Volkier

Twrkmotor may got that point wrong, but I would agree 100% with the purple kitty on the fact that permitting players from running their own servers in an MMO - which is what DU strives to be, is going to COMPLETELY change what the game is about. It's not minecraft, it's not counter strike, it's not a short term 'action' game. It is a long term virtual immersion project in an MMO fashion. Heck, if done right, it is deserving of it's own genre based on the sheer fact that it's striving to do things not done before. Also, to be fair, that is not the only point you made. Majority of your post was about how "pay to play is worse" than the alternative. Everyone can obviously have an opinion, but has it occurred to you that a lot of people are actually tired of 'pay to win (free to play)' gaming models that spam the MMO marketplace today, and lack customer support, originality, release broken unfinished expansions every week and dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator - primarily to support their funding models? Also what #9 said. No to cash shops. Would be the worst thing to happen to the game imho.

Vodka and Duct tape. But I don't know yet - I've got a few concepts that I've sketched out, but would depend on how the game handles building, and whether you would be able to pre-view something or get 100% of resource back if you 'delete' it.

Pretty darn cool - though I always had a thing about very large super-carriers having guns that are the size of a sky scraper attached on their sides Mind if I ask what program you're using?

If anyone is discouraged by what you've wrote, they clearly don't understand the concept of 'alpha release', and I would struggle to see how their presence in a game in that stage would benefit it's development or progress. As #4 said - alpha is a volunteer job, rather than 'playing' 'early access'. You stating you would rather wait and fully enjoy the finished product instead, only shows you understand that basic concept, and good on you for being honest with what you feel is best for your experience with regards to something that I believe all of us here are very passionate for.

Don't know yet. I would want a small 'crew' on a ship I'm planning to try and get / create, but a lot does depend on how the gameplay does things. I do admit I like to do / be able to do some solo stuff often, but likewise, it's boring always doing everything on your own. Though to be fair, I would far rather have ten or so people who have similar play-schedule to myself, who are competent and whom we can do stuff with, over massive thousand player alliance where few people know each other and trying to organise or "command" any group is a major head-ache.

I hear what you are saying. I am also extremely afraid of this. It's the reason why I have left 90% of the MMOs I've played. The 'sandbox' gets replaced with a supervised ball pit, the hours you spent building a sandcastle are wasted because sand is no longer relevant, you can't really do anything else other than throw generic balls that are the same shape and size (varying only in colour) around, and that shiny toy that you had to stab several other kids with plastic spades for is now irrelevant because everyone is given a better one when they enter by default. I do believe that there is plenty of direction that DU can 'expand' in, to give older players something to do, and I also hope that the demand for "more complex" (or rather non dumbed down console crap) games has reached enough of a critical mass by now. So I guess the best we can do is subscribe, play and enjoy the game when it's released, pray to Cthulhu that the expansions expand the universe in terms of space, materials and abilities rather than removal or dumbing down of features, and if it jumps on the current MMO bandwagon, unsubscribe and enjoy a nice glass of bleach while sitting in a bath-tub making toast. In a nutshell, I think what DU is currently promising, would be more than enough to keep a large portion of their current fanbase interested for a pretty long time. Especially as there is literally no comparable game on the market today. Look at Minecraft - though it's not my cup of tea, and I personally wouldn't play it, it's still relevant and still played, and that's literally a single digit percentage of what DU brings to the table. And if a competitor does come along, I guess it would be up to the developers then to decide how they would want to keep DU unique, whether they would listen to their older fanbase versus trying to market it to more people and what direction the game would take then. EDIT: Also agree 100% with what #3 said. Spot on. Though there is still the whole notion of the 'general trend' games take, and not necessarily because / in spite of the playerbase.

I would vote "suicide", since it would be the most likely cause at releases of such games due to bugs (which are unavoidable). Combine that with the open world mechanic and people's creative curiosity, and I can almost bet you that someone will inevitably kill themselves while trying to build something and have a 'block' fall on the crushing them to death, or kill themselves on a bug by opening a door, or kill themselves by going somewhere they shouldn't go to, or simply charge a bunch of hostile NPCs in a leroy jenkins fashion. Also, technically, falling and drowning are also forms of 'suicide', unless another player causes one to fall, or holds their head under water (or rather, in game terms, shoots the limbs off a person trying to swim).

