This era of Frontier is great! Communication, listening to player feedback, releasing new content and even making the galaxy prettier, if you haven't noticed... It's a good time to be a CMDR.
@grumlop6461 I'm very excited to start my power play journey as well, I hear you can earn odyssey materials from care packages, which sounds huge. The odyssey grind was pretty bad, and I hope it really is better now. Earning materials for progression by doing whatever gameplay you enjoy is perfect, it's good design.
Greetings from Sweden! (CMDR NeoOhm) Downloaded, installed, and logging in in about 30 minutes when I'm back home. Thank you for making me return to this great game. After 4 afk years.
The crazy turn around was what the game sorely needed. As an Elite player for 40 years, I am very grateful for FDev's refired dedication, which has also refired the playerbase.
@@padlnjones Ha, now I''m embarrassed, sorry. The line apparently wasn't in the movie and I haven't read the book, though it has been recommended many times.
Had the game since 2014. The engineering update got my curiosity back, and the Titan attack on earth got me to reinstall and has been a bunch of fun. Even look forward to the aftermath as engineering materials are so much more in reach for my level of available playtime.
Thanks CMDR Buur! You're my go-to channel for Elite news I can use! It has been a great year for Elite. I feel FDev is giving more consideration to the community and what it would like to see in the game. That's great news as well. Looking forward to 2025. o7!
Exceptional as ever. A great recap of the best year (so far) for Elite Dangerous. Thank you Fdev, but also thank you Burrs. Without your continued support and content I doubt the wider, more casual community of Elite players would be aware of all the changes this year, which has no doubt assisted the games support this year. Take a bow, you guys.
Left in 2016, returned in 2022, after 2024 I must say it's balls to the walls 'Shut up and take my money' mode for Elite Dangerous now. 2025 might be a bit more tempered though, so I keep my expectations low, but my hope sure is renewed, for an old Space Walrus like me.
If they spent the whole of next year prepping colonisation and it comes out as a good feature, I would take that too. We've got a lot of new toys and systems to play with for the moment.
Loving the action in hitting the thargoids where it hurts. My personal achievement was arriving at sagittarius A * for the very first time after years on Elite Dangerous, oh and in my trusty Keelback no less.
Thank you for an amazing retrospective. I left just after Odyssey launch, came back a few months ago. What has really kept me is the fact that for the first time, it really seems to be about the players. I'm a hauler by choice, like mining and missions, a bit of bounty hunting. But mostly a hauler. I just had the best gift this last two weeks by fulfilling my role as an old man called back to the war, dusting off the P-suit and hauling rescue missions. Oh yeah, the money was good, but what I really enjoy, is a CG - and in this case, one that matters.
Great video as always Cmdr Burr. I Iove the positivity you bring. For me the engineering update and the Mandalay were cherries on top of a game I already adored. As I joined in October 2023, the 2024 version of FDev is the only one I'm familiar with, and long may it last!
When I had first started playing this game on console, and the later stepping away for almost a whole year: then coming back after hearing all the new odyssey stuff but then being striked down due to their cut of future console support. I felt devastated to try to keep up with the game as much as possible, and so I took my console profile and transferred it over to a PC profile successfully. For the majority of my time having gotten back into it and giving the game another chance, that’s when I saw and heard about these new features and additions which absolutely blew me away. To this day and age of the game, i’m astonished by how far this game has come and grown. Along with this amazing community being consistently increasing in popularity. I thank frontier heavily for these efforts and updates they provided for us, and I personally thank every commander out there for being supportive of this journey this year. Godspeed to everyone! ❤
I wish it hadn't taken a financial fire being lit under Frontier to get these things but it is what it is. Great recap and as usual great hooning footage x o7
We've had a good year, a really good year! Put it this way - there hasn't been a year since 2015 that I've haven't played a whole load of ED, but this year I've enjoyed it way more (and probably spent more in store - on the prebuilds). If there has been a downside it's that I used to quite often buy paintjobs on a whim, but I've hardly bought a single one since the prices went up.
Thanks for the 2024 review Buurs! It's back to key competencies for fdev. I think they will do well with that strat for a few years at least. Merry Christmas!
It's been a great year, I kinda feel sad that it nearly took the company folding for the game to get this attention. But I know most of this stuff was made and planned before the staff cuts. But it is amazing to be proud of Elite again. The game knows how to do epic now!
Excellent video. I am so glad that Frontier are doing well and that the game I love is going to continue. I've prebought most of the new ships for just the purpose of supporting FDev, but the Mandalay has been an _awesome_ exploration ship. I've been puttering towards NGC 7822 doing mapping and genetic scans as I go. Looking forward to cataloging all those blue-white giant stars and the many black holes that seem to be there before heading back.
A super review of a super year in Elite... thanks for all of the work and the updates throughout the year. Happy Christmas to all in the Burr Pit and to all Commanders making up this community... Roll on 2025, what could it hold??
FDev Doing good things right now.. keep it up FDev ! i stopped playing just before odessy and have recently returned only because of Fdevs current direction towards actually implementing gameplay mechanics to INVOLVE players and EMPOWER them to shape things within the game by playing it. We just want engagement that matters. GJ FDev ! KEEP IT UP ! (also the new ships are nice, and i couldnt care what anyone says, monetise the game within reason so it stays alive for us ALL, those who spend or not benefit from it)
I'm glad to see Elite getting new content and updates and FDev working on their communication a bit. But mostly it has been Thargoid content which although has been of good quality it doesn't appeal to all. I myself left the game after the Odyssey botched release and new Thargoid content alone wasn't going to bring me back. However this new colonization thing did make me dream a bit and even reinstall Elite and start helping out to defend Sol and perhaps watch as the last Titan blows (haven't watched any yet). It will all depend on how FDev will approach this colonization thing. If it's just another pointless grinding with no direct rewards/benefits or control it won't bring players back to the game on the long run. I'm also enjoying the new ships, but that alone isn't enough to keep me in the game for long, I would need something like colonization to keep me invested. I really hope they make something good out of it, which players can enjoy and have fun with for a long time.
Great video, and it has been a great year for Elite. FDev has done some remarkable things as you listed in your video. Something I would like to see next year is greater variety in exobiology and exploration. New and different life forms, and maybe even animals (perhaps some dangerous ones) to find would be great.
This has been the best year for ED since its release. More new ships next year please :) also how about some quality of life update - colour changing cockpits etc. and I really would like to walk in and out of my ship,,,,,,,just saying ;)
Bravo to the always amazing script and mesmerizing flight videos this year. Well done you two. Renny.... who does the amazing flying demos? VKB Sim pilot?
