What future campaign(s) do you want?

[Wweyland]

Is there a timeline for the upcoming DLC?

[Voodoo Magic]

3 other horde maps would add variety but it won't necessarily revitalize the gameplay.
There ultimately needs to be an element of pure dynamic outcomes which is hard when this game is already so linear.

Yeah, I've been sounding that alarm from the beginning. This game shipped DOA as an online service game. Without some sort of pvp or randomization mechanic, after you get through the campaign, there's nothing for players to keep coming back. This game just feels like an incomplete mess to me, but a fun mess at least, and I had a blast while it lasted!

Is there a timeline for the upcoming DLC?

When you purchased the Deluxe Edition (I was one of those suckers ) you got the Endeavor Pass which gives you Seasons 1 through 4 of the paid cosmetic DLC bundles. Considering Season 1 dropped September 8th and using that for a seasonal framework, this would be my hypothesis:

December 8th - Season 2
March 8th - Season 3
June 8th - Season 4

[acrediblesource]

The true take away for this game will have to be unique. With PHG its the salty behavoir based  off  of your PvP ....and its delightful in PHG. In AFTE, we are going to need something special in the PvE. The Environments, although very authentic, so far has yet to offer anything replayable in dynamic ways. I'm thinking lego and its going to have to be 'build it yourself' kind of feel.

i would have suggested dynamic gun fire damage to xenos (like a blown off head shot, left side, right side, jaw, or other extremityies) but it looks like the developers have looked beyond this. Its not likely at this stage that they will make visual damage a priority as it has in the original AVP games.

[Voodoo Magic]

The true take away for this game will have to be unique. With PHG its the salty behavoir based  off  of your PvP ....and its delightful in PHG. In AFTE, we are going to need something special in the PvE. The Environments, although very authentic, so far has yet to offer anything replayable in dynamic ways. I'm thinking lego and its going to have to be 'build it yourself' kind of feel.

It would be interesting to say the least, perhaps wonderful, but it might be a gameplay mechanic too difficult to implement at this point of release. And what do game developers always say, the last 10% of a game takes 90% of the time with all the crashes, bug testing, fixes and tweaks?

One perhaps easier way to accomplish a desire for repeatability is have a horde map with four different defense points in one map that has an ammo box that randomly moves between waves, creating a race to locate the box and setup camp at a new location with less time than the new horde allows . Another way is randomize the horde waves. Horde Wave 3 might be Xenos this time, Revenants & Bursters the next. Or maybe it's Synths? Who knows. You'll never know what's coming. It's not a complete fix, but it's definitely a start.

[acrediblesource]

There are some memorable horde moments in the campaigns too. So taking from that you also have a dynamic of having to run from A to B to C to tend to hordes while still maintaining a position. Running between an Upper and lower deck is cool. I like the idea of having to also maintain a welding position that maybe a door is malfunctioning and is constantly opening.

Welp,  the one issue we have that they should have attended to was the breaking of achievements and the inability to make multiple loadouts (like a personality 2) which would have a face different than the one previous. We really needed that and would have prolonged peoples stay if each loadout was a full reset (as in lvl 0).

Seriously dedicated players would be more inclined to fine tune their own squad of 3-5 playable characters. Possibly even give them names at some point.

The true take away for this game will have to be unique. With PHG its the salty behavoir based  off  of your PvP ....and its delightful in PHG. In AFTE, we are going to need something special in the PvE. The Environments, although very authentic, so far has yet to offer anything replayable in dynamic ways. I'm thinking lego and its going to have to be 'build it yourself' kind of feel.

It would be interesting to say the least, perhaps wonderful, but it might be a gameplay mechanic too difficult to implement at this point of release. And what do game developers always say, the last 10% of a game takes 90% of the time with all the crashes, bug testing, fixes and tweaks?

One perhaps easier way to accomplish a desire for repeatability is have a horde map with four different defense points in one map that has an ammo box that randomly moves between waves, creating a race to locate the box and setup camp at a new location with less time than the new horde allows . Another way is randomize the horde waves. Horde Wave 3 might be Xenos this time, Revenants & Bursters the next. Or maybe it's Synths? Who knows. You'll never know what's coming. It's not a complete fix, but it's definitely a start.

[seattle24]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/kotaku.com/seven-weeks-after-launch-less-than-800-people-are-play-1847881309/amp

But of a depressing article. The game really needs a substantial content update but I bet Cold Iron are working their nuts off as it is....

[acrediblesource]

yep, there certainly a chance the entire playerbase could come back overnight or several nights if they release something enourmous or game changing. Classes won't help there are already plenty of classes to choose from.

[seattle24]

yep, there certainly a chance the entire playerbase could come back overnight or several nights if they release something enourmous or game changing. Classes won't help there are already plenty of classes to choose from.

You're absolutely right!

