Why do people support this game so heavily??

[Lucifera Danzig]

Don't worry, it will come another game after Jurassic World. Elite may still be in maintenance mode for more years easily. It has been like this since the release of 3.0.

Elite Dangerous will always be the abandoned brother.

My previous post making note of what "maintenance mode" actually is, and how Elite Dangerous isn't even close to that state.

While we're at it, Elite Dangerous is Braben's personal dream and legacy. There's no way it'll just be forgotten in favor of everything, and just because things aren't progressing as fast as everyone would like or in the direction some would prefer is hardly indicative of such.

 

[Aasgard]

While it's not for everyone, the BGS has a depth that many can't handle.

You have to prepare. Build several ships for various purposes if you want to be efficient. But you can do it all in an Asp Explorer.

Pick a faction and make it stronger in some systems, weaker in others with an overall goal of sustainability and growth. Don't overheat or you'll run into unwanted and randomly placed expansions.

Interact with other player factions. Some are large and some are only a single CMDR. There are a lot of us out there.

Plan an expansion route with a purpose. Maybe you want the faction to head into deep space. Maybe you want it to infiltrate a power's realm. Maybe both.

The decisions you make today could affect you for weeks or months. They could mean the difference between progression or implosion.

It can be frustrating. Rewarding. Teachable. Addicting.

If you're looking for depth, be careful of that for which you ask.

What MottiKhan says + relax, play the long game and enjoy the depth and beadth.

If you don’t enjoy it - take a break.

If yoy don’t agree - that’s ok, everyone has their own opinion.

Fly safe Commanders!

 

[Weps]

Don't worry, it will come another game after Jurassic World. Elite may still be in maintenance mode for more years easily. It has been like this since the release of 3.0.

Elite Dangerous will always be the abandoned brother.

Unfortunately this.

My feeling is that, as a pure space game, E: D and its MTX has already been sold successfully to the majority of its target audience and that there is hardly any business reason to continue developing it. Sure, there may be still room for some MTX sales, but a brand new game, with a larger potential playerbase than that of E: D, will probably turn out to be more profitable. Even a substantial E: D expansion will make shareholders think about how they have to give it away for free to those pesky LEPs.

Nope, USSes, the occasional RNGineers powercreep, RES grind, dead multiplayer modes like CQC or multipew (fingers crossed for Squadrons) and the hunt for the next credits exploit is what we're stuck with. Again, unfortunately.

 

[Vedmo]

The disappointment turned into contempt that many early supporters of this game have expressed over perceived broken promises strikes me as odd, so in an effort to better understand a view point foreign to me, I've been trying to think of a similar example in life.
Where else have I seen someone, after 4 or 5 years, still passionate over the failure of someone else to fulfill an act as the offended party understood it would unfold? All I can come up with is a spouse.

You come home with a new gadget, the mister or misses asks about it, you answer, days later you tire of the mysterious change in attitude and ask what's wrong. Days later they finally come to terms with the fact you'll never figure it out. Days later they finally tell you, "remember 5 years ago when I mentioned how nice a bathroom remodel would be, and you said you'd start saving for it? No new bathroom, but you can find the time and money for that new gadget!"


Disclaimer: I am not claiming this is in anyway a meaningful observation. If you in some way invest in this post with an expectation of an evolution into something greater, I will scoff at all 2023AD references to it.

 

[MottiKhan]

The disappointment turned into contempt that many early supporters of this game have expressed over perceived broken promises strikes me as odd, so in an effort to better understand a view point foreign to me, I've been trying to think of a similar example in life.
Where else have I seen someone, after 4 or 5 years, still passionate over the failure of someone else to fulfill an act as the offended party understood it would unfold? All I can come up with is a spouse.

You come home with a new gadget, the mister or misses asks about it, you answer, days later you tire of the mysterious change in attitude and ask what's wrong. Days later they finally come to terms with the fact you'll never figure it out. Days later they finally tell you, "remember 5 years ago when I mentioned how nice a bathroom remodel would be, and you said you'd start saving for it? No new bathroom, but you can find the time and money for that new gadget!"


Disclaimer: I am not claiming this is in anyway a meaningful observation. If you in some way invest in this post with an expectation of an evolution into something greater, I will scoff at all 2023AD references to it.

Now I want a new bathroom.

 

[El Grillo]

But you're missing what I mean by content but you are also right many ways to have fun but that just isn't my playstyle. I know I use examples a lot but take Subnautica for example I can relate the ocean to space this way. In Subnautica you get the ocean of an alien planet that you are against and in this ocean you to survive, build submarines, and bases, have aquarium, grow a farm. You can go out to explore more and then have a reaper say hello to you and make you jump right out of your seat. That is what I mean by content like im giving all these things to do and its fun and it keeps me playing to keep progressing. I do own subnautica btw........Im just looking for content in Elite like this because I love space and the unknown an some of the stuff you get to do....

