Officially time to give up on this game

[Theo]

I honestly am dumbfounded by the lack of awareness shown in roadmaps thus far and particularly alienated by the 2025 announcements. Literally 4 out of 5 roadmap milestones are FACTIONS, as if the game doesn't have bigger problems. Focusing on factions is such an extremely low effort token commitment, it's utterly infuriating.

Virtually NOWHERE do I read anyone say "I wish I had another faction". "I wish Faction A had its X and Y values tweaked". The criticism aimed at this game are funamental UX and Game Design questions you frankly leave unanswered and unsatisfied and have left so for years.

The singular "Major Update" and its "Highlights" we have to look forward to reads like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ patchnote... We get 4 frankly minor new features, 8 vague statements about improvements to various individual mechanics mainly automation or UI and supposedly 1 tool for localization in mods. Oh and I almost forgot: your major Update will of course also feature a DAMN FACTION REWORK, you even managed to sneak one into the single major update between 4 faction updates. So really it's 5/5 milestones this year focusing on factions. I can't even anymore. It honestly looks and feels like a quiet resignation.

So y'all really need to take a step back from obsessing about factions and start working on bringing this game into this decade, both visually and audibly. Take some of the estimated 3.6m $ of gross revenue (as per VGI) and please for the love of god hire a UI/UX consultant with it.

[ERutins]

I'm sorry you are disappointed. I think if you look back through all the update notes since release, you will see we have made a great many changes, fixes and improvements that were not faction-related, including UI/UX improvements.

The latest update which will go official in March has a bunch more of those, including galaxy search and order queueing. You try those out in the public beta branch.

The reality is that we do get a lot of requests for new factions, new content and new features, so we have been both fixing and improving as well as adding new things with each update and each DLC. I don't think there has been a single official update that has not improved most areas of the game to some degree.

Also part of all this is that we're a small development team. I understand your priority is UI improvements and that's why we keep making those as well, but that's not the only priority we or the rest of the community have so we can't focus only on that.

[Theo]

Originally posted by ERutins:

I'm sorry you are disappointed. I think if you look back through all the update notes since release, you will see we have made a great many changes, fixes and improvements that were not faction-related, including UI/UX improvements.

The latest update which will go official in March has a bunch more of those, including galaxy search and order queueing. You try those out in the public beta branch.

The reality is that we do get a lot of requests for new factions, new content and new features, so we have been both fixing and improving as well as adding new things with each update and each DLC. I don't think there has been a single official update that has not improved most areas of the game to some degree.

Also part of all this is that we're a small development team. I understand your priority is UI improvements and that's why we keep making those as well, but that's not the only priority we or the rest of the community have so we can't focus only on that.

I appreciate the reply but I want to be clear, it's not just UI. There's clearly a broader issue throughout the entire Presentation-Layer. UI/UX is one big part of it of course but the rest of the game doesn't look (or sound) any cleaner. The visual fidelity from models to textures or sound from the SFX to the music are placeholder or low-quality at best. And most confusingly, these areas in particulare are ones which can see major improvements with comparably little effort and investment, which suggests that they havn't been getting much attention at all. So it's a broader problem than optimizing spreadsheets for display, but it's nice that you could squeeze in 5 bullet points about UI improvements into the one major update between 4 faction focused updates I guess. Really you got a pretty good simulation, especially since Hyperspeed and other updates fixed the performance issues and major bugs with AI, probably the best 4x space sim in 2025, but you're presenting it so poorly and it aged like milk over the last 3 years.

[SgtScum]

Weird. I don't have any of these personal issues with the game. The models and textures are shaping up nicely every refresh and the ui works just fine to me and is a huge improvement to the old dwu interface. I can literally run my entire empire from the drop down lists on the left hand screen. Audio? Well I agree that can be a bit hit and miss and I do really dislike the gravallex 'scream' when it fires its beam. Some of the weapons sounds are kinda odd too some sounding like twanging a rubber band or a spring door stop. Construction and refit sounds are a bit jarring too especially if there are a bunch happening at the same time. But overall the sounds work.

[jorgen_cab]

In my opinion the UI in the game work pretty well.

If you want to give any actual useful critique and be more specific I would appreciate it. But overall the UI work really well for me. There are also allot of options for it as well.

But to be honest I never have any issues with the UI in a broader sense and really never seem to reflect on that part of the game when I play. So, from my point of view it works just fine.

When it comes to textures and models I think they are pretty fine for the scope of the game... when you have thousands upon thousands of ships in a game the models and textures don't need to be super high quality, just good enough.

