No off-line mode

[Avago-Earo]

I was not an original backer, joining at Premium Beta stage, so having probably forked out considerably less (still,£100 is a lot to me though and would never have dreamed of spending this much on a game before) and under the premise of an Offline mode, it is understandable that some people want out.

I just hope this community can help keep people in with a bit of friendly group Commander based encouragement.

I think I don't just speak for myself when I say there is the utmost respect regarding individuals choices regarding this matter.

Take care, Commanders.

[JonnyCombat]

I must admit that it doesn't really affect me as I really enjoy online games (providing the servers are working as they should). That being said, a lot of my mates do not feel the same way and far prefer single player games. I totally get where you are coming from, as I used to be very much a single player type of person.

Hopefully there will be some enterprising modders out there who make it happen, or even better, Frontier make it possible. Not a smart move by Frontier though, they really should have figured out a single player mode.

All Dev comments regarding this decision can be found at: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59481

[Flip]

Thanks for the link, Jonny!

[JonnyCombat]

Thanks for the link, Jonny!

No probs. It has been a slow day at work today so I was trawling the forums for the reasoning behind their decision. Not sure I believe all of it, but then I am quite cynical.

[Mad Mags]

I've been reading a lot of the indignation online about this. Can't say I agree personally as 'always online' has never bothered me but also can't say that I am the sort of person who would argue for my opinion over someone else's. Each to their own I reckon. If I'd 'invested' in the game directly because I wanted an offline, SP, experience I'd be pretty peeved too I expect.

All I want is a game that has the actual gaming features that they have said will come about. How they deliver that doesn't matter too much to me as long as it works.

Have to agree that its not good PR so close to launch though and I get the feeling the game will be reviewed as 'good at times but not all there yet' anyway and will now have the 'always online shitstorm' referred to.

I am reserving final judgement on the game until I see what's in the pre-release build really.

[GlobusDiablo]

.....All I want is a game that has the actual gaming features that they have said will come about. How they deliver that doesn't matter too much to me as long as it works....

Funny. That was all I wanted as well.

[Sniger]

Well, this has been quite an eventful weekend on the FD forum.
I have been spending countless hours reading the entirety of the 'Threadnaught' (as some has taken to calling it), and while my selfcontrol has been working overtime trying to keep my - relatively few - posts in there in a civil languange, I am to say the least furious and extremely disappointed.
First and foremost, to kill an advertised core function in the product this late before launch.
Secondly, the patronising and indifferent way mr. Brookes (as the only FD official) have evaded giving a straight answer.

I will postpone any decision until at least 22-11 and see how much they actually intend to deliver, but should I go by my feelings at this time, I would demand a complete refund of the €60 I have paid for beta. however, I was thaught never to make final decisions while upset - which I very much am currently.

[GlobusDiablo]

.....however, I was thaught never to make final decisions while upset - which I very much am currently.

Upset indeed.

[Mad Mags]

.....All I want is a game that has the actual gaming features that they have said will come about. How they deliver that doesn't matter too much to me as long as it works....

Funny. That was all I wanted as well.

Yeah I didn't word that correctly. I mean that I want the features of the game (flying round space etc..) as opposed to a particular way of them facilitating me to do so. I'm not sure I've explained that well again. Still, in your shoes, and with how they said you would be able to do this, and have reneged on from your persepctive, I'd be narked too.

I do have one question though. If you are in this group were you expecting to not play in it? My understanding is that groups wouldn't be a standalone thing and even if you could have had offline groups (not sure how that would work without someone running a standalone server) the actions of others in that group, which now isn't that small really and will only grow as far as I can see, would affect the environment you play in anyway. Not slagging off your opinion or belittling the disappointment you feel at all. Just something I wanted to ask.

Definite PR fuck-up on FD's part though. Which is a shame as so far I have been impressed by the way they have engaged people in that respect compared to other examples I could mention.

[Turjan]

I see the whole 'no offline' situation as follows :-

Suppose I'm disabled and I hear of a new holiday resort that's planned. It's a place I've always wanted to visit and the proposal makes the resort seem a lot of fun. I ask the resort planner outright - "Will your resort have disabled access?" I get the reply "Yes! You'll be able to access all of our resort by wheelchair."

I am a happy person. I get my jabs, I renew my passport, I even buy myself a new wheelchair especially for this holiday of a lifetime. I buy my plane tickets, and then...

Four weeks before my holiday is due to begin I get a letter announcing the upcoming opening of the resort! Hooray! But wait, what's this...?

Slipped into the text halfway through the letter I find the following paragraph - "The resort will not have the planned wheelchair access. As we were building the resort, we kept putting more and more stairs in, and eventually we found a disabled-friendly resort was no longer possible. But that's okay because our vision was really always for just an able-bodied resort anyway. So we took the space we gained from having no ramps and made the swimming pool bigger! And if you book NOW we'll give you a voucher for one free swim in that big pool!"

Okay, now suppose I'm not disabled and I get that letter. How do you think it makes me feel about the resort company's attitude to the disabled? So how much can they be trusted about anything else?

And you know what's the worst part of it to me? It's something I posted a thread about on the FD forums : NO APOLOGY.
Nowhere in any dev post has there been an apology for not implementing offline mode. Michael Brookes has given half a dozen 'reasons' for canning offline but in no post has he ever said sorry for the 'tough decision' he had to make. No word from the Community Manager either.

Andy Belford, the Community Manager for City of Heroes, once said it was his job to "chew wasps" meaning when it fell to him to deliver painful news to us, the news was hurting him to give, just as much as it hurt us to hear it. Andy was the best Community Manager I've ever seen - I really, really wish he was working for FD - he'd have known how to handle this crisis.

Bad news doesn't stop being bad news just because it isn't delivered. At the very least, FD should man up and take it on the chin. Try to salvage some respect, while they still have any left TO salvage. Tis a sad day indeed