C'mon, this is faintly ridiculous.

Please show me a single time someone quit the game just because they got a ship they wanted. I mean...come on, that's a ridiculous statement on it's face.

The fact that things are too easy these days leave me personally often playing other games, even though I love ED.
I played from the very beginning. For the ASP Explorer I had to work quite hard and that is why I still enjoy it.

For the Anaconda... The money was just there. I didn't even grind or use an exploit or YT guides. And now I hardly use it, because the ASP is better suited to my needs and preferences anyway.

People do not leave because they buy the ship they wanted. People leave because it is worthless, they already "beat" the game (without ever really exploring it) and they get bored of their freebie toy.

It's like playing any other game with progression and saying: "Come on, don't tell me starting at max level and with godlike weapons and armor makes people leave!"
It does, because they are bored and they also don't understand the mechanics well.
 
The fact that things are too easy these days leave me personally often playing other games, even though I love ED.
I played from the very beginning. For the ASP Explorer I had to work quite hard and that is why I still enjoy it.

For the Anaconda... The money was just there. I didn't even grind or use an exploit or YT guides. And now I hardly use it, because the ASP is better suited to my needs and preferences anyway.

People do not leave because they buy the ship they wanted. People leave because it is worthless, they already "beat" the game (without ever really exploring it) and they get bored of their freebie toy.

It's like playing any other game with progression and saying: "Come on, don't tell me starting at max level and with godlike weapons and armor makes people leave!"
It does, because they are bored and they also don't understand the mechanics well.

I fundamentally disagree with everything you are saying. The Anaconda was THE ship I wanted to explore and adventure with. It was my goal. I got it, and it's greatly increased my enjoyment of the game. If I get bored and stop playing, it will be because FDEV didn't' add sufficient content and things to do to keep me interested. It won't be because I didn't sufficiently suffer through months and months of a credit grind to get it.

Bored? Ha! I still have to experience a fully Grade 5 beefed up Corvette. Or a tricked out Cutter with a billion HP shield. To say nothing of a Fleet Carrier eventually maybe. I mean, you gotta be kidding me that I was "given" an Anaconda and now it's all downhill from here. What the heck?

I really wish burned-out players didn't come here and tell us the reason is because the devs didn't put enough artificial roadblocks in their path to stop them from getting burned out. And unless they do, others will suffer the same fate. That's called "projecting" and it's getting tiresome.

You are either content to explore and adventure in a legit 1:1 map of the Milky Way - in the ships of your choosing - or you are not. It it what it is.
 
Two people, who have been repeating the same unfounded assumptions.



It doesn't seem to be a very accurate observation. Perhaps I haven't properly articulated my position on the points I've been addressing, but no one else seems to be particularly confused.

Is there something you'd like clarified?

That's your problem, we are NOT confused. We just don't agree with you. And when we express that, you keep replying with "you don't get what I'm saying..".

We DO understand your point. I know you believe your points to be so well articulated and made with such pristine knowledge that we should find your logic infallible , but that's not the case in real life.
 
I have to disagree. Skillfully implemented, the whole process of earning money can be an interesting addition to the gameplay in its own right. However, it needs a well-balanced risk/reward ratio and should always feel at least a little challenging. No gifts etc... Money in games should always feel like a reward - and not just in the first few days.

That's the entire point of my comment. That it's not skillfully implemented so it's not good gameplay so you're not missing out on anything by credits being effectively free and meaningless.

That was pretty obivous if you had read to the end of the comment
 
You are either content to explore and adventure in a legit 1:1 map of the Milky Way - in the ships of your choosing - or you are not. It it what it is.

If you think jumping into empty pointless system after empty pointless system is "exploring" and in any way good gameplay then the only projecting being done is by you in thinking that your extremely low bar of entertainment is applicable to the majority of players.

I think it's downhill once players get whatever ship they want - not because there's absolutely nothing else to do in the game, but because there's no point in doing anything else. "Exploring" doesn't impact the game. Powerplay is repeating the same exact actions every week for no change. As a player, you have no agency in impacting any lasting change in the game that makes any difference. So the sandboxy aspect has no objective. There is no rpg aspect to build your own characters' narrative thru mission playing etc, no real reaction by factions from actions you have done in other factions etc. No real tools for player created content to help costruct gameplay that exists layed on top of the game. It's all gotta be basically in your own imagination. That's why the central narrative was so important but the rate of progression there is so woefully too slow for the userbase that it does little to nothing to help this situation.

But the situation isn't hopeless. It wouldn't take a rewrite to to vastly improve things and create worthwhile objectives within the sandbox and more. That's why the non-glassy eyed or non-rose colored glasses wearing users stick around. Because the gameplay is super weak - and it's a choice that fdev is making to leave it as that and that choice can potentially be swayed to change.
 
