I love this game but the main problem with it (which I agree with most points discussed in this thread) is that they designed it like being a "Free to Play" game and that while being a full paid one with an expansion later on. They are using a Free To Play model with endless grinding to get mundane stuff (the regular things in the game, ships, modules, etc) and then micro-transactions for things that after all that grind would make more sense to have them in the game as a prize for your hard work. But all that hard work is for the same stuff over and over again, with overpriced components that costs more of the ship alone...which to me up until this day makes no sense at all.
"Play 200 hours to buy a Cutter, now to make it better play double the time to upgrade it"...Does that make any sense to anyone of you? Yet up to this point we are used to it, to the grinding and the way you achieve your own personal goals, "mundane" goals, such as having a certain ship and make it better. There is nothing more then aside from that.
But I understand that this game is constantly evolving and moving forward, for the better or for the worst in some cases, and I understand why they need to put micro-transactions...but don't like the way they are doing it. You paid for an expansion to get content but you get features instead as actual "content"..."digital goods" in games are the things that we are used to pay in every game we play, you pay for an expansion and you know that you are going to get a story and new gadget (like The Witcher, a full story with new weapons and armor sets, you get also more level and get stronger with better stuff...all in the same package).
What we end getting with every patch is a "new method" for grind (or a new reason to do more grinding), either they raise the benefits in credits in one patch, they lower it in the other, or they reduce rank progression (like in this patch) that gives you nothing more than slightly "better grinding" (high pay and that's it, non actual rewards...for that you have the other type of grinding called "Powerplay") or access to certain systems that have nothing special aside from the lore value behind them.
At this point I have the ships I want, I have enough money to do some other things, we all can do other stuff without the need of grinding or repetition, but the game aside from giving us ships and parts it lacks a lot of tools to do more things with the environment and to interact with it. Which is the main thing that brings the fun into open sandbox games, TOOLS to do other things aside from thinking into earn this or that...I just want to do, to play with what I want...give me something to play with. A kid without a toy can play with sand with his sands and make mountains (or a mess), you give them a shovel and a bucket and they can build little castles in the sand...
We probably have the shovel but we also need a bucket...and that is where the game is failing to deliver something more.
This is totally personal as I play Solo 99% of the time aside with a couple of friends in Groups, but if this game was single-player alone the main structure of it is not that bad, it lacks the tools to do more things aside of what the game "forces" you to do for then get this or that.
Repetition is the main problem if you are forced by your own desire of getting something one way or the other. Every task in the game is extremely simple, trading is as simple as going to a base, buy stuff, fly to the other system, get into base and sell, repeat on and on. That is trading (which I'm doing now to get Elite in 3 more days hopefully). It is the same in real life tho, as I worked as a courier in real life...go figure I play a game in where I basically do the same as in real life...crazy I know, haha!
The game lacks more tools as I said or means to do the same kind of tasks, I said multiple times that for mining it can be done on planets and I repeat on and on how planets are not being used properly, how different types of SRV's can add different and more variations in gameplay. (mining in planets, racing, cargo runs, cooperation between players one mining and the other loading a ship with 2 SRV's and working together...) Adding more types of SRV's is something that I like to see in this expansion (for 2.4), more type of gadgets to do different tasks with them is also something that I want to see.
For explorers it could be amazing to launch probes into a planet (like those in Mass Effect 2 so then you could check if there were resources there), without the need to go there by your own at all (like we send probes to Mars or the Moon), then after a while check your panels for the info received and sell it for millions. Maybe one day you could see settlements there exploiting that planet that you found. That can be done and it will feel good for that person, a sense of actually interacting with the world and affecting it as well.
Traders trading with those minerals, instead of going to a base to click a menu to load your ship..., you can land in a mining site, and see how actual players load your ship with minerals in real time (rise values for those minerals or make new ones for an added value since it will take time but it will be highly profitable). Perhaps they could sell those minerals to you and then you can sell them to others or in stations as we usually do. (I miss those Luxury Traders so much!!! Bring them back!!)
Imagine those big SRV's with 50 or so tonnes of cargo going in and out loading your ship in real time...oh man!! Multiple players cooperating in real time!! I'll play in Open just for that!!!
See Frontier...where you are failing to deliver?
