No Single Player offline Mode then?

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vjek

V
jamotide said:
Requires internet=DRM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management#Persistent_online_authentication
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Correct. FD has conveniently omitted this fact from Newsletter #49, but now that offline mode is out the window, so is any DRM-free "version".

However, do not fret. They will claim the launcher is DRM-free, and so meet their legal checkbox without being opened to litigation. It's all about the letter of the law, not the spirit or intent, with this lot.
 

Titus Balls

Titus Balls
Juniper said:
Well, I've said enough on this forums over the last two years.

This is 100% not the game I backed, supported, promoted, encouraged others to buy, and defended to the hilt. The way this has been handled stinks to the very core, and there has still not been one single word of apology for misleading your backers all this time.

As of now, I'm done.

Enjoy your game.

:(
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No it's maybe 90% of the game you backed, supported, etc.

Sadly it seems you were counting on that 10% - so I understand the frustration - but it turns out that 10% isn't technically possible in the current state, possibly ever.

So I see the options as learn to live with the 90%, or throw away everything over the 10%
 

Aewarin Jameson

Aewarin Jameson
Kicks said:
Except that you and I both know that not supporting multiplayer in this day and age would be an immediate death-knell to the product.
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Bethesda may not agree - Elder Scrolls series stacks up well. (Skyrim anyone ?!)

Josh Parnell (Limit Theory) may also not agree - PG space combat game for the solo / offline person ;) :D

Kicks said:
The stripping of offline is unfortunate, but not unexpected - but definitely disappointing for those involved.
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(a) Agreed
(b) Totally unexpected considering the backing promise / reaffirmations given by FD
(c) Very.
 

cmdr kaotical

cmdr kaotical
Dear Michael,

I saw your other posts regarding staff, amount of work, game structure/mechanic and that offline will "Probably not" happen. I understand all that and i'm just slightly sad about it.

Your promise to keep supporting the game for years in all honors and no doubt about the next 10 years. But for the love of god start a "galaxy mechanic offline backup" or whatever you want to call it in the next few years. Something that ensures us we can play the game should the servers ever shut down. There should be a place for it in the next 3 to 5 years?

I'd really hope this will be considered or brought up at a meeting.

cmdr kaotical
 

strangerdanger

S
Kaltern said:
Sorry, but this whole debacle is all about the online 'experience'.

Funny how, with only a matter of weeks before release, and open 'gamma', that the offline mode is announced as 'not possible', when the original Frontier back in the day was exactly the same, even with planetary landings!

And Funny how, as was reminded to me by a friend, that Elite Dangerous' code has the workings for 'in-game advertising' - advertising that online connections would be needed for.

https://archive.today/kCfuD

Oh and don't forget that the decision to drop offline was made MONTHS AGO, but never felt the need to inform us, the beta/alpha testers who paid upwards of £50 to playtest the game.

Bad show, very bad show. If I find there is ingame ads, and there is no way to 100% turn them off, I will do everything possible to block the port/ip addresses that serve them, and then I'll post as much info on how to block it as I can on here and anywhere else of use. And if it breaks the game so to not be playable, I will seek further legal help.

Utterly disappointed. At least RSI are openly crooks.
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+1. Frontier gave pretty much everyone the total shaft; even those so adamant to defend this decision, by claiming DRM isn't actually DRM (good laugh), have been shafted, because they just lost yet another feature that was promised.

How one can be so ignorant as to try and shut down this argument? Fanboyism at its purest and finest.
 

Dave Leestir

Dave Leestir
PrometheusDarko said:
Hey, who am I to argue with a Dev. Oh, wait, you aren't a Dev? Strange, it's almost like the Devs themselves have stated that offline would directly hinder the final product... Weird... It's almost like this could be verified with little to no work... Strange...
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I simply don't take the explanations at face value - not since the Newsletter.
Of course it's easy to verify what words have been used - but not the real meaning behind them, as they just don't make sense.

No work will be done on offline ahead of the 3 upcoming releases, so they won't be hindered.
After launch, new features will need to be prioritised - perhaps a nice to have like walking around could hinder an original goal like offline mode.

Feel free to argue the point - but I've seen your previous comments and now this one, so we'll see.
I know we don't have to agree and that's ok.
 

Windsaw

W
SuBSynk said:
So you managed to play hundreds of hours online so far but somehow now a stable internet connection is impossible?

Really?
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Never said anything about internet connection.
The reason why I would never buy (or support) a game that requires an internet connection is NOT because I have a bad internet connection.
What makes you think that?
Haven't you read what people wrote in this thread? There are several reasons, not just this one.

My reason is that I will never buy (or support) a game that someone, somewhere can pull the plug on.
 

TomFoolious

T
You all make me so mad... insulting the devs because you invested your allowance on a promise and feel entitled to it?

This game has been online since I started playing in Beta 1 which I'm not sure how long ago that was anymore... online... come on people, stop being angry when the signs have been here all along! They have been changing things in the game based on player activity online!! They have been showing their mission for this game in every newsletter, how was this not foreseeable?

You have a poor internet connection, but decided to invest your money still? Even though currently and at the time the game was online only? Sounds like poor decision making. I didn't get in on the kickstarter because I was skeptical of how good this game was going to be, it sounded like a pipedream, my dream game being made? Yeah no way... and I waited, creeping in the shadows of their reddit and here on the forums waiting for them to give me a reason to give my money, like a person who is responsible with their money does, and it finally happened for me with beta 1.

Don't insult the devs and the game because you invested your money over one feature that had no signs of becoming a reality... the game has been online since day 1, the game has changed due to being online, and this game is beautiful and the people behind it are hard working people making their dream game. They do not deserve the insults.
 

