Yeah, like making more cosmetics.
This Interstellar Initiative is not really "Exciting"
- Thread starter VR SenseiMatty
- Start date
Yeah, like making more cosmetics.
Any rewards are going to be poor compared to painite/vopal mining. At least CGs were worth doing for money before that, but the mining boom is just what the players demanded. Before it occurred there were daily whine posts about how hard it was to grind a Anaconda, those have gone now so I guess FD fixed a complaint?
Players wanted to be Lords of the Galaxy. They wanted to control systems, have their obnoxious names on things and they sure weren't going to wait months for results. So we got a Mickey Mouse BGS where systems/stations/assets change hands weekly and wars/famine/booms/bust/expansions all occur at Keystone Cop speeds. You're not going to get any deep gameplay out of a game that favoured pandering to group play with PP, PMFs, Squadrons and the delayed Fleet Carriers instead of building solid, credible, cohesive mechanics in the base game.
Any rewards are going to be poor compared to painite/vopal mining. At least CGs were worth doing for money before that, but the mining boom is just what the players demanded. Before it occurred there were daily whine posts about how hard it was to grind a Anaconda, those have gone now so I guess FD fixed a complaint?
Players wanted to be Lords of the Galaxy. They wanted to control systems, have their obnoxious names on things and they sure weren't going to wait months for results. So we got a Mickey Mouse BGS where systems/stations/assets change hands weekly and wars/famine/booms/bust/expansions all occur at Keystone Cop speeds. You're not going to get any deep gameplay out of a game that favoured pandering to group play with PP, PMFs, Squadrons and the delayed Fleet Carriers instead of building solid, credible, cohesive mechanics in the base game.
These CG's are far even from normal missions.
I can normally make 3-6 mil per run with delivery or passengers missions.
In the first 2 CG's it was about 200k per run and the last one 1.6mil. The combat CG is much much worse, 1/2 hour in a medium CZ worthed 200-300k in combat bonds.
Consider also a couple of rebuys, because I played in open during the first 2 CG's, and you go directly in negative balance.
I've already considered to go mining vopals after this II to recover some credits
The problem is that is also boring... yesterday I had 1 hour free to play and I started hauling, after 15 minutes I was bored as hell (3 trade CG's in a row!) and I quit.
FD try to avoid player agency as much as they can.
I don't know why.
As for the story lines, it's fairly clear that underdogs never win in the ED universe.
The last II was pretty good, maybe that was the best that Frontier could/would offer us.
This one is meh! Although I did the first couple of CG's, just for something to do, this has now gotten tedious & I'm now off doing something else that I want to try out.
Maybe the next couple of sections will be better, but I'll only return to it if it significantly improves.
This one is meh! Although I did the first couple of CG's, just for something to do, this has now gotten tedious & I'm now off doing something else that I want to try out.
Maybe the next couple of sections will be better, but I'll only return to it if it significantly improves.
My problem is that, if ongoing 'fluff' lore has stopped, each II has to really progress ED in some way.
You have The Club, Thargoids, Superpowers / Tier 1 characters going unused.
Personally, FD should restrict any II to these subjects, because in doing so they advance the narrative. It would have been really crazy to have the Thargoids seeding biological warfare agents to kill our crops, starving humanity into instability and then coming back. Or, The Club could have false flagged it into pushing superpowers into doing its bidding.
IIs have to go big and bold, and have interesting outcomes beyond the act of doing them.
You have The Club, Thargoids, Superpowers / Tier 1 characters going unused.
Personally, FD should restrict any II to these subjects, because in doing so they advance the narrative. It would have been really crazy to have the Thargoids seeding biological warfare agents to kill our crops, starving humanity into instability and then coming back. Or, The Club could have false flagged it into pushing superpowers into doing its bidding.
IIs have to go big and bold, and have interesting outcomes beyond the act of doing them.
I remember when all those PP characters had their own story lines, I loved reading Galnet every week and to immerse myself in this galaxy. We had politics, drama, gossip and Elite's Maury talking about Aisling's dating life.
All of that is gone now.
The term "maintenance mode" isn't fair, since it would imply that there's no ongoing work on future content for Elite. I think it's more fitting that Elite was put into an artificial coma and Frontier hope to successfully wake it up again late 2020/early 2021.
