Getting tired of Elite

[Iskariot]

Hello good people,
It is really really sad, but I'm starting to get a little tired of Elite, the developers have a wrong focus according to my opinion. They focus to much on pvp and combat. I need more exploration and the wonders of space. More player owned and controlled objects. Build stuff in space and on planets. I want planet landing. Flying in the clouds of gas giants or a planet. More player to player trading and teamwork. Hate all their limitations, just so they can make more player vs player competitions out of it. Am I alone in this? :S

I understand where you are coming from and although I do not tire of the game, I think it is desperately in need of more diverse assets.
Planetary landings would be wonderful of course, but I accept that that is simply in the works and takes a lot of time to create so that it is up to the high standards of this game.

One of the main problems I perceive is the sameness of the human occupied universe.
There is not enough diversity. There are not enough assets.

I will just copy here what I have said elsewhere:

I believe the ED universe desperately need to get dressed up.
The gameworld needs more assets to make it feel alive and give it variation.
We need more types of space structures and it wouldn't hurt if some of them looked a bit dramatic and awe inspiring:

- Imperial bases need to look the part. Imperial core systems should have Imperial styled space stations and other structures.
When we enter Imperial space, it should feel different.
- More internal and external variation of existing stations
- Prison Installations
- Industrial Complexes
- Military fortresses, battlestations, outposts (that look the part), military shipyards, secret military deep space maintenance and refueling stations
- Huge mining and ore processing installations
- Corporate headquarters
- Scientific observatories with huge telescopes and radio dishes.
- Asteroid bases (f.e. pirate bases)
- Solar arrays
- True shipyards with ships under construction
- Large container shipping areas
- A few truly unique stations
- Multiple installations in each others visible range, for example a container yard near a commercial outpost.

etc. etc.

What is also needed is more npc traffic, npc only ships that make the universe feel more alive, richer and more diverse:

- Tugs
- Repair and Maintenance vehicles
- Huge tankers and container vessels
- Miltitary npc vessels like frigates, destroyers, corvettes, large troop transports, Battleships etc. etc.

Many of these assets should have their own sets of missions of course.

I would love to be able to dock with a large military vessel to get a special mission for example.
Or FD could just add military capital ships and other npc ships as mission givers.

 

[CMDR UBERPEITSCHE]

I get the feeling some people fall back into the 12 year old behaviour of thinking "Oh man this is so amazing, this is the one game and I'll never need anything else ever again!"
Don't pretend like you weren't searching for that special gem back then!

Really guys? Go ask some old wow veterans how much they really play when they log in from time to time..
If you drown out a game it will get boring no matter what. Sure Im not playing like I did after launch, still I know what is the problem and it is not that the game can't offer the biggest amount of content from day one.
Im in for the updates that come every other month.

I think people just ask for ridiculous things on this forum, like they are completely detached from reality.. "The game should offer WHAT 7 months after launch?" is my most reaction on here.

 

[Pakra]

I understand where you are coming from and although I do not tire of the game, I think it is desperately in need of more diverse assets.
Planetary landings would be wonderful of course, but I accept that that is simply in the works and takes a lot of time to create so that it is up to the high standards of this game.

One of the main problems I perceive is the sameness of the human occupied universe.
There is not enough diversity. There are not enough assets.

I will just copy here what I have said elsewhere:

I believe the ED universe desperately need to get dressed up.
The gameworld needs more assets to make it feel alive and give it variation.
We need more types of space structures and it wouldn't hurt if some of them looked a bit dramatic and awe inspiring:

- Imperial bases need to look the part. Imperial core systems should have Imperial styled space stations and other structures.
When we enter Imperial space, it should feel different.
- More internal and external variation of existing stations
- Prison Installations
- Industrial Complexes
- Military fortresses, battlestations, outposts (that look the part), military shipyards
- Huge mining and ore processing installations
- Corporate headquarters
- Scientific installations with huge telescopes and radio dishes.
- Asteroid bases (f.e. pirate bases)
- Solar arrays
- True shipyards with ships under construction
- Large container shipping areas
- A few truly unique stations
- Multiple installations in each other visible range

etc. etc.

What is also needed is more npc traffic, npc only ships that make the universe feel more alive, richer and more diverse:

- Tugs
- Repair and Maintenance vehicles
- Huge tankers and container vessels
- Miltitary npc vessels like frigates, destroyers, corvettes, large troop transports, Battleships etc. etc.

