If you bought ED because it was claimed to have an Offline mode then I would believe that to be False Advertisement.
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This ^ .. except with the small correction of "False advertis
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This is probably the only technical argument that is a binary (imo), and everything else seems to have an emotional or attitudinal taint to it (again imo). Not to undervalue the latter, but the former seems a little more clear cut.
Im a little disappointed at this recent 'no-offline' outcome, because it will mean I now have to exclude a valued member of my small crew from playing 'with' us. Despite the fact that he was not present in our online group, he often joined us on Teamspeak to experience the game alongside us as we played. And since the universe is so massive, it basically feels like he is playing in our instance despite being in offline solo-mode. (He lives in the middle of the desert in a mining town, and the lag/ping thing plays hell with his game, but strangely not with TS) The only real difference is the market rates/prices part of the discussion did not apply to him. (And he never came to my aid when I was getting pumped by the Systems Authority vessels! ..lol) Sure, not a true multiplayer experience, but enough to make us feel like we were all in it together.
And now he wont be able to play at all. Which means he will play something else, which we will feel compelled to join him in, in order to maintain integrity in our small group of RL friends. So the remaining 3 of us who can still play online will eventually fall off, due to our friend being excluded, and resulting in sourness towards FD.
Put simply, it sucks. Yes sure, I understand through the process of development that some features cannot be fully implemented, thats how the cookie crumbles. But offline-mode was one of the calling cards of the game, and for some people the reason they bought into the game in the first place. I'm not sure I feel comfortable supporting the game financially or otherwise in future for the same reasons I dont feel comfortable supporting a Real Life friend who is is a liar.
My advice to those immediately affected, apply for a refund, be nice, keep your cool, get your money, buy something else. Dont build angst toward FD or its community, its not worth it. There will be other games, the space genre is growing, and there will be more titles coming soon. Be well, live long and prosper.