Ranking balance aside, 9.5M for 90 mins work is NOT a big deal. If I'm in a "money making mood", I'ld be pretty disappointed if all I made was 9.5M in 90 minutes. Its quite easy to make at least 10M/hr by running short range Cargo missions between a couple of neighboring systems in which you have fully allied rep... 20M per hour if one or both systems are in Boom... ...and I don't think this needs to be nerfed either. The more any money making opportunity gets nerfed, the more time we have to spend making money for our "habits". I'm all for working for our gains, but the balance for screwing around needs to be maintained...
Passenger missions need a nerf.
- Thread starter CMDR Rusty Dog
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Ranking balance aside, 9.5M for 90 mins work is NOT a big deal. If I'm in a "money making mood", I'ld be pretty disappointed if all I made was 9.5M in 90 minutes. Its quite easy to make at least 10M/hr by running short range Cargo missions between a couple of neighboring systems in which you have fully allied rep... 20M per hour if one or both systems are in Boom... ...and I don't think this needs to be nerfed either. The more any money making opportunity gets nerfed, the more time we have to spend making money for our "habits". I'm all for working for our gains, but the balance for screwing around needs to be maintained...
Lol! Me too! I have some vague notion that this sort of thing would now affect your trade rank? In all fairness I'm less fussed about the rank, with my helpfully engineered Asp I can whip through these really quite fast- three 'legs' can be dispatched in half an hour! It's my main source of cash in the game!
Thinking about it maybe not such a great service, more of a whistle stop tour, but they get round!
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I didn't have to ask a question, that was more mocking than an actual question.
Here's a hint: Jumping and honking isn't compelling gameplay, nor is it more meaningful than providing a tour to an NPC.
I'm fairly certain that the only thing which boosts your trade rank is actually moving cargo. I would expect that Passengers may count as cargo. (In Fact, airlines snarkily refer to Passengers as "self loading cargo").
I was watching this as I was capping my Elite Trade Rank. Cargo Missions and Raw Trading moved the needle (based on $$$ earned, not tons moved, I believe). Data missions (regardless of payout) had no effect.
Assuming that Passengers are just another form of cargo (wrt Trade Rank), and rank increase is based on payout/earning, then I don't see Passenger missions being unbalanced vs Cargo Missions in "rankability". (As I can easily AVERAGE 10M an hour doing cargo missions and that seems to be on par, or better than, what folks are saying above...)
So then argue the mechanic and not the reward I guess. The reward was ridiculous and is getting reset?. Cool.
Well I thought passenger missions were going the OTHER direction with 2.3. I was planning on doing a nice big trip out but didn't do it these last few weeks because I thought the payouts and rewards were going to get buffed...now find out they are getting nerfed instead. Oh well I guess back to the scanner missions to get out of them what can be before they are kicked to the ground and beaten to a bloody pulp.
I don't see whats wrong with the current mechanism. Your explorer rank is based roughly on how many NEW systems YOU EXPLORE (cartographic sales). Trade Missions are based on the amount of money you make moving cargo (self-loading or not). There is no reason the two can't overlap. Based on what you suggest above, you could be earning Explorer Rank by taking the same "return" passenger missions over and over. The new passengers on each of those trips might be exploring something new but you will not! You're just another bus driver at that point...
You want to EXPLORE new places, go somewhere YOU have never been. What difference does it make if your carrying passengers or cargo along with you?
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I'm not suggesting it, that's what it is. Currently and in 2.3...
Look at the passenger missions on the boards, some require/suggest a certain trade rank and some exploration rank. That's what you will gain in once the mission is completed.
I'll actually disagree - providing a tour might be more meaningful.
Let me explain this way:
I own a rather nice boat, and I make some extra money taking passengers to interesting places - including places I've never been before - last year it was Water Island. We took a full day cruise up from Key Largo to Water Island, which included a few stops for my guests to do some scuba diving at a few locations of their choosing. It turns out that while rather small, Water Island is an amazing place, with some really impressive gold courses as well. And my guests were quite knowledgeable and I learned quite a bit from them about Water Island, and the Virgin Islands on the whole. Quite an experience for me!
Whereas, had I simply stumbled upon this on my own, I'd likely not had nearly the same experience.