All of that is gone now.
The term "maintenance mode" isn't fair, since it would imply that there's no ongoing work on future content for Elite. I think it's more fitting that Elite was put into an artificial coma and Frontier hope to successfully wake it up again late 2020/early 2021.
True, in Open you're more afraight of gankers and it's good to manage the entrance through the airlock with other players.
The problem is the cost for being ganked. One rebuy can reset all your rewards, two would make a negatvie balance already.
I got bored, so I jumped in my Dolphin last night and left the Bubble for a spell. The payouts for this trading CG are rubbish, especially since I'm saving humanity from extinction, and hauling cargo over and over again for no defined outcome is boring (usually I run cargo for BGS, which is different). The combat CG had potential for some interesting CZ PvP, but it's a broken mess in Open. Rubbish, all rubbish!
Well, except the story and the cheap T9. I'm poor right now, so the discounts got me a T9 earlier than expected, and GalNet is keeping me tuned in on a daily basis, so there's that.
Well, except the story and the cheap T9. I'm poor right now, so the discounts got me a T9 earlier than expected, and GalNet is keeping me tuned in on a daily basis, so there's that.
Deleted member 38366
D
What IIs are missing :
Food Cartridges btw. are available in limitless supply, so Food remained a non-factor at all times.
System Populations decreasing? Nope, can't happen. Noone ever dies and noone is ever born in the ELITE Universe. 100% static - or it's the Club and this has a far far darker background
So with no possible agenda, no reasons to intervene, no credible threat to anything and as a consequence no motivation to even care about this narrative - why grind for lousy pay? Why?
That's where CGs often failed already - and that's where IIs fall flat on their nose just as well.
(well unless you've become a fan of items like the "Advanced MultiCannon" which by all practical means is about as useful as a G5 shielded Fuel Scoop)
- new mechanics (CGs use V1.1 era mechanics and are technically obsolete, needs to be far more granular and Objective-oriented/realistic)
- Reward structure (long obsolete for similar reasons)
- "long lasting effects on the Galaxy" - just as Rubbernuke said : this needs to count for something! . It has to be significant enough to make Players think twice before going on with their daily business. "What if.... things go wrong?". None of that exists, nothing to build Player agency upon, no consequences to fear, no real victories to claim. Just generic, bland and boring grind to little effect if any.
Food Cartridges btw. are available in limitless supply, so Food remained a non-factor at all times.
System Populations decreasing? Nope, can't happen. Noone ever dies and noone is ever born in the ELITE Universe. 100% static - or it's the Club and this has a far far darker background
So with no possible agenda, no reasons to intervene, no credible threat to anything and as a consequence no motivation to even care about this narrative - why grind for lousy pay? Why?
That's where CGs often failed already - and that's where IIs fall flat on their nose just as well.
(well unless you've become a fan of items like the "Advanced MultiCannon" which by all practical means is about as useful as a G5 shielded Fuel Scoop)
Don't forget that new Guardian tour bus!
These interstellar initiatives are a waste of time and resources, it's just text, making us fantasize that we're really doing something, when it's more of the same. If you told me, we do not give you, for example, a totally new weapon (introducing it in a patch) it is worth it, but it was worth it, but for some shi t of stickers, they are teasing us, I remind you that we finally have the 2 "new weapons "of the first I.I.
3 I.I = 3 I.I who have not bothered me, give us real content, oh no, that delays it 6 more months.
3 I.I = 3 I.I who have not bothered me, give us real content, oh no, that delays it 6 more months.
Deleted member 38366
D
Oh lol indeed. Are the "Glacier Travels Inc.- we rarely ride and only next door" MegaShips still alive?
I thought their Captains had long scuttled the Ships and ran off
Not II related directly... I arrived in a station last night, faction is in outbreak and 'needing' medicines desperately (usual blurb) so every mission for the faction is a planetary scan or kill xx...
I think they can keep their outbreak...
I think they can keep their outbreak...
Deleted member 182079
D
Agree pretty much. Just feels like the CG's of old, but with slightly more text added.3 trade CG's and 1 Combat CG in Combat Zones only:
Is that all?
