Distinct Mint

If DU is going to fail, it'll be because it's a poorly designed game with opaque and shallow mechanics that fails to retain enough players.
 
The endless wipe vs. no wipe BS will be 99% irrelevant compared to the many other challenges facing DU. Very few new players will care one way or the other (if they even know about this whole drama, which is unlikely).
 
That said...it's been plenty of time, NQ should have clarified this crap by now.
 
As has been said before, they haven't done a good job practicing for release in terms of community management and communication. 
 
This sort of silence after a big and vague announcement has caused enough frustration even at this scale...it doesn't get easier post-release.
 
They don't know how to build goodwill with their community and that's not a wise strategy for a subscription based game where you have to earn the player's trust monthly.
 
I don't think NQ has ever truly understood what being a subscription game means. In terms of update cadence, messaging, and community engagement they just aren't ready...and that's on top of the game itself not being ready. 

No rush to answer the wipe question from me. If there's a wipe and I lose my hard-earned stuff, then I won't be continuing. Really keen to play this game for many more years, but absolutely will not start from scratch again.
 
(Solo pre-alpha player; 2200 hours in game since 3rd month of beta release, when I figured out that the GOG client could record my in-game time!)

We would like to thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to visit our Public Test Server (PTS) and that tried our new Athena update. A special thanks to those who were able to attend our Fools Defense PvP event on April 1st, we hope you enjoyed it!
 
We recognize a good number of players were unable to attend the PTS event due to other engagements. As with any test, we had to make sure that our development teams were able to actively monitor and be present as the event took place. Thanks to your participation though, we have been able to identify some areas in need of improvements or adjustments - and thanks to your feedback, we will be working on improving them.
 
In addition, we are excited to announce that we will be bringing the PTS up for a couple of additional days, before heading into the next portion of our PTS test for Athena.
 
ATHENA ON PTS - SCHEDULE
 
- Wednesday 6th April 13:00 UTC to Friday 8th 09:00 UTC
We have finished adding more of the late stage game items, such as the schematics for the new Relic Plasma Harvester and Space Mining Unit, along with the variants of elements that have been introduced. We have also applied some fixes for added performance and stability for players to test out.
 
- Friday 8th April 11:00 UTC to Monday 11st April 09:00 UTC
Moving into the second part of our planned PTS testing for Athena, we’ll be focusing on the First Time User Experience (FTUE) beginner introduction guide. More information on this will be released very soon, so keep your eyes open for the upcoming devblog with all the details!
In order to fully test the new FTUE, the PTS will be completely reset on Friday, April 8th (hence the two hours maintenance between the two sessions). Please note that said maintenance might be a bit longer. But once it is done, everyone that connects to the PTS will be able to experience the new FTUE in detail. Of course, there will still be dispenser towers providing many in-game items for free, so players are able to continue to test other features that they are interested in as well.
 
Regarding the FTUE itself, brace yourselves for an upcoming devblog on this topic! The FTUE devblog will be available by the end of this week, so keep on the lookout for it. There will be many details to help you get ready for the FTUE PTS session!

As always, we would like to remind players that this is a Public Test Server and as such, many unforeseen issues can arise; this can include performance and stability issues. In the event that issues do arise, we will do our best to remedy them as soon as possible.
 
Get out to the PTS and test when the time comes! We look forward to reading your feedback for our Athena update in our Forum thread here.
 

Please do not wipe. Release with a new star system. Give existing players Helios access as we have today with no immediate way to get to the new system. Start new players on the new system (maybe let them pick in case they have friends in Helios). Provide a star gate type tech with a 90-180 day total craft time. Connect the systems months after release. 
 

After reading this DevBlog I am non-the-wiser on how any of these things work than I was before. Pretty much we have to go and try these things out and randomly experiment to even find out how they work or interact with other systems. Details matter, and if they aren't provided in DevBlogs, then what is the point of a DevBlog?
 
Please improve writing content.

After reading this DevBlog I am non-the-wiser on how any of these things work than I was before. Pretty much we have to go and try these things out and randomly experiment to even find out how they work or interact with other systems. Details matter, and if they aren't provided in DevBlogs, then what is the point of a DevBlog?
 
Please improve writing content.

No rush to answer the wipe question from me. If there's a wipe and I lose my hard-earned stuff, then I won't be continuing. Really keen to play this game for many more years, but absolutely will not start from scratch again.
 
