RektDad

Welcome to the team NQ-Nyota!😁

I have held back on my thoughts on this as a statement but this is how I feel. 
Unfortunately we are playing a Beta game. the developers did say there wouldn't be a wipe after alpha and there have been leaks and loose statements about a potential wipe since then. This has caused more harm than good. Personally what I would like to see is a very direct statement when its time. either we are not going to do a wipe or we are  and this is how. then list the reasons why technical reasons not social and List how this will help the game in the future. 
 
we all know sometimes in development wipes are important and have to happen. Some times when the devs them selves do not particularly want it to happen. while they are not public I know all of the devs do play the game and have invested leisure time into the game. Also I know the NQ staff are personally vested in the future of the game and its success as they rely on it for income and providing for themselves and their families. 
 
I do not think the developers want to wipe. If they did WANT to wipe it would have been a very clear statement from the beginning.  they would not have invested the time to help us save cores and dig out structures. Or give away warp beacons as rewards for events. While there has been post about pros and cons on wiping their actions  in game have shown that they want to world we have built to continue on. 
 
I think wiping for the reason of player balance is not a good idea. There will always be player balance issues. You will always have new players who have to catch up and old players who seem to own the stars. Its part of an on going universe. the difference is that in DU you have a community of people who want to help new players. Streamers who are here to support the game and help build up the player base. I think personally a wipe would hurt that. 
 
One of the biggest draws to du for new players is the creativity and seeing the things people have built and done in game. 
but to wipe because some players have to much is not a good reason. Every game has those who have more time and drive. Who will always do well. there will always be things that are exploitable.
 
Utilize those who have in game to help the game at launch. the existing server cleaning system is going to clear a lot of content when the server goes live due to players not paying for beta and alpha accounts monthly.  Let that aspect of the server do its job. That just provides more content for players. 

We as a community have to stop jumping onto what ever story we hear. Have a little faith in the NQ staff. Im not trying to fan boy them. But at the end of the day we have to realize. This is fun time for us. Its work for them. This represents their income and life. The last thing they want to do is to harm that. The developers are on our side. but first they are on the games side. And even though we might not like their actions at times. We have to acknowledge they will only do whats best for the game and company.  And if there is a wipe. In a few years it will be like it never happened. 
 
We will all be laughing about the stupid crap we did during beta while the nubs are looking confused

Hi everyone!
 
Well before starting, I would like to thank you for your feedback, whether it is positive or "less positive". I will try to answer your questions in a general way, hoping to bring the hoped answers.
First of all, I must respond to the critics:
 
 

I can totally understand that this aspect of the game is secondary for you, and it's normal, not all players are interested in Lua, just like not all players are interested in pvp, or industry, voxelmancy ...etc. 
But remember that in a studio, not everyone is working on the same thing at the same time. People who work on Lua, and myself, are multi-tasking but not necessarily working on pvp, or content, or art...etc at the same time, or even just for some like me, pvp/content/art is not in their work domain. It do not means that there is nobody working on these aspect when we do some Lua changes.
 
Core to core data exchange & elements LOD
This aspect is really complex, when Lua is run locally by the client, it always has to interact, get data from elements or control them. So the more access you want to add, the more data you have to constantly load/request. This can be very tricky on the server side.

Imagine, having the ability to get rangefinder or radar data from a building at a distance of 10 SU (for an absurd example), you have to get ALL the buildings around the target, terrain voxels...etc! That's a lot of data to query, load, update, etc.
And on top of that, even with all the good will in the world, it is really complex to keep everything loaded all the time. That's why we've even added a build limit setting, to allow players to adjust it according to their bandwidth and computer configuration.
Anyway, even if we could, I say could, rework systems for receiver transmitters, we will certainly not be able to allow the loading of a remote construct and the proximity environment ... etc. So to answer, say, really complex problem.

Static image URL
I didn't saw this thread @Juvenius Drakonius (do not hesitate to tag me on Lua related stuff, even if I will not reply every time obviously, it let me know the subject and let you know that I saw that). 😉
It's an idea, something to consider 🤔 Potentially, if we could add a way to update an image on the "upload image" page of your profile, it could do the same thing. I'll discuss this with the team. No promises, we'll see.
But one point is the validation process of the image, it means it would have to repass by it to be sure the player do not upload a forbidden image.

Industries, dispensers next ?
As you may have read at the end of the devblog, we've outlined the fact that we think the item API approach can be good and would like to get your feedback on it since we could then apply it to other aspects of the game.
So, the aspects affected could potentially be, if the item API formula works: industries, containers, elements in general, and dispensers ...etc.
That's one of our goal behind the item API, so potentially if you feel this approach the good one 😉.

