I want to say this clearly up front: this isn’t a hate post. I’m not attacking CIG, and I’m not pretending game dev is easy. I’m a backer who’s been around long enough to recognize patterns — and I’m honestly just frustrated. The holiday release pattern, this is something that keeps happening. A patch goes live right before the holidays, with known problems, and then we’re stuck dealing with those problems while most of the team is understandably on break. I’ve personally seen this more than once over the years, and I know I’m not alone. The current Nyx / Vanduul mission situation is just the latest example. Freight elevators don’t work in live PU. Not “sometimes,” not “you did it wrong” — they just don’t work. And yes, they’re “optional” for bonus pay, but when a system exists in-game and is tied to rewards, players are obviously going to try to use it. What makes this worse is knowing this stuff was already known in PTU and yet it still released to live. It feels like live players are being forced to test, this is where it really starts to bother me. We have a PTU. That’s where unstable or half-working systems should live. But instead, we keep seeing situations where: systems don’t work in live, alternative methods are removed or don’t function and players are left experimenting, dying, soft-locking, or wasting hours. At that point, it feels like we’re the testers in live, not the PTU. I don’t mind helping test. I really don’t. But that should be a choice, not something forced on us because other options were taken away. A good example of this is hangars vs docking, another example of this same issue is large ships being forced to dock even when large hangars are clearly available. I understand docking on stations or locations that don’t have extra-large hangars, that makes sense. But in places like Orison, where XL hangars absolutely exist, we’re still being forced to dock. And it really feels like the reason is: “We want players to use docking so we can test it.” Here’s the problem with that: a lot of us are older gamers with limited time. Landing in a hangar is: faster, simpler, less finicky and doesn’t require perfect alignment or fighting desync. Docking takes longer, is more error-prone, and adds friction where it doesn’t need to exist. Forcing it in locations that already support hangar landings doesn’t feel immersive, it feels like live players are being used to validate a system. Again, testing is fine, but forcing it in live when alternatives exist is not. This isn’t a one-off we seen this many times before. We’ve seen this cycle before with: Missions, cargo systems, elevators, kiosks, payouts and reputation. Things break, they go live anyway, and then we’re told to wait. After a while, that wears on people, especially the ones who keep coming back every patch. Sandbox freedom is disappearing, on top of all that, it feels like player freedom is slowly being chipped away, and that honestly hurts more than bugs. A big reason many of us backed this game was the sandbox aspect, the ability to experiment and make our own choices. Now!? Larger hardpoints are locked to smaller guns, even removing gimbals doesn’t give freedom back, Loadout choices feel more restricted. And I keep asking myself why?, If I want to run a weird build, a glass cannon, or something off-meta, that should be my call. Let me deal with the downsides. That was the whole point of a sandbox. Instead, it feels like, “We’ll decide how you’re allowed to play.” That’s not what a lot of us signed up for. Why I’m saying this not because I’m not mad because the game isn’t finished, It is not because there are bugs. I’m frustrated because: broken systems keep shipping right before holidays, live players feel forced into testing roles, time-respecting options are removed and freedom is being reduced instead of expanded. I care enough about this project to speak up instead of just logging off and walking away. I’m not hating on CIG — I’m giving feedback, from myself and from a lot of other backers I talk to. I want the game to succeed. I just don’t want to keep feeling like player time and player agency are always what get sacrificed first. If others feel the same, I’d genuinely like to hear it. Not to dogpile, but because this stuff matters if we want the game to be as good as it can be.