Message to Frontier - ITS SO DAMN OBVIOUS!!

[operant]

Ah sorry it was a joke. Actually it's the only thing I can play at the moment since my normal poison (Planetside) doesn't run on my laptop.

It is usually an occasional thing for me. I'm still waiting (living in hope) for epic thargoid violence. Its been a long wait but did finally make Elite exploration last week.

PS2 and Elite: obviously a glutton for punishment

(Interesting to see that PS2 still lives.).

BTW I agree, FD seem to design everything behind a grind-wall. Including the new anti-thargoid-gaurdian weapons, which is sad because that is 'the' new content. Guess, however players may dislike it, it seems to be their fundamental design approach.

 

[Oaktree]

FD, just give whiners all the credits, all the ships, full ranks, and full engineer mats! You can then shut down the forum!

 

[crushdepth]

FD, just give whiners all the credits, all the ships, full ranks, and full engineer mats! You can then shut down the forum!

Nobody asked for any of that (ok, maybe the money). People are generally asking for things like naval.missions that are actually fun and challenging with a bit of backstory. Like the ones in the 1984 version. Or (heaven forbid) military campaigns with actual objectives we can fight over.

All the tools are there, unused.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Ah sorry it was a joke. Actually it's the only thing I can play at the moment since my normal poison (Planetside) doesn't run on my laptop.

It is usually an occasional thing for me. I'm still waiting (living in hope) for epic thargoid violence. Its been a long wait but did finally make Elite exploration last week.

I am an explorer at heart, but don't want to go exploring anymore until we get these new mechanics in the Q4 update.

 

[Snarfbuckle]

Weird rant but I don’t even disagree with you. The grinding shows a real lack of development talent. I know this game is complex under the hood but grind cannot be the answer to everything. I hope we see different styles of gameplay in the years to come.

This.

The core is fine. The expansions and actual gameplay is...unimaginative.

There are several things they could do as a starting point for the expansions - especially powerplay

- Remove the weekly grind of powerplay
- Tie Powerplay factions to minor and major powers as the core game functions
- Instead of fixed weekly bonuses we increase the payout for each rank as a bonus to missions (Rank 1: +20% / Rank 2: +40% / Rank 3: +60% / Rank 4: +80% / Rank 5: +100%)
- Add this to CG payouts so playing the faction game in a CG could be very lucrative.

 

[Stealthie]

Here's a thought...

You know these games that get 100,000 people playing them?
How long do they retain those players for?

I've got a shelf of DVDs here (and a Steam account) filled with "triple-A" titles which I played obsessively for a couple of months and then haven't touched since.

From a business POV, I wouldn't mind betting FDev are happy with where they are.

You spend $50m developing a Triple-A game and, if it's well-received, you'll earn a heap of money for a short period - and then you have to do it all again.
By contrast, FDev have a fairly loyal player-base who they can continually sell small items to, year after year.

In a nutshell, I probably definitely spend more money with FDev each year than I spend with outfits like Electronic Arts.
EA has to spend a lot to get their profits. FDev doesn't.

 

[XW_Ziggy]

Here's a thought...

You know these games that get 100,000 people playing them?
How long do they retain those players for?

I've got a shelf of DVDs here (and a Steam account) filled with "triple-A" titles which I played obsessively for a couple of months and then haven't touched since.

From a business POV, I wouldn't mind betting FDev are happy with where they are.

You spend $50m developing a Triple-A game and, if it's well-received, you'll earn a heap of money for a short period - and then you have to do it all again.
By contrast, FDev have a fairly loyal player-base who they can continually sell small items to, year after year.

In a nutshell, I probably definitely spend more money with FDev each year than I spend with outfits like Electronic Arts.
EA has to spend a lot to get their profits. FDev doesn't.

I'm curious why 3.0 is free - I was expecting to have to buy another expansion....

 

[Jex =TE=]

So, what actual gameplay are you looking for?

Also where is this grind that people keep talking about?

