My Two Credits...
1) Given 'The Prospect' only allows medium and small ships (which isn't an issue so far as I'm concerned), it's fairly evident that the quantities set for the different tiers didn't take two major points into consideration:
- You can't carry large quantities of the requested cargo, which inherently leads to a bottleneck (when compared to most CGs with large pads available)
- Even if you COULD carry large quantities, guardian artifacts are much more time consuming to collect compared to the vast majority of other cargo types
In short: it's obvious no thought was put towards the actual quantities demanded when building this CG - which gives the impression to the larger community (because everyone can SEE the CG progress, even if not participating, just by checking missions at any station) that the CG is pointless, has little involvement, and furthers the general perception that they will always be this way.
2) A CG that only incorporates ONE aspect of gameplay correctly (surface salvaging) but goofs up the other routes (pirating, hacking) and doesn't provide the missing career options (combat notably) is
100% doomed to not have community participation on a level worthy of making the event in the first place.
3) CGs that only last a week (see:
all of them) alienate commanders who may only play a few days if the CG isn't within reasonable travel distance or the rewards are too meager to justify travel for the few days they play. The lack of transparency of rewards (what does each tier actually represent if achieved) further disincentives participation. Adding insult to injury, you created a 'ferry system' that
might alleviate this...except it runs on a weekly tick. So if you missed THE FIRST EVER launch from Zende, you also missed this CG if travel and time restrictions are in place. CGs that are only a week long just aren't very sensible.
4) As is the case with many features these days, FDev still isn't answering the basic question: Why should I play this? I don't mean the game - I love the game - but specifically features like CGs. Why bother? I miss out on a few million credits
at best effort and I'll get access to whatever it is you're dropping
anyways. The story will be told in GalNet - not on site or in any dynamic way - and past experience shows that if anything
does change, I need only show up
after the event to see it. Put simply, there isn't a carrot because there isn't a feature.
CGs are fetch missions that happen to have a GalNet article tied to them. That's it.
Any 'new module' reward isn't actually tied to the event - or, to be certain, as a non-participant there isn't any way for me to discern that it is. A new guardian module? Coolies, I'll see it at the broker without having ever participated or even knowing the story behind it. AX Weapons are this way currently - there is no reference point whatsoever, today, that explains how these weapons came about or why I find them at certain stations. There certainly isn't any story arc or mission arc for me, a potentially new commander, to follow leading me on a path towards encountering Thargoids and seeking the equipment to do so.
So answer the question: Why should I play this?
Because if you can't give a compelling answer...
Why the **** are you building it?