Frontier Developments have recognised that September’s large Elite Unsafe update “introduced a quantity of challenges and bugs which triggered a lot of aggravation.” They’re “really sorry” about that, they say, and by well known demand have declared a new commitment to fixing the game up. The subsequent couple of updates will concentrate chiefly on enhancing each “recent and longstanding issues”, and frankly it sounds welcome. This does imply they’re delaying new content material a small, pushing the fancy Fleet Carriers back from December into subsequent year. Which is in all probability sensible. What use is a 16-player ship if it is flying in a frustrating universe?
They strategy is to have a series of updates focused “almost exclusively” on fixing bugs, Frontier stated in this week’s announcement, coming every single 3 to 4 months-ish. They’re arranging to run these via public beta testing and make time to repair challenges the beta flags. The very first bugbashing update is due in beta in December, then to launch correctly in early 2020.
Bringing back open beta testing for updates is one particular of the requests produced by a self-appointed council of concerned higher-profile players in September.
“All of us adore Elite :Unsafe, and we really feel that Elite: Unsafe is not what it could be,” they stated. “We do not ask Frontier Developments for miracles. We do not ask for new content material and we do not ask for a big shift in improvement. We basically want every little thing currently delivered to be maintained correctly.”
Even though it appears Frontier are now following a number of of the recommendations, their initial response was much less enthused. A lengthy reply from Zac Antonaci, Frontier’s director of publishing, deflected a lot of criticisms and stated “While I do commend the aims listed of obtaining a superior and closer partnership amongst neighborhood and Frontier, I am unable to condone this strategy.” It does look to have worked somewhat.
With the new concentrate on fixes, Fleet Carriers are now due in 2020 amongst April and June. A delay’s unfortunate but in all probability excellent on balance. If the game is in a bit of a sorry state, new content material will be novel but be undercut by unresolved frustrations. The rest of game would drag them down. Far better to arrive when the game’s one particular players are extra pleased with in basic.
The honking good Fleet Carriers will function as sort of mobile, player-controlled stations, with 16 landing pads for spaceships and facilities to refuel, rearm, refit, and repair. Carriers will be customistable with unique loadouts and help vessels for unique tasks, from exploration to mercenary perform. Really fancy. If you have the creds for one particular. Or are pals with a spacesquiillionaire.