Elite boring?

[Whitehair]

When my children complain to me that they are bored, my reply is "And in what way is that my problem?".

Apparently boredom is "good", if you want to believe this article on the BBC site. http://www.bbc.com/news/education-21895704

 

[Ericlas]

Regarding the explorers mindset...


One day I sat there bored and said...let's find a new task...maybe go to the galaxy center and take a look at this black hole.
It took me nearly 2 weeks to get there and back.
I ddn't scan many objects, just a few to put my name on it, leave a footprint, because I had a bigger target...reaching the core.
This made me jumping and fuel scooping every minute, thus keeping me focused on the game.
I did nothing else beside that, except talking with my wife.

It took a while but after leaving the inhabited space, I really felt the loneliness, emptyness and most certainly the vast size of space.
26k lys didn't seem that much, but I was so wrong.
Being out there, lost with no help in sight, every next jump being possibly your last (ending up in a binary) made me feel so small and vulnerable.
Getting to the core finally satisfied me so much and getting back to civilization was another feeling I will not forget.

It all played in my imagination...true.
All I did was repeatedly jumping, scooping, checking if my next target is scoopable or dangerous and looking for some "attrations" to visit.
(Nebulas, groups of black hole systems or even systems consisting just of multiple black holes)

If you don't have the mindset to do, if you don't WANT to do it, there will be no fun in it.
I enjoyed this journey because I was curious, surprised and really felt to be pioneering, encountering systems "where no one has gone before".

 

[Taimaru]

For some (not all), fun isn't just limited to adrenaline, action packed, exciting, no time to think, activity.

Much as I like that kind of fun when bounty hunting or being in a fight I also like to take time out to just relax whilst flying amongst the stars and enjoying looking at the different sights out there whilst exploring. It gives me time to think and appreciate the Universe we live in.

It's the same reason I like just sitting, doing nothing, underneath a tree (in the real world) in a forest enjoying nature (sights, smells) around me. Or sitting on a beach just gazing out at the Ocean and the crashing waves.

However, I do know people that hate that kind of activity... especially when they can't get a phone signal so can't read Facebook.

I also love flying space ships .

So Elite is definitely not boring for me, but I know people that might find it so.

 

[Xodz]

Regarding the explorers mindset...


One day I sat there bored and said...let's find a new task...maybe go to the galaxy center and take a look at this black hole.
It took me nearly 2 weeks to get there and back.
I ddn't scan many objects, just a few to put my name on it, leave a footprint, because I had a bigger target...reaching the core.
This made me jumping and fuel scooping every minute, thus keeping me focused on the game.
I did nothing else beside that, except talking with my wife.

It took a while but after leaving the inhabited space, I really felt the loneliness, emptyness and most certainly the vast size of space.
26k lys didn't seem that much, but I was so wrong.
Being out there, lost with no help in sight, every next jump being possibly your last (ending up in a binary) made me feel so small and vulnerable.
Getting to the core finally satisfied me so much and getting back to civilization was another feeling I will not forget.

It all played in my imagination...true.
All I did was repeatedly jumping, scooping, checking if my next target is scoopable or dangerous and looking for some "attrations" to visit.
(Nebulas, groups of black hole systems or even systems consisting just of multiple black holes)

If you don't have the mindset to do, if you don't WANT to do it, there will be no fun in it.
I enjoyed this journey because I was curious, surprised and really felt to be pioneering, encountering systems "where no one has gone before".

Well that's awesome and I am glad you enjoyed it, but I wouldn't call that exploring. You said it yourself, "I ddn't scan many objects, just a few to put my name on it, leave a footprint, because I had a bigger target..."

Anyway, I opened a Poll: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=138146, I guess we'll see how many people Explore without using something else as a distraction. Well, in as much as polls can tell you that...

 

[Xodz]

Hi,

I'm in both categories so I hope I'm able to explain. Exploring has 2 parts which aren't very involved. One is the travel towards a destination. You know, jump, scoop, honk, jump. This is when I want to reach a destination. The other is when a binary star with some nice planets are 500,000 ls away. These are the moments, moments mind you, to check the forums, browse the galaxy map, watch an old tv series.

