No Single Player offline Mode then?

[Titus Balls]

But they did it quite successfully with the first 3 games. Offline players aren't asking for the same galaxy as the online one. It's been stated by those that want offline that a closed, static galaxy, different from the one online will be perfectly acceptable.

Actually they didn't

Elite had 8 * 256 stars
Frontier had 513,982,470 unique systems, as did FF:E

In both cases these were static universes, exactly the same for every copy of the game. The player had very little influence on the outcome and change of it.

Elite: Dangerous is 400 billion stars (that's 400,000,000,000,000) and as per the design it's not static, it's dynamic - it's ever changing influenced by the tides created by thousands of players, each one with their own story.

 

[jamotide]

I guess you would rather let your child suffer than passing a chance to frag an NPC, or risk losing your precious ship then?

Of course!

 

[Erna Jedermann]

You DID read what she said about her child?

One major advantage of offline gameplay is the option to simply hit "pause" even in a heated battle.

I guess you would rather let your child suffer than passing a chance to frag an NPC, or risk losing your precious ship then?

That why I dind´t mention it...I mention more think as I wrote 4 Weeks away....with NO PC .... the changes can be drastic ...
Warning Joking .... maybe they cut a feature during this Time...Joking end....There a Lots of RL thing which didn´t cause an real Danger which can Stop you from Playing....Please accept that fact.

 

[stimutacs]

You DID read what she said about her child?

One major advantage of offline gameplay is the option to simply hit "pause" even in a heated battle.

I guess you would rather let your child suffer than passing a chance to frag an NPC, or risk losing your precious ship then?

This might help. I know it's tough trying to get this stuff through to people, but bear in mind, it's the internet and you're on a video games forum. You might be trying to tell someone about where work takes you, or the responsibilities you have, and how that changes the kind of games you can play ... to someone who has never had to deal with anything like that. It's ok. They don't know.

 

[Rampant]

It's just a game, folks!
If some of you get so wound up by this change might I suggest you re-evaluate your priorities in life?

Maybe you are blind to the fundamental irony here.
-
Allow me to enlighten you: even whilst in the middle of playing a computer game - even one as immersing as ED promises to be - it's still just a computer game. And if I want to divert my attention.away from the screen even *during* gameplay due to my "priorities in life", then I will do just that.
-
So I did that last time I played beta - a couple of weeks ago now. Stopped my basic Eagle far away from destination to attend to family matters.
-
When I came back a few minutes later my hull was at 10% and decreasing because I was being pounded by another player. No comms. No nothing. No bounty on me. No challenge for the other player. Just sat there stationary being blown up.
-
Although it's just a game - that moment took away the *precious* time I'd invested in it.
-
It could be argued, therefore, that offline mode is a strong requirement for anyone who has other "priorities in life".
-

 

[tagos]

Does it?

Personally I would have liked the emphasis to have been on a Single Player game with a co-op feature to have a private server for 4 or 8 players maybe. This would have been a much better design choice IMHO.

MMO's of classic games don't work. Look at Elder Scrolls. Amazing single player experience games with huge depth. Elder Scrolls Online comes along and doesn't quite have the same magic.

Quite. Standing in line with another 20 'lone heroes' waiting your turn to swat a 'Only The Nameless Can Save The World' bad guy doesn't really cut it.

 

[Jackruss]

oooo clever cutting of my comment there, please dont let my whole post spoil your moment

as i said, if more players equals better universe, why do you want to play on your own?

Can I ask why you think more players equal a better universe?

 

[ThatFuzzyTiger]

There's a difference. EA only claimed that there was so much going on when in reality that was a lie. With frontier, you can easily prove that what they're saying is true - pull your network cable and then purchase any goods.

Actually there was data being sent to and from, it just took a while before the client fritzed about it. Simcity was very tolerant of wonky connections and used cached data from snapshotted neighbour cities in the event of a percieved disconnect or in the event it couldn't retrieve updated data. You couldn't SAVE the city in progress because that was still stored on the server. So it was pretty much the same situation as what's going on here. The comparisons are unfortunately pretty accurate.

 

[hjd_uk]

Because it was a lot of very clever mathematical trickery. ED is using a lot less in the way of smoke and mirrors and doing a lot more of the actual work Frontier very successfully pretended it was doing.

Well, exactly, how hard can it be to put similar, procedural-only stuff into single player?
Elite II didn't need other human players to make it enjoyable. I don't think many people would complain if the Multiplayer galaxy was a bit different from the single-player galaxy, they would and probably should be different 'universes' anyway.
So really, even though the online game is doing lots of cool dynamic non-trickery, there is no reason why the offline single-player can't rely on procedural 'smoke and mirrors' to make up for it - just as all previous offline, single-player Elite games have.
The only reason I can immediately think of for trying to keep both offline and online game-modes in sync is so that experience and assets gained in one mode can be moved to the other [ e.g. level up offline and then jump into MP ].
The thing is I never wanted or expected to toggle my character, money and ships between offline and online play, exactly because it brings up this whole issue of an offline 'fixed' world verses a dynamic online world.
I hope a reasonable solution/comprimise crops up : a totally offline single player or a periodic non-essential manual synching of single-player , if you want.

I want to be able to fly off into the galaxy and explore in my own game without expecting every, single, interesting thing to already have been found, scanned, mined dry and built on by half a dozen other players by the time I get there.

