What the new secret feature should be

[Muzz UK]

CQC has no effect in the main game it doesn't use your main ship and the rank is worthless. The mode is also dead! No one in the pvp groups or pvp discords talks about arena they want PvP with their own ships and load outs in the galaxy against members of other powers. Not training mode PvP which CQC is.

As a person who doesn't really care about PvP, I don't really get this problem..

If they want it, why don't the "pvp groups and pvp discords" just go and do "PvP with their own ships and load outs in the galaxy against members of other powers" then? Are the pvp groups and pvp discords just aligned with one power?

Which one?

Because its 2024 and absurd this feature is not in game. If you have a missionboard or HUD in game that supported PvP you would get an automatic connection or link to other PvP players. I wouldn't need to download an app, search groups, join groups and wait for members of those restricted groups to be online. I have access to everyone in game across platforms who were in for PvP, just like every other MMO game in existence

I am not a massive PvP player because I don't want to spend hours a week or month finding PvP but if the tools were in game I'd take part.

CQC/Arena was nothing to do with the main game, didn't let you use your own ships and the ranks pointless it effects nothing in Elite.

 

[Nowski]

If you have a missionboard or HUD in game that supported PvP you would get an automatic connection or link to other PvP players. I wouldn't need to download an app, search groups, join groups and wait for members of those restricted groups to be online. I have access to everyone in game across platforms who were in for PvP, just like every other MMO game in existence

I am not a massive PvP player because I don't want to spend hours a week or month finding PvP but if the tools were in game I'd take part.

It seems an in-game UI feature which indicates PvP locations would help you much more than an open only activity per se.

I wonder if conflict hotspots within the new powerplay system could serve this purpose, if the PvP groups you mention struggling to find each other just adopted a convention to this effect?

 

[varonica]

CQC has no effect in the main game it doesn't use your main ship and the rank is worthless.

You know it's always an interesting point. You see every other game I have played that has PvP and PvE modes usually tries to not mix the two. They either have PvP and PvE servers, or Arena's where players can be matched against equally equipped and skilled players to make a good fight. So every time I read responses like this it comes across as "we don't want fair and balanced PvP, we want to be able to use over engineered murder boats to kill helpless traders and explorers."

If there was a huge demand for PvP then CQC wouldn't be an abandoned dead end, PvP players would use it as a tool for sharpening their skills against equally equipped and balanced opponents, but they don't.

just like every other MMO game in existence

Played plenty of MMO's that don't let you do exactly that thing you say they all do, funny that.

 

[HRDiagram]

CQC has no effect in the main game it doesn't use your main ship and the rank is worthless. [...]

Fun fact: CQC Elite gives you access to two permit locked systems, so it's the most impactful of the Elite ranks.

It would be nice if CQC was more connected to the rest of the galaxy (or the bubble, at least): it could spring back to life.

 

[metatheurgist]

Sounds like you're in the same ship as everyone else then. There's no board or HUD for people that want to co-op either. Hell, multicrew doesn't even work properly and that's a feature!

 

[Rat Catcher]

As have said before, and now that PP2.0 isn't open only this game needs a forced open only PvP feature.

Possibly PP 2.0 is not going Open Only "at launch" because FD did their homework and decided that it would be a wasted effort to have a tiny minority of the playerbase engaging in it (after all, it was supposed to 'force PvP' among pledgees)

Maybe they will relent in a few years and make it open only, but until then, I guess you have open today, with the same potential for 'organic PvP', much as it always has been.

If they made an Open PvE mode, then Open would be the PvP mode, as it needn't be shared by those uninterested in that particular facet of the game.

 

[varonica]

Fun fact: CQC Elite gives you access to two permit locked systems, so it's the most impactful of the Elite ranks.

It would be nice if CQC was more connected to the rest of the galaxy (or the bubble, at least): it could spring back to life.

Yeah, more rewards for CQC, connect it to ongoing events in the galaxy, make it accessible, no problem with any of those, but I am not sure any of that would generate the extra users that would make it a popular game mode. Honestly I don't think ED is at all suited to PvP, it was never designed to work that way, unlike other space games that are basically all PvP, Eve Online comes to mind of course, but ED isn't and never will be EO.

 

[Cosmo]

anyone with above 90 IQ already knows whats gona release. even i sayd what it was and was banned from the forums for a few days ..

Well you should be able to share your guess as to what it is.

Not as I recall the comments at the time, and there is no end-game to ED.

Fleet Carriers cost lots of credits (5 billion excluding additional services), are quite complex in particular for newbies who usually struggle with the basics. So it's not newbie content. They are far more expensive than the most expensive regular ship and require upkeep. Most mid-tier players aren't rushing to get a FC. They usually do ranking up for a Corvette and/or Imperial Cutter. So it can be considered de-facto end-game content.

 

[imski]

Yeah, more rewards for CQC, connect it to ongoing events in the galaxy, make it accessible, no problem with any of those, but I am not sure any of that would generate the extra users that would make it a popular game mode. Honestly I don't think ED is at all suited to PvP, it was never designed to work that way, unlike other space games that are basically all PvP, Eve Online comes to mind of course, but ED isn't and never will be EO.

Make it count to Powerplay!

Factional tournaments for prestige and rep!

 

[Rat Catcher]

Most mid-tier players aren't rushing to get a FC

Is that detailed on a reliable source?

 

[Jmanis]

As have said before, and now that PP2.0 isn't open only this game needs a forced open only PvP feature. Everything in the same has the option of solo/private etc. Why are Frontier frightened to have just one OPEN/ONLINE only game mode? Its not going to drive people out of the game most of the game is already non PvP friendly.

