>>I mean, why make the main focus of a patch that is meant to boost sales by a significant amount after the fairly long delay a mere side-activity?
You're assuming that the leadership of FD have a clear direction.
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Opinion: Engineers is a side activity which rewards varied playing style
- Thread starter Cmdr Eagleboy
- Start date
>>I mean, why make the main focus of a patch that is meant to boost sales by a significant amount after the fairly long delay a mere side-activity?
You're assuming that the leadership of FD have a clear direction.
Step back and look at the big picture. Engineers is just another mid-season update - the same as Community Goals, the same as Power Play, etc. I think you're really over-hyping its intended place. Powerplay was marketed and hyped too.
Engineers wasn't delayed because it was meant to be the Second Coming of gameplay, it was delayed so that other systems could get more love and attention and bugfixing, and because there was a huge amount of (not-Engineers) new content also coming in the update (planet surface detail, mission system overhaul, outfitting UI overhaul, faces for NPCs, etc.)
Engineers is clearly another layer of activity being added to the game. It seems designed to lead and encourage people to try out a range of activities in the game that they might otherwise miss or ignore. Engineers is a main acitivity in the sense that side-quests in other games are a main activity - players don't have to do them, but most players choose to spend a fair amount of time on side-activities, and the game would feel shallower without those options.
Engineers is both a side-activity and a big deal
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Engineers is a step to adding to the richness of the game. Not a big fan of the casino-game style interface but I can live with it. I totally get that the grinders hate the RNG aspect I would hate it too if I were a grindy player but I am not.
For me, engineers just adds to fleshing out the game which is good, more flesh on these bones it what ED needs.
Seems like a lot of flesh has been added this release, little details here and there not just engineers. Well done FD.
For me, engineers just adds to fleshing out the game which is good, more flesh on these bones it what ED needs.
Seems like a lot of flesh has been added this release, little details here and there not just engineers. Well done FD.
But this is exactly what I'm aiming for. Engineers has given my game a whole new motivation, so for me it is a very central part of the game.
A little luck is involved, indeed (but that was the same back in WOW if you needed some rarer materials) and i can only conclude from my own experience.
I needed those chemical processor for the fsd upgrade, interdicted a T7 and T9, each one dropped 2 processors. Did take me about 15 minutes.
Not much different with other materials, but maybe i am just extremly lucky (well, i am, indeed
)
For me, the RNG more exacerbates the fact that if I want to do it at all, I have to waste time on a bunch of activities I don't consider fun. Because of the RNG aspect, instead of spending a little time doing those things, I have to spend hours on end doing those things.
Also, it breaks verisimilitude. Why would a combat pilot go mining for minerals? He wouldn't. Or take his SRV and go shoot rocks? He doesn't have time to waste on that, and neither do I. So how would he get his minerals? He'd buy them.
Scan data? Yeah, that I understand, and it even makes some sensse why you'd need it. I still dislike needing a wake scanner since it means I have to make my ship less good at wwhat it does, but that one aat least also makes sense.
But random ship parts like "worn shield emitters" is pushing the boundaries of believability, too. Some of the rare stuff makes sense, but the common items all once again appear to be stuff you could easily just buy. Also, scooping cargo is not fun, and scooping cargo in a combat area is REALLY not fun.
EDIT: would be nice if we could trade data and materials. If I could barter some rare scan data off to a miner for some of his rare mineral stash, that would make far more sense.
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For me, this actually increases the value of the modifications. If i desperatly want a specific mod, i am willing to do things that i might not like to achieve it. That makes that mod special to me.
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But what i could think of would be the ability to trade materials via the blackmarket with very high prices and some risk involved. But then again, this would reduce the materials to a credits sink...
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Even though it may be intended side play, the only real problem is that if you don't do said side play and like to PvP in open you are at an extreme disadvantage, or heck even a trader who plays in open has zero chance now of fending off or escaping a modded player ship..
