Let's discuss RARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And how it unbalances Powerplay.
- Thread starter Murky Dregs
- Start date
Telegram from Mitterand:
"People wanting buffs for everything, to level of rares (or even more) simply cannot understand difference between their tiny ranks for fancy modules and taking new systems...let's boost all activities to 20k/h- we will end with "glorious" pp, where single timmy can swallow big system on his own in single week..."amazing", big scale and long term loop. No. Rares stored on carriers shouldnt counted for PP. Simple."
"People wanting buffs for everything, to level of rares (or even more) simply cannot understand difference between their tiny ranks for fancy modules and taking new systems...let's boost all activities to 20k/h- we will end with "glorious" pp, where single timmy can swallow big system on his own in single week..."amazing", big scale and long term loop. No. Rares stored on carriers shouldnt counted for PP. Simple."
I don't have a problem with rares having such a high value. I have a problem with nothing else coming close. Even the PP specific items you can pick up to reinforce or undermine are a paltry faction of what rares give.
For the record, I'm running rares (doing circuit in my Type 8, not using FC) just to rank up. In this third week, I'm now up to level 67 (I think). I'm making good money and getting caught up on my Netflix shows. But after I hit level 100... I don't know.
The other thing about rares being so good and everything else being meh or bad is this: hauling rares not only earns you money, but since it's trading it's nothing but positive rep (with local factions) all the way around. Contrast that with "committing crimes," "hacking adverts," and Odyssey on foot activities which hammer your reputation with the local faction. I'm not even bothering to do any of my weekly tasks this week since most of them are undermining focused, would just get me negative rep (and notoriety), and I can earn more than all five of them combined with one simple loop of trading rares.
To be clear: I don't want rare hauling nerfed. It is fun to space truck in the Type 8... up to a point. But I don't understand why all the other methods are so weak... save for escape pods. I've heard people talking about how that's an even faster merit grind than rare trading.
Oh I'm perfectly fine with stamping rares from carriers as invalid for PP merits (just give those people a few days warning, in fairness). The carrier users are dominating every factions rankings. I do lots of hauling in my Type 8 and am consistently getting in the top 10%, but never breaking into the top 10 (and never will). Further, the incentive to use carriers for this is causing lots of carrier jumps, which means everyone's carrier takes longer to do jumps (server load), and that just stinks.
So, I made it to the second week of the new Power Play 2.0, and I’ve got to be honest; it's not what I was hoping for. I’ll try to explain my experience without sugarcoating it, and I know some of you might have strong opinions in response. But hey, that’s what feedback is for, right?
I jumped into the second week with enthusiasm, ready to tackle the new goals. I started with what I thought would be the hardest task first because that’s just how I roll; I like to get the tough stuff out of the way. The mission? Destabilize a power’s hold by racking up bounties. Sounds straightforward, right? Trust me, it was anything but.
It took me two days just to complete that single goal. As soon as my notoriety hit 10, everything spiraled into chaos. I was confined to a system with only one station and one beacon. Every time I took down an enemy, the police swarmed me, and my shield generator would get shredded. I tried using my AFMU to repair, but the constant onslaught forced me back to my carrier repeatedly. And here's the kicker: My own carrier would turn on me if I defended myself, resulting in a quick trip to the prison ship.
I tried the workaround of staying on my carrier to reduce my notoriety and even paid off my fines at an Interstellar Factor, but it didn’t take long for my notoriety to skyrocket again. I found myself stuck in a repetitive loop of chaos just to finish one of the five assignments for the week. And honestly, it was draining.
I want to be clear; I’ve been playing Elite Dangerous since 2014, so I’m no stranger to grinding. But this new Power Play just feels like an endless grind with minimal payoff. I know the tasks change each week, but the difficulty spike and sheer time commitment required for some of these assignments are too much for someone who has a full-time job in real life. The fact that my own carrier can destroy my ship when I’m just trying to defend myself? That’s where I draw the line.
Now, I fully expect some of you to tell me “good riddance” or dismiss my critique outright. But if you’re going to be rude, I wish you luck and hope you enjoy the endless cycle of forum complaints. Because let’s be real, the forums are filled with players voicing issues that rarely get addressed. I was genuinely open-minded about Power Play 2.0, hopeful it would bring fresh, meaningful content. Instead, it feels like they just added another grind mechanic without really listening to what the community has been asking for.
I’m bowing out of Power Play for now. If it’s working for you, that’s great. But for me, this update missed the mark. I’m all for challenging gameplay, but when it’s more frustrating than fun, it’s time to move on.
Good luck to everyone sticking with it. I’ll be focusing on other aspects of the game—or maybe other games entirely. Thanks for hearing me out.
I jumped into the second week with enthusiasm, ready to tackle the new goals. I started with what I thought would be the hardest task first because that’s just how I roll; I like to get the tough stuff out of the way. The mission? Destabilize a power’s hold by racking up bounties. Sounds straightforward, right? Trust me, it was anything but.
It took me two days just to complete that single goal. As soon as my notoriety hit 10, everything spiraled into chaos. I was confined to a system with only one station and one beacon. Every time I took down an enemy, the police swarmed me, and my shield generator would get shredded. I tried using my AFMU to repair, but the constant onslaught forced me back to my carrier repeatedly. And here's the kicker: My own carrier would turn on me if I defended myself, resulting in a quick trip to the prison ship.
