What went wrong with Elite Dangerous

[JeffRyan]

Nothing is wrong.

Yes, I read the reddit thread. Yes, I understand it. Yes, you seem to be underplaying the fact that what people are asking for is pretty much EVE with firstperson spaceships.

I've played EVE (2006-2012) I know what people are asking for and how it's similar to EVE.

1) I /like/ that interaction between players and the universe is limited.
2) I ran a major Imperial faction (The Prismatic Imperium is /mine/, I started it up, I ran it)
3) I want some more social tools, basically the ability to identify myself with my minor faction.
4) I don't really need much else. I like the limitations, I wish the BGS was easier to work, but that's me, not the game.
5) I'm pretty happy with things as they are, gimme the ability to say I'm PI in the game and I'll be happier, if not, I can live with it.

Elite: Dangerous is a game whose expectations from some people far outstrip what technologically is capable of, the fault of that is on the expectations, not on the game itself, which will continue to improve. People seem to expect some sort of cross between World of Warcraft and EVE Online taking the best of both those systems and expecting that unfeasible project to be the game (and the definition of MMO which ED is held to).

Elite: Dangerous hasn't gone wrong. It's gone wonderfully well and continue to do so with its constant development which is bringing stuff that I'm really looking forward to.

It's a game not without its flaws, some of those are technological (instancing), some are design choices I disagree with. But on the whole, I think its succeeded marvellously. And its a game that can only go from strength-to-strength.

It isn't an EVE-killer, anymore than the next big FPS is a COD killer, or the next big RPG is a Fallout killer. Or the next big drive-around-killing things game is a GTA-killer.

 

[Yaffle]

Closing again. Go and have a cup of tea all of you.

 

[Yaffle]

We're back.

DO NOT snipe at each other

DO NOT insult each other

DO NOT rise to any baiting posts

DO NOT post baiting posts

It really isn't all that hard. Stay on topic, stay nice.

 

[wstephenson]

Jezzah, I agree that the galaxy is, with the exception of the variety of systems created by Stellar Forge, much too homogenous. It's as if they built this huge natural structure and then ran out of juice to give it different geography - like the early versions of Minecraft that lacked biomes and caverns. I love ED, but

• As well as the scale, Systems are too regularly distributed in space, so with anything above a starter ship you don't have to be clever about how you travel - there's no need to find a way from A to B, just don't make rookie mistakes to run out of fuel at a non-scoopable system. Think back the authored bubble in Beta 1 (before it was expanded to 50 systems), when you could run down to Aulin, up to Dahan, back to LP 98-132, over to Morgor, Eranin and Asellus Primus were in the middle, and these routes funneled players together.
• The political geography of inhabited space is too regular. There is no appreciable difference in danger (as CaptainKremmen and Vingtetun have pointed out many times) between systems, there is no real difference in how different economies and governments behave
• The economy is too regular, there are few surprises and trade opportunities, bar the artificial (but static) ones created by rare trading and Community Goals.

They nailed moment to moment gameplay, but getting multiplayer right, with all its networking and n-tier backend systems required for the game's grand ambition, took a lot more out of the pre-1.0 development resources than expected (evidence: the late discovery that offline was no longer feasible), and as a result the 'moving furniture in to the unfurnished house' metaphor that DB used around release time, for high-level gameplay systems, meant 'throwing in a few basic IKEA pieces and sticking up posters' beloved of students moving into their first shared house. All the basics are there, but the elaboration that would make system's challenge levels and high level NPC behaviour markedly different, or making BGS faction states turn a tense but stable system into a scary warzone hasn't happened yet. I hope that 2.1 will start to do this.

The question for me with my LEP, as I wish Elite and FD nothing but further success, is how to fix these shortcomings. The business model requires selling Seasons, and revisions to existing systems are not the kind of 'new stuff!!' that will shift Deluxe Pack boxes to new players and get existing but faintly disappointed players to buy DLC, so revisions have to be performed on the back of new content. But how do you change the structure of the galaxy?

Galactic Hyperdrives, anyone?

 

[Gaarp Kobayashi]

What went wrong with Elite Dangerous.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/4e61fr/what_went_wrong_elite_dangerous/

/Discuss

Geeeez, another thread like this and I'm gonna shoot myself in the head..., or just stop peeking to the forums! All this whinning is becoming so boooooooooring......and you guys talking about boring gameplay. Ironic, isnt it?

Nothing went wrong with this game! It's amazing, ambitious project which is developed while we're having fun with it!

Just yeasterday I've been cruising with my good, old, dusty SRV on a high metal content world with a beautiful pink colour canyons everywhere. The sun was so low above the horizont I was enjoying how this vivid colours around me been changing hour after hour... Again, as usual for me, 5-6 hours of my gameplay, of my precious free time passed like 30 mins. Yes. I'm having soooooo much fun immersing myself with this amazingly vast and mysterious galaxy... I'm roleplaying with myself, fallowing the adventures of my CMDR that pops up in my head and delending to what I discover on the horizons or in the deadly void out there...

