News Let's talk about Gnosis and the Cone Sector

[Ian Skippy]

Hypothetical question for all the fanboys and white knights in the thread: exactly what would it take for you to be critical of FDev? Lay that out for us so we can see if your opinion is worth anything at all, because if you're willing to uncritically accept anything they do it's not. If there is a point at which you'd change your tune, consider that supporting the legitimate grievances that other players have - even if they're less important to you personally - is your best option to stop things from degenerating to that point.

Can you maybe directly address these supposed white knights? For example, I've been accused of being a white knight a lot, despite clearly being critical of FD's QA in this case, and plenty of other stuff in the past. However, just because someone feels A or B has been done wrong poorly by FD, doesn't mean you should blindly accept other criticism that you disagree with.

Personally I despise this 'they should apologize' nonsense. The entire existence of the Gnosis is a freebie from FD they had no obligation to do. The fact they can actually have it jump on Canonn's request is a freebie. That they create an entire new game event, which caught many by surprise, is ' cool. Yes, mistakes were made. Its fine to point it out. But this entitled horsecrap from mentally unstable manchildren is disgusting, and it is perfectly fine to point that out too.

The idea that anyone who doesnt mindlessly join the lynching mob, over a computer game, for an in-game event FD had no obligation to facilitate in any way whatsoever, is a white knight is just a weak ad hominem.

 

[DukeIronHand]

Deleted.
Tough to play catch up on 4 new pages.

 

[DukeIronHand]

That was a weasel-worded non-apology. A genuine apology would take ownership for the confusion and bugs which they caused, not vaguely refer to them as something that exist independently of responsibility and finish by referring to the event as if it was a success rather than a monumental balls-up.

Would the death of all of their first born be adequate or do you wish to write their apology for them next time?

 

[aRJay]

Hypothetical question for all the fanboys and white knights in the thread: exactly what would it take for you to be critical of FDev? Lay that out for us so we can see if your opinion is worth anything at all, because if you're willing to uncritically accept anything they do it's not. If there is a point at which you'd change your tune, consider that supporting the legitimate grievances that other players have - even if they're less important to you personally - is your best option to stop things from degenerating to that point.

For myself being older, laidback and so forth. I am not uncritical of all the design decisions made, nor the genuine mistakes made however I am not a fan of slagging people or organisations off in public for these accidents and incidents as I don't consider that they are likely to do things better while they are upset and on the defensive. Calmly pointing out that a mistake has been made and what actually was wrong without trying to behave like a muck raking journalist seems a more rational approach. After all where would the game be if everyone the attackers hold responsible resigned tomorrow or were sacked.

 

[uafomega]

I am pretty new to the forums but been playing ED for a few years now on and off. Given what limited interactions I've had with the community I think FDev doesn't understand what drives the community in these type of situations. I get that not everything in the ED universe will happen as planned and disappointment will come often because, lets face it, such is life. However, the real travesty in all this isn't them denying the trip with the thargoid attack, the buggy, poorly designed event or the leaked news article spoiling it all but FDev thinking that this little setback is suppose to force us to turn around and head home with our tails tucked to never attempt the jump again. From a more roleplay perspective, this event sort of forces the narrative that the commander I portray is some kind of coward. One attack is not gonna break my spirit for exploration and adventure. It's hard for me to imagine the other commanders who boarded the Gnosis, in spite of the dangers, would also give up after being attacked by thargoids. If anything, it would only reinforce the desire to make that jump. All FDev has done is up the ante on the desire to go to the cone sector.

To be honest, I am not exactly against them denying us the jump in this way, in spite of the messy attempt, I give them credit for trying something different rather than just saying no. However, going this route means you have to leave the community with some sort of tidbit in it's place to help ease the blow. If the thargoids won't allow the jump in the first place, let us investigate the why and how of the thargoids intent on stopping. A chance to learn some more informations would be an a decent way, in my opinion, to help ease the blow.

 

[mnemonix]

My problem with Braben is that he does not seem to have moved on with the times, the technology and the player base. He seems to be fixated with delivering a game via text like a 1980s graphical adventure.

I came to this thread also disappointed by 'Gnosisgate' but at the end of the day it is just a game, people make mistakes etc etc (and this comes from someone who started playing it on an 8 bit BBC micro) but...

