The next big easy-to-do gameplay loop accessibility and engagement improvement!!! Easier mission hand ins.

[GraphicEqualizer]

We've had SCO drives, we've had engineering grind ease, we've had pre-build starter ships introduced, all great improvements for engaging in content... here's the next one:

Annoyingly most missions require returning to the exact station you picked up the mission from. I argue that you should be able to hand in the mission to any terminal of any station/settlement run by the same faction of the mission giver.

This is a constant annoyance, I want to be taking missions and moving FORWARD, not needing to re-tread over old ground. Make the gameplay more about doing, and not needing burdensome illogical extra steps returning where you came from when I could be taking on another mission from a terminal closer by. Forge your own path, ONWARDS!

I'd even like to hand in any mission at an Interstellar Factor too, I'd rather take a 20% hit on mission payout reward for the convenience.

Unless the mission specifically requires you to bring back a thing for a person, let the mission be handed in as above. This way, for the average mission I could save 5 minutes of time just returning which could be spent engaging in another mission.

For the least amount of dev effort, the mission could continue to highlight the originating port/settlement for handing in when it is completed as it is currently, but it could be mentioned in the description that the mission can also be handed in at any of the same faction's ports/settlements or an interstellar factor.

Enable the itinerant odd-jobber hobo lifestyle, and further reduce the off-putting feeling of needing to grind back to where you were.

 

[Darrack]

We've had SCO drives, we've had engineering grind ease, we've had pre-build starter ships introduced, all great improvements for engaging in content... here's the next one:

Annoyingly most missions require returning to the exact station you picked up the mission from. I argue that you should be able to hand in the mission to any terminal of any station/settlement run by the same faction of the mission giver.

This is a constant annoyance, I want to be taking missions and moving FORWARD, not needing to re-tread over old ground. Make the gameplay more about doing, and not needing burdensome illogical extra steps returning where you came from when I could be taking on another mission from a terminal closer by. Forge your own path, ONWARDS!

I'd even like to hand in any mission at an Interstellar Factor too, I'd rather take a 20% hit on mission payout reward for the convenience.

Unless the mission specifically requires you to bring back a thing for a person, let the mission be handed in as above. This way, for the average mission I could save 5 minutes of time just returning which could be spent engaging in another mission.

For the least amount of dev effort, the mission could continue to highlight the originating port/settlement for handing in when it is completed as it is currently, but it could be mentioned in the description that the mission can also be handed in at any of the same faction's ports/settlements or an interstellar factor.

Enable the itinerant odd-jobber hobo lifestyle, and further reduce the off-putting feeling of needing to grind back to where you were.

Please are we seriously wanting to dumb the game down even more?
Space is vast, it takes a while.

O7

 

[GraphicEqualizer]

Please are we seriously wanting to dumb the game down even more?
Space is vast, it takes a while.

O7

I argue that is not dumbing down, but that the current need to return is dumbed down, it makes no sense (except in the circumstances mentioned) and limits the roleplay lifestyles... you restore a settlement, or take down a pirate, etc., and need to go back to that station/settlements terminals specifically, not anyone in the same faction? Like if you murder someone it is logged by your suit/ship apparently and you instantly become wanted everywhere no need to be seen or be reported, and yet you complete mission and for some reason you need to return to the starting point. It is illogical and a waste of time.

1000 years in the future, this return to office mandate is STILL ridic. lol

We would still need to plan to hand in missions, it's just about having more options, i.e. checking that a nearby settlement is run by the same faction and travelling to it. No dumbing down required. I am not advocating for missions to just be handed in from the ship or suit. Make it make sense.

 

[Darrack]

I argue that is not dumbing down, but that the current need to return is dumbed down, it makes no sense (except in the circumstances mentioned) and limits the roleplay lifestyles... you restore a settlement, or take down a pirate, etc., and need to go back to that station/settlements terminals specifically, not anyone in the same faction? Like if you murder someone it is logged by your suit/ship apparently and you instantly become wanted everywhere no need to be seen or be reported, and yet you complete mission and for some reason you need to return to the starting point. It is illogical and a waste of time.

1000 years in the future, this return to office mandate is STILL ridic. lol

We would still need to plan to hand in missions, it's just about having more options, i.e. checking that a nearby settlement is run by the same faction and travelling to it. No dumbing down required. I am not advocating for missions to just be handed in from the ship or suit. Make it make sense.

If i hire you for a mission i want proof before i hand over the credits, not second hand info, i trust noone.
Come back with the dog tags.

O7

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Annoyingly most missions require returning to the exact station you picked up the mission from. I argue that you should be able to hand in the mission to any terminal of any station/settlement run by the same faction of the mission giver.

Agreed - there are a lot of missions I'd be more inclined to take if I didn't have to go back to the starting point. That said, with Powerplay, I'm finding that I rarely take missions at all; the Powerplay tasks fit a wandering or semi-wandering lifestyle far better.

This is particularly silly for the "Deliver item to Odyssey settlement" missions, where the exact equivalent space mission types don't require you to return. You're giving the item to someone, they could show you the reward screen right then.

But I think there's even a little more streamlining possible - if you select your preferred mission reward when you take the mission, it can just pay out instantly on completion [1] as missions did in FE2/FFE (or Powerplay weekly missions do in Elite Dangerous, for that matter...)


[1] Commodity rewards don't work for this, but commodity rewards are basically just a leftover from some engineering requirements which were in the game for about a year and have been out of the game for the following seven. Adjusting the few remaining things which ask for mission-only commodities to ask for some extra engineering materials instead would mean they could just be removed.

 

[GraphicEqualizer]

If i hire you for a mission i want proof before i hand over the credits, not second hand info, i trust noone.
Come back with the dog tags.

O7

And if the mission just requires you to have a settlement back online? That can be seen without me needing to return. If I deliver a package to someone on foot, and they accept it, why do I need to return?

Why does the bounty system not require seeing the dog tags?

Makes no sense.

It's unnecessarily padding things out for no logical reason, and limiting players from engaging - just like those other things that now have more sensible options

 

[Darrack]

And if the mission just requires you to have a settlement back online? That can be seen without me needing to return. If I deliver a package to someone on foot, and they accept it, why do I need to return?

How do i see the lights come on from 20LYs away?

O7

 

[metatheurgist]

If i hire you for a mission i want proof before i hand over the credits, not second hand info, i trust noone.
Come back with the dog tags.

O7

But the very same faction contact for the faction is in every station! You are bringing it to them!

 

[St0rmFury]

But the very same faction contact for the faction is in every station! You are bringing it to them!

He trusts noone.

 

[aRJay]

I have no issue with the game mechanic that makes us go back for payment, as that’s usually where I want to be to pick up the new mission.

But it does seem odd that we have suits that rat on us when stealthily clearing a settlement, and the mission giver messages us that the mission is complete but they can’t wire the credits to us.

Suit IDs aren’t secure, people are cloning them all the time.