In other occasions, I can be faffing about in some area. Go to the galaxy map, pick out a nice looking star, check it out, etc. This does require my attention. Also when I'm in amongst the planets I'll always do a flyby so I can get a good visual. Often having picture opportunities in mind, so sometimes I can spend quite some time lining up a good shot. More often than not failing to do so and moving on.

So why do I enjoy it? Well, I am always jumping into the unknown. The next system can have some spectacular atronomical bodies in them or some funky system of a sort, and on the other hand it can be a sun with rocks. Honking and going into system map feels like opening a present. Then there's the scale. I really de feel like I'm some insignificant spot traveling through an immense galaxy. That small nebula you may spot in the corner of your eye becomes an awe inspiring big swirling mass of luminescent gas and dust. Getting close to it and traveling around it, you start to apreciate the beauty of them in 3d. Not just the view you get from colonised space. The threat of every jump could mean your last one if you screw up and you lose all you've worked for the last days/weeks/months. It does keep me on edge. I once screwed up and barely got away with my ship intact. This was 3 weeks ago. And I can tell you, no game has ever made me feel as scared and excited as I felt then.

Exploring is not high intensity action every single minute you're out there. There are long stretched of mundane traveling towards a system or a star. But this effort is rewarded with gobsmackingly lovely sights and heart in throat moments of excitement.

Hope that helps.

Thank you

 

[xondk]

I have. Nothing explains why they enjoy it. They are full of pictures and theorycrafting and stuff, but nothing explains how they do it or why they think it's fun. Plus I am already subscribed to this thread.

I don't know where you have been looking but even if there is 200 unhappy posters, there are a lot more that are happy and counter the posts, that you may not agree with them does not change or invalidate that they do enjoy the game, so maybe it isn't the game that is the issue?

 

[Xodz]

I don't know where you have been looking but even if there is 200 unhappy posters, there are a lot more that are happy and counter the posts, that you may not agree with them does not change or invalidate that they do enjoy the game, so maybe it isn't the game that is the issue?

Well I was referring to one single part of the game, exploration (in what you have quoted). Someone did eventually answer my question, ty @Ziggy Starduster.

While I may never be able to enjoy exploration like he does, because the visuals and scale do not do anything for me, at least I can kind of understand why he and others like him do. To me it's something completely different, to me it's popping into a system, hitting my adv scanner, fuel scooping, then watching a movie while I fly towards a location to scan, and then repeating that a bunch of times until I eventually hit elite in exploration. It is something to do, for sure, but I don't necessarily find it fun or immersive. I am okay with that, because that's not all there is to the game. Right? ....Right?

Rather than just tell you why I don't think it's fun, I will tell you what might make it fun for me.

1. Actually finding stuff, instead of just scanning stuff (ofc by scanning I mean position my ship towards something and watch a video).
2. More stuff, not just planets and stars, but how about some stuff to interact with, like derelict ships or abandoned stations (how did that station get here?).
3. Danger, Yeah I get that if I forget to tab back in or stop paying attention while watching my movie I may fly into something and cook myself, but ....come on. How about running into a secret pirate base system or something where the moment you jump in you realize something very very bad will happen if you don't get out of there asap.
4. More involvement than just flying towards a planet. Something to do.

Anyway, I like chess some people don't, I get that. It may very well be that this game just isn't for me, or at the very least it isn't right now, especially exploration.

 

[NeilF]

Well I was referring to one single part of the game, exploration (in what you have quoted). Someone did eventually answer my question, ty @Ziggy Starduster.

While I may never be able to enjoy exploration like he does, because the visuals and scale do not do anything for me, at least I can kind of understand why he and others like him do. To me it's something completely different, to me it's popping into a system, hitting my adv scanner, fuel scooping, then watching a movie while I fly towards a location to scan, and then repeating that a bunch of times until I eventually hit elite in exploration. It is something to do, for sure, but I don't necessarily find it fun or immersive. I am okay with that, because that's not all there is to the game. Right? ....Right?

