Powerplay Quitting Power Play.

[Tenshi]

Going to quit power play, for the past 4 weeks all I have done in the game is grind merits to try and maintain rank 4. After last week merit grind to get 1700 and now I see my total being less than 1500 I am ready to give up.

I would return if FD fixed the merit decay to be more player friendly. But this 50% decay each week is a killer for me. Least fun I have had in the game so far, so I am going to go back to what I use to do.

Will keep an eye on PP and Aisling though and if things change will return to power play. Even the lure of the special shield is not enough to keep me interested nor is the weekly salary from PP as I can earn that in minutes doing bounty hunting and trading.

A weeks work for 5 million credits with a 50% decay to the merits I earn, what a kick in the family jewels.

 

[Apos]

1500 merits is like...4-5 hours of undermining? And you carry over 50% so you only need 750, 2,5 hours of undermining.

If your free time is so limited, then you did the right choice not bothering with PP anymore I guess.

 

[Flimley]

Did you also feel very limited to your section of space ? As i do feel a bit constricted.

 

[fergal]

Shame to see you go.
I'm getting around 1000 merits per hour at the expansion combat zones without a wing, and when undermining in a wing of 3 or 4 can usually make much more, depending on spawns.

The money certainly doesn't equal what you can get doing other activities though.

 

[Rubellen]

Shame to see you go.
I'm getting around 1000 merits per hour at the expansion combat zones without a wing, and when undermining in a wing of 3 or 4 can usually make much more, depending on spawns.

The money certainly doesn't equal what you can get doing other activities though.

How does one find the combat zones? Cant seem to find any in the exp zones...

 

[fergal]

How does one find the combat zones? Cant seem to find any in the exp zones...

Half of the Powers expand by delivering packages (just like they fortify and prepare) Hudson, Delaine, Lavigny, Antal and Patreus have combat zones with different names (resistance pockets, crime sweeps).
77 Aquarii has them for Delaine right now if you can't find any.

There is a bug that doesn't make them spawn in systems with no planets though.

 

[Pazmino]

Tenshi, I'm with you. shipping paperwork from A to B is pain. Getting the same merits when shooting an Eagle or an Anaconda out of space - not worth the ammo. (To 80% I get attacked by Pythons - any idea how much the Railgun ammo costs?) Undermining as such is fun, but then ... not.
.
I also feel limited where I can go, i.e. need to stay in the space I'm in. Imperial at heart, but the Nutters realm is mainly in Fed space. Result - now friendly with Fed's and neutral with Imp's. And PA is the only one out of the ten I felt I should join (don't say join an Imp power then.)
.
Supporting the Nutter is fun - I stopped doing it for the merits. But the reward system as such is lame and didn't keep me engaged.
I like the idea of PP, but the way its implemented ... options to support a faction are too limited.
.
In there since 3 weeks, still don't get all parts of the mechanics, amount of merits granted for doing this or that. I'll give it another week...

 

[Cmdr Rhott Roe]

Half of the Powers expand by delivering packages (just like they fortify and prepare) Hudson, Delaine, Lavigny, Antal and Patreus have combat zones with different names (resistance pockets, crime sweeps).
77 Aquarii has them for Delaine right now if you can't find any.

There is a bug that doesn't make them spawn in systems with no planets though.

Just curious but why would a power want to expand into a system that didn't have any planets?

 

[John Adams]

Because the control station would act as the centre of operations for exploiting systems in a 15 light year radius.

 

[X-Terminator]

Tried in Beta2. I just gonna muck about with it and not grind, i.e. just nark them after defecting to others to get chased!

 

[-SOVEREIGN-]

You need to get 1500 merits once, then 800 each week to keep lvl4 basically forever. I guess that's...not so much. For me it's 27 interdictions, just 4 each day. Assume you need 5 min for every interdiction process, that's 2hr15min. Per week. 5m for that two hours pew pew? I'm in!

 

[JessieColt]

How does one find the combat zones? Cant seem to find any in the exp zones...

Look at the various powers information. If they offer combat options, instead of Financial or Social, then their Expansions are done through combat zones, as Fergal stated.

You can then go to one of the Expansion Systems on your PP Powers List and look for the appropriately named combat zone (Crime Sweep, Resistance Pocket) and engage in combat with the opposing forces. You will earn 10 merits per kill that will then be turned into the nearest Control System for your PP Faction before the end of the cycle.

All ships net 10 merits. If you are able to keep on target with smaller ships, Eagle, Cobra, Sidewinder, etc. you can usually take them down pretty quickly which means you can kill more per zone in less time, earning more merits.

Larger ships, Anaconda, Python, etc., take longer to kill, but only reward the same 10 merits.

If I am able to keep on target with the smaller ships (I am in a Vulture) I can usually get about 240+ merits per hour.

The more merits you have at cycle change, the fewer you need to earn to maintain your Rank 4 standing. This past cycle I was only about 200 merits short of 1500, so I was able to hit the mark pretty quickly.

All merits I am earning now, before the next cycle change, are a "bonus" for me that means less merits I have to get next cycle to keep Rank 4 status.

Since I am not in a race to hit Rank 5, this means that I have plenty of time for other activities during my game hours and I do not have to feel like I am "merit grinding" just to try to keep my rank.

Another bonus for me is that I am working my Combat Ranking at the moment, so the combat expansion zones are giving a nice boost to my Combat Rank as well.

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

I'm on my way out too. I've been R5 with Zemina for a few weeks, but to maintain that I have to do ~13 runs per week. That's probably around 4 hours game play that doesn't get me anything interesting other than the opportunity to do the same thing again next week. The salary basically covers the cost of the merits. The bonus on trade profits doesn't even contribute to my trade ranking and I can earn more money smuggling in Archon space away. So completely pointless other than the limited opportunity for more player interaction - and even then I can get more of that by working the CGs.

