EDIT: My speculation was spot on accurate with what the missions are like in 2.1 beta. I played for 4-5 hours and the missions are the same. The only thing that has changed is the mission bulletin board. You get to see a contact's face and get to see why you're doing a mission, but the same boring mission is still there.
Just to be clear, 2.1 will bring some really nice features to ED that are indeed long overdue. They will be a great addition to ED, and will certainly add some permanent patches to some holes that were desperate to be filled. However, the missions will disappoint me for these reasons.
According to the most recent newsletter from Frontier Developments, it won't be the actual missions that are being revamped. It's the BGS that happens before and after you complete a mission, or the reward you get for doing it that will be getting revamped. We will still see the same boring and bland missions, or an addition of boring and bland missions. The link to this newsletter is here: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=f370305f3a&e=080f30b4f7
If you scroll down to the info about the missions, they don't actually mention anything about changing the content in the missions, just changing how the missions are projected to you, and that there will be persistent NPCs. Okay, great... Not bad.
However, just because I'm understanding why I'm doing a mission, it doesn't make it fun. Just because I'm slowly making good relations with a small faction, it doesn't make it fun. I don't think the idea of killing x amount of enemies to get this reward, or find x amount of cargo and bring it back to the station is fun. Until something is released about the actual mission while you're doing it, then I will continue to expect to be disappointed.
Now that being said... One way to improve the missions is to have a change of scenery. Since there are instances in the game, it could maybe be possible to randomly generate a small base in the middle of an asteroid field, or on the surface of a planet... So let's say you're hunting someone who is on the top 10 wanted list of the system. They are going to rich, and they are going to have a good ship. You have to lure the criminal out of his base by destroying the base's shields/life support. This shouldn't be very hard to implement considering we have the ability to destroy power generators on surface bases. (You could even have his pirate buddies protecting the base with ships when you assault it) He is then forced to come out of hiding, hop in his ship and confront you. Something as simple as a change in scenery like that would make a mission more satisfying. I grow tired of fighting NPCs in empty space.
For the record FD, what was suggested in the news letter isn't a mission revamp. What was suggested would be an addition to the already boring missions that currently exist.
TLDR:
FD is incorrectly marketing the "mission revamp" feature in 2.1 because they aren't actually doing a revamp of the missions, they are just enhancing the missions by adding reason to do the missions. The actual missions themselves will remain the same.
Just to be clear, 2.1 will bring some really nice features to ED that are indeed long overdue. They will be a great addition to ED, and will certainly add some permanent patches to some holes that were desperate to be filled. However, the missions will disappoint me for these reasons.
According to the most recent newsletter from Frontier Developments, it won't be the actual missions that are being revamped. It's the BGS that happens before and after you complete a mission, or the reward you get for doing it that will be getting revamped. We will still see the same boring and bland missions, or an addition of boring and bland missions. The link to this newsletter is here: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=f370305f3a&e=080f30b4f7
If you scroll down to the info about the missions, they don't actually mention anything about changing the content in the missions, just changing how the missions are projected to you, and that there will be persistent NPCs. Okay, great... Not bad.
However, just because I'm understanding why I'm doing a mission, it doesn't make it fun. Just because I'm slowly making good relations with a small faction, it doesn't make it fun. I don't think the idea of killing x amount of enemies to get this reward, or find x amount of cargo and bring it back to the station is fun. Until something is released about the actual mission while you're doing it, then I will continue to expect to be disappointed.
Now that being said... One way to improve the missions is to have a change of scenery. Since there are instances in the game, it could maybe be possible to randomly generate a small base in the middle of an asteroid field, or on the surface of a planet... So let's say you're hunting someone who is on the top 10 wanted list of the system. They are going to rich, and they are going to have a good ship. You have to lure the criminal out of his base by destroying the base's shields/life support. This shouldn't be very hard to implement considering we have the ability to destroy power generators on surface bases. (You could even have his pirate buddies protecting the base with ships when you assault it) He is then forced to come out of hiding, hop in his ship and confront you. Something as simple as a change in scenery like that would make a mission more satisfying. I grow tired of fighting NPCs in empty space.
For the record FD, what was suggested in the news letter isn't a mission revamp. What was suggested would be an addition to the already boring missions that currently exist.
TLDR:
FD is incorrectly marketing the "mission revamp" feature in 2.1 because they aren't actually doing a revamp of the missions, they are just enhancing the missions by adding reason to do the missions. The actual missions themselves will remain the same.
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