I hope they keep up the momentum, even if it's not always as intense as this. I've been playing for years and it always felt like a neglected child who didn't perform well in school by FDev. But hot damn this year has been a huge change and I'm here for it. Came back from Colonia to the bubble and have been having a great time being a hauler again. Sure, they have a lot they can still improve, (Give. Me. Stealth. Knockouts) but I think they're gonna get there eventually.
My highlights have been both taking final strikes against a dying Titan a la Independence Day and the call to arms against Cocijp. Which is saying something since I'm primarily an explorer o7
Played Elite for a couple years and then tried all it's competitors. Finally after getting fed up I came back and am here to stay. The away time just showed how good Elite is.
Can't wait to see what 2025 will look like for Elite. More quality of life fixes like changing hud colors. Perhaps an overhauled npc crew function? Slap some arx cosmetics features on it and everyone wins.
I started the game late 2016 on console, did my first journey to Colonia in summer 2017. Played until about 2018. Built my first PC in 2019. Got odyssey in 2021 after i got horizons for free. Ironically i got it for free on both steam and epic. Transferred all my stuff, I did it at the time when everything transferred and not just CR. Didn't play much that year though. This year brought me back. Finally got both FC's! Fleet Carrier + Federal Corvette fully engineered Python Mk2 and Type 8 fully engineered Python Mk2 is a amazing ship, my favorite by far. Looks badass and melts everything. The thargoid content lately has been really fun and engaging. Especially if you're in the AXI. Great year for Elite, and i hope they continue. They have the opportunity again to capitalize on their corner of the market.
The Thargoids are definitely not going away anytime soon, hopefully we can find out where the Titans originated from and finally find out the galaxy map from the surface sites. It would be great to see a story arc delving deeper into the Guardians. Maybe the expansion of the bubble through colonization will bring forth new lore in the form of long-lost generation ships, more dredger clans, and abandoned settlements.
While I started in late 2020 I can also say that 2024 was a huge change to the gameplay. I went from just puttering around in Solo to joining in community events and major fighting in AXE with fellow commanders. I don't know if I'll ever make the jump to PvP but I'm glad I have finally been able to truly join the Elite community. EDIT: Thinking about what might happen in 2025, I thought up a crazy "What If" scenario. What if the Guardians come back and THEY are the real enemy? And what if they are able to sabotage all SCO FSDs due to the link to Thargoid technology? Talk about an event that would change the face of our universe!
After a long hiatus from E:D (I was playing on the PS4 release for some time), I have recently, after 14 years, upgraded to a new VR ready PC - and my first stop on the steam autumn sale was E:D. I was so disappointed when PSVR first came out and E:D wasn’t supported (although it‘s understandable). As of today (day 4 of actually playing the game) I have yet to get my bearings and have thus, so far, missed out on the Thargoid war. Hopefully I‘ll be able to upgrade my ship in time to participate before the War‘s culmination. If there‘s one thing on my Christmas Wishlist for the game, it‘s the upgrade for full immersion „on foot“ - while unimmersive flat screen play of „on foot“ is not a dealbreaker, I would still prefer to play the game full on in VR - in 2024 VR is now more affordable than ever before, with the release of the quest 3s and PCVR support for PSVR2 - so I think now would be a good time to advertise and cater to people coming from the PS and meta quest ecosystems looking for more high end options on PCVR.
great year for Elite indeed. I was going for Mandalay but when I've seen incoming Cobra cockpit view I'm going to sacrifice jump range for that view :)
Agreed. 2024 has been an excellent year for Elite. All the updates, changes and new ships got this bitter, jaded veteran playing again. I've seen people on my friends list who haven't played for five _years_ logging in too. Friendship drive charging! o7
Personal highlights coming back getting my CV and becoming involved in the war. I had ignored Thargoid combat but was inderdicted and destroyed, trying to go witness the second Titan's destruction. I got annoyed. I began perusing in earnest AX videos and How To's. I was familiar with Cmdrs Will and Kate and their tgargoid content, so i started there. Quickly discovered CMDR Mechan and his content was invaluable. Also found a video on an entry level DBX AX combat ship. The video was called "The Sawtooth" or something similar. So i built it, changing a few small things and G5 engineering everything. I called mine AX Dragonfly and started swatting Scouts. I also built all versions of CMDR Mechan's Titan bombers and began that as well. On my third Titan, the war's fifth, i began fighting in combat zones and killing Interceptors. It has been so fun that i have ignored my poor alt account and its exploring journey to Colonia for too long. Overall it has been a stupendously enjoyable time.
I'm mostly an explorer, the biggest gripe for me is, that being way out in the black, I'm missing everything going on in the bubble. It's not a big deal to switch between roles inside the bubble (trader, pirate, ant-xeno, miner etc) just by switching or re-equiping ships so I can have one role today and another tomorrow as my mood changes. Get a few thousand light years out in the black and it's one hell of a grind to get back. Please, please can we have multiple avatars.
Even though I got blown up over the weekend trying to get into sol, it was still exciting and something I haven't experienced this game for a long time
I'm part of a small 5 man player group that hadn't bothered with the game for years, and we're all playing again and several of us have bought the new ships. Hopefully this can help encourage FDev to keep doing good things.
Great video! Beautiful videography! I have only dipped my toes into the the Thargoid war, and got them burned. For me the changes have been welcome. SCO, material gathering, and engineering changes have given me the boost I needed to really enjoy the game. And the new ships are the cherry on top. I can hardly wait to get my hands on the Cobra V. ❤🤍💙 I think it would be really cool if we could build DEEP space outposts out in the black...like WAAAAY out.
Great Video, it sure has been a good year to be playing Elite and hopefully the next one is just as good with colonization. I just hope they will finish polishing PP2.0 (before releasing colonization) as I feel a lot of players are grinding to get to rank 100 in PP and then will not care about it ever again, it would be nice to have rares and escape pods re-enabled at some point, fix mining requiring to be mined and sold in the same system to get merits and maybe even make the normal/odyssey missions give merits so that there is an incentive to actually play the game instead of just reloading the same settlement to farm the same data ports over and over again :( (the 5 random weekly PP tasks are often more annoying than they should, good luck finding 11 megaship in acquisition systems with in game tools, or the impossible get some bio data and sell it in system X, when that system has no stations with Vista genomics to be able to complete the task...) :( Oh and Carrier Bartenders/storage transfers are still broken too....good thing we'll have a Titan to deal with next week so that gives them more time to fix the rest of the issues. o7
Wishlist for next year: - develop on foot combat (new gear, and locations - habitation rings would be a really interesting setting) - refresh character models, or at least hairstyles - procedurally generated flora to make exobiology more about discovery than collection - on-foot VR support (unlikely, but it IS a wishlist!)