I relate this to passenger tours in much the same sort of way - especially when the tour leads you to somewhere you'd likely never known about otherwise.
I'm arguing your point that Elite Explorer is somehow more meaningful when done without PAX missions. Which it isn't. If the mechanics were better, the rewards wouldn't be such a focal point. The actual root of our argument was whether or not Elite Explorer is meaningful in the first place, since you seemed to have been responding to me saying something to the effect that it's meaningless anyway.
The reward was not ridiculous nor is it getting 'reset'. It's being rebalanced with the idea that the cap for Explorer rank is lower than Trade and Combat, which probably should have been considered in the first place, but I do not find that to be ridiculous since it was an easy oversight to make.
I made the last 50% or so from Pioneer to Elite on Passenger missions.
Just as well as well. By that time I was completely explored-ed out. There's no way in hell I'd spend weeks honking and scanning and honking and scanning just to chase the pretty badge.
As for payouts, leave the damn payouts alone. I've found something I actually don't mind doing, and 5mil an hour for doing something close to enjoying myself I'd consider to be on the low side of reasonable.
"Oh but you're supposed to take your time, it's supposed to take a while".
Look, I'm getting into different games now, I'd quite like to get into some of the big bruisers in ED before I finally move on to DCS world or Assetto Corsa. I want some sense of completion. After 700 hours I want to be getting somewhere.
Just as well as well. By that time I was completely explored-ed out. There's no way in hell I'd spend weeks honking and scanning and honking and scanning just to chase the pretty badge.
As for payouts, leave the damn payouts alone. I've found something I actually don't mind doing, and 5mil an hour for doing something close to enjoying myself I'd consider to be on the low side of reasonable.
"Oh but you're supposed to take your time, it's supposed to take a while".
Look, I'm getting into different games now, I'd quite like to get into some of the big bruisers in ED before I finally move on to DCS world or Assetto Corsa. I want some sense of completion. After 700 hours I want to be getting somewhere.
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I fail to see how taking people to places you have been makes you any less of an explorer. That's precisely what Pathfinders do. They find the path and they help navigate that path for others. Also, I've been to so many spots I've never been while taking on these missions.
So you aren't disagreeing with me then.
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So then people just getting into exploration would take longer and longer as they attempt to find never discovered places. Seems legit.
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Yes, but it isn't really as big a deal as some might think. I frequently go on short exploration runs and start finding un-scanned systems less than 1KLY out from the Bubble.
Additionally, we now have several ships that can pretty easily be Engineered to over 50 LY Max Jump range, and I don't see it as raising the bar unreasonably.
But, yeah, who would really consider themselves an Explorer if all you've done is re-scan known systems. Exploration would seem logically about finding new systems, you know, the whole "where no one has gone before" thing.
To me, anything else just seems like it's devaluing the whole concept of Exploration.
But, hey, that's what FD does best - devalue anything anyone has accomplished.
Well, before tags existed, no one was the wiser. I don't see how suddenly attaching rank to tags completely would make the experience any more meaningful. Perhaps more grindy. Then again, I completely undervalue anything done in a video game so chances are we'll never see eye to eye on these sorts of things being valuable to begin with. Compelling, sure... Valuable or worthy achievements, eh... Frankly, all I want is there to be more to it than what there is, the rank just isn't something I was ever worried about and taking screenshots will never be meaningful to me in any capacity.
No... That's what a TOUR GUIDE does!
Ah good. Thanks for clearing that up guys.
I don't mind the money staying as it is mind but I do think the rewards should be scaled on your rank, which I believe they are, right ?
I don't mind the money staying as it is mind but I do think the rewards should be scaled on your rank, which I believe they are, right ?
Nah! You can still go out and explore a city when you visit it. It certainly doesn't mean no one else has ever been there. You are just exploring something new and unfamiliar to you.
Yes, I use the search function regularly actually as I'm sure a lot of people do. I don't give a monkeys how often this has been visited or to what length.
For you to generalise like that is ridiculous. You cannot just say all nerf threads need a nerf just because you think it sounds cute.
It all depends on the content and it certainly doesn't depend on whether or not it has been discussed before.
If this is the best you have as a contribution, I`d have preferred you not to reply in my thread at all.