No off-line mode

[Zarkon]

I'm sorry to be so defensive. I'm sure many of the original backers are just trying to show their support for the people who are losing out on the deal. What's fueling the fire on the Frontier forums are the folk complaining that others are complaining. I knew this would turn into a shit storm as soon as I read the newsletter, and I think that is what upsets me the most. There have been many dev choices that I personally didn't warm up to at first. I accept them because obviously I have no choice, but I also want to see this game evolve into what Braben and his team are trying to create. I'd like to believe that one day FD will release the server codes, making ED available as a SP offline game when the galactic server eventually shuts down. But that wont happen for probably 10 years or more.

[Philip Coutts]

What has become blatantly clear both during and after the kickstarter is that Frontier need to fire who-ever does the PR. Simply abysmal. You can't promise people something and then take it away from them a few days before release and expect it to have a happy ending.

I fully understand why people are pissed off. It's a mess of Frontiers making once again.

[Silverwolf]

I would never have spent 200 pounds on a game if it was online only.

There is a vague hope of FD enabling people to have server setup after they shut down, but that is just a hope.

I am applying for a refund, downloading Oolite now and taking a bigger interest in Limit Theory.

[SJT]

Don't get me wrong, I fully respect that players with limited internet access have a good reason to rant about this decision. I have no problem with them. But on official board I saw also ranting from players which stated they are not so much interested in offline play. That's the thing I do not understand - why I should rant about something missing, which I won't use anyway? It seems pointless to me, that's why I am calling this case as overly dramatised.

I rant about it because it is an option I would have liked and also because I agree with those who don't have an option. I rant about it because there are numerous people on the other side of the argument who have little or no empathy for those affected. I rant about it because I bunged £200 to FD (their store, not Kickstarter) when offline mode was clearly stated as an option. Have I explained myself well enough or do you still think my viewpoint is pointless?

Edit: Sorry for the rant. Love you really. XXXXX

[Artie]

I think it's a problem of different viewpoints. Let's say that "offline mode" is an option for a case that Frontier will shutdown servers and that option is crucial for some players which wants to play Elite after that. I personally do not see any other serious reason for "offline mode" (different that problems with internet connection, which makes online play impossible). If that happens and official servers won't be available, I will want to continue in the game too, of course.

But, I think we can presume it will not happen in near future, let's say not sooner than after two years. If these two years provides me tens and hundreds of gameplay hours, I will be satisfied. Price/entertainment ratio is still good enough. From that point of view I do not understand it. There is always time to solve what to do with offline servers when and if that happens. Meanwhile, I will be enjoying the game for my money. I admit that I do not spent £200 like you, but it still can be a good price for (purely hypothetical) 2+ years of fun. Lot of other games provides worse price/entertainment ratio than Elite.

[SJT]

Yeah, it is a viewpoint thing. You may not see any reason other than the one you stated. I, however, have read every single one of the 4500+ posts in that behemoth of a thread and I have seen many valid reasons from many people.

Example 1. I want to install Elite on my laptop and play it on an oilrig/in the Australia outback/in a tent in Iraq/while I am confined to a hospital bed.

Example 2. I am a parent and I want a pause the game to give attention to my children when they want/need it without first having to leave a dogfight a quit.

Example 3. My internet is so shitty that it constantly drops out and would make the game unplayable due to the constant calls to the server.

One on of the things that really grinds my gears (insert Family Guy pic here) is the guys on the other side of the argument, who have also seen these reasons, with no empathy and selfish "I'm alright Jack!" attitude.

[GlobusDiablo]

Yeah, it is a viewpoint thing. You may not see any reason other than the one you stated. I, however, have read every single one of the 4500+ posts in that behemoth of a thread and I have seen many valid reasons from many people.

Example 1. I want to install Elite on my laptop and play it on an oilrig/in the Australia outback/in a tent in Iraq/while I am confined to a hospital bed.

Example 2. I am a parent and I want a pause the game to give attention to my children when they want/need it without first having to leave a dogfight a quit.

Example 3. My internet is so shitty that it constantly drops out and would make the game unplayable due to the constant calls to the server.

One on of the things that really grinds my gears (insert Family Guy pic here) is the guys on the other side of the argument, who have also seen these reasons, with no empathy and selfish "I'm alright Jack!" attitude.

I hear you loud and clear SJT.

But the ones grinding your gears aren't arguing. They're trolling. Hit the ignore button from the pop up menu when viewing their avatar.

[Artie]

SJT: Those examples are perfectly valid (I stated the same above, I understand those affected with poor/low/none connectivity). Pausing the game may be disputable (similar as MMO games), but it's not so important - my initial point was that whole situation is unnecessarily heated and lot of players are pouring oil into fire just because they can (without any serious reason). Despite the different view I am having to "offline mode" as an option in opposite of you, I understand you have a reason for it (not as lot of guys I am mentioning here). I do not agree, but I respect your point of view. After all, when everyone will share one point of view, life becomes extremely boring.

[Myka]

I can add comment to the internet reason.

I live in Australia and it's no secret Australian internet is far far far behind other first world countries. Basically my phone's 4G connection is superior to my home internet (and I have the best one available right now, but it's not at it's most efficient due to reliance on distance to line exchanges), and I can only play elite with my phone internet (luckily it doesn't take a lot of bandwidth). If I tried on my home internet I'll never get anywhere.

Right now until a new infrastructure is actually delivered, the only thing i could do is to move house closer to an exchange if I was desperate enough

And I live in a capital city, not the outback !

So I can see why it's such a blow for people RE: no offline.

I didn't intend to play offline however so not so much for me.

[GlobusDiablo]

This has been bothering me, and I have come to a conclusion.

I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. So I've just filed for a full refund.

If it's true that they've canned off-line and never intend to implement it, well then I've been tricked.

What a pathetic bait and switch money grab. And I fell for it.

Reasons are too many and too tiresome to add here (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=58789), but the way the cancelation was attempted slipped into the newsletters was outrageous. I'm actually quite disgusted.

I've had fun, but unless FD does a complete 180, I'm out of here.

Thanks for all the fish.