The wide ranging comments here have opened my eyes to the bigger picture and in particular the likes of the above... this is a game offering huge, dynamic, realistic vistas of the universe in Virtual Reality, yet when I open up Starport Services for example I am greeted by second rate illustrations of characters and paragraphs of text barely worthy of a children's story book! As an 'older' player my expectations were set by reference points now 30 years or more out of date, which is crazy, because as an architect, designer, coder, independent software developer my expectations of myself let alone a game dev company such as FDev are so much higher and relevant to 2018 rather than 1988! For heaven's sake, talking head/avatar animation software can be had from as little as $50 to create 'live video feeds' for mission givers and other npcs in place of the 'card game' interface we're currently presented with!

In one sense I am disappointed that the post above 'woke me up' to the reality of what Elite currently is, but having recently experienced a certain indefinable emptiness whenever I played the game without really understanding why, I'm now also excited by what it could become, if only Fdev joined the 21st Century and embraced contemporary game technologies and thinking.

 

[droflah]

Umm. I fly one way missions out of Founders (my current home-base, you can't get missions from surrounding bases into SD). I can easily make 20m cr + in an 1-1.5 hours with minimal effort and without the need to flip the boards. I have a fleet of 11, with 2 being top end ships, all engineered and A rated and still have 1.6Bn cr in cash. I play in open.

It sounds like you get your fun from the game by trading. I don't really. I don't really maintain a large balance of credits in the game (Slightly under 100m at the moment I think) - I only work on my credit balance to ensure I have rebuys or so I can buy that 80m cr A rated fuel scoop. What you're saying to me is that doing it your way, if I tried really hard I could afford a single rebuy on my A-rated and engineered Corvette with a mere 4-5 hours engaged in a part of the game I don't enjoy as much as the other parts of the game.

At the end of the day, this *is* just a game, albeit one I've invested over 800 hours in and bought a lot of ship kits and paint jobs for (£168 since December 2014, I just had a look out of general interest). I'll go and play something else if it ceases to be fun, I think I've received good value for money.

 

[d35-archangel]

I think the approach was right.. it keeps players on their toes. The galaxy inhabitants can do what they want, write their own journeys but FDev writes the fate of the events. Just like real life. Nobody knows what could happen next but that shouldnt stop us from doing what we want to do. Try not letting the cat out of the bag by accident next time. Nice one and good job.

 

[Old Duck]

The entire existence of the Gnosis is a freebie from FD they had no obligation to do. The fact they can actually have it jump on Canonn's request is a freebie. .

I think the criticism in this case is deserved, though not to the extremes that we're seeing in some threads. Gnosis may be a freebie for Canonn, but for the rest of us it's just another part of the game, and I joined this event not as a member of Canonn, but as an explorer who saw an in-game event being promoted through Frontier's own channels, an event that was pretty specific about actually going to (and arriving at) the Cone Sector.

Not that I'm deaf to what you are saying, because I actually felt really bad for Frontier when certain players blamed them for the UA bombing of the Dove Enigma (another 'freebie'). Some of the comments aimed at Frontier during that event were just below-the-belt mean and unwarranted.

 

[Cmdr Shijima]

Meh, I'm over this now.

I can see lots of arguments from lots of sides and I see validity in many of them, right or wrong. For me personally it was about something potentially different happening in the game that was closer to what I want from Elite (akin to the Salome event). As I think I said before, I wouldn't have minded the Thargoid attack if we had made it TO the Cone Sector, that was expected from GalNet (besides, I had no other expectations about what we would find there). Just a shame the rug was pulled from under us and now I'm sitting deep in the Gnosis hold, waiting for a chance to stick my head over the parapet and make a run back to The Bubble.

As a LEP owner, I'm in this for the long haul and I will be returning to the game with my PC commander when Q4 drops; I just hope the content is rewarding enough to make the slog back from Sag A* more fulfilling. Please though Frontier, what this (non-)event shows is that there is a strong desire for more narrative based content in Elite, events that people can feel part of and get involved in without actually needing any (or much) in the way of new content! Hell, if Drew Wagar can orchestrate one of the finest player events this game has witnessed then it should be possible for a small, dedicated (maybe even Community-led) team to do the same with little support from Frontier. In the absence of modding, I don't understand why they don't embrace this aspect more.

I've said my last piece, so now I shall leave in peace. See you in the black Cmdrs... o7

 

[Andyman286]

I may be out of the loop recently with RL house renovations happening and lost my game room for a while but I heard about this event and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The new undiscovered space and all the CMDR's rallying really sounded like a laugh. I deliberated what ship to take then settled on my Kraitor. Took some pretty standard weapons in case of PvP (that I don't want to engage in, but better safe than sorry).

Anyway, is the jump not happening anymore, at all?

