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A LETTER FROM OUR CREATIVE DIRECTOR - discussion thread


NQ-Wanderer

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This is the kind of communication I was looking for. It was painful not knowing if the vision of the original game was kept and what change was in store.
Now we have a list of major short, medium and long term goals for the studio.

It's still much more fun for the whole community to be able to project themselves a little further into the future.

There's a little light at the end of the tunnel

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AND what day would that be when you could give us "more concrete" news on a reset???? Could you perhaps tell us that??? Yall are trying to address the problem without addressing the problem, and every time you release a statement that is not an answer to the wipe but  another "we are still discussing it" you prove that point. Once again you have released a statement that is no statement. I have been a subscriber since the first beta weekend and have never been more frustrated. I know there are plenty of people who have supported this game longer but I think most of us want to know that answer to only one question more than any other. You are looking to things that will release when? after launch? before launch? that wasn't answered. I finally canceled auto renewal on all three of my accounts because there IS NO POINT IN PLAYING when we don't know the future or even about when these plans will be in place. I would love to play this game with my friends when we have a goal. but as long as the "reset" (wipe) is uncertain there is no goal I can think of that may or may not be wiped. 

 

You may not care but you will get no more money from me until you answer those questions. 

I have never spent more time on a game than I have with DU and this is so frustrating and upsetting. I am not yelling as I type, just sad. 

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Looking forward to additional planetary bodies and claimable asteroids. More construct specialization options like what you alluding to with power management is also greatly appreciated. With that said, if you are planning to go heavy down that path please give us a talent tree option/skill for revealing enemy construct capabilities. In other games you have a general idea of where the big threats are but for DU looks can be deceiving and fleet commanders/scouts are going to have an increasingly tough time picking targets. Just something to consider for later down the line, maybe file it alongside electronic warfare.

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Please NQ, go with "Fleet", not "Flotilla"

Pretty please ..

 

 

Also, this letter in general really just reads as a combination of the last few monthly update mails.. Nothing new here.. AvA and player run markets still MIA. Rehashing all the "we are going to do this, most of which wasd supposed to be in at release to begin with, and then repeating the same spin on the wipe, now called a reset, is really getting old. And it is getting very tough to believe that you really need well past 6 months now to make a decision on a yes/no with regards to wipe pre release. Details, sure.. that can be a matter of factors and change over time, but whether you will or will not do a wipe shoudl really be set in stone by now (as I really expect it is).

 

I would be interested to understand how NQ plans to pay for all this.. I mean, is NQ really expecting to gain and maintain player subscriptions well north of 6 figures on what is going to release in what I expect is single digit weeks by now?

It would be great to get something like "NQ has secured an additional 10 million of funding from our investors, allowing us to continue development past release and ensuring the stability of the company for the forseeable future". None of what was written really has much meaning if you can't show NQ will be around to make it happen.

 

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wow, i can keep my bluebrints, thy....i have no blueprints, i have bought ships, buildings, all have drm. I have invested 20 billion quanta in schematics....

 

im a dealer, mission flyer, and i do factory, so i can start from square 0 and buy the ships and buildings again, lol.

 

do a full wipe or no wipe, thats fair for all.

 

and pls say something, what you have planned for the health of the economy, for the oversupply of ores, for  the unnessesary to fly to asteroids.
why you plan to introduce a scrambler bringing components  out of destroyed things back instead of ore? componets can use only a few ppl, ores are better to use or to sell.

thy for open communication.

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2 minutes ago, blazemonger said:

Please NQ, go with "Fleet", not "Flotilla"

Pretty please ..

 

 

Also, this letter in general really just reads as a combination of the last few monthly update mails.. Nothing new here.. AvA and player run markets still MIA. Rehashing all the "we are going to do this, most of which wasd supposed to be in at release to begin with, and then repeating the same spin on the wipe, now called a reset, is really getting old. And it is getting very tough to believe that you really need well past 6 months now to make a decision on a yes/no with regards to wipe pre release. Details, sure.. that can be a matter of factors and change over time, but whether you will or will not do a wipe shoudl really be set in stone by now (as I really expect it is).

 

I would be interested to understand how NQ plans to pay for all this.. I mean, is NQ really expecting 8 fogure player numbers and maintinaing that on what is going to release in what I expect is single digit weeks by now?

It would be great to get something like "NQ has secured an additional 10 million of funding from our investors, allowing us to continue development past release and ensuring the stability of the company for the forseeable future". None of what was written really has much meaning if you can't show NQ will be around to make it happen.

 

they probably plan to do all of that AFTER launch

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I understand there needs to be some for of flatline, BP's are key anyway, but most of our BP's contain elements that we won't be able to purchase or buy for an age of rebuilding.  What about ships we've worked to purchase from other players?  I have at least 2 ships that I know I will never see again as the players just don't exist in game anymore.

What about the player voxel store that has been a key place for old and new players alike to obtain or sample voxels?  Places like this are as key to the game experience as some of the player bases and space stations that have become landmarks, these weren't just built in a day or even a couple of months...

