1.4 Feedback post

[Honvik]

I could not see one so maybe use this post to post your feedback for NQ on all the changes

 

honvik

[LeeFall]

Tried the easy mission, was going ok until I had to gap the enemy to vent.  Had to get completely out of the radar range. By the time I vented and got back into the fight I didn't have time to complete the remaining ships. Are we not meant to be tactical and just vent in combat? When the time ran out I was sent to what I'm guessing was the closest active res node, without a ship. Would be cool to pick a res node after failing and increase the time limit a little.

edit: Also noticed that ships kept un-identifying themselves.
 

Edited June 21, 2023 by LeeFall

[space_man]

Please don't ever skip on the PTS again. I understand that your a small team with a small budget but it's a community favorite, as the PTS provides valuable testing and faster feedback; in addition the community will gather to test not only the new things but also valuable insight into talents, and a no cost way to build without limits, and many other things which may include testing how fast can I fly my ship into the market. 

[space_man]

1 hour ago, Honvik said:

I could not see one so maybe use this post to post your feedback for NQ on all the changes

 

honvik

Sadly I don't see the forum getting attention anymore, the community has felt abandoned, and unresponsive.

[Nitewolf]

We have temporarily disabled the Orbital Challenge (which was missing on the change log, appologies for that) and corrected the ore pools for the new planets.

Sicari now has: Quartz, Hematite, Vanadinite, Gold Nuggets and Pyrite

Sinnen now has: Bauxite, Coal, Columbite, Cryolite and Chromite

Sinnen Moon 1 now has: Quartz, Hematite, Coal, Kolbeckite, Petalite and Natron

 

This has already been updated, but I thought it would be a good place to know it here.

[Seawing]

Edit: Hallelujah! Keybinds for Identify and Engage are in 1.4.2!

 

Core PvE feedback:

 

Clicking on widgets for almost all combat actions is fun-destroyingly painful!

 

Keybinds for the following actions would go a really reaaaalllly long way to a combat experience that has flow:

 

1.  Identify selected target  now present in 1.4.2

2.  Engage selected target now present in 1.4.2

3.  Reload All

4.  Vent

5.  Cycle Shield Resistance Presets

 

If I could click a target's icon around me with the reticle, and from there out interact with it solely by keybind it would at least put us on par with tab target MMOs

 

There is potential for fun here, but the current method solidly, solidly blocks it.  This one point must be addressed in order for the combat to retain appeal and players.

 

Other PvE feedback:

 

Enemy killcount to complete the Very Easy mission feels high for the time alotted.  Reducing the # of kills required by about 30% would feel better, or an extra 5 minutes on completion

 

Being killed by running out of time feels harsh, an automatic portal out would be better.  Players already expend fuel/ammo and sustain damage, simply leaving the mission without payout is punishment enough imo.

 

Enemies should not spawn and fire on the player the very instant they enter their construct seat.  Perhaps the intention was to feel like you were being ambushed?  However if so this is not communicated to the player.  A 30 second countdown to the arrival of the first wave would be good.

 

Ressurrection node selection logic needs to be looked at, as currently a rez node on a carrier at the mission entry point has not been where I've been sent on death.  Rather all the way back to Alioth?

[LeeFall]

6 minutes ago, Seawing said:

PvE feedback:

 

Clicking on widgets for almost all combat actions is very painful!

 

Keybinds for the following actions would go a really reaaaalllly long way to a combat experience that has flow:

 

1.  Identify selected target

2.  Engage selected target

3.  Reload All

4.  Vent

5.  Cycle Shield Resistance Presets

 

If I could click a target's icon around me with the reticle, and from there out interact with it solely by keybind it would at least put us on par with tab target MMOs

We have been waiting for "Reload all" for 2+ years.

Edited June 21, 2023 by LeeFall

[blundertwink]

13 hours ago, space_man said:

Please don't ever skip on the PTS again. I understand that your a small team with a small budget

 

Skipping QA is going to be the norm -- it's not just that they are a small team with a small budget, it's that they are a small team with a small budget that's also working on three projects other than DU right now. 