(Solo pre-alpha player; 2200 hours in game since 3rd month of beta release, when I figured out that the GOG client could record my in-game time!)

No rush to answer the wipe question from me. If there's a wipe and I lose my hard-earned stuff, then I won't be continuing. Really keen to play this game for many more years, but absolutely will not start from scratch again.
 
(Solo pre-alpha player; 2200 hours in game since 3rd month of beta release, when I figured out that the GOG client could record my in-game time!)

No rush to answer the wipe question from me. If there's a wipe and I lose my hard-earned stuff, then I won't be continuing. Really keen to play this game for many more years, but absolutely will not start from scratch again.
 
(Solo pre-alpha player; 2200 hours in game since 3rd month of beta release, when I figured out that the GOG client could record my in-game time!)

A system like this is a win win for everyone. 
 
New players get to have that New player experience.  Old players that want that new player experience can go have that new player experience. (NQ gets another sub from the old player).  Old players get to keep their stuff.  It creates an event in the game. 
 
With the way it would work is Heleo's our current solar system, would get a schematic to build a stargateA. The new solar system would also get a schematic to build a stargateA.  Obviously these stargate schematics would cost allot of money. And take a long time to build (giving these new players alonger new player experience). And they would need to be built in PVP space, (so they can be destroyed, and players are each side can decide, na we dont want those players to join our system), They would also need to be fueled to maintain power. 
 
An added NQ advantage to this setup is if at any time the new solar system ever becomes not financially viable, They can always create a supernova event where everyone needs to vacate that solar system And it gets destroyed and lost forever. 
 
Basically it solves allot of problems for everyone, its a win win for everyone.  

Economy is far from dead. Does stuff insta sell on the market? no, It can be weeks for an item to sell, but then the next week you can hardly keep the stuff stocked.
 
You will always sell ore. Its a great way to make money. Even those people with multiple accounts and years of gameplay still sell ore. There are other ways to make money besides selling ore and factory work. (selling ship/ship designs, Selling station/station designs, Selling ore locations, Transporting goods for players, Running aphilia missions, skilling up in Handling skills and buffing other peoples things, Selling things you pirate, And soon what ever these alien things bring us, might even find a situation of guns for hire being a thing. 
 
A new player can compete with players with multiple accounts/years of gameplay in industry. You can hire people to touch your machines so they are running at max efficiency. 
 
If you dont like territory scanning you dont have to. Other people like to scan and you can buy scans off of them. You want random new resources? we already got those they are called asteroids, you want more? Well the new alien mechanic coming in is going to be just that. 
 
This infatuation that a wipe is going to make everything great is just laughable. You say your tired of mining ore just to sell because industry is not worth it for new players. Well with a wipe, industry is not going to be worth it for new players. Atleast not solo players. Its going to be the group of 20 or 50 people that work industry togeather.  And they are not going to sell those first things cheap. So while you say your tired of selling ore, with a wipe your going to mine allot more and sell allot more to be able to buy the things your buying now. 
 
Basically your way better off now as a new player then you would be after a wipe. 

Hi Noveans,
 
First thank you everyone for your feedback about the Athena PTS Announcement. We saw a lot of questions and concerns raised, and we will try to adress them as much as possible in the coming days. We want to bring some clarification already to some of the topics mentioned in this forum thread:
 