I don't know, 6 years of my life has been spent in this game building and designing a base inside a mountain, saving for BP's to build the industry I desired and working and working to get the parts to make my personal ships.  Yes, the game was in beta, but it's not like there's a been a flow of new players coming and going, most of the core players have spent years getting to where they are.  The game itself has come from basic mechanics to some really good content, but you can't deny that this game has been created by players... ALL the ships, all the events / Expos... to log in one day and find everything I've worked to create gone and a pocket load of BP's wouldn't be a thank you for your support over these years, it would be a big screw you, your efforts have amounted to nothing.

I've wanted this game to succeed so bad and looking forward to release and some fresh Noveans... but this just sounds like a death nell for me, already I've seen so many talented players pack up and go.  I guess maybe that's the intention... you just want a constant renewal of players and subs... no history, no legacy.  How far from the tree we have fallen,

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Glad others are seeing it.

 

While I build ships, I do feel like keeping BP's is retaining the economic aspect for creative players while removing such completely from all non-creative players. Very unfair especially when the economy is listed as problem a wipe is targeted to address. 

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Quote

Let me assure you that no matter what we decide, you will not be reset back to square one. Of the different options we’ve been discussing in case of a reset, we are certain that you will keep your core blueprints, including blueprints owned by an organization that you lead. We are also looking into which other important parts of your game progress could be kept if we do reset.

IF there is a reset there are at minimum two main things that have to be retained upon a wipe. The first you already mentioned which is the core BPs. These are what we have spent hours designing and building within the game. The second one is that talent points need to be retained as it is a representation of the TIME that we have already invested in the game. No I do not mean partial I mean all as this is something that differentiates those in the BETA and the release.

Additionally a HIGHLY recommended one is to have our Organizations carried over as there can easily be people who will use the opportunity to take the names of popular existing organizations within the community. Not doing so would cause a lot of issues withing the community.

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Details of the reset are the most important thing to know... and we got a vague, "you'll keep your BPs and maybe more." We were already pretty sure we'd keep our BPs, lol.

 

The rest of it not bad, except that energy has a good chance of making ships even more non-viable.

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I don't get why power management would come to ships.  There is already fuel.  Fuel is the power management.  If we get a nuclear or dark matter power source upgrade that does away with fuel, that would make sense.  But, I don't get why fuel is not enough pwr mngt for ships.  Give pwr mngt to static cores.

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Powermanagement (and capcitor) will allow NQ to manage what players can add to their constructs. It will also open up a slew of gameplay option in industry/research to create more effective/efficient elements.. But I somehow expect NQ will do the bare minimum and callit done to tick the box.. pretty much like they have done for years now.

Doing proper power/energy would mean you massively disrupt your game and that is something NQ really can't afford post release.

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Well, I think you'd better launch soon. Sooner the better, sounds like. We need to be in a place where we know our things that we're paying for aren't going to go bye-bye. I'm new to the space genre. If wiping things you work hard on and pay for is done on the regular, it's a shame that such a nice program of voxels with wonderful tools has been placed into it. These agents work spectacularly awful against one another. The things you're saying will be put in/implemented sound great. We'll see. Thanks for the communication, above all!

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27 minutes ago, Endstar said:

While I build ships, I do feel like keeping BP's is retaining the economic aspect for creative players while removing such completely from all non-creative players. Very unfair especially when the economy is listed as problem a wipe is targeted to address. 

This is a tricky subject but at the end of the day skills and experience will carry over regardless of what NQ does. Someone with proven talent like yourself will always be in demand over new inexperienced builders. Yes letting you keep blueprints will further increase your advantage but the question is whether the effect is significant enough to warrant corrective action. In my opinion we stand to lose a lot of history and upset a good chunk of players by also resetting blueprints. Conversely blueprint prices will need to reflect the state of the reset economy and selling blueprints by its nature does not directly add quanta to the economy. Also future changes/updates will eventually invalidate old blueprints to some degree so I really think the overall impact would be minimal. I suppose one potential compromise would be to allow players to keep blueprints but not allow them to sell those designs. With that said, I am not sure if even that is really necessary.

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This feels like you are only releasing to drum up more money. You have lost so many subs over the last 2 years because of poor decisions and indecision. Im sure most people remember the mass exodus after the schematics were introduced. And you have lost alot of players over the indecision around the wipe. As much as you say you listen to the community your actions have always shown other wise (and even when forced to listen, you only half listen and still plow on with what you want to do anyway)

 

Wipes on other games drums up lots of new players so you will probably be happy with that extra income. But I will not be coming back until a further decision is made around this topic. And I have seen the same sentiment echoed on Organisation discords I am a member of.

 

You need to stop fence sitting on this issue.

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That post is exactly what the community needed...