Sounds like ED dodged a bullet. Now let’s hope FDev can keep up this pace. And yes, I spent more arx on ED in the last few months than the previous years combined. 😅😊
Just to give an idea, _since the thargoid invasion of Sol_ I've done a great many things for the first time, such as: Seen a Thargoid Destroyed scouts Worked out how to evade hyperdiction Bought a Python Mk2 Bought a Diamondback Explorer Made longest-ever trip to find guardian relics Learned how to surface prospect Unlocked guardian weapons Destroyed, Hunters, Interceptors Rewarded for recapturing 5 systems Made another long trip to obtain guardian module blueprints (today!) Ready to attack the Titan when it's time. etc... This is really a fun game to play again. Original alpha-backer, not played it in over a year, hooked on 'goid hunting.
This has been more than a simple tweak of corporate policy. This has been a backs to the wall examination of where FDev has been going wrong, listening to their client base and delivering on those expectations (mostly). I’m very proud that I’ve stayed by this magnificent map of the solar system and feel quite a bit more privileged to be in it.
Since you asked about new features: My biggest gripe with the game right now is the incredible tedium of switching ships. I have to remove all my engineered modules from the ship, then switch ships, then put the stored modules in the ship. In warframe, if item X goes in slot Y of object Z, you don't need a second X to equip it in a Y of another Z. I really don't like that I have to engineer *another* size 5 thrusters. I should only have to engineer a size 5 thrusters once (for each different combination of engineering upgrades), and it should be available for all my ships. The only difference is the tedium of switching ships, storing modules, switching again, equipping. Instead of storing whole ships, we should store "ship blueprints", and when you equip your new ship, the blueprint is assembled straight away, with no manual processes required.
That's a lot less tedious if you just engineer the modules you want for each ship as you go. I never take modules out and store them to move them to another ship. I just buy a new module for the other ship and engineer it. Then I leave my ships fully kitted for their specific purpose, which is reflected in their name. Especially now that engineering is much easier, and I have three different ships kitted specifically for collecting different engineering materials
@@Meanderthal17 it still makes you travel for experimental effecs, and farm more materials. If you do it for every ship, then sure, you don't need to swap stuff out. But you're asking a lot of tedium (material farms, engineer trips for experimental effects) from your players just so that they don't have to deal with other tedium.
@@benniebees Yeah I suppose. I generally travel to engineers in my ships engineered for travelling. Then in the nearest starport or facility with a shipyard I just transfer the ship I want to engineer and stop playing for the day. Next time I get on I just swap to that ship and bring it to the nearby engineer.
It's great to see FDev back on ED. the new ships looks great, waiting patiently the Cobra MK5. The TItan arriving at SOL is a great shake up call for all veteran and new player. It made me come back to the game and helped the best I can with rescue. For the futur, I hope they'll try to develop technology that can generate evironment on planete like earth, I know it's almost an impossible task. Otherwise, develop more the lore, the politics, put unique things about factions to make us visite each faction planete or systems.
It has been a great year for Elite, that's for sure. Though, despite the revamp of the engineering system, I still struggle a little with it. To me, encoded materials are the ones that have always been the hardest to get. And they still are.
I used to play on console and stopped after console wasn't being supported anymore. Played again out of boredom like a year after oddessy and kinda played on-off as a ground pounder merc. Started to play more frequently then the last titan started to move to earth so I shifted to earth to see what I can do (was still flying a sidewinder because I didn't want to get sucked in like I did when I played console) then the whole invasion of earth happened and I was like ok I feel like I definitely need to do something so I looked at the two pre-built ax ships had enough for one so I bought the krait and I've been absolutely fighting goids left and right where ever I can. This event and how the game has changed since the last I played heavily has pretty much got me back in
A year ago, ED was on it's deathbed. it was on a clear descent into irrelevance. But it seems that F-dev realised what they had with ED, or at least could have if they took real action. I (like many) was sceptical of the "early access" model, but I've grown to appreciate it's value, I just bought the cobra, and my motive for doing so was simply that F-dev earned it! If they keep showing this old game a bit of love, the community will repay that investment, both in goodwill and cold, hard cash! I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings, if feels like it could even be better than 2024's developments!
Mk2, Mandalay are great ships. Being able to engineer ships has been very satisfying. But for me, the absolute highlight has been getting involved in AX combat and the thargoid war. I've gone from total AX noob to mostly AX noob 😂 but it has been simply the most fun I've ever had in 5 years of playing ED. Thanks fdev and the AXI.
Elite always got me curious, but with all the problems and bad comments didn't jumped in, finally decided to buy it on a sale, it was cheap, several months later and many hours I'm quite happy having joined at this time. Great times to play Elite.
Frontier does need to realize that by building something so large in scope. That it is, and always should be its number one focus if they want to stay in business.
As one of those pilots fighting Hydras in the final hours of the defense of Alpha Centauri at the iconic Hutton Orbital, I have to say this has been the most exciting year I've ever played in Elite Dangerous. I've played a potentially unhealthy amount of hours in this game with how much unbelievably entertaining content they've given us. The Second Thargoid War is exactly the kind of content I wanted out of a game like this. I hope they continue with this trend and keep the game fresh and exciting and continue to walk back the unnecessarily grindy parts of the game. While I do think a minor grind is good for an MMO like this, it should take a backseat to the sim experience it provides.
Owning game since 2015. Played sporadically about 200+ hrs. Reason of getring back this year is simple - purchqsed Steam Deck, and omg, that is exp I was looking for (even abandoned HOTAS in favor of sofa/bed playsessions)
Amazing year for Frontier, hats off to the whole team for bringing us all this new stuff. Cant wait for 2025 and those lovely expansions in and around the bubble, amazing video as always I'm Commander Buur and Rhee 😁 o7
Honestly just returning to the game after many years away. I've grabbed some of the new ships and I'm still in the process of relearning the basic mechanics. There are still things that I look at and think, okay I've no idea how to do that. I'll just do this for right now as I know how to make it happen.
