No Single Player offline Mode then?

[noodle]

Reading this thread is like walking through a museum. Offline. Boxed version. Physical disks. All very last century.

I know. Anybody would think that FD were deliberately targeting the older, gainfully employed, high disposable income demographic for funding the Kickstarter

 

[Robert Graham]

Ok so lets destill this to the big points:

1. Frontier originally stated very bluntly and clearly that Offline play would be in the game, they attracted Funding based on this.
2. Frontier has had 12+ months to let people know sorry we can't do this, instead they wait until 1 month before product shipment.
3. Frontier will likely end up in a lot of hot water and possibly some people threatening lawsuits due to this, why?
A. Because features promised have not been delivered, this is false advertising and in the UK, EU, AU and even in the US it's considered not only bad business but illegal.
B. A lot of people have brought ELITE for the very reason that it had an OFFLINE mode.
C. David has on a number of interviews himself said 'Offline will be avalible' and now suddenly it is not.

Look to me it doesn't bother me, it's annoying but nothing more.. But for a lot of people I can and Do understand why they are peeved off, there should be NO reason why the server software can not be ran locally and allow offline play. On-top of this you would think that every major company learnt it's lesson after the backlash Blizzard was hit with on Diablo 3.

Those arguing that Elite is an 'online game' no and sorry Michael it's not the only items needed to be online by rights should be the Dynamic Event updates which you seed into the system.. everything else should be automatic and avalible on the base server.. And if independent games like Terrara, Minecraft, etc can give the users the servers to run locally and seperate to the 'main' servers there is no excuse for frontier.

To add to that your communication level at the moment is dismal, you have a MASSIVE fan base who have gone to the ends of the world to not only back and get you able to reach this point, but are willing to test etc for you and rather then communicating you've clammed up.. you dump 'surprises' onto people and expect them to just be happy with it when it's considered to be KEY features.

What happened to the open two way street, you can't tell me this is how you treat the other people who you get funding from, nor can you tell me you where not expecting people to be peeved about the removal of single player.

It would be nice to actually start getting some real answers again rather then guesses and sudden 'ugly' surprises.

 

[nexxo]

Elite was able to simulate an economy, Thargoids, etc. back in 1984 with 64 kb! And I also do NOT believe that this decision was made in the last days.

The whole thing stinks.

No ELITE wasn't able to simulate an economy! Where the hell did you get that idea? And the Thargoids were just another npc ship. There was nothing special about them coding-wise.

 

[Philippe]

I don't get it, did I missed something?
Did Frontier drop the offline mod?

 

[bamber]

sometimes I really really despair at the power of the internet to turn normally rational people into well fools really

I need to calm down Im going into my wonderful online adventure to get some stress relief battling other players and NPC's in a dynamic living galaxy

 

[Mephane]

And that´s a decision that was surprisingly made this week?

It is indeed weird that they announce this now, so close to release, risking the backlash in a time where good publicity is especially crucial. Had they announced half a year ago "sorry, offline mode is cancelled" the backlash might have died down by now, and all people who depended on an offline mode would have grudgingly moved on.

This is basically the worst case scenario that FD have created here.

 

[Havner]

Cancellation of an order for a permanent download of a Digital Product
Once a permanent download of a Digital Product has been made available for download by you, the order cannot be cancelled and no refund will be offered.

Each purchase of a permanent download shall be deemed a final, non-exchangeable, non-refundable sale.

You may cancel a pre-order for a Digital Product up to and including the day before the release date of the relevant Digital Product by contacting Customer Services clearly stating your order number and item(s) to be cancelled.

Once you have notified us that you are cancelling your order, any sum debited to us from your credit or debit card or PayPal account will be re-credited to your account as soon as possible and in any event within 30 days of your cancellation.

https://store.zaonce.net/cancellations-returns/

So it simply means that non-beta purchases can be refunded.
Now what is this "the release date of the relevant Digital Product"? Because if that it's the release data of the final product it means that everyone can get a refund by their own rules. Even without EU or your country law.

 

[iFred]

And the offline mode would prevent us from the idiotic cheats/exploits etc. that you will face in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Darth Krayt]

The problem here is that you'd have access to the server which isn't something we'd want to allow as it contains the secrets of the galaxy. Which was also an issue with an online version.

Michael

I'm not sure I can comprehend what you mean by the secrets of the galaxy, spoilers maybe? so I'll ask instead: Will Frontier refund backers who feel that an important feature of what they expected from the game is now unavailable to them?

 

[Darkmatter]

I know. Anybody would think that FD were deliberately targeting the older, gainfully employed, high disposable income demographic for funding the Kickstarter

Hehe, thanks for taking my little jest in good spirit. Seriously, I can certainly sympathize with people being disappointed.