Many of these assets should have their own sets of missions of course.

I would love to be able to dock with a large military vessel to get a special mission for example.
Or FD could just add military capital ships and other npc ships as mission givers.

Absolutely this. I also quit ED. Two days ago I started to watch a Let's Play of Freelancer again. And in the first 15 minutes I realized not only how empty ED is (I already knew that) but how immense more lively Freelancer is just because of 2 little and so easy things:
1. more varied stations and ships!
2. Faces and Voicecomms of the NPC's!

I tried to give ED another shot (been there since prem Beta), but it is just boring! And imagine your own story and plot and all the blablabla doesn't work if the base of the game is just flat without any content. "Go explore" say the folks...sure it was the first thing I did..went out for 2 weeks to find some unique undiscovered things, artefacts, destroyed ships, items, storytelling things, natural anomalies (comets, jumpholes (I know realism ok), destroid planets/Moons, etc.)...oh wait..all you can find are different screenshots of mixed systems with always the same stuff just in other composition. If you go 20 LY or 200000 doesn't matter. Go bounty hunt say the folks...sure did it..it's fun for the first hours..then you realize all you can ever do is just RES Bounty hunting (also aaalwaaays in the rock rings..would love to fly around some ice asteroids finally!!) or flying through a system and chasing some random boring NPC's which don't even offer a real fight except for NPC Anacondas maybe. Go trade..also did it..that's the only point in ED that is ok in my eyes..not cool or really entertaining but ok..well it's trading..you can't do much things wrong here... Go pirating...don't need to say anything to that do I? Do missions...also doesn't need any comment even with the "so giant" overhaul of the missionsystem..Did you guys see any changes except for more text, some smuggling missions and that you have to actually chase the random inpopping NPC? And that's it. From the beginning to the end of the credits grind.

And the upcoming CQC update and the ridiculous bad designed PP update (cancel the credit grind, go for merit grind!!) suggests that the Dev's don't play the game by themselves and have no clue what the game and the community really need. It makes me literally angry that the giant potential of this game is given away and drifts unused into the darkness of procedurally generated space.

 

[Iskariot]

"The game should offer WHAT 7 months after launch?" is my most reaction on here.

I agree with that cmdr uberpeitsche, but there is no harm in pointing out what one thinks is needed to add more life to the game.
Of course this is in the hope that the Devs will take note. Most likely they already know though, but they simply can't do everything at once.
Nevertheless I hope they will concentrate on simply adding assets to the universe to fill it in and make it feel more alive and diverse instead of adding another multiplayer thing like CQC.

I believe adding assets should be a priority because it influences directly how we perceive the game world itself.
Currently it is too dry, too lifeless, too samey.

 

[GibMeister]

The last thing this game needs is players building and owning stations. Having the universe turn into a minefield of player owned assets, with some not letting you dock or refuel because the owner is an 11 year old kid who has been sent to bed early for swearing, will not a good game make.

And why planetary landings? People keep on thinking this will be like Star Trek or something with loads of worlds to explore. What we're going to get is the same 12 or 13 worlds, skinned differently, repeated endlessly. That's not a criticism of Frontier, that's just acknowledging the limitations of the technology of today as well as the small size and resources of Frontier compared to, for example, Rockstar or Ubisoft.

I tend to agree, but I would like to own my own small personal station, for my own use only and to store fuel, cargo, my own evil lair! I agree about planetary landings, they will be like everyhting else in this game - all the same, those guys that go exploring...why? It all looks the same! Pretty but the same and planets will be the same probably! Its not a technical limitation, its a time and money limitation! I personally would have preferred a game like Elite with say 100 systems that were fully fleshed out and unique with their own story/character than millions of random generated systems that we have now! The Universe in Elite is too big! They could still do this, create a core of unique interesting systems in the middle and most of us would play around here and those odd balls that like exploring could run off into the verse to lok at the same systems millions of LYrs away!
.
Problem is there isnt even 1 interesting station/system in the game they are all clones of each other, the same comms messages, the same stations, boring! Wouldnt it be nice to identify your station in your system by little details that arent found anywhere else? Instead of 'Welcome Commander proceed to dock 22 etc" why cant it say 'Welcome Cmdr GibMeister, its been a while since we saw you in V1688, glad to have you back, we need people like you to help in the war etc' its not difficult to do games have done it for years and dont have the message in text, feel free to have a Guy or girls voice send the message...just the simple things that can make a massive difference....but FD seem to look at the complex things and miss the obvious things...we are humans after all not machines!

