SirJohn85

Called it

Way back when I pitched in as a patron, I did so because the game had such potential.  The voxel editing capability in designing ships and bases is what had me hooked, but back then there were a lot of mechanic issues with the game, so I gave it a break for a year.
 
Now that I'm back, I've given it a month and if this is the direction DU is heading, meh - no thanks. 
 
First off, making a game that is fundamentally one of the most versatile BUILDING games out there, and forcing pvp content makes about as much sense as braille buttons on a drive thru ATM.  Sure, I've heard the rumor that everything you need is in the safe zone, but with the addition of these ridiculous schematic roadblocks in EVERY step, half those being sold only in pvp space for amounts I frankly have no way of earning once I restarted is about as exciting a prospect as gouging my eye out with a spoon.
 
Only add to that the fact that in order to buy the few things I can afford after waiting for 3 or 4 days (with the daily allowance we're given), making those trips take at least an hour (after you factor in the crappy engines I can only afford now and the inevitable crash and ship repair which happens EVERY time I get booted offline during landing), well that's just like putting a bit of lemon juice on the spoon before the eye gouging begins.
 
Maybe as someone who would love a game I can dive into and start building is too much to ask for, but under the current construct this clearly isn't worth my time.  I suppose I'll keep my eye open and see if anyone wakes up and focuses on some of these fundamentals, but I'm not holding my breathe...

yes please - do your research. all those videos you provided don't prove that magnetism=gravity. If you got any evidence and proof please visit https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/physics/

I have no numbers for you to read ingame. But what I do have is the popularity on twitch. I have made it my task to post the twitch metrics in our discord every Thursday since the release. 
Why Thursday, you ask yourself? DU started on 27 August this year. That was a Thursday.
 
To write a short reply:
Not a single week has the average number of viewers or live channels increased. No, they have fallen every week.
 
To put that in numbers:
- Of the initial ~1000 average viewers, 50% were already gone by October 4th.  
- 300 average viewers on 25 October
- 175 average viewers on 26 November
 
Average live channels at release: 10
Being a few weeks: Only 4
 
3 December:
132 average viewers
4 average live channels
 
Today, 9 December (Yes, I know it is not yet Thursday):
118 average viewers
4 average live channels
 
I get my info from here since release:
https://www.twitchmetrics.net/g/493826-dual-universe

Survivorship bias.
 
I see the same thing on the official discord and reddit - the numbers are way down, a lot of the names I'm used to seeing are just gone. The two orgs I played with are dead, 60 players in one and 20 in another - and the discords are silent.
 
But hey the people who are still playing are OK with it...
 
Once again, my biggest issue with the changes is that they are putting up barriers and adding extreme levels of grind without adding any additional content.
 
JC keeps saying that industry isn't for everyone without grasping that the only reason everyone is doing industry is that industry is all there is to do. 
 
Raising the barrier to entry into industry will indeed make fewer people do industry - but there is nothing else to do. So what are they going to do? Same thing I'm doing - playing a different game.

I think I might just come back to DU when there is a fully functioning civilization in place. Because building one sure as hell sounds a lot like a job now and not much like a game I’d choose to pay to play. 
 
Mine more so you can buy less. Sell to those who control the markets for a pittance. Then Rely on bots to sell magical slave potions at exorbitant prices to power the Ars Industria controlled by the mega corps. 

sound like the plot to the movie Brazil... or just real life in a few years’ time. And we all know how much fun that’ll be. 
 
jeezus the Bladerunner phrase “More real than real” just got really real. 

If you are willing to describe mining as easy, please get me 10L of chromite, we're running low.  It is easy right? 
 
 
Ps, that L isn't liters. It's L containers. 
 

You're well on the path of going the way of Worlds Adrift.
 
You want to nerf industry because everyone is building their own 'Iphone' - fine - what are they going to do instead? What else is there to do instead? 
 
You want to add element destruction? Great - I'm with you. It needs to happen. But maybe just maybe pairing it with the removal of the Alt-F4 mechanic, removal of Discord support and on top of that nerfing production isn't the best idea? 
 
You think mining is too easy? Grea.....wait what....what? WHAT?! Have you mined in DU? How much? Look, ask anyone who has filled a 10L hub every two nights, there is nothing 'easy' about mining. It's boring. It's tedious. It's concentrated drudgery and one of the primary reasons I don't play DU anymore - but what it is not is 'easy' and never even in my most drunken state (and I admit I sure didn't mine sober) did I think that "Hey maybe if I couldn't link to my 10L hub mining would be better!" . In fact, when linking was broken, I just didn't play the game. 
 
Just the fact that JC thinks that linking is the issue with mining - not literally everything else - makes me lose all faith in his judgment. Of all the things wrong with mining - linking isn't  one of them. Nor is the lack  of "mining hazards"...
 
The community has over and over and over asked for constructs that can mine - empyrion style - give us drills we can put on hovers - give even bigger giant drills we can put on stationary constructs. Give us anything besides handmining because 'easy' it's not - it's at least 7th level of hell grade tedium - and 9th if you have to deal with phantom nodes and pending operations. Unless of course you take my approach, get drunk and watch netflix so that the next day you forget about how hellish mining for 6 hours straight was.
 
Unfortunately I've remembered enough of those nights over time to stop logging in to DU...and the upcoming changes and theroycrafting about the future of mining have made it extremely clear that JC does not play DU either...he may goof around in his castle - but he sure hasn't built a mega factory nor has he mined the ore to get the resources to build his giant fortress if he thinks all those things are too easy...
 
Seriously - JC just logs in - looks at all the stuff others built and his take away is that mining and mega factories are too easy? It took us weeks of drudgery......I can't even...
 
