Doesn't feel that way. Quite A lot of regular posters that were light grey knights have turned quite critical of the limited ability of FD to actually move beyond placeholder game mechanics.
Doesn't feel that way. Quite A lot of regular posters that were light grey knights have turned quite critical of the limited ability of FD to actually move beyond placeholder game mechanics.
A lot of this stuff boils down to "I've been playing this game for 2000 hours and it feels a bit repetitive". Which is sort of natural. If the game had 50 hours of non-stop narrative excitement we would all have moved onto complaining about a different game on a different forum. Personally I'd love them to attempt some sort of procedural story-generating system, but this would be hard, unprecedented and likely to be a development time-sink that never goes anywhere.
I only ever play the game in a "fire it up and do a couple of missions" way. Almost like playing Solitaire or something. So maybe I don't notice the grind for that reason.
I only ever play the game in a "fire it up and do a couple of missions" way. Almost like playing Solitaire or something. So maybe I don't notice the grind for that reason.
When I’m leaving stations , before I jump I scan the Wakes in the area, the nearest ones suffice then I jump away. When I’m in supper cruise heading to a station I scan all the ships in front of me, any uss that pop up along the way I check if it’s degrated or encoded emissions I drop down scan collect whatever, then proceed with whatever I’m doing. If I need to land on a rock to collect materials I’ll get a mission that requires me to go down to a station or collect some salvage or something and before I leave the planet, while still in my srv, I spend some time driving around shooting rocks and picking up materials. This is my secret to never FEELING the grind that exists without a doubt. You don’t necessarily need to be the one being grinded down to the bone. If this doesn’t sound like something you could possibly do for whatever reason cool. This is just how I roll and my track is paved smooth with no potholes.
rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
The problem is not the grind. The problem are the players consciously keeping at it when things start to feel like a grind. There are gazzilion of things to do in Elite. Gathering mats on planets feels grindy? Switch to missions. Missions feel grindy? Go exploring. That boring now? Go back, find a Combat Zone and have at it. Feels grindy? Go to the nearest planet and start collecting materials.
There problem solved.
/thread
There problem solved.
/thread
That's a rather dismissive post and portrays that just because your content with how you play, everyone else should as well (or they shouldn't play the game at all).
Just look at the Guardian blueprint requirements to unlock the various weapons. Simply put, it requires relogging/instancing to repeat the exact same game mechanic over and over. What's the reason? Because they didn't want to make it too easy with just one blueprint? Why not just have more sentinels spawn?
I'm glad that you play the way you want to play, that's what I love about Elite, but being dismissive of players who want to see things improved for their own enjoyment of the game isn't constructive nor helpful. Especially when you take into consideration what I mentioned above about the Guardian blueprints.
Is it such a bad thing that people are looking/asking for more in-depth gameplay?
I didn´t say that Elite isnt a good game. I just summarized my opinion about "Grind". And there is no solution except more content or maybe after-grind-exclusive-content (and that will certainly lead to a forum war, something like "mimimi I need too much time to grind my *insert required grind for exclusive content here*"). I mean, besides Founders World permit theres exactly NOTHING that is not accessible almost from day one.
Oh, and I have 32 ingame weeks
So I think I know what I´m talking about I think only something like a big war (Feds agains Imp, both against Thargs, all against Alliance, whatever) can bring some players back to their cockpits. Destroy the bubble. Whatever. But something has to change. It´s certainly not the "grind", otherwise we can implement the big "I win"-button.
It's one step toward a game that gives us more to do than simply fly ships around. How about build some automated miners, then construct a landing pad, buy a ship, outfit it, hire a captain for it and he/she collects the ore and sells it at a station of your choosing, keeping a portion of the profits? Or delivers it to another mining or other operation of yours that requires certain materials to continue running?
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy flying spaceships which is why I'm still here but there are so many possibilities beyond just playing Space Truck Simulator. The galaxy in ED is so mind-bogglingly enormous there is room to construct all sorts of crap all over the place with a good chance nobody ever finds it (if it's not in the bubble).
You are making far too much sense mate.. Everyone who defends the grind either totally ignores our example of the guardian unlocks, or just says don't do it. As if that is how progression in a game should work.
