Wyndle

But IT can't be salvaged! 🤣

Over the past several weeks, we've been dealing with some pretty significant server issues that have made this (rightly) challenging game into one that's almost impossible to play.
 
On two occasions, while running missions, my ship has completely lost the ability to brake.  This is happening with a ship that I've used for that same mission many times before and after.
 
This has happened to some of my org-mates as well. One said, "I just landed on thades. and instead of landing I shot into the air at 16k kmph and disabled 223 modules".  Another said, "coming down for a landing - brakes are working and then the ship just drops to the ground damaging half the elements".
 
Another said, "yesterday late in the day i was leaving atmo on talemai .  at 16km above surface my ship disappeared and my body floated down. ship got stuck 16 km above me."  -  I know that this same exact thing happened to another player in my org about three weeks ago.
 
NQ knows there is a problem. And I know they're going to fix it. But until they do, I can't run missions. If my ship crashes like that again, it's done.  
 
If it happens again then my ship is broken forever and I'm screwed.
 
I had a cushion of quanta in my account that I've used to pay my tile taxes, but now that money is depleted. If I can't run missions, I can't earn money.
 
So what am I supposed to do here, NQ?  These server issues have been going on for weeks!  I really like this game and I want to play it. Because of these server issues, which are out of my control, I can't earn money.  And so I won't be able to pay my tile tax.  So I'm going to lose my tiles because the server is having problems. 
 
So I'm asking you, NQ.... what do you expect me to do here? This is frustrating and we've been patient. Are you guys going to do anything?  Please just help.

Services? Oh, should we read that as Dispenser APIs are coming? And reversed dispensers? ❤️
 

I enjoy taking part in these discussions but I will no longer put effort into giving NQ suggestions or ideas until I see an earnest effort on their part to communicate with the community.  Token gestures like tours and contests are just that, tokens.  I pour love and imagination in and only get tokens out?  What could possibly go wrong?
 
That said, I don't buy the market balance excuse.  If market balance was a priority then NQ would not leave any room for doubt about potential insider dealing leading to imbalance.  If anything, this was the minimum requirement or least effort attempt to pad a failed game loop.

I see even more potential!  That would be a great track for drag racing and if it's long enough would be cool for cruising too.
 
Just keep in mind that an ever-present "potential" backed up by years of no progress on any of the desired "potential" is an earmark of a trap, a scam, or Isaac Newton's writings.

Yo, listen up; here is the story.
about a little guy that lives in the DU world
and all day and all night
and everything he sees is DU like him, inside and outside
DU his house with the DU little window
with a DU corvette
and everything is DU for him and his self and everybody around
cause he can't get NQ to listen
 
I'm DU, I believe and I try
I believe and I die
I believe and I cry
I believe and I try
I believe and I die
I believe and I cry
I believe and I try

TBH, I remember the forums before DU alpha was released, the community came together to build massive orgs and orgs within orgs and there was a whole lot of scheming, spitballing and theorycrafting.

There was even a Youtuber "News" channel that reported on the current "events" of the time.
There were Gantt charts and 3D org connectivity webs showing alliances and crossovers between orgs and of course there were endless org "press releases" stating how many players, who had become legate, who had been kicked out etc.
 
it was all very dynamic with orgs rising and falling in the space of weeks and massive [filtered] waving contests to see who could inflate their org numbers with the most cannon fodder, I mean, members.

The massive compensatory egos on display were either tragic or hilarious depending upon one's standpoint.

But it honestly made me feel a bit sick inside when I actually read the banter, bluster and outright bombast, usually of grown men, many of whom were ex-military playing a game to ostensibly rebuild humanity and before it was even started were planning to burn it all to the ground and basically kill each other with mass warfare or political backstabbing.

I'm sure there is subset of the community to whom that kind of self-congratulatory member-stroking is enjoyable but it was basically all the toxicity of Eve without any checks and balances.
 
IMO, it's probably better this game never even got to the point where it could support such gameplay and in all likelyhood never will..
 
Just thinking about that gives the the ewws...

I was of this frame of mind for a while.  I've been watching, and waiting for a reason to come back.  However, to Mega's point, I don't trust NQ either.  I'm still watching for that miracle, but after what I've seen since I've left, I don't see them pulling this one out.  There are quite a few former players that called this game "a scam" when they left.  I argued with them for a bit, but yeah, NQ is showing these players may have been right.  Really sad.

