Powerplay Quitting Power Play.

[geoffrey.hdt]

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.

Undermining is very important to keep Power Play dynamic.
FD set the highest reward for undermining on purpose.

Without undermining, you can still basically invest 100 millions to reach rank 5 and maintain it at no cost...but the reward to you is then not the money but to see your Power survive and evolve.
This is the part where people loose ground: power Play is not about easy profit (even though it may be if you do it right) but participating in a Power.

 

[Gran Solo]

power Play is not about easy profit (even though it may be if you do it right) but participating in a Power.

As a Mahon supporter for 11 weeks, I have seen many of our most engaged strategists and community leaders burn out and leave because the experience has been utterly frustrating. I don't need to ho into detail here, it's well documented.

So while you are right in principle, in practice Power Play has been a negative experience for players NOT primarily motivated by money. Get off your high horse.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

As a Mahon supporter for 11 weeks, I have seen many of our most engaged strategists and community leaders burn out and leave because the experience has been utterly frustrating. I don't need to ho into detail here, it's well documented.

So while you are right in principle, in practice Power Play has been a negative experience for players NOT primarily motivated by money. Get off your high horse.

You might be right, I actually have been actively participating in Power Play for one month only, and have just reached 10000 merits this week. Maybe i am naive, we will see... I should be rank 5 tomorrow and start to get the 50 millions wage the week after.

Once I get this, I plan to maintain my rank 5 by mostly fortifying our systems:
- Using fast-track, up to 50 millions spent, would give exactly the 5000 merits, required to maintain rank 5.
- But in the meantime, any merits earned by collecting regular allotment, killing ships at expansion pockets or undermining, would save me 10k credits per merit*.
- I may of course go above 5000 merits weekly if extra fortification/undermining/opposition is required.
- Getting rich is not my goal, I actually find this boring, but I'm glad to finally be able to participate actively in Power Play without facing a money sink.

I strongly agree that some aspects/mechanics of Power Play (and Elite in general) are frustrating, but still, I find my way to enjoy the game. I of course wish FD would fix/tweak the game seriously to make it a masterpiece, but, oh well...

*: Equivalent to 500k every 30 minutes for allotment, 100k per kill at expansion, 300k per kill / 900k per wing killed at undermining.

 

[Apos]

As a Mahon supporter for 11 weeks, I have seen many of our most engaged strategists and community leaders burn out and leave because the experience has been utterly frustrating. I don't need to ho into detail here, it's well documented.

So while you are right in principle, in practice Power Play has been a negative experience for players NOT primarily motivated by money. Get off your high horse.

This is true.

But it's true mostly because there is an elephant in the room called Arissa, giving a total of 480% increased pay outs, followed by Hudson and then Torval's+Delaine's 4,5000 cr/ton trade routes.

The frustration comes from the continuous neglect of the other powers from FD and not inherently from the PP mechanics themselves. You can ask Saool himself whether he is proud or not that Mahon is a serious #2 contender. But we got nothing for it. We get no real credit related bonuses. Our module sucks. And best of all, the Alliance is completely forgotten as far as story goes. We get called a corporalist haven due to the rules that FD set upon us to benefit from corporates and then any attempts to develop a story in order to justify it are shoved aside in order to provide a daily report whether Patreus went on a date with Arissa or Aisling this time.

And there's also the multiple bail-outs the imperial powers got as bug-fixes, without FD ever giving us the formula for the calculations in order for us to double check them ourselves.

That's what is pushing players out.

 

[Crash1099]

The reason i left pp is don't like being confined to one area of space. To be wanted in another system no thanks. I can earn credits in trading and combat.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

The reason i left pp is don't like being confined to one area of space. To be wanted in another system no thanks. I can earn credits in trading and combat.

Funny, that's actually the opposite for me:
- I like to know my neighborhood, learn what systems offer what, and enjoy the benefits of my area.
- I love to be the bad guy in the other systems.

Before Power Play, all systems were the same to me, and I did not feel anything about leaving/entering any specific area (except lave Cluster of course).

 

[Gran Solo]

I have a feeling that FDev had NOTHING planned for the Alliance and just included them so that past Elite games' lore was in there. I think they were dumbfounded by the loyalty and dedication of the Alliance fanbase, in spite the fact that they gave our pudgy Benicio del Toro utter crap for powerplay stats, after they ran out of all the good ideas when designing the princesses. For FDev to reward our loyalty with PP tweaks, a working module, story, rank progression and/or ships would require them to change their road map. It won't happen this year, or the next year. I think there is not even concept art for Alliance ships yet.

 

[Zeta Legion]

It's really a shame that the Alliance is such a half-baked faction considering they are supposed to be the third major faction. You could easily mistake them for an independent faction with a fancy logo. In a fair world each major faction should've started power play with two leaders to choose from, the most logical of which to cut from the Empire being Zemina Torval and Aisling Duval. Only Patreus and ALD are unfortunately really relevant to the story at hand. I would dearly love ALD to get booted, but that'll never happen as long as her bonus is so overwhelmingly powerful. PP bonuses should have never been tied to PP rank.

