When is VOID OPAL nerf coming?

[Vedmo]

No one knows what will happen in the next patch...

Not even FD

Safe bet is some new unintended consequence makes a new way to stack credits at a crazy rate.

I still highly doubt they had any clue multiple states would create the VO frenzy when the new mining update dropped a year ago. If I remember right it was over the holidays and someone from Frontier said they'd be looking into it once they returned but for now consider it a Christmas gift.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I still highly doubt they had any clue multiple states would create the VO frenzy when the new mining update dropped a year ago.

I suspect that they knew and intended it could happen, but had seriously underestimated just how many systems would end up with the necessary combination, and therefore just how reliable it would be rather than a few ephemeral gold rushes. Sticking the biggest multiplier on Pirate Attack - a state which can be active at most 3 days out of 28 and is designed to be hard to analyse or predict - feels like it was supposed to be lots of short but unreliable bursts of high profits

The rebalancing they did in March cut down on that quite a bit - though still leaving more than enough to go around, given just how big the bubble is.

It is quite possible that the new BGS states and their intended ability to seriously degrade economic and security state, plus the likelihood that at least some of them outright conflict with Pirate Attack, will do quite a bit more to cut down on the number of top sales prices than the actual demand fix does...

(i.e. the inability to find Famine states for wake farming is the flip side of the ease of finding I+CL+PA states for mining)

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

No one knows what will happen in the next patch...

Not even FD

Meanwhile at FD HQ

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Piracy is basically impossible to balance, though, in the context of Elite Dangerous. For piracy to pay better than trade, a pirate attacking a similarly-sized trade vessel has to steal so much of its cargo that they make a net loss on the trip. But for that to be "allowed" it has to be impossible for traders to just avoid the pirates with reliability ... while also possible for them to get through unharmed "most" of the time so they make a profit overall. That sort of super-fine balance where a player trader only beats the pirates (NPC or player) most of the time is basically impossible to set up given the very wide spread of player capabilities, the size of the bubble, and so on.

absolutely. it is hard to balance perfectly but i think there are ways FD could consider to do it better than now- which i do not have time to suggest. FD clearly thought it was possible however because......... (damn timestamp has been lost.... go to 2m 30s - this isnt really for you Ian as i am pretty sure you followed this as much as I did, but more for players who think that (at least trying to) putting balance in the game was never meant to be a thing.

what is funny is mining is specifically the role he said must not stand out.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gMbLjUjs1w#t=2m30s

 

[Red Anders]

You guys are probably just upset your playstyle doesn't pay out as much as you like or in a way you like. The two things complained about are exploration and mining. Those were updated to go with new content. That content hasn't been finished yet. So, combat will probably get stuff too. When the new content comes out!! Which should have been released when this stuff was. Connect the dots... We're years behind an updated they expected to complete these changes.

Against my better judgement I read your reply again because the first time I had to stop for a giggle after you told me wanting to make 40 billion credits, like the chap whose post you referenced, was a 'playstyle'.

I'm now baffled by the above paragraph, partly because I have no clue who the rest of this cohort of 'you guys' that I'm supposedly now a member of actually are, but mainly because I haven't actually complained about the ability to earn credits from any gameplay style in the game as it stands today, nor would I because as I thought my earlier post made clear, I already have more credits that I could ever reasonably need.

I'm perfectly happy with the ability to earn credits in the game at the moment and I will remain perfectly happy after the changes that are being discussed here, not least because they're not a nerf. the game economy will actually become slightly more realistic as a result of them, which in my opinion is a good thing.

Just disagreeing with me is fine but don't put words in my mouth.

 

[Rat Catcher]

...
Anyone here from the Beta who can comment on the price drops?

Yep
I mined a handful in the beta, in system, at Carcosa. The demand was zero in system and prices to sell were Galactic Average (160k?)
A better price was available in other systems, but not the maximum as no-one nearby was in the correct states for the highest price.
(I posted this observation during the beta)

 

[Red Anders]

Yep
I mined a handful in the beta, in system, at Carcosa. The demand was zero in system and prices to sell were Galactic Average (160k?)
A better price was available in other systems, but not the maximum as no-one nearby was in the correct states for the highest price.
(I posted this observation during the beta)

From what I saw being reported in the beta, mining painite or void opals in double hotspots will still provide amongst the best credits-per-hour returns of any activity in the game. This isn't in any way similar to say the passenger mission nerf where missions that were paying 30m+ were overnight dropped to around 1.5m.