That is an straw man argument since nobody argued against PvP.
 
The argument was always against making PvP more importation then building or any of the other 6 pillars, in a game that was sold as "make your own game" and clearly had a focus on persistent open world building in the kickstarter. I.e. make the game you sold us.
 
But the simple truth is that NQ sucks at game design for both builders and PvPers..
 

Right or wrong is measurable, as is everything. DU is bleeding players. Worse, they are bleeding long-time, dedicated, and influential players. 
 
NQ clearly has no plan and have gone silent. There is no excuse.

This is exactly why I quit also. I loved this game. Spent months building a race track and eventually earned great quanta from the location once it was finished. But I absolutely hated being lied to and treated like a commodity, rather than a customer, by the developers. 

We would have given them a million chances to get it right if they were just honest.

Yeah NQ cant keep losing people like this who are the people they wanted to build the game for NQ. We can do a lot but it would seem the exodus has started.
 
Hopefully NQ comes to the table before its too late.

You missed the point. It’s about trust. It is not about the lack of current roadmap. It is about NQ saying and doing something, then changing their minds with no notification. 
 
Mega is right that current actions border on deceit or stupidity. Take your pick, both are damning.
 
Losing players like Mega is a telling loss and I hope NQ pays attention. Their communication is shit. Their wishy washy stance on everything is shit.
 
I love DU and want it to succeed. I think NQ treats loyal players like shit and this is what kills games. 

A song and dance number.. nope that's where I draw the line.. NQ, ban please!!!!
 
 
 
 
 

Some whales are blue, others are pilot...

This is the guy who thinks PVP solves everything.
 
Yeah, nah. first thing is to make sure people cant sit on inactive tiles with T2+ ore on them...

For example, if a tile goes inactive, it should allow someone else to come along and activate the tile by paying rent and take over the TU.
It's ridiculous that orgs can sit on tiles paying 1/3 the asking price just to keep their competitors off of those tiles. 
 
My daughter could have spotted that sort of loophole when she was 10.
But it seems NQ devs are like... This is fine... I'm OK with this...
 

Looking around more, @Shredder was the only one to mention having seen a planet listed on the patch announcement and later the same day came the 'when will we hear about planets' complaints I recalled seeing.  The context for removing a portion of an official announcement that we now know for fact was a part of the patch is of the utmost importance here.  Just seeing Shredder's post with no direct response could create the impression that the planet was held back or not actually in the post.
 
Two plus weeks of prep time versus two days is an uncontestable head start with a myriad of additional ways to ensure coming out on top.  Even a solo player with two weeks of insider prep time could buy up and build MUs and TUs while mission running to cover TU placement costs and blanket the planet in fast claimed tiles.
 
@NQ-Wanderer @NQ-Nyota @NQ-Deckard  -  This incident has pushed the boundary past plausible deniability.  I can see the occasional slip or blunder leading to poor results but every patch having essentially the same effect of benefiting a few?  It is either malfeasance or ineptitude on a level that ensures the eventual collapse of the game and the fact the servers haven't already croaked takes credence away from the latter.

Reference:
https://dictionary.apa.org/gaslight
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agent provocateur (more polite than 'patsy')
Prior evidence of insider knowledge resulting in blatant imbalances.
 
I came to the table in good faith and offered input, suggestions, and value for the game and community.  Telling us how to jump through hoops with enough flame but not too much when we're not heaping praise upon you is a MAJOR RED FLAG. Every step along the way since launch that has been "mishandled" has been called out yet we get short notice for a single planet being released?  NQ has shaved the doubts balanced on Occam's Razer so thin that we're left with two equally horrible possible explanations; malfeasance or catastrophic incompetence.  Each patch has just enough "good enough" to temporarily pull attention away from consistent, repeated abuse of your community.  
 
There seems to be tons of smoke billowing around every patch.  It couldn't possibly be someone's pants ablaze?  Nah, nothing to see here...
 

Yeah, I saw an off-hand comment about new planet and thought "oh cool, progress."  Then I found out it was just one planet and immediately went into "either NQ doesn't care that many in the community have outright claimed cheating/favoritism or they are so horribly inept."  The end result is the same either way and will only harm the (remaining) community at large.

Reference:
https://dictionary.apa.org/gaslight
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agent provocateur (more polite than 'patsy')
Prior evidence of insider knowledge resulting in blatant imbalances.
 
