Enough of Powerplay - Why I unpledge

[charognard]

Heh. Some people might consider 3-4 hrs/day quite a lot of time to put into a game, especially if only to hold position...

I don't spend all my time in merits ! May be only 1h/ day... You gain 15 merit by kill in SC, it s really easy and quick to gain the rank3 and hold it.
Rank 5 request more time, but i really don't need it in order to find fun... I make all my credits in trade... Well I really think all video game need 3h/ days at minimum to make something interesting. The day i'll can't put 3h in a game, i'll stop playing and do something else...

 

[_Flin_]

I say investment because what I have invested in merits I have managed to recover at least two-fold due to bounty-hunting 100% bonuses.

That's nice that you as an ALD player want to lecture other's about easy bonusses.
Yeah, right, you get a Rating 5 100% bounty bonus, plus a 50% rank bonus, plus a 20% control system bonus, plus a 20% empire system bonus.

That's 190% BH bonus. Congratulations.

With Mahon we get a 50% rare trading bonus, and bonusses in trading agriculture goods and equipment. Biowaste. Literally: crap.

That is really my point. You get the credits to then dump them into your expansions. You get the bonusses and traderoutes and unique expensive commodities. Plus the Clipper and the Courier.

As an Alliance player, I get a trade bonus on crap.

 

[Ikari]

Un-pledged this morning PP is too restrictive game play wise and adds little in the form of depth or rewards, the modules may be the biggest draw but I don't expect them to be as good as people are hoping and if they are expect the nerf hammer.

PP is also far too predictable, I'm not interested in playing a game with a predetermined winner, on either side its just no fun.

 

[_Flin_]

Heh like an eBay auction.

Yep. This might be o.k. once. Or twice. But you can't be late for work every Thursday.

 

[charognard]

I have great fun with Elite Dangerous. With Powerplay... not so much. The exitement happens when I sleep, and the rewards are for other people, but not for me.

I am rank 4, btw. This is not about having to grind or having to invest a lot of time I don't have. I am fully aware that I cannot have it all as a casual player.

I don't understand what you are calling rewards... US players make things you can't do because you are sleeping and ?? There is not special reward because you are in the final rush... Make your job during your time, US players will make their job during their time... You don't loose any merit, or anything else because you aren't in the last hours of the cycle...

It's the same in army, if your group make a great job and an or all another don't success, you'll loose the battle, or the war, but your job still great...

 

[cowasaki]

I've gone from playing every day to totally stopping! I am at master, a few million off tycoon and 97% of the way to the next explorer rank with 100M in the bank and about 5 ships including a FDL and anaconda so clearly I've put a lot of work into it. This whole power play thing has ruined the entire game. I've only come on here today to see what other people think.

 

[MarcusKross]

As a casual player it's much more fun playing the background sim. At least you feel like you can make a difference there.

Well.. i don't want to burst your bubble there but it doesn't do much really. This last week i spent my entire play time trying to push a certain minor faction in a certain system to flip over control to them with 4-5 buddies of mine i am the only one who did missions exclusively and i play a lot averaged 3-4 hours a day, literally did hundreds of missions just by myself and all we achieved was one state change in one minor faction and we actually lost 15 percent influence. Now i know that you cant force the background sim and it has to take its time with cooldowns on states but it really doesn't feel like we are making a difference quite the opposite stuff goes the opposite way we want it to go and we can't do anything about it. FDEV really needs to publish something like how the background sim works.

 

[MarcusKross]

I'm not interested in playing a game with a predetermined winner, on either side its just no fun.

This you earned a rep for that.

 

[_Flin_]

I don't understand what you are calling rewards... US players make things you can't do because you are sleeping and ?? There is not special reward because you are in the final rush... Make your job during your time, US players will make their job during their time... You don't loose any merit, or anything else because you aren't in the last hours of the cycle...

It's the same in army, if your group make a great job and an or all another don't success, you'll loose the battle, or the war, but your job still great...

The thing is I do get nothing positive out of Powerplay.
The rewards are for non-Mahon players, Empire players mainly.
The most interesting time is for players in other timezones, when the mad dash to keep your expansions or counter the other's happen.
The whole mechanics come down to "who can dump the most credits", and with the bonusses this is stacked in the Empire's favor, having Imperial Slaves, High Tech bonus, valuable goods bonus and best BH bonus.