I tried fighting Thargoids but just didn't click with me. Having to scan subsystems to target hearts was a pain, those drone swarms were annoying, and if they started focusing on you instead of NPCs you'd blink and your shields and armor were gone even if you had every AX module you were supposed to have. I gave up and built an Exploraconda, going back out into the black.
While I've been keeping up on the story and game update, I've had very little time to play. I'm hoping to change that and get back into some more regular play.
I've been away from the game for a while dealing with a divorce and moving this summer/fall, but seeing these updates have me excited to get back to it soon! Especially the engineering rebalance and colonization updates. Obviously noone 'likes' to pay for things after buying a game, but I really dont understand the people calling it pay-to-win because imo you never 'win' in elite dangerous. If you have a better ship than me or more money than me, that really doesn't affect my game or experience unless we are battling each other.
Easily the best year since 2018 (3304) when the Beyond series brought new ships, new mechanics and an overhaul of exploration. The future's looking brighter than it has in a long time.
To the best of my knowledge since Distant Worlds, ED hasn't been able to galvanise and focus players ironically until the latter stages of Fargoidia. I hope Frontier has another element (post fargoid) of significant evolving development (off world) that will have the potential to focus many of us players again. Wasn't interested in the Fargoids until recently. Construction and allegiances unless coming up against potent counter forces, in my view won't hold the numbers. Big big hand to Frontier for this years implementations. 👏
my carrier was about to get decommissioned and I couldn't care less tbh, FDev has been the kind of company who's management always treated their players like crap, we know best, if you don't like it, scram, and scram many of us did. the the Manderlay came out and I was tentatively curious, gave a shot to the game and now I've been running rescue missions ever evening after returning my carrier from deep in the black :-) if they keep it like this, they have my time, attention, and money :-)
I'd love to see on planet combat with Thargoid military units and or the humans that were corrupted by them. But to have a better excuse than base raiding. Plus if we are going to be allowed to colonize it would make a great ground threat to newly established bases.
Never been into killing aliens and never will be. But this game is more than that, and I always find other stuff in game to do,, so Im just happy the game goes on.
Fantastic year for Frontier, especially for Elite, Glad they recognised that they’d perhaps spread themselves to thin taking on new IP’s whilst taking their eyes of the ball with the ones their player base played, next year looking forward to Colonisation, would like to see another 4 ships, those of the Gecko, Boa, Moray Starboat and perhaps Constrictor or Wolf. Further reduction of grind over fun, community monetisation of resources and a more more buoyant self sustaining resource purchasing system, ie commanders work to get resources, ie planetary or ring mining and collection, they then sell them to systems for in game credits, those resources then increase in that system, other commanders can then buy them for an increased amount of credits, buy on demand type system. I’d rather buy them from someone or a station than go finding them myself.
As someone who never got into this game until roughly the halfway mark of this year, and honestly never really heard of the series up till this game, I can say I'm glad I picked a good time to give the game a second shot (My first attempt to get into it resulted in a rage-induced refunding of the game after running into the idiocy of the Combat Tutorial), and damn am I ever glad I did give it that second shot. Over 600 hours later into the game, and I don't regret it, and have bought every ship during it's AX EA period since the T-8 dropped, and will continue to do so to try and help make sure Fdev keeps this game up and running.
Being an old school and erm…more mature player at 68 years old, I never really took the thargoid incursion seriously, I faught and failed combat several times, despite kitting out several “ goid ships” and engineering them to G5 I have however killed dozens of scouts whilst rescuing npc’s . I spent the time avoiding the grind of engineering my Odessey suits and weapons and proud that after 2 years I’m now fully capable on settlement missions with G5 everywhere and saving the last slot on my suits for when I unlock Shen …I’m a 2016 player and have ridden all the ups and downs of fdev, the biggest let down was the release of Odessey , for those who remember, it was for both the devs and us players a tough time. Then the debacle with or for the console players. That was imho a simple over stretch on their behalf thinking they could make elite like an arcade game appealing to the mass space battle audience who witnessed cinematic action advertising to get them interested. I think or like to think that was done in good faith, but alas at the end it had a cost to all of us. Having come through those tough times, I’m now experiencing and seeing a lot more energy in the game, especially since fdev put the eggs back in the basket they knew worked. I’m excited for all of us, and proud that in the end fdev stood firm and put their resources and interests back into elite. It might sound crass, but there were times I felt the elite as a game was on a count down clock. I’m very hopeful for the future years and will continue to play for as long as my old bones allow me. Keep smiling guys, and my thanks to the Burr fam for sticking with it too.
This era of Frontier is great! Communication, listening to player feedback, releasing new content and even making the galaxy prettier, if you haven't noticed... It's a good time to be a CMDR.
@@RayBoyo the first time since 2020 i play pp, and I like it. Needs still a bit polish.
@grumlop6461 I'm very excited to start my power play journey as well, I hear you can earn odyssey materials from care packages, which sounds huge. The odyssey grind was pretty bad, and I hope it really is better now. Earning materials for progression by doing whatever gameplay you enjoy is perfect, it's good design.
It's been a banner year for our game. And I LOVE the new Frontier!
This. This. This ❤
Times are changing! They have listened and provided. Welcome back Elite! This game hasn't died since the 80's
Greetings from Sweden! (CMDR NeoOhm)
Downloaded, installed, and logging in in about 30 minutes when I'm back home.
Thank you for making me return to this great game. After 4 afk years.
The crazy turn around was what the game sorely needed.
As an Elite player for 40 years, I am very grateful for FDev's refired dedication, which has also refired the playerbase.
"what kind of name is Yossarian"
@@padlnjones WHAT? Stop what you're doing, get your hands on the 1970 movie Catch 22, and watch it.
@@captainyossarian388 I read the book 3 times, that was a line from the book (hence the quotes)... I think involved Major Major...
@@padlnjones Ha, now I''m embarrassed, sorry. The line apparently wasn't in the movie and I haven't read the book, though it has been recommended many times.
@@captainyossarian388 put down your phone and read the book!
Had the game since 2014. The engineering update got my curiosity back, and the Titan attack on earth got me to reinstall and has been a bunch of fun. Even look forward to the aftermath as engineering materials are so much more in reach for my level of available playtime.
Thanks CMDR Buur! You're my go-to channel for Elite news I can use! It has been a great year for Elite. I feel FDev is giving more consideration to the community and what it would like to see in the game. That's great news as well. Looking forward to 2025. o7!
