I used to play since beta till about 2015 a few months after Powerplay came out and then stopped playing (although I kept up to date with the game since).
I stopped playing because I found the depth with the mission system to be really lackluster. I was really disappointed by Powerplay because I found it was a big missed opportunity of using "blazing your own trail" and player-driven potential for Powerplay to be akin to something like EVE's faction warfare system, but it wasn't anything new than from what I was already doing in the game to begin with like simply gathering coupons.
I spent most of my time doing missions, exploring, and engaging other players in Open play.
I didn't get Horizons upon release because I was bored with the game and rather wanted to wait until its feature set was complete and with the 2.4 it is at its end, which is why I want to get back into it.
However of course over time keeping up with the forum and such I've heard a lot of complaints about the engineers and such but I can't really relate or truly understand or form an opinion because I simply haven't played Horizons. I heard a lot about the grind and RNG but grind is one thing I don't really experience in games personally. I have played EVE for example since 2003 (still do), and I have never grinded in it, I play and do what I enjoy, I could grind and mine/do industrial stuff all the time for ISK, but instead I make ISK from the market with my orders by changing them 1-2 times a day, and the rest of the time I am either doing solo PvP, exploring and peeping through wormholes, or when necessary when there is a CTA/war campaign for my alliance engaging in fleets as needed. I have never grinded for ISK or anything. In regards to what I have read about the RNG/engineers I don't find myself as someone in this sort of game to min-max my ship obsessively and I usually fly a couple of different ships for different things, and I much prefer flying small and medium sized ships.
Basically I'm just asking as someone who used to play Elite since it was in beta till around September 2015, is Elite worth getting back into and purchasing Horizons at this point? Will I enjoy it?Things I want from Elite is more in depth missions themselves from the mission board and stumbling upon things in space, variety, as well as "designed" mission story arcs that has its own designed and written self contained (or linked) story, I don't want thinks like fancy cutscenes, but written narrative experiences I can also engage in within the sandbox. If you've ever played EVE, think of something like Sisters of EVE story arc, I'd love Elite to have lots of "small stories" and large story arcs within a sandbox to enjoy because I love both concepts. Stories can be designed with narratives you actively engage in that doesn't treat the world (and you) as some single entity that is engaging in it. The engineers are an example of the potential to have stories that are designed with mission objectives/scripted events that are important to you as a player personally even though many players engage with engineers, but from what I've read there isn't any grand stories/missions really associated with each engineer.
TL;DR I last played Elite since beta to September 2015. I stopped because I got bored with the lack of mission depth and variety, I primarily like to flight various small and medium sized ships instead of one or one large jack-of-all-trades ship. I like to do everything from time to time when I feel like it, I'm not just combat centric. I play Open only. As such I haven't bought or experienced Horizons at all. Should I get back in and buy Horizons?