 

[Grimster]

David Braben talks about "stories unfolding according to the actions of commanders" and says that "Galaxy, story, missions, have to match [...] A fully offline experience would be unacceptably limited and static". See, I strongly resent that. I don't want *my* game to be influenced by what other players do, not even a little bit. The only commander whose actions I wish to see shape the course of events in *my* game is ME. I want the game to respond to my actions, not those of some other guy who lives on the other side of the planet. I want my experience to be unique and personal. I want a single player game, as I was promised.

This.

Also a solo player with no wish to mingle with the great unwashed.

 

[PIXEL]

ahh ""Limit theory"", I was trying to remember the name of that game - Sorry off topic but well worth a look, again - thank you

 

[cherbert]

Quite. Standing in line with another 20 'lone heroes' waiting your turn to swat a 'Only The Nameless Can Save The World' bad guy doesn't really cut it.

You have got me worried now. I had this sudden vision of a future where there are repeating instances where 16 players enter a raid to kill a Thargoid mothership. The thought makes my stomach sink that this game could end up being WOW in space.

 

[Aldric]

That is not true. I won't be able to play the game as I would have liked because I will now have to connect to an overseas server and struggle with 250+ ms latency from South Africa to NA or 200+ms to Europe.

Because there will be no true-offline mode I probably won't be able to save and load wherever I please, it will probably have a checkpoint system instead. I won't be able to pause the game whenever I need to go and do something else. I won't be able to play should my crappy Internet connection in SA be down, and I won't be able to play when I am on holiday where there is no Internet connection. I refused to buy Diablo 3 for this reason and I refused to buy Simcity until they patched in the offline mode. Checking whether a game allows offline play is one of the first things that I do on any purchase and especially on kickstarters. Frontier really dropped the ball here, and I went from being unhappy about it this morning but tolerant because we did not have a lot of information to being very annoyed and disappointed in them for having made the decision months ago to forego offline-play and for only telling us now.

I understand your disspaointment if you have a terrible internet connecton, but you have 2 choices now, either get a refund, or keep the game and just see how you get on with it, you might find that the game plays ok just as it has been for you since whatever level you joined the game ie, Kicstarter/Alpha/Beta.

 

[stimutacs]

This.

Also a solo player with no wish to mingle with the great unwashed.

Haha I can only say that the guys trying to sell this as an online experience are really making the case that hell is indeed other people. Yes, of course, who wouldn't want to be forced into the same game as these fellas, you'd have to be mad to pass that up.

 

[eridiani]

For me it is not acceptable too, because the offline mode was a pledge!!!
Additionally I want to play this game again in ten or twenty years. I don't believe, FD will run the servers for so long time.. . If FD wants solve this problem, an offline mode is not avoidable.

 

[cherbert]

Well, exactly, how hard can it be to put similar, procedural-only stuff into single player?

Pretty sure you will find most of the procedural stuff is in the client. The assumption that Frontier have some kind of super cray computer running the galaxy is hogwash.

 

[zelda_n64]

Please don't make generalizations based on age. Been gaming for a very long time (I just turned 52) and enjoy playing both online and offline games. Though I stay away from certain genres.
I respect and understand your position. I hope you decide to stay and at least play Solo Online. I am sorry your friend will be unable to enjoy Elite. Still holding out hope that FD somehow is able to rectify the situation.

TBH I was trying not to make generalizations based on age, I know a lot of older people are in to online gaming and like being connected to the online world, but I did make that statement so apologies for that.

 

[Adept]

Another issue I have is Bandwidth.I have my wife working from home half the time,my two kids want to be online too and then there's me.Often because we are all wanting the bandwidth at the same time being online trying to play is painful.

Press ctrl b when playing in solo mode. The bandwidth requirements are a trickle.

 

[SuBSynk]

Maybe you are blind to the fundamental irony here.
-
Allow me to enlighten you: even whilst in the middle of playing a computer game - even one as immersing as ED promises to be - it's still just a computer game. And if I want to divert my attention.away from the screen even *during* gameplay due to my "priorities in life", then I will do just that.
-
So I did that last time I played beta - a couple of weeks ago now. Stopped my basic Eagle far away from destination to attend to family matters.
-
When I came back a few minutes later my hull was at 10% and decreasing because I was being pounded by another player. No comms. No nothing. No bounty on me. No challenge for the other player. Just sat there stationary being blown up.
-
Although it's just a game - that moment took away the *precious* time I'd invested in it.
-
It could be argued, therefore, that offline mode is a strong requirement for anyone who has other "priorities in life".
-

You think standing still in space, while set to open play in a game fraught with danger is a sensible thing to do?

If you have other priorities other than gaming ofc thats fine, but to suggest others should suffer because of your priorities is very selfish.

FD have stated offline mode would require the entire project take a step backwards to be implemented, a very small proportion of the player base wants it and so that is what you are asking for before you ask me why i say such a thing.

Finally might i suggest you take care of your other priorities before you sit down to game?

 

[undercovergeek]

You don't get to question or determine other people's subjective preferences. That's not how things work. If people want to play solo they don't have to justify it to anyone. It's their preference and up until Friday one that was going to be met.

ahhh, was it you i just read giving marketing advice to a company? if you want to throw stones from your glasshouse, either aim properly or calm down

im only asking if, as those who have said it, that the whole game collapses without a lot of players - how can 'i want to play on my own' be an arguement?