Well summed up for 2024. Excited what's to come for 2025 and glad to see old cmdrs and friends back along for the ride. o7 cmdrs
Exceptional as ever. A great recap of the best year (so far) for Elite Dangerous. Thank you Fdev, but also thank you Burrs. Without your continued support and content I doubt the wider, more casual community of Elite players would be aware of all the changes this year, which has no doubt assisted the games support this year. Take a bow, you guys.
Left in 2016, returned in 2022, after 2024 I must say it's balls to the walls 'Shut up and take my money' mode for Elite Dangerous now.
2025 might be a bit more tempered though, so I keep my expectations low, but my hope sure is renewed, for an old Space Walrus like me.
If they spent the whole of next year prepping colonisation and it comes out as a good feature, I would take that too. We've got a lot of new toys and systems to play with for the moment.
Loving the action in hitting the thargoids where it hurts.
My personal achievement was arriving at sagittarius A * for the very first time after years on Elite Dangerous, oh and in my trusty Keelback no less.
Thank you for an amazing retrospective. I left just after Odyssey launch, came back a few months ago. What has really kept me is the fact that for the first time, it really seems to be about the players. I'm a hauler by choice, like mining and missions, a bit of bounty hunting. But mostly a hauler. I just had the best gift this last two weeks by fulfilling my role as an old man called back to the war, dusting off the P-suit and hauling rescue missions. Oh yeah, the money was good, but what I really enjoy, is a CG - and in this case, one that matters.
I am glad I returned to the game after so many years. Worth it!
Great video as always Cmdr Burr. I Iove the positivity you bring. For me the engineering update and the Mandalay were cherries on top of a game I already adored. As I joined in October 2023, the 2024 version of FDev is the only one I'm familiar with, and long may it last!
Thanks for the great year in review video! Very nice. I can't wait for Colonization next year! A hearty o7, Commanders!
A good summary, plus some greatly worded positive spin, on a number of things that devs added this year. Made me chuckle, so thank you 👍🏾
Who's ready to go retake Earth?
Who's ready to go watch those who know what they are doing retake Earth and try to not get in the way?
@@marcus_electric Me!
My highlight was certainly Titan Thor blowing up. And the early access for the Mandalay was worth every penny!
When I had first started playing this game on console, and the later stepping away for almost a whole year: then coming back after hearing all the new odyssey stuff but then being striked down due to their cut of future console support. I felt devastated to try to keep up with the game as much as possible, and so I took my console profile and transferred it over to a PC profile successfully. For the majority of my time having gotten back into it and giving the game another chance, that’s when I saw and heard about these new features and additions which absolutely blew me away. To this day and age of the game, i’m astonished by how far this game has come and grown. Along with this amazing community being consistently increasing in popularity. I thank frontier heavily for these efforts and updates they provided for us, and I personally thank every commander out there for being supportive of this journey this year. Godspeed to everyone! ❤
Fantastic review of the past year! Thanks! Much anticipation for the future
I wish it hadn't taken a financial fire being lit under Frontier to get these things but it is what it is. Great recap and as usual great hooning footage x o7
We've had a good year, a really good year! Put it this way - there hasn't been a year since 2015 that I've haven't played a whole load of ED, but this year I've enjoyed it way more (and probably spent more in store - on the prebuilds). If there has been a downside it's that I used to quite often buy paintjobs on a whim, but I've hardly bought a single one since the prices went up.
Thanks for the 2024 review Buurs! It's back to key competencies for fdev. I think they will do well with that strat for a few years at least. Merry Christmas!
It's been a great year, I kinda feel sad that it nearly took the company folding for the game to get this attention. But I know most of this stuff was made and planned before the staff cuts. But it is amazing to be proud of Elite again. The game knows how to do epic now!
Excellent video. I am so glad that Frontier are doing well and that the game I love is going to continue. I've prebought most of the new ships for just the purpose of supporting FDev, but the Mandalay has been an _awesome_ exploration ship. I've been puttering towards NGC 7822 doing mapping and genetic scans as I go. Looking forward to cataloging all those blue-white giant stars and the many black holes that seem to be there before heading back.
If they put 4 ships out a year I will probably buy them all to keep the game developing.
@@ToCoSo Same.
Good review, good assessment. Cheers! Fingers crossed for ED in '25.... and for atmospheric planets with flora and fauna please...
A super review of a super year in Elite... thanks for all of the work and the updates throughout the year. Happy Christmas to all in the Burr Pit and to all Commanders making up this community... Roll on 2025, what could it hold??
FDev Doing good things right now.. keep it up FDev ! i stopped playing just before odessy and have recently returned only because of Fdevs current direction towards actually implementing gameplay mechanics to INVOLVE players and EMPOWER them to shape things within the game by playing it. We just want engagement that matters. GJ FDev ! KEEP IT UP ! (also the new ships are nice, and i couldnt care what anyone says, monetise the game within reason so it stays alive for us ALL, those who spend or not benefit from it)
Always kept the faith tbh. Absolutely love this game, and I'll happily spend money on ARX to support its development. Merry Christmas cmdr's o7 😎
Merry Christmas to you too 🎄🌟
I'm glad to see Elite getting new content and updates and FDev working on their communication a bit. But mostly it has been Thargoid content which although has been of good quality it doesn't appeal to all. I myself left the game after the Odyssey botched release and new Thargoid content alone wasn't going to bring me back. However this new colonization thing did make me dream a bit and even reinstall Elite and start helping out to defend Sol and perhaps watch as the last Titan blows (haven't watched any yet).
It will all depend on how FDev will approach this colonization thing. If it's just another pointless grinding with no direct rewards/benefits or control it won't bring players back to the game on the long run. I'm also enjoying the new ships, but that alone isn't enough to keep me in the game for long, I would need something like colonization to keep me invested. I really hope they make something good out of it, which players can enjoy and have fun with for a long time.
Great video, and it has been a great year for Elite. FDev has done some remarkable things as you listed in your video. Something I would like to see next year is greater variety in exobiology and exploration. New and different life forms, and maybe even animals (perhaps some dangerous ones) to find would be great.
Great video Buurs! Have enjoyed the ED ride this year and look forward to the colonization beta!
It's gonna be good isn't it!
i will never forget dieing 2 seconds before taranis went boom!
This has been the best year for ED since its release. More new ships next year please :) also how about some quality of life update - colour changing cockpits etc. and I really would like to walk in and out of my ship,,,,,,,just saying ;)
Bravo to the always amazing script and mesmerizing flight videos this year. Well done you two. Renny.... who does the amazing flying demos? VKB Sim pilot?