Rather than just tell you why I don't think it's fun, I will tell you what might make it fun for me.

1. Actually finding stuff, instead of just scanning stuff (ofc by scanning I mean position my ship towards something and watch a video).
2. More stuff, not just planets and stars, but how about some stuff to interact with, like derelict ships or abandoned stations (how did that station get here?).
3. Danger, Yeah I get that if I forget to tab back in or stop paying attention while watching my movie I may fly into something and cook myself, but ....come on. How about running into a secret pirate base system or something where the moment you jump in you realize something very very bad will happen if you don't get out of there asap.
4. More involvement than just flying towards a planet. Something to do.

Anyway, I like chess some people don't, I get that. It may very well be that this game just isn't for me, or at the very least it isn't right now, especially exploration.

Yes... yes and yes Anything to introduce something/anything unexpected into exploration - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=95448

 

[Whiterose]

Well I was referring to one single part of the game, exploration (in what you have quoted). Someone did eventually answer my question, ty @Ziggy Starduster.

While I may never be able to enjoy exploration like he does, because the visuals and scale do not do anything for me, at least I can kind of understand why he and others like him do. To me it's something completely different, to me it's popping into a system, hitting my adv scanner, fuel scooping, then watching a movie while I fly towards a location to scan, and then repeating that a bunch of times until I eventually hit elite in exploration. It is something to do, for sure, but I don't necessarily find it fun or immersive. I am okay with that, because that's not all there is to the game. Right? ....Right?

Rather than just tell you why I don't think it's fun, I will tell you what might make it fun for me.

1. Actually finding stuff, instead of just scanning stuff (ofc by scanning I mean position my ship towards something and watch a video).
2. More stuff, not just planets and stars, but how about some stuff to interact with, like derelict ships or abandoned stations (how did that station get here?).
3. Danger, Yeah I get that if I forget to tab back in or stop paying attention while watching my movie I may fly into something and cook myself, but ....come on. How about running into a secret pirate base system or something where the moment you jump in you realize something very very bad will happen if you don't get out of there asap.
4. More involvement than just flying towards a planet. Something to do.

Anyway, I like chess some people don't, I get that. It may very well be that this game just isn't for me, or at the very least it isn't right now, especially exploration.

I agree there should be more stuff to find, artefacts, probes, the odd comet. A bit like mass effect where a ping goes off on a particular planet when you first scan the system, forcing you to surface scan the planet. It could be nothing, but could be an unusual ore deposit, old buildings, civilisations. These scans would obviously be substantially more than the usual surface scan.

 

[KellyR]

OK. You are clearly trolling, but I bite. How about:

OK if he is having fun, even if he has only one toy. And I don't care about "different beads and paths", whatever that means. What's not OK is to hear him publicly whining about a toy that he finds incredibly fun.

There fixed for you.

- - - Updated - - -



SIM? This? Since when? This is an action pew pew game. No sim here... It is ok some people like that, but to call ED a sim?!

It's always been a Sim. It's a space flight simulation. I know, some will say the ships act like airplanes. That's only because of the fly-by-wire of flight assist. You turn off the flight assist and it becomes a much truer simulation. Not perfect, even I admit that, but it's still clearly a simulation when you turn flight assist off. If you want to look at it, almost all, if not actually all, aircraft today have fly-by-wire. The U.S. Space shuttle had it. The on-board flight computer helped stabilize the craft. Of course the pilot could have overridden that, but they didn't, unless the mission required it (which it very, very seldom did).

 

[Sztripi]

It's always been a Sim. It's a space flight simulation. I know, some will say the ships act like airplanes. That's only because of the fly-by-wire of flight assist. You turn off the flight assist and it becomes a much truer simulation. Not perfect, even I admit that, but it's still clearly a simulation when you turn flight assist off. If you want to look at it, almost all, if not actually all, aircraft today have fly-by-wire. The U.S. Space shuttle had it. The on-board flight computer helped stabilize the craft. Of course the pilot could have overridden that, but they didn't, unless the mission required it (which it very, very seldom did).