Vote against steam and for standalone too, though I don't believe the devs called for our opinion on this, and likely already have plans. Steam only ever creates issues with the games that run on it. The only reason to use it, is because a lot of games are on it. Personally though, I would ALWAYS check websites like GOG before steam, primarily to support non DRM content and developers, and if the game is available on both, I would always go with GOG even if it costs more, for the same reason.

Very well said, and you are 100% accurate. Alpha testing used to be akin to a job. It could be fun, but you had a serious responsibility to the developers (at least, back when you were not paying the developers cash for a pre-alpha release, and either got selected or even paid to do so yourself) who rely on you to find not just the bugs, but what conditions and circumstances trigger them. Of course you are also right in that in the modern day and age, it's become the accepted norm, so it would be a 'smart' move as you say. We'll wait and see I guess.

Yeah I didn't think you were, just wasn't 100% sure. Besides, we all know that Apples > Oranges

Ah my bad then. I must have gotten confused when they ran one of their "free up to level X" promotions or something. Like I said, I felt it was too dumbed down on release, thus didn't feel it was worth my time so didn't play / keep up with it. Went to play EvE for 5 or so years instead since EQ went to shit shortly after.

They switched to a "free to play" model, but if you want to use the "better" items or get above a certain cap on progression, you have to pay. Same as what EverQuest does now. Though I admit, I was never a fan of WoW, as when it came out, it felt like it was the start of the whole dumbing down MMOs genre. EQ followed suit. It just got boring since everything lost meaning - except for stabbing things to get shinies and exp. As for music and movies, while I agree with you, I would argue that DRM forces people to pirate things today. As an example, the last couple of EA games that I purchased before I boycotted them, I had to then subsequently pirate because I could not run the original games that I bought due to excess DRM restrictions. Cannot run the game without internet connection, cannot run the game without downloading a 6Gb patch released on the second day of purchase. At that point in time I was travelling around the world, so did not have consistent unlimited internet connections all the time, and gamed specifically when I had nothing else to do. Same applied to movies - I have a bunch of original movies that I could not watch due to region blocking, and I could not burn an .iso image onto my computer because clearly I'm not going to hoard hundreds of disks while I travel. So same scenario, buy original, put it on a shelf at home without even opening it, and download a pirated version that you could actually use. So while I do agree with you that 'you get what you pay for' in terms of quality, quality costs, and a lot of people take others' work for granted, I cannot deny the fact that few people are going to want to purchase a broken product they cannot use, merely to have a clear conscience for when they download a 'pirated' version anyway. Kind of like buying an "unlocked" / "cracked" cellphone - people want to buy something that they can actually use.

Yep. It is. That's why I used that exact same analogy. Also why I'm excited and will probably be playing both games when they are out, rather than choosing one or the other. 2016 and 2017 are awesome years for gamers

I feel a lot of subscription games fail, specifically because they are trying to target the lowest common denominator of the market with the game content, while pushing for subscription based payment model. If you are targeting a horde of 11 year olds (no offense to any more intelligent younger people - we were all teens at one point in time - just using this as an example) with short attention spans, inability to accept any form of difficulty or challenge from a game, and wanting everything 'now', your game will never succeed with a subscription based - or even buy the game model. And again, I know I'm generalising, and there are plenty of older people who think they are "gamers" and act the same as the above. But this mentality (which also originated when "gaming" became "cool" and "normal") is what most modern games have to cater to. You either create a whole load of hype and sell something - anything - on Steam, then milk the buyers for more cash with "DLC", or release a pay to win... err... "free" model filled with "microtransactions". If you release a game targeted at the older generation of gamers, and produce quality over quantity or hype, you will find that the vast majority of the people can happily budget a subscription for a game they will spend most of their 'leasure' time on - the same way that these people pay for monthly subscriptions for various cable TV networks, various bills, and budget things like "going out to see a movie". This is exactly WHY games like EvE and it's payment model, are still very much relevant. And also why games like Everquest franchise, WoW and many others HAD to revert to 'pay to win' models, after they have either dumbed the game down to appease to the masses, or targeted that demographic in the first place. Just my two cents on the subject. I know my opinion would be far from a popular one.

