Latest stream has more dislikes than likes... FD are you listening?

[Deleted member 182079]

This is why I ask about what client / server side stuff can be altered. If we are in a beta like testing period why not embrace that and do some low level changes? Nothing crazy, just a few values here and there with players?

There is a huge amount to choose from, like fiddling with say, Shock Cannon ammo- should we allow engineering / up its ammo? Let the community chew it over for a few days and then change the value (if its server side). People are frustrated, give them something to focus on that helps out.

It would for sure be something, i.e. better than nothing, but for me the far biggest show stopper is performance now. I've played a couple of hours over the past few evenings (usually that would consist of half of an average play session... I know I need to seek help with my addiction) and I'm limiting myself to "exploration" i.e. landing on planets, scanning flowers, taking in sights where possible (new planet tech is very hit & miss, one moment it's stunning the other it's like straight out of 2003). I still have to downsample to 0.85 to get a stable 60fps, but it's fine (even though it looks fuzzier now, CAS helps with this somewhat to be fair).

Bubble gameplay? No chance I'm going anywhere near that now - I don't normally get motion sickness but experiencing 15-25fps in settlements while trying to engage NPCs who don't care about framerates made my feel physically queasy. Not good enough. So even if they fixed missions and balancing, I won't benefit from it because of the performance issues. That should be top priority but it seems they're just trying to stick to their plan (= nothing until consoles) in the hope that people cry themselves to sleep. Good luck with that strategy I suppose.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I watched the beginning of the SC news stream last night (not live thankfully) - Zac and Bruce really do look like a bunch of guys that don't want to be there, and honestly I wouldn't blame them. At this point in time I'm not sure who the target audience of those streams is - the majority of players, experienced and noobs alike suffer from technical problems, so I don't think soldiering on as if everything's fine is the way to go. Although cancelling the stream would also send the wrong signals... tricky one.

Sally is indeed working extra hard but ultimately it boils down to first level tech support - she can't answer the real questions, and isn't going to fix issues herself; she is there to listen and maybe for some posters that's enough, she might prioritise certain issues while reminding people to raise tickets on the issue tracker.

I just find it difficult to believe that this "new and improved" communication strategy is merely what I described above (the two posts by DBOBE were just lip service, I can live without empty PR speak tbh) - I was honestly expecting more, certainly from individuals who are not part of the CM team but the actual decision makers and strategists at Frontier Towers. Instead, it's the usual tumbleweed & silence, so basically BAU apart from more personalised ticket management.

This is literally like the fifth or so times they promised new and improved communications and it never happened. To their shareholders they promised limited communication to 'underpromise and overdeliver' as a strategy.

 

[Rubbernuke]

It would for sure be something, i.e. better than nothing, but for me the far biggest show stopper is performance now. I've played a couple of hours over the past few evenings (usually that would consist of half of an average play session... I know I need to seek help with my addiction) and I'm limiting myself to "exploration" i.e. landing on planets, scanning flowers, taking in sights where possible (new planet tech is very hit & miss, one moment it's stunning the other it's like straight out of 2003). I still have to downsample to 0.85 to get a stable 60fps, but it's fine (even though it looks fuzzier now, CAS helps with this somewhat to be fair).

Bubble gameplay? No chance I'm going anywhere near that now - I don't normally get motion sickness but experiencing 15-25fps in settlements while trying to engage NPCs who don't care about framerates made my feel physically queasy. Not good enough. So even if they fixed missions and balancing, I won't benefit from it because of the performance issues. That should be top priority but it seems they're just trying to stick to their plan (= nothing until consoles) in the hope that people cry themselves to sleep. Good luck with that strategy I suppose.

It is, but there is nothing we can do about performance because thats in the lap of the devs to sort out.

What I suggest is using this time (and the CMs) and put it to good use for short updates to small things that can be changed easily, just to use some of this negative energy more productively, because then you can see something has been done.

