Spacebug

Hey Novaquark Team,
As an enthusiastic player of DU, I really have to tell you that you have a chance to turn things around and lead the game to the success road again. I've heard that you're planning new PvE content, and I'm begging you to not have it take place in instances, but rather in the open game world!
From a game design perspective, there are several reasons why it makes little sense to put certain content into instances, especially in a game like DU, which focuses on an open game world:
 
Artificial separation of player experiences: Instances can create an artificial separation of player experiences by interrupting the smooth transition between different aspects of the game. This can lead to the game feeling less coherent and less engaging, as players feel like they are switching between isolated, disconnected areas rather than playing in a cohesive world.
Loss of emergence and unpredictability: One of the main advantages of an open game world is the ability to experience emergent and unpredictable events that arise from the interplay of various game mechanics and player interactions. Instances can limit this emergence and unpredictability by creating controlled, closed environments that provide less room for spontaneous encounters and interactions.
Reduced social interaction: In an open world, social interactions and shared player experiences are an important aspect of the game. Instances can restrict these social elements by separating players into isolated areas where they may have fewer opportunities to meet and interact with other players.
Restricted dynamics of the game world: Instances can limit the dynamics of the game world by isolating events and challenges within confined areas. This minimizes the impact of these events on the entire game world and on players who do not participate in the instance. An open world, on the other hand, allows the effects of events and challenges to spread throughout the game, creating a more dynamic and vibrant game world.
Repetition and monotony: Instances can cause the game to become monotonous and repetitive, as they often rely on pre-built scenarios and predetermined sequences. In an open world, however, players have the opportunity to constantly discover new and diverse experiences resulting from the interplay of game mechanics and interactions with other players.
 
Overall, embedding content into instances in a game like Dual Universe, which focuses on an open game world and shared player experiences, can hinder the player experience and lead to the game being less engaging, dynamic, and interesting.

This could truly be a turning point for Dual Universe. The decision whether to turn things around and make the game successful or remain stuck in your current thought patterns could make all the difference. If you don't opt for an open-world solution, challenging times for Dual Universe may lie ahead. You have the opportunity to create a lively and successful gaming environment that keeps players engaged in the long run.

Surlick-Zek
 

Hey NQ, I'm sure not everyone will agree with me but there is a fair amount of us that really want to love and believe in this game. 
 
I am worried however, I like to think I'm one of your biggest supporters, and i am working hard to keep that positivity alive. I try to look to the positive every chance I get... and I try to give you guys the benefit of the doubt because I can't imagine the strain and difficulties you guys face. 
 
Despite my dedication has been shaken a few times, I'm still here. I still am a supporter. Proudly. 
 
However, I am asking/begging you to give the members of this community the voice they want to talk to NQ and know that they are heard. CCP did this with the interstellar Council.... give some of us the chance to be involved to represent the player base.. to give our teammates the answers they want and desire, to raise the concerns we have to you and know they are being addressed. It's one thing to say these things and occasionally get an answer or a side step, but we could do so much better. Admittedly without someone even acknowledging our posts in here we don't even know if you guys read them.
 
I want to believe in DU... but the relationship between NQ and the player base is becoming more like a tumultuous relationship between management and the employees. The player base isn't going to feel represented by a Shamsie.. or someone who is out of touch with most aspects of the game. I mean, when asked about issues regarding pvp a rep of NQ seemingly had no idea how pvp even occured. I don't mean that disrespectfully... but let us help! We want to... and if this game is going to succeed we can't be treated or be made to feel like employees who are gonna stick by the company. Which we are not. 
 
My solution. 
 
Implement a 5 person council of sorts that meets occasionally. Has a direct line to NQ and you can ping your updates/changes off. Like for instance you guys are talking about tactical map... I'm concerned as far as what that could mean or be used for. It makes me concerned over a pvp disconnect here...
 
This council would be active members of the community or are apart of larger organizations and bring thier perceptions from those organizations to NQ. This may mean some more secret new directions being revealed but also could be a saving grace if the plan is absolutely terrible and not going to be well received. It may help to have insight from those of us who actually play. We want to help and support you.
 
I beg you to take this request seriously. We are still in your corner. 
 
 

I think NQ is so sure that there will be a wipe that they don't care what happens now. Sadly
 
Edit: Would be cool when NQ is showing us that they care about the game and react as Cobqlt said

This needs addressed immediately. The game is actually unplayable right now.

@NQ-Admin Hi, it's important.