No no, alcohol makes the voices go to sleep. It's good shit. Also looked at Battlescape, and tempted to get it purely for the flying physics alone. Every other game is so dumbed down when it comes to flight controls and mechanics (/sigh). I haven't yet though, as I know that full on PvP and only full on PvP is not something I will enjoy. Though that was my main focus in EvE online, but that wasn't really dogfighting (was more strategy based / planning ahead / setting up traps etc). Now if a game came out that had Battlescape's flight physics, Elite Dangerous flight controls and UI, Star Citizen's level of detail, and Dual Universe's freedom of exploration, customisation and world..... Maybe using one of those futuristic full immersion virtual reality suits (since we are dreaming here after all)...

<< Double post. Please delete. >>

I'd be donating. Regardless of access or anything. I believe in this project. And hey, everyone needs something to believe in right? Gezus fucken christ, that sounds so cliche. Forget I've said anything - just take my frigging money. Also speaking of money - <insert shameless self promotion> if anyone needs a horse broken in or re trained, I need the work. Don't ask me why I've posted this on a public gaming forum - seemed like a good idea at the time.

So Star Citizen released their latest GameCon alpha 3.0 demo. I got a massive erection watching it, and everything about it is beyond amazing. Can't wait. But I've also recently come to a realisation. A realisation that I never thought would become reality for me. I am actually as much... no... MORE excited for another game's release and progress than I am for Star Citizen's, that 'other game' being Dual Universe. Granted, nobody knows (including myself) whether either would be good, or bad, or get better or worse with development, or how the two games would compare (if you can compare apples and oranges, since to me they are two completely different games striving for completely different opportunities, gameplay and objectives). We can all reserve our opinions for the end once both are finished products. Maybe it's because at this stage it's about the unknown potential versus knowing a direction that is specific enough, but for now, I "can't wait for Dual Universe" more. Also I have no idea what prompted me to post this. Maybe it's the alcohol or the voices. I just felt like sharing. So on that note, other than Dual Universe (which tops the list for me), what other games are people counting down the days to?

It is possible and does happen. Some dude has been registering my name on random games that he (or she?) never ever plays after the fact. So far I've found about a dozen or so games where I would try to register it, it's already been taken, and if I go to their account it's always "last used / last played / last seen" on the same day as it's been registered on. Ah if only arson was legal....

Space ponies are better. At least you can ride those into battle.

Fair enough. Though I would argue that last gen MMOs and simulators both had proximity based effects. Basic ones, but there nonetheless.. Though I wouldn't have a clue as to the limitations of the engine, and to what degree (if any) it's possible. Admittedly, tsunami's and volcanoes are the extreme, and like you said, are not likely to ever be seen in this decade, but that was more wishful thinking on my part. More of, would we get 'heat damage' for landing on the surface of a sun would have been more in line with what I was trying to say. (or basic weather as the above post points out)

Well wouldn't that depend entirely on how the engine handles vortex damage? You don't need a full on system which makes mountains collapse in a large earthquake - that would be pretty darn cool, but obviously there would be limitations. What about more basic things, like small lava eruptions damaging structures that are built there. Just hoping there are ways that will make each planet more unique, than simply looking different and having more or less of a certain resource.

Cant find a thread on this, so apologies if it's already been mentioned. Basically it's more of a question and a follow up 'idea for the box'. Question is - will stuff like volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, hurricanes, or simple weather happen on different planets, and would those phenomenon affect structures? If so, how so? And if not, I think it's a neat idea to play with at least to an extent. Example would be a planet with very volatile core, having constant earthquakes that will affect the integrity of any tall structures, another planet having a lot of volcanoes that can pop up anywhere and let off eruptions, another that would have tsunamis every now and again, then yet another planet that's always dark and gets insane storms which make it very hard to fly / land a ship in - you get the drift. The extent to which these effects exist and how much of them do can vary as much as possible within the game's engine, and it would certainly inject a whole load of gameplay around risk vs. reward aspect of things.

Would we have natural phenomenon like earthquakes and whatnot? Hmm... I think I need to go and search for a thread on this subject...

And have the game limit itself to a console's abilities like majority of modern games already do? No thanks Also you can easily get an XBox controller for your PC. Easily.