Why does Frontier have to make everything either frustrating or mind numbing? (Mining for Fissures)

dxm55

Banned
Well, in addition to mining making me concerned about FD's design abilities, Multicrew also highlights it perfectly IMHO!
1) For multicrew to be interesting, a considered development plan should have introduced gameplay elements to make areas/aspects of the game involved and rewarding enough so allowing a player to specialising in them so it would be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience - This was not done.
2) Given (1) was not done, Multicrew was still introduced none-the-less, creating a development rod for FD's back forever more! ie: Any/all gameplay elements around the cockpit etc etc, now have to take into account multicrew.

ps: The Thargoid invasion suffers from the same issues. No development/consideration into adding mechanics in before hand to then leverage to make the invasion actually engaging and more involved.

Tried MC. It's just nonsense and buggy.

Just an afterthought so you can get into the cockpit camera mode for a wonderful Wefie opportunity with a buddy. LOL.
Completely useless otherwise.
 
There are several other examples, the pinnacle for me was, when FDev wanted to make ship transfer instantaneous. I realized they have moved a away from the initial vision on purpose, to make the game more appealing, or they didn't realize the consequences.
Well, initially (during the design phase) they didn't want to have instant ship transfers. During implementation they realised that it would take more time and the feature wouldn't make it into 2.2, so they decided to go with the easier and instant solution. After the community became vocal about it and the poll was made they decided to delay 2.2 in order to implement their original vision and the wishes of the community.
So it's not really moving away from the initial vision or purpose but just the difficulties of game development.
 
Well, in addition to mining making me concerned about FD's design abilities, Multicrew also highlights it perfectly IMHO!
1) For multicrew to be interesting, a considered development plan should have introduced gameplay elements to make areas/aspects of the game involved and rewarding enough so allowing a player to specialising in them so it would be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience - This was not done.
2) Given (1) was not done, Multicrew was still introduced none-the-less, creating a development rod for FD's back forever more! ie: Any/all gameplay elements around the cockpit etc etc, now have to take into account multicrew.

ps: The Thargoid invasion suffers from the same issues. No development/consideration into adding mechanics in before hand to then leverage to make the invasion actually engaging and more involved.
Yes, they create a signifikant amount of overhead for themselves with very little benefits in the end. I really hope they have changed their way of implementing new mechanics for the upcoming update in 2020. Yamiks hinted at that during his Lavecon summary.
The concept of implementing new mechanics bare bones and only expanding them, if they get used, doesn't seem reasonable of you need to consider those mechanics anyway for each single further addition to the game. And if you don't do that, it seems higly inconsistent, like (Wing) missions in combination with Multicrew.
 
Seriously:

Everything in this game has to be so complicated and unnecessarily either boring or just plain frustrating. Why is it that with ALL this ship tech, when you do a Pulse Wave Scan, it just highlights Fissure asteroids, green or purple or something. Hunting for these gets tedious and I wasted an hour in a hot spot trying to get ONE. It makes mining NOT worth it.

Not only that,l you have to carry a RIDICULOUS amount of stuff now when you mine, and fire groups are ridiculous.

Why can't you guys do ONE Quality of Life, and make the pulse wave scanner actually pick up Fissure asteroids, instead of me having to get super close to the asteroid to see it. Why with all this RIDICULOUS ship tech, a pulse wave can't do that?

There is only one type of Asteroid I can tell that is guaranteed not a fissure, everything else is a crap shoot.


WHY CAN'T THIS ONE QUALITY of LIFE be implemented. Why because people want to be super hard core? No, this is just a QOL that MAKES SENSE.

Yes I am whining, but seriously, why can't this be done?
Its the frontier way, this was heavily discussed in the beta forum but ignored by frontier... i think i still have the mock up i created and as if by magic its.... here;

aqxY7eH.png


by that method you would just look for green roids... it would have been divine... but alas NO

also forum pitchforks have something to do with it despite the forums being 2.8% of the ED universe.

but all that said ^^ you can decipher the sea of orange and find fissure roids from many km away with a bit of practice by recognizing patterns - basically the same as colouring them to be honest when you know the trick as its not exactly a "skill" to recognize them
 

dxm55

Banned
Its the frontier way, this was heavily discussed in the beta forum but ignored by frontier... i think i still have the mock up i created and as if by magic its.... here;

aqxY7eH.png


by that method you would just look for green roids... it would have been divine... but alas NO

also forum pitchforks have something to do with it despite the forums being 2.8% of the ED universe.

but all that said ^^ you can decipher the sea of orange and find fissure roids from many km away with a bit of practice by recognizing patterns - basically the same as colouring them to be honest when you know the trick as its not exactly a "skill" to recognize them


Like I said. It's an intentional time and effort sink.