The only thing I think could need an improvement are the sound effects which I think are not super good, but to be honest not a big deal either.

[Brandon]

I understand the frustration of the OP, but I also agree with the others that the UI is actually pretty usable (at least in my opinion)... The UI is one of the least areas of concern IMHO.

[BettyBlue]

I agree though there maybe some slight issues with the UI or performance, I believe that the team has made a lot of progress and I believe that the game will be polished even more. I am also one of the individuals who have asked for factions and expansions and I am a big believer that the expansions will also improve the game.

[Nightskies]

Meanwhile, another topic, older than this, right next to it:

"Are Securans playable yet?"

[Itharus]

I'm happy with the development so far, and am indeed looking forward to more factions.

[Theo]

Unsurprising the core playerbase of like >200 players, out of near 100.000 copies sold, is just as tone-deaf as the developers are.

[Ribera]

The UI is tolerable, but:

The music and sound effects are devoid of expression and emotion; DW:Universe’s sound design was way better—especially the gunshots and hyperdrive. Currently, the game doesn’t sound cosmic at all.
For me, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a 2D or 3D game, but the graphics in DW:Universe were simple yet clear; the original and modded units were beautiful and pixel-perfect, whereas now you can barely see any details, with a slightly larger zoom and every model looking the same.
The galaxy map looks as if the game was upscaled from 360p.
As for the gameplay itself: many bugs compared to DW:U have been fixed, but the level of restrictions is so high that it hurts.
Ship design is so limited that there’s hardly anything to tinker with—which used to be a flagship idea of DW:U’s ultra-flexibility.
The planets look spray-painted and indistinct; sometimes I even wonder if I’m really playing in 1080p.

[SgtScum]

Originally posted by Theo:

Unsurprising the core playerbase of like >200 players, out of near 100.000 copies sold, is just as tone-deaf as the developers are.

I don't think anyone is discounting your personal opinions. I'm sure they are all perfectly legitimate to you. But not everyone has the same concerns and so far dw2 is following the same development path as the first one. Basically starting out fresh then building it up over a few years. The upside is if you know the development cycle of the first game and how long it took to get to the dwu final product we are waaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of that curve.

[omnius]

I agree with Theo, way too much emphasis on lowlife factions trying to make them closer to the playable races. While you drag your feet improving the other playable races that haven't been buffed yet. All to sell more DLC's like the paradox DLC ripoff model. Instead of getting the game finished up you're just dragging your feet.

I still consider this to be an earl;y access game, nowhere near being finished. I prefer finished games that aren't constantly updated or have new DLC's puked out altering how it works or messing up mods if the game has them. I really enjoyed the original DW even without the Shakturi update it had. The automation was simpler and better! Way too much emphasis on making an overly complex Artificial Ignorance in DW2 so lazy players can just sit back and watch the show. What's the point in playing these games if we let the program do all the work and make the decisions?

I bought this game last July and played for a while before setting it aside because of way too many bugs. I've been waiting to see how the game progresses and perhaps this coming July I'll buy the Shakturi and other new DLC's when I get my next Matrix annual discount coupon. I'm still not sure if I'll play as I'm not convinced yet from the chatter here that it's worth my time. I hate starting a game and then having to restart when a new DLC comes out.

[Hatchet Jack]

I'm 4,000 hours and this STILL is my favorite game. They must be doing something right. The only thing I am "dumbfounded" by is the comments like these and the total lack of development awareness. I have no special insight other than reading updates posted on Steam and playing the game. I find just the opposite of what you said. It sounds like maybe this game isn't for you. But hey you get your say and here is mine.

I LOVE the factions that are coming out and hope more is to come, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the way the game has developed and one of the reasons why this has been my favorite game since it came out. The main reason of coarse is how much fun it is. I'm looking forward to more playable factions and the UI is fine with me. There will always be room for improvements but the devs are doing a fine good job.

Out of all the games I play on steam, not one is developed as well as this one with its' fan base involved. For the love of God I hope the developers keep doing what they are doing. It's what keeps me coming back for more.

[Griff]

Originally posted by Theo:

Unsurprising the core playerbase of like >200 players, out of near 100.000 copies sold, is just as tone-deaf as the developers are.

"No one agrees with me? Well it must be everyone else that is wrong!"

[Rebelkid]

Please keep in mind this is not a AAA company. There are like 1 - 2 real developers with Elliot being the only coder to write the entire game from the ground up. I think he has help now. Then they have like 2 artists.

Its kindly expected from people to not treat this as a paradox title