TL;DR : I would like an in-game to-do list that I could use to set my own goals, that would have some limited degree of actual tracking of in-game stats. I feel this type of "custom task" system would go a LONG way toward making this idea of a personal, emergent narrative feel more real.
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I enjoy Elite a lot. One thing I think is fundamental to it is the way it walks the fine line between Space-Sim and "MMO". It is unique and I Like that.
I realize that part of the uniqueness, likely even set into the design docs, is a lack of the well-worn "chosen one" mentality MMO games usually have. Along with eschewing that trope, the design also avoids the "main quest" narrative which really goes hand-in-hand with it. Effectively, E
consists entirely of what would be considered "side-quests" in most games of this type, leaving the player to imagine/create their own narrative. All of this, I think is wonderful and I respect both the idea and the gumption to stick to it, keeping the game true to the original vision.
However, as one who's been playing since just before Horizons, I've had a lot of time to compare this experience to more "traditional" MMO games, and while I wouldn't ask for (or ever expect) a change that adds this "main quest" to a game like this where it would be out of place, I do MISS having something to fill this void.
Now that I've set this up, i'll get to my modest suggestion to fill this position in the game. Simply, some type of "make your own quest" functionality. here's a quick example: Let's say i'm currently trying to work on getting Tod "the blaster" Mcquinn up to G5 so i can engineer my weapons. Doing so requires me to get progressively more rare crafting mats to use in the engineering process. What I would like is a simple, IN-GAME (this is the important part) to-do list that I can use to make a simple task like "collect 5x of crafting mat a, 5x of mat b, etc." where the game will actually keep track of how many I have collected. Then when I have the required materials, I can head off to Tod and roll the next upgrade. I don't even really feel like the game needs to have tracking on the "goal" here (i.e. rolling a new upgrade) but just the constituent parts (i.e. collecting the crafting mats), letting me create a suitable description of what they are for would be enough.
I can easily imagine extensions to this, like recurring custom quests. So i could make something akin to my own "dailies" like other games have, but instead of some kind of daily timer, I can just elect to re-set the task when I complete it. SO I could say "make 1 million in bounties" and then once I do, I can just reset it. If I feel like going for another mil, I can. If I feel like doing 500,000 and then getting the next 500,000 tomorrow I can do that too.
Of course, there would be no Cr reward, or any material reward at all necessary for these "to-do tasks" because that would be horribly exploitable. Just being able to create these goals and achieve them would be enough for me. Ideally, the system would have a LOT of different things to track, not just units of cargo/mats/data. etc, but also something like "attain allied status with local faction X in system Y" which would be amazing for BGS play. But honestly, anything along these lines would be amazing, and I think add a lot of fun and immersion.
Thanks,
CMDR Controllerface
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I enjoy Elite a lot. One thing I think is fundamental to it is the way it walks the fine line between Space-Sim and "MMO". It is unique and I Like that.
I realize that part of the uniqueness, likely even set into the design docs, is a lack of the well-worn "chosen one" mentality MMO games usually have. Along with eschewing that trope, the design also avoids the "main quest" narrative which really goes hand-in-hand with it. Effectively, E
consists entirely of what would be considered "side-quests" in most games of this type, leaving the player to imagine/create their own narrative. All of this, I think is wonderful and I respect both the idea and the gumption to stick to it, keeping the game true to the original vision.However, as one who's been playing since just before Horizons, I've had a lot of time to compare this experience to more "traditional" MMO games, and while I wouldn't ask for (or ever expect) a change that adds this "main quest" to a game like this where it would be out of place, I do MISS having something to fill this void.
Now that I've set this up, i'll get to my modest suggestion to fill this position in the game. Simply, some type of "make your own quest" functionality. here's a quick example: Let's say i'm currently trying to work on getting Tod "the blaster" Mcquinn up to G5 so i can engineer my weapons. Doing so requires me to get progressively more rare crafting mats to use in the engineering process. What I would like is a simple, IN-GAME (this is the important part) to-do list that I can use to make a simple task like "collect 5x of crafting mat a, 5x of mat b, etc." where the game will actually keep track of how many I have collected. Then when I have the required materials, I can head off to Tod and roll the next upgrade. I don't even really feel like the game needs to have tracking on the "goal" here (i.e. rolling a new upgrade) but just the constituent parts (i.e. collecting the crafting mats), letting me create a suitable description of what they are for would be enough.
I can easily imagine extensions to this, like recurring custom quests. So i could make something akin to my own "dailies" like other games have, but instead of some kind of daily timer, I can just elect to re-set the task when I complete it. SO I could say "make 1 million in bounties" and then once I do, I can just reset it. If I feel like going for another mil, I can. If I feel like doing 500,000 and then getting the next 500,000 tomorrow I can do that too.
Of course, there would be no Cr reward, or any material reward at all necessary for these "to-do tasks" because that would be horribly exploitable. Just being able to create these goals and achieve them would be enough for me. Ideally, the system would have a LOT of different things to track, not just units of cargo/mats/data. etc, but also something like "attain allied status with local faction X in system Y" which would be amazing for BGS play. But honestly, anything along these lines would be amazing, and I think add a lot of fun and immersion.
Thanks,
CMDR Controllerface