Edit: Also - cores not repairable?! Masterstroke....

Rotors (and pistons), please!

Don't forget to remember to read this ~4000 word short story about The Forgotten.
 
The Forgotten.pdf
The Forgotten.docx

#AvAforLaunch
 

#AvAforLaunch
 

(Update: November 12th, 2019: detailing the content that will be released before the end of the year)

Dear Community, 
 
We heard your feedback regarding our communication that wasn't as regular during the past months than it was before, in addition of a few miscommunication incidents. That's why we decided to plan several events to catch up and address that topic before the end of the year:
 
For those who have questions (or concerns) about Dual Universe or Novaquark, we've just opened a dedicated thread here (as many questions may be related to subjects under NDA, and we can't check beforehand, we had to put the forum thread in a section under NDA. If you're not a backer and you have questions on topics that aren't under NDA, feel free to contact NQ-Nomad and/or NQ-Nyzaltar by private message on the forum, and they wil transmit them to the team). No question is taboo. Although we can't promise to give a clear and detailed answer for each question, we will try our best to reply as much as we can.
  Here is the content related to communication we plan to release before the end of the year:
- a video presenting the updated roadmap.
- a Dev Diary video showing the recent progress on the game development
- a PodCast where we will try to answer the most pressing matters (based on the questions posted in the dedicated thread).
- an AMA event where we will try to answer to the remaining questions.
- a Kickstarter update.
  We can't give specific dates for all of this content yet, but all will be released before the end of the year.
 
Best Regards,
The Novaquark Team.

The above is a very subjective expectation of the game with a lot of assumed traits. 
 
So here is mine:
The game world is huge. While yes, there will be combat outside safe zones we currently know next to nothing in what that will look like. I personally do not expect PVP as far as combat will have the impact some claim/expect/assume it will simply because of the scale of the world we play in. I think it will be fairly easy to find a location where you can build your story in the game virtually undisturbed unless someone stumbles onto you or you are ready to let yourself be found.
 
That's not to say you should not be prepared for pirates of rogue groups just out to pick fights.
 
 
And as far as whether you should "purchase" the game; If you need to ask or be convinced then the answer is probably no.

Dear community members,
 
A few weeks ago, we took a stance regarding “out of the game”/IRL-related practices to discredit, threaten or shame publicly another Community Member (even if the involved person is guilty of several infractions) that could be an opponent in-game.
 
As the DSI (Dark Star Imperium) / TSU (Trinary Star Union)  / UEE (United Earth Empire) case blew out of proportion during January, we investigated.
 
We are really serious about differentiating real life from the game itself. Unfortunately some didn’t take our stance seriously. We gave them a chance to come clean in a private discussion and restart on an healthier basis. They didn’t take the opportunity for what it was: a last chance.
As they preferred “playing dumb” with Novaquark staff, we can’t have any trust that they won’t continue. Therefore we have decided to ban permanently those Community Members for various reasons (all not being banned for the same reason(s)):
Not being honest towards Novaquark staff. Making and encouraging ghost accounts. Abusive recruitment practices. Practising real life harassment and/or threatening another player. Making false report to Novaquark’s Customer Support in an attempt to make ban someone they dislike. Spreading real life information without the involved person’s consent, aka Doxxing.  
(strong reminder: even if a person gives you real life information about him/her, it’s not okay to share these information with ANYONE else without his/her consent. You can’t predict how the other person(s) will use this information and if he/she/they won’t share it again. If some trouble occurs following this sharing, you can be held legally responsible).
 
This might seem an extreme sanction but this shows how serious we are when we say we are not going to let toxic attitude and practices spread in the Community. Our goal to build a healthy and friendly community isn’t just a figure of speech. Anyone caught to spread or encourage any toxic behavior will be removed from the Community as it will be considered as damaging the Community and negating Novaquark staff efforts (without saying that it’s time consuming and a waste of our resources).
 
Saying it’s a long time grudge coming from before the arrival in the Dual Universe community is absolutely not a valid excuse. If someone has a personal grudge with another community member, he/she should either:
Leave it at the doorstep and/or settle it in private and peacefully with no one else involved. Contact directly (and only) Novaquark staff if the issue persists.
The moment someone uses the Dual Universe community as a tool for IRL revenge, he/she is not welcome anymore. We’re all here to have fun. It should always stay that way.
 
Therefore, the following Community Members have been permanently banned from the Community:
Lime / Fullsend / mmtheboss / Sakej99 [DSI] Primarch Zelevas / TharisUEE Melkor_Morgoth
  In addition the DSI Organization member list has been reset, and the Novaquark Team has appointed CN_Firestorm as the new owner of the Organization, should he accept to take a fresh start on a healthy basis.
 
We also give a warning to all those who were indirectly involved (with the evidence we found) but not actively participating in the recent community troubles. Next time, there won’t be any new warning. If you become involved against your will in some shady real life activities, you have only two healthy options:
Leaving the group doing such activity immediately. Report it to Novaquark staff.  
If you stay in such group without leaving or reporting it and the group is caught, you take the risk to get the same sanction as those actively involved.
This investigation has taken (or more precisely wasted) a lot of time from Novaquark staff. We really don’t like to intervene in players affairs. However, if there is a chance that such affairs damage the Community by toxic behavior, you can expect Novaquark staff to step in. We hope we won’t have to take the same measures again.
 
Best regards,
The Novaquark Team.
 

Like this: 
Ideally this would work like a pair of linked elevator elements. Stand near and press space to go up; press C to go down. Alternatively, it could be decorative, requiring a pair of elevators in addition. Maybe this would be Tier 1 and elevators Tier 2?

Our last video about why you should join us
Watch it, it's gluten free