Do you think im looking for the wrong stuff in Elite? should I look at Elite as just a Grindy simulator? Do you think I should look for this in other games instead? or keep my hopes up and expect a good update?

Yes, what you've identified is that there are very few interesting, varied and fun gameplay loops in Elite. There are great game mechanics, like the flight, combat, stealth, docking, scooping etc. mechanics. But none of the gameplay design actually takes those great mechanics and integrates them into varied and enjoyable gameplay loops.

For example, the only missions that aren't basically just 'deliver X to Y' are combat missions... and those missions ONLY take place either in blank empty bits of space, or in identical empty patches of planetary rings. Frontier somehow hasn't yet worked out that video game have environmental assets for a reason, and in the context of missions, that reason tends to be to add variety to the experience, to allow/force the player to use tactics and strategy, and so on.
They also don't seem to have realised that having missions take place in fixed locations with environmental assets - like derelict stations/pirate bases/industrial facilities/whatever - would allow them to design new mission types like heist/virus upload/canyon run/trench run/real assassination missions that actually allow players to use things like their stealth mechanics, or their ship outfitting to create fast ships to use & use their great flight mechanics... etc

That is what's lacking. Interesting, varied and fun gameplay loops.

 

[Eymerich]

My previous post making note of what "maintenance mode" actually is, and how Elite Dangerous isn't even close to that state.

While we're at it, Elite Dangerous is Braben's personal dream and legacy. There's no way it'll just be forgotten in favor of everything, and just because things aren't progressing as fast as everyone would like or in the direction some would prefer is hardly indicative of such.

No dream lives behind the expectation of a good revenues for a business man...

Elite, I think, it's just the proof.

Plain and simple.

 

[RymdLazer]

My concern is nobody will be bothered to keep grinding with the development for much longer since it seems to be a very thankless job serving this entitled community of abusive people who don't seem to have anything better to do than spew hate on a game they often claim to have quit ages ago.

 

[Lucifera Danzig]

No dream lives behind the expectation of a good revenues for a business man...

Elite, I think, it's just the proof.

Plain and simple.

Elite's making them plenty of good revenue for said business man. Game sales are part of it, but cosmetics in the Frontier store add to that considerably. Elite's doing just fine, financially, which is why they can afford to do this whole free year of updates.

 

[sorcer3r]

The depth is defined by your imagination


Fly/land safe

CMDR Steyla

But what if imagination is missing in the dev corner ?

And my imagination is no excuse for bad or "simple" gameplay mechanics.
For 2.4 I moved all my stuff to Maia and I and my imagination was ready for the thargoids.
But always the same goids in the same signal source with the same scenario ... that just killed my imagination.
And that is the point IMO. A game should not work against imagination.

 

[Vorxian]

When I don't have ED, I has orange Thargoids....

neeeowwwwwwwwwwww neeeowwwwwwwwww wowowowowwowowowowowowow zap zap..... *beyatch just ganked me*

NERF PAPER Tharredgoids.

 

[Speedcuffs]

I like flying spaceships.[yesnod]

 

[Jenner]

I like flying spaceships.[yesnod]

Me too!

(Hive Five)

 

[Genoscythe]

Your problem is that you need a goal. Elite is like life in this context, you go out and look what you want to do, you choose your goal.

 

[Han_Zen]

The Elite universe is my space fantasy. It’s where I feel at home and like to fly my space ship.

 

[Stigbob]

The disappointment turned into contempt that many early supporters of this game have expressed over perceived broken promises strikes me as odd, so in an effort to better understand a view point foreign to me, I've been trying to think of a similar example in life.
Where else have I seen someone, after 4 or 5 years, still passionate over the failure of someone else to fulfill an act as the offended party understood it would unfold? All I can come up with is a spouse.

You come home with a new gadget, the mister or misses asks about it, you answer, days later you tire of the mysterious change in attitude and ask what's wrong. Days later they finally come to terms with the fact you'll never figure it out. Days later they finally tell you, "remember 5 years ago when I mentioned how nice a bathroom remodel would be, and you said you'd start saving for it? No new bathroom, but you can find the time and money for that new gadget!"


Disclaimer: I am not claiming this is in anyway a meaningful observation. If you in some way invest in this post with an expectation of an evolution into something greater, I will scoff at all 2023AD references to it.

Far too many people bought a game that only ever existed inside their heads, this outcome was inevitable.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Unfortunately this.

