And mods, of course; Elite is exactly the kind of game which attracts a strong modding community - can you imagine how good the mods for Elite would have been?
No Single Player Offline Mode then? [Part 2]
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And mods, of course; Elite is exactly the kind of game which attracts a strong modding community - can you imagine how good the mods for Elite would have been?
Didn't you say you are a software dev? Elite is very squarely in the premium, not f2p model. It has some modest hybrid features in the cosmetic items one can buy, but the triple A cost of entry will in itself prevents many freemium problems. There will be no throwaway accounts, as each one is a significant investment.
I can't figure you out. It seems that since you oppose online gaming on a point of principle, you feel justified in making stuff up to justify your "outrage".
What evidence what so ever do you have of a change to the funding model? You also seem either confused or disingenuous about what the f2p business model is.
Vectorman
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If there really is a quote stating the game only needs a 10kbs connection speed then there is no way that the servers are doing all the work with the dynamic universe and NPC ships etc. It would take around 10 minutes to download a 4mb file at 56kbs so you can imagine how much of this "essential" game data is being transferred over the network at 10kbs.
Can't see how an offline mode wouldn't work unless it's solely down to copy protection issues?
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Well, the key thing to know in answering that question is; How long did FD know about the offline mode before they let everyone know in the two lines buried in the newsletter? Based on what DB has been saying, they've been struggling with the problem for a while and just choosing to focus on the online mode. Or if you take his quote of something like; It's always been an MMO... Then that means they've known from the very beginning.
If that's the case then they chose not to disclose the facts; that's wilful (intentional, deliberate).
They also continued to act as if the offline was a possibility, possibly even stating that fact; that's deceitful (deception, concealing, misrepresenting).
I agree that it is difficult to go from a client based model to a client/server based model. HOWEVER, in this day and age with the VMWARE Hypervisor it really isn't that difficult to run a client AND a server on one machine. What does that mean? It's not too difficult to go back the other way.
The server is not controlling the NPC ships. It's telling the client what type of NPC has been encountered. That's why when you play solo there is no lag what so ever in the fights, that is all on your client.
The server does a whole lot of heavy lifting in simulating and keeping track of the changing galaxy, but the NPC you fight is on your own machine.
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It was always an MMO, from the start of the KS pitch. They thought they could add off-line functionality to it, and I think one thing that made them realise the error was the rampant hacking and exploiting during Alpha and early Beta. As things got more and more complex and robust, the server got more and more of the workload.
It was always an MMO. Mr Lewis said he was present in the meeting where the decision to let go of the solo-mode feature was decided, and he hasn't worked at FD for very long yet.
Elite is a massive online game, with plans to keep adding depth and features for at least a decade. I'm really glad they aren't giving any outsider access to the server code. That would be beyond stupid.
If there is to be an off-line version in the future, it will have to be built differently. It will be a different game, using the same assets.
I do not doubt the words that you type... However, as I posted in the text you quoted, "How long did FD know about the offline mode before they let everyone know in the two lines buried in the newsletter?"? That is the key to determining if there was both wilful and deceitful behaviour.
If, as you say, "It was always an MMO. Mr Lewis said he was present in the meeting where the decision to let go of the solo-mode feature was decided, and he hasn't worked at FD for very long yet.", why was it only announced a few days ago?
Tell me about it.
And yes, I've already admitted my error in saying that E: D is F2P. There is an initial outlay involved, but it's my impression that many MMOs (WoW, EQ until recently, EVE) require a monthly subscription cost as well. E: D doesn't at the moment, ergo, F2P.
I assure you I'm making nothing up - I simply didn't phrase the response particularly well. It's late and I'm tired. I should have been more specific. My bad.
None directly, but I would be amazed if it didn't happen now. Not immediately of course, there's no need, but in the future. The main thing stopping it from Frontier's POV is that people would have simply gone offline to play. Now you are committed to logging into their servers & maintaining a constant connection, even in so-called "solo" mode, there is nothing to stop them introducing subscriptions down the line.
They've already shown precedent with a disregard for their player base with this episode - can you say for absolute certain that "The Vision" doesn't include subscriptions two years down the line when they've made all their expansions & not many people are buying their ship skins that you can't even see? :S
Of course, I'm speculating. FD have always said there are "no plans" to introduce subscriptions, but they've never said never to my knowledge either.
Some of the whining on this thread is getting beyond ridiculous now
People don't want to connect to a server in-game (using a miniscule amount of bandwidth), but they are ok whining on a forum all day.
I use the internet for lots of things, just not usually games. I like being the one who decides how and when I play, not some external big brother. Would you like some poison? I won't make you drink it all, just a miniscule amount.
[Redacted]
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And this circular argument begins again...
Indeed, but I deliberately left mods out of that list because DB has dropped hints in the past (most recently in the AMA here on the forums) that mods may be a thing, even in the current online-only game.
Yes, it'd [redacted] me off, but no more than driving into any town & city nowadays :/
Spot on! With a proper framework to allow scripting missions etc, tons of hours of offline play would be added by the community.
But sorry. That's not the VISION (TM).
I made no argument... I was answering a question which required a further question to do so.
If you have an answer, please... *bows and stands aside* Be my guest.
As it has been said that to create an offline mode and online mode they would essentially be creating two games, the amount of effort put into attempting the promised offline mode comes into question. If this is truly what they believe and this came out just weeks before release, to what degree was the offline mode completed? Did they ever intend to fulfill their promise?
I haven't yet decided if I would retract my refund request if David and Frontier would publicly state something like this:
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"We have heard you. We have felt your anguish. We messed up. We messed up *really* badly. Please forgive us. We would like to start earning your trust and respect back.
We are publicly committing to delivering you the offline single-player experience that you have made clear is important to you after we made the wrong creative decision in removing it.
We can't deliver offline to you right now, but X has been assigned the task of organizing and planning the delivery. Furthermore, from now on, you will get public monthly status reports that detail the progress being made. At any time during this process, you are welcome to get a full refund.
We really need your support at this critical time. Would you consider giving us a second chance?"
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"We have heard you. We have felt your anguish. We messed up. We messed up *really* badly. Please forgive us. We would like to start earning your trust and respect back.
We are publicly committing to delivering you the offline single-player experience that you have made clear is important to you after we made the wrong creative decision in removing it.
We can't deliver offline to you right now, but X has been assigned the task of organizing and planning the delivery. Furthermore, from now on, you will get public monthly status reports that detail the progress being made. At any time during this process, you are welcome to get a full refund.
We really need your support at this critical time. Would you consider giving us a second chance?"
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and I played it on a BBC micro/Acorn/electron/C64/C128/Amiga 500/Amga 1200/and various incarnations of 386/486, hell, I even played it on my old macs, se, si and quadra! Reply DOS on MAC pds slot card (google it, kids!) so what?
does that trump you? of course it doesn't!
I really have no problem with how you would like to play the game, that's your business and FDEVs! if you are excited by the thought of solo online play, great for you! i'd never for a minute think of denying you that.
so what is your problem with how I want to play the game? what are you contributing? are you in any way helping to solve the issue that they haven't delivered on their promise to me and many others?
but hey, I am glad for you you're so happy! lets talk again in a year or so.
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