Powerplay kills the fun!

andre3000

A
Hello everyone!

I am a somewhat new player, i just finished my "honeymoon phase" with this game, everything was wonderful, i learned, i made hundreds of millions, i made ship builds, i participated in all activities i could find, mining, transport, conflict zones, pirate hunting, engineers and so on, and everything was a blast!

Then, i had one very bad idea, i clicked on "powerplay"...

That thing hurts my brain! I tried and tried to find ANY activity that i could do to make decent merits but it feels like the company making this game is actively trying to prevent anyone from enjoying this part! Why couldn't i just earn merits while i play? Why can't i just relax, mine asteroids for 3 hours as i already like to do and sell them for profit AND get some merits? (Almost) No one in his right mind is gonna bother giving himself the headache that it is to find a system to mine in where you can sell for a decent price and that qualifies for the merits! Why can't i just chill, do transport missions for hours and get some merits while i'm at it? Why, in the end, does every activity have to SUCK when merits are introduced??

So, it's simple, i could just forget that powerplay exist but the perfectionist part of me just doesn't feel ok with that, and rather, if some things are not accessible in the game i love, i'd rather completely dismiss the game in it's entirety!
Now, don't get me wrong, i'm not one of those 12 year olds who's like "meh, fix this or i leave!" but genuinely, this whole powerplay thing asks me if i want to play as if it was a boring job or if i want to leave, it's hard to express it, but psychologically, it feels just like that! Powerplay completely destroyed the fun i felt playing the game and since it messed up the possible objectives i could have in the long term, why bother? Powerplay is a dream killer man!

Why can't you just join a power and naturally progress with that power by just playing as you would usually?

This is probably one of the many many posts in which someone whines about this or that but i truly wanted to express how clunky this whole powerplay thing feels to a new player, to the point that i would have appreciated if a buddy introduced me to the game and told me: just one thing, NEVER click on powerplay, it will destroy the game in your mind!

I don't know if i will stick around, maybe after a few days, i'll come to terms with the idea of just forgetting about that, "unpledging", missing out and playing my own version of the game, but right now, i just lost that eagerness i had to play!

Such an amazing game, such a fun-killing feature!

Anyway, cheers to anyone reading this!
 

Felix DiCestria

Felix DiCestria
Different players find different things interesting.
I can't stand mining, does that make mining bad?
Incidentally mining is considered one of the better activities for PP.
There are commodities that can be hauled for merits.
I prefer downloading & uploading data which got me around 20k merits/day.
There's a thread on the PP sub forum about what activities make merits.
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
andre3000 said:
Why can't i just relax, mine asteroids for 3 hours as i already like to do and sell them for profit AND get some merits?
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I don't know why Frontier decided to add the location restriction they did for mining, but I would guess it's so that mining can be really good for some systems without being really good for all of them. It also means that different types of mining work better in different systems, rather than it just being all laser-mining all the time.

andre3000 said:
Why can't i just chill, do transport missions for hours and get some merits while i'm at it?
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Missions largely not giving merits I suspect was an attempt to separate Powerplay from the minor faction layer of the game a bit more.

There's also a bit of a "get paid twice" aspect to a lot of missions - e.g. if you take a mission to kill 20 pirates, you're going to get bounty merits from those kills anyway, so you don't need the mission itself to give them. But they could certainly make more mission types give merits.

andre3000 said:
Why can't you just join a power and naturally progress with that power by just playing as you would usually?
Click to expand...
Sometimes you can - it depends what you'd normally do. Within your own power's space:
- scanning ships gives merits
- donation, power restoration and megaship scan missions will (directly or indirectly) give merits
- bounty hunting gives merits
- search and rescue gives merits (or would, if it wasn't temporarily disabled for most cargo types)
- some trades give merits
- mining occasionally gives merits
- the more valuable types of exploration data give merits
That's not everything you could be up to, but it's a pretty comprehensive list and pretty much everything else you can do gives at least some opportunity to do some of it.

Outside your own Power's space then, yes, the situation is very different and "things you might normally do" and "things which give merits" are much more separated (on-foot missions tend to give some decent opportunities to earn merits on the side, though). This is certainly a problem in many ways, especially for people interacting more casually with Powerplay.

This really is a subset of the broader question of "why does the game have more than one reward type?". Depending on what you're doing, you can earn:
- credits
- six different classes of engineering materials, some with multiple distinctly-obtained subclasses
- reputation with minor factions
- Powerplay merits
- paramilitary rank with the Federation or Empire
- pilot Elite ranking (six different types)
- commodities of intrinsic value beyond their credit sale potential
- engineer unlocking or reputation
- system maps and first discovery awards
- ARX
Nothing you can do gives all of those at once, and fast ways to earn one of them generally give none or not much of the others.
(Is this too many types of reward? Probably.)
 

Florenus

Florenus
I have this problem with ARX, unfortunately. Before ARX were introduced I never felt any pressure to do anything, which was great. Now I feel like every week I just must get my free ARX quota, but what I want to do in game rarely gives any for some reason, so every week I quickly do obligatory set of things to get my ARX, so I can relax. I hate it, but I understand this is my problem, since I "choose" not to ignore free ARX.