- Use of in-game existing assets (low)
- Player engagement (boring and repetitive)
- Rewards (poor)
As for the rewards, with mining being an established credit fountain now, I don't get why the credit earnings couldn't be increased at least a little bit. I'm currently in the top 25% in the Combat CG, that would earn me around 12m credits. I could just jump into my Python parked in Ceos and do a couple of single jump cargo missions do earn the same, but in minutes rather than grinding for a week. Meh.
What also doesn't help is that what little is there, doesn't even work (CZ's), at least in Open. And what's exactly the point of a CG without the C bit.
Didn't bother with the Trading CG as the result is baked in anyways and gameplay wise no different than doing trade runs into ShinDez.
Damp Squib. Shame as the first II was rather promising, even if not exactly groundbreaking either. Still have fond memories of the setup.
I think the previous II was good, even if the guardian bus and new multi rewards were virtually pointless.
Hell i even did one run out to the Witch Head in a T-9, inspired by all the people helping to fix all the bust stations, hauling is not my bag at all normally.
We got a new engineer as well, that was actually something useful.
Not really interested in farming since "crop rotation policies" History class back in the day, doubt thats going to change.
PLEASE BRING BACK AXCZ's DAMMIT!!
o7
Hell i even did one run out to the Witch Head in a T-9, inspired by all the people helping to fix all the bust stations, hauling is not my bag at all normally.
We got a new engineer as well, that was actually something useful.
Not really interested in farming since "crop rotation policies" History class back in the day, doubt thats going to change.
PLEASE BRING BACK AXCZ's DAMMIT!!
o7
Positives :-
Negatives :-
Overall I would have given this a C+ / B-. The initial slow build up using Galnet News and the BGS was good. However, there were people who would have supported the Onion Headers, due the Federation's tactics in the previous storyline, so a competitive community goal might have spiced things up a bit and there was a lack of a dynamic event (like the evacuation of Palin's Base and defence of his mega ship) which would probably deflected a lot of the critisim.
- New BGS State - Blight.
- New Decal
- A coherent Buildup and Plot, including a story from 3 years ago.
Negatives :-
- Four CGs over three and a half weeks.
- No Unique Event Gameplay.
- Linier Storyline,
Overall I would have given this a C+ / B-. The initial slow build up using Galnet News and the BGS was good. However, there were people who would have supported the Onion Headers, due the Federation's tactics in the previous storyline, so a competitive community goal might have spiced things up a bit and there was a lack of a dynamic event (like the evacuation of Palin's Base and defence of his mega ship) which would probably deflected a lot of the critisim.
Deleted member 182079
D
Ok, just to show that I'm not just moaning, here's an idea using EXISTING ASSETS THAT WERE TAKEN OUT OF THE GAME COMPLETELY FOR NO OBVIOUS REASON.
Remember the burning stations? One of the best set pieces in the game. Make a CG with those - doesn't have to be Thargoid related.
It could be aimed at various player groups:
1) those who want to pick up junk floating inside the station
2) those who want to evacuate people from the station
2.5) those who want to bring out -insert random commodity of choice- cargo from the station - or into it (meds etc.)
3) those who want to disrupt the above two via PvP (maybe even as a competing CG so that PvP would be meaningful for once)
4) those who want to prevent 3) via PvP
5) you could throw in Thargoid attacks (it's already proven as a concept, remember the Gnosis) if you wanted, so Goid hunters could jump in
6) and Goid lovers also
My word, I just made this up as I typed out this post. Is it really that difficult for FDev to come up with these things themselves?
Remember the burning stations? One of the best set pieces in the game. Make a CG with those - doesn't have to be Thargoid related.
It could be aimed at various player groups:
1) those who want to pick up junk floating inside the station
2) those who want to evacuate people from the station
2.5) those who want to bring out -insert random commodity of choice- cargo from the station - or into it (meds etc.)
3) those who want to disrupt the above two via PvP (maybe even as a competing CG so that PvP would be meaningful for once)
4) those who want to prevent 3) via PvP
5) you could throw in Thargoid attacks (it's already proven as a concept, remember the Gnosis) if you wanted, so Goid hunters could jump in
6) and Goid lovers also
My word, I just made this up as I typed out this post. Is it really that difficult for FDev to come up with these things themselves?
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