...and all this after ca. 800+ hours of gameplay so far. It's months (almost a year) of my RL time. One of the best months in my videogaming experince since years now. Yes. This game is so amazingly good. For me. Not for you and those whinning OPs? Change the game, immerse yourself more, buy a EDTracker or CV1 to increase your experince even more. And please, pretty please dont start another threads like this... The frustration seen on those is always so pathethic...

I'm sorry for my harsh words. Absolutely dont want to offend anyone. Its just there are alot more guys like me, loving this game since months now and so excited about the future to come. A lot more of us, than the ones starting threads like the one you're refering to, OP. With all the respect.

It's just we dont use our time for such pointless discussions. We use our precious free time to explore the galaxy instead and enjoying the most unique gaming experinces ever! Immersing with the vast Milky Way in the year 3202!!

Mr. Braben and his team brough me and me-alike Commanders out there such a beautifull moments to my gaming life. There isnt enough words to thank Frontier for it. And I wanna read about this, about your plans for weekend gameplay, your Role-Play ideas, your expectations on 2.1... Positive emotions connected to such ambitious project. Not what you're bringing to this forum, dear OP.

With all the respect. Cheers!

 

[frostypaw]

Not at all bud. Im not bothered about pushing people together at this point. The fact solo/group/open exists makes that a mute argument on my part. If thing had been smaller maybe there would have been less reliance on PG to populate everything.

But then it would be boring and small - every single thing would have been seen already.....

Exploration in a small fixed system like EvE's or one at the sort of size you're suggesting and what our children will come to see eventually in SC is a mockery - you're going to sites that hundreds of thousands have been to before, performing the same scan action with a tool and the games random systems decide whether you find a resource or a thing to scan for data. That's it. There's no new territory, no unique sites, no things that only you might ever see.... no lost colonies to open up new trade with, no actual alien life, no total mysteries

Why would anyone want that? I can roll a dice here and decide today is a beer lunch day, it's as much of a game and leaves as much of a mark. Erimus's mark will still on stars across the galaxy until the end of time and Distant World's remembered for a very very long time indeed - can't even conceive of that occurring in any other game

 

[RhymeRhyme]

Good discussion over at REDDIT.

IMHO, the game is going to die if FDev keep on refusing to give more control to the people that play the game. For me, the game is sooooooo damn boring. Lots of things to do with 0 effect on the game or any reward for myself. I don't care if the fictional character (the chick with the blue hair) owns or looses a territory / space station or whatever happens in the story. The story doesn't exist for me. Why? Because it's not linked to us players, it's linked to fitional characters and it has no effect on the game as well. If only FDev would understand that the key to succeed here is to give players their own stations, economy, defend station fun etc. etc. That is what binds people to the game. Not an ASCII driven story line.

Combine the Story with PvP or in general the multiplayer aspect of the game, give people more meaningful stuff to do my implementing multiplayer elements, roles etc. in the story line and here we go...

This very boring NPC-ish gameplay is fun for a few hours, then ... I'm outa here.

 

[Sandmann]

Good discussion over at REDDIT.

IMHO, the game is going to die if FDev keep on refusing to give more control to the people that play the game. For me, the game is sooooooo damn boring. Lots of things to do with 0 effect on the game or any reward for myself. I don't care if the fictional character (the chick with the blue hair) owns or looses a territory / space station or whatever happens in the story. The story doesn't exist for me. Why? Because it's not linked to us players, it's linked to fitional characters and it has no effect on the game as well. If only FDev would understand that the key to succeed here is to give players their own stations, economy, defend station fun etc. etc. That is what binds people to the game. Not an ASCII driven story line.

Combine the Story with PvP or in general the multiplayer aspect of the game, give people more meaningful stuff to do my implementing multiplayer elements, roles etc. in the story line and here we go...

This very boring NPC-ish gameplay is fun for a few hours, then ... I'm outa here.

I don't think there's anyone claiming that the game's anywhere near finished... it needs a LOT more game in it to call it that, for sure. The argument really is around what direction that content should take... in particular the relative merits of eve style guild gameplay or not.

Not that it matters... as keeps on getting pointed out, this is FDev's baby and our opinion (on either side of the argument) means close to buttkiss. The whole argument is little more than a pointless intellectual exercise really.

 

[Sole Hunter]

Good discussion over at REDDIT.

IMHO, the game is going to die if FDev keep on refusing to give more control to the people that play the game. For me, the game is sooooooo damn boring. Lots of things to do with 0 effect on the game or any reward for myself. I don't care if the fictional character (the chick with the blue hair) owns or looses a territory / space station or whatever happens in the story. The story doesn't exist for me. Why? Because it's not linked to us players, it's linked to fitional characters and it has no effect on the game as well. If only FDev would understand that the key to succeed here is to give players their own stations, economy, defend station fun etc. etc. That is what binds people to the game. Not an ASCII driven story line.

