Does Frontier intend players to get Elite exploration within a week?

[WR3ND]

Edit: Sorry the poll question text was cut off. It should read...

"Should players be able to rank up to Elite in exploration within a week using the new passenger missions?"

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Second Edit: Unfortunately it looks like a week may have been an overly conservative estimate on my part as some people are purportedly ranking up to Elite within "a couple of days" of playing using the new passenger missions.

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I'm not worried about how people choose to play this game for themselves nor how they choose to interpret the worth of various ranks. That isn't what this thread is about, so please refrain from discussing that here. There are plenty of other threads taking on these issues if you want to discuss them, such as this one. → https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...go-Soon-everyone-will-be-Elite-in-exploration

Given that players can now seem to effectively rank all the way up in exploration in a week to Elite with the new exploration related passenger missions, is this intentional and/or do you think it should remain this way?

I'd love to hear from Frontier in this thread as well. If they say this is intentional, then so be it. It wouldn't seem to me like it is though, considering how long it takes to rank up traditionally just going along and honking and detail surface scanning bodies in interesting stellar systems.

While getting the Elite exploration rank hasn't been a primary goal of mine and I haven't been neutron star field farming nor cherry picking ELW, I have been actively exploring in the game for over a year now and have had the Pioneer rank for the better part of a year.

I think it's fine that people are doing Passenger Missions to rank up in exploration and I actually think it's a good game mechanic in general, however the rate at which it can be accomplished seems pretty well off to me.

 

[Mengy]

No, of course not, it should absolutely be fixed. It's either a bug that Frontier has ignored and remained silent about so far, OR the devs just wanted to make Elite rank in exploration completely meaningless. Either way it's terrible and disrespectful to all explorers who have earned it the "hard" way.

 

[kofeyh]

No, of course not, it should absolutely be fixed. It's either a bug that Frontier has ignored and remained silent about so far, OR the devs just wanted to make Elite rank in exploration completely meaningless. Either way it's terrible and disrespectful to all explorers who have earned it the "hard" way.

But exploration rank is meaningless. Just like the trade and combat ones are. They are a cumulative statistic. Nothing more.

It doesn't mean anything more than "I scanned x amount of y and made z credits - horray I am elite!".

It's never meant anything and cannot mean anything if it's cumulative, rather than representative. The latter meaning the title refers to competency, versus completion.

tl;dr - problem isn't the ranking; it's that the gameplay is so hysterically shallow, as to make the cumulative total meaningless; give it meaning, or move on.

 

[Necronaught]

Took me 2 years just like Elite combat. Elite trade was way easier.

 

[Gunnet]

Most likely a bug, considering how out of scale it is with trade and combat ranks. Passenger missions contributing at all is almost certainly intentional, although I'd prefer they didn't.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Sounds like a bug to me. I've done tons of Passenger missions, & I am nowhere near Elite in exploration.

 

[cmdr milesred]

But exploration rank is meaningless. Just like the trade and combat ones are. They are a cumulative statistic. Nothing more.

It doesn't mean anything more than "I scanned x amount of y and made z credits - horray I am elite!".

It's never meant anything and cannot mean anything if it's cumulative, rather than representative. The latter meaning the title refers to competency, versus completion.

tl;dr - problem isn't the ranking; it's that the gameplay is so hysterically shallow, as to make the cumulative total meaningless; give it meaning, or move on.

It does have meaning, you just haven't discovered that yet.

a puddle viewed by a farmer, a bioengineer, a jogger.....which one sees the most potential? which one has the most to say? which one has the most interesting things to say?....do any of them care what the others have to say about the puddle?..




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A poll.......really.......

 

[WR3ND]

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A poll.......really.......

It's to help reflect the general community preference regarding this. Some people actually do seem to like the mechanic as is.

 

[Mengy]

But exploration rank is meaningless. Just like the trade and combat ones are. They are a cumulative statistic. Nothing more.

It doesn't mean anything more than "I scanned x amount of y and made z credits - horray I am elite!".

It's never meant anything and cannot mean anything if it's cumulative, rather than representative. The latter meaning the title refers to competency, versus completion.

tl;dr - problem isn't the ranking; it's that the gameplay is so hysterically shallow, as to make the cumulative total meaningless; give it meaning, or move on.

I'm not sure you understand what the actual problem is, see this thread to explain it in detail:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...go-Soon-everyone-will-be-Elite-in-exploration

In a nutshell, passenger sightseeing missions are contributing way too much to exploration rank right now, and have consequently made it incredibly fast and easy to reach Elite in Exploration. Basically you can either scan about 3000 neutron stars, OR do two to three dozen passenger sightseeing missions. That's how imbalanced it is as of 2.2.03.

I still think a dev put a decimal point one place too far over and it's off by a factor of 10...

 

[Dbrn47]

No, of course not, it should absolutely be fixed. It's either a bug that Frontier has ignored and remained silent about so far, OR the devs just wanted to make Elite rank in exploration completely meaningless. Either way it's terrible and disrespectful to all explorers who have earned it the "hard" way.

