Re: Elite: Dangerous - and the return

[OneoftheLost]

Maybe my straying from the path was a sign? "Though shalt not play other space sims until though has reacheth Elite in Oolite." :p


Profile: Commander Kolt
Ship: Cobra III - Longinus V
Elite Rating:Poor
Location: G1

So you'll be here a while yet, then?

Ey! Lol!

In my defense Ive gone through two hard drives and have reformated around four. You would think that backing up my commander would be a priority... then again restarting with no equipment and a cherry Cobbie is half the fun!

[Diziet Sma]

You would think that backing up my commander would be a priority...

I just link my oolite-saves folder to Dropbox. Problem solved.

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

been watching the refund thread... so far no one has gotten any refunds.
as a kickstart pledger, I find this most interesting:

Response Notes
Support Team
Tue 18th Nov 2014 17:06
Hi Jason,

Kickstarter pledges are an investment into a project, with the understanding that elements of the initial pitch may change or be removed as development progresses.

The cancellations and returns policy on our site states that digital products are non-refundable once they are downloaded and played by the customer. As such, we are unable to offer you a refund on this purchase.

I’m sorry that we cannot assist you further in this instance.

Sincerely,
Support

[Diziet Sma]

You would think that backing up my commander would be a priority...

I just link my oolite-saves folder to Dropbox. Problem solved.

Since I've been asked via PM how this is done, here's the details for anyone else who may be wondering.

In Windows, you can just right-click on a folder and add it to the folders that Dropbox backs up. In Linux, Dropbox doesn't give you that option, so what you do is, you right click on the oolite-saves folder, select 'Make Link', then drop the newly created link into your Dropbox folder. I don't recall how Dropbox handles things on the Mac, but one or the other of these methods ought to do the job.

(it's a great way to keep your gamesaves synced between different computers and/or installs, too)

[Thargoid]

been watching the refund thread... so far no one has gotten any refunds.
as a kickstart pledger, I find this most interesting:

Response Notes
Support Team
Tue 18th Nov 2014 17:06
Hi Jason,

Kickstarter pledges are an investment into a project, with the understanding that elements of the initial pitch may change or be removed as development progresses.

The cancellations and returns policy on our site states that digital products are non-refundable once they are downloaded and played by the customer. As such, we are unable to offer you a refund on this purchase.

I’m sorry that we cannot assist you further in this instance.

Sincerely,
Support

I'm finding this furore both interesting and worrying in equal amounts. They seem to know what they want, but that isn't quite what they promised, and they just sprung it on people (although they must have known this for a while given what we're talking about) and then seemed to be surprised by the backlash they are getting.

But what is worrying is their determination not to move from their position. Bearing in mind this is an indication on their "customer service" viewpoint, and given it's an online game they are reliant on their audience not just to buy the game but for that purchase to pay for the server maintenance to keep the game running. People may be wary of future purchases or interactions in light of this (I know I would be), which doesn't bode well even if it is just a small percentage of the user-base.

Plus tying everything to a server is a form of DRM, which they explicitly promised wasn't going to happen if I remember correctly. It all leaves a rather bad taste in the mouth - like others I'll pass I think.

[StathisR]

I doubt that solo online equals single player. So i will pass too, unless proven wrong <wishfull thinking>.

On the bright side Oolite looks and feels even better on the rig i have build for ED

[Pleb]

I doubt that solo online equals single player. So i will pass too, unless proven wrong <wishfull thinking>.

On the bright side Oolite looks and feels even better on the rig i have build for ED

Solo basically is Single Player except it's online still. So its the same galaxy affected by all other players, just you won't ever see any other players just you and a galaxy of NPCs. There's not a lot of difference and I have a fast fibre optic connection (around 120MB/s at the slowest and 163MB/s is the fastest I've seen it go up to) so I'm not too bothered but it's not fair on everyone else who was promised an offline mode and was relying on it as their connection is slow or unreliable.

Still maybe the numbers on Oolite will surge now!

[Disembodied]

The sense of scale is there, as is the freedom of action. [...]

Thanks, Dizzy - that's all very reassuring, and good to hear! I'm still not clear why, from a design point of view, all transactions have to be moderated: unless it's because they want to create an actual finite game-world, where resources are consumed ...? In which case, given the sense of scale you're talking about, hats off to them for their ambition! I still feel (having not played the alpha or beta and having not spent any time on the E:D forums, so I'm speaking here from luxurious ignorance) that bringing in a multiplayer element costs more from the essence of the game than I, personally, think it's worth, but as long as I'm not expected to join in, I can live with it.

