Why powerplay sucks

[Rojo Habe]

Huh? Ok maybe I am just stupid. Cause I didn't get where I should dump my marked arms cargo at all from that.

Well you got one step further than I did! I couldn't even work out where to get them. I asked on here, too, in a Powerplay-related thread, and nobody knew what I was talking about.

This was all during the Beta, and I gave it up as a bad job. I've since watched the tutorial videos on YouTube but I have to say (and I stress that this is purely my opinion; I'm sure a lot of people are enjoying it) it leaves me cold. I don't feel I'm missing out on anything though, and am enjoying playing the game the same as I was before the advent of Power Play.

 

[dcforeman]

i swear that in two or three generations from now "reading" will be a forgotten art.

If you read more (ahaha) you'd realize there are three major learning groups.

auditory, visual, and kinesthetic

Auditory learners find it easier to "listen to explanations" this is why it's vital when teaching a new technology to have it read out aloud.

Visual learners tend to learn by looking at the pretty graphics or reading, though these become kinda a sub-group of each other. Some prefer watching graphics, others prefer reading text.

Kinesthetic learners learn by doing something, taking the trial and error approach. I tend to fall into this category. Short audio prompts and something interactive work best for these groups.

Game developers don't seem to realize that if you want your product to be fun and easy to pick up then you should provide them with interactive tutorials, or a nice INGAME (seriously shoving it on youtube does few gamers any good) video, and even a nice big block of text read out by a voice actor. This way you cover your basis.

Reading isn't becoming a lost art. But reading is hard work, and who wants to associate hard work with their game?

 

[Whiterose]

[smugness on] I find powerplay relatively easy to follow. The instructions are on the screen, and how can you miss the really large yellow star on the contacts list [smugness off]

 

[FreeeLancer]

Reading isn't becoming a lost art. But reading is hard work, and who wants to associate hard work with their game?

It took me ~30 minutes to figure out most of the things about Power Play and around two more hours of research to master it. Then again, I'm in the visual category and have a strategic mindset so it was an easy task for me.

What you have to realize is that your definition of hard work is not universal. For example, I'd never call navigating a handful of menus and reading information provided on them as hard work.. On the other hand someone with severe ADHD would, but that's an extreme case..
Go to PP menu, browse and click random stuff, read the highlighted text, do as highlighted text says. It's true you don't get a notification in the transactions panel, but that's because it's up to you how to spend powerplay resources.

I'd say figuring out how exploration works all on your own requires about the same amount of effort as figuring out what to do in Powerplay, but that is assuming one is willing to commit in the first place.

 

[V3teran]

I dont bother with PP because of the lack of credits given. Pointless.

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

I can read. I can even read in 7 - 8 languages, I can speak 5 , it does not help me find PP remotely interesting, fun or engaging

"This game is maybe not for you .." I realize that , thank you !!

"you are a whiner !!!" Well , thank you, I frankly dont care for your boorish comment!

"you just criticize, and dont offer suggestions to better the game!!! " You are kidding me, or maybe you have got a literacy concern !!

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Whiterose]

I dont bother with PP because of the lack of credits given. Pointless.

Pointless for the credit collectors, but not for those who are not in it for the money.

 

[Zylark]

PowerPlay come into its' own if you both play in open _AND_ is in a power-aligned group/clan/guild. We in Contrail certainly have a lot of fun with it, and being with the morally flexible Archon Delaine power, we got plenty of interesting PvP battles happening more or less daily. It also helps that we are three large groups that try and herd the cats that is the smaller groups and independent pilots towards our common goals and overall strategy within our power. If a well organized power, even independent pilots aligned to it will find plenty of people to help out and wing up with.

If you play in solo or private-group, then PowerPlay is a bit pointless.

 

[Cadoc]

The whole meta around Powerplay, discussing strategies, fighting rival pilots, compiling scouting reports... all that's fun. It's a shame that the actual Powerplay gameplay is just so horrible. It's worse still when you're not one of those Powers favoured by FD which were given good perks and rewards (mostly Imperial ones) and instead are spending your effort for essentially nothing at all (Winters and Antal, amongst others).

 

[Sendraks]

The main problem with power play right now is that its design didn't take the playerbase into account. As a result, we have the largest portion of the playerbase in effect "easymode" for PP, because FD failed to put proper checks and balances in place.

So much for "play your own way."

 

[Araviel]

If you read more (ahaha) you'd realize there are three major learning groups.

auditory, visual, and kinesthetic

Auditory learners find it easier to "listen to explanations" this is why it's vital when teaching a new technology to have it read out aloud.

Visual learners tend to learn by looking at the pretty graphics or reading, though these become kinda a sub-group of each other. Some prefer watching graphics, others prefer reading text.