@fridaywitch
@Thunderblaze
@PotatoMart
You caught onto the word “wipe” that was in the announcement. Please know that:
As of today, there has not been a decision made about a server reset also known as a wipe. It is something that we are aware of that has been causing very heated player discussions and when we have more information about this topic, it will definitely be passed along to everyone as soon as we can. 
  Nothing more has been said than what has been already mentioned on Discord earlier this year - that we were discussing the topic internally - so this is just a follow-up of what has been already said (and makes the thing more official), with the addition that the team will come to a conclusion soon. At some point, we need to address the Elephant in the room.
  We are also aware that it has been a recurring question since Beta Launch, and though we weren't able to give a proper answer on that topic for a very long time, the wait is going to come to an end. A lot of options have been discussed. The final decision will not be made on a whim, the team will be taking into consideration and pondering carefully all factors and sides to the topic. More info on that in the coming weeks to enter into the details. If we don't give details right now, it's because the discussions are still in progress and it's a bit too soon to confirm anything.
  We understand that some of you may feel as if we were not caring or being direspectful towards you, our players. However, if we do communicate on this sensible topic ahead of the official release, it's precisely because we do care about the Community and your feedback. What could have been disrespectful would be to announce the decisions one or two weeks before Official Release, giving no time for you to express your feedback. In our opinion, you deserve to know what are the ongoing topics currently discussed internally at Novaquark (even though we can't share the details yet). At least, you know which topics are coming on the table soon (or which ones are already on the table).
  Some of you may also feel that we're not communicating enough, or maintaining a "deafening silence". Please keep in mind we promised to have better communication and better transparency with the Community. We are currently communicating what we can communicate right now. Not answering on the spot, right after the announcement, is not a sign of ignoring the Community. It may require gathering feedback first, discussing it with the team, before being able to give a proper answer. Replying in the 24/48 hours is usually a common time window. We also completely understand that it may seem frustrating right now to not have more details and we ask you for just a bit more patience. 
  Please keep also in mind that we do value your support and the time you invested in Dual Universe so far, and no matter which decision the team will make in the future, we take this part seriously into account in the decision making process, so you won't start from zero even in the most drastic scenarios considered. @CptLoRes
@blundertwink
About “this is all we get for the final game”:
Please understand that if Athena is the last major update before Official Release, it doesn’t mean it’s the last update before Official Release, we may have one or more smaller updates before official release, having less content, but content that could really improve the game and/or the user experience a lot.
  Official Release doesn’t mean “the final game” at all. The roadmap will continue after the official release and many more updates are planned.   
We hope this clarifies a bit the Novaquark team's stance on those topics.
 
Best Regards,
Nyzaltar.

No rush to answer the wipe question from me. If there's a wipe and I lose my hard-earned stuff, then I won't be continuing. Really keen to play this game for many more years, but absolutely will not start from scratch again.
 
(Solo pre-alpha player; 2200 hours in game since 3rd month of beta release, when I figured out that the GOG client could record my in-game time!)

No rush to answer the wipe question from me. If there's a wipe and I lose my hard-earned stuff, then I won't be continuing. Really keen to play this game for many more years, but absolutely will not start from scratch again.
 
(Solo pre-alpha player; 2200 hours in game since 3rd month of beta release, when I figured out that the GOG client could record my in-game time!)

No rush to answer the wipe question from me. If there's a wipe and I lose my hard-earned stuff, then I won't be continuing. Really keen to play this game for many more years, but absolutely will not start from scratch again.
 
(Solo pre-alpha player; 2200 hours in game since 3rd month of beta release, when I figured out that the GOG client could record my in-game time!)

I think at this point delay and inaction has put the game in a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" type of situation WRT a wipe.  Really the game has been going for too long to wipe it at this point.  Some of us have been playing continuously since the start of beta, not used any exploits and a wipe would represent the deletion of thousands of hours of effort.  On the other hand the long beta and generally being slow to correct mistakes (or just not bothering to address some of them at all, *cough*schematics*cough*) have resulted in quite a lot of imbalance in the economy and a lot of people who feel like they don't want to play unless everything is reset back to a level playing field.

The OP here clearly won't play unless there's a wipe.  Personally I have been playing for a long time and have a lot of hours invested in the game.  Wiping would erase all the things I've done.  There are other games I'm interested in playing and I don't think I will bother to do another playthrough of this one from the beginning if it wipes (particularly since I think the first part of the game is less interesting now without the planet mining and industry gameplay loops) so I will probably stop playing at the point where a wipe happens.
 
So they're damned either way really but the longer it goes on the worse it will be.  IMO the best answer is to stop delaying, communicate the long term plan and if there is going to be a wipe do it *right now* so the problems don't keep on getting worse.  For those of us who will quit there's no point stringing us along for another 6 months, let us go do something else now and let the ones waiting in the sidelines come in and play instead.  Or go the other way, let them go do something else and let us play properly without holding back in fear of our work getting deleted.  

With the advent of mission money most of the early exploits where a few people got cheap schematics/resources are not even ripples in the water anymore.. Sure it's lame it happened & NQ didn't do much/anything about it at the time, but overall the economy and state of the game isn't heavily affected by them at this point in time(in my humble opinion)
 
100 bucks a month in subs and a whale can churn 200-400mil a day easy.  A month and these players are starting to eclipse the blip on the radar that was cheap schematics and money people made from selling honeycomb to bots lol. 

