A BIG Rant

[Sergio Smegolia]

Yes it does. Look:


View attachment 51183

to truely nitpick, the spectrum had 6 sides... the bottom, the back, the front, the left, the right and the top... they were as follows from memory

the back is where you plugged in your monitor (tv), tape deck and all the other peripherals and the top was where the keyboard was located, unlike the C= machines (Vic20, C16, C64 and C128) which had their joystick ports on the right hand side of the keyboard unit....

Apparently some people are ranting and diverting this thread from its real purpose, Sir Clive's most wonderful toy. Stop it!

And actually the right and left sides were rounded, therefore it actually had infinite sides.

Although you do realise I was talking about an actual spectrum not the computer right? Right?

 

[M00ka]

OP here again! Firstly, my thanks to all those who responded, even those who strongly disagreed with everything I said, including those who belittled me – that of course is their right of reply. And a big thank you to all those who gave me rep, I do feel a little humbled at the amount I got. Forums are designed for the free expression of ideas, thoughts, praise and complaints about a central topic, in this case the game Elite: Dangerous. I knew when drafting the original post that I would incur the ire of some people, I was expecting it and took all criticism squarely on the chin. But I would like to attempt to explain one point I raised that created the most angst – my thoughts on PowerPlay. I still stand by my comments (I would be pretty weak to change the OP just because people didn’t like what I wrote).

I believe FD erred on the implementation of the PP module by letting players decide whether they wanted to participate in PP or not, yet the module effects the wider community in varying degrees. It might be as minor as the station the non-PP player is operating out of changes factions, maybe the price of commodities, ships and modules change. It could be more drastic with the non-PP player being targeted by overzealous players conducting . There have been numerous forum posts about the increase in PVP interdictions as a result of PP.

As for the comment that all players should have been made to pledge, yes I could have worded that better. What maybe I should have said was pledge to a major power (Federation etc). This doesn’t mean all players had to participate in PowerPlay but at present all are involved in varying degrees. Maybe it would have increased the interest to see what the new addition to the game was all about. I just think FD have put a lot of effort into a new feature of the game that effects all players yet made no emphasis for players to want to take part.

My final explanation is about PowerPlay being restricted to Open only. I know this is a contentious issue and I know yet again I will be flamed for mentioning it. But to have a situation where an enhancement to the game has been added that is an attempt to increase player interaction, yet allow players to participate at the same level, with the same rewards in Solo seems self-defeating. I agree that the two universes, Solo and Open need to be identical; I just think that to participate in the PowerPlay action should have been an Open element only. There are numerous posts from players complaining that such and such a system has been undermined in Solo yet they couldn’t do anything about it in Open. I just find it difficult to comprehend that a multi-player event, designed to increase player interaction can be completed by someone in a single player environment.

Again, I thank all of you who have contributed to this discussion, even those who thought I was a raving loony

 

[Broon]

Rep to the OP!

I personally also shake my head at all of the senseless and futile whining a lot of posters do. They quit for this reason or this and that is broken or........

Screw 'em! Play the damn game or move on!

mini rant off.

 

[dayrth]

I can't agree with players being made to pledge to a major faction, but I would like to see some benefits for doing so. I do agree about PP activity being only available in open though. I would say PP in group too, but that would allow groups of only one faction or even groups of one player so would defeat the object. PP in solo makes no sense to me.

 

[jabokai]

As for the comment that all players should have been made to pledge, yes I could have worded that better. What maybe I should have said was pledge to a major power (Federation etc).

Nope, you're still wrong. This still goes against the "blaze your own trail" and the fact that you can be a neutral, independent party with regards to galactic politics. (I don't even see this as an opinion, your suggestion is just wrong )

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I just think FD have put a lot of effort into a new feature of the game that effects all players yet made no emphasis for players to want to take part.

My final explanation is about PowerPlay being restricted to Open only. I know this is a contentious issue and I know yet again I will be flamed for mentioning it. But to have a situation where an enhancement to the game has been added that is an attempt to increase player interaction, yet allow players to participate at the same level, with the same rewards in Solo seems self-defeating. I agree that the two universes, Solo and Open need to be identical; I just think that to participate in the PowerPlay action should have been an Open element only. There are numerous posts from players complaining that such and such a system has been undermined in Solo yet they couldn’t do anything about it in Open. I just find it difficult to comprehend that a multi-player event, designed to increase player interaction can be completed by someone in a single player environment.

Again, I thank all of you who have contributed to this discussion, even those who thought I was a raving loony

Hi I have not really followed PP much so I accept I may be wrong but do you have a source where the devs had said PP is meant to be a MP event?. As it is I believe CQC is going to be MP only which cheeses ms off a bit if I am honest. If the devs are getting the ai up to scratch I see no reason not to have that in all modes too

 

[Tarman]

OP here again! Firstly, my thanks to all those who responded, even those who strongly disagreed with everything I said, including those who belittled me – that of course is their right of reply. And a big thank you to all those who gave me rep, I do feel a little humbled at the amount I got. Forums are designed for the free expression of ideas, thoughts, praise and complaints about a central topic, in this case the game Elite: Dangerous. I knew when drafting the original post that I would incur the ire of some people, I was expecting it and took all criticism squarely on the chin. But I would like to attempt to explain one point I raised that created the most angst – my thoughts on PowerPlay. I still stand by my comments (I would be pretty weak to change the OP just because people didn’t like what I wrote).