It's neither. Rank is based on income. Passenger missions just happen to offer the same millions for less time investment. It isn't disrespectful. It might or might not be an oversight due to Exploration requiring less profits total in the first place than Trader Rank. Bug or disrespectful? Relax man. I'm sure it's as simple as them not realizing that 1 transport mission can equal days worth of honk/scan, a disconnect between the mission guys and the progression guys. Ultimately, they just gave us what people asked for, for missions marked with exploration rank to give exploration rank.

We're all sitting around talking about a game in which we spend hours upon hours playing joysticks and spaceships... How much are any of us really achieving anyway? Deflate some of that pride in your in game numbers and just enjoy. That's part of what exploring is really about anyway, right?

 

[kofeyh]

I'm not sure you understand what the actual problem is, see this thread to explain it in detail:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...go-Soon-everyone-will-be-Elite-in-exploration

In a nutshell, passenger sightseeing missions are contributing way too much to exploration rank right now, and have consequently made it incredibly fast and easy to reach Elite in Exploration. Basically you can either scan about 3000 neutron stars, OR do two to three dozen passenger sightseeing missions. That's how imbalanced it is as of 2.2.03.

I still think a dev put a decimal point one place too far over and it's off by a factor of 10...

No, I understand fully. You are placing excessive value in a meaningless cumulative statistic.

It matters little if it take 12 hours, 12 days or 12 years of elapsed time, if the metric is purely a cumulative total. Which it is.

If exploration or combat or trade rank actually aligned with proficiency, you'd have a valid point. But, it doesn't.

Whether a person spams missions to inflate a counter, or does not, doesn't stop it being a counter. I'm really not sure how I can make that any more clear?

For some, this cumulative counter is running "too fast" and for others it's not running fast enough; which seems to be ignoring that it's just, well, a counter.

Exploration should be more than just measured by a counter. Same for combat and trade. But it isn't. And surely that's more important that how fast someone completes a cumlative challenge?

I think you have unfortunately missed my point entirely.

 

[Dogeh]

Sothis created many Elite traders.
It was nerfed.
This will get nerfed eventually...

I do find the Explorer profits to be pitiful. There should be a dividend based on how away the planet is from the star. The further the planet or moon is, the more it is worth. Encourage people to go out to the moons and planets rather than honk and jump. Pay for discoveries like geysers or fumeroles.

And more people would explore if the darned loading screen wasn't so long. Witchspace is getting longer and longer.

 

[Riverside]

Voted no but jeez guys, how long has the community been asking for Exploration missions? Surely you saw this coming?

 

[Monk]

Having earned every little bit of my 71% Ranger rank, I don't want to spoil the rest of it this way. Fortunately, I'm not much more enamored with passengers than missions so they are easy to avoid, for now.

Personally, I don't care how, when or why anyone else has Elite Exploration. This is my journey. Really, I just think it cheapens the experience for those who race to the top and then look around and say "now, what"

 

[Riverside]

Having earned every little bit of my 71% Ranger rank, I don't want to spoil the rest of it this way. Fortunately, I'm not much more enamored with passengers than missions so they are easy to avoid, for now.

Personally, I don't care how, when or why anyone else has Elite Exploration. This is my journey. Really, I just think it cheapens the experience for those who race to the top and then look around and say "now, what"

I reached Combat Elite & lost the urge to kill.
I reached Trade Elite & lost the urge to push those profit margins.
I reached Explorer Elite & my behaviour barely changed.

If you just want a badge fine, have a badge. If you want to explore IMO you will anyway.

 

[clivewil]

when i did my combat grind to elite, it took me about a week.

when i did my elite trade grind, it took me a week.

when i did my elite explo grind, it took me just a couple of days...

...so i voted yes, BUT as it currently stands, it takes much less than a week. i think a week of absolutely solid 100% effort (full days, doing nothing else) is about right. which means - in my opinion - the payouts/increases should be reduced to about 40% of their current level. again, that's my opinion only and it won't gel with everyone else's

 

[Lucius-Darcia]

I'm not sure what people are complaining about.
Missions had always counted towards trading rank. There were SO MUCH elite traders after Robigo and Sothis. Even now if someone has watched Dr.Kaii's video "1 billion in a week" it is possible to become Elite in trade within 1 week.

So if this really matters, than we should also demand to Frontier, that missions no longer count towards Trade Rank and the 1 Billion profit for Elite should be done through PURE trading

 

[Monk]

I reached Combat Elite & lost the urge to kill.
I reached Trade Elite & lost the urge to push those profit margins.
I reached Explorer Elite & my behaviour barely changed.

If you just want a badge fine, have a badge. If you want to explore IMO you will anyway.

I guess my point is that the badge should provide a sense of accomplishment if attaining said badge required a significant investment. Remove that then it is just about having it, with no memories or nostalgia for the journey there. Of course, I will still explore past Elite, but I feel like focusing on that is not the point.

I believe Frontier, possibly unwittingly, undermined their own goals for attaining Elite in exploration.

I won't judge anyone for racing there, however. It is just my opinion that they are chasing after it in a way that will be anti-climatic and unsatisfying.

 

[avow555]

You know,
I can't be bothered getting to Elite in this game.
Done it with Elite 1,2 &3, but this, nah..

Doesn't feel like Elite yet...

 

[GJ51]

Nobody cares

Let it go