I'm only against the way that it's been implemented.
The way I see it, you're either crafting, or you're not. In Minecraft, or even Fallout 4, you gather the materials, and if you have the skill, you craft it. Not something that looks like it, or is kind of like it, you craft it.
In Elite, you go talk to the 'engineer' who's going to try and do it for you, then you gather the materials, and then they might get it done for you, or they might ruin it trying. [wacky]
If I don't like the odds of my time being spent doing something I don't want to do in the first place, to getting what I want, forget about it.
Grind to goal is one thing, grind to gamble on goal is another.
Anyway, that's my personal criticism, and I'm not asking for the process to be changed or altered on my behalf. I'm just not going to do it. I think it's fair to share why I won't be participating.
Well said.
I in turn will share my criticism with the way Engineers have been implemented. In my opinion there are too many layers of RNG. Too much gambling going on before we even get to roll the dice on the upgrade itself. For example we have:
- RNG for finding materials in rocks on planets
- RNG for loot drops from enemy ships
- RNG for missions that contain the commodity reward you need
- RNG for the Engineer upgrades
- RNG for Engineer upgrade bonus effects - mitigated to some extent by using rep to increase the chances of a bonus effect.
I personally find it too chaotic, too roulette wheel-based, because of the multitude of layers of RNG that are present in the system. You simply cannot be in charge of how long it takes you to find the ingredients you need/want and thus you aren't truly in control of how and when to upgrade. The system of RNG - luck - chooses for you to a great extent.
I don't mind the Engineer upgrades themselves using RNG. That adds variety - as long as it doesn't punish you with upgrades that are worse than the standard part (looking at some of you level 1 upgrades). It is the uncertainty and general randomness in gathering the materials (and commodities from missions) that lets the system down in my opinion. You could be spending hours finding the right ingredients or days, or weeks, or months, or minutes. It all depends on luck.
It isn't based on knowledge or skill in knowing where to gather materials. It's random - because RNG decides how often or if at all the material/mission commodity reward will drop for you. You simply do not know how long or how much effort is required to gather materials for even so much as that single 2nd level upgrade you might want. It is a proverbial hamster wheel that you hop on for a session of "how kind is lady luck today" - also known as gambling.
There is a lot of room to improve this system, namely cutting down on the gamble of multiple layers of RNG. There was a splendid and succint way that another fellow player put it,
"It's not about wanting the best in a couple of days, it's about knowing what a couple of days effort will bring."