 

[Bane Six Echo]

I think a lot of people are getting tired of Elite for various reasons.

For me personally it's because I've achieved the goal I gave myself when I first started playing in December 2014: own a Python. It's like Commander Haddon said above: once you've earned the most expensive ship you want to own what's the point? I read a great post on reddit this morning that sums it up nicely:

Well said. I'm in the "stopped playing soon after 1.3" camp. Not because I thought the direction of 1.3 was terrible, but because the moment-to-moment gameplay still hasn't changed since beta. I want adventure, I want objectives, I want discovery. I want engaging multi-stage missions that take me across known space. But everything is so canned, predictable, and repetitive. The bar for almost every activity in the game is incredibly low (e.g. conflict zones are just endless kill-fests without objectives or an actual victory condition. Exploration has virtually no gameplay. Missions are incredibly generic and lack complexity. Random encounters consist of a few stale USS templates).

Basically, the core content of the game is of a very "place-holder" quality.

I too am hopeful the game will come together, but for now, I am just waiting (months) between major updates to see if anything improves.

+1 from me.

Powerplay and CQC are disappointing to me. Neither improves on the "placeholder" quality of the core content in any real meaningful way. If and when the core content is improved, if and when the depth of the mile-wide ocean that is gameplay is increased to more than an inch, I'm sure I'll devote more time to Elite. Until then I'll be keeping an eye on it, and maybe jumping on for an hour or two once in a while, but I've moved on for the most part.

 

[FuzzySpider]

I tend to agree, but I would like to own my own small personal station, for my own use only and to store fuel, cargo, my own evil lair!

What we need is the ability to sponsor a station, get our own little hangar there, and as you say feel that it's in some way ours. Get properly welcomed by station staff, get access to special missions etc.

And as you say, more varieties of things in the universe. Different stations, with a different ethos, a different greeting, different cultures and wotnot. We need this to feel more organic and real and less like a giant and arbitrary board game. What we got was powerplay, a Risk rip off. Sigh...

What we DO NOT need is to have territorial control over areas, and the ability for players to set the rules of the game in different areas, that would be catastrophic.

 

[Vecter]

I understand where you are coming from and although I do not tire of the game, I think it is desperately in need of more diverse assets.
Planetary landings would be wonderful of course, but I accept that that is simply in the works and takes a lot of time to create so that it is up to the high standards of this game.

One of the main problems I perceive is the sameness of the human occupied universe.
There is not enough diversity. There are not enough assets.

I will just copy here what I have said elsewhere:

I believe the ED universe desperately need to get dressed up.
The gameworld needs more assets to make it feel alive and give it variation.
We need more types of space structures and it wouldn't hurt if some of them looked a bit dramatic and awe inspiring:

- Imperial bases need to look the part. Imperial core systems should have Imperial styled space stations and other structures.
When we enter Imperial space, it should feel different.
- More internal and external variation of existing stations
- Prison Installations
- Industrial Complexes
- Military fortresses, battlestations, outposts (that look the part), military shipyards, secret military deep space maintenance and refueling stations
- Huge mining and ore processing installations
- Corporate headquarters
- Scientific observatories with huge telescopes and radio dishes.
- Asteroid bases (f.e. pirate bases)
- Solar arrays
- True shipyards with ships under construction
- Large container shipping areas
- A few truly unique stations
- Multiple installations in each others visible range, for example a container yard near a commercial outpost.

etc. etc.

What is also needed is more npc traffic, npc only ships that make the universe feel more alive, richer and more diverse:

- Tugs
- Repair and Maintenance vehicles
- Huge tankers and container vessels
- Miltitary npc vessels like frigates, destroyers, corvettes, large troop transports, Battleships etc. etc.

Many of these assets should have their own sets of missions of course.

I would love to be able to dock with a large military vessel to get a special mission for example.
Or FD could just add military capital ships and other npc ships as mission givers.