Can you put all the alien core in pause (production/lockdown) until PVP was fix? (Radar + Transponder + Anynewbug)

We can't fight in good conditions, we can't have fun or enjoy this content (and it's the only PVP available atm) and with the wipe no decision + all those PVP bugs, we just lost all our motivation.

Do something, don't be passiv, thx.

Note - Firstly we thought Alien Cores in lockdown don't produce items but apparently they do.  It still takes a significant amount of time to get it into lockdown but anyway not sure if thats correct or not.   A group of us have randomly been hitting cores on and off due to numbers.  Secondly from asking NQ we wrongly assumed if the Core/Base shield goes down and we capture it then the base shield goes up and we capture it
 
The Preparation
 
With the majority of the PvP base in Legion plans went on behind to secretly arm non-PvPer's to a huge event before the impending wipe decision, a lot of our PvP'ers have paused with NQ's post about a wipe.   For props Deadrank/Caerus contacted with a potential idea to gather a group of orgs and equally arm, provide logistics support for one final event but also a good way to give NQ feedback.  They had built warp sleds to carry vessels and other orgs built ships and poked their non-PvP players so a very raw and quick into PvP for many.
 
The Day
 
The day had finally come to give it a go.  Prep was completed and the gathering point confirmed.  Forces from multiple orgs were ready and an rough plan was formed.  A fake attack was made (maybe more too) but the bulk of the fleet was near the Alien Core.  Orgs/Groups were split into comms with A 'Siege wing' sole role to target the core (Reality is they should have just shot ships now what we know).  We knew Legion potentially had a 'Warp Beacon' Nearby so knew it had to be as quick as possible as unfortunately if your the attacker you really are limited compared to the defender who could keep warping more ships in.  We had around 30 people to start with which is a mammoth amount of people (this increased slightly as more joined in) but one of us was dropping off 'decoy' ships just to mess up the radar (they even had weapon looking stuff on them!).
 
Transponders were broken still as NQ did not fix it in time so this was even more of a challenge with a huge list, people new to scripts/Lua.  
 
The fight begun with one of us blasting in to spot a couple of Legion Ships.  We did call out core ID's to target but this was a newly formed force so no simple task at all.  I personally was chasing a L ship for a period and swung back to the core to assist.  The L cores of our group begun battering the Base shield with others targeting legion ships (core ID's).  Our channel had the bulk of people and it was a little chaotic.  I had personally split off with a few Legion ships and chased an L core which I successfully Cored and with more on radar for me it was to quickly get off grid to vent my shield (was low).  I rejoined the fold closely and we were still at that point successfully coring Legion allied ships but equally ours were slowly being popping off, then rapidly more and more Legion ships appeared.
 
The tide had totally turned quickly.  Multiple ships, multiple double/triple seater ships (A lot of ours were single seater things) all targeting people with ease.  Some allied forces had already begun to flee unbeknown to the core group but the Alien core shield was still going down.   It was obvious without the people and ships it was only a matter of time before it was a full retreat.
 
It was at this point a few ships named the same as Legion and strafed into the fold to keep hitting the core.  The shield was close to breaking point.  It was at this time at 1% shield I failed to escape and at 1.8SU away one final shot hit me and BOOM.............  I did however exit in time to float about in space.  I managed to fly to the core in case we needed to repair to capture it.
 
At this time Lovoda finally made it on 'grid' his ship opened up onto the Alien Core and BOOM the core died.  A few of us frantically tried to repair the core and they did so we thought huzzar! we won the day.  Sadly this was not the case in fact Legion blew it up within minutes (we did delete some plasma and took 1 that's it).  Thinking it was a bug one of us kept coming back with a ship and kept re-coring it or we flew to a wreck and reactivated old ships that had cores stored in their containers.  Honestly we thought it was a bug so kept going!.
 
Running out of throw away ships, wrecks to use we called it a day.  I guess we thought wrongly if the core died, repaired its yours with a shield.   So its good feedback to know that is not the case.
 
Anyway this was a blast but that was the last made hussar from the group.  Reality is you equally needed a trained PvP group to combat another PvP group so well played to Legion it was an absolute blast and more importantly the SERVERS HELD UP WITHOUT MAJOR LAG!!!!!!!!
 
Thank you to all who made it happen and turned up.
 
NQ has lots to do but this certainly has given food for thought
 
Honvik
Premier of the Empire

Really awesome to see some more fleet vs fleet pvp. Thanks for sharing and best of luck to both groups in your next engagement.