You probably see 1 out 100 rocks that are yellow in a sea of asteroids.
Of those yellow rocks, probably half of them are core asteroids.
And of those core asteroids, prob half of them are of the type that are supposed to be, in that hot spot.

LOL. 0.25% hit rate. And they call it a hotspot.

Oh well......
 
Seriously:

Everything in this game has to be so complicated and unnecessarily either boring or just plain frustrating. Why is it that with ALL this ship tech, when you do a Pulse Wave Scan, it just highlights Fissure asteroids, green or purple or something. Hunting for these gets tedious and I wasted an hour in a hot spot trying to get ONE. It makes mining NOT worth it.

Not only that,l you have to carry a RIDICULOUS amount of stuff now when you mine, and fire groups are ridiculous.

Why can't you guys do ONE Quality of Life, and make the pulse wave scanner actually pick up Fissure asteroids, instead of me having to get super close to the asteroid to see it. Why with all this RIDICULOUS ship tech, a pulse wave can't do that?

There is only one type of Asteroid I can tell that is guaranteed not a fissure, everything else is a crap shoot.


WHY CAN'T THIS ONE QUALITY of LIFE be implemented. Why because people want to be super hard core? No, this is just a QOL that MAKES SENSE.

Yes I am whining, but seriously, why can't this be done?
once you prospect an asteroid.. and it shows void opals.. just get close, hit the pulse wave scanner and they show up like white splodges.. fly upwards and point nose down so you fly around the asteroid with the asteroid always ahead of you.. and fire away.. just fire a big charge first... then attack the other ones - keep firing the pulse wave scanner to see the white splodges.. its so easy to get the optimum yield but if you go into the red.. you don't loose that much.. only a few less.. retreat and detonate.. collect your goods and move onto the next one.. ive learnt that they have a particular shape and the black lines are visible from a long way away. I love mining, absolutely love it.. its therapeutic and relaxing.. and you get to blow stuff up in spectacular style.. if you have good shields you can be close when it goes off and you feel the blast wave.. its so cool..

one thing ive learnt that is, if you log off and you have void opals in your cargo hold.. you will get scanned again when you log on and attacked so be prepared to kill or get the hell out of there and go sell..

o7
 

dxm55

Banned
one thing ive learnt that is, if you log off and you have void opals in your cargo hold.. you will get scanned again when you log on and attacked so be prepared to kill or get the hell out of there and go sell..

o7

Or you can do what I do.

Fully engineer and A-rate your miner ship, and add a military hull, then all other hardpoints that are not carrying mining tools are equipped with beams and frag cannons. ROFLMAO.
 
Its the frontier way, this was heavily discussed in the beta forum but ignored by frontier... i think i still have the mock up i created and as if by magic its.... here;

aqxY7eH.png


by that method you would just look for green roids... it would have been divine... but alas NO

also forum pitchforks have something to do with it despite the forums being 2.8% of the ED universe.

but all that said ^^ you can decipher the sea of orange and find fissure roids from many km away with a bit of practice by recognizing patterns - basically the same as colouring them to be honest when you know the trick as its not exactly a "skill" to recognize them
I remember seeing that picture - and thinking the benefits would be great :)

Sadly, to the bit I highlighted - it is a learned skill, it must be, as despite lots of core mining (well a few hours :) ) I still can't get a 'definite' on a core bearer despite colour & shape...
 
Its the frontier way, this was heavily discussed in the beta forum but ignored by frontier... i think i still have the mock up i created and as if by magic its.... here;

aqxY7eH.png


by that method you would just look for green roids... it would have been divine... but alas NO
But that would require skill level 0, like a slot machine.
 

DeletedUser191218

D
Seriously:

Everything in this game has to be so complicated and unnecessarily either boring or just plain frustrating. Why is it that with ALL this ship tech, when you do a Pulse Wave Scan, it just highlights Fissure asteroids, green or purple or something. Hunting for these gets tedious and I wasted an hour in a hot spot trying to get ONE. It makes mining NOT worth it.

Not only that,l you have to carry a RIDICULOUS amount of stuff now when you mine, and fire groups are ridiculous.

