Response to Beta from a Dins fan

[rune_74]

Originally Posted by pnakotus

It's more that the early game is so bad I can't push through it. Of the half dozen friends who played Dins to death, I'm the only one even still playing this game. All other Soldaks games have been fun from the start, and hours of boredom is more meaningful than talking about max level.

Frankly, the game is a beta. If it's turning away long term fans, this is feedback the dev needs to see. I'm not interested in excuses (and it's telling that people find avoiding it with specific builds increases thier enjoyment of the game), I'm interested in the game improving, the way all Soldaks games do. For those who find the pace or presentation acceptable or fun - good for you. These issues remain, and positive beta feedback is something that should be reserved for positive successes.

Well, maybe if you didn't deliver your speach in a holier then thou attitude you wouldn't get the replies you are getting, food for thought.

Anyways, I have only played one ship but I felt if I kept moving forward through sectors I was constantly attacked. plenty of things to do. I only encountered two races to start.

[pnakotus]

Since people have replied just to agree or expand on my points, I'm not sure I know what you mean.

And yeah, there's lots of guys to shoot. But I'm playing a Soldak game for emergent content and changing play situations, not to drive to the other side of a map killing everyone. Other games do that better than 'mash 1 until everyone dies' or 'wait hours for the game to get interesting'. The whole point of a beta is testing, and I think this game needs a lot of work to reach Soldaks normal standard. I you like the game, good for you. If you think people examining flaws are offensive, maybe you shouldn't be a beta tester.

[kerzain]

Originally Posted by pnakotus

If you think people examining flaws are offensive, maybe you shouldn't be a beta tester.

And maybe people that can't express their opinions of perceived flaws without having a meltdown might want to reconsider their delivery. Obviously they have something to say, but some folks could tone it down a bit and still deliver the same overall ideas.

[rune_74]

Originally Posted by kerzain

And maybe people that can't express their opinions of perceived flaws without having a meltdown might want to reconsider their delivery. Obviously they have something to say, but some folks could tone it down a bit and still deliver the same overall ideas.

That is exactly what I meant....he couldn't even reply in a non offensive way.

[Reefpirate]

Indeed. A simple tip would be don't use insulting or inflammatory language when you don't like something. Better to simply say you don't like it and then explain ways it could be made better in the simplest way possible. Saying 'zomg this was already done in a 2 year old game, wtf is wrong with you people' is not helpful.

[pnakotus]

Since someone mentioned that named badguys still plot stuff as they did in Dins, but they are always dead for me already because I'm just killing guys (as there appears to be little else to do), this could be a result of the game being too close to Dins. In Dins, a guy would emerge on a level and eventually start doing things; the level would not necessarily be easily accessible, you'd have to find the guy in twisting corridors, etc. However, in Drox, they're often in the system you're already in, and are easily accessible as the 'dungeon' has no walls, paths, doors, etc.

Since ships can move between systems, maybe it makes sense for the named guys to move to less populated systems (or emerge there), so they can actually live long enough to build up a squad or achieve goals and impact the game before being blasted away by the player. Later on, when the factions actually start faction warfare, this wouldn't be as interesting, but it might mitigate the first four hours of 'wait for galaxy to fill up, grind for faction with fedex quests'.

This said, I notice a lot of people play on 'very fast' or 'fast' pace. Has anyone played on 'normal' and the faster settings to give a comparison? On normal, I saw 3 named monsters in three hours, and nothing factional happened beyond 'everyone is pals'. The contrast to the Dins struggle for survival is quite stark.

[pnakotus]

Originally Posted by kerzain

And maybe people that can't express their opinions of perceived flaws without having a meltdown might want to reconsider their delivery. Obviously they have something to say, but some folks could tone it down a bit and still deliver the same overall ideas.

Sorry, people telling me I'm a bad person for talking about my feelings for a game in testing is just hilarious. When you played a beta and went to a forum where people talk about it, did you expect entirely positive content? Why? Isn't the point of a beta to improve the game?

PS it's not a 'meltdown' when I'm not the one snippign single sentences out of replies.

[Reefpirate]

I usually play on Normal... So far I've only used the default settings.

It seems we just have had different experiences, for whatever reason. Occasionally there will be a named guy in the first star system, but usually they are at least 2 or 3 jumps away and do get up to their shenanigans before I can reasonably stumble upon them and kill them.

Also, it rarely takes as long as you say for my factions to start wars with each other. Yesterday there was a Utopian and a Fringe faction right next to each other in the first system and before I could even park and Trade with Utopians they were at war with each other.

I don't know if you've had bad luck or what, but my feeling is that the warfare starts up and ends too quickly if anything, which then can lead to a long time (an hour at most) trying to grind out an ally for the win. I'm getting better at getting reputation quickly so it's not that bad, but I really don't get what you're saying about it taking 4-5 hours to get the game going. If I play any sector for an hour, usually the major conflict has already come and gone and it's just clean up.

[Reefpirate]

Beta testing isn't about insulting the developer and telling them how shitty their game is. Do you not see the difference between that and pointing out flaws in a more reasonable fashion? (you did just fine in your last major post there).

Edit: removed some exaggeration.

[pnakotus]

It's the nature of emergen games that different people will see different things, and it's good not everyone sees the slow pace I seem to get consistently. I've tarted with two 'aggressive' factions in the same system and not only do they not fight, they immediately start cranking out treaties etc. this could be an element of being a noob sector (since winning is universal peace, this sector would be easier to win) but it really seems to reduce the things to do.

I've noticed, though, that the more experienced players have already found killer builds and simply kill the galaxy themselves, which doesn't sound like it was a part of the original idea of the game. I can DEFINITELY see it working though - in one game everyone declared war on me, and I had a great time killing everyone until making peace with someone to avoid losing.

I saw th concept of the game as a cog in a larger machine, havin to be sly and tricky to survive the faction warfare while making money/levelling up etc. This doesn't seem to e how it works, since you can literally buy victory - and the other way to win is grind for faction or grind through planets.

EDIT holy crap sorry about the spelling, on my phone etc