I work for years earning 250 million credits when

[Modgier]

I used to enjoy earning the credits but now it seems what is the point when you could just wait for a juicy payout.

The balance and immersion is off.

It wasn't that juicy.

And how does it hurt immersion?

Imagine you're an Uber driver. Sure you could drive for 1 buck per mile - or you could only drive on Xmas during a x7 surge and make $400 in one night.

Having sporadic exceptionally profitable opportunities is as realistic as it gets.

 

[jasonbarron]

I get the feeling that credits earned by others should not matter but the thing is I wonder if I should continue to earn money in Elite as I have done or just wait for the next big pay out option by scanning news and forum.

Yes. I definitely think that's what you (and Sunleader) should do.

 

[Devari]

So, your entire complaint is that some people are more focused on gaining credits, than others.

No, that's not my complaint at all. Does anyone actually read my posts?

There will always be the occasional windfall

Making 100-200 million in 1-2 hours is not an "occasional windfall" for an average Elite player. It represents the average wealth accumulated by players who have 100-200 hours of game time and making this amount of money will double or triple the wealth of an average player with 100 hours of game time. Making as much in 1-2 hours as you previously made in 100-200 hours in a random manner that relies on a ludicrous CG payout completely disrupts game balance. Good luck convincing those players, or any new player, to EVER put in 100 hours of grindy boring activities in the game when they can just log in every few months (or whenever they randomly occur) for a 1-2 hour lucrative CG.

The top x commanders will be the ones most rewarded, as they have invested the most. That's about as fair as it can get.

If these ludicrous CG payouts were commonly advertised so that the entire player base knew about them, if they occurred regularly and if they included a variety of different types of CGs, i.e., combat/trading/exploration? Then sure, that approach MIGHT work as it would give everyone a chance to participate in at least one of these simply by "playing how you want to play". At present however it doesn't work that way at all and is terrible for game balance.

I used to enjoy earning the credits but now it seems what is the point when you could just wait for a juicy payout.

The balance and immersion is off.

Exactly this. There's no reason for me to do Sothis runs in my Python at 8 mil/hr when I can wait for a CG and make 100-200 million credits in 1-2 hours. In fact the entire point of the Sothis runs (or any other grindy activity that makes up the core of Elite gameplay) which is to progress in a consistent manner has been disrupted completely by the fact that these ridiculous CG payouts exist.

 

[Ozram]

I used to enjoy earning the credits but now it seems what is the point when you could just wait for a juicy payout.

The balance and immersion is off.

Really? That was your main, immersive reason for playing? Ouch.

 

[Modgier]

Making 100-200 million in 1-2 hours is not an "occasional windfall" for an average Elite player. It represents the average wealth accumulated by players who have 100-200 hours of game time and making this amount of money will double or triple the wealth of an average player with 100 hours of game time.

If you've only made 200 mil in 200 initial hours you were going about earning money poorly.

I am at 162 hours played according to steam (which is inflated as I leave the launcher running often) and according to ED my assets are 722m - I don't want to know how much I sank into donations either.

 

[Odan Brota]

If you've only made 200 mil in 200 initial hours you were going about earning money poorly.

I am at 162 hours played according to steam (which is inflated as I leave the launcher running often) and according to ED my assets are 722m - I don't want to know how much I sank into donations either.

Just made 40 million of the last two CGs. Spent maybe two hours total messing about with each of them. This will trigger OP, surely.

 

[jasonbarron]

No, that's not my complaint at all. Does anyone actually read my posts?



Making 100-200 million in 1-2 hours is not an "occasional windfall" for an average Elite player. It represents the average wealth accumulated by players who have 100-200 hours of game time and making this amount of money will double or triple the wealth of an average player with 100 hours of game time. Making as much in 1-2 hours as you previously made in 100-200 hours in a random manner that relies on a ludicrous CG payout completely disrupts game balance. Good luck convincing those players, or any new player, to EVER put in 100 hours of grindy boring activities in the game when they can just log in every few months (or whenever they randomly occur) for a 1-2 hour lucrative CG.



If these ludicrous CG payouts were commonly advertised so that the entire player base knew about them, if they occurred regularly and if they included a variety of different types of CGs, i.e., combat/trading/exploration? Then sure, that approach MIGHT work as it would give everyone a chance to participate in at least one of these simply by "playing how you want to play". At present however it doesn't work that way at all and is terrible for game balance.



Exactly this. There's no reason for me to do Sothis runs in my Python at 8 mil/hr when I can wait for a CG and make 100-200 million credits in 1-2 hours. In fact the entire point of the Sothis runs (or any other grindy activity that makes up the core of Elite gameplay) which is to progress in a consistent manner has been disrupted completely by the fact that these ridiculous CG payouts exist.