It's at the place you get to after you've played the MVP game mechanics more than once and realise the game is pretty much the same experience everywhere. There's some positive stuff going on with C&P it seems but you have to PVP for that but it still needs a LOT of work.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

It's at the place you get to after you've played the MVP game mechanics more than once and realise the game is pretty much the same experience everywhere. There's some positive stuff going on with C&P it seems but you have to PVP for that but it still needs a LOT of work.

Seems that someone doesn't know what Minimum Viable Product means.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Every game ever made is a grind to some people. Just get over it and play another game.

LOL no it isn't. Flight/racing sims aren't "grind" - Arma 3 isn't grind, GTA isn't grind, Deus Ex isn't grind - there's literally thousands of games that don't have any grind.

 

[GraXXoR]

Sure. But only if you dont make me eat a plain old boring custard cream, over and over and over and over again. Ok?

 

[Stealthie]

I'm curious why 3.0 is free - I was expecting to have to buy another expansion....

Pure speculation on my part but it seems like an encouraging move.

Fundamentally, if FDev had no long-term plans to develop ED, they'd probably have cobbled-together some DLC for this year and then hammered the living poop out of store merchandise in a bid to rake in as much cash as possible before people drift away.

As it is, it seems like 3.0 is intended to give FDev a year where "the pressure is off" so they can untangle the mess behind-the-scenes and give themselves time to properly develop something impressive for 2019.

TBH, I don't think FDev need to be furtive, or feel "ashamed" about doing this.
If they just came out and announced this was their intention, I suspect the majority of players would be supportive.
Course, that would put some of the pressure back on them again because people would already be expecting big things next year.

 

[Jex =TE=]

So who defines what 'fun' is? .

Nobody defines fun but we can demonstrate simple, unchallenging game play mechanics that have plagued ED since launch as well as a lack of content and it wouldn't have "mixed" reviews on steam if it was the greatest game ever as some people like to say.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Nobody defines fun but we can demonstrate simple, unchallenging game play mechanics that have plagued ED since launch as well as a lack of content and it wouldn't have "mixed" reviews on steam if it was the greatest game ever as some people like to say.

Who defines what is challanging and what is not?

LOL no it isn't. Flight/racing sims aren't "grind" - Arma 3 isn't grind, GTA isn't grind, Deus Ex isn't grind - there's literally thousands of games that don't have any grind.

And in those games, you litereally just do the same mechanics again and again and again. So why are they not a grind and ED is?

 

[Jex =TE=]

Also using steam to determine player count is useless as there is a fair few PC gamers that dont use it as they bought it from frontiers store - and then your not factoring the PS4/Xbox players either

Edit: i saw the OP mentioned steam reviews - they are pointless. Two of the biggest selling games on Steam - GTA 5 and PUBG - also have mixed reviews.

Steam reviews tend to he plagued by unhappy customers as people who are content with the game dont tend to leave reviews

There is simply no evidence that steam reviews tend to be plagued by unhappy customers - proof of that would be games that get "mostly positive" reviews which instantly invalidates what you just made up.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

So - you make the massive grind in your game... because you think its the way to keep people playin for longer/coming back to play your game.

Lets look at the facts:

You have around 12,000 active players online at a time (might be wrong here but dont think its far off being next to nothing.. compared to some 'highly successful games' out there.. talking 70k active players; up to 500k active players.. you all know of the games im talkin about).

You have Steam review of 'MIXED' (says it all)

Your forums are FULL of people disgruntled with the current state of the game.

ITS SO DAMN OBVIOUS. REDUCE THE GRIND. MORE PLAYERS WILL PLAY YOUR GAME. YOU WILL MAKE MORE MONEY. YOU CAN USE TO THE MONEY DEVELOP THE GAME FROM:
"ITS GOT SO MUCH POTENTIAL BUT BASICALLY NOT VERY GOOD"

TO:
"OMG THIS GAME NOW BLOWS MY MIND BECAUSE I DONT HAVE TO SPEND 3 HOURS DOING THE SAME TASK OVER AND OVER TO EARN 2 MILLION CREDITS AND I CAN DO MORE VARIETY AND NOT GET SO BORED THAT MY EYELIDS GET STUCK OPEN FROM STARING AT THE SAME STUPID MISSION SCREEN FOR 32 HOURS A WEEK"