Ulfar

U
Kicks said:
One possible counter to this, is that the vision was, and always has been, a multi-player experience. Except that you and I both know that not supporting multiplayer in this day and age would be an immediate death-knell to the product. The stripping of offline is unfortunate, but not unexpected - but definitely disappointing for those involved.
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I think you will find it is unexpected given that up until very recently it was on the store page and there has been no communication until now that it was going.

As for not supporting multi player being a death-knell, tell that to everyone who bought Skyrim. Look at the failure that in comparison that is Elder scrolls online, lots of people bought it but subscriber numbers fell through the floor(some of the reasons for this are in the list below as to why Elite dangerous fails at multi-player).

On the subject of multi player this game is not up to scratch, why do I say this.
  • There are no guilds, player associations or infrastructure to support them.
  • No group hangars for people to wander around and hang out in.
  • No capital ships that you can all dock to and go about the universe together.
  • No grouping in wings.
  • Bounties go to the player who scored the last hit with no recognition of individual players contribution.
  • The instance system makes it hard if not impossible to meet up with friends in open play.
  • Missions don't scale, support group play.
  • There is no function for group players to jump together, something that is necessary if you were escorting a high value cargo carrying freighter.
  • No voice comms. built in.
  • There is no point to multi-player. Eve does have at least territorial control which gives advantages in terms of resources.



I could go on forever.

They want a dynamic market that players will get involved in then you need to go the Eve route with a full crafting system. There are general NPC trade goods in Eve and this market is non-existant, it is the goods players use that has given the economy such life. I should know I created a character who was making millions trading in goods on the markets, crafting, producing. I didn't even need to leave the station as I had the skills and ability to trade over a whole region. Not everyone's cup of tea but you had all the other stuff to play with as well.

This game was primarily from everything I have seen so far a single player experience. It so far is an updated version of the prior games. I am at a loss to see what features have been added from what has gone before there are certainly some missing.

If Frontier are trying to shift the focus to multi-player they are way too late and short of the mark.
 
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WeirdWizard

W
Kicks said:
if the game is better on the whole, because of this decision; and meets the quality-levels that FD have strived for... then perhaps it's a necessary evil.
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The problem here is that "better" is a subjective term. I have no doubt that Frontier could of made a elite dangerous in such a way that a local server or full blown offline mode was entirely possible and still made it just as much fun. I find it hard to believe that much of the "depth" and "richness" will even be distinguishable from a simpler procedural model that could run happily in the background of any modern PC. So I warp into a system and find the price of computer components has rocketed up. Does it make any difference if this event has been triggered by a simple economic model or by the actions of other player characters. To me at the time its irrelevant and such a fluctuation may improve or hamper my play experience. Likewise if missions suddenly start appearing for me to attack ships in system x, does it matter to me if that's because some procedural story systems has decided that its time a war started or if the actions of real players have put stress on the economic situation and triggered a war am I even going to able to tell the difference?

So "better" is in the eye of the beholder, Elite may be a technical marvel, it may be breaking new ground in terms of background simulations and dynamics. But if that is not visible to me as a player then at best its wasted effort and at worst it might actually end up providing a poorer quality of experience.
 

Frank Thefarmer

F
Just make two releases. One single player release and the other the original release. That will fix everything. I am happy with the way it is, and only expect great things from this game.
 

Demonic Squid

Demonic Squid
Am disappointed there will be no true offline mode, however, I do feel that I'd like to be part of a wider community even if it's just seeing the universe dynamically evolve though the actions of other players. I have to play in Solo mode due to poor infrastructure, and very soon I will be stuck with 3G (no 4G coverage) via a phone for large periods of time. To give me the experience that I want I can see the need for having regular connections to update the local data. Hopefully, I'll be able to play even with a limited, slow, service, there's no chance of PvP for me.

What be a decent compromise for me, would be to see the need for the game to sync itself on startup each session but then not require a connection until you start your next session. I would mean I'd get the data from the shared universe, but have to acknowledge I would not be able to affect it beyond gaining rep and credits for myself.

sngerous said:
Satellite
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Satellite really doesn't work well for playing games... think glacial ping times leading to constant de-syncs... That's not to mention the ridiculous cost for what would be domestic use.
 

tomba4

tomba4
strangerdanger said:
How one can be so ignorant as to try and shut down this argument? Fanboyism at its purest and finest.
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The worst thing in all of this is that we've already given them our money, therefore we're not the ones they target the released game to :(

There's millions of console gamers that they have to keep in mind, "offline mode" is not something that will bring success to a company.
 

Kicks

Kicks
strangerdanger said:
Better? Better for whom?

For those who now cant play the game because they thought it would be playable offline and don't have the infrastructure to get the kind of Internet you and me do?

That's real swell, I'm sure they're happy about our gain.
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I don't doubt they are upset about the decision. It's a hard pill to swallow and I do not disagree with your premise right there.

The needs of the few, sometimes get trampled on by the needs of the many.

Frontier is a business. If it were running on David Braben's Infinite Wallet Of Cash (IWOC), then I'm sure the offline version would exist as well.

They made the right decision, as a business, EVEN THOUGH IT HAS HURT A MINORITY OF THE BUSINESS. Nobody is arguing that, least of all the developers themselves.

This will be a great game, and I am saddened that some who have supported it will not be able to experience it. That sucks, I don't disagree.
 

SuBSynk

SuBSynk
strangerdanger said:
This is the backlash that is deserved, no less.

With that, I'm out. See y'all.
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"As Frontier Developments mentions in its newsletter, Elite: Dangerous is still delivering more than what had been promised in other parts of the Kickstarter campaign." <-- from the article

Seems even the article agrees that a modicum of balance should still be given on the subject unlike some of the people in this thread.

It is such a shame to see these people ruining the release of the game. We even had a poll about booing DB at the release/premier event, what a joke.
 
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