Really? And what is the maximum speed in space? Surely you would be able to continuously accelerate till you would approach light speed... Why can't I use the gravity wells of planets for slingshots? Why is the ships mass not simulated? Why do the thrusters turn the ship slower in let's say a sidewinder then in a cobra? Why can I turn faster up down then sideways? All ships behave like they did in a primitive flight sim 15 years ago. Oh by the way even if you turn off the flight assist the ship has a maximum speed... Huh?

BUT! The game does not need to be realistic space sim to be fun. I personally feel that the flight mechanics are ok, not spectacular but ok. Unfortunately the game fails in other ways...

But to call this a realistic sim? Come on... Surely you jest... By that logic Call of duty is a realistic representation of a battlefield. Did you not know that usually it takes about 10 bullets to kill somebody, maybe even a hundred bullets if he has time to regenerate hiding behind a wall... Just like in real life...

 

[Sztripi]

Maybe when Planetary landings are introduced exploration will take on a whole new dimension. Landing on a planet and exploring the surface could bring the diversity you want. But I'm not sure how they'll implement it.

And then there's the Thargoids of course. Exploring while knowing a probe is there waiting for you would make me clench some more.

Unfortunately I feel that the Thargoid threat will only bring in a single new stuff. Shoot at a new type of ship... Thats all. I am afraid there will be no real interaction possible with them... We need stuff to do... We need the world to make sense... Please please do not allow me to be an officer in the empire and the federation at the same time.

I think we need more much more mini games while exploring. Like for instance doing a spectroscopic analysation of a star. How about gathering samples... It would be fun to find primitive life as well, bringing them back to human space would also be cool... Nothing major just simple bacteria would be cool...

Unfortunately the present exploration is not doing anything to me. I have really early noticed that the only difference in the star systems are the colors of the balls...

 

[Calrissian]

Unfortunately I feel that the Thargoid threat will only bring in a single new stuff. Shoot at a new type of ship... Thats all. I am afraid there will be no real interaction possible with them... We need stuff to do... We need the world to make sense... Please please do not allow me to be an officer in the empire and the federation at the same time.

Totally agree with this. One's rise in one faction should diminish or negate the other. Every faction should have a comprehensive intelligence network to know this about those involved in their military.

 

[Fangrim]

Haven't touched the game for 2 weeks now.

I was 9.000 ly away, exploring, when it suddenly hit me: What am I doing out here?!

There's a whole galaxy to explore - billions of systems, so many places to go. Been there, done that. I've seen them all. All 400 billion systems. (Technically, I've only visited about 5,000 unique systems, but they're all. the. same.) How many times can you be awed to see a binary system? Or a black hole?

So what is there to progress in? Why should I play? Right now, there's only your 3 basic ranks (Combat, Trading, Exploring), and the making of money.

Everyone has the exact same ships, the exact same equipment available to them. It's all just a matter of getting enough credits to buy them (and for some items, finding a station that sells them).

I miss some unique rewards for doing the different things you can do in Elite. Some special stuff from completing missions for a specific faction. A +40 damage super laser for helping the Empire for the Nth time. SOMETHING!

I become a Baron, yay, I can now buy a ship I don't want.
I become Elite in one of the 3 main ranks, yay, I can now visit the Founder's World. Oh, wait - I already got access, Kickstarter pledge reward.
I spend countless hours exploring, yay I get my name tagged onto systems, as First Explorer. Actually, this right here is the only special reward you get for doing anything.
I spend hours getting a system faction to like me. Reward: None. Whatsoever. Their ships and stations turn green, but no special missions, nothing. Not even a damn "I helped the Enigma Alliance, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt"-shirt!

Personally, I need to feel like I'm getting something out of the countless hours I pour into this game. And the "carve your own path"-mantra is wearing really thin, as there's nothing to do, except repeating the same stuff over and over.

And you get nothing to show for it. No special ships, no special weapons, nothing, except a useless rank or faction liking.