I hope they keep up the momentum, even if it's not always as intense as this.
I've been playing for years and it always felt like a neglected child who didn't perform well in school by FDev.
But hot damn this year has been a huge change and I'm here for it. Came back from Colonia to the bubble and have been having a great time being a hauler again.
Sure, they have a lot they can still improve, (Give. Me. Stealth. Knockouts) but I think they're gonna get there eventually.
My highlights have been both taking final strikes against a dying Titan a la Independence Day and the call to arms against Cocijp. Which is saying something since I'm primarily an explorer o7
Played Elite for a couple years and then tried all it's competitors. Finally after getting fed up I came back and am here to stay. The away time just showed how good Elite is.
Great stuff from FDEV - Looking forward to 2025!
Even though we don't have a lot of details on the colonization update, the fact that that is cap stoning the year is an achievement.
I really hope the thargoid war doesn't end. I just got back in the game after a 3 year hiatus and this is the most fun I've ever had!
@@DarkReturns1 same here mate!
Can't wait to see what 2025 will look like for Elite. More quality of life fixes like changing hud colors. Perhaps an overhauled npc crew function? Slap some arx cosmetics features on it and everyone wins.
I started the game late 2016 on console, did my first journey to Colonia in summer 2017. Played until about 2018. Built my first PC in 2019.
Got odyssey in 2021 after i got horizons for free. Ironically i got it for free on both steam and epic. Transferred all my stuff, I did it at the time when everything transferred and not just CR. Didn't play much that year though.
This year brought me back. Finally got both FC's!
Fleet Carrier + Federal Corvette fully engineered
Python Mk2 and Type 8 fully engineered
Python Mk2 is a amazing ship, my favorite by far. Looks badass and melts everything.
The thargoid content lately has been really fun and engaging. Especially if you're in the AXI. Great year for Elite, and i hope they continue. They have the opportunity again to capitalize on their corner of the market.
funny how almost every elite streamer released the same vid on the same day lol
The Thargoids are definitely not going away anytime soon, hopefully we can find out where the Titans originated from and finally find out the galaxy map from the surface sites. It would be great to see a story arc delving deeper into the Guardians. Maybe the expansion of the bubble through colonization will bring forth new lore in the form of long-lost generation ships, more dredger clans, and abandoned settlements.
While I started in late 2020 I can also say that 2024 was a huge change to the gameplay. I went from just puttering around in Solo to joining in community events and major fighting in AXE with fellow commanders. I don't know if I'll ever make the jump to PvP but I'm glad I have finally been able to truly join the Elite community.
EDIT: Thinking about what might happen in 2025, I thought up a crazy "What If" scenario. What if the Guardians come back and THEY are the real enemy? And what if they are able to sabotage all SCO FSDs due to the link to Thargoid technology? Talk about an event that would change the face of our universe!
After a long hiatus from E:D (I was playing on the PS4 release for some time), I have recently, after 14 years, upgraded to a new VR ready PC - and my first stop on the steam autumn sale was E:D. I was so disappointed when PSVR first came out and E:D wasn’t supported (although it‘s understandable).
As of today (day 4 of actually playing the game) I have yet to get my bearings and have thus, so far, missed out on the Thargoid war. Hopefully I‘ll be able to upgrade my ship in time to participate before the War‘s culmination.
If there‘s one thing on my Christmas Wishlist for the game, it‘s the upgrade for full immersion „on foot“ - while unimmersive flat screen play of „on foot“ is not a dealbreaker, I would still prefer to play the game full on in VR - in 2024 VR is now more affordable than ever before, with the release of the quest 3s and PCVR support for PSVR2 - so I think now would be a good time to advertise and cater to people coming from the PS and meta quest ecosystems looking for more high end options on PCVR.
great year for Elite indeed. I was going for Mandalay but when I've seen incoming Cobra cockpit view I'm going to sacrifice jump range for that view :)
Agreed.
2024 has been an excellent year for Elite. All the updates, changes and new ships got this bitter, jaded veteran playing again. I've seen people on my friends list who haven't played for five _years_ logging in too.
Friendship drive charging! o7
I recently returned to the game having not played since 2019. Safe to say it’s vastly improved.
Personal highlights coming back getting my CV and becoming involved in the war. I had ignored Thargoid combat but was inderdicted and destroyed, trying to go witness the second Titan's destruction.
I got annoyed.
I began perusing in earnest AX videos and How To's. I was familiar with Cmdrs Will and Kate and their tgargoid content, so i started there. Quickly discovered CMDR Mechan and his content was invaluable. Also found a video on an entry level DBX AX combat ship. The video was called "The Sawtooth" or something similar. So i built it, changing a few small things and G5 engineering everything. I called mine AX Dragonfly and started swatting Scouts. I also built all versions of CMDR Mechan's Titan bombers and began that as well. On my third Titan, the war's fifth, i began fighting in combat zones and killing Interceptors. It has been so fun that i have ignored my poor alt account and its exploring journey to Colonia for too long.
Overall it has been a stupendously enjoyable time.
I havne't played Elite this consistently in a very long time.
I'm mostly an explorer, the biggest gripe for me is, that being way out in the black, I'm missing everything going on in the bubble. It's not a big deal to switch between roles inside the bubble (trader, pirate, ant-xeno, miner etc) just by switching or re-equiping ships so I can have one role today and another tomorrow as my mood changes. Get a few thousand light years out in the black and it's one hell of a grind to get back. Please, please can we have multiple avatars.
Even though I got blown up over the weekend trying to get into sol, it was still exciting and something I haven't experienced this game for a long time
I'm part of a small 5 man player group that hadn't bothered with the game for years, and we're all playing again and several of us have bought the new ships. Hopefully this can help encourage FDev to keep doing good things.
Great video! Beautiful videography! I have only dipped my toes into the the Thargoid war, and got them burned. For me the changes have been welcome. SCO, material gathering, and engineering changes have given me the boost I needed to really enjoy the game. And the new ships are the cherry on top. I can hardly wait to get my hands on the Cobra V. ❤🤍💙 I think it would be really cool if we could build DEEP space outposts out in the black...like WAAAAY out.
Very good review.
Not a big fan of ship FOMO but it's nice to finally have some content in game.
Great Video, it sure has been a good year to be playing Elite and hopefully the next one is just as good with colonization.