A long time ago I DMed Sandro Sammarco with a very short / to the point proposal for reducing / eliminating Cytoscrambler jitter. He graciously replied, and halved it. Now, Cytos are in wider use because of that small change. ED is littered with examples like this, where weapons, effects and blueprints are ruined by single numbers. Why not engage with the community and at least try to change a few?

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

PowerPlay: Still working on behind the scenes, considering options based on player feedback. We know the PowerPlay community want change.

Cheers Zac. That's something people did need to know.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

This is literally like the fifth or so times they promised new and improved communications and it never happened. To their shareholders they promised limited communication to 'underpromise and overdeliver' as a strategy.

If I weren't so lazy I'd post a The Matrix Architect meme now.

But yes, "overpromise and underdeliver" seems to be the actual culture in the company - just looking at the early (and even more recent) CGI videos and comparing that to the actual game is equally amusing and depressing. So at least they're internally consistent there.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

It is, but there is nothing we can do about performance because thats in the lap of the devs to sort out.

What I suggest is using this time (and the CMs) and put it to good use for short updates to small things that can be changed easily, just to use some of this negative energy more productively, because then you can see something has been done.

A long time ago I DMed Sandro Sammarco with a very short / to the point proposal for reducing / eliminating Cytoscrambler jitter. He graciously replied, and halved it. Now, Cytos are in wider use because of that small change. ED is littered with examples like this, where weapons, effects and blueprints are ruined by single numbers. Why not engage with the community and at least try to change a few?

I'm just afraid that while we assume they're actively working on PC and consoles performance optimisation, they're in fact working only on consoles performance while having fingers crossed that some benefits will fall off the back of the lorry for PC users too (which could in theory mean applying shortcuts [see CAS addition] as opposed to fixing the root cause of the issues and/or where it shouldn't be necessary for more scalable/powerful PCs).

Not disagreeing with your approach at all just for the record. And thanks for the cyto improvement, I quite like them the way they are

 

[angusmadmac1]

We have lowered our expectations to an acceptable level of disappointment , and Fdev still cant hit the bar .

 

[Rubbernuke]

I'm just afraid that while we assume they're actively working on PC and consoles performance optimisation, they're in fact working only on consoles performance while having fingers crossed that some benefits will fall off the back of the lorry for PC users too (which could in theory mean applying shortcuts [see CAS addition] as opposed to fixing the root cause of the issues and/or where it shouldn't be necessary for more scalable/powerful PCs).

Not disagreeing with your approach at all just for the record. And thanks for the cyto improvement, I quite like them the way they are

We can but trust they are.

What I see is a lot of back and forwards from CMs, they are here but at the minute taking notes and smiling at us while me growl back. Its that empty feeling gesture that people take umbrage to, it needs to be used for something visible that helps the game. EDO left out balancing, let it be done now while things are malleable. Small things done often would show its not all an Oz curtain.

 

[Salonica]

It is, but there is nothing we can do about performance because thats in the lap of the devs to sort out.

What I suggest is using this time (and the CMs) and put it to good use for short updates to small things that can be changed easily, just to use some of this negative energy more productively, because then you can see something has been done.

A long time ago I DMed Sandro Sammarco with a very short / to the point proposal for reducing / eliminating Cytoscrambler jitter. He graciously replied, and halved it. Now, Cytos are in wider use because of that small change. ED is littered with examples like this, where weapons, effects and blueprints are ruined by single numbers. Why not engage with the community and at least try to change a few?

I also msg'd Sandro about not changing the KWS because there is no way in game to find out where each faction resides to claim those bounties. Yet here we are, with FDev having us grind bounties and then stealing 25% of it for no other reason than they like to annoy us. So yeh, No I won't be contacting any of them again.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Wow, Zac sounded cross!

CMs need to maintain that professional calm. However, i still have fond memories of Mike Evans' replies on the forums where some of his responses were probably just one step away from telling people where to shove their opinions.

I know FD can't allow it, but really would love to see the CMs/devs able to tell people exactly what they can do with and in which orifice they can put their opinions.