Camera direction function not working ?
 
Don't worry @Modgud,it's not a bug, it looks like you're using the wrong function for what you expect.
Indeed, getMasterPlayerForward returns the front vector of your character, not the camera.

To get the forward vector of the camera, you should use getCameraForward() or getCameraWorldForward () depending of the coordinate system you want to use  
(These links reach the awesome online CODEX made by a community member, it can help you a lot).

An other word
Finally, I'd like to address this word; keep in mind that we'd like to do a lot of things too, and a lot of which come from our players' ideas, but there are multiple issues and constraints; both human in terms of available resources; Lua remains a secondary feature, as well as community; some want to push the dev on this, or want this or that freedom, there are multiple opinions similar to yours and multiple opposed to yours.
Especially on Lua, some would like to not hold back from breaking a good part of the API to improve it, and others are totally against it because it would break their scripts. That's why it's important to tell us what you think about these devblog threads, so that we can know if a majority prefers this or that approach. 

Anyway, thank you all the same for welcoming the evolutions we make on the Lua and for sharing your ideas and desires. 🙂

The discussion of a wipe has obviously caused mixed reactions among the DU community. I can't read the minds of devs, but I can assume that the teams at NQ wanted to get your thoughts/opinions on taking such a measure, and if I'm honest, I appreciate the fact that it was mentioned ahead of launch - additionally, NQ announced that they are reading/considering all of our questions and concerns... and I believe they are.
 
For many of us, a lot of time has been put into making DU creations and content. NQ understands this, period. But let's not also forget the countless hours spent by the dev team making this opportunity possible. Sure, there are some speedbumps (and possibly setbacks) along the way, and that is to be expected in an alpha or beta product. As a software developer myself, I can certainly relate to the difficulty of making decisions/changes that ultimately benefit the users of it's product in the long run, although it is not always without the risk of upsetting some of its users (in Game development even more so). Game devs are real people too - and often work many hours (unpaid overtime included) with little to no praise for all of their dedication.
 
Bugs:
Bugs are always going to be commonplace in software projects - it is next to impossible to avoid them. A small change in one place may cause something to break in another place. Oftentimes these small bugs get overlooked, especially with a smaller development team. But these bugs are no doubt on a list somewhere to be fixed (based on priority of other items). It's easy to identify something that has not been fixed, especially when it affects your gameplay, but it is not always easy to fix it in software in a timely fashion. I'm confident NQ will remedy this in the future.
 
Schematics/Skills:
I think early on, NQ wanted players to have the opportunity to explore all avenues of the game without restriction. DU being their baby, I bet it was exciting for them to see what we would do with it. Inevitably, there comes a time when it makes sense to revisit this after realizing how it impacted other experiences in the game. Were schematics the right answer? Maybe not, but it did give those who wanted to specialize in industry a clear path to do so, albeit at a great expense. I know this is a just a game, but some type of hierarchy will need to be established in order for all of us to find our niche. Maybe this could be done by implementing a top-tier profession or trade skill (i.e. Industry / Builder / Pilot / Weaponsmith / Mining, etc) where you can invest a set pool of points to become a master of your trade, but also have limited access to other professions/trades... enabling you to dabble in them, but not become a master of everything. If, at a later time, I get bored being a master of one trade, I could decide to abandon it altogether and invest my time in another profession/trade.
 
Wipe:
With regards to a wipe, I understand why it is on the table. As an alpha/beta player, I also expected this would be a possibility despite the fact that some at NQ may have said it wouldn't happen early on. Should it have been mentioned that there would not be a wipe after alpha? Probably not. Especially considering how complex a project can get as time goes on, new tools/features are added, etc. Scope creep is also another factor that devs have to work with... and I can only imagine this game has seen its fair share of those. Some may decide that they won't play after a full wipe... that  will be unfortunate for sure, especially considering this is a unique game with unique challenges - I'm looking forward to those challenges post wipe/launch. And, I'm certain that many of those who leave will be missed (some maybe not :P).
 
Value:
I can't remember the amount of money I paid for my account, but I definitely got way more enjoyment beyond the price I paid initially. Am I upset that I might lose all of the items I created if a full wipe happens? A little, but I'm also excited to start over with the vast amount of knowledge I've acquired up to this point. And, thank you NQ for all of your hard work on making a game that, for many, was long overdue in the industry.
 
In conclusion:
Apologies for the long response to this topic. Just wanted to voice my thoughts on what I'm sure is a difficult discussion for NQ. And, to say thank you to NQ for the opportunity to participate in the infancy of the game. I look forward to launch regardless of whether or not my initial creations follow me. I hope other players who consider leaving give it more thought before a final decision is made.
 

Full wipe please.