I agree, and some of these propositions (like imperial bases) should have been in the game since day one.
In Freelancer the different houses' planets were different. What I like in Eve is the lore and the look of the different nations, CCP did a good job with their universe. Even XRebirth, the space stations and all the small ships around was quite cool.
I haven't played the old Elite, but in 2014 having such a bland universe is a big mistake from FD.
If I didn't enjoy so much flying my ship in ED I would have quit the game a long time ago.

 

[FredTA]

It sounds like what you want is coming to the game eventually. Maybe just put it down for a while and pick it up when the expansions are released. Also rep given for possessing the seemingly rare capability to provide criticism while keeping reasonable and friendly

 

[CMDR UBERPEITSCHE]

[...]
I believe adding assets should be a priority because it influences directly how we perceive the game world itself.
Currently it is too dry, too lifeless, too samey.

There is a clear reason for CQC, think about just how popular matchmaking PVP experiences are. Every shooter, every Dota clon etc. works like that, it is the most popular form of play.
Even SC will have matches like that with Arena Commander and the virtual arena. You just can't let that slip, it will attract to many people (Money).

BUT I do agree that there should be more varity in man made things built in Elite. On the other hand I disagree with one offs, buiding a station in the quality that Elite demands for just one port would be such a waste*.
More variety in things to find, I agree with that, totally. In that I mean more then the simple big station and small outpost.
I would however keep the idea of things in future space being modular and still they have to be similar in places, one offs are just very unrealistic.

One thing I prefer in Elite over any other space game atm is that it is, in my opinion, the most believable world. I wouldn't want to see this ruined by floating cities. (Murray Cup in SC is one example that turned me right off)

*And I know CQC maps kind of do that, but I imagine they will carry some assets over. Or I will peitsch them personally.
-

On another note one thing I want to add:

Am I the only one who hasn't forgotten about the huge drought in any decent space games?
Even now after half a year Elite feels so special to me because I always was a HUGE fan of space flight games.
For almost the last 10 years there was just NOTHING decent, now people call Elite bad? I just can't get my head around that.
Compared to what we've had this is utopia. (SC is not in a playable state so that doesn't count for me)

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I agree with that cmdr uberpeitsche, but there is no harm in pointing out what one thinks is needed to add more life to the game.
Of course this is in the hope that the Devs will take note. Most likely they already know though, but they simply can't do everything at once.
Nevertheless I hope they will concentrate on simply adding assets to the universe to fill it in and make it feel more alive and diverse instead of adding another multiplayer thing like CQC.

I believe adding assets should be a priority because it influences directly how we perceive the game world itself.
Currently it is too dry, too lifeless, too samey.

for none interactable stuff just to pad out the game "world" I really think FD could make use of a huge wealth of talent in the hobbyest scene.

I dunno how mod friendly the cobra engine is but they could maybe roll out competitions to design set assets in the game, and anything which is picked in the game, the player gets some nod in galnet as well as £30 credit to spend in the ED store on skins etc.

ok maybe it would turn out non of it would be usable but I am fairly optimistic that there would be some really cool stuff.

if FD gave certain guidelines about certain limitations etc. it may mean letting loose on the reins of some of their dev tools however.


I dunno, maybe this is completely not feasible but if it was just backgound fluff like a military vessel which we fly by now and then, or new station interior modules or new orbital platform modules. it may be worth a try?

some of the fan made mods in say assetto corsa are stunning and every bit as good as the official stuff. indeed my understanding is this is something kunos are looking at officially supporting and bringing in "free" fan made DLC once it has past certain quality guides. In a way it is easier in elite as there are no licencing worries (so long as no one simply rips off a model from another game).

 

[Klab]

Then have a long sleep & come back later

 

[avow555]

I have reduced my ED time drastically to around 4 hours a week and really hoping for more promised content soon.

 

[Iskariot]

There is a clear reason for CQC, think about just how popular matchmaking PVP experiences are. Every shooter, every Dota clon etc. works like that, it is the most popular form of play.
Even SC will have matches like that with Arena Commander and the virtual arena. You just can't let that slip, it will attract to many people (Money).

I again agree. I have argued the same thing in other threads. I think CQCC is something people like and I believe it is good for the game in general. But it just not for me. I am not interested in it.

BUT I do agree that there should be more varity in man made things built in Elite. On the other hand I disagree with one offs, buiding a station in the quality that Elite demands for just one port would be such a waste*.
More variety in things to find, I agree with that, totally. In that I mean more then the simple big station and small outpost.
I would however keep the idea of things in future space being modular and still they have to be similar in places, one offs are just very unrealistic.

