Discovery Freelancer 4.86 Update 5 Released

[latos]

Some of you fellas (you know who) and I have a long friendly relationship, and I totally get the perturbation - we're old guys!
Change is nerve-wracking enough, even if you spend your life training to be open to it.
I myself have entertained the (ossified) thought that the devs are doing 'just too much' - you know, adding things like cloaking and playerbases, which in turn adds the need for new rules and new nerfs ad nauseum.
It makes no sense on first glance.

BUT...
It's like spinning an oddly shaped item to get it to reach a state of gyroscopy - adding imbalance to imbalance to achieve balance.
Sure it'll wobble at first, menacingly, but it'll spin up.

Look at literally ALL of the other Freelancer mods.
I've played many of them - and I make no judgement - but they share something that Disco doesn't.
For them, adding a few ships, bases, systems and such is enough.
Add more 'stuff' but no core change.

Now look at their active numbers - they can't even TOUCH Discovery's compiled numbers!

Freeworlds, FU, Shattered, Gitano, etc, these other servers have or had chosen a state of non-evolution and have been left in the past.

While today, Discovery evolves (sometimes painfully, sometimes rather stupidly, but always fearlessly!) and gathers new players, constantly.
It also keeps them.
Good ones, like you guys!
Freelancer Discovery has finally become Discovery Freelancer - more new than old.

Evolution punishes weak designs, and rewards ones that work.
Discovery has and will continue to do the same, but for every great new 'thing' that makes it into the long form, there is a steaming turd that doesn't.

So, from one old guy, white-knuckledly trying to come to grip with the changes, I suggest that we should welcome them.
We can be critical, and fix what needs it, but we should always look forward to the growing pains and the "steps backwards", even if we do cringe a bit.

I've walked away from Discovery more than once. I came back because there was something and someone new each time.
If it was the same old BS populated by the same old idjits, I don't think that would be the case.

I damn near teared up when I read this. Now that is amazing wisdom right there, we would do well to pay attention to it.

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