Yes, but the rediculousness of the situation really depends on if you consider QoL changes to be universally beneficial just because they are given the QoL title.
They didn't reduce uneccessary hurdles and faff. They removed player engagement in the process.
If you look at the things that explorers had been begging for as QoL, I don't think you will find requests for the things we actually got. Filter plotting maybe, but only because it was non sensical to have the filters but the plotter to ignore them.
The long plotting was probably just a developer noticing that his efficiency improvements would allow longer plotting, and FD just went with it without considering the implications.
Longer jump ranges, again done without a real understanding of the implications. Sure people will cheer at the announcement, but you can't expect players to see all the consequences till they are in action. You CAN expect the games designers to spot them, it's their job.
Even if the players had begged for all these things, it's still fds responsibility to consider the consequences.
+1
Couldn't agree more.
The QoL stuff was added without any counter-balance for keep navigation, travel, and exploration challenging.
I was lucky enough (or unlucky enough depending on ones viewpoint) to cross the galaxy when there were no route plotters, no star filters, no engineered FSDs or Jumponium, no fuel rats or hope of rescue if you screwed up. To this day the best experience I ever had was reaching the Abyss and spending a couple of days carefully plotting a route across it one star at a time, charting a path and having to retrace my steps when reaching a dead end, and making another attempt elsewhere. It felt like navigating into the unknown - because that's exactly what it was, with a risk of losing it all by running out of fuel, jumping into a close orbiting binary pair (risk of which has also been removed now
) or getting utterly lost in that interarm gap. Finally reaching the outerarm and discovering the system that became known as Beagle Point is something that made that whole adventure worth all the tedium and challenge that lead up to it.
For an 8 week period from the start of gamma (Nov. 2014) until patch 1.0 (Jan. 2015) traveling to the far recesses of the galaxy was a bloody good challenge - but only because it was all a learning curve with non-existent QoL gimmicks to rely on. Ever since patch 1.0 exploration has received those QoL additions, one after another, but with no counterbalancing danger or risk v reward gameplay to compliment them. FD created the largest gameworld ever, and they sold the game off the back of it, the mystery, possibilities, the challenge. That's what captured the imagination back during the KS days and early release... but ever since all they've done is water it down to a point where people can buckyball to the core in 2 or 3 hours, and reach Beagle Point in six. The Abyss is no longer the daunting void it once was. As someone mentioned on here not long ago, the galaxy once had character with places like the Abyss, the Tenebris, and Outer Rim being places that challenged the player. In my personal opinion layers of QoL gimmicks have slowly made the galaxy a homogeneous blob.
But there's no problem in adding QoL improvements... the problem is them not adding regions, environments, content, or gameplay that counterbalance the rewards nor challenge the player. Jumponium is a prime example - its a great addition but its all reward and no risk. If there was a risk of a misjump in the opposite direction or a chance of some tangible damage to your FSD when using an injection, then it could have been a great risk v reward gameplay mechanic. Neutron jumpinging is probably the only one FD put any actual thought into imho.
I hope FD begin adding environments that give the galaxy 'character'... where navigation across once inhospitable areas again requires some forethought and planning and not just a press of the 20K route plotter. I hope they add new travel mechanics, discovery techniques, environmental anomalies, black hole systems that are actually dangerous to enter, accretion disks, and proto-systems full of hazardous material, radiation belts, unstable stars with lethal solar flares etc. They've given us all the QoL stuff, now its time to begin laying in some actual danger and challenge to exploration and deep space travel.
