Star Citizen - The E.L.E.

[Darklegend1]

Chris Roberts in Der Spiegel:

"SQ42 will probably be finished in 2017"

He said PROBABLY

Lol and we all know what Chris Robert's "PROBABLY" means  "We have started working on it"

[Flashwit]

I have to say though, the backlash seems to have really started.

I compare the comments on that thread to things that I saw even just 6 months ago and the tone has changed a lot. There are a couple stalwart defenders still there but they get downvoted to hell. It really looks like the majority of r/starcitizen has woken up to what's really going on. I think they're still 'keeping the faith' in terms of hoping that it will come out, but expectations have dropped into a hole.

[dsmart]

Yeah, the tone has completely changed. Especially given the shenanigans that started in Q4/16.

And worst is yet to come.

[Stan]

I have to say though, the backlash seems to have really started.

I compare the comments on that thread to things that I saw even just 6 months ago and the tone has changed a lot. There are a couple stalwart defenders still there but they get downvoted to hell. It really looks like the majority of r/starcitizen has woken up to what's really going on. I think they're still 'keeping the faith' in terms of hoping that it will come out, but expectations have dropped into a hole.

Sure but at this point the conman dishes up some false hope.

I used to con people in MMOs (all in game ruses) and you could get a high % of people you scammed to jump through hoops in the hope that they hadn't just lost x or y item.

People could be had over days, running from place to place, doing all sorts of things because it was a relief to be told they hadn't been scammed but something had gone wrong and they just had to go to X or Y to get their stuff ...

All CIG have to do is keep telling people it is all going to be OK.

When some shit hits the fan admitting to a few screw ups will keep people bought in to the dream because  they will not want to admit failure.

[Beexoffel]

When some shit hits the fan admitting to a few screw ups will keep people bought in to the dream because  they will not want to admit failure.

A lot of shit has already hit the fans in the face so much they can't see anymore.

[dsmart]

Some new backer spending charts

[dsmart]

What it's like to be a disappointed hard core Star Citizen backer who had enough and got a refund. All valid points

I'd prefer not replying here anymore so that this would not get used out of context like my earlier statements, but for the sake of integrity im gonna answer.

My arguments largely aim towards the PU, simply because we have no idea about SQ42 at all. I always thought of the singeplayer campaign as less important. I would have played it, but I am a lot more interested in a good multiplayer experience.

When I backed in January 2013, I had the dates in mind CIG presented back then. You know, the ones that proved to be absolutely impossible. I realized, as many people did too, that Star Citizen would take a LOT more time and effort and I was fine with it. I thought let them have their time, do things right and create something with the longevity of EVE online that people play for ten years.

For the longest time I was completely fine with the way things were going. CIG was growing nicely from something people would use their garage for to a fully fleged 350+ employee-company. The technology coming out of their hired talent amazed me, especially since I have close ties with CryTek and their employees personally. Thinks like the local physics grid, the procedural technology they are working on or the sheer amount of detail they put into the few assets we have seen so far are fantastic and I stand by that still.

Now to the ugly. On the last big presentations CIG screwed up. They announced SQ42 so many times and cancelled the presentation last minute, without telling anyone. And contrary to their video, I just can not believe that they realized it two days before the presentation. And if they did, that is proof of a horrible management. I have always said that they should take as long time as they need, but as a company funded in its entirety by backers, it is their damn obligation to tell us what is going on. And I don't care if there is a storyline that they don't want to spoil, we have to have access to information to how far things are along. If people don't want to be spoiled, they can choose to look away. The general style of the last two presentations were unbelievably unprofessional. I remember getting so hyped about CitizenCon that I stocked up beer and snacks and submitted a day off so I could stay up to like 5am (Living in Europe). A company with that much money, with people dedicated to working on stuff like that and a seperate pool of funding just for PR, just can not fail so hard at presentations again and again. They also did the atrocious UEE Warbonds video back then, right after telling anyone that every single post leading up to the event was basically false.

To sum this section up: I think CIGs focus is wrong. They got enough money. They are funded. They should focus on the actual gameplay and less on adding more and more fluff. Also rethink your PR. Act like the company you are, funded by the people. All your bills are paid by us, treat us with respect.

My second big concern is the community. If you look through my post history, you see that I submitted a few pretty critical comments and posts to the /r/starcitizen sub that were either downvoted to hell or upvoted to the top or even gilded. I pointed out 5 months ago, that all the design documents are incredibly dated and havent been talked about in detail since. Why does noone seem to care about how the actual game will play? Who cares for the 10th fighter or 5th mining ship if there won't be something interesting to do with it? How does Star Citizen want to keep players from leaving with interesting gameplay that can fill their incredibly large world? The last few months it has become worse. It feels like everyone reasonable that you could discuss with left the sub after the presentations and only the crazy people are left. People that celebrate the 159th "fan made trailer" cut together from footage of 2014. People that will defend CIG on every action, no matter how shitty or unprofessional their actions are. To be clear here, I think of CIGs devs as talented and inspiring, but there is something wrong in their PR/management department. I will not engage in personal witch hunts like Derek does, He and I both got no idea of what is going on behind their doors and anything he puts out is either speculation or made up.

I realize that I could go on for pages here. I have spent so much time around the projects, read so much stuff and wrote probably even more. It is such a huge project, that I cannot even discuss everything that is good or bad about the game. And the problem is that I fear CIG forgets how huge their project is. How huge the game they aim for is. There is a reason it has never been tried. Comparably small projects like GTA V eat up sums 5-6 times of CIGs budget. I really hate to say this, but the Star Citizen we will get in a few years is not the game they told us about.