We DO understand your point.

Since you keep implying that I've said things I have not, arguing against points I've never made, and presuming that I'm looking for something I've repeatedly said I am not, this is evidently not the case.

If you did understand me, you'd be able to repeat my points back to me, in your own words, and not have me say "no, that's not what I said". Indeed, I've often said something then been quoted by you or killerofstars with a counterargument that presumes something directly contrary to what was in what had just been quoted.

I know you believe your points to be so well articulated and made with such pristine knowledge that we should find your logic infallible , but that's not the case in real life.

I'm not articulating myself well enough for you, but you're positive you get what I'm saying?

I'm not sure how that's supposed to make any sense.
 
If you think jumping into empty pointless system after empty pointless system is "exploring" and in any way good gameplay then the only projecting being done is by you in thinking that your extremely low bar of entertainment is applicable to the majority of players.

I think it's downhill once players get whatever ship they want - not because there's absolutely nothing else to do in the game, but because there's no point in doing anything else. "Exploring" doesn't impact the game. Powerplay is repeating the same exact actions every week for no change. As a player, you have no agency in impacting any lasting change in the game that makes any difference. So the sandboxy aspect has no objective. There is no rpg aspect to build your own characters' narrative thru mission playing etc, no real reaction by factions from actions you have done in other factions etc. No real tools for player created content to help costruct gameplay that exists layed on top of the game. It's all gotta be basically in your own imagination. That's why the central narrative was so important but the rate of progression there is so woefully too slow for the userbase that it does little to nothing to help this situation.

But the situation isn't hopeless. It wouldn't take a rewrite to to vastly improve things and create worthwhile objectives within the sandbox and more. That's why the non-glassy eyed or non-rose colored glasses wearing users stick around. Because the gameplay is super weak - and it's a choice that fdev is making to leave it as that and that choice can potentially be swayed to change.

Wow man your level of snark almost broke my shields.

Okay no I never said that was my idea of super awesome entertainment but by all accounts there's a pretty significant portion of the player-base who loves doing exploration. So I don't think they should just be dismissed outright.

I get that this game doesn't allow you to be a special snowflake and that frustrates some. I knew that going in so for now I'm perfectly content to experience what it has to offer ON MY OWN TERMS. And that means nobody like you gets to tell me what ship I should do it in and how fast or slow I should be allowed to do it in.
 
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True - however my point was they quit the game shortly after obtaining the ship they wanted because they weren't sufficiently prepared

Sure, but they didn't quit because they got the ship they wanted, they quit because they lost it.

After an entire year of grind, I think my first trade run in my anaconda was without a rebuy as well, because I knew if, like dozens of times before, I made that run successfully, I would make back the rebuy in one trip. I got lucky.

And forgive me, but I keep responding to comments in this thread in context: Morbad has argued in favor of greater danger of loosing ships and having progress wiped out. So, the thread you linked to is a direct indictment of that idea, showing players are more likely to leave the game if it moved in that direction. And players leaving the game is bad: I want the game funded long enough we get ship interiors.
 
Sure, but they didn't quit because they got the ship they wanted, they quit because they lost it.
Yes you're correct. Probably wasn't the best example. However if they'd been able to obtain the ship after a couple of weeks, then would they have quit then in the same circumstances? As it stands, they played the game for 18 months or so.

And players leaving the game is bad: I want the game funded long enough we get ship interiors.
I can't disagree with that. Players will leave the game for a variety of reasons - ragequitting is possibly more rare than those who quit because "I've already got all the ships" etc, rather than still having goals to aim for?
 
Secondly, discussing this with someone who seriously needs the game completely rewritten to make happy is pointless.

Fortunately, few people think the game needs to be completely rewritten; certainly not Ender, who just said it wouldn't take a rewrite to vastly improve things.

I get that this game doesn't allow you to be a special snowflake and that frustrates some.

This game assumes every CMDR is a "special snowflake", and that's the problem this thread was fundamentally based in. CMDRs get handed everything and can do no wrong; they play by better rules, are rapidly catapulted to the vanguard of society, and never allowed to fail.

Morbad has argued in favor of greater danger of loosing ships and having progress wiped out.

Well, if you consider material assets the basis of progress, that would be an accurate assessment.

So, the thread you linked to is a direct indictment of that idea, showing players are more likely to leave the game if it moved in that direction.

A handful of examples of rage quits because the kid gloves weren't soft enough is hardly evidence of a trend.

That said, I'm sure that a more difficult game with less instant gratification/wish fulfillment would indeed be less popular.
 