So it's basically competing against other's, while having less fun and being at a disadvantage. And I am probably just not enough of a Hipster to enjoy that.

 

[5AmpFuse]

Now i know that you cant force the background sim and it has to take its time with cooldowns on states but it really doesn't feel like we are making a difference quite the opposite stuff goes the opposite way we want it to go and we can't do anything about it. FDEV really needs to publish something like how the background sim works.

I'm no expert on it either. Try asking the fellows at AEDC, there's some really clued up guys there. Running their missions I have seen real changes as a result of my actions.

 

[charognard]

The thing is I do get nothing positive out of Powerplay.
The rewards are for non-Mahon players, Empire players mainly.
The most interesting time is for players in other timezones, when the mad dash to keep your expansions or counter the other's happen.
The whole mechanics come down to "who can dump the most credits", and with the bonusses this is stacked in the Empire's favor, having Imperial Slaves, High Tech bonus, valuable goods bonus and best BH bonus.

So it's basically competing against other's, while having less fun and being at a disadvantage. And I am probably just not enough of a Hipster to enjoy that.

Well i don't know how your PP is organized, but like other, you can't do nothing alone, you need to organize your power and play with your community... I think your bonus are cool, basically, you can make 1800cr/t on land enrichissement or tea/ meat/ coffee, and you can make hudge profits on rare... Really i don't understand you.

Other thing, PP is "End Game" you come in when money is not a problem... Well i can uderstand PP isn't for you, but personaly i really enjoy it and the gameplay.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

--- Deleted ---

 

[Lemonhoko]

OP...You unpledged because you can not figure out how to enjoy powerplay...you cant blame the game for this.
FD can not give you more hours...or babysit your kids to work your job.
I too am a casual player....I play maybe 1-2 hours every other day...but I maintain rank 3 very easy.
I have fun at it too. I go to conflict zones and kill for cc...then I take those cc and fast track vouchers ...so far, I have made a nice profit doing this and maintaining my rank very easily.
I also know that Alliance is one of the weaker powers in the game...has been since release. If you expected Alliance to be anything different after 1.3, I do not understand why....unless players make an effort to change this.

I understand that you are a Euro father that works...but I dont understand this topic you started...so you unpledged because you d not have the time to play...what do you want from FD...?

 

[_Flin_]

Well i don't know how your PP is organized, but like other, you can't do nothing alone, you need to organize your power and play with your community...

Mahon is a very well organized power. The results are good. That is not my issue.

I think your bonus are cool, basically, you can make 1800cr/t on land enrichissement or tea/ meat/ coffee, and you can make hudge profits on rare... Really i don't understand you.

Well, they might be cool, but useless. Because rare trading is for small ships, not for people able to go to Rating 5. Where can I make 1800 Cr. / t on Land Enrichment? Check out the current routes available... In every High Tech System the best bets aren't Land Enrichment, but the usual Progenitor Cells, Performance Enhancers, Resonating Separators etc.

Other thing, PP is "End Game" you come in when money is not a problem... Well i can uderstand PP isn't for you, but personaly i really enjoy it and the gameplay.

Well, that's a part of my problem, but for the most part, could be overlooked if the other factors were better.

 

[CMDRKNac]

I can only agree partially with Flin here. All those merits that are dumped at the end have to hoarded first (or credits spent on fast tracking), they are not least effective because you dump them a few hours earlier.

That said, the fact that you can accumulate opposition merits to dump them all at the last hour is really dumb, as the other part does not have any feedback on what's going on (so cannot do anything to counter it, until it happens, and then it's too late). They have to add time stamps or cap the number of merits you can effectively accumulate while doing opposition, or this is going to get bad really fast.

Power imbalances are also very stupid right now, showing FD favoritism or trying to shape the galaxy by manipulating the starting conditions. You cannot have a 'fair' game with a set of rules if some are at a disadvantage compared to others.

 

[CMDR_Baldr]

Well i don't know how your PP is organized, but like other, you can't do nothing alone, you need to organize your power and play with your community... I think your bonus are cool, basically, you can make 1800cr/t on land enrichissement or tea/ meat/ coffee, and you can make hudge profits on rare... Really i don't understand you.

Other thing, PP is "End Game" you come in when money is not a problem... Well i can uderstand PP isn't for you, but personaly i really enjoy it and the gameplay.