I do not believe a few unique structures would be unrealistic from a development point of view. Human development is chaotic. Just look at how we develop and build on our planet. There could be numerous developmental reasons for odd one out stations. But the main reason I would like to see a few unique structures is because we need a few special centers, focal points, in a huge game like this. I believe that even just a few would have a big influence on how we perceive the entire Elite universe. People might travel to such areas just to see them if they are dramatic and awe inspiring enough. I know I would.

One thing I prefer in Elite over any other space game atm is that it is, in my opinion, the most believable world. I wouldn't want to see this ruined by floating cities. (Murray Cup in SC is one example that turned me right off)

I know what you mean. It looks a bit too much and over the top.

*And I know CQC maps kind of do that, but I imagine they will carry some assets over. Or I will peitsch them personally.

I think CQC maps look much more hard-scifi than Murray Cup in SC.
If Murray Cup would have looked more hard-SF and looked as if it could actually exist it would have been more acceptable to me.

Am I the only one who hasn't forgotten about the huge drought in any decent space games?
Even now after half a year Elite feels so special to me because I always was a HUGE fan of space flight games.
For almost the last 10 years there was just NOTHING decent, now people call Elite bad? I just can't get my head around that.
Compared to what we've had this is utopia. (SC is not in a playable state so that doesn't count for me)

I think people are just too impatient. They do not seem to get that ED is a huge project that is in the midst of development.
I have played all kinds of space sims. like for example the X games, but they never could fill the void. For me the true uniqueness of the Elite games was that they created a true unknown space feel by generating an entire galaxy, whereas the X games and others only used a limited sky box approach. They always felt limited and they were unable to convey that same feeling.

As opposed to Elite's open, simulated universe, and to my disappointment, SC also will use a limited, closed, sector based design for it's universe, just like the X games, and even if you have 500 sectors you still are able to intimately know the entire universe of such a space game. In that respect it will therefore feel limited and even claustrophobic, just like the X-games. You will just jump from box to box.
I am not saying SC can't be a wonderful game, but to me this is a serious limitation.

For me the Elite games were the only space games that were able to convey that true psychological feeling of open space. In Elite Dangerous you are truly able to go where no one has gone before. In SC this will be fundamentally impossible because of it's design limitations. Everyone that plays SC will go and have been where everyone else goes and has been.

 

[SirGirard]

Hello good people,
It is really really sad, but I'm starting to get a little tired of Elite, the developers have a wrong focus according to my opinion. They focus to much on pvp and combat. I need more exploration and the wonders of space. More player owned and controlled objects. Build stuff in space and on planets. I want planet landing. Flying in the clouds of gas giants or a planet. More player to player trading and teamwork. Hate all their limitations, just so they can make more player vs player competitions out of it. Am I alone in this? :S

I must admit I have got a bit bored with the current gameplay. IMHO Powerplay added nothing and I wish the DEVS had focussed on more player interactive stuff/station warehousing/office and the like. I am taking a break until such time as a new paid expansion comes along.

 

[telperion]

I must admit I have got a bit bored with the current gameplay. IMHO Powerplay added nothing and I wish the DEVS had focussed on more player interactive stuff/station warehousing/office and the like. I am taking a break until such time as a new paid expansion comes along.

If you want to hide the fact that you want ED to be like EVE you should probably change your terminology

That said, I kinda agree with you. I'd rather they dealt with storage (in station). Mind you, I'd like some more fun stuff for exploration too, although I suspect that'll come when they do the landing on planets side of things.

EDIT - Just thinking about flying out into the black void after planetary landings. I think I'll end up staying out there for a very long time.

 

[GibMeister]

Absolutely this. I also quit ED. Two days ago I started to watch a Let's Play of Freelancer again. And in the first 15 minutes I realized not only how empty ED is (I already knew that) but how immense more lively Freelancer is just because of 2 little and so easy things:
1. more varied stations and ships!
2. Faces and Voicecomms of the NPC's!

