“Star Citizen is slowly recovering from its most unstable update in years, but is what’s on the horizon?”
Star Citizen players are having a difficult time due to the latest patch, 3.18.2, causing the in-game experience to fluctuate from being slightly buggy to completely unplayable. The persistent universe has turned into a testing universe, and basic missions, invisible AI enemies spawning in the ground, bunker elevators, hangar doors, Quantum travel, Zeno Threat Mission progress, ship weapons, gear and countermeasures are some of the issues. The poor experience seems to be tied to the health of the server. Star Citizen’s split development process between the single-player campaign Squadron 42 and multiplayer experience is also frequently brought up. The rate at which those features and progress are being delivered into Star Citizen seems to be slow, making it difficult to frame the argument positively, especially when the new content is often delivered in extremely rough states.
The Invictus Launch Week is fast approaching, and it should be active in the last week of May. It is Star Citizen’s biggest yearly event and is often accompanied by a free fly for players, huge ship sales, large fleet maneuvers, showcases from the UEE Navy, and the release of some new ships. The team seems to be stressing their servers so heavily to make Invictus Launch Week as stable as possible. The team is currently testing the new Loreville cityscape, which is probably the main highlight of the patch, showcasing a complete revamp on one of the first major landing zones of the game. Another major update is a new player experience tutorial, something the game has needed for a long time.
Star Citizen players are divided in their opinions regarding the game’s development process. Some believe that players need to be patient as the game is still in Alpha, while others point out that they have been waiting ten years for the game to become more playable since their original pledge. Despite all the difficulties and bugs, the progress is being pushed forward, and a new patch, 3.19, is coming with new content. However, players are finding it hard to get excited about new content when they can barely get their ships off the landing pad.