Kinesthetic learners learn by doing something, taking the trial and error approach. I tend to fall into this category. Short audio prompts and something interactive work best for these groups.

Game developers don't seem to realize that if you want your product to be fun and easy to pick up then you should provide them with interactive tutorials, or a nice INGAME (seriously shoving it on youtube does few gamers any good) video, and even a nice big block of text read out by a voice actor. This way you cover your basis.

Reading isn't becoming a lost art. But reading is hard work, and who wants to associate hard work with their game?

oh i was mainly just joking around.
i know this well
i got a "condition" called synesthesia that is very related to this.

and i completely agree that interactive tutorials is the best thing to reach the widest target group as possible in games.
im still concerned though when people ignore learning something when they can't find the info on youtube rather than reading about it.

 

[CMDR Von Abrahart]

I haven't been able to play Powerplay yet but some graphical informatics to take the place of some of the numbers / text would help - its the latest thing you know.

 

[Cmdr Proton]

If you don't understand something, just ask here. None of us understood powerplay a few weeks ago, we all had to learn it from scratch. Everything you need to know has been discussed here at some point. Elite doesn't do detailed explanations about anything, get used to it & use the forums

I think you missed the point.

 

[Klab]

I think you missed the point.

I get the point, OP wants to be hand held thru PP missions, Elite doesn't do that, never has.

 

[Arry]

I get the point, OP wants to be hand held thru PP missions, Elite doesn't do that, never has.

That it seems is the case and is a sad refection of state of adventure and discovery today.

 

[dcforeman]

Epic hand slaps for everyone, no player. Don't put it there. Bad bad player.

I get the point, OP wants to be hand held thru PP missions, Elite doesn't do that, never has.

If you check my original post, you'll see that I wasn't expecting to be hand held. I was reading something, then googling questions, reading, googling, reading, googling.

That's not being hand held. I wanted to do power play myself, but lack of knowledge, lack of easy to access resources, made it a time consuming, difficult to understand process. Having an interactive tutorial isn't hand holding, it doesn't play it for you.

Again, I repeat. This is a damn game. It's not a job, or a real world thingie. It's a GAME. Games shouldn't require you to open up a second laptop plonk it down next to your simulator and google how to do it.

Btw, since this post was made I've visited 17 star systems with a cargo hold full of marked arms. You you know what? I couldn't unload them anywhere. I've double checked, there is no specific destination, and I'm completely confused over what the hell I need to do with them.

That's hours of game time lost which I don't get much of as it is. Because the frontier team can't right simple instructions. I've read, reread, and read the information on the screen again and again. There is no helpful information there.

I'm sure it's very good if you are a developer coming in off a coding session, or a beta player who already knows how the damn thing works. For someone coming in cold, it's frustrating, annoying and frankly makes me regret downloading 1.3 at all.

This isn't whining, I've tried. Frontier simply have simply not done their job right.

It's a bit like looking at a chess board for the first time with another player slapping your hand all the time saying "yo can't put it there" while not telling you where you can put it. My only option is to try randomly every damn thing I can think of until I finally don't get a hand slap.

- - - Updated - - -

That it seems is the case and is a sad refection of state of adventure and discovery today.

Bad arry, bad bad arry, wrong move.

 

[V3teran]

Pointless for the credit collectors, but not for those who are not in it for the money.

I bet your one of those people who glitched there way to millions if not billions of credits. Credits make prizes not Merits!
Even though i was on Kickstarter since day 1 and a £200 Alpha backer i never played the game until full release and gamma players should have had there stats wiped in my opinion.
People want credits not merits, especially new players.

Im ok cause i have an anaconda but for new players its a nightmare.

 

[dcforeman]

* writes down your name so he can form a wing solely tasked to destroy your anaconda * lol

I hate you now.

Got up to an ASP Explorer, but I didn't understand how the insurance system worked. Got bumped all the way back down to a sidewinder. I'm a little more wise now, I have Cobra, diamondbacks, eagles and vipers all over the galaxy. All tricked out and upgraded.

Still that was a dark dark day for me in the Elite universe lol.

I'd have backed the alpha as well, but I'm not rich enough to dump £200 on a game so they only got £50 from me... which as I normally spend about £10 on games is real dedication!

* goes back to staring at GOG.com and Steam special offer announcements... ohh game for £2.99 I'm on it! *

 

[Klab]

OP - Have you tried asking in your specific faction's strategy thread? I'm pretty sure that there is one for each of the factions within this very forum. Those players will certainly know where you should take your goodies.

 

[DanTheMan]

The man hasn't tried PowerPlay, doesn't understand it, hasn't even read the manual but he knows it is rubbish. Remarkable prescience. we need more people with his egregious talent.

....and a few less people with sharp tongues and "attitude" perhaps? ;-)
He is as entitled to his opinion as the next person.