And to make it clear once again: This post, my decision or anything in this process has anything to do with Derek Smart or his ramblings. In my eyes he is a troubled man that who tries anything to make him feel superior. He has jumped the bandwagon of people talking about Star Citizens problems and now thinks of himself as some form of messiahs. I 100% stand by anything I wrote on /r/dereksmart . Like others point out, life is not black or white. I couldn't be further from apologizing or even following Derek.

[dsmart]

The incoming refund cascade

As many of you have noticed, I have taken a step back from my usual postings so that I could take a step back and study the landscape of backers and the lack of progress from CIG in a more detailed manner to focus on the details and get more in tune with the community.
As many of you have noticed, a lot of this subs superstars have been MIA and as /u/IqfishLP has pointed out that all that is left are the crazy zealots when he wrote his refund mia culpa. There is a reason for that if any of you may have figured out. Refunds.
There has been an increasing number of refunds from some of the largest and long time backers that have supported this game and for very good reason. They have paid attention and have woken up to the very harsh reality that this game is not going to ever be completed and some parts of it were never made to begin with. They have figured out that they have been providing funding for game that was not built by technical know how by a AAA league game designer/developer/pioneer/leader. But in fact, a person that has been run out of almost every industry he has dared to step his incompetent foot in. I have watched more long time whale backers that were once die hards and loved by this very community start to get refunds at an increasing and alarming rate. And I have noticed too that you have attacked them all.
2017 will not be the year of 3.0 or 3.1 or 4.0 or anything close to any development other than more and more blatant ship sales for a non game that has no mechanics to justify those ships to exist it. The reason for that is that ship sales are the one source of revenue there is. The burn rate of CIG and all of their unnecessary studios is creeping up on the money we have all bankrolled them with and will soon outpace their reserves. They cannot develop a game and create more ships to sell when their entire marketing objective is towards selling more ships. This "game" has become the laughing stock of the gaming world at large and you all know it.
As hilarious as it is to read the pathetic posts from people stating that CIG can take as long as they want. The reality is that time has run out for them and your "patience" is what they are counting on for them to keep kicking the can down the road so that Chris and co. can have their lifestyles further enriched by your desperation. Because you are not getting the game you were promised. Nothing even close to that. The old whales have figured that out and in time you will too. The difference is that they got their money back and by the time you figure this out, there will be no more money left for you to get yours.
My suggestion is that you head over to /r/starcitizen_refunds and see what others are doing to help themselves out of this mess. There is no shame in admitting that Derek Smart was in fact right about this entire thing and in fact, I encourage each and every one of you to reach out to him to discuss what can be done to get you the help you need. Derek is there for each and every one of you and has worked tirelessly to fight for you all to get your refunds. To date he has helped hundreds of commandos get back $10's of thousands of dollars back from a company that has lied to each and every one of you. Do not believe the untrue lies from the haters that refuse to accept that Derek has been a force of good on your behalf since this whole thing started. Believe yourself by reaching out to him and see for yourself. The time has come for you to be free of this scam once and for all.
If you have any doubts, then just ask yourself where is one single part of SQ42 to been seen that is not a tech demo or sizzle reel or behinds the scenes footage from a mocap session from years ago?

[dsmart]

Called it. So the long delayed schedule is looking to only now include the 2.6.x incremental updates

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/819977559031083008

it's hilarious for me to hear from sources that CIG can't decide what to put in the schedule report update

Notice how the heading mentions alien languages, but none of that appears in the body of the newsletter?

[dsmart]

OMG!! You have to read this book!! 

[dsmart]

So this appeared today



I tweeted this: https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/819976771332345861

Nice!! I can't wait to read it because I'm sure it's full of truth bombs seeing as Chris only lies to US media.

Apparently, the article is saying that the much touted 3.0 (aka Jesus Patch) which was coming in before Dec 19th, 2016, is now due out in late 2017

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/5ntd8v/why_this_announcements/

First sorry for my english. I can not understand cig announce the patches. In summer 16 they said till end of the year 2.6 and 3.0. Patch 2.6 came in December and this is ok cause I like to play a game without this many bugs and if Chris Roberts say they don’t push a patch live until it’s fine I can handle with it. So in summer they said 3.0 this year. But now in interviews (pc games or spiegel) it sounds like 3.0 can take until end of 2017. How can this be so absolutely over the time? OK the same was with 2.6 but there were some big problems and if I understood right they started the whole work on star marine again. Same thing on sq42. On evry event last year they said we will see something of the game on the next event. He promised after they fucked up citcon that to end of 2016 they want to show something. Again, no problem for me that they don’t show things when they are not ready but why do they always promise if they can’t hold. Is this a tactic to keep the hype?

[dsmart]

So apparently in today's Star Citizen happy hour stream, Todd Pappy let slip that 2.7 (not 3.0) was inbound

The YT version is online. FF to 34:50 to hear Pappy reference 2.7

[Stan]

When some shit hits the fan admitting to a few screw ups will keep people bought in to the dream because  they will not want to admit failure.

A lot of shit has already hit the fans in the face so much they can't see anymore.

Yes but Lesnick has been eating it.

[kirin-rex]

OMG!! You have to read this book!! 

OMG, that book is both frightening and hilariously amazing.

[Lir]

Sure but at this point the conman dishes up some false hope.

Hmmm it's a lot different to the situation back in july 2015 when you coudln't say anything at all without beeing censored , downvoted, and namecalled by a vast majority.
 It's interesting and how ironical to watch those former-shitizens now saying the same exact things we've been saying all along.
 Compared to 2015, and even to a few months ago right before the citcon, r/sc has now become 'open minded' if you compare to the shitizens standards.