Dear Mr Braben... The poll

[dannysquid]

The fact is PC gaming and especially MMORPG has become a mainstream entertainment. It's no longer only "nerdy" kids play them, so if Frontier wants to appeal to a wider audience they pretty much have to dumb things down, to have player-friendly mechanics, to be more transparent in game mechanics. That are the norms of popular mmorpgs. It's perfectly fine to make it hard as hell and as "old school" as possible but E won't be popular.

Surely we are living in the golden age of nerdy and complex mechanics. Half the games coming out on the PC are openly bragging about their ironman, uncompromising and challenging nature!

When is this old era of super-complex games? It certainly wasn't the 70s or 80s.

 

[Antenociti]

Any statisticians out there.... ?

when does the poll become statistically relevant?

lets just say using the 25,000 KS backers as a start point.... and then double it for new gamers....

 

[Shepard]

What a biased poll, what a biased poll, what a biased poll! Did I mention that this poll is extremely biased? It's weird how some old-timers treat this game like their own little toy and think that if they invested money into KS then David Braben developed it for them and only for them alone... I too am KS backer. And may have spent actually even more money into a whole thing than OP. That doesn't mean, however, that I want this game to be as dumb as possible. Difficulty wise the game is fine, I personally don't want any change there. But I do want to see a LOT MORE in it than what original Elite had. I wonder if Elite refugees from 80s, even understand that majority of people who play ED today are NOT backers.

And if ED wants to retain that majority they better add a lot more features into the game and FAST. Otherwise the only people will be left - backers and even some of them will leave if not already left or taken a break until something else worth spending time on is added.

So YES - CHANGE THE GAME ABSOLUTELY! Add more features, more mechanics, more things to do. Make the galaxy feel alive!

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

Elite "I'm old and I'm trying to rekindle my youth" Dangerous.

 

[StephenB]

Elite Dangerous is my first Elite game and I side with keeping things difficult.

I'm not opposed to adding new features (Route planner is Brilliant) but I am against making game play easier (Large portion of NPC ships without shields, Last shot = kill; removed). The game shouldn't help you, it's an uncaring universe and you are only one pilot. If you want to know how to complete a specific mission you should have to seek out help from your fellow commanders, asking in-game/online. If you want to claim that 60,000Cr bounty you need to get the last shot. If you shoot another ship regardless of how poor their piloting is, you should pay the fine for not keeping an eye on your scanners.

Elite dangerous should be about Skill, not making things easier or "Fair". In my opinion

 

[Red Two]

What I find hypocritical is that the majority of old timers appear to be playing in Solo mode, yet want the game to be harder. AI is never going to be very good, so if you want difficult go up against players.

Also, you seem to assume that the changes made were only because players asked for them. I find it very self-entitled to think that Frontier made a change they did not want just because players asked (whined) for it. This is Frontiers game, they are making the game that they want to make. They certainly are not catering to whiners (otherwise offline mode never would have been scrapped).

If you think they are caving to whiners, why arent they caving to the whiners who want stuff changed back??!!

 

[_Flin_]

There is a difference between "difficult" and "annoying".

Many people, esp. those who claim to speak in the name of "the 84ers" tend to overlook that.

 

[sgurr]

What you're saying is absolutely not true. I'll put short version to make it easier to understand (and that's aimed at me, I seem to lose the point the more I write)

1) Shield Cell need a while to kick in. It's not a long time, but enough to have the shields taken down, rendering SC useless for the time being. Happened to me quite a few times when fighting pirate NPCs and I payed with my life few times. Press-to-win?
2) Sure, they can tip the balance towards player using them. That's not why I believe they were intended. How about taking on stronger NPC oponents that you normally didn't stand a chance of defeating? How about taking on multiple NPC opponents? How about escaping that damn pirate NPC in your Hauler? How about repelling multiple NPC fighter-class opponents in your frigate-type ship? How about surviving in war zones?
3) What you seem to deliberately skip is you also have a limited supply of shield cells. Once you use them all, that's it. Why not mention that?

Considering all of above, I do not feel shield cells are overpowered. They give an advantage but please tell me - compared to the rest of NPC engagements in the game - how many times did you fight equally-skilled player where shield cells tipped the balance? I haven't once. On the contrary, it saved my skin a lot of times when I had to fight stronger NPCs. They were Dangerous Cobras, I was Mostly Harmless Eagle. That is what I call balance, so your smaller, inferior armor-wise ship still stands a chance.

Oh, and I had a fight against 'conda (not even elite) and I was blown out of the sky very quickly. Maybe more skilled player could make short work of her in Eagle, I certainly couldn't. But the whole "mount-SC-auto-win" theory is as far from true as it can be. Not without looking into full range of situations it can be used in - judging its OP-ness by just one scenario is wrong and leads to false conclusions.