Lots of informations what the plans for the Game are. Lots of infos wich direction Novaquark will lead the game.
Question: When can we expect PVP fighting on foot and how is it planned? Will it come together with the planetary warfare that wa planned almost 2 years ago?
Its important to have a stable playerbase. DU has it rn. Im not sure how a Release can help, when most of the promissed base features are not fully implemented yet.
There are a lot of players waiting to come back to the game with a release. But if they are not pleased and dont see a feature complete game at release, most of them

will quit again im afraid.
Most important are the bugs and exploits to make money the unregular way. There have been a lot of allready. I see this as the only reason for players to ask for a wipe.
I hope you were able to fix all of those exploits at best and have an eye on it if they are all gone.

1. Feature complete game (5 pillars of DU finished) I hope the plans havnt changed since the kickstarter for those goals.
2. Bugs and Exploiots all fixed, to prevent people after a potential partly wipe to destroy the economy on unregular ways.
3. enough players, i know a lot of people will come back. i also know a lot of players will never come back to DU and you lost them forever with the silence of the developers all the time.
Broken promisses dont help to save a stable playerbase. Not clearing rumors from developers side dosnt help either.
It was a long and halftimes wonky way so far with you NQ, but i really hope its getting better.
But with hopes and dreams you can make a lot of money, but cannot hold a longterm playerbase
Im sure NQ is still the company who want to build a metaverse for us players and not to make money in the first place.
I still trust you NQ thats why i backed a lot of money many years ago.
But i know many people dont have this pacience.

Do something great, Just DU it

BiGEdge

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Greetings!

Short of extracting every bit of knowledge from peoples brains about Dual, talents, etc. there is no way to create a level playing field with a wipe.

There are also the PAYING subscribers to consider who were told that there would be no more wipes unless absolutely necessary. Many people are PAYING to work for you to assist fixing the game and finding the bugs. Most beta versions are free because the Devs realize the value and cost savings of actual people playing their games. As paying customers, we have every right to expect a greater return for all our efforts to help YOU!


If you were to do a full wipe, the larger organizations would be back on top in no time and have greater advantages then newer orgs/players. They are in a much better position to pool resources to advance more quickly with all the combined knowledge they have. On the other hand, over these past few years, organizations have been created, talents pooled and a community formed - a community that is on the verge of becoming even more depending on what is done. 

We have also spent countless hours as a community in the scrapping program and to simply loose all to a wipe after all that hard work is really asking a lot. Scrapping has helped all of us!

 

Thousands of people are just waiting to see what happens regarding a full wipe and if so, you will loose a lot of players plus word of mouth in the gaming community as a whole. We want to do more in the game but hold back because of the time investment in building or whatever to loose it all to a wipe. After all these years and so much effort, it would be to much. Many people are just waiting in the wings not willing to invest anymore time to build when it will all be for naught if a wipe comes. So, some people maintain their subscriptions but don't really play waiting for some direction regarding whether or not there will be any more major wipes.

 

Consider continuing as we have been doing and let people know that even though this is still considered Beta, that their paid subscriptions guarantee the continuance of all that they have achieved, BP’s Constructs, territories etc. and that there will be no more major wipes. Emphasize that their talents, constructs etc. will remain as they are. We have earned this!

An advertising campaign might be along these lines as in, grow with us as we continue the journey with Dual to create more systems, more content etc. People’s response will be positive and they will enjoy anticipating new systems, new content, being part of the games development  and so on! As for issues with planets, like the Alioth system, it's issues can be revisited at a later time. Each new system introduced could be handled separately from the others to address the issues and applied globally to other systems if need be.

No Mans Sky is a perfect example of bouncing back and even though it is different than this game, their changes and keeping their word helped them recover their losses with the gaming community.

Be a trend setter, be different and better than any other game has done before!

You have the opportunity to make gaming history with revolutionary ideas and actions!

You will regain many of your former player base plus those waiting in the wings. 

All of this is within your grasp to reach out and take it and breathe life back into us!

Make this happen to such a degree that it will reverberate throughout the gaming community in anticipation and excitement of what’s to come in DUAL as it once did so many years ago and above all else, remember, WE WANT TO SEE THIS GAME TO SUCCEED and truly enjoy this game!

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Arguments for a wipe: Its unfair when people have allready played and got stuff sooner than others.
Arguments against a wipe: Big Orgs will have all theyr stuff back in notime and smaller groups of players will quit the game forever because all theyve achived since beta start is gone, and NQ promissed no further wipes if not neccessarry.

So NQ make the right choice for the playerbase and the game...

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I don't agree at all that the wipe is their most important choice ever. I don't get how they are still "discussing" it. That betrays a profound lack of leadership if that's really true.

 

The wipe isn't nearly as important as maintaining a stable volume of players so that NQ can (someday) get to the goals outlined in this letter. These ideas are for post-release, and there's no guarantee that they will materialize if the sub count never meets the basic minimum. 

 

NQ's most important, critical choices have already been made...the design of the game itself is far more critical than any wipe discussion, and that's where the game still struggles. The die has already been cast for DU and its "most important choices" are long in the past.

 

All we can do is wait to see if release earns them enough subs, and I'm not optimistic that it will, which means none of the goals discussed in this letter are material. 

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