I tried to give ED another shot (been there since prem Beta), but it is just boring! And imagine your own story and plot and all the blablabla doesn't work if the base of the game is just flat without any content. "Go explore" say the folks...sure it was the first thing I did..went out for 2 weeks to find some unique undiscovered things, artefacts, destroyed ships, items, storytelling things, natural anomalies (comets, jumpholes (I know realism ok), destroid planets/Moons, etc.)...oh wait..all you can find are different screenshots of mixed systems with always the same stuff just in other composition. If you go 20 LY or 200000 doesn't matter. Go bounty hunt say the folks...sure did it..it's fun for the first hours..then you realize all you can ever do is just RES Bounty hunting (also aaalwaaays in the rock rings..would love to fly around some ice asteroids finally!!) or flying through a system and chasing some random boring NPC's which don't even offer a real fight except for NPC Anacondas maybe. Go trade..also did it..that's the only point in ED that is ok in my eyes..not cool or really entertaining but ok..well it's trading..you can't do much things wrong here... Go pirating...don't need to say anything to that do I? Do missions...also doesn't need any comment even with the "so giant" overhaul of the missionsystem..Did you guys see any changes except for more text, some smuggling missions and that you have to actually chase the random inpopping NPC? And that's it. From the beginning to the end of the credits grind.

And the upcoming CQC update and the ridiculous bad designed PP update (cancel the credit grind, go for merit grind!!) suggests that the Dev's don't play the game by themselves and have no clue what the game and the community really need. It makes me literally angry that the giant potential of this game is given away and drifts unused into the darkness of procedurally generated space.

Yup...I agree..... :-(

 

[andyraptor]

Hello good people,
It is really really sad, but I'm starting to get a little tired of Elite, the developers have a wrong focus according to my opinion. They focus to much on pvp and combat. I need more exploration and the wonders of space. More player owned and controlled objects. Build stuff in space and on planets. I want planet landing. Flying in the clouds of gas giants or a planet. More player to player trading and teamwork. Hate all their limitations, just so they can make more player vs player competitions out of it. Am I alone in this? :S

I wish you a safe journey and God's speed CMDR

 

[Siddius]

i had a friend ask me again today how elite's going and if he should buy it. I told him to wait until gamescom aug 5th before bothering

 

[andyraptor]

Absolutely this. I also quit ED. Two days ago I started to watch a Let's Play of Freelancer again. And in the first 15 minutes I realized not only how empty ED is (I already knew that) but how immense more lively Freelancer is just because of 2 little and so easy things:
1. more varied stations and ships!
2. Faces and Voicecomms of the NPC's!

I tried to give ED another shot (been there since prem Beta), but it is just boring! And imagine your own story and plot and all the blablabla doesn't work if the base of the game is just flat without any content. "Go explore" say the folks...sure it was the first thing I did..went out for 2 weeks to find some unique undiscovered things, artefacts, destroyed ships, items, storytelling things, natural anomalies (comets, jumpholes (I know realism ok), destroid planets/Moons, etc.)...oh wait..all you can find are different screenshots of mixed systems with always the same stuff just in other composition. If you go 20 LY or 200000 doesn't matter. Go bounty hunt say the folks...sure did it..it's fun for the first hours..then you realize all you can ever do is just RES Bounty hunting (also aaalwaaays in the rock rings..would love to fly around some ice asteroids finally!!) or flying through a system and chasing some random boring NPC's which don't even offer a real fight except for NPC Anacondas maybe. Go trade..also did it..that's the only point in ED that is ok in my eyes..not cool or really entertaining but ok..well it's trading..you can't do much things wrong here... Go pirating...don't need to say anything to that do I? Do missions...also doesn't need any comment even with the "so giant" overhaul of the missionsystem..Did you guys see any changes except for more text, some smuggling missions and that you have to actually chase the random inpopping NPC? And that's it. From the beginning to the end of the credits grind.

And the upcoming CQC update and the ridiculous bad designed PP update (cancel the credit grind, go for merit grind!!) suggests that the Dev's don't play the game by themselves and have no clue what the game and the community really need. It makes me literally angry that the giant potential of this game is given away and drifts unused into the darkness of procedurally generated space.

Bye... safe journey

- - - Updated - - -

I must admit I have got a bit bored with the current gameplay. IMHO Powerplay added nothing and I wish the DEVS had focussed on more player interactive stuff/station warehousing/office and the like. I am taking a break until such time as a new paid expansion comes along.

No need to tell us you are taking a break... nobody cares

.... but safe journey all the same