 

All their hiring is focused on those other projects while DU gets fewer and fewer resources. Of course they are going to skip things... 🤷‍♂️

 

That's if the game keeps getting updates, which isn't certain.  

 

11 hours ago, Seawing said:

This one point must be addressed in order for the combat to retain appeal and players.

 

Every piece of data available about the game shows that this ship has already sailed....a long time ago. They're far, far, far beyond needing to "retain" players. DU would need triple-digit percentage growth for months just to attain "moderate" success. 

 

We're talking about an average of 50 or so DAUs recently, with the patch yesterday pushing it to around 80. That's worse metrics than many old single player games, never mind an MMO that's <1 year out of release. 

 

So we're far beyond needing a few changes to mechanics to "retain appeal", they'd need to do something spectacular to achieve that sort of growth.

 

One boring PvE mission isn't going to be that even if combat was actually engaging in this game!

[Tordan]

16 hours ago, space_man said:

Sadly I don't see the forum getting attention anymore, the community has felt abandoned, and unresponsive.

 

The real community is on Discord.

NQs unwillingness to simply ban the 3 schmucks who fill every forum post with a tired rant on how the game isn't being developed anymore, and how no one is playing (both wrong) makes it a dreary drudge to try and read anything here.  I still try though.  

[Seawing]

5 hours ago, blundertwink said:

 

 

 

So we're far beyond needing a few changes to mechanics to "retain appeal", they'd need to do something spectacular to achieve that sort of growth.

 

 

 

I'm not under illusions about DU's situation.  It's simply feedback, narrowly focused on a major impediment to the fun of the new system they just spent significant resources on building. 

[Wyndle]

On 6/20/2023 at 10:19 PM, Seawing said:

Core PvE feedback:

 

Clicking on widgets for almost all combat actions is fun-destroyingly painful!

 

Keybinds for the following actions would go a really reaaaalllly long way to a combat experience that has flow:

 

1.  Identify selected target

2.  Engage selected target

3.  Reload All

4.  Vent

5.  Cycle Shield Resistance Presets

 

If I could click a target's icon around me with the reticle, and from there out interact with it solely by keybind it would at least put us on par with tab target MMOs

 

There is potential for fun here, but the current method solidly, solidly blocks it.  This one point must be addressed in order for the combat to retain appeal and players.

 

Other PvE feedback:

 

Enemy killcount to complete the Very Easy mission feels high for the time alotted.  Reducing the # of kills required by about 30% would feel better, or an extra 5 minutes on completion

 

Being killed by running out of time feels harsh, an automatic portal out would be better.  Players already expend fuel/ammo and sustain damage, simply leaving the mission without payout is punishment enough imo.

 

Enemies should not spawn and fire on the player the very instant they enter their construct seat.  Perhaps the intention was to feel like you were being ambushed?  However if so this is not communicated to the player.  A 30 second countdown to the arrival of the first wave would be good.

 

Ressurrection node selection logic needs to be looked at, as currently a rez node on a carrier at the mission entry point has not been where I've been sent on death.  Rather all the way back to Alioth?

 

To expand upon Seawing's observations; it is vital that we be able to bind active gameplay functions.  The controller and joystick support, while long overdue yet appreciated, still falls short of what this game needs to be playable due to click-only widgets.  Fixing that one aspect will enable a more immersive experience as well as taking a massive step toward becoming PCVR compatible (ex. Virtual Desktop emulating supported controllers).

 

A potential solution for the Res node issue would be to display a list of available nodes upon death instead of instantly spawning. 

 

IMO, the rest is a matter of balance.  The way PvE functions at present gives a massive advantage for cannons and discourages moving at all.  The lore may explain why they pop in so close but it sounds like a larger variety of enemy builds (i.e. optimal distance preference) would resolve this balance issue with the least amount of dev work required in theory.  It would also help immersion greatly to have a unique enemy type show up at end of time and force you to warp out instead of dying.

