Newcomer / Intro What's your first impressions of Elite Dangerous? Post in here and tell us

[bencze]

I originally bought the game some long time ago, got stuck on the combat advanced misssions and quit in frustration. Some days ago I watched a trailer and felt like trying again (holidays - more off days and time to play).
My main problem is the game has a pretty steep learning curve. I had some game breaking problems and spent the first two days a lot more googling and watching videos than playing.
I did some basic stuff, burnt myself with some missions. It seems kind of impossible to tell the difficulty of a mission before hand. Found that passenger missions are pretty good after learning what parameters to avoid and they pay well too. I used a Cobra mk3 which I like. Now I fitted a Diamondback explorer for exploration and set to go explore unexplored places. Trying to go towards most uninteresting places a bit under the map but after 2k ly and some hours still every system is explored. Routing seems buggy, I go forward 'clicking' - selecting stars then try to draw a path but I always seem to get pathing error so now I just go forward 100ly at a time (which is a lot less actual distance measured directly). So, some things are tedious but I like it so far. Learned the discovery scanning from youtube videos.
I was away traveling for a few days now, can't wait to play again.
Game feels pretty ok with my Thrustmaster t flight hotas but the joystickcould be better quality. I might upgrade if I am still playing some months later.
Controls feel overwhelming, i just use the bare minimum now, sometimes I just have to find and set a key for somerhing extra but I don't really dare to go through all controls and set a full layout for myself. Perhaps with a year's experience...
Game looks ls pretty good, I like it. The big universe is a huge thing.

 

[Lysette]

Not everyone wants a game to be ridiculously easy and some even might find the challenge to figure things out by themselves a good thing. Especially sandbox games like ED have this aspect as a concept - basically: here is your galaxy, you are free to do what you like in it, enjoy and have fun - and that's it. But a new player should be told, that (s)he is expected to use out-of-game resources in order to play the game. And things improve rather quickly in game, if you just stick with it and gain some experience. Flying will become 2nd nature and if you do a little bit of everything (eventually with the exception of combat missions), you will get invitations from engineers at some point, which allow you to enhance your ship's performance in many ways. This again enables you to see things from a very different perspective and what seemed to be hard in the beginning starts to become doable and enjoyable as well. Just don't give up and carry on doing a bit of everything and the game will open up soon.

 

[bencze]

I was stuck for an hour (maybe more) with the game because I was not aligning correctly at the dock so I couldn't finish docking. Took way way long to figure out what was wrong I mistakenly attributed it to a fine. That's not interesting sandboxy game design, it's like a bad joke to not make it somehow obvious what the problem is.

 

[Lysette]

I was stuck for an hour (maybe more) with the game because I was not aligning correctly at the dock so I couldn't finish docking. Took way way long to figure out what was wrong I mistakenly attributed it to a fine. That's not interesting sandboxy game design, it's like a bad joke to not make it somehow obvious what the problem is.

Did you do the training missions related to docking?- there is one in the normal training section (which basically let's you train your first mission) and one in the advanced section (challenges), where you can just learn how to dock. And then there are videos as well, did you watch them?

 

[Donatelllo]

Not everyone wants a game to be ridiculously easy and some even might find the challenge to figure things out by themselves a good thing.

I never stated that the game should be ridiculously easy and I do not want that either., What I would like to see is a way to allow new players have the ability to get a reasonable foothold on the game without being overwhelmingly frustrated from the very beginning. From what I have read of other peoples comments I am not the only one that feels this way.

I also noted that you made mention to the training missions and the videos. The training missions are reasonable with the exception of the combat ones which are not what I would call 'for new players'. The first combat mission took a few goes to kill the first ship and many many many more attempts to kill the second one and even then I still have problems beating that mission. The advanced combat one is simple put - impossible! Where is the 'training' in that? The videos I found to be adequate but not advanced and offered little to myself. I found the assistance provided by some mentors on the Frontier Discord to be of much much more help and those people deserve a medal for their patience. Practise behind the helm is the only way to get better imho.