[Pleb]

I have no intention of playing with others I'll be playing Solo mode only as I've been doing on Beta. Nothing personal I just like doing my own thing! Besides I play with an Xbox 360 controller (not that I own an Xbox, perish the thought!) and those with joysticks and HOTAS would run rings round me!

[cim]

(although they must have known this for a while given what we're talking about)

I don't know if that's true. Looking at what's been said on the matter by FD I can easily believe that it looked entirely straightforward right up until as late as Beta 1/Beta2ish time, and then they slowly realised they might have a serious problem and have had a team designing and probably prototyping a whole series of failed ideas ever since.

Things like market transactions used to be mostly on the client back in the early Alphas, for example, until the testers pointed out that you could use memory hacks to give yourself infinite cargo without paying. At some point it would have become two largely separate code bases - one in which market transactions are server-moderated and one in which they're client-moderated - repeated for every single operation which could give an advantage in multiplayer if you were allowed to cheat with it, and it quickly becomes impossible to test and maintain.

(You could say that they could have communicated about this better, but I don't think it would have made much difference to the current result)

[drew]

I expect to be playing 'solo' most of the time.

A couple of observations though.

1. Even in multiplayer 'open' mode, when you're out exploring it is effectively 'single player' due to the vastness of the universe. I flew for hours in the latest beta without meeting anyone in the full open mode as I travelled away from the 'core'. This is with a relatively restricted playing area. If you head out into the black, you're not going to see folks even in the open mode.

2. I was very skeptical about being constantly griefed. This was a problem in the Alpha, but that really was just an 'arena' to test out multiplayer interaction. In the latest Beta the interactions I have had with 'real' players have been mostly a 'tip of the hat' variety. Coming from a very skeptical position I have warmed a little to the open mode through playing it. I have joined an exclusively PvE group and look forward to more online interactions. It is fun, it's different, but it is fun.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Wildeblood]

I liked this post on the E:D forum:-

Channel now open for requests!
Dear possible future Poster,

before you write, check me out for a second if you are so kind.
For future replies i thought about to give YOU, yes you there, a starting help, what you can find in the last nearly 600 pages.
Just choose a topic from below, add your opinion and you will guaranteed hit somebodys sweetspot and ensure a further discussion.
By that fascinating move you won't need to read back all those pages, you'll save plenty time by not having to read that whole circle of arguments, just fire away and wait till it is repeated to your enjoyment.
Just imagine this as your personal TV-remote, just push a button and lean back, see below for available channels.
I hope I could help, have fun!

So here are some topics to chose from,

1. Kickstarter: investment or order? -> brace yourself for links and self-proclaimed lawyers, even if you never heard of KS you'll be an expert afterwards for sure

2. Refunds: can i have one? -> look at the Kickstarter channel, you'll get the same

3. always online means it is DRM -> Discussion about wether it is or not and what DRM actually means, accompanied by many other examples of past games

4. always on is to ensure future P2W / micropayments -> discussion who is willing to pay and why or why not

5. always on means no pause ability -> discussion about how other MMOs can be played, disturbed by discussion if ED is a MMO or not

6. This was always known and just hold back! -> our special for conspiracy-enthusiasts, you know who you are...and if not...shhhh....the NSA does...

7. No offline means no game when servers go down -> discussion about other MMOs and Diablo 3, be prepared, it's often moving to channel 5.

8. I was in there from the start, nowI'm out -> discussion about motives, some personal attacks and often switching to the Kickstarter channel

9. Offline Mode: Who needs it and why? -> discussion about personal circumstances, attacked by other claiming to understand but then broadside it with other arguments from channel 1-8.

That is by far not everything, but as time moves on you will see it starts to repeat.
You can then just drop out or if you liked a special part, just throw in on of the above again to break the cycle and reenjoy your experience.

Warning: Use with caution! Excessive use may suck you into the topic.


Regards, Eric

[Pleb]

Can anyone else guess when and why the big dip in share price for FD occurred?

Only problem is it's not really a massive drop, but I wonder if this combined with the BBC article made DB do his Q&A yesterday...

[Griff]

You could send that back to Frontier as a bit of concept art for their next rollercoaster tycoon game

[Pleb]

You could send that back to Frontier as a bit of concept art for their next rollercoaster tycoon game