The problem is with that argument you'll hardly ever play the game as all you've done is reduce it to a money making simulator. Most people don't acquire money for the pure sake of having money, they have money so they can buy nice things with it and enjoy various other aspects of the game with fancy new ships & modules; can't do that really by logging in for a few hours now and again. Also, CG's don't hand out module upgrades, another powerful form of currency you don't get from just logging in "for a few hours occasionally."

 

[Jason S]

Really? That was your main, immersive reason for playing? Ouch.

I enjoyed trading, like many and your comment is childish.

 

[Modgier]

I enjoyed trading, like many and your comment is childish.

And now you don't because others have found ways to make money faster? That still makes no sense.

That's like saying "I loved my job, until I found out that TV weather forecasters make $200k per year to make stuff up."

 

[Soopyyy]

Not restating my position on the CG because I've already made it abundantly clear that I have no problems with it but seriously, a million in a few hours? I made a million in one hour tonight; however that is in no way 'more lucrative than it's ever been'. Prior to 2.1, I would have viewed making a million in an hour of bounty hunting as an appallingly bad session.

Yeah for sure, for late game players 1m credits/hour is a poor outing. I was speaking specifically about newer users.
This CG wasn't a drop in the ocean for older players.

 

[Jason S]

The Elite trade rank means nothing now also if these super big pay outs continue.

The big ships become cheapened.

And the game becomes more like planet side 2 with a space add on.

 

[kofeyh]

No, that's not my complaint at all. Does anyone actually read my posts?

Sure, but that's pretty much exactly what you are saying. The "amount" is unacceptable because of <insert my arbitrary take on how much is too much, here>.

The entirety of your posts, frankly, are a rambling juxtaposition of various hot takes of how your understanding of credit value, and acceptable income per hour, is somehow more correct than anyone else.

Hint: it isn't. It's no more correct than mine, or anyone else's take on it might be. There is no spoon correct amount.

The failure to comprehend this basic precept, is your argument's downfall. Not that we aren't reading.

 

[GraXXoR]

For goodness sake, people. ANOTHER 21 pages of round and round, endless, circular discussion about the same thing?

I spent over 3 months, two hours a day out on the rim and probably haven't even cleared 80M.
Am I complaining that exploration (when all 80M credits are at risk on the return journey) is underpaid?

No.

That CG was a money-fest. There may be another one in a few months, six months, a year... whatever.
But it still doesn't help me get even a single Modular Terminal.

Please mods, move this thread to the suggestions/complaints and bugs forum or something.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

I used to enjoy earning the credits but now it seems what is the point when you could just wait for a juicy payout.

The balance and immersion is off.

I suggest you should wait it out and not come back until the next 100+ comes along.

 

[kofeyh]

The Elite trade rank means nothing now also if these super big pay outs continue.

Correction, it's not a "boys club" and elite anything has intrinsically zero meaning, because it's a cumulative total.

This was amply, perfectly and totally proven when 2.1 AI changes occurred. Elite combat rank meant entirely jack due to endless (apparently) highly competentpilots failing at even the most basic of defensive postures and it highlighted how absolutely irrelevant such a stat actually is.

Elite means you have sunk time into a mechanic which has elevated rank attribution. Nothing else.

The big ships become cheapened.

Not at all. People have been able to profit in the game since Alpha. Ignoring the reality of the game and it's quirks and vagaries, doesn't really give you carte blanche to make sweeping, illogical statements such as this. And it's not been CGs half the time.

And the game becomes more like planet side 2 with a space add on.

And there it is; argument has now become <insert example game to prove point> because logic has failed, given logic can't support the fact that the game, as it stands, has always had expedited options for credit gain. Which also ignores that credits are merely an enabler, they are not the reason to do anything.

People are so fixated and blinded by confected and manufactured outrage over a CG (of all things) they can't even think straight. Genuinely heading into the crazy at this point. I'll need a tinfoil hat soon, just to read the thread.

 

[Devari]

If you've only made 200 mil in 200 initial hours you were going about earning money poorly.

I am at 162 hours played according to steam (which is inflated as I leave the launcher running often) and according to ED my assets are 722m - I don't want to know how much I sank into donations either.

Just because you have chosen game activities that make money quickly doesn't mean that the average Elite player will have chosen (or known how) to do these activities within their first 100 game hours. The income curve has also increased dramatically with 2.1 compared to when the game first launched. There were two different players in the other thread on this topic who each had around 300 hours into the game and had between 100-300 million in assets. There was even a player with around 500 hours who had a similar income but that payer did quite a bit of exploration which will obviously reduce their income substantially. If these players were all starting over I'm sure they could make this money much faster, but the average Elite player (who according to FD put in 60 hours in the first year since the game launched, which would be around 100 hours at this point) would have been largely working they way through the original "slow" income curve we had at the start of the game.