 

On 6/21/2023 at 3:54 PM, Seawing said:

I'm not under illusions about DU's situation.  It's simply feedback, narrowly focused on a major impediment to the fun of the new system they just spent significant resources on building. 

 

In the spirit of feedback:  Thanks to LLM AIs I have a bit of hope for the skeleton crew at NQ.  I've been watching the forums since I acted like a diva and stormed out.  There hasn't been a ton of communication but it has been exactly what was needed and in a timely manner.  Perhaps we can get a vague roadmap of what NQ hopes they can eek out next, even if there isn't a timeline or hard expectations?  

 

/smh

Yeah, I'm back... for now.

 

[NotReally ApheIia]

This update was without merit. The players numbers will further be punished till mandatory fun is had. 

Unfun combat- unfinished PVE- and a rug pull on scans by the community. It bought NQ a single day of 2x player activity and it's back down to dwindling. If the PVE had been more... open world based, and fun- maybe. Where are the NPC ships flying about delivering goods? The Police enforcing Aphelia's laws...? or potential points of dynamic fun with everything that having dynamic NPC's in world means.... instead it's walled off in it's own part of the game, not adding anything to the game world itself.

I still hope that one day they'll have territory warfare, and more dynamic PVE. Daisy... daisy.... 

[Koffye]

Great update for the keybindings.

-I can cycle through enemies, identify and "engage target" with all weapons and that with shortcuts. Nice

- The NPCs are an easy kind with no movement/pathfinding, but still lays a foundation for more pve combat in the future. More pf that please

[blundertwink]

21 hours ago, Tordan said:

 

The real community is on Discord.

NQs unwillingness to simply ban the 3 schmucks who fill every forum post with a tired rant on how the game isn't being developed anymore, and how no one is playing (both wrong) makes it a dreary drudge to try and read anything here.  I still try though.  

 

The community on Discord isn't that busy, either, compared to actual MMOs with players...or many single player games, being honest. 

 

This idea that it's "too hard" for anyone to read the forum because there's negative perspectives is not realistic -- there's no activity here because there's no activity. It's really that stupidly simple. 

 

Similarly, there's very little activity on Reddit, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube...or any other social channel where people would talk about actual MMOs. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

You can declare something is wrong (without any elaboration or evidence) if you want...but it strikes me as arrogant to suggest they just ban people you don't like.

 

You don't like reading my opinions...that's fair...but you aren't entitled to block them out or delete them just because you don't have the means or energy to engage with the ample evidence showing the game's state in terms of dev and player counts.

 

It takes no effort or time to just not read something you don't feel like engaging with. 

 

Ultimately, I think it is helpful to point out the state of the game based on the facts we have...NQ is still selling 12 month subs and there's plenty of reason to doubt that the game will remain online for that long based on actual fact...not just a vague desire to ban anyone that has an opinion they don't like. 

[Honvik]

FeedBack

 

Missions dont give enough reward for cost currently.  Ammo/Fuel/Voxels the cost outweighs the time/effort to do the action.  You can do afk hauling missions which has little risk for greater reward.  Plus Safezone hauling missions as well.  Radar is too small to promote PvP conflict thus PvE missions need adjustment for reward.

 

Bugs encountered.  Ported 10000's SU but  stuck and mission stuck.  Mission ended and ship and 2 out of 3 ported back.  1 stuck 1000's away lol

 

Mobs warp too you there for you cannot vent or active gameplay.  it is more standing still shooting mobs (escalating).  Using bigger voxels mean greater cost and deplatiing ammo.  Mobs need to move like ships, chances to vent to engage etc.

