No Single Player offline Mode then?

[el_tel]

Really?

The one in which I said I had applied for a refund but was still following this with interest while I wait to hear from Customer Support - in the (probably vain) hope that FD announce a change of plan.

OK,so you bought the Beta 'a few weeks ago', played it, then last Friday (one week before Beta ends), you found out that there isn't going to be an offline mode. So now you want a refund for the Beta that you've been using as well as the game.
I think you're entitled to a refund for the game (£35), but not the Beta (£15), a significant portion of which from the time available since you bought it you've used.

 

[JiminyJickers]

You haven't even played the game yet?

No, I just pre-ordered. I don't get any early access.

 

[Namix]

It wasn't Kickstarter - as I said, I bought it a few weeks ago from the FD online store.

https://web.archive.org/web/2014061....net/elite-dangerous-cat/elite-dangerous.html (ALL LINKS HERE ARE OUT DATED, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THEM)

Thats as far back as i can go, still does not say anything about offline single player, perhaps you misread something.

 

[el_tel]

No, I just pre-ordered. I don't get any early access.

Then apply for a refund before you have access to the game, if you haven't done so already.

 

[xxThe_Dice_manxx]

Then you should be hoping that FD find some way to reverse this reversal. Because at the moment it's a storm in a teacup, mostly because FD have done a poor job of communicating the change to all backers and pre-order customers. It's highly likely that for many of those for whom offline is an important requirement they also aren't the people constantly on the forum discussing the minutia of the game, and that newsletter didn't do a great job, even for those who actually received it. If things continue on as they have been, this could turn into a gigantic mess that could have very dire consequences for the future of the game.

One thing that is not going to fix that is to be unsympathetic to people who are into the game for hundreds, and have every right to demand restitution for FD's failure to deliver. That's not going to help the game one whit.

Decisions have been made and explained, there is no going back now there is only acceptance,I have sympathy for those who love the game and genuinely cannot play online, I think none of the backers have any right to restitution as they knew the risks.

What would help the game would be for those who can get a refund is to do so and move on, the rest should either get used to playing online or move on as well.

After all, if you really love the game you will play it no matter what it takes.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

No, I just pre-ordered. I don't get any early access.

That's a shame, you don't know what you're missing.

 

[mattensky]

OK,so you bought the Beta 'a few weeks ago', played it, then last Friday (one week before Beta ends), you found out that there isn't going to be an offline mode. So now you want a refund for the Beta that you've been using as well as the game.
I think you're entitled to a refund for the game (£35), but not the Beta (£15), a significant portion of which from the time available since you bought it you've used.

That will be for me and FD to negotiate. I have no interest in what you think about it.

 

[-o-]

https://web.archive.org/web/2014061....net/elite-dangerous-cat/elite-dangerous.html (ALL LINKS HERE ARE OUT DATED, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THEM)

Thats as far back as i can go, still does not say anything about offline single player, perhaps you misread something.

Don't worry about archives, as captured from the current FD online store 10 minutes ago...

 

[el_tel]

I think its a very good example because last Thursday if you asked me whether I would think offline would be cancelled, I would have told you there was no way it would be cancelled because ..

1. It was advertised as being there as far back as the KS 2 years ago.
2. There was no indication whatsoever from FD that its implementation based on its design was in any way threatened.

Most/all other backers would have said the same thing last Thursday. We thought it was highly unlikely that the offline version would be cancelled.

This is exactly what you would say about the PC version analogy, or any other of the main advertised features.

If you've used a part of the product, regardless of whether that was the Alpha, Premium Beta, or Beta, then you're not entitled to a refund of that part of the product.

What I think you should get a refund on is the price of the final pre-orderd game (£35), which as it turns out doesn't match your expectations. Nowhere (AFAIK) has it been stated the the prior stages would include the offline mode, so you had no expectation that you would be able to test the offline mode during those stages. If, however, you have accessed those earlier stages, regardless of your motivation for doing so, then you have therefore used that part of the product, and would not (IMO) be entitled to a refund (for that portion of the price).

 

[paralipsis]

https://web.archive.org/web/2014061....net/elite-dangerous-cat/elite-dangerous.html (ALL LINKS HERE ARE OUT DATED, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THEM)

Thats as far back as i can go, still does not say anything about offline single player, perhaps you misread something.

That's not how consumer law works, in the UK or anywhere else. The "it didn't say it next to the sticker price when they bought it" is no defence if the company is everywhere else saying that that is a feature of their product.

 

[Jenner]

I feel like I've been repeating this a lot lately:

Enough with the personal attacks. Do not challenge anyone's right to post here. Do not engage in back and forth sniping.