But such is life, change is hard, nothing ever works out exactly as planned etc. Especially true in software development.

 

[strangerdanger]

It is indeed weird that they announce this now, so close to release, risking the backlash in a time where good publicity is especially crucial. Had they announced half a year ago "sorry, offline mode is cancelled" the backlash might have died down by now, and all people who depended on an offline mode would have grudgingly moved on.

This is basically the worst case scenario that FD have created here.

I guess they wanted to cash in on broken promises and undelivered features while they still could, huh?

 

[Kicks]

If anyone is seriously considering following the OPs "legal" advice, I sincerely hope you think twice. Whilst there are laws in place as the OP suggests, you're going in to somewhat grey area in kickstarters, beta phases, where things change. You are not entitled to a refund over this. If you decide to follow the OP's advice, good luck, you'll be spending a lot of money, and have nothing to show for it at the end.

EDIT: Threads have been merged, I'm referring to Pibbles' "legal advice", which.. yes... won't work.

 

[vjek]

Frustrating reveal in Newsletter #49. One of the primary reasons I backed the game at all was fully offline mode.

And now that's gone. It's hard to find a positive spin on a broken promise. Very disappointing.

 

[ICDP]

Thanks Pibbles, I am going through the process of requesting a full refund from ED store. Good advice.

 

[J.M.Braehe]

But that's what you *promised* Michael. That's what a significant number of us backed for. That's the game we've been dreaming of.

Thats what they PLANNED. The fact that YOU decided to back for that ONE feature that was NOT OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED (to underline my point, there is very little on the CONFIRMED features list, as yet, and, iirc, i dont think we have an official list at all).
And they know its what you've been dreaming of, unfortunately for you, and all the others that lacked the understanding to realize that the game didnt exist yet, and therefore no software feature could be PROMISED.

They have always been building the GAME THEY WANT TO PLAY.


and @noodle, thanks for the neg-rep. first time it's happened. long live your delusional self-centric state. The real-world awaits you when it dissipates.

 

[Adept]

I expected to see a poll.

Personally I'm happy to see no fully off-line mode. That thing would have been cracked open, and all the secrets spilled in no time. There is no doubt a handful of people who saw off-line as a key feature. I guess they need to seek a refund if this is a deal-breaker to them.

 

[CadetJamson]

Don't usually post just lurk... Is it that much of deal breaker that an offline version is not included?

We have been told the reasoning behind it. The transactions and alot ofthe universe is being done in the server. fair enough its probably quite intensive to run a galaxy. (Personally if I was Michael I would have lost my rag about 4 pages ago and gone to the pub....)

If you are not satisfied ask for your money back and stop playing.

 

[MikeGreg]

The problem is that the galaxy mechanics all sit on the online servers. The data set and processes are huge and not something that would translate offline without considerable compromise to the vision. Trust me we didn't sit down and think what would annoy people the most! It's a choice we've had to make and so we've taken it.

Michael

This is not correct
you promissed an offline game
now i work in the north sea, i bought into this because it would give me the chance to play when at work-offtime
i am 10 weeks at a time away from home the 5 weeks at home
at work i have no possibility of an internet connection
if i cant play this offline for 10 weeks without connecting to the internet i whant my money back
i think you should put an answer up on the forum as soon as possible
if i dont see any responce o 1 week to the effect i can continue to play offline for 10 weeks or more
i will contact paypal and request my money back, " GAME NOT AS ADVERTISED? UNFIT FOR PURPOSE "
this will be a big dissapointment for me as i had the original elite on the BBC and later the frontier versions
x-3 i played for years, still do on my vist laptop
if you continue along this line, your project is dead for sure

sorry, i realy whanted this, but not on these terms

 

[Mephane]

I expected to see a poll.

Personally I'm happy to see no fully off-line mode. That thing would have been cracked open, and all the secrets spilled in no time.

As I said, simply release it without the secrets, only the static content in the human-colonized areas plus the general procedural generation. No Thargoids or whatever, but a fully functional game for everyone who depends on an offline version.

 

[Synesthesia]

They clearly state that the game will only connect to update the galaxy status, economically and politically wise. How is this even an issue? The whole newsletter looked pretty normal, and not in damage control, but from people psyched from reaching a first finish line in a multiple year project. This whole tantruming is getting quite annoying. Like it or not, bought it, supported it or not, this is the game they are making, and it is not tailor fitted for anyone. It never has. No game ever, has. This is their vision, and not only do they look pretty confident on it, they have been delivering pretty well too. Lay back and enjoy one of the best space games we've had in years. The launch plan is this one, and no amount of internet toxicity will change it. Jeez.