I actually don't mind the build up to fail but the story needs to ekpp unfolding. I was quite anxious to depart the Gnosis for the first time after the attack having heard all the stories. Glad I had second thoughts about Goids attacking and shipped a few guardian shard cannons and a guardian plasma charger. Had a good time shooting a few flying saucers for a bit when some of the CMRD's wanted to form a wing. We set out into SC to find some NHSS away from Gnosis. I quickly realised my Explorer/Fighter wasn't to well equipped in the armour dept. No xeno scanner or shutdown filed neutraliser either. So off I went to the California Sector, Mic Turner Base a 1,163.03 ly away to get me some. Having never fought the Goids before, I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

The next day I can't wait to try out my new toys. Half an hour later I'm still shooting the little fekkers around the Gnosis. No one in the instance wanted to wing. Oh well I thought, I killed a few of em until bang I was shot down and sent to the rebuy screen in a bout 2 seconds! I thought! Well I shot one little goid with my Guardian shotties and must have hit a CMDR. . Back to California Sector. Turned ED off and went to watch a film.

Well the next day I though maybe support can help. What do you know:-

"Thanks for contacting Frontier Customer Support. Sorry to hear that, but I am happy to help you with this today.

I have reimbursed your death and moved you back to the Gnosis to continue the fight! o7

For more information on the Gnosis and its progress please see: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/445812

I believe that I have also rectified this mistake I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused!

If there is anything else that we can do please let us know

I hope this information helps and if you have any further issues don't hesitate to contact us as we're happy to help.

Kind Regards,

CMDR Minotaur
Elite Dangerous Customer Support Wing"

Say what you want about FDev but the support are always happy to help and that goes along way in my book. Maybe they always shouldn't but Yay for me!

Sorry for the long post, I kinda went on a bit o7

 

[drama]

I am still wondering how 11000 people could think FD would not screw it up.....

 

[Winterwalker]

I am still wondering how 11000 people could think FD would not screw it up.....

 

[Shinji Ikari]

Yeah, tell that to Galnet & the invisible Thargoids.

 

[Winterwalker]

Yeah, tell that to Galnet & the invisible Thargoids.

How about ...

- Invisible Thargoids 'could be' scanner interference off multiple sporadic hyperspace anomalies
- Galnet MIGHT have persuaded a couple of commanders to jump ship prior to hyperspace. So .. Gnosis has only a few first class escape pods.

Point being you can either take work in progress incovenience as a terrible insult or take it in stride, creatively with your own lore that fill in the gaps. It's a simulation, simulations are always approximation to realities and it's even possible to enjoy imperfections. I think most of us have a few of those but it really ties the room together.

Anyway, it's obvious reading about, that generosity of spirit is not ubiquitous. I think that's a shame, though that is just my opinion too o7.

Spoiler

[video=youtube;VSQjx79dR8s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSQjx79dR8s[/video]

 

[Shinji Ikari]

How about ...

- Invisible Thargoids 'could be' scanner interference off multiple sporadic hyperspace anomalies
- Galnet MIGHT have persuaded a couple of commanders to jump ship prior to hyperspace. So .. Gnosis has only a few first class escape pods.

Point being you can either take work in progress incovenience as a terrible insult or take it in stride, creatively with your own lore that fill in the gaps. It's a simulation, simulations are always approximation to realities and it's even possible to enjoy imperfections. I think most of us have a few of those but it really ties the room together.

Anyway, it's obvious reading about, that generosity of spirit is not ubiquitous. I think that's a shame, though that is just my opinion too o7.

Lets just say that you can get so far with such excuses but even FD acknowledges those are issues & ED doesn't simulate anything since well, we have never been in 3304 nor have we ever gone FTL so ED universe works under ED rules.

 

[Kezal]

Well, I made it out of the Gnosis last night. 98 Jumps back home.... Good news is I got an Explorer Promotion and 2.6m credits out of it. My goal in going to the Gnosis was strictly for exploration, so at least I got a fair bit out of the debacle

 

[Deimos2k17]

Exactly, when the Gnosis will be able to jump again? Ok for me not to go in the Cone Sector, at this point, but I'm stuck in there, is there any planning to go anywhere else (unless FDevs decide to block us again), or are we just wasting our time waiting?

 

[gooddoc]

Although I don't really care......the Gnosis is likely to jump to the Rift & put all of this Bollox behind it!!!.... maybe this Thursday or next.

 

[Yseroth]

Although I don't really care......the Gnosis is likely to jump to the Rift & put all of this Bollox behind it!!!.... maybe this Thursday or next.

Canonn are saying 20th. Destination I'm not sure.