Really? I guess you don't know Flin in game. He is one of the last CMDR's you need to tell how to play the game!

RARES 50%: I have Rating 5, just did a run with rares to test it.
Diso, Leesti and Lave pickups went 130ly.
Profit with 50% bonus = ~800k
Time for return trip = ~35 minutes
~1.6mil per hour

SLAVE RUN: Without any bonuses stacked.
~6.5mil per hour

So no, the supposedly "TRADING BONUS" for Mahon is just a hoax.

PP only for the "END GAME".
I just wasted 50mil in less than 2 days. How long do you think it will take me to burn through a pile off credits?
So, even a billionaire will have to grind again at some point.

 

[Wicz]

Currently I find myself with around hour to play one or two nights a week.

I'm not bashing PP either, I'm just playing all my other games at my own pace, with no artificial decay and/or other assorted nonsense attempting to dictate how I will play them.

Basically all of the bugs and awful network performance have been slowly driving me away from ED. Then PP arrived with all it's poorly tested mechanics and faults, bugs, decay e.t.c and I just lost interest entirely I'm afraid.

Really enjoying TW3 atm, and I play when I want with no ridiculous penalties for having real life responsibilities.

 

[_Flin_]

OP...You unpledged because you can not figure out how to enjoy powerplay...you cant blame the game for this.

I can blame the game for stacking the cards against me.

I have fun at it too. I go to conflict zones and kill for cc...then I take those cc and fast track vouchers ...so far, I have made a nice profit doing this and maintaining my rank very easily.
I also know that Alliance is one of the weaker powers in the game...has been since release. If you expected Alliance to be anything different after 1.3, I do not understand why....unless players make an effort to change this.

Well, maybe because it was weak since forever. And because that might be a reason to give it some love for a change? How naive of me....

I understand that you are a Euro father that works...but I dont understand this topic you started...so you unpledged because you d not have the time to play...what do you want from FD...?

No, I unpledged because Powerplay is unenjoyable.
Because the only interesting part happens during the night from Wednesday to Thursday... when I cannot play (and all other Europeans (and US East Coasters) that live a normal life).
Because it doesn't add any benefit to my game, nothing enjoyable that wasnt there before.
Because it is unfair and heavily balanced in favor of the Empire powers.

I know I won't get Rating 5. I don't have a problem with that. I know it is endgame. I don't have a problem with being a smaller fish in a bigger pond.
I have a problem to play in an unfair game, that is stacked against me, that doesn't add fun elements, that reduces my personal "net worth" and that is apparently made for other people. Namely US West Coast Empire players.

 

[Titler]

I just logged in to check this current cycle; I had 114 Merits, which at 10% decay I assumed would be enough to hold rank 2; I've just discovered that I now have only 62 merits, which is roughly 54% decay in one week. And with the NPCs in Crime Zones now taking huge amounts of time even with a combat Python to kill, for no reward (They aren't any cleverer, you still do loops along one axis, they've just been increased in armour and damage) and then to add on top of that delivering the Merits, then getting back to a nerfed RES just to get close to the kind of financial progress I used to make... well I increasingly hate this game, and loathe the kind of people who are too selfish to stop demanding the game gets more and more of a grind, just to satisfy their weird need to replace commitment with skill, and grinding for social success. It's only a game. It's supposed to be fun. No one cares about the artificial hardness you think separates you from normal, average players... just as no one is really all that fussed any more about your beating an old raid in WoW; ever tried using that as a chat up line? "Hey baby let me show you my raiding gear"...?

Give us rock hermits, give us Generation Ships to find, give us actual carrier ships to fight, give us Thargoids... stop giving us just more tedious grinds on top of the tedious grinds we already have! Take Powerplay back and think of something better to do with it!

 

[zzzornbringer]

to me it's relatively simple. i don't gain anything by aligning myself to a power. quite the opposite actually.

when you get interdicted by an opposing power, all you get is a puny 400cr. when you get interdicted by pirates, you get a lot more.

bringing goods from A to B isn't super engaging or profitable either. i could put palladium in my cargo hold and actually make profit instead of nothing at all.

generally, there is no gain for me in powerplay or at least there's none that i see.

so, i'll leave it alone until things get changed. playing the core game for now.