I don't have this problem with Powerplay. If I want to help a Power, I need to do more specific things, like mine in certain system, which seems understandable. I'm an agent - I'm not being rewarded for just existing and doing anything anywhere. What I do needs to make sense for the Power I'm supporting. The good thing is that there's plenty of activities to choose from and there's no pressure, like weekly merit decay, so if I'm bored I can take a break and nothing will happen.
I'm in a good position to enjoy that because I really don't care about unlocking any special equipment, so the speed of my rank advancement doesn't bother me at all and actually the only reason I'm taking part in PP is roleplaying.

I understand that when you have some goal in mind, trying to reach it ASAP might take its toll on the fun you're having.
 

Mersozz

Mersozz
I'm pledged to a power for a few reasons but it is definitely a side hustle. My job as the "BGS Janitor" for my squadron/faction soaks up enough time as it is.

I imagine that once colonization kicks off, I'll be sinking a lot of time into that, because it matches with my personality type. So, I'll likely do it even if it becomes a mega-grind.
 

andre3000

A
"I'm not being rewarded for just existing and doing anything anywhere." -> That's my point, pretty much... why not? You are part of a power, why would all your actions not improve the position of said power within whatever system you are in? (and thus, reward me accordingly) That would be much simpler AND, most of all, more fun than the headache powerplay currently is!

The main issue with powerplay is it being so disassociated from the game, what i mean by that is that i have to break my brain and forget about making the usual nice credits (or fun activities) JUST to focus on merits, that's the issue!

It would be MUCH better if you could pledge, forget about it and, in the background, the game powers dynamically change! We should not have to bother filtering statuses, etc...
 
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andre3000

A
Hugh Jardon said:
That's exactly what you can do. What's more, you get loads of extra cash and other stuff for what you'd be doing already. It makes no sense not to pledge to the appropriate power. Tell us what you like doing, and we'll tell you how to get an advantage from PP.
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Let's say TODAY... (that is part of the issue, because, for ALL activities i would have to bother "recalculating" to make it work not too badly with powerplay) i want to go mine!

Now, i have 2 choices, 1) Go to my usual spot, mine for 130 millions, sell it in the same system and be happy! 2) Take an hour to try and find a place where i could mine, and a place where i could sell, without losing TOO MANY credits and get merits!

It's just bad design! I am not gonna bother planning like crazy every time i feel like doing something because "merits"!

So, in the end, it's almost like "either i play powerplay... OR ... i play elite dangerous!'
 
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Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
Hugh Jardon said:
That's exactly what you can do. What's more, you get loads of extra cash and other stuff for what you'd be doing already. It makes no sense not to pledge to the appropriate power. Tell us what you like doing, and we'll tell you how to get an advantage from PP.
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Pretty much this. I must have earned 20k merits from bounty hunting last week. No tricks, just blowing stuff up.
 

Shadowsnog

Shadowsnog
as far as i know powerplay is designed to give merits by just playing and doing almost anything.
however the system isnt just a flair for periodcally inflating your merits while doing whatever. theres a vast game to be played and to get the reward, you have to contribute. do you know of a game that rewards you for doing the incorrect thing? its like complaining you arent getting any ore when you are chopping wood.
you do the right thing for your power, you get the right reward.
i understand that the powerplay systems might be a little overwhelming, but once you get the gist of it its a pretty smooth ride.
im not a miner, i do few hours of mining per year just as a fun intermission, so im not the most qualified to adress your problem with finding the right system, but im sure there are cmdrs who are doing the same activity as you for the same power as you that could help. have you considered joining your powers discord and maybe asking for advice there? what about inara? are you familiar with the sites search tool? if nothing else it can list you systems under your power that have good selling prices and maybe from there you can find a spot to mine in the vicinity...
 

andre3000

A
Shadowsnog said:
as far as i know powerplay is designed to give merits by just playing and doing almost anything.
however the system isnt just a flair for periodcally inflating your merits while doing whatever. theres a vast game to be played and to get the reward, you have to contribute. do you know of a game that rewards you for doing the incorrect thing? its like complaining you arent getting any ore when you are chopping wood.
you do the right thing for your power, you get the right reward.
i understand that the powerplay systems might be a little overwhelming, but once you get the gist of it its a pretty smooth ride.
im not a miner, i do few hours of mining per year just as a fun intermission, so im not the most qualified to adress your problem with finding the right system, but im sure there are cmdrs who are doing the same activity as you for the same power as you that could help. have you considered joining your powers discord and maybe asking for advice there? what about inara? are you familiar with the sites search tool? if nothing else it can list you systems under your power that have good selling prices and maybe from there you can find a spot to mine in the vicinity...
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Ehh... Once again, that's my point! No, thank you, i don't want to join discord and plan for hours just to make powerplay kinda work when i go mining! It should be passive, but it doesn't currently work!
 

andre3000

A
Rubbernuke said:
Powerplay is like shopping at a supermarket with a rewards scheme. You buy your break and milk, and get given extra bread, milk and er.....heavy futuristic weapons.
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That would be fantastic! But right now, if you go shopping for asteroids, or passengers, etc... You don't get merits! That's exactly what powerplay should be! A passive rewarding thing!
 

andre3000

A
Shadowsnog said:
low effort, low reward...
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It's a game, a fun game, until powerplay comes into the picture, then it becomes a chore! Mining for hours is effort, killing 60 vessels in conflicts is effort! Joining discord and trying to make stuff work is not a game effort, it's masochism! Would anyone sincerely tell me "I just love powerplay because you have to think for hours before you do anything to make it work!"? I just hope not the majority of elite players!
 
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