If someone is violating forum rules report it. Don't be a forum vigilante.

 

[-o-]

If you've used a part of the product, regardless of whether that was the Alpha, Premium Beta, or Beta, then you're not entitled to a refund of that part of the product.

What I think you should get a refund on is the price of the final pre-orderd game (£35), which as it turns out doesn't match your expectations. Nowhere (AFAIK) has it been stated the the prior stages would include the offline mode, so you had no expectation that you would be able to test the offline mode during those stages. If, however, you have accessed those earlier stages, regardless of your motivation for doing so, then you have therefore used that part of the product, and would not (IMO) be entitled to a refund (for that portion of the price).

I don't need to establish that the testing phase would not include an advertised component. It was a reasonable assumption that it would, and I cannot be expected to be held financially accountable for the developers failure to implement this advertised component during the testing phase.

 

[Namix]

Don't worry about archives, as captured from the current FD online store 10 minutes ago...

You know thats just part of a standard agreement right? and has nothing to do with this specific games features and only refers to ingame advertising across every game Frontier have ever made?

 

[JiminyJickers]

Then apply for a refund before you have access to the game, if you haven't done so already.

I applied for it on Friday when this announcement came out. Unfortunately I won't be able to play the game if it requires a constant internet connection. I hope you all enjoy it, I wish I could join you.

 

[Namix]

That's not how consumer law works, in the UK or anywhere else. The "it didn't say it next to the sticker price when they bought it" is no defence if the company is everywhere else saying that that is a feature of their product.

the product only exists officially after its release date, right now its still in development and therefore no one owns a actual copy of the game and all features are subject to change, consumer law will only come into effect after its release. The only way consumer law comes into effect now before its release would be if FD did not offer refunds which they currently have a system in place for

 

[the darkwalker]

I don't need to establish that the testing phase would not include an advertised component. It was a reasonable assumption that it would, and I cannot be expected to be held financially accountable for the developers failure to implement this advertised component during the testing phase.

i think we need a lawyer here...for real.
this is too messy right now and FD's attitude with no clear communication is depressing at best.

we nedd to figure
1. Who is eligible of a refund, in which country and until when
2. We need to understand how much we could get refunded (ks backers deserve a full one? who bought in the store instead?)
3. We still do not know if fd is officially refunding anyone affected or not

radio silence is no good, no good at all

 

[-o-]

You know thats just part of a standard agreement right? and has nothing to do with this specific games features and only refers to ingame advertising across every game Frontier have ever made?

Even ignoring its legal implications, it dosn't look very generic to me ... pretty sure its about a game called Elite: Dangerous

 

[the darkwalker]

the product only exists officially after its release date, right now its still in development and therefore no one owns a actual copy of the game and all features are subject to change, consumer law will only come into effect after its release. The only way consumer law comes into effect now before its release would be if FD did not offer refunds which they currently have a system in place for

technically it's wrong, in eu you can cancel the pre order up until the day before launch

 

[-o-]

i think we need a lawyer here...for real.
this is too messy right now and FD's attitude with no clear communication is depressing at best.

we nedd to figure
1. Who is eligible of a refund, in which country and until when
2. We need to understand how much we could get refunded (ks backers deserve a full one? who bought in the store instead?)
3. We still do not know if fd is officially refunding anyone affected or not

radio silence is no good, no good at all

I'll be surprised if they respond before the official launch on the weekend.

 

[paralipsis]

Even ignoring its legal implications, it dosn't look very generic to me ... pretty sure its about a game called Elite: Dangerous

I'm pretty sure you are right. Anything else is motivated reasoning. And it's pretty hard to ignore those legal implications.

"No your honour, we don't think this passage of our terms of service apply. You see, we use that on all our games, therefore it doesn't really apply in a specific case."

 

[Wolframium]

Well, after due consideration, I have submitted a request for a refund. I'll probably never get it, because I backed the project when it was in Kickstarter stage (and yes, you fanboys, you're right, it's my fault, how foolish of me to back a KS project of a hybrid car that is described as being able to run both on petrol and on biofuel, and not expect that the end product will only run on petrol because hey, one month prior to launch we found out that it was just too complicated and biofuel would spoil our "vision", how silly of me indeed!) but at least I've made my voice heard.

It was not an easy decision - I'd been eagerly waiting for this game for almost twenty years, and indeed, it was the only game I ever pre-ordered - but that's just how disappointed I am with everything about this massive screw up, including (but most certainly not limited to) the abysmally poor communication showed by FD.