I tried the workaround of staying on my carrier to reduce my notoriety and even paid off my fines at an Interstellar Factor, but it didn’t take long for my notoriety to skyrocket again. I found myself stuck in a repetitive loop of chaos just to finish one of the five assignments for the week. And honestly, it was draining.
I want to be clear; I’ve been playing Elite Dangerous since 2014, so I’m no stranger to grinding. But this new Power Play just feels like an endless grind with minimal payoff. I know the tasks change each week, but the difficulty spike and sheer time commitment required for some of these assignments are too much for someone who has a full-time job in real life. The fact that my own carrier can destroy my ship when I’m just trying to defend myself? That’s where I draw the line.
Now, I fully expect some of you to tell me “good riddance” or dismiss my critique outright. But if you’re going to be rude, I wish you luck and hope you enjoy the endless cycle of forum complaints. Because let’s be real, the forums are filled with players voicing issues that rarely get addressed. I was genuinely open-minded about Power Play 2.0, hopeful it would bring fresh, meaningful content. Instead, it feels like they just added another grind mechanic without really listening to what the community has been asking for.
I’m bowing out of Power Play for now. If it’s working for you, that’s great. But for me, this update missed the mark. I’m all for challenging gameplay, but when it’s more frustrating than fun, it’s time to move on.
Good luck to everyone sticking with it. I’ll be focusing on other aspects of the game—or maybe other games entirely. Thanks for hearing me out.
I don't understand why Poweplay was designed such that it is better to ignore the weekly assignments and just blindly haul rares.
Because "I want it all and I want it now" works for everything, PP included.
You mean player should stop finding the meta and just play a game?
Imho Frontier should increase the merit rewards x10 for these assignments. There should be an incentive to get out of your comfort zone and do a variety of tasks instead of mindlessly grinding the current meta activity.
If assignments became the single best way to gain merits, it would be even easier for Frontier to get a handle on the merit situation since they are limited in number. Of course the bugs have to be ironed out. Currently it feels like about half of the PP mission types have the chance to bug out and become impossible to complete.
pssshhhh... now look at what you're suggesting. Rubbish!
I do think the task list could be better organised.
Some of them lead you into quite fun stuff but some of them give few Merits for a lot of dull stuff.
A mission board with something like the threat rating (or complexity) and larger Merit payouts would be good.
Like it's a list of what they actually want done rather than random BAU stuff.
Some of them lead you into quite fun stuff but some of them give few Merits for a lot of dull stuff.
A mission board with something like the threat rating (or complexity) and larger Merit payouts would be good.
Like it's a list of what they actually want done rather than random BAU stuff.
I had a fairly easy set this week - after completing them, including a bit of "while I'm here" merit earning around them, I had about 6000 merits - which, of course was mostly not from the assignment bonuses themselves.
The tricky thing with assignments is that the merits only apply to the person, not the system. And the systems take even more moving than one's personal rank does.
So I do think the assignments should give more bonus merits, but the wider question is what Frontier wants the total balance of activity to be on the collective system side
There are certainly faster ways to get personal merits than rare trading - again, it's that distinction: for boosting your own personal rank there are better options, but they're generally extremely system-dependent. One big advantage of rares is that not only are they really fast, they're usable in basically any system.
I was always an advocate for taking the modules out of powerplay and making them available through tech brokers or specific engineers. I am not a power player, but I have to engage with it, because I want the modules (and the new buffs powers give are nice too). Of course I will choose the most efficient path to get it done and over with. Although I will not abuse the data bug, so rares hauling it is.
From hauling fortifications to hauling rares... I said no thanks.
Ofc my merit progression is horribly slow, because combat merits are too low, ground activities are also slow, smuggling is no more... but I don't really care.
No, I am saying the meta is chosen by the game designer. And FDev chose hauling rares over PP Weekly Assignments.
Not only is hauling rares more profitable, it is easier, lower risk, requires less game knowledge, skill and investment. And it is pure repetitive grind vs weekly assignments which direct players into a diverse variety of activities. Its just a weird choice given they put effort into adding weeklies into the game, then undermined it with an easier and more profitable alternative.
Not to mention that more emphasis on the weekly assignments would be way easier to balance and put all players on more equal footing. In the rares meta it's much more of a difference which ships/carrier and time you have.
i like to think that the rares are an open beta test of pp2 hauling. pp2 pulled a lot of people in and making them do rares loops would be more exciting that just pp cargo while you collect data. it would also show off interesting places in the galaxy that you perhaps wouldnt normally see. lots of lore and sightseeing usually in systems that have rares.
you get data, you show off your game, players have an opportunity to earn credits besides merits... it would be a good jump start for powerplay. and when you have your data you swap merit gain for powerplay goods and rares and good ol pp hauling is back to normal.
what fdev is really cooking i dont dare to even guess...
I learned:
- PP has a massive 100 rank system
- I need to gain rank 34 (247,000 merit points) before I begin getting the rewards I am aiming for.
- If I am interested in helping or expanding my pledged power, I need to get massive merit points.
- Weekly assignments are best ignored.
- Hauling rares A-B-A-B-A-B and then occasionally to C is by far the best method towards any PP goals. Otherwise ignore the merit points and goals completely, and get the rewards a year or two from now.
I concur with Rebel Yell. The other activities need to be boosted, not rares to be nerfed. It takes about a million control points to take a system from acquisition to stronghold, so we need for everything to be buffed, otherwise once the module shoppers have what they want, PP 2.0 will become a bit of a wasteland as the remaining players can only focus their efforts so much.