I just hope they will finish polishing PP2.0 (before releasing colonization) as I feel a lot of players are grinding to get to rank 100 in PP and then will not care about it ever again, it would be nice to have rares and escape pods re-enabled at some point, fix mining requiring to be mined and sold in the same system to get merits and maybe even make the normal/odyssey missions give merits so that there is an incentive to actually play the game instead of just reloading the same settlement to farm the same data ports over and over again :(
(the 5 random weekly PP tasks are often more annoying than they should, good luck finding 11 megaship in acquisition systems with in game tools, or the impossible get some bio data and sell it in system X, when that system has no stations with Vista genomics to be able to complete the task...) :(
Oh and Carrier Bartenders/storage transfers are still broken too....good thing we'll have a Titan to deal with next week so that gives them more time to fix the rest of the issues.
o7
Did something happen in 3310?
Survey says: ✅
Ideally in game cosmetics could do with staying out of a cost of living conversations 😐
Wishlist for next year:
- develop on foot combat (new gear, and locations - habitation rings would be a really interesting setting)
- refresh character models, or at least hairstyles
- procedurally generated flora to make exobiology more about discovery than collection
- on-foot VR support (unlikely, but it IS a wishlist!)
And console report
Superb summary of a great year!
Sounds like ED dodged a bullet. Now let’s hope FDev can keep up this pace. And yes, I spent more arx on ED in the last few months than the previous years combined. 😅😊
Rheeney 13.07!!! What a shot how did you get that!!!!
Just to give an idea, _since the thargoid invasion of Sol_ I've done a great many things for the first time, such as:
Seen a Thargoid
Destroyed scouts
Worked out how to evade hyperdiction
Bought a Python Mk2
Bought a Diamondback Explorer
Made longest-ever trip to find guardian relics
Learned how to surface prospect
Unlocked guardian weapons
Destroyed, Hunters, Interceptors
Rewarded for recapturing 5 systems
Made another long trip to obtain guardian module blueprints (today!)
Ready to attack the Titan when it's time.
etc...
This is really a fun game to play again. Original alpha-backer, not played it in over a year, hooked on 'goid hunting.
Honestly, this is something youd tell your grandkids about, the game that once was where thousandsof players defended Sol against an alien invasion.
This has been more than a simple tweak of corporate policy. This has been a backs to the wall examination of where FDev has been going wrong, listening to their client base and delivering on those expectations (mostly). I’m very proud that I’ve stayed by this magnificent map of the solar system and feel quite a bit more privileged to be in it.
Nice vid Burr as always great job
Since you asked about new features: My biggest gripe with the game right now is the incredible tedium of switching ships. I have to remove all my engineered modules from the ship, then switch ships, then put the stored modules in the ship. In warframe, if item X goes in slot Y of object Z, you don't need a second X to equip it in a Y of another Z. I really don't like that I have to engineer *another* size 5 thrusters. I should only have to engineer a size 5 thrusters once (for each different combination of engineering upgrades), and it should be available for all my ships. The only difference is the tedium of switching ships, storing modules, switching again, equipping. Instead of storing whole ships, we should store "ship blueprints", and when you equip your new ship, the blueprint is assembled straight away, with no manual processes required.
That's a lot less tedious if you just engineer the modules you want for each ship as you go. I never take modules out and store them to move them to another ship. I just buy a new module for the other ship and engineer it. Then I leave my ships fully kitted for their specific purpose, which is reflected in their name. Especially now that engineering is much easier, and I have three different ships kitted specifically for collecting different engineering materials
@@Meanderthal17 it still makes you travel for experimental effecs, and farm more materials. If you do it for every ship, then sure, you don't need to swap stuff out. But you're asking a lot of tedium (material farms, engineer trips for experimental effects) from your players just so that they don't have to deal with other tedium.
@@benniebees Yeah I suppose. I generally travel to engineers in my ships engineered for travelling. Then in the nearest starport or facility with a shipyard I just transfer the ship I want to engineer and stop playing for the day. Next time I get on I just swap to that ship and bring it to the nearby engineer.
It's great to see FDev back on ED.
the new ships looks great, waiting patiently the Cobra MK5.
The TItan arriving at SOL is a great shake up call for all veteran and new player.
It made me come back to the game and helped the best I can with rescue.
For the futur, I hope they'll try to develop technology that can generate evironment on planete like earth, I know it's almost an impossible task.
Otherwise, develop more the lore, the politics, put unique things about factions to make us visite each faction planete or systems.
It has been a great year for Elite, that's for sure.
Though, despite the revamp of the engineering system, I still struggle a little with it. To me, encoded materials are the ones that have always been the hardest to get. And they still are.
I used to play on console and stopped after console wasn't being supported anymore. Played again out of boredom like a year after oddessy and kinda played on-off as a ground pounder merc. Started to play more frequently then the last titan started to move to earth so I shifted to earth to see what I can do (was still flying a sidewinder because I didn't want to get sucked in like I did when I played console) then the whole invasion of earth happened and I was like ok I feel like I definitely need to do something so I looked at the two pre-built ax ships had enough for one so I bought the krait and I've been absolutely fighting goids left and right where ever I can. This event and how the game has changed since the last I played heavily has pretty much got me back in
A year ago, ED was on it's deathbed. it was on a clear descent into irrelevance. But it seems that F-dev realised what they had with ED, or at least could have if they took real action. I (like many) was sceptical of the "early access" model, but I've grown to appreciate it's value, I just bought the cobra, and my motive for doing so was simply that F-dev earned it! If they keep showing this old game a bit of love, the community will repay that investment, both in goodwill and cold, hard cash!
I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings, if feels like it could even be better than 2024's developments!
Mk2, Mandalay are great ships. Being able to engineer ships has been very satisfying. But for me, the absolute highlight has been getting involved in AX combat and the thargoid war. I've gone from total AX noob to mostly AX noob 😂 but it has been simply the most fun I've ever had in 5 years of playing ED. Thanks fdev and the AXI.
Elite always got me curious, but with all the problems and bad comments didn't jumped in, finally decided to buy it on a sale, it was cheap, several months later and many hours I'm quite happy having joined at this time.
Great times to play Elite.
Maybe we'll see Cocijo drop down to earth and have to fight in atmo. that'd be really cool.
Frontier does need to realize that by building something so large in scope. That it is, and always should be its number one focus if they want to stay in business.
