What Elite needs going forward

Riverside

Riverside
metatheurgist said:
The exploration gameloop is too hard to fix. The problem is the entire galaxy is already explored. Everyone knows every star, the only thing that hasn't been done is for someone to jump there. And there's no issue with jumping there; it's just putting the time in. Making exploration interesting had to happen from the beginning - the horse has not only bolted, the stall is old and beginning to fall apart.

You know the devs had zero understanding of players and their own game when they said they didn't think anyone would jump out to Sag A so quickly.

The only thing you could do to make explo "interesting" now would be to add a whole bunch of unbelievable things for people to find. And that's fraught with issues too.
Click to expand...

Opening up more planet types to land on gives a reason to revisit systems, as happened with the tenuous atmo planets in Odyssey. There are also regions that are currently locked that could be opened up & populated with new content (more lost civilisations, alien civilisations, extinct or populated).

More could be done with on-foot gameplay (not personally bothered about that) and planet terrains shaped by erosion that are more than just a height map would be cool too. All building on the existing foundations.
 

varonica

varonica
metatheurgist said:
The exploration gameloop is too hard to fix. The problem is the entire galaxy is already explored. Everyone knows every star, the only thing that hasn't been done is for someone to jump there.
Click to expand...

I can't agree with the fundamentals there, I did after all find a 45g landable planet that no-one could have possibly known exists. But yes there are...problems...with exploration that I really wish were avoided from the very beginning that would make exploration a far different proposition, but I don't think it's too hard, I just think it needs to be seriously rethought and examined from a different perspective.

Of course one of the major problems is simply the players themselves (and no I don't leave myself out of that). Look at what happened when they changed the honk to the FSS. Major changes to exploration in the way I think would make it more engaging would be anathema to most of the player base, but I think there are ways it can be improved with the introduction of new landable planets that would make a lot of difference.

metatheurgist said:
You know the devs had zero understanding of players and their own game when they said they didn't think anyone would jump out to Sag A so quickly.
Click to expand...

Agree entirely, exploration should have been run in an entirely different way that would have made traveling across the galaxy for the first players a lot slower, but also a lot more engaging, there should never have been a way that a player can set a 20kly route, even a 1kly route, through an entirely unexplored region, you should have been required to explore your way out, but it's done now so we need to look at different methods to make exploration more engaging.
 

Tikanderoga

Tikanderoga
gorankar said:
While I don't think botting is as big an issue as some claim, getting that under control if it really is an issue couldn't hurt anything.
Click to expand...
It would hurt the BGS, but really, depending on the number of bots running the BGS, it's too small to make a difference.
Also botting is only an issue if Fdev would be losing money on it, like people monetizing the gains from botting.
ie: making money by botting, then selling in game money of RL money. Then it's an issue.

But I agree with OP:
The game needs some serious overhaul. Playerbase has dwindled away, issues remain, now consoles have been ditched. Not much left to be honest.
 

CardioTherapy

C
In my humble opinion from that list what really need change is smuggling. It needs to be way more profitable and that will make sense of pirating too.

More important is the revamping the engineering, and especially the grind for mats.
and most importantly is revamping of ERXPLORATION. It needs mor engaging and diverse gameplay. One thing Elite has more than any other game is its vast galaxy with billion stars and planets to explore and there is almost no gameplay.
 

BigBANGtheory [VR]

BigBANGtheory [VR]
VR CMDR Novindus said:
Oh look, another "oh look" comment about repetition on forums. They're just as repeated as the threads themselves, if not more so, as there's often more than one person making that brilliantly dry observation that never gets old.
Click to expand...
Just add him to your Ignore list dude, there are a small handful of users who prolifically post but serially add little else.
 

BigBANGtheory [VR]

BigBANGtheory [VR]
VR CMDR Novindus said:
I said I think all the original game loops need revamping, so exploration would be included. However, I think the ones I specifically listed need a lot more attention, which I think is part of the reason why not as many players engage with those game loops.

Generally speaking, I'd say there needs to be a systematic ground-up improvement across all aspects of the game to make it a deeper and more cogent experience. They don't have to do them all at once, but they should definitely plan them together, to get as much interplay between them as possible, wherever that may make sense.
Click to expand...
Yes I'd agree but also add that some of the loops should not have been, nor ever be loops.

Mining is a good example of where a loop does work, its a relatively chill exploration and extraction gameplay that does require some time and skills to learn.

Exploration however is imho so tiresome because it never really goes anywhere, it should imho be a means to an end the opening to additional gameplay but as is its fundamentally flawed.

Combat too in particular bounty hunting, why can't players actively seek and fight pirates for bounties, a way to track them instead of chance encounters
 

Muzz UK

Muzz UK
VR CMDR Novindus said:
Certainly just my own opinion, but after the (hopeful) implementation of on-foot VR, and before the (also hopeful) addition of ship interiors and/or other large features, I think the original game loops need to be revamped or even overhauled, but especially the following:
  • Piracy
  • Bounty Hunting
  • Smuggling
  • Powerplay
The Suggestions forum has a massive pool of ideas for what can be done with the above, which Frontier game designers can use for a basis, or at least for inspiration.