Hell, I can even be super best buddies with both the Federation and the Empire - they should be mutually exclusive to some extent.

In short, to me this game feels like one long painful grind at the moment, without no real sense of goal or reward.

Make money. Buy bigger ships. Make more money. Buy even bigger ships. Like everyone else.
Everything else you do has no. impact. on. anything.

The game is too big for its own good, I think.

 

[Logan 5]

I was 9.000 ly away, exploring, when it suddenly hit me: What am I doing out here?!

Well there's the problem....never go exploring....SPACE CRAZY.....

He jumps, he scoops, he bongs, he's gone....

I do it every so often and when i get half way to no where I wonder why and how long it will take to get back....

PEW PEW IS THE DO DO....

nothing better than making someone or something explode

 

[KellyR]

Really? And what is the maximum speed in space? Surely you would be able to continuously accelerate till you would approach light speed... Why can't I use the gravity wells of planets for slingshots? Why is the ships mass not simulated? Why do the thrusters turn the ship slower in let's say a sidewinder then in a cobra? Why can I turn faster up down then sideways? All ships behave like they did in a primitive flight sim 15 years ago. Oh by the way even if you turn off the flight assist the ship has a maximum speed... Huh?

BUT! The game does not need to be realistic space sim to be fun. I personally feel that the flight mechanics are ok, not spectacular but ok. Unfortunately the game fails in other ways...

But to call this a realistic sim? Come on... Surely you jest... By that logic Call of duty is a realistic representation of a battlefield. Did you not know that usually it takes about 10 bullets to kill somebody, maybe even a hundred bullets if he has time to regenerate hiding behind a wall... Just like in real life...

You obviously skipped part of what I said. Why don't you read the entire post.

You turn off the flight assist and it becomes a much truer simulation. Not perfect, even I admit that, but it's still clearly a simulation when you turn flight assist off

Where in there do you see realistic sim? Do you not see the part where I admit it's not perfect? A realistic sim? Oh heck no, but it is a sim. I would say about like Call of Duty except I've never played that game so I can't really say for certain. I still think it's one of (if not the) best spaceflight games I've ever seen. If you disagree, then fine, let's just agree to disagree.

 

[ayures]

Haven't touched the game for 2 weeks now.

I was 9.000 ly away, exploring, when it suddenly hit me: What am I doing out here?!

There's a whole galaxy to explore - billions of systems, so many places to go. Been there, done that. I've seen them all. All 400 billion systems. (Technically, I've only visited about 5,000 unique systems, but they're all. the. same.) How many times can you be awed to see a binary system? Or a black hole?

So what is there to progress in? Why should I play? Right now, there's only your 3 basic ranks (Combat, Trading, Exploring), and the making of money.

Everyone has the exact same ships, the exact same equipment available to them. It's all just a matter of getting enough credits to buy them (and for some items, finding a station that sells them).

I miss some unique rewards for doing the different things you can do in Elite. Some special stuff from completing missions for a specific faction. A +40 damage super laser for helping the Empire for the Nth time. SOMETHING!

I become a Baron, yay, I can now buy a ship I don't want.
I become Elite in one of the 3 main ranks, yay, I can now visit the Founder's World. Oh, wait - I already got access, Kickstarter pledge reward.
I spend countless hours exploring, yay I get my name tagged onto systems, as First Explorer. Actually, this right here is the only special reward you get for doing anything.
I spend hours getting a system faction to like me. Reward: None. Whatsoever. Their ships and stations turn green, but no special missions, nothing. Not even a damn "I helped the Enigma Alliance, and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt"-shirt!

Personally, I need to feel like I'm getting something out of the countless hours I pour into this game. And the "carve your own path"-mantra is wearing really thin, as there's nothing to do, except repeating the same stuff over and over.

And you get nothing to show for it. No special ships, no special weapons, nothing, except a useless rank or faction liking.

Hell, I can even be super best buddies with both the Federation and the Empire - they should be mutually exclusive to some extent.