I think it is, opinions eh?

The only scenario I'm judging them by is combat, whether it's 1v1 or 1v many or 1v a much bigger, more powerful ship they have an overpowered effect.

My take on your points:
1. That's practice and timing. After a while you get a sense of when to trigger them so that your shields never drop.
As long as you're able to get on the conda's tail it's possible in an Eagle to not lose shields at all using cells, I've done it recently to prove the point. I could not take down a conda, or it would take a LOT longer, without the cells. Anything smaller than a conda and they do trivialise the encounter for me. I've made a choice not to use them as a result.
2. I'm not sure I agree about the intended use, but regardless taking on stronger npc opponents is possible with skill, ship upgrades and clever energy management as it stands. Shield cells skew it far too heavily in the player's favour.
3. Yes they are limited, but resupplies are never far away and if you're doing assassination missions you only need them for one encounter. Also, did you know a Cobra can currently carry as many as 49 cells? An Eagle 20+?

how many times did you fight equally-skilled player where shield cells tipped the balance?

Every single time I've had a pvp encounter unless my skill level was much, much higher.
When they were introduced I had to run from pvp encounters where I was the better pilot because they had cells and I didn't. So I got them and encounters then became about cell management and whomever has more or uses them more efficiently gets the upper hand.
I've been flying since the premium beta so I have a lot of flight time, and I'm quite comfortable taking on elite Cobras in my Eagle. I'm not saying that to show off, just to point out the result of time acquired skill vs. using shield cells.

I do hear what you're saying about how helpful you find them but there are other ways that aren't push button. For example, did you know that 4 pips in systems more than doubles the damage your shields can take? (3 pips increases them a bit, maybe 10-15%, 2, 1 and 0 do virtually nothing.) Use that when you're under fire to give you time to get on their tail.

 

[technophebe]

*Must* we direct forum threads directly at FD staff members, as if our opinions are somehow so important that they must stop what they're doing and listen attentively to our sage insights?

No, thank you!

 

[Spike_Spiegel]

Devs need to rebalance and make things harder.
Also need to rebalance becouse its seems to be balanced around solo play even tho its mp.
And these types of missions are better for multy player then for sp.
came for the mp

 

[Antenociti]

What I find hypocritical is that the majority of old timers appear to be playing in Solo mode

just wondering - how do you know that?

 

[Heveabrasilien]

Why should they make it hard as hell from top to bottom, when they could add easy start and a progression to harder areas, thus making the game hard and giving potential to be popular?

Why does everyone think this as one line with no room for anything else?

I think that's great, moderation, varieties and options are excellent. OP however seems to be suggesting we're going from one extreme to another.

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Yet, DayZ, Rust and many other PC games say otherwise...

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -



There are 400 billion systems in the game. The game is procedurally generated.

No reason in the world that there can't be enough variations in systems to please everyone.

Those games you listed ain't MMO, they are co-op multiplayer at best. So we're back to the question again, is Elite Dangerous competing with other mainstream MMO like EvE/WoW/GW2? Or just trying to do its own thing and be another game? If Elite isn't interested in competing with the big boys, I say go nuts because there will be diehard fans regardless.

 

[Ghostile]

Every single time I've had a pvp encounter unless my skill level was much, much higher.
When they were introduced I had to run from pvp encounters where I was the better pilot because they had cells and I didn't. So I got them and encounters then became about cell management and whomever has more or uses them more efficiently gets the upper hand.
I've been flying since the premium beta so I have a lot of flight time, and I'm quite comfortable taking on elite Cobras in my Eagle. I'm not saying that to show off, just to point out the result of time acquired skill vs. using shield cells.

I do hear what you're saying about how helpful you find them but there are other ways that aren't push button. For example, did you know that 4 pips in systems more than doubles the damage your shields can take? (3 pips increases them a bit, maybe 10-15%, 2, 1 and 0 do virtually nothing.) Use that when you're under fire to give you time to get on their tail.

Solution:
Equip shield cells and dominate.

 

[netshaman [VR]]

I

Quote Originally Posted by Red Two View Post
What I find hypocritical is that the majority of old timers appear to be playing in Solo mode

You are totally wrong dude, i'm an 84'er and i largely prefer playing in open mode, i don't ever know, what is the point of this solo mode and never since the game was on beta i played in this mode , just a waste of time imho, and completely pointless.
I m a 84'er , i was ever dreaming of an online experience with Elite with other players sharing adventures in this universe and now it is possible so what is the point playing solo with an internet connection ?
FD should had implemented offline mode for this purpose instead of having jettisoned it !
Conpletely dumb choice !
Marketting, is the problem : the best way to convert a pure jewel, into a crappy unusable s... !
Look for example at a game named "Spore", you will understand what i mean.
Dam these crappy marketters which look only for profit and convert all they touch into s... !
Grrrrrr....