Drama queens gonna drama I guess.

 

[Vedmo]

I suspect that they knew and intended it could happen, but had seriously underestimated just how many systems would end up with the necessary combination, and therefore just how reliable it would be rather than a few ephemeral gold rushes.

I probably put too much weight into whoever was manning Frontier social media at the time seeming surprised the pay outs we're that high, and if I remember right the last gold rush was those ridiculous skimmer missions being stacked then completed via area of effect from sidewinders which then would be crashed for an instant return to the base, which undoubtedly soured my attitude towards gold rushes.

I do like the more involved system states we have now, and can't begin to imagine the difficulties in its implementation. Looking forward to any corrections in it that bring less predictability (and bring back Famines!).

Pre VO patch I had groomed a few edge of the bubble extraction systems with one large pad mission destination possibility into highly lucrative routes for a big cargo hold ship, and haven't had much luck recreating that experience, perhaps some changes will help there as well.

 

[Rat Catcher]

From what I saw being reported in the beta, mining painite or void opals in double hotspots will still provide amongst the best credits-per-hour returns of any activity in the game. This isn't in any way similar to say the passenger mission nerf where missions that were paying 30m+ were overnight dropped to around 1.5m.

Drama queens gonna drama I guess.

I'm a real grinder, y'know... My alt account is sitting on 230 mill and my main on around 800 (but I did sell off 540 mill in explo data recently )

Those who want a massive return for their mining will be having to look around for the best price following the January patch, and will have to be swift to market, but will still be doing pretty much what is done now, mine - then sell wherever the price is good...

I don't have any issue with the changes

 

[LanceLord]

When is VO nerf coming?

The moment you reminded FDev they still had some credit reducing grind features left to remove from their failed FC promotion.

Seriously OP. WTH would you want to draw attention to the one game play loop which reduces the migraine of buying and upgrading ships in the game?

 

[Red Anders]

When is VO nerf coming?

The moment you reminded FDev they still had some credit reducing grind features left to remove from their failed FC promotion.

Seriously OP. WTH would you want to draw attention to the one game play loop which reduces the migraine of buying and upgrading ships in the game?

LOL Implying that the developers might somehow forget about the enormous credit generation machine, or better yet might not be aware of it, despite the fact they have access to metrics about every single aspect of the game and player's activities.

Bless.

 

[Simplystyc]

Just a matter of time before FDEV Rebalance it. Usually ends up being nerfed into the ground. Hopefully they tweak it a bit.

 

[Red Anders]

Reading this thread, it's like we didn't have a publicly accessible beta in December.

 

[Simplystyc]

Reading this thread, it's like we didn't have a publicly accessible beta in December.

Most don't have the time to beta test FDEV's game and find bugs for the dev team to fix. Plus the beta didn't run very long.

IMO FDEV should play their own game more often. Might open their eyes to underlying issues that have plagued it since 3301

 

[Red Anders]

Most don't have the time to beta test FDEV's game and find bugs for the dev team to fix. Plus the beta didn't run very long.

IMO FDEV should play their own game more often. Might open their eyes to underlying issues that have plagued it since 3301

I didn't have time to beta test it myself, I just had time to check the forum thread about it.

 

[Simplystyc]

I didn't have time to beta test it myself, I just had time to check the forum thread about it.

Neither did I. I actually installed it and logged in, just to log out and uninstall it.

 

[Ezren]

Most don't have the time to beta test FDEV's game and find bugs for the dev team to fix. Plus the beta didn't run very long.

Yeah, most people don't have the time to inform their opinions. They just make threads and assumptions! Plenty of time for that.

 

[Factabulous]

Players: Fdev don't find all the bugs! give us a beta as we are far superior at finding issues!
Also Players: Why don't fdev find all the bugs themselves! Our time is too important to spend on testing!

 

[Simplystyc]

Yeah, most people don't have the time to inform their opinions. They just make threads and assumptions! Plenty of time for that.

But of course!

That being said, I don't think that applies to everyone. I detect a passive/aggressive tone here.

 

[photomankc]

Cool, a player might have some decisions to make mining now. That seems more interesting. Might make missions worth looking at rather than the entire universe mining Painite, VO, and LTD.