Combine the Story with PvP or in general the multiplayer aspect of the game, give people more meaningful stuff to do my implementing multiplayer elements, roles etc. in the story line and here we go...

This very boring NPC-ish gameplay is fun for a few hours, then ... I'm outa here.

Pretty much how I feel and what I want. I really wish powerplay was more story driven content, wouldn't you like to defend a farragut from pirates or another faction?

 

[Sandmann]

Pretty much how I feel and what I want. I really wish powerplay was more story driven content, wouldn't you like to defend a farragut from pirates or another faction?

First thing I've seen you say tonight that I agree with 100%. Technically difficult, coz if you want to keep it fresh you need to manually invent & inject events or it becomes "oh ANOTHER pirate attack *yawn*" but you're right that powerplay needs a LOT more thought.

[edit] It could possibly be done by having lists of protagonists, events, antagonists, and locations, and randomly selecting between them. If you could have 10 of each you'd have (if my frail grasp on maths fails me not) 10000 different permutations (though you'd need to write it carefully so you didn't get a [PIRATE] [ATTACK] on a [PIRATE] in a [CITY], or something even sillier). At least then it wouldn't be the same three missions repeated over and over.

 

[sic]

Why are this people not banging on EVE for cockpit instead? Everything else they want is already there.. lol

 

[Ian Skippy]

Why are this people not banging on EVE for cockpit instead? Everything else they want is already there.. lol

Oh brother, they did.

 

[frostypaw]

Why are this people not banging on EVE for cockpit instead? Everything else they want is already there.. lol

And they're welcome to, it'll still be a vastly different game appealing to a totally different market but at least they would actually be happy

 

[DD_Crash]

How long has this game been going to die SOON?

 

[sndle9]

This very boring NPC-ish gameplay is fun for a few hours, then ... I'm outa here.

Is that a promise? Please make it so as I believe there are one or two players that don't want this to be EVE-2 and actually like the game they bought.
.
No it isn't finished and it needs more work, but they ARE working on it, just not towards your personal ideal of guilds and player ownership.
.
You say that if only FDev would understand that you have the golden key to success. How about you try to understand that not all of us, or FDev agree with you.

 

[STINKFISH]

I don't think there's anyone claiming that the game's anywhere near finished... it needs a LOT more game in it to call it that, for sure. The argument really is around what direction that content should take... in particular the relative merits of eve style guild gameplay or not.

Not that it matters... as keeps on getting pointed out, this is FDev's baby and our opinion (on either side of the argument) means close to buttkiss. The whole argument is little more than <comments on a family forum> really.

<comments on a family forum> - I think not - when the Steam numbers for players ingame has gradually dropped by 40% in the last 7 months http://steamcharts.com/app/359320 (outside of a increase, and drop as Christmas 2015).

...Fdev may need some advice in the near future - and as this is an open forum, non-kickstarters and die-hard fans are allowed to post their warnings, ideas and suggestions....

 

[hunvagy]

This very boring NPC-ish gameplay is fun for a few hours, then ... I'm outa here.

And yet you're still here, and still complain about the same things.

EDIT: Yeah, maybe expand this a bit, as opposed to just being snarky...

It comes up again and again that this is just a game, nothing more. Then why do you care if you say it's boring, whether it lives or dies? Why don't you go and play something else that conforms to your expectations? You could for instance play Evochron. Even the previous game Mercenary has what you seek. You can have multiplayer, you can build stations, you can have clan tags, you can expand the influence of said clan, you can have groups.. and it even has a newtonian flight model. So why not drop the 20 bucks or so on it, get the other people who don't like Elite as it is, and play that instead? Then come back a year later, and see if things have improved. If what you say is true, and the game dies.. well good on you, you said so! Now you have the benefit of being right AND having a game to play still. If it becomes better, then you have the benefit of having multiple games you want to play. Win-win, I'd say.

 

[Ian Phillips]

How long has this game been going to die SOON?

Since november 2014

 

[frostypaw]

Intellectual (uneccesary) - I think not - when the Steam numbers for players ingame has gradually dropped by 40% in the last 7 months http://steamcharts.com/app/359320 (outside of a increase, and drop as Christmas 2015).

...Fdev may need some advice in the near future - and as this is an open forum, non-kickstarters and die-hard fans are allowed to post their warnings, ideas and suggestions....

dead horse fella. we don't need to go through posting the shocking figures for Fallout 4 again do we?

well established steam is not the best launcher for the game already so people leave that method in droves. please, find a new tack

 

[Hawkmoon]

But did they read what ED was mean to be about, the whole idea behind the game is that you have no control over the big picture, you are just a guy with a ship trying to get by not Han Solo saving the galaxy.