 

KT limit could it scale? 2KT is nothing.  Couldnt use some pretty ships in PvE and really wanted to test a flagship out even if it is for 9m reward for a bit of fun

 

Thats it for now

 

 

[Porkchop]

I came here to say almost exactly the same thing as Honvik.  The PvE missions just don't pay out enough to cover the initial cost just in ammo, let alone fuel or ship damage, and that's if you don't have a catastrophic bug that makes you unable to complete it (or leaves your ship stranded 660,000 su away so you effectively can't retry).  When it works, it's been fun, but my group can afford the investment in something that doesn't make money. A lot of players won't do this if it's just an all-around sink.

[Seawing]

Thoughts after about 10+ attempted PvE missions:

 

Maintenance unit repair times feel long, especially if you're using voxels to tank during vent cycles, it's a 1hr downtime to use the MU after each mission or an involved copy/paste of a spare ship's voxel shell that sometimes breaks voxelwork.  It would be nice if there was an option for MU's that only repaired honeycomb and was doable in much shorter turnaround times.

 

Payouts aren't profitable when compared against hauling missions, after accounting for the cost of fuel, ammo, and downtime from repairs.  Bumping the xs mission payout by around 50-150k would feel more worth pursuing.

 

 

[Hotspot]

Most dissapointing thing is PvE reward. Why it's quanta? It MUST be random loot, modules, shematics and etc. Fixed quanta reward is absolute nonsense. You guys hate fun.

[Bollox]

Feedback for who? Lol , haven't these people repeatedly demonstrated ignorance only politicians can rival again and again? My advice is take notes on the devs, companies & any products they are or will be invovled in and stay far clear of them.  Thats my feedback

[blundertwink]

On 7/2/2023 at 10:23 AM, Bollox said:

Feedback for who? Lol , haven't these people repeatedly demonstrated ignorance only politicians can rival again and again? My advice is take notes on the devs, companies & any products they are or will be invovled in and stay far clear of them.  Thats my feedback

 

I wouldn't say it's as bad as politician-level...that's just too mean. Making games is hard...even though I think NQ managed their comms, PR, and design approach very poorly, I can't say it's malice...just "difficulty". 

 

But it's true that feedback for this game goes into a black hole, and honestly...if I were NQ, I wouldn't read feedback, either.

 

We're talking about the most major update since release (paired with a 20% off sale) spiking DAUs from around 50 to around 70. That's so minor it isn't even close to material.

 

If you're going to offer feedback on how to improve the game, great...but context matters.

 

In the context of this game's performance and completeness, no suggestion or improvement can change anything, period. That's even if NQ were listening. Literally every facet of the game requires massive retooling to scale both technically and in terms of design. 

 

This idea that it's bad to "give up as if there's nothing we can do" is silly to me -- there is nothing players can do and any belief that they can "help" comes from hubris, not reality.

 

NQ has decided to refocus on three new projects...if you want to support them, that's great, honestly....but don't for one second expect that your money is going to improve DU as if they still believe in the game enough to dedicate 100% of their resources to its success. 

[Krengus]

PVE Feedback:

 

Add a button to invite other noveans to a mission you already picked up.
Your buddy would be automatically teleported to your ship and enter the 'instance' with you. They get teleported back to their original location when mission ends. 
(could even fit in the lore with a kind of temporary conciousness transfert tech developped to help fighting alien warfare)

 

Increase XS mission reward, or decrease difficulty. Its still not worth the effort with current reward. Decreasing difficulty would be the best as currently it still requires a few expensive talents to be done safely, while those should be aimed at newest players

[cerveau]

I had a really hard time making an XS ship fit into the 50T limit but when I tried an S ship (which is 150 tons i think), it was really easy, i was at only 80tons and Id added all I wanted.

Maybe the XS limit could be increased just a tiny bit say to 60T

 

[EDIT] - afterthought - maybe I pushed the limit on the XS build (it did complete xs missions) and maybe I havnt pushed enough on the S Build at 80T, I still havnt tested the S.

 

[2nd EDIT] - or it might give you the idea to reduce the S limit