Experienced players and developers can attempt to defend the game till they are blue in the face but the fact remains that the vast majority of new players experience high levels of frustration with many parts of the game. I know that practise will give you some good gains but I would suggest creating a couple of 'newbie' systems where the rewards are extremely low but it gives new players a chance to learn combat without being annihilated immediately and things like docking and landing on places that do not have too much surrounding pads.

I honestly believe that if the game was a easier to learn the player base would be a lot greater than it is now. More players = more money for Frontier. The math is simple. That being said I am off to do a few more transport missions!

 

[KellyR]

I definitely believe that - with me, steam says 252 hours played and I am just starting to grasp the very basics - it doesn't matter anyway, it's an MMO, i will play it for years to come, I am not in a hurry, even I sometimes rush to a certain goal - but not without having fun, I do not like grinding and if I'm not having fun, I'll stop it.

Tonight I did not much else then flying different ship configurations about 400 light years this way and back again,several times - to figure out what good setups are for the practical purpose to fly through an area, where about half of it is kind of a wasteland travel-wise. This is preparation and gaining experience, which I will need, when I will decide to make my way to Colonia - in a small ship, the smallest I can manage - that is why I test a lot with those now.

As a side effect of having done a couple of thousand light year - I can now fuel scoop with closed eyes, just listening to the sound it makes let's me control the direction - muscle and sound memory takes over.

252 hours? You're just a pup. I've got more than 2000 hours in and I'm still just an Expert at combat. Of course I have cleared my save a few times. But I'm still learning things and I started at Release in December of 2014. This is a LONG term project. There's always more to do and see and learn.

 

[Lysette]

252 hours? You're just a pup. I've got more than 2000 hours in and I'm still just an Expert at combat. Of course I have cleared my save a few times. But I'm still learning things and I started at Release in December of 2014. This is a LONG term project. There's always more to do and see and learn.

Yeah, with 10 years and 3 days in EVE I know how that is in a space sandbox game - even after 10 years there I am still just proficient in a niche of what it has to offer. So I feel like you with this - there is firstly always something to do and I will play it for as long as it will be online - which is now 15.5 years and counting. ED is young compared to it, even it has seen the light of day more than 30 years ago. In ED I have 4 hours left to cross the 300 hours mark. This is about double of what I usually play - seems the game has something to offer which is highly attractive

 

[Wroc_Crusher]

Some good advise from these last few posts. Just starting myself as a brand newbie. Played Dust some and loved X-Wing Alliance as a fighter sim. Bought myself a new rig for Xmas so I could run this. See how this goes. ☺

 

[Lysette]

Some good advise from these last few posts. Just starting myself as a brand newbie. Played Dust some and loved X-Wing Alliance as a fighter sim. Bought myself a new rig for Xmas so I could run this. See how this goes. ☺

It will do fine, runs as well on a potato just not on highest resolution then. Well, VR is a different beast though.

 

[Lysette]

I never stated that the game should be ridiculously easy and I do not want that either., What I would like to see is a way to allow new players have the ability to get a reasonable foothold on the game without being overwhelmingly frustrated from the very beginning. From what I have read of other peoples comments I am not the only one that feels this way.

I also noted that you made mention to the training missions and the videos. The training missions are reasonable with the exception of the combat ones which are not what I would call 'for new players'. The first combat mission took a few goes to kill the first ship and many many many more attempts to kill the second one and even then I still have problems beating that mission. The advanced combat one is simple put - impossible! Where is the 'training' in that? The videos I found to be adequate but not advanced and offered little to myself. I found the assistance provided by some mentors on the Frontier Discord to be of much much more help and those people deserve a medal for their patience. Practise behind the helm is the only way to get better imho.

Experienced players and developers can attempt to defend the game till they are blue in the face but the fact remains that the vast majority of new players experience high levels of frustration with many parts of the game. I know that practise will give you some good gains but I would suggest creating a couple of 'newbie' systems where the rewards are extremely low but it gives new players a chance to learn combat without being annihilated immediately and things like docking and landing on places that do not have too much surrounding pads.

I honestly believe that if the game was a easier to learn the player base would be a lot greater than it is now. More players = more money for Frontier. The math is simple. That being said I am off to do a few more transport missions!

