No Single Player offline Mode then?

[DhuAlan]

Really ... So a handful of people (and it is a handful) , out of what , tens of thousands of backers .. .Thats pretty much 1%

I dont see those same people complaining to Spotify or Steam or Netflix because they have a rubbish internet connection. In the end ED was always pitched as a game that was going to be online, if people didnt 'get that' then thats not FD's fault.

So what exactly have some of these being doing for the last 12 months during alpha and beta then? Twiddling their thumbs .. no .. They have been playing a game online (in some cases with difficulty).

If people genuinely bought the game for offline mode only then fine they deserve a refund (for the retail cost of the game), and that is a small percentage of people, I am sorry but it just is. The rest are just a part of the 'mob' culture who's only pleasure in life is to cause trouble. The game is perfectly playable in Solo mode in on a dodgy connection.

Its funny because all those on a dodgy connection seem to be posting here without any massive issues ...

I am currently pausing before asking for a refund, I'm not a hasty person. I took my time before putting up £100 and it was due to the promoted offline mode that I decided to support fdev in its development, online was a nice to have.

Always online games which i'll mostly play solo are not worth a great deal to me in value, regardless of my enjoyment of the series. It is why I donot own diablo 3 on pc, still got d2 installed.

It is not just about a dodgy internet connection.

 

[Jason S]

Can you name big absent features from DDF not being in game today? Please.

Offline mode was never a biggest feature.

Do you not get that some people feel bad at not having the number one aspect of the game in the game now ?

Have you so little understanding ?

 

[Shayde]

DRM...the original backer's rewards...

"DRM-free collector's premium boxed edition of "Elite: Dangerous...."

That's one of my rewards as a Kickstarter backer. Does that fit with what's being discussed here regarding DRM ?

 

[strangerdanger]

Have you so little understanding or are you secretly employed by FD ?

Hey now, don't make FD look even worse than they are! Dropping offline is one thing, but hiring him? He's not even moderator, ha.

 

[deMangler]

Offline mode was never a biggest feature.

Not the most widely requested feature in terms of player demographic. But in terms of game features it was definitely a stand-out feature, about which assurances were requested and delivered. A feature that was touted as separating ED from other games available, and therefore as a reason to spend money on ED rather than on-line only games for some.
There can be little doubt of this. Just google or look at AMA's interviews and the KS, also many threads over the last couple of years.
There is no doubt off-line play was a stand-out feature. Not saying it was essential to the majority but definitely pushed as a stand-out feature. Until latest newsletter.

 

[strangerdanger]

DRM...the original backer's rewards...

"DRM-free collector's premium boxed edition of "Elite: Dangerous...."

That's one of my rewards as a Kickstarter backer. Does that fit with what's being discussed here regarding DRM ?

Apparently we'll just change the definition of DRM over night so that your reward is still valid.

DRM no longer means DRM, it means limiting number of installs.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Apparently we'll just change the definition of DRM over night so that your reward is still valid.

DRM no longer means DRM, it means limiting number of installs.

No need to change definition, because FD already provided definition what they meant with DRM free in their Kickstarter FAQ.

 

[strangerdanger]

No need to change definition, because FD already provided definition what they meant with DRM free in their Kickstarter FAQ.

Oh boy.

 

[SJT]

No need to change definition, because FD already provided definition what they meant with DRM free in their Kickstarter FAQ.

I think the definition is steadily changing to David Robbed Me.

 

[zaccheus44]

In my case - less. Vastly less. Understand. I could care less about walking around in my spaceship offline. What I care about is being able to play Elite if I'm not at home on say, a laptop, or a netbook or any other device I can somehow cram the game into, I'd accept a 90% reduction in the galaxy size, a simplified economy, a pre-set story campaign that I could dip into if I so wished, a procedural mission generator for handling bounty hunting, trading and all the rest of it, and the ability to just tootle around at my own pace. 40 million star systems is still a mind boggling sum, more than one person is going to chew through in a reasonable sum of time, but I'd get an offline elite. Something I could play, DRM free, on my own system, whenever I wanted, wherever I wanted, however I wanted.

Is this so hard to grasp?

Exactly and it's more in line with the vision of blaze your own trail and infinite freedom. Now freedom means play online with dynamic markets exactly as we want to play no exceptions. How is that freedom?

 

[Susimetsa]

So what exactly have some of these being doing for the last 12 months during alpha and beta then? Twiddling their thumbs .. no .. They have been playing a game online (in some cases with difficulty).

I actually have been twiddling my thumbs insofar as ED is concerned. I tested the Alpha for a bit, but have practically not touched the game after that - waiting for the final offline version. I became quickly apparent to me that my lifestyle as a father does not allow me to play online games (offline game would have a proper pause function, I trust).

Right now, I'm a bit torn about this whole issue...

 

[Riktar]

You forgot to add that their was a cover charge to get in the establishment.
.
Sorry, I could not resist,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Hehe. Except that it feels more like:

Customer: May I have the beef dinner but without the onions or garlic sauce as I'm allergic to them. I can't eat here if you can't do this.
Waiter: I'll just go and ask the chef...
[Waiter goes and asks the chef and returns]
Waiter: Yes Sir. I've asked the chef and we can do that for you.
Customer: Thank-you. Most excellent service.
[time passes... waiter passes by]
Waiter: Your special meal without onions and garlic sauce will be with you shortly Sir.
[more time passes, the waiter turns up with the meal.]
Waiter: Here's your meal Sir. We changed it to garlic beef with an onion dressing for you, as it's far better and the chef said that he couldn't do anything without garlic. It was a difficult decision for us to make. But if you don't like it, the door is this way.
​

This is why people are upset.

 

[Adept]

ED is online game. There's no other DRM than fact that is is built for online.

Let it go.

They can't. I don't understand why, but clearly they can't let it go.

 

[aluinie]

Well sadly i need to chip in with my own views. I like many others was drawn to the kickstarter with the fact that there was an offline mode. I have played a number of games that forced you to play online only and have had major issues even playing single player and the fact that we are at the whim of a server or the internet to play a game and can go down is nto a great for us gamers.
The original Elite and the follow ups where playable on local machines and that is where most of us come from playing these games on our 8 bit 16 bit machines and even though the universe where static it did not stop the joy of flying from one sysem to another.

Being online means you cant stop the game in lets say a fire fight if something happens in real life . Do you 1 ignore what is going on and continue playing or 2 leave the game and watch your ship with its cargo blow up as you cant pause the game.

For me and with a heavy heart i have requested a refund on this. I also see the game being online only and having to athenticate the game as DRM and the fact it will take longer to start to play as you go through the loops of logging in and waiting on servers to respond before you even play just does not appeal to me.

 

[cherbert]

1% out of 100,000 is still 1000. That's 1000 annoyed people. You get that amount complaining to OFCOM about a TV ad and the ad gets pulled.

In the case of a game, they'd be better off complaining to these people.

I wish more people could grasp this concept.

Similarly TV shows get cancelled from taking very small sample viewing figures.

 

[noodle]

He doesn't. Offliners are very few comparing to 140k people we have now, it is just basic math. Just wiggling with numbers, trying to push FD to reconsider - it won't work.

Or another way of looking at it, a significant minority of the people who funded the Kickstarter and made the whole thing possible.

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They can't. I don't understand why, but clearly they can't let it go.

Because other people can't let go the contrary point of view? I'm sure if nobody was replying, then the discussion would fizzle out.

 

[-o-]

You forget that majority of us gave money to FD because we wanted game to be made, not because there are some features we would like to use. We knew almost *nothing* about featureset of the game during that time.

Not only did we know about this feature of the game during that time, but it was established and published at that time. This is why many of us financially committed at that time. If not for these statements from Frontier, we would not have commited to the Kickstarter.

On December 11 2012, the decision to allow offline mode was published in the comments section of the Kickstarter, and then published on the Kickstarter FAQ section.

 

[littleminxundr]

Lol cant agree more.

Beside that
http://n4g.com/news/1621871/elite-dangerous-offline-mode-dropped-hit-with-community-backlash
This will be relayed for sure and can have a major impact and i dont want it for Frontier.
There are allways solutions, like saying ok we cant for the moment but we are aware that in the future we will provide this mode.
Hope they will communicate tomorrow to quiet all of this.

Oh this one has elements copied from the other story, and has now people from this thread bickering in the comments. Why are gamers hellbent of being self-defeating? LOL

 

[Adept]

I actually have been twiddling my thumbs insofar as ED is concerned. I tested the Alpha for a bit, but have practically not touched the game after that - waiting for the final offline version. I became quickly apparent to me that my lifestyle as a father does not allow me to play online games (offline game would have a proper pause function, I trust).

Right now, I'm a bit torn about this whole issue...

I don't get this, dear countryman. What is it about solo online that is in any way different for you? Heck, what do time constraints have got to do with even playing in the open. It's not WoW where you are doing raids with the clan.

 

[zaccheus44]

I think they lack the manpower to do it before release. Plus they underestimated the complexity of the galaxy simulation. Now they know and go "there's no way we can do this and not delay for x months just for this feature alone"

It's just a guess, but i'd wager my guess is not far from reality.

I'm not saying that's a good thing, mind you. But i do not think they made thus decision without good reason.

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This forum topic sure got a huge amount of replies, but forums are echochambers. The media response? Not really all that much to be honest. And the comments there aren't massive in numbers either.

I still vote that FD should offer an offline SP mode post release, mind you.

I'm perfectly fine if offline is delayed. Delays happen especially in KS projects. I just received one board game 1 year after its initial planned release. What stinks is that FD never even indicated offline may not happen or that it even presented a challenge for them. At best it's gross incompetence at worst it's blatant dishonesty. Neither bode well