With the Athena update we decided to hold 3-4 alien cores, the goal being to test our ability to defend multiple cores.

The harsh reality of alien cores
In response, our enemies have put our cores in lockdown ~fifteen times, sometimes 4 on the same day, forcing us to organize ourselves well to allow everyone to come home from work, eat, take care of their family or simply rest. For having a minimum number of people at the end of each lockdown, just in case.
The ends of lockdown follow one another and still nothing on radars, the regularity required by this feature prevents us from pirating on asteroids or pipes as we did before, but the various changes have not reinforced either the interest of them, the motivation is therefore less and less perceptible and it becomes a chore to come and defend...
So we come to this evening of May 21, 4 cores are in lockdown;
Gamma, Theta, Iota and Zeta
Theta and Gamma are respectively under siege at 18:24 UTC and 18:56 UTC, knowing that it takes 20 minutes to secure a core without enemies, the timing is tight but nothing can tell at this moment that our enemies will take advantage of it...

A well thought out plan
18:36 UTC, Theta in siege but without contacts, when suddenly the announcement falls: "CONTACT ON THETA"
10 to 15 ships on radars, the fight is easily managed but a large part of our fleet is therefore in combat lock for the next 10 minutes, preventing warp, and an attack on Gamma begins to grow in our heads. Taking advantage of the combat lock to loot some of the enemy ships, meanwhile another group forms, alerted by the first attack and start moving in direction of Gamma.
18:58 UTC, Gamma in siege and the dreaded announcement drops: "24 CONTACTS ON GAMMA"
We are all surprised and at the same time excited, @here and @everyone appears on the various discords to call Legion for mobilization, we've been waiting for this moment for a long time, impossible to miss it!
We get together in voice, we regroup in the same place in game and we jump into the fray. Focus announcements follow one another, but more surprisingly, there are not 24 contacts but 50... 70... 100... (we reached 150 contacts on the radar at one point, allies and enemies). Several ships are dummys, but the enemy is really numerous, we will have to be disciplined and use our experience in PVP but also as a group.
The confrontation was complex, the previous patch broke the radars and transponders, impossible to sort the contacts on the radar and even less those who change their name like ours (our entire fleet bore the name "WONDU" on its ships), but LUA scripts save us and maintain some semblance of order in this nameless mess.
The station sees its shield descend little by little, an alt left on it allows us to follow it live, protecting the core is impossible without killing all our enemies, it must get out of the 10 minutes of combat lock to recharge its shield. It ends up being core, we manage to regain control, the core itself is not enough, we have to hold these 10 minutes. Unfortunately the timer is constantly reset, even after taking advantage of the fight; the dead ships then repaired by our enemies, the incessant comings and goings of small fast ships and those bearing our tag, it's almost mission impossible to prevent them from approaching, the fight drags on so long as we almost destroyed the entire enemy fleet.

The Liberation
"30 seconds left" (combat timer on alien core)
Announced in voicecom, still no hostile contact... When suddenly a M core appear, rushing to the alien core.
"15"
Some of our remaining forces are concentrated on him, the burst is violent but it's not enough.
"10"
He is at 80km from the core, almost dead but he still represents the last threat of these long hours of confrontation.
"OHNO OHNO OHNO HE IS SHOOTING [filtered] MY LIFE"
...
"IT'S REPAIRED"
Nerd screams, phew of relief, Legion held on but not without difficulty.

A big GG to everyone, even if the game is clearly not the most pleasant for PVP currently, it's events like this that make the game live. Bravo for the organization, the execution and the destruction of the core. We had a lot of trouble keeping our precious plasmas

Some stats about those fight
The opposing forces: Legion vs "Empire, BOO, CVA, Penrose, CYT, IC, CRN, MSI, SB Nation, UA and I think another 1 or 2, just a handful from each, think IC had the most, but mostly new to PvP"
+/- 150 ships involved
~40 Legion members at the end
More than 3 hours of fight
45+ wrecks still close to Gamma this morning
Very very little amount of stasis
Too much ammo fired
Too much kills
Not enough transponder xD
 
 

hm one always existing universe 
that was the promise
 
beta wipe ... meeew ok ... last one i promise u  .. 
 
release wipe .... ohhh again ? 
 
what in 12 month ? next wipe after hours of farming building creating ? 
 
do we have seasons now ? 
sarcasm off 
 
plz remind your old player who took the way with u .
 
i LOVE U NQ 
such nice game ... but keep your promise 
 
only my 2 cents