My feeling is that, as a pure space game, E: D and its MTX has already been sold successfully to the majority of its target audience and that there is hardly any business reason to continue developing it. Sure, there may be still room for some MTX sales, but a brand new game, with a larger potential playerbase than that of E: D, will probably turn out to be more profitable. Even a substantial E: D expansion will make shareholders think about how they have to give it away for free to those pesky LEPs.

Nope, USSes, the occasional RNGineers powercreep, RES grind, dead multiplayer modes like CQC or multipew (fingers crossed for Squadrons) and the hunt for the next credits exploit is what we're stuck with. Again, unfortunately.

Ed sold two million copies. How many LEP are there? A spacelegs dlc would sell tons, attract a whole new crowd to the base game and do wonders for the microtransactions.

If spacelegs dont come it will be for one reason and one reason only: too difficult to pull off. Which could very well be true. People pretend its trivial but its far from it. In SC you still get killed by doors, fall through your ship and repeatedly turn into an actual ball. And that is using cryengine, an engine specifically designed for legs.

 

[RooksBailey]

Far too many people bought a game that only ever existed inside their heads, this outcome was inevitable.

Precisely. What I like to call "No Man's Sky Syndrome." Space simmers seem uniquely susceptible to this disorder. I think the ED community got a pretty bad case of it because part of the community came to believe a) David Braben is a demigod who has unlimited resources and talent, and would devote 24/7 to working on a single title, and b) if the original Elite was a great game back in the '80s, well, ED in the 21st Century would be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious because of Moore's Law or some other example of technological exuberance. When I saw a bunch of posts begin with "I haven't played a space game since the last Elite title..." I knew a reality-induced crackup would be coming.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Play in open. Just running a "same old" mission becomes an exercise in ensuring ship safety, build quality and escape / combat manoeuvres. Make sure you can comfortably afford a buy back, insurance is a must.

Playing dodge-em with PK's is just not my idea of a good time, so no thanks.
The PvP aspect of Elite is one I can live without. PvP bores the biowaste out of me.

Why?

Because ultimately it boils down to one of two situations:

1. You are Invincible - No one can stand against you, and you dominate all who try. Boring.
2. The Other Player is invincible - They do not die, regardless of what you hit them with - also boring.

Yeah, there's some smattering of middle-ground, but it's too little, too late. Elite also offers little in the way of creative combat. You can't "play dead", can't screw with an opponent's sensors (heat-sinking/silent running does not count), can't take advantage of environmental factors (ducking behind largely stationary asteroids/iceteroids doesn't count). Far too many dedicated PvP players throw cry tantrums if you're playing with Report Crimes turned on, because they don't. Eh. Sorry, there's nothing about it that is even remotely interesting.

BGS and Power Play are lame jokes at best, sorry excuses most of the time, and a pathetic crutch the rest.

And then.. there's nothing gained from destroying or even just disabling an opponent's ship. Not a single flawed focus crystal. It's simply not worth it. Finally top off this turd sundae with the terrible network performance that is unique to Open, and you've got a pretty good idea why I don't waste my time there.

 

[Roybe]

But you're missing what I mean by content but you are also right many ways to have fun but that just isn't my playstyle. I know I use examples a lot but take Subnautica for example I can relate the ocean to space this way. In Subnautica you get the ocean of an alien planet that you are against and in this ocean you to survive, build submarines, and bases, have aquarium, grow a farm. You can go out to explore more and then have a reaper say hello to you and make you jump right out of your seat. That is what I mean by content like im giving all these things to do and its fun and it keeps me playing to keep progressing. I do own subnautica btw........Im just looking for content in Elite like this because I love space and the unknown an some of the stuff you get to do....

Do you think im looking for the wrong stuff in Elite? should I look at Elite as just a Grindy simulator? Do you think I should look for this in other games instead? or keep my hopes up and expect a good update?

I think you answered your own question. People find enjoyment in different ways. You don't find enjoyment in this game currently. A lot of other people do...through a bunch of different mechanisms. For some it's the science behind the game...finding out how the astrophysical model has created unique things in the galaxy. For others it's the story they are writing through their actions. For others its the increase of group influence. Still others it's space battle, against NPC's or PC's, Etc. Etc.

I'm not trying to run you off with this next idea, but...a game is not going to trip everyone's buttons for enjoyment...and the real question you should be asking yourself is should you keep sinking your own time into any game that you cannot find a way to find enjoyable. I stopped playing games based on some idea of 'potential' years ago. I play them for what they offer me, currently. 'Potential' is just pie in the sky...and my hopes amount to nothing to any dev creating a game. If a game does not provide what I desire...I play something else. I go back occasionally, but have had few games where I started re-playing because the devs started meeting my expectations.