So in order to stay on the same level, one must participate in said side play in open that is..
So in order to stay on the same level, one must participate in said side play in open that is..
Why should acquiring small amounts of various not-that-rare chemical elements require going to such lengths? It doesn't make sense.
And having to do un-fun things in a game to accomplish an objective so you can get back to having fun is the very definition of grind.
Mining is not something I enjoy. It is so far down the list of things I would ever do that I have at times forgotten it was an option. But now, either I go mine, or I fumble around blindly on planets in my SRV blowing up rocks for minerals that may or may not be on that planet at all (and NOTHING in the game even tells me how likely it is to be there!)
What? PVPers I'd imagine would be all over this to get an edge over the competition. Explain.
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It doesn't really make any sense. Is there no Ebay or amazon in 3300's? Either they didn't have time to implement it or they purposefully chose not to in order to increase the amount of grind it takes to participate.
What this does is gives players with more time an advantage over players with less time. Simple fact.
I see your point, but if we could buy all these materials, they would be useless because all you would need to get a modification would be credits. There wouldn't be any need for the engineers at all, you could just add all the modified modules to the outfitting shop.
I like the idea of materals as a seperate "currency".
I agree though that searching for those very common natural materials like iron and stuff feels a little awkward. They should be buyable at mining/refining stations.
Anyway, i think we are a little off-topic now, and i surely don't want to start another grind discussion.. thats just too much grind
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Actually, the changes I'm starting to notice are beginning to balance out the mehness that I feel about the implementation of the Engineers.
The market seems more dynamic, the missions are definitely more focused and targetted, and BGS states seem to make a real difference now - seems like a significant step towards the dynamic game we've been waiting for.
Obviously, the focus is always on what's new but I'm disappointed by the gameyness of the Engineer upgrade mechanism so I'll likely just wait until I run out of materials space and then see what I can get with minimum effort.
My playstyle is pretty sedate anyway - I tend not to stick with one thing for long and then go off and do something different. The Engineers will just be another one of those things that I do once in a while.
The market seems more dynamic, the missions are definitely more focused and targetted, and BGS states seem to make a real difference now - seems like a significant step towards the dynamic game we've been waiting for.
Obviously, the focus is always on what's new but I'm disappointed by the gameyness of the Engineer upgrade mechanism so I'll likely just wait until I run out of materials space and then see what I can get with minimum effort.
My playstyle is pretty sedate anyway - I tend not to stick with one thing for long and then go off and do something different. The Engineers will just be another one of those things that I do once in a while.
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Again, my problem isn't with the idea of "do this casually" (except that if you play in Open and you are a combat pilot, you can't, because others won't!), it's with the fact that my choices are "Do things I hate" or "Don't do engineers at all," and neither of those are viable options.
It seems pretty obvious to me that the majority of people upset with the Engineer process are the ones that view this as a mandatory path and the ones that choose to grind this mandatory path. The ones that are happy with it view the process as a side activity to be completed over time, not the main focus of their gameplay. FD has already stated that they will be removing the modded weapons from NPCs and based on the forums, mods are so hard to get, the majority of players should not have them, so I don't understand where the feeling that these upgrades are mandatory is coming from.
Again, it's not about the over-time thing. That part I would be fine with.
It's the fact that it pushes me into activities which I do not find enjoyable in order to make any progress at all.
Some players want to min/max their gameplay and so it becomes mandatory. What's so hard to understand?
Also, there's the simple fact that if you play in Open, once other combat pilots start min-maxing, if you don't do it as well, you are placing yourself at a disadvantage.
And don't think they won't. "Thermal shock is the new meta" was a hot discussion in the beta forums. To the credit of the person who started that thread, he was trying to get thermal shock nerfed (actually, let me correct myself here: He was trying to get better counters to thermal shock implemented) to AVOID it becoming the "new meta". But don't think he won't follow the "new meta" like every other pilot once it is realized - nobody likes to lose.
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