Aside from that, a lot of work can be done for adding more character to the game and improving immersion, but that would be in the form of a thousand little things that add up to something big.

Many other improvements can be made, but I think the above would be the most impactful.
Click to expand...
I'd defo say smuggling and powerplay need the biggest overhaul.

I'd love to see PP as a proper open world pvp / big war gamemode with rewards that suit every type of play type. Smuggling and piracy is just something that doesn't work very well whilst players can combat log and that crime system is a bit unbalanced. I think the biggest thing is HIGH security systems need to be just that and rewards for going to LOW ones need upping. I get that Frontier want to make the game accessible to solo and group players. I hate the Odyssey crime system its just a frustrating time sync why not put prison ships in every system? I'm sure we'll get there but more pressing concerns at the moment.

Would be cool to actually have a criminal style gameplay option. Once you've ended up with notoriety would be fun to have Anarchy Factions invite you for criminal missions and bad guy gameplay.
 

Tikanderoga

Tikanderoga
BigBANGtheory [VR] said:
Mining is a good example of where a loop does work, its a relatively chill exploration and extraction gameplay that does require some time and skills to learn.

Exploration however is imho so tiresome because it never really goes anywhere, it should imho be a means to an end the opening to additional gameplay but as is its fundamentally flawed.

Combat too in particular bounty hunting, why can't players actively seek and fight pirates for bounties, a way to track them instead of chance encounters
Click to expand...
1. Mining doesn't require much skill tbh. Find a rock, prospect it, laser it, collect it, repeat. It is an insanely chill activity.

2. Exploration is very tedious and not very rewarding, at least not financially. Skill required? Not really. One might find one very pretty planet every so often, but finding a needle in a hay stack has better odds.

3. Combat requires the most skill. Recent buffs sure add some more monetary reward to it, but chasing NPCs in supercruise, interdicting one (and then have 3 of his buddies to show up) for 1 kill out of 20 is not really appealing. At least not to me and I find it about as tedious if not more than Exploration.
Pirate hunting in a Res zone is quite alright, and plenty of mats drop too on top of everything.
 

myothershipisacobraiv

myothershipisacobraiv
I don't understand why smuggling should remove the influence of the faction that's being smuggled to if it's an Anarchy faction. Any smuggling that goes on in a system with an Anarchy faction should contribute to that Anarchy faction.
 

Banana's_Are_Good_For_You

Banana's_Are_Good_For_You
I really wouldn't mind if PP got a big refresh. I think it has served its purpose by allowing the playerbase to form the powers, as they currently exist, and now it doesn't know what to do with itself.
So, what if the main focus was shifted from that and more towards interfering with how well a power can hold power over its systems.
It would be like a PP security system where if a power was in full control, hard to do things, easier if de-stabilised.
It mean stripping out the expansion / fortification type things, freezing the control systems with a 5c tidy just so it makes sense.
Then make it about trying to change the government types by whatever method ppl choose or just make it about the control systems to focus it. Kinda like breaking the shackles of the local power.
Something like that would probably include piracy / smuggling BH and other things as well.
Just thoughts.
 

Jmanis

Jmanis
trundles out these threads again

Great effects and mechanics, left at back of the cupboard

I recently sent my alt-account out to explore in-anger. They're primarily scoping out all the different types of anomalies and their effects. And some of them have great effects: (This video not mine) Along the way, I've also come to recently experience Lagrange Storm clouds: My big...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk

Could core mining mechanics be used to create salvage gameplay

Just something I thought last night. Like, instead of planting charges to fissures to crack asteroids, we'd have derelict spacecrafts (megaships/carriers/etc) and abandoned outposts to scan and locate weak spots on the hull, bulkheads and so on. Then blow those up to gain access to whatever...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk

Incidentally, a comment popped up on one of my videos recently... the video is nothing crazy, just repairing a hull breach on a megaship.

This is the comment:
1647928292491.png


Meanwhile, on another video of hacking to shut down a fighter bay...

And you guessed it...
1647928358001.png


These mechanics and the resultant animations and such take time and effort... why do that when you employ these mechanics in almost never-seen situations.

These sorts of things could be hooked up to some great game loops... but they aren't. It's pretty tragic.

But no, what we really needed was walking in FCs 🤷‍♀️
 

starman

starman
sorry but spending an hr travelling to Hutton Orbital is no longer funny especially when you fall asleep at the movement you are about to dock and crash.

The fact that there are signifcant cmdrs who are buying credits with real money to shortcut the process and nothing seem to be being done about it.
It fact with Fleet Cariier it has allowed this to happen in game

Seriously how can anyone starting now ever obtain a Fleet carrier playing legitimately particularly in open ever afford one in some reasonable time with out taking over your life?

There is so much unrealized potential in Frontier games which they dont seem to understand what 'modern' gamers want?
 

Imo

Imo
One of the main issues might be that Frontier always tried to keep all players totally seperated except for some combat interaction. That's why you gain only a maximum of 2 million for a 20 million bounty, that's why even after years we still can't offer used ships and moduels for sale to other commanders and so on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom