it" year for ED. I don't know why people are so excited about getting space legs. What would that bring to the game? If I want to shoot someone on a planet I would choose a different game. FDev should focus on deeper story lines. Atmospheric landing? Would be nice but if they manage to improve the existing planets where you can land and find more stuff than geysers and barnacles...this will be much bigger improvement. Cause if you have atmospheric landing and you end up finding the same boring stuff on the surface - then it is useless.

My personal wish list:
- focus on group play - ability to construct squadron stations, ability to buy assets for the station (defense, ship yards, storage facility, etc).
- make the Thargoid story deeper. Something like what they did with the probes, sensors, unknown devices back in 2017 (or whatever year it was in the ED world)
- improve some boring gameplay aspects. Why not introduce modules similar to the docking computer that would save you from the boring travel to a station/planet?
- balance out how you earn credits - as we know simple tasks like moving passengers from Ceos to Sotis can give you 10M CR in 5 minutes. At the same time killing 5 Thargoid scouts which involves a lot of ship crafting will give you just 50K.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I can tell you feel quite strongly about this... perhaps you should accept that other peoples desires and expectations are not the same as yours, insulting the poster is not a very mature way of disagreeing.
However, if gamers are demanding the impossible then who are we to blame

1) It is absurd to say "it should have [x]" and then essentially list multiple major AAA-games. Yeah, sure it would be awesome to add procgen life like NMS, but better, with flora and fauna to billions of planets, add first person stuff like mass-effect but also with zero-G EVA and god knows what ever else. Stuff will be added, and that is cool. Over time, one day maybe there will be ELWs and space legs. Maybe not. This is the absolute golden age of sci-fi entertainment and people like OP are always complaining and permanently feeling they are somehow entitled to more. The best mankind has ever seen in sci-fi entertainment? Not good enough, and not only do we want more, we should have more. ED should have ELWs and space legs. NMS should have a more detailed flight model and galaxy sim. X4 should have landable planets and a far larger universe. Somehow. Because we want it, so it should have happened. It is the epitome of entitlement. And while it is barely acceptable from a five year old, it is beyond lame for anyone age 15 and over.

2) No, it is not 'the media' who are to blame when people refuse to grow up and blame others for not turning their dreams into reality for a few tenners. That is squarely on the individual, and it is perfectly alright to point and say:"you are entitled and it doesnt fit a grown man." People who feel entitled to stuff without contributing anything whatsoever to that thing, and then blame others for their own sense of entitlement? Only to grab a soapbox to tell the world how they arent excited about something they have no clue about what it will be, but somehow will be less than what they feel entitled to, for some reason? Na, I think Iskariat isn't far off the mark here. It is ridiculous, and at some point you should be able to say that.