So I'm excited that in a few weeks that the ALPHA to Odyssey.
However, expectation management is always required.
So whilst everyone is in awe of what looks to be a "finished product" the Community team keeps REMINDING us this is pre-pre-alpha.
I Apologise in advance as I get my grumpy cat hat out; I think it would be naive to think we'd get the fully integrated Odyssey Package when the ALPHA hit's the PC later on.
We know that most updates will be staggered out over a year, but if we take the ORIGINAL Elite Dangerous Alpha as a template for our expectations, then I think we have to dial our expectations right down to a fundamental bare bone experience totally disconnected to the main game. If we get anything more than that, then with managed expectations we can get happy and not disappointed.
So my depressing questions about the road to gold
1) will the alpha take place on test servers similar to many other of the prior alpha and beta's the ED community has helped the QA team and developers pressure/stress test up-and-coming-features.
1) Just how bare bones of an experience will the Alpha be? Will it follow the Elite Dangerous Alpha Roadmap, which was just ship-to-ship combat. As the game development progressed from the alpha to beta to gamma - the devs added in Trade mechanics, Coriolis stations, outposts, mining, fuel scooping. Will we see similar micro-scaling of individual mechanics, such as one update is just Outpost raid scenario we have seen, another update will have defense, whilst another update focuses on NPC interactions of neutral/friendly outposts. With scavenging and different suits coming in later on?
2) Again similar to the elite dangerous alpha, will the play area be limited to a handful of areas that incrementally get larger as the mechanics fold and mold into the stellar forge and the background sim "proper".
However, expectation management is always required.
So whilst everyone is in awe of what looks to be a "finished product" the Community team keeps REMINDING us this is pre-pre-alpha.
I Apologise in advance as I get my grumpy cat hat out; I think it would be naive to think we'd get the fully integrated Odyssey Package when the ALPHA hit's the PC later on.
We know that most updates will be staggered out over a year, but if we take the ORIGINAL Elite Dangerous Alpha as a template for our expectations, then I think we have to dial our expectations right down to a fundamental bare bone experience totally disconnected to the main game. If we get anything more than that, then with managed expectations we can get happy and not disappointed.
So my depressing questions about the road to gold
1) will the alpha take place on test servers similar to many other of the prior alpha and beta's the ED community has helped the QA team and developers pressure/stress test up-and-coming-features.
1) Just how bare bones of an experience will the Alpha be? Will it follow the Elite Dangerous Alpha Roadmap, which was just ship-to-ship combat. As the game development progressed from the alpha to beta to gamma - the devs added in Trade mechanics, Coriolis stations, outposts, mining, fuel scooping. Will we see similar micro-scaling of individual mechanics, such as one update is just Outpost raid scenario we have seen, another update will have defense, whilst another update focuses on NPC interactions of neutral/friendly outposts. With scavenging and different suits coming in later on?
2) Again similar to the elite dangerous alpha, will the play area be limited to a handful of areas that incrementally get larger as the mechanics fold and mold into the stellar forge and the background sim "proper".
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