Planetary Tech with Dr Kay Ross: Recap

[Ozric]

Guesswork from a CM on a stream, contradicted by a seperate forum post by another member of the team.

I could characterise this as "sub-optimal"

EDIT::



Zak Disagrees in this post below - he specfically ties the tech to the Individual purchase of Odyssey::



I do wish these people would understnad the impact that inconsistent comms has within the playerbase. Perhaps if we had... I dont know... a job role within Frontier which could manage the community interactions and ensure consistent messaging??




I`m sure we woudl all welcome some clarification on this topic given the significant impact it has to the players experience.

Umm I think you have grossly misunderstood things.

Zac (with a c) posted that as part of the recap, I then asked

I had been thinking about this and it does raise another couple of very interesting questions. Ones that I really wish could be answered please.

Will users on PC who don't upgrade to Odyssey, see the changes at the same time as those who do?

So I asked Arthur for clarification on the stream and he gave it. What you have done, I think, is somehow completely misunderstood the question that Zac posted the answer for.

Console players won't be able to see the upgraded planetary tech until Odyssey launches on the relevant platform. But PC players, and so by extension console players, who don't upgrade to Odyssey will be able to see the new planetary tech. So as I said they must just be waiting to push any of the front end changes at all to consoles, until Odyssey is released.

 

[Wrecked]

Actually it's just been confirmed the opposite, unfortunately:



It would still make sense if the tech is being shared though (and it was almost confirmed, he wasn't sure though), both because at least part of it was planned for beyond, and because of the bettter visuals for marketing the base game! (and to get rid of the old code)

I'm actually happy about this if it means Odyssey content on Horizons planets. I was concerned that Horizons planets wouldn't get Odyssey content (other than planet graphics) due to Horizons players not having access to the new Odyssey content. Would Horizons players see Odyssey NPCs walking around on settlements, or would Horizons planets not have the new settlements? I think with the hard cutoff between Horizons and Odyssey planet tech, we will hopefully see Odyssey content on Horizons planets.

 

[Frillop Freyraum]

I'm actually happy about this if it means Odyssey content on Horizons planets. I was concerned that Horizons planets wouldn't get Odyssey content (other than planet graphics) due to Horizons players not having access to the new Odyssey content. Would Horizons players see Odyssey NPCs walking around on settlements, or would Horizons planets not have the new settlements? I think with the hard cutoff between Horizons and Odyssey planet tech, we will hopefully see Odyssey content on Horizons planets.

I doubt it, because then their statement "Odyssey players won't be instanced with Horizons players" makes no sense at all.

 

[Wrecked]

I doubt it, because then their statement "Odyssey players won't be instanced with Horizons players" makes no sense at all.

Right, that's what I mean. Because of this, Horizons planets (Those that were available with Horizons, not Horizons players) can have new Odyssey settlements and content because no Horizons players will be able to access the Odyssey technology or instance with Horizons players on any planet.

 

[Retropolitan]

I must not have been paying as much attention as I thought I was. I can't even remember half of those exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CMDR Deano The Imperial]

I doubt it, because then their statement "Odyssey players won't be instanced with Horizons players" makes no sense at all.

So true it makes no sense. They'll effectively split the player base in two. No wings, no instancing, no player interaction at all.
And what about CGs, what about squadrons?

 

[Riverside]

what about squadrons?

I guess the more socially committed players will just have more motivation to get the DLC

I don't think splitting instancing by DLC is a great solution but the community is already segregated by modes, platforms & latency anyway, this is at least one that the players can choose to (pay to) play on either side of.

 

[Scoob101]

Umm I think you have grossly misunderstood things.

Zac (with a c) posted that as part of the recap, I then asked


So I asked Arthur for clarification on the stream and he gave it. What you have done, I think, is somehow completely misunderstood the question that Zac posted the answer for.

Console players won't be able to see the upgraded planetary tech until Odyssey launches on the relevant platform. But PC players, and so by extension console players, who don't upgrade to Odyssey will be able to see the new planetary tech. So as I said they must just be waiting to push any of the front end changes at all to consoles, until Odyssey is released.

