The stats are in the open for those who care to draw their own conclusions from them:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/misc.php?do=whoposted&t=58789
10% of all posts are just 2 people says a lot

And because it's opinion day...
I've been waiting for elite 4 ever since FFE was a disappointment (Frontier was a much better game imo even with the police check the first time you dock every time you load the game and requiring a dos boot disc to actually get it to run

)
And...I'd still be playing Frontier if there was an actually decent Win32 version of it like JJFFE (which i have played a fair bit on modern OS's which don't support 16 bit). Running the games in dosbox was pretty awful so yeah....my point is...
Having a version of Elite that could be played for many years to come would be perfect. Yes, there is the annoyance that if and when the servers shut down in 2, 5, 10, 20 years i.e. who the hell knows when, I'll be a bit miffed if I can't fly around space because chances are there'd still be a lot of exploring to do etc...400 billion systems is probably more than anybody will be able to visit unless you mobilised every single man, woman and child alive which probably isn't likely.
But
Until that happens...
I've been waiting to play a new Elite for nearly 20 flippin years! And if not 20, then the early 2000's since rumours of Elite 4 started and the product page listing on Frontier Developments website years ago...
I damn well will play a new Elite if I require an internet connection or not, if i play "multiplayer" or not (because I'd damn well like to make my brothers life a living hell when he eventually gets it...we don't get on.)
There ain't nothing gonna stop me playing Elite. I don't care if it was a supposed promise, the way I read the kickstarter is it's how they'd like it to happen, not set in stone. Other comments like on the reddit posts you can't take as gospel.
The fact is the way it has been built with the evolving galaxy etc at the core of it...yeah, i understand why it isn't going to happen.
Could they have taken steps earlier in the development to put in place the ability to have a fully offline mode? Maybe possibly. Did they realise this wouldnt be possible when they'd forged ahead with the evolving player driven economy and galaxy? Obviously not. And as they say hindsight is always 20/20. Whats done is done. I doubt there's any going back. Hey, maybe they could run another kickstarter to fund development of the static offline mode with stock missions as per Frontier
At the end of the day...I'm an Elite fan. I didn't play the original but Frontier was the first PC game I ever personally bought if not the first game I'd ever personally bought (I played a lot of specturm and NES games) and it is still my all time favourite. Many hours flying around in a Viper...and starting in an Eagle long range fighter...which makes me say the E: D eagle is a bit different to the 1990's version

I bought FFE as soon as i knew it existed. I'll play E: D as long and as much as I can after waiting so many years for it.
Thanks Frontier Developments for bringing back a major part of my childhood.
P.S. Is Ross 128 gonna be in the game and will you be able to get a Ross 128 prison permit to get there?

Sorry it was always the first thing I did