I've played Back 4 Blood and I genuinely think AFE is a funner game, bias aside. Sure, B4B looks better and seems to have more going on - but it isn't half as fun to play when you put the games at their peak side-by-side.

I'd rather Cold Iron take their time and release a significant update - I think a lot of players would come back.

But they need to be more vocal. Fricking radio silence since late August. At least the PHG channel seemed alive with daily tweets and road maps.

[RidgeTop]

yep, there certainly a chance the entire playerbase could come back overnight or several nights if they release something enourmous or game changing. Classes won't help there are already plenty of classes to choose from.

Definitely. Gaming trends can change in a moment, especially if new content is substantial. There have been games (even big budget AAA ones) that have been on life support for a while that have jolted back with a new batch of content. Even ones that have had really rocky launches like No Man's Sky or The Avengers.

I still think this game has a future ahead of it, but I do hope they get on the new content quite soon. My guess is we'll see a more major update before December to spur on Holiday sales.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/kotaku.com/seven-weeks-after-launch-less-than-800-people-are-play-1847881309/amp

But of a depressing article. The game really needs a substantial content update but I bet Cold Iron are working their nuts off as it is....

Skill Up had a good response to this on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/SkillUpYT/status/1449849782571208705

Though we don't have all the numbers, there's enough evidence that the game did sell well initially. So even if a sizable portion of its player-base is taking a break, they'll likely return quickly with new content.

Back 4 Blood's launch has also likely put a dent in active players for the moment, I've been enjoying it myself.

Personally when it comes to new campaigns, I think Pala Station is a given, with how much it's set up in the story. And as someone who didn't entirely dislike the book as my podcast co-hosts did, I would like to be able to explore that environment.

For another campaign, I think it would be cool to have to board different starships, as the story also sets that up. Such as a Weyland Yutani vessel or UPP one. Perhaps we could even fight off an infection on the Endeavor herself.

I think two new campaigns would be sufficient. Beyond that a PvP mode and expanded Horde maps with new features such as map exploration would help a bunch. Cross-play really would help as well.

[Voodoo Magic]

I know Skill is trying? to put a more positive spin on this, but he's doing so by comparing A:FTE to other AAA "boondoggles" which are games that he considers failures / wastes of time? And he saying at least A:FTE didn't cost as much as those boondoggles and has more players currently then those boondoggles (even though the boondoggle games he's comparing to are older?)

The problem is AFTE hasn't even reached two months yet, and it really started dipping badly only 5 weeks after release.

What's really weird for me is I'm not a game developer but I saw right out of the gate that this game had a major flaw in sustainability. So if I could see it, the peeps at Cold Iron had to easily see it. That's why this game feels like a scenario (to me) where they ran out of cash, time or both... stopped where they were, polished up what they could, and released what they had. The original planned MMO announcement rings so true to me here.

Very fun game, but (to me) Cold Iron should have just made it an awesome single player experience and focused on doubling or trippling the levels and add a few cut scenes, and cut away all the extra classes, and gun skins resulting in a fun but half-assed online service game.

This game has my love, but deserves the tough love!

[seattle24]

I know Skill is trying? to put a more positive spin on this, but he's doing so by comparing A:FTE to other AAA "boondoggles" which are games that he considers failures / wastes of time? And he saying at least A:FTE didn't cost as much as those boondoggles and has more players currently then those boondoggles (even though the boondoggle games he's comparing to are older?)

The problem is AFTE hasn't even reached two months yet, and it really started dipping badly only 5 weeks after release.

What's really weird for me is I'm not a game developer but I saw right out of the gate that this game had a major flaw in sustainability. So if I could see it, the peeps at Cold Iron had to easily see it. That's why this game feels like a scenario (to me) where they ran out of cash, time or both... stopped where they were, polished up what they could, and released what they had. The original planned MMO announcement rings so true to me here.

Very fun game, but (to me) Cold Iron should have just made it an awesome single player experience and focused on doubling or trippling the levels and add a few cut scenes, and cut away all the extra classes, and gun skins resulting in a fun but half-assed online service game.

This game has my love, but deserves the tough love!

CL put a lot of stock into the challenge cards for varying the gameplay experience, but it obviously hasn't worked out as they hoped it would, because fans were banging their door after a couple of weeks saying "where is the new content at?"

Even this sub-forum for AFE is too quiet, where you'd expect the hardened fans to be active.

[acrediblesource]

Hard core gamers or hard core fans? lol . there is a  big difference.

[Voodoo Magic]

Even this sub-forum for AFE is too quiet, where you'd expect the hardened fans to be active.

Indeed!

[426Buddy]

To be fair this sub forum has never been active. Even before the release of the game there was almost no discussion. After release I went to reddit to discuss things like builds and modifiers because this place was a ghost town.

But yeah this game's player base is dead, especially since B4B was released.

[Thatguy2068]

Actually yeah B4B did put a major dent in the A:FTE player base, even if A:FTE release new content, it is in  B4B shadow because it is more popular