Look, let me give you guys a real example of how this kind of thinking (that there's just TOO MUCH MONEH!) ruins the game.

Most people clearly don't like earning money. They want to be free to explore space and do whatever they want. So they grind up money, doing repetitive boring tasks because they are the most efficient at making money, thus people have to spend the least amount of time doing them. I mean, talk about screwing up the BGS, if you make it so people have to grind MORE, that's an even bigger impact on the BGS but I digress.

Laser mining is boring. Fine for a quick fix, or to complete a mission, but limpeting rockets, and then lasering them for hours on end just isn't exciting. But Frontier went in to fix that and created something TRULY GREAT: deep core mining, something that just hits the right notes: it requires some skill, rewards that skill with a huge payout, and hey for those of you who feel like professions need more risk/reward? It's even somewhat dangerous.

Okay? Follow me? And then people complained that it was too profitable so they nerfed it. And now no one does it. Not because it wasn't as fun, or a better gameplay design, and not even because laser mining is too profitable...it isn't. But because in the largest ships in the game with exactly the right build, laser mining does indeed turn out a faster profit. And that CAN'T Change because it would break mining for every smaller ship, meaning you could ONLY mine in the absolute top ships, and again that just creates more of the race to the top that this thread originally started out trying to solve.

So no. Monetary progression isn't wrong or bad. The big ships SHOULD make obscene amounts of money absurdly fast. But yeah, bounty hunting should also be incredibly lucrative for the risk, it isn't. That means the payouts need to increase.
 
CMDRs get handed everything and can do no wrong; they play by better rules, are rapidly catapulted to the vanguard of society, and never allowed to fail.

This is fundamentally false and it's tainting your entire perception of the game.

I'm quite sure that for someone like you, it may be the case. But it's simply too hyperbolic to take seriously as speaking for every CMDR out there.

Also I wasn't handed anything. We can have a constructive debate about the pace at which one advances, sure, but hyperbole like this doesn't help your case. It's just inflammatory rhetoric imo.
 
I can't disagree with that. Players will leave the game for a variety of reasons - ragequitting is possibly more rare than those who quit because "I've already got all the ships" etc, rather than still having goals to aim for?

I haven't played for a while. I still have stuff to do: I was midway through unlocking the guardian weapons and fighters when I stopped playing. But I stopped playing because those game didn't respect my time. Scanning hundred of obelisks for pattern data just wasn't worth that time/effort/payoff ratio I talked about. So a great example of a player getting bored with the game because it took too long to progress something.

But I never "quit" elite. I just got bored and had other things to do. I've dropped in now and again to help my squadron members progress in their own undertakings. Elite isn't driven by a monthly fee, so it isn't harmed if I don't play for a month. Now I'm excited for Odyssey to inject new content, that's HOPEFULLY not insanely grindy. And honestly I think that's a model of gameplay more companies need to adopt: Unless you have HUGE teams continually cranking content, you aren't gonna create enough material to last years. Stop trying: Make EXTREMELY GOOD content that you know is finite, but of the highest quality. Players will drop back in, go "Oh yeah I LOVE that game but I ran out of stuff to do. Hey! New expansion!" Pay you money, play your stuff for a while, and then some will drift on to other pursuits while some will stick around, making their own fun till the next update.
 
Here is the problem you folks have. FDev has increased payouts in ED, i.e. made things 'easier' so credits aren't a hard block. ED's player base has continued to grow.

So what specifically do you think needs to be changed, because obviously FDev seems to be doing the right thing for the majority of it's players?
 
Fenwe: Yeah, amen.

This game assumes every CMDR is a "special snowflake", and that's the problem this thread was fundamentally based in. CMDRs get handed everything and can do no wrong; they play by better rules, are rapidly catapulted to the vanguard of society, and never allowed to fail.

Define fail? Yeah, you loose everything you still get a free-winder and not an alley to get drunk alone in for the rest of your short life. IT'S A GAME MORBAD.
 
ragequitting is possibly more rare than those who quit because "I've already got all the ships" etc, rather than still having goals to aim for?

Then the answer is to make more ships and make more things to do in ships. Why don't people get this? Making grinds, placing stupid barriers between us and what we want, will NOT ensure longevity.
 
Fenwe: Yeah, amen.



Define fail? Yeah, you loose everything you still get a free-winder and not an alley to get drunk alone in for the rest of your short life. IT'S A GAME MORBAD.

Simple. A USB Tesla coil so that every time you lose a ship, you are shocked in real life. Failure is pain and people should be made to feel that pain!

Also FDEV should send actors to your house posing as Alliance Insurers. You will have to prove that losing the ship was no fault of your own, or else your policy will be cancelled and they will not pay for a replacement.
 
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