 

[Ghostile]

Look for example at a game named "Spore", you will understand what i mean.
Dam these crappy marketters which look only for profit and convert all they touch into s... !
Grrrrrr....

Spore was a good game, what are you on about?

Damn the 2014 game industry and how you need to make money to live! Damn them all to the void!

 

[DocMoriarty]

Kinda surprised about a lot of people don't want changes. This is not Elite from 1984. This is a new game in 2014/2015 and it's not an offline game with the possibility to load an old save if you mess up and stuff. It's (at least sold as) a MMO. There are well established features for MMO's developed over the past 15 years and FD ignores that all. To be successful in the long run, the game needs some dramatic changes, better sooner than later.

 

[Kayweg]

Loaded poll question....not voted.
Everybody has the right to lobby for changes they want to see, including the people i don't agree with.
And FD has the right to make changes to the game as they see fit.
If one day those changes made (or not made) make me conclude i don't want to play anymore, i clear out...and no fuss made.

 

[tucker]

What a biased poll, what a biased poll, what a biased poll! Did I mention that this poll is extremely biased? It's weird how some old-timers treat this game like their own little toy and think that if they invested money into KS then David Braben developed it for them and only for them alone... I too am KS backer. And may have spent actually even more money into a whole thing than OP. That doesn't mean, however, that I want this game to be as dumb as possible. Difficulty wise the game is fine, I personally don't want any change there. But I do want to see a LOT MORE in it than what original Elite had. I wonder if Elite refugees from 80s, even understand that majority of people who play ED today are NOT backers.

And if ED wants to retain that majority they better add a lot more features into the game and FAST. Otherwise the only people will be left - backers and even some of them will leave if not already left or taken a break until something else worth spending time on is added.

So YES - CHANGE THE GAME ABSOLUTELY! Add more features, more mechanics, more things to do. Make the galaxy feel alive!

What the? Biased? I give 3 opposite answers and also an equal chance that you're new to the game. Yes the game needs more content, better missions, better mining mechanic and a better system security settings. But I want to keep the game as a simulator like MS flight simulator and not a shooter like afterburner or strike suit.

It was fine before release, in the Beta stage.
But with the last up date it's getting closer to a shooter, now It don't matter if you run out of ammo or overheat your weapons only that you got your shot in 10 seconds before someone makes the kill.
This was the challenge, making sure you had the ammo and energy to put the enemy down right till the end. If you ran out of power or lost your target and someone got there before you find them again, then tough.
Now you will easily get you weapons online before 10 seconds and always claiming the bounty. Fact that it now makes heat and reloading meaningless. So now heat mechanics can be taken out of the game too.

This is the bigger picture, changing one thing and then making a whole lot of other things obsolete in game. Just aim and fire you get the bounty every time, no thinking about it, don't have worry about your weapons, just hold that trigger down..

This is what everybody wants, really? Because I don't, the game can be much, much more than this.

 

[EtherDragon]

Unable to suitably respond to this poll as it has a huge baked in assumption which does not necessarily follow to the conclusion.

Assumption:
People want to change the game just to appease the new-comers.

Conclusion:
Game should be changed.

In my opinion it would be much better phrased thus:

Assumption:
Game has a steep and unforgiving learning curve.
Players frequently get wiped to zero a few times at first, while learning how to survive.

Conclusion:
New players get frustrated and put off by this early in the game. (This might be a good topic for a poll, as we might not be sure about this conclusion, actually)
Adjust the game to be more forgiving at first, so that mistakes don't cause one to start from zero all the time.

 

[BellatorMonk]

There is a difference between "difficult" and "annoying".

Many people, esp. those who claim to speak in the name of "the 84ers" tend to overlook that.

This pretty much sums it up. I would swear all these '84ers who want a harder game must be playing 12 hrs a day. You want hard..go play Eve then. Some of us want a space sim that doesn't take 5 years to enjoy the game content. Right now most of the content is gated on making enough credits to even buy and outfit a ship at the cost of a few million to specialize in 1-2 of the 4 professions that can even make credits. When I say gated.. I mean not spending 12 hours a day trading rares, buying Pythons and equipping A class modules in the first week of game play.

You want hard? Stop trading rares to make 50 million credits in 20 hours of gameplay, restart your toon and play the way most of us are playing. Running these cheap paying missions over and over, making 3-10k per random "wanted" kill and never even seeing the Assassinate targets from those 180k payout missions.