I believe FD erred on the implementation of the PP module by letting players decide whether they wanted to participate in PP or not, yet the module effects the wider community in varying degrees. It might be as minor as the station the non-PP player is operating out of changes factions, maybe the price of commodities, ships and modules change. It could be more drastic with the non-PP player being targeted by overzealous players conducting . There have been numerous forum posts about the increase in PVP interdictions as a result of PP.

As for the comment that all players should have been made to pledge, yes I could have worded that better. What maybe I should have said was pledge to a major power (Federation etc). This doesn’t mean all players had to participate in PowerPlay but at present all are involved in varying degrees. Maybe it would have increased the interest to see what the new addition to the game was all about. I just think FD have put a lot of effort into a new feature of the game that effects all players yet made no emphasis for players to want to take part.

My final explanation is about PowerPlay being restricted to Open only. I know this is a contentious issue and I know yet again I will be flamed for mentioning it. But to have a situation where an enhancement to the game has been added that is an attempt to increase player interaction, yet allow players to participate at the same level, with the same rewards in Solo seems self-defeating. I agree that the two universes, Solo and Open need to be identical; I just think that to participate in the PowerPlay action should have been an Open element only. There are numerous posts from players complaining that such and such a system has been undermined in Solo yet they couldn’t do anything about it in Open. I just find it difficult to comprehend that a multi-player event, designed to increase player interaction can be completed by someone in a single player environment.

Again, I thank all of you who have contributed to this discussion, even those who thought I was a raving loony

You're not a raving loony, but some of your ideas are.

On a very broad-strokes level most everyone is on the same page as you, in that you're seeing the same disinterest and dislike of Powerplay that everyone sees; it's not engaging players in its gameplay. Improvement is definitely needed.

Where I disagree with you is in your solutions. Forcing anyone to do things is just not fun. In any game, not just this one. There isn't any fun for the players in railroading them to try and MAKE them have the fun you created just because you created it, like that uber-controlling gamesmaster that EVERY RP player has had to deal with at some point in their gaming career. "I try this door." "Sorry, that door's locked too. You'll have to get on the train since the way back is sealed." "I look for a place to hang on the outside of the train, maybe the undercarriage?" "The train is completely smooth with no place to grip anywhere, you can only go inside." "I duct tape myself to the back!" "The train has an anti-stick coating, the tape falls off. You'll have to go inside."

Having galactic conscription to a major power is actually a lot worse to most players than the current Powerplay mechanic because then you couldn't even skip out of it if you think it sucks. I know for myself if I had been forced into a choice, the choice would have been "go rebind my HOTAS for Evochron Mercenary while I wait for No Man's Sky". I play most games as a grey element, not siding with anyone permanently if I can help it. STALKER and Fallout New Vegas provided fun dancing between the lines of power in this regard. Elite has done so as well even with Powerplay; you're not beholden to them for the rest of your days unless you choose to do so.

I actually don't mind the galactic side effects of Powerplay at all; that element, while still wonky in its implementation, has a lot of merit going towards a dynamic and evolving galaxy that's both affected by and affects player actions, and that doesn't just sit there like a respawning NPC quest-creature waiting for the next PC to kill it for its teefs.

As far as mode-switching being different gameplay... well, we don't want to go there, do we. We're coming up on Part the Third pretty soon because I think the forums can only handle threads with ten thousand posts each. >_________>

 

[Spog]

I stopped reading the op at the first use of the word "whine".

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

Your post is just you arguing against people's complaints but completely missing/ misunderstanding them.

When people say they want a road map they don't necessarily want a highly detailed one, just a vague outline of what FD wants to release and focus on. That's a Completely understandable request considering the game is missing a lot of promised features and we already bought it at full price. That has it's downsides but so does FDs current style of, soon(tm), and then silence only to spurt out a bunch of info just weeks before releasing a new patch.

Having Noone to play with in a multiplayer game is never a good thing, no matter how big the universe is. Also if you think it's only because they want to shoot more people, that's true, but only because that's one of the only ways to interact with things in elite.

Most of the complaints about pp are, it adds nothing to elite except a different color to the things we already do, and that it's horribly balanced.

People complain that there's nothing to do because there's nothing to do. Everything boils down to the same things. Deliver cargo A to system B, kill ship G from SC in system T, Farm kills in CZ/Rez Q, Fly to system AQRTZ 5,983 and "scan"objects which is just staring at them for 20 seconds, Mine ore P from asteroid QDS 240 in location XZY. There's like 5 things to do in the game all that changes is the ship/cargo involved and location.

I like the game, but that doesn't mean everything mentioned isn't true.