How long should it take the average player to afford an Anaconda on 8 hours per week
- Thread starter Jason S
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I think you're mad.
ED isn't about 'stuff'. A good player only able to play a few hours a week should be able to get an Anaconda in six months at the most.
As we see with B1....the game is not as multiplayer as it was billed. NPCs make up the vast bulk of traffic. Whether players are in sideys or Anacondas is of little to no consequence to the wider game world. It should also be balanced so that it isn't necessary to just slog up to the most expensive ship, there will be different ships suited to different roles depending on how you want to play the game.
ED isn't about 'stuff'. A good player only able to play a few hours a week should be able to get an Anaconda in six months at the most.
As we see with B1....the game is not as multiplayer as it was billed. NPCs make up the vast bulk of traffic. Whether players are in sideys or Anacondas is of little to no consequence to the wider game world. It should also be balanced so that it isn't necessary to just slog up to the most expensive ship, there will be different ships suited to different roles depending on how you want to play the game.
An Anaconda has never figured in my plans anyway. Since SB started I've played 1 - 2 hours per day and I'm just about ready for my type 6 so IF I was going for an Anaconda I would reckon 2 to 3 weeks of out and out trading.
5 years! Lol, considering I probably will only put in half that much time on average, a big no from me.
This is of course one of the problems with online games, balancing the time it takes to do things for users who have little time, with users who can spend hours a day. Most mmo's I have played have got this very wrong, almost all are set up for very long grinds.
Personally if I couldn't get there in a 6 months I would find it too much of a drag. Of course we still don't know exactly how the ship progression will work for all types of players, but I'm assuming that there will be an anaconda "level" ship for most professions in the game. I am also assuming that the anaconda will not be the last ship in the progression.
so about 100hours of game play time to make it to one of the bigger/expensive ships seems about right for me.
This is of course one of the problems with online games, balancing the time it takes to do things for users who have little time, with users who can spend hours a day. Most mmo's I have played have got this very wrong, almost all are set up for very long grinds.
Personally if I couldn't get there in a 6 months I would find it too much of a drag. Of course we still don't know exactly how the ship progression will work for all types of players, but I'm assuming that there will be an anaconda "level" ship for most professions in the game. I am also assuming that the anaconda will not be the last ship in the progression.
so about 100hours of game play time to make it to one of the bigger/expensive ships seems about right for me.
ED is about exactly what each person wants it to be to him/her.
That can't be done.
To OP, since you can permanently lose your ship in this game, I'd say no more than a month of *knowledgeable* playing - which means doing what it takes to get max cash at the expense of everything else (reputation, ranking, what have you).
Keep in mind Anaconda will not be the largest or the most expensive ship out there.
And the point of the game is not bling, it's the huge galaxy; players of all styles should be able to explore said galaxy in whatever ship they find useful. Not be stuck in a Sidewinder for a year.
It depends on your play style. If a game to you means a linear progression through time and credits to achieve a pre-set goal of an Anaconda then your question would make sense.
But for me, and many others, progression is not the main goal of this game. Ships, to me, are not a measure of success but they are a means of survival in the role I prefer to take on. I want to be a miner, so I need to find a ship suitable for that task and that may or may not be an Anaconda. I also would love to be a bounty hunter, for that aspect of the game I need a very different ships with different equipment.
As a miner I may want to go for the most precious ores. I won't need a bulk freighter. It may not even be handy inside a dense asteroid field. That is to say, unless I have a friend who goes in, jettisons the cargo that I then pick up.
As an independent miner I will have to choose wisely between cargo space, fuel consumption, speed and vulnerability to attack. I could load my hull with hundreds of tons of gold only to find myself being attacked all the way.
This is Elite, a game where you can do whatever you like in your own style. Goals in Elite for me always changed.
In Elite and Frontier I traded, so I could get fun equipment. But then I got bored so I decided to be a courier and delivered small parcels and installed some passenger mods so I could taxi them to other places.
And then that I would do for a while and my goals shifted again and I became a bounty hunter seeking out dangerous anarchy worlds. And then I would tire of the fighting and I would haul bulk goods in a Panther Clipper. And then I would go be a miner and do that for a while.
I did it all, but to me my preferences were mining and bounty hunting.
In ED, goals can shift depending on your play style or preferences. Big is not always better. My all time favorite ship is an Asp.
Now Elite is an online game, so a whole new range of options opens up. I intend to play with a friend, who says he doesn't like trading but rather bounty hunts. And I am thinking he will be my escort on mining runs or I will back him up as a wingman when he makes serious bounty hunting efforts.
Maybe this is the start of a loose cooperation of some like-minded people I can team up with when the game goes live. No pressures, just some leisurely mining, exploring around to find hotspots and sharing the wealth and have a fun chat, preferably on skype.
That is a goal in itself I suppose.
I think that is not a matter of time, but a matter of money (even if the time is money, normally ....)
Great post. Repped.
We don't even have explroation and mining in yet and if somebody gets lucky and finds a gold, platinum etc rock then money will be a lot more forthcoming at 9k a ton rather than hauling grain.
The game is a work in progress and I can see all the career paths being worked on later in beta to make them viable to advance.
The game is a work in progress and I can see all the career paths being worked on later in beta to make them viable to advance.
Lugalbandak
Banned
dont know , but current i think about 24h? 3 weeks , good for testing
i gonna sound mad , but 6 month seems cool(final game) (silly me)with the dynamic world trading would be harder as its is now( i testedt twice now , but in 4 a 5 hours you in a cobra ), wich again is great for testing , but i hope in the final game iwt would way harder then 5 hours lol.
i gonna sound mad , but 6 month seems cool(final game) (silly me)with the dynamic world trading would be harder as its is now( i testedt twice now , but in 4 a 5 hours you in a cobra ), wich again is great for testing , but i hope in the final game iwt would way harder then 5 hours lol.
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Five years!!!Since the beta wipe I have had an Eagle, Viper and now own a Type 6. There is are tons of gold to be had ( you have to explor). I reckon about another week untill I get my Anaconda. By the way do you know where they are sold? I do...
So far most that have given an opinion that indicates a duration as the post asks for seem to go for something that is a quick route to the biggest playable ship that we currently know of.
By quick route I mean weeks not years and certainly a much quicker progression than previous Elite games. Not that previous elite games allowed the same ships, but you know what I mean I hope. So if the majority do want that quick progression available then the current trading profits seem to make sense in terms of that aspect of the game, if the developers wish to please the majority. Although personally I would prefer profits and ship and equipment progression to be slower.
By quick route I mean weeks not years and certainly a much quicker progression than previous Elite games. Not that previous elite games allowed the same ships, but you know what I mean I hope. So if the majority do want that quick progression available then the current trading profits seem to make sense in terms of that aspect of the game, if the developers wish to please the majority. Although personally I would prefer profits and ship and equipment progression to be slower.
What a dreary outlook on life, when your fun time is expressed as a function of money.
It seems to me that leisure time or activities are defined by that, the time not spent in pursuit of money.