How do you play ED and what do you want from it?

[Agony_Aunt]

So, why this question? Well, i see lots of salt about how the game is being developed and that 2.4 isn't delivering anything good, and other complaints around it.

And yet, for me, i'm largely meh about those complaints, and am happy with things.

So i think to myself, why? And i think its because of what i wanted from ED to start with.

What did i want? I'm glad you asked!

Basically i wanted Frontier with multiplayer, especially coop multiplayer. And, i've got that. If FD add something that interests me, its great. If not, it doesn't matter. There is always the next patch, or the one after it. For those who remember Frontier (especially First Encounters) it was a bit buggy, especially the storyline, and patches were not really a thing back then. We largely played whatever we got on disc. No updates, no fixes. And yet, played it for hundreds of hours.

And here i am, over 2000 hours into ED, and still playing as often as i can, with the occasional few days or week break when i want to play something different.

What do i want from it? Glad you asked.

More multiplayer content, especially coop content would be appreciated. I can't always find the time to wing up and work together with my group, but its fun when i can, and we can still work together separately (eg: BGS work). Squadrons sounds like it might be a nice addition. And the improvements to mining and exploration sound like they might be good.

My main desire for the future is all planet types being landable (or in the case of gas giants, entry to atmospheres, with ship falling apart if you descend too far), and of course, some sort of proc gen creature generation for planets with life on... although that's obviously years away, if ever. But one can hope and dream.

As for the rest, i don't really care too much.

What about you?

Remember people, there is no wrong answer here. If someone says they would like ED to become a PvP fest, with only a single mode, then that's their opinion and fine, as long as the person saying that understands that its a hopeless dream they have.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I play ED with my eyes closed while hopping up and down.


Sorry. I play ED to have fun above anything else. I don't grind for a goal, I set goals and let them come to me. I don't play multiplayer parts much as my close friends do not play elite. But I do play in player groups or open as I do like a bit of interactivty with other players every once in a while.

What I used to like the most was exploration, but since beigeification, I haven't really been exploring as it is just not fun at the moment. So I concentrate on missions and passanger missions for stuff that I haven't seen yet.

What I am really looking forward to is the new planet tech coming in Q1 and the updated exploration mechanics coming in Q4 next year. Also the mining update could be good.
I may join a squadron as well, if it adds something to my game.

Also I play in VR which is superb.

 

[Imgran]

Honestly I was just hoping for a new experience. This is my first ever online space game, I came to Elite Dangerous from the X series, X3 Terran Conflict was my previous favorite, so I was good for some honest space truckin' and this game delivers a good experience compared to the somewhat constricted universe of the X games.

 

[Vasea Azure]

How do I play at the moment? Since I got all the ships and engineered them as I wanted ED`s current "end game" for me is pretty much sightseeing and making selfies with external cam. Thats truly it at the moment.

What do I want from ED? I bought this game with Davids big vision in mind - that includes future space legs, planets with life end so on. ED is not about space ships but about ultimate si fi fantasy pilot experience. So as said I will be jumping in and out to see interesting places in the galaxy and simply waiting for space leg and future expansions.
At the moment there is literally not that much of actual playing that interests me.

 

[Chris Simon]

How do I play Elite? For fun. Every day I do something different. I do explore a lot, but I'm not one for long journeys. Some day I may be trucking, sometimes I spend a day scaling a 20km mountain in an SRV, sometimes I spend it circling engineers to see what they can help me with, sometimes I fust float around in an ice ring, shooting rocks, listening to music and watching limpets. I don't really have a plan or a favourite job. My occupation would probably be something like "Freelance mercenary adventurer" if I was forced to come up with one.

What do I want from Elite? Well, that's it, really. I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing. I enjoy the new features (like SLFs, for example), but I definitely don't have that "I won't be happy until X is added" feeling, some people describe. But I will welcome every new thing and try to do fun stuff with it.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

To put it simply: I still think it is a marvel of technology and geniuses that allow such software to be written, and that we have appropiate hardware for a reasonable price.

 

[EUS]

How I play:
At least 60% exploring
Other 40% goofing off in the bubble.

What I want from the game
I picked up ED when it went gold because of the following:
1) I could use my HOTAS
2) There was nothing scripted, I had to make my own fun
3) There was a solo mode

Given those points, I enjoy the game, but got disenfranchised from it very early on, due to the non-existence of pretty much everything that's required to make a game engaging, even a game where you make your own fun.
From exploring, to combat, to mining, and trading, almost 3 yrs on, these things are barebones. They're in terrible shape.
So, while parts of the game looks nice, and I fly a spaceship, that's pretty much it.
I'm not happy, I'm not cynical, I'm not mad, I'm beige.
At the end of the day, it's still the only game I have where I get use from my HOTAS.

 

[Mengy]

How do I play Elite?

In specific terms I play mostly as an explorer, I'd say 80% of my time in game is exploring. The rest of the time I'm doing other non-combat things like trading, mining, passengers, or salvaging. Of that other 20% though I do also partake in combat from time to time but hardly ever, maybe 5% of my Elite gaming time?

I bought Elite to explore a virtual Milky Way.

What do I want from Elite?

What I'd like from Elite is more development in the non-combat aspects of the game. Combat has gotten so many new features since 1.0 but I barely use any of them with the way I play the game. Things I'd love to see:

• Exploration get major loving from the devs, both in mechanic improvements and in content (see my signature for the extensive list!!!)
• Trading improvements, like an onboard trade computer which stores commodity prices for the last 10 or so stations and allows the pilot to correlate in-ship cargo with the computer to find the best place to sell.
• Mining improvements, like rebalance ice mining to actually be worth doing, and implement planet surface mining with a new type of SRV designed with a surface drill rig and more cargo room.
• Search & Rescue improvements, increase sell prices for S&R items to make it worthwhile, allow mining lasers to work on debris fields to salvage scrap metal and components, add an S&R focused mission board to the new S&R contact and move all S&R missions there, like how passenger missions have their own board too.

Yeah, I'd love to see all of that, and I'd pay very good money to get them.

 

[verminstar]

I came here after decades of pvp only play...I still do play certain roles which are pvp only in other games using a different name...I changed my name because of something that happened in eve years ago and it spilled out into real life threats. This happened because Im very good at what I do...or was once upon a time when I cared more.

I came here and play here to see the milky way...I have almost zero interest in any pvp here because this game is vastly different to the normal pvp games I play. Apart from bragging rights and salt harvesting, pvp doesnt appear to be a functional, logical career path in this game ergo it doesnt appeal to me at all...this I knew a month before I started playing because I did some research into what this game was about and knew exactly what it was when I purchased my account.

You guys dont want me in open play, really...I enjoy beating other players either by skill in a ship or by simply out thinking them and letting them know how funny I think their tears are afterwards...I get off on it and with my life, could sink 6 hours a day 7 days a week into it if I chose. I simply choose not to because this game doesnt appeal to me in that way. Other games satisfy that need a lot better because there are real consequences and motivations to play that way...in elite not so much.

But Im tired sometimes and just wanna be alone when I play this game...I have a soft spot fer space games and this one allows me to literally fly a spaceship. Thats a big novelty fer me and by far one the best parts of this game. I explore because its the closest Ill get to space in my lifetime, but the other 90% of this game doesnt interest me in any shape, form or fashion because it doesnt feel like a finished product, and because there doesnt appear to be a strong pro pvp vibe from the devs who have no idea how to develope that aspect.

And that is why I take so many breaks from this game...because I just love pvp so much and single player games are only fun when they get something new. This game just doesnt do pvp...not fer me anyway ^

 

[Faded Glory]

For fun, and the ability to fly spaceships...

As an LEP purchaser, I have no specific wants or needs, if what they release is something I enjoy I do it, if not I don't. That said, moving recently to VR has been a huge boost to my enjoyment of flying my ships, and even driving the SRV, so I do hope that they will continue to optimize the VR experience in terms of being able to get the best quality possible out of current equipment.

 

[goemon]

i'm more or less playing daily (5 days not played in the last 3 weeks), sometimes just 20 minutes, sometimes up to 2 hours. a few times a year i take a break of some weeks - due to RL, hollidays, or because something else is more important to me.

i'm more or less doing the same 3 things over the last 3 years:

1. exploring. main interest is real galaxy starsystems. for the next 10 months or so being part of a group circumnavigation.

2. working and testing the backgroundsimulation. doing whatever needs to be done. combat, trading, mining, mission running.

3. doing ingame hollidays by visiting sights ... new stations, the pleiades, a generation ship...

while i like to cooperate here and there with other players, and enjoy the communities around the game, elite is also quality time for myself, best to be enjoyed alone often, as i have a highly social job and a family, while not being the most social individual ^^

i mainly wish for
1. more landable bodies. especially waterworlds. spaceships with submarine capacity. but generally more planets to go down to the surface.

2. fleshing out the socio-economic background sim. the changing markets of state trading have been a great addition to me, i would like to see more similar things... trade contracts over time ... evolving an economy
.. finishing terraforming projects.

i'm sure we'll get more sights, if not, i'd miss it.

i have 3 accounts, one is triple elite, playing currently 2 actively. mainly flying small ships.

 

[Urbanski101]

From the class of 84....I wanted Elite with all of the bells & whistles that the current gen of tech could provide.

Mostly I've been pleased with the result....baffled at some design choices, developments (e.g. powerplay) and persistent bugs.

I was and am hoping for a deeper more interactive game with some improved gameplay, mechanics, player agency, properly scoped out professions and scaling.... a greater sense of a living galaxy rather than everything being the result of RNG.

Not really bothered by 'space legs' or ' atmospheric planets'.....I bought a spaceship game to fly spaceships in space....I'd ideally like them to concentrate on getting that right so I'm happy with the scope and goals of beyond.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I'm actually quite similar to the OP. ED improved very nicely since launch, I am generally speaking very content. The only annoyance at this time is the Thargoid story line, with the pace so far simply not picking up beyond what it was pre 2.4. And with 2.4 being the Thargoid patch I feel it should have picked up a lot by now. I probably wouldn't nearly be as annoyed if FD would have 'launched' 2.4 next week or so and didnt pretend the last two months were part of it. Beyond that I am a happy camper, dorking around in my small immersion chariots.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

ED improved very nicely since launch,

I do think people sometimes forget what ED was like at 1.0. So different to what we have now in many ways, even without considering Horizons or other main features, some of the QoL stuff has been real game changers.

I still remember going out exploring with no route plotter (or was it just 100 LY?), and no filtering the map by star type.

 

[Chris Simon]

I do think people sometimes forget what ED was like at 1.0. So different to what we have now in many ways, even without considering Horizons or other main features, some of the QoL stuff has been real game changers.

I still remember going out exploring with no route plotter (or was it just 100 LY?), and no filtering the map by star type.

There was a route plot on launch. But yes, in betas, we didn't even have that.
I have one account without Horizons and even as there has been significant updates to 1.x game, the difference in what one can do and achieve in that one and Horizons account is immense. Yes, the game grew a lot since launch.

 

[Vorxian]

Hi AA, it's a great OP, great question.

I think if I'm true to myself, I'd love No Mans Sky in Elite Dangerous, ED being the platform with all the discoveries and planet side goodness that comes with NMS. We have the Stellar Forge providing an infinite level of possibility, that's 1000x more life like than NMS, and a great engine behind it. Through and through, exploration, space, and science is my life's love passion. ED does some of it, the other stuff will, imo, make ED the ultimate.

Never been one for pew pew, a bit selfish I think, but i am who i am!

 

[hypervoodoo77]

Don't anymore

 

[Old Duck]

I'm more of a solo player, so I'd like to see this side get some love. I think this could be done while also meeting what the OP is looking for, because all you need to do is offer NPCs to fill the roles that other players can currently fill - wings, multicrew, etc.

I'd also like to see Frontier experiment with procedurally generated, player-driven personal story-telling. I know that I'm not the hero who saves the galaxy, but I'd like to have some sort of unique "relationship" with NPCs I interact with. The scripted interactions with faction leaders isn't it. There's a game I love called Dragon's Dogma where you get these followers called "Pawns", and as corny as they can be, you share adventures with them and they start to feel "real" on some level. Anyway, a personal, unique narrative with "simulated" relationships could bring this game up to an entirely new level. Frontier needs writers (authors) that are as skilled as their visual artists and audio team.

I know I'm asking for a lot, but the OP asked what I "want", not necessarily what I "expect".

 

[Trickylion]

I'd like a door at the back of stations, very small to sneak smuggler fighters out of
A city on ELW that I can fly to
a WW that I can fly into
A tether to tow ships with
An explorer ship other than an anaconda that has room for repair limpets and stuff
A cross platform game
Bugs cleared up
A link from Xbox data to EDSM
A coriolis type outfitters to see the effects of modules and engineering before buying
A nameable home world per player somewhere in the galaxy and you have to find it
more narrative stories like the FR saga
More user defined areas (try permit locked areas where we can design and set up the systems)
Less irrelevant updates that don't quite work
ummm

more than 500 data storage
materials and data storage in a home port
A quick jump to colonia
random warps from black holes
less dangerous neutrons

ummm

an invisible ship drive
a spy ship that looks like a courier but is really an eagle
a pilot-able escape pod
srv that can dock with another cmdr ship
printable srv
different srv, some with more cargo
a pilots bar to meet other cmdrs and jacques himself

ummm

running out of instant ideas
oh yeah more and definable bookmarks

more more more
less less less

 

[Ian Skippy]

I do think people sometimes forget what ED was like at 1.0. So different to what we have now in many ways, even without considering Horizons or other main features, some of the QoL stuff has been real game changers.

I still remember going out exploring with no route plotter (or was it just 100 LY?), and no filtering the map by star type.

100LY, which took forever. Impossible to tag planets you discovered first. No AFMU, planets, SRVs, fuel tanks, engineered FSD drives or a real choice beyond Asp or Conda, no NS or WDs, no oxygen synthesis (allowing people to return even from Beagle Point with a broken canopy providing life support is high-rated. Heck, no external camera, not even the debug camera and data had to be handed in on a per system basis! People who returned from Sag A spend hours handing it in. And thats the just 'ignored' exploration aspect of ED.