EvaUnit02 on 4/4/2015 at 06:51
Quote Posted by Shadowcat
Surely getting a free key for your favourite online game distributor would be a very pleasant surprise, not an expectation? Certainly when I buy a game directly from a developer, I don't expect a subsequent GOG key unless they had stated at the time I bought it that this would happen.
If a developer does do this, it just means they're being particularly nice; not that the other developers are being dicks.
It's called showing goodwill to your customers. If 2-man indie teams can do so, then a large AAA developer like Frontier can do so too.
You'll see me rarely playing the "entitlement card", but I gave them 115 GBP during their critical crowdfunding phase. A Steam key is not much to ask for.
Oh and GOG isn't Steam. Steam is much more than a simple "digital book shelf" to many people. Steam can be a polarity shifting force in many modern PC gamers' lives. This is no exaggeration or hyperbole, I assure you.
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Also note that "Valve charges nothing" is not the same as "it costs Frontier nothing", so I don't think that the "no excuse" argument holds water.
You don't know much about the Steamworks programme, do you? A developer can ask Valve to issue them Steam keys in the thousands and Valve is usually happy to supply them. It costs neither party anything.
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Firstly, I imagine they are considering that people could then give those keys to other people,
What you're arguing is not an issue. The way Frontier has chosen to handle E:D on Steam:- a Frontier account with ownership privileges is still required. E:D's proprietary patcher/launcher is still being used with the Steam release and users need to sign into that with their Frontier account.
Honestly I'd wish that commit to utilising the full Steamworks suite of features like SteamPipe delta-patching, cloud saves, MP matchmaking with Steam friends, etc. but MMO releases on Steam often don't do so, thus I'm willing to let it go.
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But however they might do it, there would be processes to manage, and support to be provided, and probably some amount of involvement from a bunch of people. Time is money, and it
does cost them.
Currently it's costing them A LOT of customer goodwill.
Even if they chose to provide customers with a fully featured Steamworks version that might require supplying keys that were already tied to Frontier accounts, much smaller companies like Portalarium have seem to have no problem handing out Steam keys that are already tied to a user's Shroud of the Avatar account.
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I'll happily tear strips out of Frontier for some of their other actions, but I don't really see a reason to criticise them for this one.
For millions of people Steam is their "gaming home". Their friends are there, a record of their gaming life is there, their virtual book shelf with most of their games are there. They like that Steam records their play time; they like that Steam shows their friends what they're playing; they like the social features of Steam Community where they can author guides for other players, share their screenshots on that particular game's proper Steam Community hub, etc; etc. They like the "quality of life" features like cloud saves; the ease of installing mods that Workshop provides; etc. Are you unable to empathise?
Malf on 4/4/2015 at 07:02
Eva, there's a lot of pomp and fury in your posts, but do you actually own the game?
EvaUnit02 on 4/4/2015 at 08:59
Is that your take on a "tl;dr" drive-by post? I said in the SECOND PARAGRAPH that I'm a Kickstarter backer.
Sulphur on 4/4/2015 at 09:04
Looks like you forgot to take your Xanax today, kid.
Malf on 4/4/2015 at 20:50
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Is that your take on a "tl;dr" drive-by post? I said in the SECOND PARAGRAPH that I'm a Kickstarter backer.
Sorry, I just saw internet nerd rage and skimmed the rest.
Malf on 6/4/2015 at 22:51
henke, are you playing?
I've tentatively dipped my toes back in to open, and I was coming back to my home station after an assassination mission tonight when I saw a little Hauler being piloted by a CMDR Henk EDD.
If it was you, I'm CMDR Mike Vanaheim piloting a Vulture.
I tried to follow the hauler by scanning its wake, but the thing had a greater jump range than my combat loaded Vulture.
henke on 7/4/2015 at 04:10
Heh. Nope, that must've been some other Commander Henk. :)
faetal on 8/4/2015 at 09:32
I was ill yesterday and didn't go to work and couldn't really do much, which is why I spent the entire day playing Elite Dangerous. It's great, and it's a mixed bag. Some people may not like it. It has a very slow start and quite a steep learning curve.