Happy to be wrong, but can you please explain how you have come to this conclusion when we have written quotes from frontier which contradict this?

I'm sorry but Arthur's "answer" full of ums and errs and I don't knows, cannot be used as any basis for a proper frontier response. He was clearly making it up on the spot.

 

[CMDR Deano The Imperial]

I guess the more socially committed players will just have more motivation to get the DLC

I don't think splitting instancing by DLC is a great solution but the community is already segregated by modes, platforms & latency anyway, this is at least one that the players can choose to (pay to) play on either side of.

I think splitting instancing by DLC is completely wrong. It's kind of forcing players to buy the DLC to interact with other players that have already bought the DLC.

I am on XBox and already pay to interact with other players on the same platform. Why should I pay again for DLC to interact with other players when I already paid for the privaledge of doing so.

I have already paid for Elite & Horizons and can interact with others at this moment in time but when Odyssey drops if I decide not to purchase it then that is taken away or greatly reduced.

 

[Scoob101]

What you have done, I think, is somehow completely misunderstood the question that Zac posted the answer for.

I posted that question

Keen to understand how you think I have got this wrong*

*and again, I am happy to be wrong - I think everyone should have access to the new planetary tech regardless of if they buy Odyssey, however Zac Has specifcially stated only those who buy Odyssey get the new planetary tech.

I think splitting instancing by DLC is completely wrong.

Youre framing it incorrectly. Its being split becuase of the different rating. You legally cant instance a 15/18 rated expansion with a 7 rated core game

 

[LKx]

Youre framing it incorrectly. Its being split becuase of the different rating. You legally cant instance a 15/18 rated expansion with a 7 rated core game

Yeah, the real wrong thing here is that ED is PEGI 7.

Unless they are saying something like "If you want the grown up Elite version buy Odyssey"

Now that i think about it, it scares me a lot about the future of Elite: we might never have Zero-G EVAs in future expansions because of the PEGI mixup! Unless they are going to restrict even space istancing!

 

[Scoob101]

Would Horizons players see Odyssey NPCs walking around on settlements

Problem weve got right now is that there is almost no good information coming out of Frontier on this topic.

It might be that we have to wait until we have the chance to test it ourselves to get a good answer to these kinds of questions.

Personally I think the most likely scenareo is that Horizons wont have any window into Odyssey content whatsoever. If you take Zac`s post at face value, Horizons wont even see the same planet terrain.

 

[Riverside]

It might be that we have to wait until we have the chance to test it ourselves to get a good answer to these kinds of questions.

That's what I'm doing, I am assuming everything said is provisional & taking Dev comments (rather than CM comments) more as an indicator of intent than etched in stone.

Not too happy about the potential that the already sparse playerbase could be divided even further by an optional DLC but I'm sure FDev will do their best to make it work

 

[CMDR Deano The Imperial]

I posted that question

Keen to understand how you think I have got this wrong*

*and again, I am happy to be wrong - I think everyone should have access to the new planetary tech regardless of if they buy Odyssey, however Zac Has specifcially stated only those who buy Odyssey get the new planetary tech.



Youre framing it incorrectly. Its being split becuase of the different rating. You legally cant instance a 15/18 rated expansion with a 7 rated core game

How am I framing it wrong?

I have a son (who is 22 by the way) we both own and play Elite Dangerous on Xbox. We have formed a 2 man squadron. I am going to purchase the Odyssey DLC when it's eventually released but he may not. But when I purchase the DLC, the abilities of our squadron are going to be so severely restricted by the instance splitting that it's going to be pointless for the squadron to continue until he purchases the DLC for himself. Effectively we can never play together again in the same instance.

This is why I think instance splitting is completely the wrong idea.

 

[Riverside]

How am I framing it wrong?

I have a son (who is 22 by the way) we both own and play Elite Dangerous on Xbox. We have formed a 2 man squadron. I am going to purchase the Odyssey DLC when it's eventually released but he may not. But when I purchase the DLC, the abilities of our squadron are going to be so severely restricted by the instance splitting that it's going to be pointless for the squadron to continue until he purchases the DLC for himself. Effectively we can never play together again in the same instance.

This is why I think instance splitting is completely the wrong idea.

Worst case you can just load horizons when your son is online & play Odyssey when you are alone. Slightly better case your instancing divide may only be on planet & not in space anyway

 

[CMDR Deano The Imperial]

Worst case you can just load horizons when your son is online & play Odyssey when you are alone. Slightly better case your instancing divide may only be on planet & not in space anyway

I don't think you can on Xbox, unless I uninstall Odyssey every time we want to play ED together and then reinstall when I play ED on my own. Which is a little impractical me thinks.

I think one solution (if it's legally possible) is to allow instancing between Odyssey/None Odyssey players in Private Game only and just not allow it in open. I think that would go along way to the solution (if there is one) of the PEGI restrictions.

 

[Scoob101]

How am I framing it wrong?

I have a son (who is 22 by the way) we both own and play Elite Dangerous on Xbox. We have formed a 2 man squadron. I am going to purchase the Odyssey DLC when it's eventually released but he may not. But when I purchase the DLC, the abilities of our squadron are going to be so severely restricted by the instance splitting that it's going to be pointless for the squadron to continue until he purchases the DLC for himself. Effectively we can never play together again in the same instance.

This is why I think instance splitting is completely the wrong idea.

The language you used in the post was suggestive that the instancing split is a conscious choice. It isnt. Its a logical consequence of the different ratings each of the different parts of the game has, thats all I was pointing out.

I agree its a complete pain, and I would have hoped that frontier could have planned better for this set of circumstances, but I guess we are where we are. I dont see any good route out of this mess. This is what can happen when games grow organically over many years - you get caught out by previous decisions - or the absence of a plan.

 

[Ozric]

Happy to be wrong, but can you please explain how you have come to this conclusion

I posted that question

Keen to understand how you think I have got this wrong*

There's no need to go on at me about it. But I explained how I came to the conclusion in the post I made, so I don't really understand how I can explain it any differently.

If you believe that Arthur was making it up and so are discounting that, then you only have one statement on it, but you're still just interpreting that statement differently to me and most others. The split will be platform, not expansion, based.

 

[Scoob101]

But I explained how I came to the conclusion in the post I made, so I don't really understand how I can explain it any differently.

I cant see any explanation in your post, other than you beliving I have misunderstood something.

If you believe that Arthur was making it up and so are discounting that, then you only have one statement on it

Let me illustrate how badly he was winging it by providing the below transcript of his answer on the stream.

"Aaahhhhhh. Good question! I beleive you wi..uh..ooh...I dont know, yea, no, you will because if you are a PC player and you dont buy odyssey you will still see the upgraded tech on landable planets. So I beleive thats right - I`ll double check it, I`ll double check it, I`ll probably get shot for gettting that wrong, but I think thats correct. It`s very difficult, now....."



So yes, we only have one statement. Which specifically conditions its answer on the purchase of odyssey. A very stong impliation that such a purchase is mandatory (else why include the condition in the answer at all?)

Please, tell me I`m wrong and why. Plenty of people here are only interested in the new tech and not the pew pew.

 

[Ozric]

I cant see any explanation in your post, other than you beliving I have misunderstood something.


So yes, we only have one statement. Which specifically conditions its answer on the purchase of odyssey. A very stong impliation that such a purchase is mandatory (else why include the condition in the answer at all?)

Please, tell me I`m wrong and why. Plenty of people here are only interested in the new tech and not the pew pew.

Well if you want to get technical the answer that was provided to the question, didn't actually answer the question exactly because the part that says 'who purchase the expansion' has no relation to the question. So you can choose to assume that that part was a poorly worded mistake, or you could choose to assume that they decided to answer the question to an extra level of depth (which is obviously something they do all the time...)

My explanation was.

So I asked Arthur for clarification on the stream and he gave it. What you have done, I think, is somehow completely misunderstood the question that Zac posted the answer for.

Console players won't be able to see the upgraded planetary tech until Odyssey launches on the relevant platform. But PC players, and so by extension console players, who don't upgrade to Odyssey will be able to see the new planetary tech. So as I said they must just be waiting to push any of the front end changes at all to consoles, until Odyssey is released.