In short, to me this game feels like one long painful grind at the moment, without no real sense of goal or reward.

Make money. Buy bigger ships. Make more money. Buy even bigger ships. Like everyone else.
Everything else you do has no. impact. on. anything.

The game is too big for its own good, I think.

This sums it up pretty well, I think. The only real goal we have is to get better ships and equipment to do the same thing we've been doing a bit more efficiently. Well, that and a few titles. It's like the shell of a great game but with no substance inside.
I don't have any real good solutions, either. I'm no game designer. We need something, though. Something to work towards, something to fight for. The closest we get are CGs. Maybe we need some kind of storyline or at least mission lines with substance other than randomly generated "find this" or "kill that guy." Even EVE has some actual mission arcs. Maybe keeping the emphasis on playing solo nearly all the time was a bad decision and more focus should be on groups with group goals. Maybe we should be able to actually own property (planetside or in orbit) that we can work on and upgrade. Maybe the faction system could be revamped and we can actually help out our allies. I don't know.

I just feel like I'm a spacehobo drifting through the black for no reason with no purpose. Sure, it looks pretty, but you can only be awed by it a few times and you can only stare at a piece of art for so long before it gets old.

 

[KellyR]

This sums it up pretty well, I think. The only real goal we have is to get better ships and equipment to do the same thing we've been doing a bit more efficiently. Well, that and a few titles. It's like the shell of a great game but with no substance inside.
I don't have any real good solutions, either. I'm no game designer. We need something, though. Something to work towards, something to fight for. The closest we get are CGs. Maybe we need some kind of storyline or at least mission lines with substance other than randomly generated "find this" or "kill that guy." Even EVE has some actual mission arcs. Maybe keeping the emphasis on playing solo nearly all the time was a bad decision and more focus should be on groups with group goals. Maybe we should be able to actually own property (planetside or in orbit) that we can work on and upgrade. Maybe the faction system could be revamped and we can actually help out our allies. I don't know.

I just feel like I'm a spacehobo drifting through the black for no reason with no purpose. Sure, it looks pretty, but you can only be awed by it a few times and you can only stare at a piece of art for so long before it gets old.

Some of us just like flying around in space. We find spaceflight fun. Sorry you don't, but not everyone likes the same things. But that doesn't mean the game is a failure. I think it's a smashing success. If I had it to do over again, I would spend the money again. I'm having an absolute blast. And you will find a lot of others feel the same way. The content will come, but we don't need all the negativity.

 

[Fangrim]

Some of us just like flying around in space. We find spaceflight fun. Sorry you don't, but not everyone likes the same things. But that doesn't mean the game is a failure. I think it's a smashing success. If I had it to do over again, I would spend the money again. I'm having an absolute blast. And you will find a lot of others feel the same way. The content will come, but we don't need all the negativity.

I spent over £2200 on Kickstarter on Elite. Would I do that again? Not likely. Would I buy this game again, if I hadn't already. Yes.

Where does Ayrues mention it's a failure? I don't feel Elite is a failure. I don't think Ayrues does either.

We just think it could be so much more than what it is. The content will come, no doubt about that, but what good does that do me now?

Are we not entitled to be critical about this game? We were promised a dynamic, evolving universe, where player interaction mattered. As a player, I don't see that anything I do matters. To anyone. Not even myself. I get ranks, I make money. That's it.

To me (and you will find a lot of others that feel the same way) this game is too big for its own good. Foundation is there, but the building is mostly empty.

Elite is good fun. For a while. Then it just gets very very repetitive to me. And that's what I am sad about.

There is too little in this game to keep people playing.

 

[ocflyer]

Elite Dangerous is the best space Sim game to be created. Maybe Star Citizen will someday take that title for me but until it is released, it doesn't get my vote. Some people don't like sims. For instance, I can't stand Sim City. I think it is boring but I have nothing against the game. I just don't like third person simulation. But first person sim in space (AKA Elite Dangerous) is a blast for me just the way it is. If they improve it, I'll be elated. If they don't improve it, I'll still play it till my arms wear out.