There is nothing defensible about such low effort mechanics as waiting for random HGE spawns, or making players re run the same gauntlet over and over just to draw out the amount of time it takes them to achieve a single unlock. Yet people will continue to make excuses for it, which does nothing to help the state of the game for themselves or anyone else..
Respect for fighting the good fight brother.
I disagree people who bought some nebulous theory-crafted dream instead of the game being sold have been whinging non-stop for four years. Personally I tried the demo then bought what they were actually selling, so I'm as happy as I was four years ago and everything else is a bonus.
As to patch meltdowns it happens every time
"gah they broke x"
"gah they nerfed y"
"gah z needs balancing"
In reality they've chucked out 4 mini balancing patches already over a very short time period, well done FDEV they seem really on the ball.
3.0 is free QOL improvements for us all, the people staring at the gift horses teeth complaining it's not a unicorn will never be happy.
Stuff like the guardian blueprint are a design fiasco.
I'm nearly done with the mission and I got 3 weapon blueprints, and 2 tech ones. This is silly, here the game
as been clearly designed to push you to repeat the pylon activation minigame about 20 times.
This minigame is fun a few time as part of the normal flow of exploring a guardian site, but not on its own,
especially given that it present no challenge once you know where the pylons are and given how long the timer is.
Repetition of a trivial task for an extrinsic reward... if this is not grind, I don't know what is.
Yeah, sure, no one is forced to do it. I.e. no one is forced to access game content. I.e. these modules may as well
never been introduced.
I will farm exactly one more weapon blueprint to unlock the railgun thingy. Everything else I'll won't even bother.
HGE's are the same minimal work to expand near non existant gameplay as much as possible. If one thinks about it,
looking in SC for HGE's is a glorified loading screen where you there is no progress bar, nor any hint of the time it might take.
Grind is the fig leaf under which you hide your lack of quality content.
I'm nearly done with the mission and I got 3 weapon blueprints, and 2 tech ones. This is silly, here the game
as been clearly designed to push you to repeat the pylon activation minigame about 20 times.
This minigame is fun a few time as part of the normal flow of exploring a guardian site, but not on its own,
especially given that it present no challenge once you know where the pylons are and given how long the timer is.
Repetition of a trivial task for an extrinsic reward... if this is not grind, I don't know what is.
Yeah, sure, no one is forced to do it. I.e. no one is forced to access game content. I.e. these modules may as well
never been introduced.
I will farm exactly one more weapon blueprint to unlock the railgun thingy. Everything else I'll won't even bother.
HGE's are the same minimal work to expand near non existant gameplay as much as possible. If one thinks about it,
looking in SC for HGE's is a glorified loading screen where you there is no progress bar, nor any hint of the time it might take.
Grind is the fig leaf under which you hide your lack of quality content.
The solution is for Frontier to design and implement some actual interesting, varied gameplay loops. They can start this by adding new and more interesting missions. For example, combat missions that actually take place in a location with structures or other varied environmental assets, as opposed to right now where they're all set in either (a) yet another bit of blank empty space or (b) yet another identical bit of planetary ring. The only exception right now is skimmer missions.
Why can't we have heist missions, virus upload missions, missions that actually utilise the awesome stealth and docking and other mechanics? Trench run/canyon run missions!
Frontier could do this. Games have had these kind of missions for decades now. It's not complicated. And it would mean that even if the amount of time needed to be spent to achieve things in this game wasn't changed - i.e. it was still a long slog to engineer ships and so on - at least the individual moments of that would be far more enjoyable than they are now with endlessly repetitive, dull missions and activities.
Why can't we have heist missions, virus upload missions, missions that actually utilise the awesome stealth and docking and other mechanics? Trench run/canyon run missions!
Frontier could do this. Games have had these kind of missions for decades now. It's not complicated. And it would mean that even if the amount of time needed to be spent to achieve things in this game wasn't changed - i.e. it was still a long slog to engineer ships and so on - at least the individual moments of that would be far more enjoyable than they are now with endlessly repetitive, dull missions and activities.
You are being disingenuous towards anyone that doesn't see or enjoy the game the way you do. I love this game but it's not without faults. Frontier themselves opened up the Feedback Forums because they wanted player feedback, both good and bad. So to assume that we're just kicking a gift horse in the teeth is completely missing the point that at least some of us are trying to make.
