Among the many, many bugs that players of Elite: Dangerous have filed and upvoted on the game’s Issue Tracker, one repeatedly pointed-to problem is apparently not quite so simple to fix, and so Frontier Developments is going to ignore it for the foreseeable future.
The problem in question relates to the surface tiles used to cover a planet in low orbit, which are so repetitive that it can be quite jarring. However, a statement from the devs explains that making planetary tiles look a bit more natural even if they are repeating involves far more resources and time than one might initially assume:
“Reducing or preventing the tiling effect would require a deep-overhaul of fundamental systems, which in turn would disrupt other aspects of the game. This would inevitably take time away from developing and improving other elements such as performance, bug fixes, and new content. We cannot justify this level of change and a re-generation of the galaxy in Elite.”
As this problem isn’t likely something to be addressed by FDev anytime soon (or later, for that matter), the related Issue Tracker posting has been closed. That said, the announcement further promises that the team will “strive for the best possible experience for the highest number of players which [their] current focus allows [them] to do.”