I came to the table in good faith and offered input, suggestions, and value for the game and community.  Telling us how to jump through hoops with enough flame but not too much when we're not heaping praise upon you is a MAJOR RED FLAG. Every step along the way since launch that has been "mishandled" has been called out yet we get short notice for a single planet being released?  NQ has shaved the doubts balanced on Occam's Razer so thin that we're left with two equally horrible possible explanations; malfeasance or catastrophic incompetence.  Each patch has just enough "good enough" to temporarily pull attention away from consistent, repeated abuse of your community.  
 
There seems to be tons of smoke billowing around every patch.  It couldn't possibly be someone's pants ablaze?  Nah, nothing to see here...
 

Reference:
https://dictionary.apa.org/gaslight
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agent provocateur (more polite than 'patsy')
Prior evidence of insider knowledge resulting in blatant imbalances.
 
I came to the table in good faith and offered input, suggestions, and value for the game and community.  Telling us how to jump through hoops with enough flame but not too much when we're not heaping praise upon you is a MAJOR RED FLAG. Every step along the way since launch that has been "mishandled" has been called out yet we get short notice for a single planet being released?  NQ has shaved the doubts balanced on Occam's Razer so thin that we're left with two equally horrible possible explanations; malfeasance or catastrophic incompetence.  Each patch has just enough "good enough" to temporarily pull attention away from consistent, repeated abuse of your community.  
 
There seems to be tons of smoke billowing around every patch.  It couldn't possibly be someone's pants ablaze?  Nah, nothing to see here...
 

In other words, DU is fundamentally flawed at the core of that part of the design.  
It didn't take a detailed plan to get ahead of 80% of the players, just an understanding of which tools were needed in what order and then putting in the grind.  The persistent nature of the design was always going to advantage the early adopters over new comers.  The FTUE implicitly puts new players on a path of gameplay that has been nerfed out of viability since launch which is WAY worse than just older accounts having more advantages.
 
I've tried mentally pulling this game apart from every direction and viewpoint to find solutions to suggest that would have positive impact but nearly every time the problems extend into and beyond the core of the design.  The little imperfections in creativity are what makes art, but serious flaws at the base layer can ruin the entire body of work.  The worst part of the exercise of trying to find ways to save DU is to discover a direct financial conflict of interest between the cost of the server and the sandbox nature of the game itself.  The more the game succeeds the more it fails and vice versa to a degree.  This conflict between the core gameplay features and the cost of operations is baked into the recipe and no amount of layering new features over time can remove this inherent flaw.
 
So dear, sweet Virginia; yes there is a Santa Clause but even he and his elves can't save DU from itself.
 

Woot!  Its good to see communication from a dev, bonus for sharing.
 

You are correct that the roadmap is not the actual issue, it is a symptom.  There is only so much we as the community can do working in the dark.  I heard a comment on the stream that just about turned me three shades of livid; asking for suggestions to counterbalance negative comments.  I'm fairly sure that the VAST MAJORITY of comments about communication between the devs and the community were for that EXACT PURPOSE.  The topics are too complex to hash out in a meaningful way one-sided.  Anything other than a discussion with two way communication is a demand in one form or another.  NQ made it this far not listening to us and slaps us across the proverbial face when we get frustrated trying to get their attention in a less than destructive way.  If we have to spell it out all upfront then we may as well make the game ourselves and cut out that form of frustration, albeit likely replaced with a different frustration or three.
 
Suggestion to fix (unchanged over years):  Communicate with us.
 

With regard to the current roadmap and our current condition in relation there needs to be open communication.  Failure to communicate at this point only ensures further negative sentiment, if any.
 
I personally have difficulty handling negative feedback; I get it.  The game industry is a tough beast to saddle and ride with the MMO being the bucking bull of the metaphor.
 
If one can't deal with negative feedback then WTF is the thought behind developing a PvP anything?  Any project with any amount of niche or potential will hold sway over a small segment of dedicated players but will never rise to the level of MMO Community without communication.  Final call:  step up or quietly accept failure.
 
This is meant as a tough love message to NQ.  You've already alienated major segments of your dedicated player base.  You've already blown your shot at attracting a big wave of new players via Steam.  You've already started the slide down the slope towards game death.  If you have any fuel left in the tanks it's better to dump your current DeltaV into escaping the gravity well of certain failure than to try to slow the process of crashing on an unforgiving hostile planet with no hope of escape.