The best you could hope for is for Zemina to get kicked out of Powerplay and replaced with a new Alliance leader, or for one of the independents (Sirius Corp maybe, since FD has decided to label you guys Corporate sellouts) to get absorbed into the Alliance through the story.

 

[NickDupree]

As said before, maintaining rank 4 is about getting 750 merits.

Sorry as others have said, its 800 not 750 per week - 800+400+200+100=1500

 

[Krezan]

The merit drop off in this game is a nightmare. Who's got time to do this. Some people have other jobs apart from play your game. Remove it or make it slow. Jesus Christ. Been playing MMO's since 2008 and have never seen anything this harsh / stupid. No point playing it unless your a kid or live in China.

 

[Apos]

The merit drop off in this game is a nightmare. Who's got time to do this. Some people have other jobs apart from play your game. Remove it or make it slow. Jesus Christ. Been playing MMO's since 2008 and have never seen anything this harsh / stupid. No point playing it unless your a kid or live in China.

And please remind me why someone who invests 1 hour should be rewarded equally to someone who invests 8 again?

The fact that you have been playing MMOs since 2008 is showing, since that's very close to the point where most of them started going the "everyone's a winner" route.

Do what offers you the most fun in the time you have available. If you don't have time to grind, then just don't, just like you shouldn't.

 

[Krezan]

Do you actually wok mate. It is rubbish. Worst thing in the game. Name me a MMo with a rep drop off. They don't do it for this reason. It's really isn't worth the time investment.

 

[Apos]

Do you actually wok mate. It is rubbish. Worst thing in the game. Name me a MMo with a rep drop off. They don't do it for this reason. It's really isn't worth the time investment.

What does the rep drop off have to do with merits and PP? Reputation is completely useless, get over it if you get so hurt about your relationship with the factions who offer nothing in return.

 

[Krezan]

Why should I. I paid for a game and I get, not only a grind but a grind that resets itself. Argue that.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Why should I. I paid for a game and I get, not only a grind but a grind that resets itself. Argue that.

Well, if you really think this way, there is indeed no way to argue with you. This game is apparently not for you.

 

[Apos]

Why should I. I paid for a game and I get, not only a grind but a grind that resets itself. Argue that.

I don't see any argument here. You don't have to participate to the grind of PP and the faction reputation has no benefits whatsoever in order for it to be considered a grind as well.

I'm neutral with the empire and still a prince. If you think Friendly or Allied makes any difference, then creating a demand around a delusion is a bit silly.

It has been said many times, but the grind is not the only thing the game has to offer. If you condition yourself to have to oblige to a grind, there's only yourself to blame.

 

[PepsiDragon]

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.

WAAAAT! 4-5 hours of undermining! It takes me nothing like that to get a measely 1.5k

- - - Updated - - -

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.)

Absolutely agree with you there. And I'm having a blast grinding it too. Undermining is fun you get a giant bounty clash with some players. Attack other players for the bounty they accumulated, lol. Blow up NPCs run before the cops can catch you while playing NWA.

 

[Rardain]

Do you actually wok mate. It is rubbish. Worst thing in the game. Name me a MMo with a rep drop off. They don't do it for this reason. It's really isn't worth the time investment.

I am a mobile IT analyst and cover the whole North East of the UK and don't typically get home before 8pm most days yet I have still found the time to maintain my Rank 5 for the past 6 weeks. I am leaving PP too at the end of this week but I've made 320 million doing it and not spent a single credit of my own to make it happen (other than ship upgrades) Reputation drop has nothing to do with it, but your merit decay does - see here

 

[Jmanis]

Absolutely agree with you there. And I'm having a blast grinding it too. Undermining is fun you get a giant bounty clash with some players. Attack other players for the bounty they accumulated, lol. Blow up NPCs run before the cops can catch you while playing NWA.

Agree too!

Maintaining rank 4 is very doable in a brief session. For me, 1000 merits takes 2 hours of supercruise kills. Before anyone says about "filling a bar", I target a specific system I want to see fall. Once it's undermined, if I haven't already hit my quota to sustain rank 4, I spend my time restoring the minor factions in systems afflicted by this power, as there's more to powerplay than just earning merits.

If I wanted to stop playing all the other games I play (and there's about four of them) I could sink 2 hours a night during the week 5000 merits per week no problems, or even have one four hour session on a weekend, and three two hour sessions during the week. But honestly, there's too many other games to play, and I don't do grinding. The reward for rank 4 for the effort required is commensurate to the reward at rank 5 for the effort required. Rank 5 is really there to satisfy the people who literally pour heaps of time into the game

Complaints about rank 5 are, in my opinion, just people with entitlement issues (despite the fact there's nothing special about rank 5). If you want it, put the effort in, if not, be satisfied with the reward commensurate to your effort

 

[kepler84]

I've just quit powerplay but I don't think there's something wrong with it.

I don't like to lose all my ranking if I decide to spend a month without playing (you know, fallout 4 incoming) but again, that is actually a personal preference.

It's good that FD decided to keep the door open for those who don't like that kind of content. No one is expected to play every single feature of that game.