Why can't you guys do ONE Quality of Life, and make the pulse wave scanner actually pick up Fissure asteroids, instead of me having to get super close to the asteroid to see it. Why with all this RIDICULOUS ship tech, a pulse wave can't do that?

There is only one type of Asteroid I can tell that is guaranteed not a fissure, everything else is a crap shoot.


WHY CAN'T THIS ONE QUALITY of LIFE be implemented. Why because people want to be super hard core? No, this is just a QOL that MAKES SENSE.

Yes I am whining, but seriously, why can't this be done?

Because that's the game. You have to bear in mind ED has an older player base than most, many of whom are nostalgic about they're original Elite experience in 1984. Hence, much of the gameplay is very archaic and tedious in nature. It does mean those of us (millenials such as myself) who grew up with slightly more modern gameplay mechanics and narrative look on in bewilderment at the way this game has been built.

FDev are a theme park simulation company. In many ways, ED is just a big park simulation. What it does well are the ships. Gameplay is pretty dire in general.
 
Because that's the game. You have to bear in mind ED has an older player base than most, many of whom are nostalgic about still very much keen on continuing they're their original Elite experience in 1984. Hence, much of the gameplay is very archaic traditional and tedious skill-based in nature. It does mean those of us (millenials such as myself) who grew up with slightly more modern instant gratification based gameplay mechanics and narrative look on in bewilderment at the way this game has been built.
Fixed it for you from the viewpoint of an oldie / silver spacer. No offence intended at all.
 

DeletedUser191218

D
Fixed it for you from the viewpoint of an oldie / silver spacer. No offence intended at all.

My comment wasn't intended to be offensive either. Apologies if it came across that way. I have to disagree about your assertion about gameplay being 'skill based'. ED is one of the least skill based games I've ever played.
 
My comment wasn't intended to be offensive either. Apologies if it came across that way. I have to disagree about your assertion about gameplay being 'skill based'. ED is one of the least skill based games I've ever played.
Being successful in Elite very much relies on knowledge, which could be seen as a skill.

If you take combat into account (especially PvP) it becomes VERY skill based. I played 10 years of competitive PvP and the controls and options are way more complex in ED than they are in CSS for example.

There is a reason the most common complaint about ED is that it's too difficult to land....
 
Like I said. It's an intentional time and effort sink.

You probably see 1 out 100 rocks that are yellow in a sea of asteroids.
Of those yellow rocks, probably half of them are core asteroids.
And of those core asteroids, prob half of them are of the type that are supposed to be, in that hot spot.

LOL. 0.25% hit rate. And they call it a hotspot.

Oh well......

If the hit rate is lower elsewhere, yes, that's a hotspot by definition.
 

DeletedUser191218

D
None taken! Out of interest, what would you consider as a skill based activity in a video game?
ed. flight sims excluded.

Well fighting games usually require quite a bit of skill. As do sport games. Pro Ev is a tricky game to master. There is SOME skill in combat in ED but generally it's a low skill game. Half of it is spent looking at another screen.
 
In ED I think knowledge is skill. I always tell new players that in early stages you can be destroyed by things you haven't heard of in ways you don't understand.

I well remember finishing fuel scooping and starting the FSD charging before waiting until the fuel scoop was inactive, and wondering why my ship cooked.
 
I enjoy mining. Even before the update. My regular routine is to accept some mining missions for our faction. These are usually common metals and minerals and are usually not valuable on their own but pay fairly well with a mission. I use a python with every mining tool on it. I pulse wave scan the rocks and find one with the materials I need. I first use the subsurface and abrasion tools to get what I need. I then use mining lasers to finish off. If it was a core asteroid, I of course finish it off by using seismic charges. I'm not saying my way is best but it suits me and I make money, I help our faction as well. I have even determined in one belt that I frequent alot, where certain materials are. They also seem to clump in areas as well. Not all the time but quite frequently. As I said, when I need hydrogen peroxide, I have found a bed of it seems to always be on the outer edge of this particular belt. Water is always around there too. Another thing I do is to use the planet as a point of reference as I move forward. That way I don't backtrack where I've been. Now, for most players this would probably break their brain because it may seem tedious. But the truth is I feel like a space miner. Not just someone who hunts void opals (which is perfectly fine if that's what you do). For me, doing it this way, I get a lot of enjoyment from this and so do others I mine with. Mining isn't for everyone. I don't want it nerfed where it's too easy. It should take skill, just like combat. So please, stop asking Frontier to "fix" mining.....I enjoy it the way it is.....that is unless you asI to make it even more skillfull.... :)
 
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