Sorry... but starting to lose my patience with these braindead and unempathetic devs.

p.s. One thing that I absolutely love about this game.. is the way the ship handles and flies. The way the engines and weapons sound and look. The combat in rez sites is amazing (for example). CAPITALIZE ON THIS. MAKE IT EXCITING/ENJOYABLE/A BUZZ TO PLAY!! (All the things that Elite currently isn't).
p.p.s. SORRY but I dont enjoy flying close to the ground on a planet for more than 30 minutes, or taking a screenshot of a distant planet (dont mind doin it once.. but that isnt gameplay, or going on a 20,000LY trip with some other individuals where I just hit the 'j' key 2,000 times and watch the screen load over and over and over. THATS NOT FUN! its FLUFF!), I DONT WANT FLUFF I WANT A GAME!

Oh ye - and p.s. I personally dont care whether a planet looks 'redder/greener/more beige than it did before'. How many hours did you spend creating those 'new graphics' when you coulda been working on ACTUAL GODAMN GAMEPLAY? GET REAL.

Ok i feel better now

except not everyone feels as you do.... in terms of the economy, imo it is vital things take "proper" time to save up for..... the materials "grind" i am less precious over because to be honest there is not a lot of verisimilitude regarding hunting out lumps of iron which is seemingly impossible to buy with real money and that we can keep in our magic pockets, so if FD want to streamline that, so be it..... but in terms of credits, i HATE the constant inflation of money earning.

when i helped KS the game the whole ethos behind it was that it was a niche title which would, due to the nature of what FD were making be incompatible with the kind of game that a normal publisher would want FD to create..... there is nothing wrong with making a game which is only enjoyed by a niche so long as they are big enough to support the game. I have no idea how many that is, or if ED has enough of them... but neither do you, only FD knows.

imo the main issue with ED is that FD are not really clear about the game in the marketing. sometimes i do not think even they know who they are making the game for (i am ignoring the "we build the game we want to play" because sadly i no longer think this is the case. imo that game was in the DDF. Actually trying to cater for all demographics is hurting the final product imo.

edit.

CivVI also has mixed reviews..... and yet that from what i understand is a very good civ game.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I am an explorer at heart, but don't want to go exploring anymore until we get these new mechanics in the Q4 update.

This is the really annoying thing about ED. In 2018, with the processing power we have now and a huge galaxy and yet they couldn't put in a single exploration thing in the game for us. A space game with nothing out there should be a crime lol.

Does anyone here NOT want stuff to go find out in the depths of space - a little like Star Trek I suppose is what I'm saying?

 

[Jex =TE=]

Seems that someone doesn't know what Minimum Viable Product means.

That would be you it seems.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

LOL no it isn't. Flight/racing sims aren't "grind" - Arma 3 isn't grind, GTA isn't grind, Deus Ex isn't grind - there's literally thousands of games that don't have any grind.

Flight Sim (in so far as FS9 or FSX is concerned) generally consists of a few minutes of concentration while you taxi and take off, follow ATC to your altitude. Hit 4x speed until TOD then a few more minutes of following ATC round to the active, punch in the ILS land and taxi to the gate.

And GTA... well what about those 100 graffiti tags in San Andreas, especially the ones hidden away or that the Brady Guide noted in the wrong place. That *was* a grind. Or having CJ doing mindless peddling or reps in the gym just to buff his strength. The rest of the game was excellent if challenging in some places (catching a jet with a Cessna!) but there was still grind if you wanted money, good weapons and a 90%+ completion rating.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Who defines what is challanging and what is not?



And in those games, you litereally just do the same mechanics again and again and again. So why are they not a grind and ED is?

If you're asking these questions (again) it just demonstrates you don't have the experience or knowledge to answer the questions yourself.

If you want to make a case for which game mechanics are challenging, please go ahead. Let's start with trading? How about passengers missions - pressing J a bunch of times sure is difficult? Can't you see the lack of gameplay here?