You start off with a (
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Sidewinder_Mk._I) small ship which isn't able to do a great deal without upgrades. Making money is SLOW, for one main reason - you only have 4 cargo slots, so even if you find a nice trade route for making ~€1000 per jump, the time taken for reaching the stations (especially anything further than 15k Ls away after jump), docking means that you're essentially playing a 6 DoF Euro Truck simulator in space (calm yourself Henke), albeit without the pleasure taken from the route planning, other than the general rich beauty of a galactic simulation. You can do what I did which is to supplement the trading with bulletin board missions and these range from a €500-20,000 - depending on the mission, some missions are too difficult to attempt in your tin can starting ship - and if you get familiar with how to use the galaxy map (or if you're lazy, some online trading tools) and commodities market, you can tie in some of these missions with some profitable trade.
I've read several starter guides which suggest eschewing the trade + missions route early on, stripping down your ship (lose the guns and shields, upgrade engines and sensors) and exploring unknown celestial objects to sell in far away stations, but since this approach is based on most € earned per hour of play, it feels too much like power-gaming to me and I'd prefer to just role-play it rather than be the guy who changes careers every
x credits just to be earning the most per hour. I did however take Malf's advice and upgrade to some better lasers (which are gimbal mounted and auto-aim (when your foe is near centre-screen), allowing for more hits while I learn how to be a better pilot. I also upgraded my power generation and distribution, thrusters and shields and bought a kill warrant scanner, which lets me see who has bounties on their head and can thus be killed without incurring fines.
SO, my poxy starting ship is now worth around €70k and I've taken on and beaten ships (all NPCs, doubt I'd last long against a human) which are much better than mine, including a (
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Federal_Dropship) federal dropship 1 on 1, which brought me to 31% hull integrity with cracked canopy, sparks and smoke keeping me on edge as I limped back to the nearest station. Once you start killing ships with bounties, you make a very respectable amount of money in a very short time. So I now have around €60,000 and am starting to eye up which ship to buy next. I had considered a (
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Zorgon_Peterson_Hauler) hauler, which would allow me to kick my trading up a few notches and start bringing in the big(ger) money, but since I am enjoying the bounty hunting side of things (while still wanting to take a break and enjoy the simple charms of trading and exploring a bit), I may opt for an (
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Adder) Adder, which seems to be the best all-rounder within easy financial reach. The next aim after that will be to get my hands on either a (
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Cobra) Cobra mkIII (as an avid player of the original game, I feel this has to at least be tried) or a (
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Viper) Viper, though the latter seems less suited to my jack-of-all-trades play-style.
But yeah, it's great. It isn't finished yet and while I'm still in the novelty stage, I'm guessing the "miles wide and inches deep" aspect will wear thin, but as it stands, it is the best spaceship flight sim I have played. I am hoping to get head tracking sorted soon so I can immerse my self in the cockpit more - the purchase of a HOTAS controller
greatly aided immersion too. If you liked the original Elite, this really does feel like its modern
Malf on 8/4/2015 at 18:19
The Cobra's a great ship, a true multi-role one.
However, on your path to it, don't dismiss the Eagle. Sure, it's made of tissue paper, but it's ridiculously manoeuvrable with great hardpoint placement.
Remember, you get pretty much the full ship price back when you sell it, so experimenting is positively encouraged.
However, never leave dock without enough money to cover the insurance cost needed to replace your ship.
This is probably the most important advice in the game if you want to avoid heartbreak.
faetal on 8/4/2015 at 21:27
Yeah, I always have plenty of dollar for mishaps - no way I'm making that error.
So I was just bimbling around in an anarchy system without cargo, looking for trouble to get into and I follow a strong signal source.
Fall out of supercruise and see lots of white signatures, which turned out to be crates of gold. Awesome, I think, deploying my cargo scoop, right before being blasted into tiny pieces by a waiting Vulture. Fucking NPC pirate trap dick.