Would be such a breath of fresh air.

 

[Factabulous]

I know FD can't allow it, but really would love to see the CMs/devs able to tell people exactly what they can do with and in which orifice they can put their opinions.

Would be such a breath of fresh air.

If they ever get close the forum outrage just intensifies, so it's not worth the trouble. You may not believe this, but some around here get angry at the drop of a hat ... and some even drop the hat themselves, and still get mad at it dropping

 

[NETbreed]

PowerPlay: Still working on behind the scenes, considering options based on player feedback. We know the PowerPlay community want change.
VR: We've already answered, there's no current plans - if that changes, we'll let you know!
Console release date: Still on track for Autumn 2021.

Thanks Zac. I sense much biting of tongue in this reply and admire your resolve

It would be great to find ways to share even small updates like the above on PowerPlay and Console release dates in the weekly game news streams, saving (hopeully) the larger discussions points for the monthly development updates. It really would help put minds to rest, and we might have a fighting chance of desalinating this forum.

 

[VR jefranklin18]

PowerPlay: Still working on behind the scenes, considering options based on player feedback. We know the PowerPlay community want change.
VR: We've already answered, there's no current plans - if that changes, we'll let you know!
Console release date: Still on track for Autumn 2021.

Yes, I realise now you have provided answers; apologies for citing bad examples.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Yes, I realise now you have provided answers; apologies for citing bad examples.

Want to go for round 2?

 

[Deleted member 182079]

Want to go for round 2?

In all fairness, Zac didn't address the etc. bit

Being serious though, the one area that's still being tip toed around is performance, particularly whether there will be any updates between now and the consoles release.

"We don't have an update at this time" is not an answer to a yes/no question, by the way.

 

[Bottom Hat]

CMs need to maintain that professional calm. However, i still have fond memories of Mike Evans' replies on the forums where some of his responses were probably just one step away from telling people where to shove their opinions.

I know FD can't allow it, but really would love to see the CMs/devs able to tell people exactly what they can do with and in which orifice they can put their opinions.

Would be such a breath of fresh air.

It would be superb - give them one day off from professional obligation and any fallout, and just let them go nuts at the entitled ones! I don't remember Mike Evans sadly, but I sure wish I did from what you said!

 

[Rubbernuke]

I also msg'd Sandro about not changing the KWS because there is no way in game to find out where each faction resides to claim those bounties. Yet here we are, with FDev having us grind bounties and then stealing 25% of it for no other reason than they like to annoy us. So yeh, No I won't be contacting any of them again.

I forgot to add that this was at the time of the shield / hull tweaking- I timed it because it was relevant and they were working on it there and then.

 

[Pigletslastand]

PowerPlay: Still working on behind the scenes, considering options based on player feedback

Zac is this past player feedback that you have already collated or are you going to do a focused feedback post where players can add their current feedback?

If it's already ongoing it would sound like it's past feedback. Can you confirm if this is the case. It should be possible to if it's already happened or is ongoing. Many thanks.

 

[StanleyDunkan]

Dunno - I'd rather have the server changes yesterday and have stuff working than have fdev wait another week so they can announce it all proper like.
But you do you

Dunno why would they wait a week if they announced it that it's coming this week and already have it ready.

 

[Zac Cocken]

Zac is this past player feedback that you have already collated or are you going to do a focused feedback post where players can add their current feedback?

If it's already ongoing it would sound like it's past feedback. Can you confirm if this is the case. It should be possible to if it's already happened or is ongoing. Many thanks.

Hey Piglet,

At the moment we're focusing on some of the big hitter feedback regarding PowerPlay that have been circulating for a while, for example, the idea of 'Open-only' PowerPlay. We're weighing up the pros and cons of both, as well as the technical aspect, and once we have a decision we'll feed that back, but I can't put a timescale on that considering a lot of focus is on Odyssey at the moment. Once we have a handle on the bigger things, I think it would be a good idea to have a focused feedback thread.