Like I said for PP2.0 on numerous occasions... if they wanted to "incentivise" PvP, Open Only for PP was never the answer[1]

Incentivised PvP for PP2.0 looks and feels like CQC in in the core game, not tucked to the side... instanced opt-in activities in the target area. Telepresence is basically this already.

Go to a Powerplay version of Frontline Solutions and drop me into a CZ specifically instanced for Powerplay and matching players against each other? Sign me up!
Or drop me into a fighter as part of two capships slugging it out until one is routed? Done.[2]

Taking a page out of CoD matches: Losers get rewards... winners get more rewards... people doing PvE get somewhere in between depending on how effective they are... and think of it like this:
A new player with just a sidey or even T6 to their name might look at Powerplay and go "Yeah nah, I'm hauling widgets against people with T9's, or combat against fully engineered ships" and they're also just not going to be very effective by contrast anyway... 100t of widgets is 7 times less than 700t of widgets... but being able to drop in to an instanced PvP match, without much in terms of progression, and be put on even-odds equipment-wise[3] and participate just as effectively?

Nah... Open Only camping empty systems sounds like the way forward for sure.

[1] Not just because my tin-can Internet guarantees I rarely, if ever, instance with anyone.
[2] But Open-Only PP or modes? No thanks.
[3] Obviously some sort of variation is needed; maybe access to better equipment from PP ranks?

 

[aRJay]

…
Fleet Carriers cost lots of credits (5 billion excluding additional services), are quite complex in particular for newbies who usually struggle with the basics. So it's not newbie content. They are far more expensive than the most expensive regular ship and require upkeep. Most mid-tier players aren't rushing to get a FC. They usually do ranking up for a Corvette and/or Imperial Cutter. So it can be considered de-facto end-game content.

I will grant that they are high level content even highest level to date, but I object to the term end-game as it implies that the next thing is the game over notice followed by boredom or a restart.

 

[Ozric]

There is already a thread discussing why Power Play 2.0 should be Open Only https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/open-only-in-pp2-0.624749/

And there is a thread for discussing the perceived merits of one mode over another https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-open-v-solo-v-groups-thread.607291

So keep those discussions there.

As have said before, and now that PP2.0 isn't open only this game needs a forced open only PvP feature. Everything in the same has the option of solo/private etc. Why are Frontier frightened to have just one OPEN/ONLINE only game mode? Its not going to drive people out of the game most of the game is already non PvP friendly.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Although I'd love to soak up more Powerplay discussion, I'll tune back into On Topic FM and wonder what is next- perhaps crews to fill out all those seats in the shiny new ships? Other than that and bases I can't really think of a wholly new thing that is lacking as a feature in ED.

 

[aRJay]

Although I'd love to soak up more Powerplay discussion, I'll tune back into On Topic FM and wonder what is next- perhaps crews to fill out all those seats in the shiny new ships? Other than that and bases I can't really think of a wholly new thing that is lacking as a feature in ED.

Yes it is always harder to think of something completely new rather than something that is just an improvement or expansion of what is already known.

 

[Saurian]

I'm thinking that the two big possibilities for features are either a base building system or thinking that there is still a new ship to be revealed, maybe it could be bigger ships like cruisers or things like that which would need multiple players to either drive it or to be fully functional.

Also I think that these new bigger ship could be a nice prelude to ships interiors.

But I guess we will have to wait until 30th October to know what really Frontier is cooking.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Although I'd love to soak up more Powerplay discussion, I'll tune back into On Topic FM and wonder what is next- perhaps crews to fill out all those seats in the shiny new ships? Other than that and bases I can't really think of a wholly new thing that is lacking as a feature in ED.

No - and the other implicit requirement is for something fairly small and probably not requiring a lot of new artwork: they were at best originally planning it for six months after Powerplay, possibly sooner, alongside having to finish Powerplay, tidy up the loose ends of the Thargoid war, and do the various other smaller things and all the new ships. And if they're still wanting to talk about it shortly after Powerplay, they can't now be expecting it to slip by years or even too many months.

The return of the MB40 mining machine? (Surface miner models have been around for years)
Racetracks (SRV or ship)? (There's sort of one, without the time element, in the tutorial, but it'd probably still count as a new feature if they took that and made it a main game thing)

On the tinfoil hint extrapolation side, there's been a couple of Galnet articles about the economic impact of the Thargoid war that haven't gone anywhere, but it's also tough to think where they might. Similarly maybe something to do with why the Thargoids were actually bothering to capture people in the first place, though again how that might relate to a new feature I have no idea. It's certainly plausible as a "Cocijo has been defeated, but then..." introduction for the timing.

 

[amigacooke]

Although I'd love to soak up more Powerplay discussion, I'll tune back into On Topic FM and wonder what is next- perhaps crews to fill out all those seats in the shiny new ships? Other than that and bases I can't really think of a wholly new thing that is lacking as a feature in ED.

Frontier could try making good on some old things:

• Walking around interiors and combative boarding of other ships
• Combat and other interactions with other players and AIs in the internal areas of star ports
• Accessing richly detailed planetary surfaces

Not very likely though.

 

[imski]

They also once threatened boarding ships...

 

[Arioch]

Combat and other interactions with other players and AIs in the internal areas of star ports

It’d be nice if those hangar turbolifts had more than one destination. I’d like to visit the seedier places, the lower levels, places where a CMDR could get some lucrative jobs but at increased personal risk…