If no one complained at all about game mechanics, where would Elite (or many other games) be?
I agree that complaining just to complain doesn't help, but constructive criticism has a place in all walks of life, especially when it comes to development of software and games.
The biggest problem is real feedback is being washed away in the sea of tears, that could be a good thing though imagine what the game would be like if all the demands were met an offline open only Frankenstein's monster of game.
Disingenuous doesn't mean that.
I still think the jumponium needs to change to something more interesting than:
line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait.
Long journeys can be extremely repetitive....
Take a trip to Colonia for example:
Set course...
arrive at destination - Yay!
But I do caveat that with, put a movie on 2nd screen, get out that old MP3 collection, have dinner whilst doing it...... Don't just sit there starring at a screen lining up, pushing J, waiting some more, steering around the sun to then line up and go forth with J again. Give yourself a mental break by getting the old scanners out and getting yourself some exploration data on the way can break up the repetition.
Alas if you want to get to somewhere like Colonia, then this is pretty much the only way to do it.
I'd love other travel mechanics, sure, less jumponium, more interactivity. Perhaps realtime control with a more classic 'star trek' style warp where mapping and fuel dictates what direction you head, and how far you dare to go before stranding yourself in the middle of nowhere with no fuel.... it would make interesting 2 player navigation / piloting something.. etc... seen many many suggestions on the forums that sound great
TLDR; travelling long distances can be the biggest grind there is... Engineers can reduce the repetition by half Not engineering your long distance ship is pure madness lol.
line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait.
Long journeys can be extremely repetitive....
Take a trip to Colonia for example:
Set course...
line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer 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up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around 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around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, 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sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait, steer around sun, line up, J, wait....
arrive at destination - Yay!
But I do caveat that with, put a movie on 2nd screen, get out that old MP3 collection, have dinner whilst doing it...... Don't just sit there starring at a screen lining up, pushing J, waiting some more, steering around the sun to then line up and go forth with J again. Give yourself a mental break by getting the old scanners out and getting yourself some exploration data on the way can break up the repetition.
Alas if you want to get to somewhere like Colonia, then this is pretty much the only way to do it.
I'd love other travel mechanics, sure, less jumponium, more interactivity. Perhaps realtime control with a more classic 'star trek' style warp where mapping and fuel dictates what direction you head, and how far you dare to go before stranding yourself in the middle of nowhere with no fuel.... it would make interesting 2 player navigation / piloting something.. etc... seen many many suggestions on the forums that sound great
TLDR; travelling long distances can be the biggest grind there is... Engineers can reduce the repetition by half
Not engineering your long distance ship is pure madness lol.
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Some of the repetitive things I get - missions and ranking, sure it makes sense.
Collecting Materials for Engineering - it makes some sense, but not quite as much. I equate many of these sorts of things to uncommon items that can be purchased in the real world. If you really want a Gas Chromatagraph/Mass Spectrometer, you CAN buy one. If you want a Gene Sequencer, you CAN buy one. A rock crusher, a dental laser, a cyclotron - all can be purchased with enough money and the simple knowledge of where to purchase such things. Or, since we're really talking vehicles here... an ECM unit for a BMW, or an Ignition Control Computer for a high-performance race car, or even a replacement turbine blade for commercial airliner - all available from the right vendors for the right prices.
But a Chemical Manipulator, Focus Crystal, or neatly folded skein of neofabric insulation? Nowhere to be found, except by being found, and even then, there's no real way to look for these sorts of things, except to scour space for them, be they found in signal sources or given as mission rewards.
The recent change in mission rewards is certainly a huge plus - pick "Do you just want cash" or "Do you want cash and some clutter" or "Do you just want us to really like you?" is a huge step up. But this doesn't really help with the real issue.
I don't mind running errands for factions that are offering me the things I really want - I really want Modified Embedded Firmware, so I visit a group of stations some 12 times each, and lo and behold, a single mission offering 3 of these. I really want some Exquisite Focus Crystals, so I scour the stations high and low, and 22 visits to different places, and here's a mission offering me 5 of them, but it's for Wing to haul 8k tons of Pornographic Material to the Bill Clinton Memorial Asylum for Blistered Fingers. Great... that means at least a dozen pirate attacks on the way, oh and they're illegal in 7 out of the 12 systems I have to haul them through, so I have to not only avoid the pirates, fight them with Report Crimes turned off so the local authorities don't show up to help themselves to my credits, or find an alternate route that is much longer and/or takes me through Anarchy space... ugh... there is where things really start to break down.
There are some things that could be done, should be done, to improve this though.
Mission Filters for specific items, or a Pilot's "Looking For..." type bulletin board, where we can "post" what materials/commodities/data we're looking for at various stations, and receive pop-up missions to receive those kinds of rewards.
Scanner/Sensor Filters - an Ignore List for various kinds of signal sources. I don't want to find Non-Human signals. I don't want to find Pirate Ambushes (aka Distress Calls), or Degraded or Encoded emissions - just High Grade and Combat Aftermath. Throw me an SRV-styled fish-finder to point me in a direction, and I'll fly there, looking for what I want to find.
This would be HUGE, one of the biggest, brightest, most impressive changes that could be made.
And if I'm not looking for materials, maybe I just want to find Non-Human signals, or maybe I'm playing Rescue Ranger, and only want to find Distress Calls - you name it, this improves this whole process by a factor of thousands.
Collecting Materials for Engineering - it makes some sense, but not quite as much. I equate many of these sorts of things to uncommon items that can be purchased in the real world. If you really want a Gas Chromatagraph/Mass Spectrometer, you CAN buy one. If you want a Gene Sequencer, you CAN buy one. A rock crusher, a dental laser, a cyclotron - all can be purchased with enough money and the simple knowledge of where to purchase such things. Or, since we're really talking vehicles here... an ECM unit for a BMW, or an Ignition Control Computer for a high-performance race car, or even a replacement turbine blade for commercial airliner - all available from the right vendors for the right prices.
But a Chemical Manipulator, Focus Crystal, or neatly folded skein of neofabric insulation? Nowhere to be found, except by being found, and even then, there's no real way to look for these sorts of things, except to scour space for them, be they found in signal sources or given as mission rewards.
The recent change in mission rewards is certainly a huge plus - pick "Do you just want cash" or "Do you want cash and some clutter" or "Do you just want us to really like you?" is a huge step up. But this doesn't really help with the real issue.
I don't mind running errands for factions that are offering me the things I really want - I really want Modified Embedded Firmware, so I visit a group of stations some 12 times each, and lo and behold, a single mission offering 3 of these. I really want some Exquisite Focus Crystals, so I scour the stations high and low, and 22 visits to different places, and here's a mission offering me 5 of them, but it's for Wing to haul 8k tons of Pornographic Material to the Bill Clinton Memorial Asylum for Blistered Fingers. Great... that means at least a dozen pirate attacks on the way, oh and they're illegal in 7 out of the 12 systems I have to haul them through, so I have to not only avoid the pirates, fight them with Report Crimes turned off so the local authorities don't show up to help themselves to my credits, or find an alternate route that is much longer and/or takes me through Anarchy space... ugh... there is where things really start to break down.
There are some things that could be done, should be done, to improve this though.
Mission Filters for specific items, or a Pilot's "Looking For..." type bulletin board, where we can "post" what materials/commodities/data we're looking for at various stations, and receive pop-up missions to receive those kinds of rewards.
Scanner/Sensor Filters - an Ignore List for various kinds of signal sources. I don't want to find Non-Human signals. I don't want to find Pirate Ambushes (aka Distress Calls), or Degraded or Encoded emissions - just High Grade and Combat Aftermath. Throw me an SRV-styled fish-finder to point me in a direction, and I'll fly there, looking for what I want to find.
This would be HUGE, one of the biggest, brightest, most impressive changes that could be made.
And if I'm not looking for materials, maybe I just want to find Non-Human signals, or maybe I'm playing Rescue Ranger, and only want to find Distress Calls - you name it, this improves this whole process by a factor of thousands.
FD have total control over their ingame currencies (credits, commodities and materials) like the FED over the Dollar. If credits and commodities are mainly acquirable in an acceptable timeframe for the most part of the players, they introduce crafting with dozens of different materials while actively adding power creep. And once even this is mainly achievable through various (sometimes "illegal") methods, they move the goal post again by adding even more power creep (max = god rolls) plus increasing time needed at average to equalize that said power creep. Heck, they even introduce more and more materials with new patches, so this is a neverending story. Forgive me if I do not like this is way to unlock content.
The actions of the past lets me compare FD to the FED, not only because there is only an E missing: FED is also pumping new dollars into the market to have control over the dollars exchange rates and market prices. And going by the history I therefore even expect a change ("nerf") to the mat. traders exchange rates.
If they wanted to reduce grinding, they'd done that long ago. But the opposite happens.
The actions of the past lets me compare FD to the FED, not only because there is only an E missing: FED is also pumping new dollars into the market to have control over the dollars exchange rates and market prices. And going by the history I therefore even expect a change ("nerf") to the mat. traders exchange rates.
If they wanted to reduce grinding, they'd done that long ago. But the opposite happens.
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My bad for using disingenuous wrong, dismissive would have been better.
As for the biggest problem, yeah, those that are just salty don't contribute to a good discussion on how issues can be fixed, but equally as big are people like you who dismiss any criticism and any argument because some people are 'salty' and you think that people should just be happy.
Nowhere did I suggest that all demands should be met, that's why I brought up the Feedback Forums. Do you think those shouldn't have been used by the devs? I sure think they are a great asset for them, I'd rather have the player base have constructive conversations about ways in which the game can be improved.
It's great you're 'happy as is', but at this point, you're simply not helping accomplish anything other than stirring the pot.
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Unfortunately, not being able to purchase so many items that we probably should be able to purchase (according to rl logic), is a necessary evil brought about by the last/present/future credit exploits that have, and will continue to, produce(d) instant billionaires - and it's difficult to see a decent solution. Sure, more scripted missions/errands for specific materials that make sense within the context of each mission... and just maybe we're slowly heading that way with more mission types, selective rewards, pending improvements to trading, mining, exploration...
In the interim, sadly, the random nature of collecting does sort of make sense within the game setting. Other (loathssome) crafting/enhancement systems I've experienced also required collection vs purchasing - in an equally absurd manner. The main difference was, I knew exactly where the groves of belladonna, hemlock, etc. were and could head there at my leisure, as required. Aside from barnacle forests (great for arsenic), geysers, fume roles... there are no permanent self-replenishing forests of materials in space.
The various Materials Brokers are a step in the right direction, however, the exponential rate of exchange makes them really useful only for small scale materials trading. Need one more Technetium, ok, it's not so bad to give up 2 or 3 other equal-grade materials for them, or even 6 or 12 lesser grade materials for that one unit.
But need 12 more for that Tech Broker unlock? Well, good luck with that.
Swimming in Specialized Legacy Firmware you can't really use, but need Datamined Wake Exceptions to get your FSD up to snuff? You won't be able to wet both sides of a piece of paper with what you have left/gain after a trading session.
On the subject of materials gathering in other games....
Let's look at a few:
Witcher 3 : Red Mutagens - these are dropped by a few creatures slain in battle with some measure of predictability. Collect enough of the little ones and Alchemy yourself the big one you really need.
Minecraft: Need diamonds? You know they're found from a height of 0 up to, well, you can control the spawn depth of things, so whatever it's set to.
Final Fantasy: Looking for Dark Matter? Certain creatures drop it, even if it's a low percentage drop, you at least know what to go after to get it.
This is a theme that carries on through many different games, but in those, you know where to look, what to look for, and even when it's a rare drop item, persistence pays off. Elite, however, veers far from this - Sure, you might know to look for Arsenic on certain planets, but where to start looking? How many Outcrops must you track down before you stumble on that one Messoderite (or w/e it's called) that pops out that 1 piece of Arsenic you now just need 11 more of?
This is where that part just a couple lines down from my post really shines - Sensor Filters.
Let us Ignore Outcrops, Piecious Cobble, and other sources of Dontwantium and focus on the things we need.
There's been a recent splurge of yelling fanboy and telling anyone remotely positive to shut up and go away, it's eroded any patience I had left for the wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I think people should accept the reality of what the game is and adapt to it.