 

[Apos]

Why do people feel the need to grind rank 5?

Is it for the money? Because you ought to understand we are talking about 1/3 of an anaconda here. How easy do you want that to be exactly? An anaconda has ALWAYS been a grind. And now you can get it 15% cheaper at all times thanks to PP as well.

Is it for the passive bonuses? I can understand a "yes" from Arissa/Hudson supporters, but why would anyone else care?

Please tell me what is out of place here, unless people have got spoiled from PP and credit earning is getting power creeped, I don't see a problem here really. It took me months to get an anaconda and now people can have one in 3 weeks for a lot of hours the first week and very less the second and third, yet complain about it. It baffles me to no end.

To put it as tumblr would: "Check your privilege". You are earning miles more credits than anyone could for a long time before PP hit. You are under no obligation to do it, but you are indeed rewarded A LOT for doing it compared to what we have been getting until this point. And you don't even have to be rank 5 to enjoy the majority of the benefits.

Why is everyone obsessed with rank 5? If you really want credits and think you can earn more doing something else, then do something else, go smuggle slaves for 4.500 cr/ton for all I care. If you really want credits and you think that rank 5 is the maximum credits/effort way to get there, then you will do it and should be happy about it, because you achieve your criteria of what you are after. Both of these options involve grinding because that's exactly how you earn credits.

If you want to have fun, go ahead and have fun. Flip a system, write a story, do some PvP, pirate with Code, fight against Code pirating, let your dog drive a sidewinder. None of these will give you credits though.

I've been sitting in 50M credits for the past 3 months and I don't think I have missed on anything, so if people are fixated on credits and sacrifice their own fun for them, why is the PP system to blame? Rank 5 is there to help the really dedicated players to help their powers more efficiently, not to provide you an alternative, easy way to your anaconda. (which there is no guarantee you will enjoy flying because it's so slow. I went back to my python within a week.)

There's many things to complain about PP, but I don't find the grind one of them. Someone who gets involved with PP should have no trouble keeping the Rank 5 after the first grind. (assuming they have the time, but even if they don't then it's just a matter of false expectations, because it's not about who supports the power most, it's about supporting as much as you want and can.)

 

[Darth Ender]

Cry cry cry wah wah wah.

undermining is stupidly quick and insanely easy to gain merits. You can do 1000 merits in an hour, not 3-4. You pick a system with bases that are close to the star, this leads to many more ships within interdiction range at any given moment. You shouldn't be spending more than 1 minute between interdictions and killing your prey before the cooldown timer is complete. If you have the option of hitting a wing always take it. Take out the sidewinders before the main ship to keep them from running away.

It's so easy to maintain rank 4. Less than an hour a week. That's not counting any of the other activities you can do in powerplay to gain merits.

Rank 5 though is where it really pays off. The extra bonuses is worth the initial effort to reach 10k. Then once you do, your salary can maintain your rank or you can choose to do other things and save the money. The reason why rank5 is so attractive is the additional benefits. Being rank 5 for Utopia, I get double bounties/combat bonds. I can make 15 mil an hour and rank up my combat. Spend a roughly 3-4 hours a week getting another 5k merits to maintain. ...although i usually will put in close to 8000 merits during the weekend fortifying. Hurting for money fast-tracking? No. Money is very easy to make and I'm never in danger of going broke due to power play despite dumping a hundred million a week lately.

Yes, you could do all that in easy mode for added security. But it's more fun in open. Plus, since everyone else is rocking easy mode, open is basically devoid of opposition.

 

[EddyRockSteady]

Why do people feel the need to grind rank 5?

Unless it's been fixed, the 500% Bounty Bonus is a very good incentive indeed.

 

[Jeroll3d]

Just a comment - i beguine play powerplay today. In preparation, mission send me to far, far, far...and far... probably 50 + jumps :S

To beguine, need this?

So... :/

 

[Apos]

Unless it's been fixed, the 500% Bounty Bonus is a very good incentive indeed.

Well, like I said, Arissa's "supporters" are excused.

Although complaining that it's boring to grind in order to be able to grind more credits than anyone else can, which will make up more than plenty of the time invested in rank 5 is a bit of an oxymoron once again. Especially when the grind in order to grind involves the same activity, combat zones.

So like I presumed, it's indeed just people being spoiled with easy credits.

 

[dayrth]

A lot of posts saying how easy undermining is, but Tenshi may not be set up for combat. PP can be a grind and if she is not enjoying it then quitting and doing something more enjoyable seems to be a sensible thing to do.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

As said before, maintaining rank 4 is about getting 750 merits.
I get 500 merits per hour by undermining in a Cobra.
I also fortify my controlled systems (25T allocated every 30 minutes, for 25 merits).
Then help expanding at 10 merits per kill.
Keeping rank 4 is easy.

Reaching rank 5 is harder but the allowance increases to 50 per 30 minutes, with a bonus of 50 millions.
If you use these 50 millions to fast-track, you can then fortify your systems and get 5000 merits, which is exactly what you need to maintain your rank 5.
On the other hand, the more you undermine, expand or collect your allotment, the less you need to fast-tack and the more money you keep in your pocket (or use it to fast track even further).

Power Play salary is more of a compensation for your time / fast-track, and I find it perfectly balanced. Slowing down the merit decay would give people a reward for doing nothing.
I don't know about your Power, but people doing nothing while pledge to my power would not help.

PS: I have reached rank 5 this cycle (via crazy undermining sessions) and will use my new allotment / wage to help my Power while maintaining my rank 5.