The problem is with that argument you'll hardly ever play the game as all you've done is reduce it to a money making simulator. Most people don't acquire money for the pure sake of having money, they have money so they can buy nice things with it and enjoy various other aspects of the game with fancy new ships & modules; can't do that really by logging in for a few hours now and again. Also, CG's don't hand out module upgrades, another powerful form of currency you don't get from just logging in "for a few hours occasionally."

I choose to do a variety of activities and certainly don't view it simply as a means of making space cash. At the same time, at this point I have around 1000 hours into the game and most of the activities in the game have gotten boring. There is not much left to do other than to slowly progress in terms of ships or wealth. If Elite wants to keep players interested in their game long-term, and they have decided to throw game balance out the window, then they need to give us another reason to play the game. Boring RES farming, boring trade runs and boring exploration (which has quite a buggy procedural generation system I might add) are only going to keep a player's interest for maybe a few hundred hours. The fact that I've put 1000 hours in to the game is simply that I'm willing to put up with much more boredom and grind than the average player if I feel the game provides a good immersive experience. These recent CGs with ludicrous payouts and all the problems we've had with Engineers have made the game quite a bit worse than it was prior to 2.1, which I have to say is quite disappointing for someone who had been really enjoying the game otherwise despite the boring/grindy game activities.

 

[Jason S]

Yes move the thread to bugs as I wish it is just that and will not then be a new regular thing.

If it was a mistake the big payout then fine, otherwise then sad in my opinion for the game.

 

[jasonbarron]

I choose to do a variety of activities and certainly don't view it simply as a means of making space cash. At the same time, at this point I have around 1000 hours into the game and most of the activities in the game have gotten boring. There is not much left to do other than to slowly progress in terms of ships or wealth. If Elite wants to keep players interested in their game long-term, and they have decided to throw game balance out the window, then they need to give us another reason to play the game. Boring RES farming, boring trade runs and boring exploration (which has quite a buggy procedural generation system I might add) are only going to keep a player's interest for maybe a few hundred hours. The fact that I've put 1000 hours in to the game is simply that I'm willing to put up with much more boredom and grind than the average player if I feel the game provides a good immersive experience. These recent CGs with ludicrous payouts and all the problems we've had with Engineers have made the game quite a bit worse than it was prior to 2.1, which I have to say is quite disappointing for someone who had been really enjoying the game otherwise despite the boring/grindy game activities.

You're argument is really all over the map, isn't it? The only thing I can tell for certain from what you're saying is that a break from playing ED might be in order.

 

[Modgier]

Just because you have chosen game activities that make money quickly doesn't mean that the average Elite player will have chosen (or known how) to do these activities within their first 100 game hours. The income curve has also increased dramatically with 2.1 compared to when the game first launched. There were two different players in the other thread on this topic who each had around 300 hours into the game and had between 100-300 million in assets. There was even a player with around 500 hours who had a similar income but that payer did quite a bit of exploration which will obviously reduce their income substantially. If these players were all starting over I'm sure they could make this money much faster, but the average Elite player (who according to FD put in 60 hours in the first year since the game launched, which would be around 100 hours at this point) would have been largely working they way through the original "slow" income curve we had at the start of the game.

In other words, exactly what I've been saying?

Average players are bad at this game, do not understand how this game works and are awful at making money and are right here complaining on the forums because some people made a ton of money.

There is no excuse for not doing research on how to play this game. There are countless guides and tutorials to every single aspect of this game. If they have refused to use the vast sources of information easily available and have failed to earn a reasonable income, that's their fault. Such is life.

The income in this game scales exponentially. It's hardly FD's fault that some players have failed to ride the curve. You can "blaze your own path" - but if your path is to fly around in a sidewinder for 2,000 hours you can't be upset if someone whose goal from the very start was to get stupidly rich is in fact stupidly rich.

 

[kofeyh]

Yes move the thread to bugs as I wish it is just that and will not then be a new regular thing.

If it was a mistake the big payout then fine, otherwise then sad in my opinion for the game.

It's not a bug. It's an example of a massive commitment from many many commanders to push a ship building CG, which appears to have been intentionally high-paying into success. You are demanding the developer treat intention as a bug, merely because you are incensed at the outcome of a random CG being above whatever random value you personally deem acceptable.

White-anting other commanders and the developer is not constructive and won't lead to positive outcomes.

 

[Jason S]

The crux is if this is going to happen regularly or if it was a very occasional or one off.

I suppose time will tell.

Until I know trade runs are seeming less motivating than they used to.