People without children and real lives and real life commitments who can't put as many hours into the game does not mean they are not 'die hard fans'. I was 9 when I first played Elite in 1984, I have bought all the games apart from E3 as no PC to play it on, I have paid full price for everything in ED on XB. Dont tell me I am not a die hard fan, I almost exclusively play Elite and no other game at all. I put 99% of my gaming hours into Elite solely. If anything people who want rewards for not hitting targets which make the whole consequences thing obsolete that was so much a part of Elite, E2 and ED are not the die-hard fans, they are the ones trying to change the game from what it was. Apart from KS backers everyone has paid the same amount for the game itself and understood the rules of the game / CG before starting it. And KS backers got their own rewards which I fully agree with and support (inc Cobra iv) as they were stated at the time that person backed. (not me I wasn't a KS backer)
'Punish players' by sticking to the stated rules? How does that work? Is the Referee 'punishing' you by awarding a Penalty to the other side for a foul, are you being 'punished' if the Umpire upholds the rules in any way shape or form? If they disallow a goal for being offside? No, its playing by the rules of the game.
The LAST thing you want to do is say that 'these players / paying customers are more valuable and worthy than other paying customers' - unless youre a Casino that relies on 90% profits from 10% of people.
Time in game does not equal passion for said game. Absolutely.
WoW was my daily driver before I found Elite. I spent a lot of time back in Vanilla raiding with 40 people. Through subsequent expansions in 25M. Earning my Warrior's sets and trying for the best weapons. I had the time and the friends to do it. When I was deployed or off training I didn't have that time. I missed out on a lot of things. That's not the game's fault. That's not unfair. That's life. Did I love the game any less? No. Did I envy those people who had the shinys that I couldn't get? Yes. Did I flex on them with my exclusive stuff they couldn't get anymore? Yes. That's what earning something feels like. =D
If everyone who doesn't play end-game/high-tier content got end-game/high-tier rewards, then what's the point? "But I don't have time." Then this particular, tiny part of the game, isn't for you. Not every part of the game is for every person, that's fine, that's called diversity. You make the choice to invest your time where you want to. Live with that choice.
When everything is watered down the game loses all integrity, interest and value. I don't want that to happen to this game that has taken over as my daily driver. Elite is a lot of fun. The challenge and diversity is a huge part of that. I don't want to invest time and effort into upgrading my ship, my weapons, my resources to find that a cry-hard has the same everything because of "balance" or a misplaced notion of what "fair" really means.
When you earn something you feel a sense of pride and personal reward, above the material one you may get. "I was there! I did that!"
Having that stripped away when those who didn't meet the requirements get the same thing is a souring experience.
If a group in game say do ABC and we will give you XYZ then it makes no sense canonically for them to say oh well you didnt do it heres the reward anyway. It would make more sense if they withheld it to make you work harder next time. Just because they already have it does not make sense canonically that they give it away for nothing.
The real mistake they made was introducing the stupid reward system that 'punishes' the 76th percentile, or the 84th, or the 87th for no good reason in the first place even if the CG smashes the target and finishes by Sunday evening. They wanted to 'test' something and amend future CGs, fine, but stick to the stated rules and dont retcon the event afterwards. But they did so they should at least stick to it. Personally Id rather they got rid of it completely and said that a player who started on Wednesday in the Sidewinder and killed one target is just as worthy as the 5 year player with their Fleet Carrier in terms of 'global rewards'. The credit bonus or decal variety is enough for the % splits...and if Credits mean nothing, well who's fault is that for diminishing the value of credits in the first place?
The real mistake they made was doing it for 10% only in the first place. That was guaranteed to leave a nasty taste whichever way it went, and did before it started, as it is they have managed to make it the most foul outcome of any that were predicted. There were other ways to 'reward' you who backed NMLA like I said in my post, give you a discount at the Tech Broker for example.
Add in the fact that the Railgun is not what was advertised, no experimental effect and its 'hot' so needs 'cleaning' before pickup for everyone. Way to go. Give the reward to players who didnt achieve the objective as clearly stated and dont give the reward as clearly stated to players who did.
How much complaining do I have to do to just get into 100% and get the reward or not bother with CGs at all and just demand the rewards anyway? Where is the line? Because its not where Frontier stated they would be that we all signed up to and agreed to? Either stick to the rules or change the rules before the CG, not afterwards.
Whatever the rules are, stick to them, enforce them. Period.
Whether it's tiered from top 10 right on down to everyone who showed up gets the thing if successful, or the top 75% that it is now, just stick to it. That's fair!
I think when it comes to the top 10 and top 10% 25% 50% 75% those should be special decals or paints, with the 100% qualifying for the global rewards. That's just my opinion.
When you realize you made a mistake, and you will, we all do. You can make appeasements later through other methods. Don't go back on your word. If something fails, it fails. Let it fail, the community has spoken. That's a living galaxy!
I'm glad that the special FSD and a couple other double mods were put into the tech-broker later. That's the best way to include these type of rewards for everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE. Not just the people who didn't quite earn it, for whatever reason, but also those who didn't support at all!
Do that for the other special modules. There were explorers way out deep in the black that couldn't come back for the super DSS. Open that up for them through the tech-broker. That's fair!
That's the last I'll speak on this matter here.
