So Elite Dangerous is not an MMO; playing with friends online nearly impossible.

[Phaaded]

I am incredibly disappointed by this. I spent 30 minutes outside a station looking for my friend. We were clearly at the same station, in the same system, at the exact same location. This game is, apparently, not an MMO. It is entirely instanced. Why on Earth this would ever have been a design decision that made it to launch is beyond not only me, but reason.

Now when I describe this game to my friends, I have to tell them that we probably will not often get to play together unless it's offline. They will certainly not buy it, literally due to this horrifically bad design decision.

So, in all honesty, as much as I really love this game and have been following it forever, I will probably play less than half as much as I would were it a true MMO. With all the systems, why in God's name is it not? Figure out lag later as it's not a reasonable reason for this decision.

Anyway, incredibly disappointed. This game is literally worlds worse do to this simple fact.

 

[Phaaded]

Really? No one has anything to say about this? You must be kidding. It is literally the biggest flaw in the entire game.

 

[Yoshihito]

The game is highly instanced. However, you can play with your friends. To do this, add them as a friend in the Friends and Group Management option before you load into the game. Then make a group with them. After you're in a group, when you select Play the second option becomes available which allows you to join a private group. You select your group name and as long as everyone in the group logs in that way you'll be able to see each other and fly together in the game. I love that they made this game online only but really scratch my head when they implement such archaic grouping systems.

 

[re7rix]

If you play in group mode does that mean you never see randoms around the Galaxy though? Because that would be a shame.

 

[davelister]

in Age of Conan (wich is also instanced) we had the same Wieners and compared it to WOW and so on what was one reason that Game was killed
and YES ED is no MMO

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

If you play in group mode does that mean you never see randoms around the Galaxy though? Because that would be a shame.

In group mode you don't see others than those added to your group.

What you probably meant is Wings, which is additional feature, and where you have alliance of players in open play. That will come in early 2015.

 

[kerk66]

yesterday evening i have spent 2 hours with a friend to reach the same system (private group) to discover that we was not in the same istance.

 

[lukeren]

Well, if this wasn't instanced, how would you fit 400 (random figure here, could be more, could be less) people on the 40-something landing pads on a station? Not to mention the outposts with only 3 landing pads.
I highly prefer this instanced model, instead of having to queue to be able to land, while my mission timers tick away...

 

[King Hrothgar]

Add them to your friends list, have them do the same with you and then you should be able to play in open mode together (using external comms and coordination). It worked fine in gamma, I haven't tested it in release yet. In any case, you are correct that this game does not qualify as an MMO despite what it advertises itself as. It doesn't really even qualify as a traditional MP game either, it's basically a SP online only game with a very slim chance of another player raiding whatever you're doing.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I am incredibly disappointed by this. I spent 30 minutes outside a station looking for my friend. We were clearly at the same station, in the same system, at the exact same location. This game is, apparently, not an MMO. It is entirely instanced. Why on Earth this would ever have been a design decision that made it to launch is beyond not only me, but reason.

Now when I describe this game to my friends, I have to tell them that we probably will not often get to play together unless it's offline. They will certainly not buy it, literally due to this horrifically bad design decision.

So, in all honesty, as much as I really love this game and have been following it forever, I will probably play less than half as much as I would were it a true MMO. With all the systems, why in God's name is it not? Figure out lag later as it's not a reasonable reason for this decision.

Anyway, incredibly disappointed. This game is literally worlds worse do to this simple fact.

Don't jump to conclusions. Meeting friend should be and is possible. If it doesn't work, then it's a bug. Yes, game is instanced, but doesn't mean you should not be able to meet your friends.

Meeting friends has been always problematic for some of us, it got way better in Gamma, but no, it's not design decision, and more likely it's a bug worth reporting. So don't fret, report this to FD, add your and your friend commander names, place, time where you tried to meet. They have logs so they can pinpoint what went wrong.

 

[Erna Jedermann]

If you play in group mode does that mean you never see randoms around the Galaxy though? Because that would be a shame.

You are still in the Same Galaxy ....and all what happens/is there you can see.
The only difference is that in Group you maybe can only find members of YOUR selected Group.
In real Open it can be didfficult to meet your real friends, but it is possible ... you only must drop in the same System/Instance as they are...