You are right of course - 10 years back, when I started to play EVE the "tutorial" was more like - look, here is your ship, this way is the universe - have fun. ED feels pretty similar to that. Good old memories - but not helpful - sorry for my nostalgia. From officlal statements of the EVE developers I know that 50% of those, who try EVE will not make it through their first 2 hours and quit. So you are as well right, that with a good new player experience, the success of these games could be a lot better.

As far as training goes - not all training missions are for new players - it didn't say new player training, just training.

 

[Para Handy]

............ What I would like to see is a way to allow new players have the ability to get a reasonable foothold on the game without being overwhelmingly frustrated from the very beginning. From what I have read of other peoples comments I am not the only one that feels this way.

..........

Quite correct - from a failure to update the manual to the appalling lack of organisation of their tutorial videos etc the game needs a good kick up the posterior.

In particular, after the recent update coincided with a massive reduction in price I am sure many people bought it, ran it, said what is this mode / FSS / whatever, then said "f" it - give me a refund Mr Steam. (Especially since X4 is now available.)

There needs to be a major reworking of how to wean people into the game so kudos to all newcomers who stick with it.

Some good advise from these last few posts. Just starting myself as a brand newbie. Played Dust some and loved X-Wing Alliance as a fighter sim. Bought myself a new rig for Xmas so I could run this. See how this goes. ☺

Welcome and remember there is a lot of help available in the forum and the "Galactic Academy", just ask.

 

[Lysette]

That is the trouble with people nowadays - they mostly expect to get all handed to them - as soon as it requires some effort to get into it, no way - really sad.

And yes, Para, X4 is out, but it's menu and interface takes getting used to as well - it was always a problem with X games, but once you get used to them, it can be played pretty fluently. Well, the same is true for ED actually. I can do many things by muscle memory without even think about it now - but at start it was a nightmare.

 

[bencze]

That is the trouble with people nowadays - they mostly expect to get all handed to them - as soon as it requires some effort to get into it, no way - really sad.

The "today's youth, everything was better back in the day" attitude isn't the jolly joker to apply to every situation, yes people used to hunt with wooden spears but nowadays we have grown to have expectations from a computer program - e.g. to throw a meaningful error in case of an exception, or if you spend less time playing than googling then again there's something inherently wrong. I played eve online and while it's said to be notoriously bad for newbies, for the basic things, it just works and gives meaningful messages, the only difficulty lies in the fact it has so meny features and if you want to do something specific you have to read up on that. I'm sure I'm not the only player that quit Elite back at start because of the "tutorials". This time I only did the basic ones, even then there was one detail I forgot (align correctly for dock) and had to spend one or two hours until I figured it out. It could be a bit more intuitive.

 

[Karina Ivanovich]

Here from EVE Online after all the small group stuff really started dying. Loving the concept of the BGS and am hoping to get a group together soon! Conceptually the game looks amazing.

 

[Lysette]

The "today's youth, everything was better back in the day" attitude isn't the jolly joker to apply to every situation, yes people used to hunt with wooden spears but nowadays we have grown to have expectations from a computer program - e.g. to throw a meaningful error in case of an exception, or if you spend less time playing than googling then again there's something inherently wrong. I played eve online and while it's said to be notoriously bad for newbies, for the basic things, it just works and gives meaningful messages, the only difficulty lies in the fact it has so meny features and if you want to do something specific you have to read up on that. I'm sure I'm not the only player that quit Elite back at start because of the "tutorials". This time I only did the basic ones, even then there was one detail I forgot (align correctly for dock) and had to spend one or two hours until I figured it out. It could be a bit more intuitive.

Yeah it could, but it is not likely - the original game was released nearly 35 years ago and the CEO is of that time - so guess what?

This is why I said this, not because I would be old. And as far as EVE goes, CCP made a real effort to improve the new player experience and streamline it. I'm playing EVE now since 10 years and started at a time where "tutorial" was not much more than "see this is your ship, this is how you undock, this is how you warp to places, have fun". Exploration and finding out how the game world functions is part of the game - and using community made tools on the web is expected, because this info is a group effort - and this is a multi-player game. I think like you it could be a bit more instructive for new players. On the other hand, this might bring people to the forum or other groups, where they can make contact to experienced players and eventually even find a group to play with or which could give them advice.