As one of those pilots fighting Hydras in the final hours of the defense of Alpha Centauri at the iconic Hutton Orbital, I have to say this has been the most exciting year I've ever played in Elite Dangerous. I've played a potentially unhealthy amount of hours in this game with how much unbelievably entertaining content they've given us. The Second Thargoid War is exactly the kind of content I wanted out of a game like this. I hope they continue with this trend and keep the game fresh and exciting and continue to walk back the unnecessarily grindy parts of the game. While I do think a minor grind is good for an MMO like this, it should take a backseat to the sim experience it provides.
@@SandyParsley682 100%
Owning game since 2015. Played sporadically about 200+ hrs. Reason of getring back this year is simple - purchqsed Steam Deck, and omg, that is exp I was looking for (even abandoned HOTAS in favor of sofa/bed playsessions)
Amazing year for Frontier, hats off to the whole team for bringing us all this new stuff. Cant wait for 2025 and those lovely expansions in and around the bubble, amazing video as always I'm Commander Buur and Rhee 😁 o7
Totally, they've done amazingly well this year. 2025 let's go!!!! o7 Krem ❤
I'm Cmdr Krem ❤️
😂
That is indeed my full kennel name 😐
Honestly just returning to the game after many years away. I've grabbed some of the new ships and I'm still in the process of relearning the basic mechanics. There are still things that I look at and think, okay I've no idea how to do that. I'll just do this for right now as I know how to make it happen.
I tried fighting Thargoids but just didn't click with me. Having to scan subsystems to target hearts was a pain, those drone swarms were annoying, and if they started focusing on you instead of NPCs you'd blink and your shields and armor were gone even if you had every AX module you were supposed to have. I gave up and built an Exploraconda, going back out into the black.
It works for me, I'm back in the game after 6 years having a blast and FDev benefit because I bought ARX to get the prefit Krait & Python.
ED has been epic this year. Absolutely beautiful game.
While I've been keeping up on the story and game update, I've had very little time to play. I'm hoping to change that and get back into some more regular play.
I've been away from the game for a while dealing with a divorce and moving this summer/fall, but seeing these updates have me excited to get back to it soon! Especially the engineering rebalance and colonization updates.
Obviously noone 'likes' to pay for things after buying a game, but I really dont understand the people calling it pay-to-win because imo you never 'win' in elite dangerous. If you have a better ship than me or more money than me, that really doesn't affect my game or experience unless we are battling each other.
Easily the best year since 2018 (3304) when the Beyond series brought new ships, new mechanics and an overhaul of exploration. The future's looking brighter than it has in a long time.
Glad I’m not the only one who has absolutely no idea how to pronounce the last Titan’s name…
I need to play this more
If they bring back console support then Ill be ok but to watch this new era docked in shinrata watching the thargoid war on RUclips😢
To the best of my knowledge since Distant Worlds, ED hasn't been able to galvanise and focus players ironically until the latter stages of Fargoidia. I hope Frontier has another element (post fargoid) of significant evolving development (off world) that will have the potential to focus many of us players again. Wasn't interested in the Fargoids until recently. Construction and allegiances unless coming up against potent counter forces, in my view won't hold the numbers. Big big hand to Frontier for this years implementations. 👏
my carrier was about to get decommissioned and I couldn't care less tbh, FDev has been the kind of company who's management always treated their players like crap, we know best, if you don't like it, scram, and scram many of us did.
the the Manderlay came out and I was tentatively curious, gave a shot to the game and now I've been running rescue missions ever evening after returning my carrier from deep in the black :-)
if they keep it like this, they have my time, attention, and money :-)
I'd love to see on planet combat with Thargoid military units and or the humans that were corrupted by them. But to have a better excuse than base raiding. Plus if we are going to be allowed to colonize it would make a great ground threat to newly established bases.
Never been into killing aliens and never will be. But this game is more than that, and I always find other stuff in game to do,, so Im just happy the game goes on.
Yay, love it
Fantastic year for Frontier, especially for Elite, Glad they recognised that they’d perhaps spread themselves to thin taking on new IP’s whilst taking their eyes of the ball with the ones their player base played, next year looking forward to Colonisation, would like to see another 4 ships, those of the Gecko, Boa, Moray Starboat and perhaps Constrictor or Wolf. Further reduction of grind over fun, community monetisation of resources and a more more buoyant self sustaining resource purchasing system, ie commanders work to get resources, ie planetary or ring mining and collection, they then sell them to systems for in game credits, those resources then increase in that system, other commanders can then buy them for an increased amount of credits, buy on demand type system. I’d rather buy them from someone or a station than go finding them myself.
As someone who never got into this game until roughly the halfway mark of this year, and honestly never really heard of the series up till this game, I can say I'm glad I picked a good time to give the game a second shot (My first attempt to get into it resulted in a rage-induced refunding of the game after running into the idiocy of the Combat Tutorial), and damn am I ever glad I did give it that second shot. Over 600 hours later into the game, and I don't regret it, and have bought every ship during it's AX EA period since the T-8 dropped, and will continue to do so to try and help make sure Fdev keeps this game up and running.
That's brilliant.... It's a mad one isn't it. Once you "get" Elite it's suddenly "omg!!!" 😉
Well something changed around the beginning of the year, do you think hiring that publicity firm or whatever has had an impact?
New ships for money is cool with me, ima def buy the cobra mkv lol
Being an old school and erm…more mature player at 68 years old, I never really took the thargoid incursion seriously, I faught and failed combat several times, despite kitting out several “ goid ships” and engineering them to G5 I have however killed dozens of scouts whilst rescuing npc’s . I spent the time avoiding the grind of engineering my Odessey suits and weapons and proud that after 2 years I’m now fully capable on settlement missions with G5 everywhere and saving the last slot on my suits for when I unlock Shen …I’m a 2016 player and have ridden all the ups and downs of fdev, the biggest let down was the release of Odessey , for those who remember, it was for both the devs and us players a tough time. Then the debacle with or for the console players. That was imho a simple over stretch on their behalf thinking they could make elite like an arcade game appealing to the mass space battle audience who witnessed cinematic action advertising to get them interested. I think or like to think that was done in good faith, but alas at the end it had a cost to all of us. Having come through those tough times, I’m now experiencing and seeing a lot more energy in the game, especially since fdev put the eggs back in the basket they knew worked. I’m excited for all of us, and proud that in the end fdev stood firm and put their resources and interests back into elite. It might sound crass, but there were times I felt the elite as a game was on a count down clock. I’m very hopeful for the future years and will continue to play for as long as my old bones allow me. Keep smiling guys, and my thanks to the Burr fam for sticking with it too.