 

[geoffreybeene]

I did have some problems with instances and my friends earlier today, both in Open Play and in Private Group. I could see friend A, he could see friend B, B could see A, but I couldn't see B. It was bizarre. I do believe they mentioned that they'd be working on the matchmaking system as part of the general overhaul of the multiplayer capabilities, due to come out in January (early 2015). Though, I imagine that as they see how disappointed a lot of people are in the multiplayer aspects, they may make it a top priority.

 

[kerk66]

dropping in the same system is not hard, there is a map, but to drop in the same instance means... try and retry ?

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

dropping in the same system is not hard, there is a map, but to drop in the same instance means... try and retry ?

Many people assume same system can be on diferent servers - it can, just for geolocking purposes. However, if you are in same city, street, continent, you should be on same server.

Next step is matchmaking. Server tries to join friends with friends primary. If this doesn't work, there are several aspects at work - either one friend is in island with bad health, or you have some traffic filtering between you and him/her.

So retry meeting each other nav beacon or other point where aren't too many players.

Remember, you have to be in each other's friend lists.

 

[crakinshot]

I tried this with a friend. It did work at all. We both have uPnP enabled. We're both in each others friend list. We're both in the same group. We tried both Open and Private Group play. Never saw him. Can't find any information to say why it didn't work.

Frankly, very disappointed.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I tried this with a friend. It did work at all. We both have uPnP enabled. We're both in each others friend list. We're both in the same group. We tried both Open and Private Group play. Never saw him. Can't find any information to say why it didn't work.

Frankly, very disappointed.

Report it as bug to FD.

 

[Phaaded]

The game is highly instanced. However, you can play with your friends. To do this, add them as a friend in the Friends and Group Management option before you load into the game. Then make a group with them. After you're in a group, when you select Play the second option becomes available which allows you to join a private group. You select your group name and as long as everyone in the group logs in that way you'll be able to see each other and fly together in the game. I love that they made this game online only but really scratch my head when they implement such archaic grouping systems.

Awesome. So I can play multiplayer offline. That is a MASSIVE flaw.

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You make landing purely visual, disregard the rest of it. Add queues. I much prefer playing with friends.

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Add them to your friends list, have them do the same with you and then you should be able to play in open mode together (using external comms and coordination). It worked fine in gamma, I haven't tested it in release yet. In any case, you are correct that this game does not qualify as an MMO despite what it advertises itself as. It doesn't really even qualify as a traditional MP game either, it's basically a SP online only game with a very slim chance of another player raiding whatever you're doing.

It does NOT work. I was grouped with my friend and we could not find each other regardless of being in the exact same place. Apparently, the only way to solve this PROBLEM is to re-log constantly until you happen to be in the the same "instance" which is absolutely unacceptable. Massive oversight if you ask me.

 

[ronin516]

I am incredibly disappointed by this. I spent 30 minutes outside a station looking for my friend. We were clearly at the same station, in the same system, at the exact same location. This game is, apparently, not an MMO. It is entirely instanced. Why on Earth this would ever have been a design decision that made it to launch is beyond not only me, but reason.

Now when I describe this game to my friends, I have to tell them that we probably will not often get to play together unless it's offline. They will certainly not buy it, literally due to this horrifically bad design decision.

So, in all honesty, as much as I really love this game and have been following it forever, I will probably play less than half as much as I would were it a true MMO. With all the systems, why in God's name is it not? Figure out lag later as it's not a reasonable reason for this decision.

Anyway, incredibly disappointed. This game is literally worlds worse do to this simple fact.

SOOOOO MANY people are disappointed in this. They are supposed to have it working in the first quarter but who knows. They keep screwing things up like no tomorrow. But at least it is playable at the moment for the most part. Didn't even get the 5 new ships we were promised on release.

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Report it as bug to FD.

it's not a bug... YET. It just plain is not a working feature yet. You can sometimes end up in the same instance and see each other in nav points and warzones if your lucky. But that's it. Wait just noticed you are beat player lol. So you know this already oh well.

 

[Nightflash]

Before everybody thinks the system is completely broken and nobody is able to play with friends at all:
I spent 3 hours last night flying through the Galaxy with my brother in a private group. We met instantly at the same station without any hitches.

What I'd like to see now is that you can jump onto the same USSs, they seem to be random for each player. Also, if one of you does get interdicted, the other should be able to jump in for help. I'd love to see this happen so my brother can go trading while I'll be his armed-to-the-teeth guard dog.

 

[Canaris]

this is the kind of shizzle that killed ESO as game, MMO without the MMO in it, hope FD are on top of this.