In a sandbox game some own initiative is expected, no one is telling you what to do in this game - it is all up to you, to decide that. The concept is basically - here is the galaxy, now do something with it. It's total freedom, and that comes without hand holding.

Edit: and I agree, EVE is lifelong learning - this will not change regardless how long you play it - and ED seems to be not different, but far less complex than EVE. But it has aspects, which EVE doesn't offer, like the feeling to really pilot your ship and not just command it.

 

[Rat Catcher]

For the newest players:

I started playing around 6 months ago, had bought the game before then but not picked it up to play. Bought a cheap HOTAS and started playing around mid-June.

Did a couple of the tutorials and jumped into the game, hit the rebuy screen a few times because I was finding out what I was 'able' to do rather than 'wanted' to do (I'm sure most of us will go there...) Picked up lots of data missions in the close systems and 'learned the ropes' in the safer starter systems.

For the new ones who have joined since the 3.3 release, the FSS is your friend, every system you jump into for the first time and scan will earn you some credits, even short (200LY+) economy jump explorations will earn you 'plenty' of credits toward upgrading your ships - and in the bubble, will help learn to escape the many NPC interdictions...

Have fun (and unless you are really hardcore spend your 'formative' days in Solo, then you only have NPC pirates to cope with)

 

[Th1ck_Payload]

Hi I'm still kind of new and this is my first posting.
This game is amazing, the devs really went above and beyond and made elite a one of a kind game.
With that being said I've been cruising around the type 6, jumped on and started saying after a couple weeks, And it lost me.
Analysis/combat mode? What's that. Also have no idea what you mean by fss, some thing about frame shift?

The only thing I don't like is that there is NO information for you. No link to a page that gives a general idea or videos or anything. If I wasn't a persistent person I would've already got tired of that.

 

[Alec Turner]

Hi I'm still kind of new and this is my first posting.
This game is amazing, the devs really went above and beyond and made elite a one of a kind game.
With that being said I've been cruising around the type 6, jumped on and started saying after a couple weeks, And it lost me.
Analysis/combat mode? What's that. Also have no idea what you mean by fss, some thing about frame shift?

The only thing I don't like is that there is NO information for you. No link to a page that gives a general idea or videos or anything. If I wasn't a persistent person I would've already got tired of that.

Welcome to the forum. You're right, Elite is a unique game. You're also right that it can be hard to find information for a new player. There is a manual which you can find via a link somewhere in the top-right corner of the game launcher. You can also find loads of information (including another link to the manual) in Alec-s-best-of-the-forum-(and-elsewhere)-v2 thread.

 

[Para Handy]

..........., And it lost me.
Analysis/combat mode? What's that. Also have no idea what you mean by fss, some thing about frame shift?

The only thing I don't like is that there is NO information for you. No link to a page that gives a general idea or videos or anything. If I wasn't a persistent person I would've already got tired of that.

1 - Acronyms and initialisms are explained in the sticky thread https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/26642-The-Elite-Dangerous-Acronym-Guide which is not-quite up to date so FSS = Full Spectrum System (scanner)

2 - I did a guide to the exploration tools which will help you come to terms with the FSS and DSS - there are other more polished videos on the yootoob.

3 - There are updated "tutorial videos" from Frontier but their inability to produce an updated manual for such extensive changes is really unforgivable.

Good luck and any questions ask in this forum or the discord Galactic Academy.

 

[Outrunner85]

My socks flew right off. As someone who has a love affair with space and a passion for video games, i really wish i found this game sooner. I'm most impressed with how easy it is to get going. All i did was the first few training missions, to learn how to fly, jump, and basic combat and i was ready to go start earning credits and exploring.

Only two weeks in i have a few decked out entry level ships and earning some decent credits with all types of roles. i am now scouring these forums, reddit, and have youtube videos queued up for the more advanced stuff to learn.

See you CMDRs out there.