GlobusDiablo wrote:Mad Mags wrote:....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.
Cheers Mags
I'll try to keep my reasoning short and sweet.
I consider myself part of "the old guard". People who played computer games before anything was "online".
All the previous games in the Elite franchise have been offline. Games I bought hard copy and kept on my pc, and played when ever and where ever I liked. Offline. Long after (20 years) the games were discontinued.
Fast forward to Elite: Dangerous. The kickstarter is struggling to gain funds. A lot of "the old guard" are asking about offline capabilities. David Braben and FD commit to supplying an offline version, and the money starts pouring in. From then till one week before Gamma, FD have again and again confirmed the offline version was in. Selling the game world wide on this premise.
Then suddenly, out of the blue, one week before gamma they sneak the "oh by the way, offline is out" into a newsletter.
In the time that I have been a premium beta backer, I have been "testing" primarily in open play, as I considered this the hardest part for FD to get right. After release I would be switching between open play for hard core thrills, and this fabulous group for jolly online co-op.
The point being, that like with my other Elite games, I didn't have to worry about servers going down, or FD stopping the servers when profits get low.
I would still have a hard copy on my pc to play for as long as I liked. Like the previous titles. This was promised by DB and FD from the get go, and it was a key feature in actually getting the kickstarter off the ground.
But no. Instead they stick it to their core backers, by leaving it out (and in no way do I believe that they just found out 3 days ago), and not telling anyone until a week before gamma.
It really is a classic bait and switch money grab, and I just didn't see it coming. How stupid am I? (Don't answer that Kharma!)
So, that was as short and sweet as I could make it. I hope it answers your question.