Simply by NQ changing the gameplay/state of play by introducing new mechanics they've "wiped"- it was just on a live service. If/when they go out of Beta they need to be able to show they can manage a persistent game world that can be managed over years of gameplay, even when things go wrong/become unbalanced from new changes. We've already experienced several soft-wipes in beta, initially with schematics, territory upkeep, and core slot changes.

So the question I ask, what really does a full wipe accomplish besides deleting the game world players are building for release and "leveling" the playing field for those that see players progress in beta is not valid, because "beta". I argue the majority calling for a wipe do not play much, and or, just want to watch the world burn... and unlike most games, players are creating the content for... the game. Seams silly to wipe that out.

-.- can we please wipe so the guy who hasnt read a devblog for 16 months blesses us with his presence for two and a half weeks
 
what was it can't turn a profit turning ore into intermediaries or some other thing nobody needs help for, or are you convinced all juicy spots are allready sucked dry...?
 
Sorry for the salt but I'd be surprised if it wasn't one of these reoccurring easily debunked memes.

This "event" was just like the previous bad events where some people got everything and most got nothing.
 
Not everyone can take time off work to camp constructs all day. I have a 2 hour slot each day to play, so there was nothing for me by the time I could log on. Not sure how this could have been avoided (for me), but the effect is the same regardless. The rich got richer, the rest of us had to shrug again and know this booty was never meant for us.

This "event" was just like the previous bad events where some people got everything and most got nothing.
 
Not everyone can take time off work to camp constructs all day. I have a 2 hour slot each day to play, so there was nothing for me by the time I could log on. Not sure how this could have been avoided (for me), but the effect is the same regardless. The rich got richer, the rest of us had to shrug again and know this booty was never meant for us.

This "event" was just like the previous bad events where some people got everything and most got nothing.
 
Not everyone can take time off work to camp constructs all day. I have a 2 hour slot each day to play, so there was nothing for me by the time I could log on. Not sure how this could have been avoided (for me), but the effect is the same regardless. The rich got richer, the rest of us had to shrug again and know this booty was never meant for us.

This "event" was just like the previous bad events where some people got everything and most got nothing.
 
Not everyone can take time off work to camp constructs all day. I have a 2 hour slot each day to play, so there was nothing for me by the time I could log on. Not sure how this could have been avoided (for me), but the effect is the same regardless. The rich got richer, the rest of us had to shrug again and know this booty was never meant for us.

This "event" was just like the previous bad events where some people got everything and most got nothing.
 
Not everyone can take time off work to camp constructs all day. I have a 2 hour slot each day to play, so there was nothing for me by the time I could log on. Not sure how this could have been avoided (for me), but the effect is the same regardless. The rich got richer, the rest of us had to shrug again and know this booty was never meant for us.

I truly hope they don’t wipe. If NQ does decide to do so, I will continue to play until the announcement and then move on. I know I am just one player, but I suspect there are many like me who joined the Beta with the impression what we built would carry forward.

To me the problem is that after the last wipe, and up until the last Q&A, NQ had made it very clear that they didn't intend to intentionally revert player's progress, for the sake of reverting player's progress.  There is plenty of evidence to support this.
 
Any situation that might have required them to wipe, they could at least give out magic blueprints "so that players are quickly back on their feet".
 
A wipe for the sake of "resetting the economy" wouldn't really work though, if they provide magic blueprints.  And i don't see how NQ could keep their promise to "attempt to mitigate these effects through plenty of forewarning and various dev means so that players are quickly back on their feet" if their intentions are to do the opposite.
 
They can't really mitigate the effects of a wipe, if the effects of the wipe are the only reason they are doing it.
 
I'm not going to say i'd quit playing if they wiped, because i probably wouldn't.  But the truth is that there are several projects that i've spent a huge amount of time on and was planning to spend a lot more time finishing, that would likely never see the light of day again.  It would take me months to get back into a position to start working on them again, and from past experience i know i probably won't get around to it.  Huge builds have a kind of momentum that it can be hard to recapture, for me at least.
 
The fact is i've already walked off the Arcship twice with empty pockets.  I might not quit, but it's really hard to imagine mustering the same enthusiasm a third time.
 
If they do wipe for the sake of wiping, i sure hope all the people who quit playing once already, come back with a lot more enthusiasm this time around, because it would be a shame to have 100% of the player base alienated and unenthusiastic.
 
The second solar system idea sounds incredible to me, it really seems like the ideal solution.  I hope they consider it whether they decide to wipe or not.  It sounds like it would be fun.