Can you make a game system where there is more involvement?

[darshie76]

To make it short: quests are not satisfying....

Heard a lot about new quests and how they will be more fun, but so far, it is the same old same old.

I don't know if you want to blame it on the "realistic" setup, but if you just wander aimlessly, you get basically no income from missions, because the few available, are either illegal missions or involve you searching for a specific good that is in need in that place.

Now; is possible that NOBODY in the universe needs to be taken to Alder...I mean to some place? There are no fugitives, there are no people in need of a ride; kinda like America where everyone own a car?
Would be too hard to add in every system, at random time, some sort of mission where the client is a person that wants to go from A to B, maybe fast, maybe under the radar.....or maybe is just traveling?

Same goes for fedex quest.... I don't do trading because it is boring to me; bu here, sell there, thanks to the spreadsheet that tell you what is sold where, and at what price. Ideally there should be missions where you just need one or 2 cargo space; to take info from A to B, or items from A to B.....or escort a ship from A to B.

None of this happens here; and now it is how long that the game is out? Heard plenty of talk about mission that will be added; chain missions, and such, but so far we are still dealing with the most boring and reductive mission rooster ever made in a multiplayer game. Not much value in going trough so many system if there is little interest in dock to a space station to acquire some missions....I am already forced to conform in real life; so here I would expect some sort of freedom I choose to wander and explore the stars; but beside the occasional repair and restock of ammo, the value of docking is close to 0, since the mission available in any system (I believe I visited quite a lot of them), are in 90% of the cases, always the same.

Rep too low to get other missions? Sorry, I don't buy it...even the ones that require rep in a faction are still the same type....slaves related, drug related, mineral related....so if I decide to live blasting people only if they interdict me; I am condemned to sell cartographic as main source of income

I've been patiently waiting; I try to not log in too often to avoid the same frustration that I feel, since Beta; the same feeling of sleeping naked with a beautiful girl while being tied up like a mummy....that's the feeling that I get when I play this game. Teasing, of what could happen; but that stay in my head, while I jump trough the nth system, which most likely hold very little surprise for me, beside the occasional interdiction.

Any chance to see in the short period, a considerable increase in mission types and variety? Are you sure that all people playing ED are doing it for mining or bounty hunting or trading? Variety is the foundation of a successful game, and since missions doesn't take months or expansions to be made available, I would hope that soon you will start to increase them little by little.

I won't say sorry for the complaining, because I feel that I am not asking the moon...I am asking for something interesting to do while playing this game; like missions and random encounters that are not just the same old interdiction, with the person that wants to raze your cargo bay

BTW, if this is too much of a hassle, please make a tool like the foundry from the Cryptic games, so we can make our own chain and missions; most of us play in solo mode anyway, considering that the punishment for who does deprecable actions is not even enough to force people to behave

 

[Nikonthenet]

Fair comments. Are you aware of the 1.3 update 'powerplay' which includes complete overhaul of the mission system. Due sometime this month

 

[Forrseti]

I agree with OP. the missions are very mundane and if you try to earn income from them, you have a very long road ahead. I am waiting with anticipation for 1.3. Some of the ideas the OP had were really good. Does someone need a ride from this system to the next? Does someone want to see a certain star or planet and return home? A lot can be done with escort missions in space - it would be best to keep the employer inside the escort's ship, to do away with any classic escort mission woes. Of course, these could take a lot of time to build depending on how FD wants them to be presented. In the highest quality escort mission, maybe the employer can be seen around your ship - in the passenger/copilot seat - which would need more ship interior and character models. The employer could send messages through the text chat to the CMDR, like mission updates, if voice overs can't be implemented. While not really expecting anything like I've described, I am looking forward to 1.3 for the much needed mission overhaul.

 

[darshie76]

Fair comments. Are you aware of the 1.3 update 'powerplay' which includes complete overhaul of the mission system. Due sometime this month

Yep, but from what I understand, the changes are made so you can choose a faction and complete missions for that faction, to get rep...mostly it is the same as community goals, but with a different twist.

I will be glad if they add some more activities; so far I did mostly exploring because is the less tedious activity; but fundamentally the mission system is lacking in any department. Which is a shame, since the nature of the game is what it is.

Now with wings you can band together....to do what? Not much, but hopefully one piece at time....

 

[darshie76]

I agree with OP. the missions are very mundane and if you try to earn income from them, you have a very long road ahead. I am waiting with anticipation for 1.3. Some of the ideas the OP had were really good. Does someone need a ride from this system to the next? Does someone want to see a certain star or planet and return home? A lot can be done with escort missions in space - it would be best to keep the employer inside the escort's ship, to do away with any classic escort mission woes. Of course, these could take a lot of time to build depending on how FD wants them to be presented. In the highest quality escort mission, maybe the employer can be seen around your ship - in the passenger/copilot seat - which would need more ship interior and character models. The employer could send messages through the text chat to the CMDR, like mission updates, if voice overs can't be implemented. While not really expecting anything like I've described, I am looking forward to 1.3 for the much needed mission overhaul.

I could even pass over the little money that you make; because it is expected that bounty hunter makes more; like a trader with a huge ship made to move commodities; or to gather minerals.

What I have issues with, is that the game is sporting a freedom to do what you want; but the interactivity is close to 0 with anything beside space stations and rocks that you break to get minerals. Some more variety in the missions would go long way toward increase the willingness to play the game to see "what is next, further down".
In other games, you open new areas, you get new missions, different NPC, different enemies, while here the jump to sol neighbor's system, or one at the edge of the galaxy matters nothing at all...

I am forcing myself to roleplay on my own...to believe that I have to find a guy that stole my money....then I decided to be on a mission to find another planet to colonize to save our race....and so on, but now I am tired to act like if I have to imagine all this stuff, when I paid good money for a game that was promising the ultimate experience....and instead it deliver something that is close to a sandbox with cardboard as scenery, where you can play your own story in your head.

Other games have live DM that play with players, entertain them, make them participate in stuff and events; this is where online gaming should head; while here we go back instead than forward; this game is still in the same beta shape that it was when they started; because features were started but never completed or even fleshed out properly; but this is the nature of the game, sadly; most of us knew that before 2-3 years, this game will just be a big teaser. Not different from Star Citizen...there they take their sweet time to build the whole thing to the detail; and in the meantime offer a tiny sticker to play on; here you get the whole galaxy, which sadly has basically nothing going on....2 sides of the same coin in the end.

And here we are....the money giver that got burned already in Beta, hoping to play the revolutionary next gen adventure that will be finished years ahead If planetary landing means to land on any planet where you can't do anything that you can't do in space, beside land on a platform, and the first person module, where you simply move around your ship; then I can say that it won't be so different from the rest of the game. So far I have not seen a single hint that this won't be the case....I believed that there was more at launch, from the Beta, now if Frontier wants more money from me, has to show me something more than just promises.

Hopefully this mission overhaul will be worth something; otherwise it goes back to log in once every month or 2, just to not loose the practice.

 

[Nikonthenet]

I totally agree darshie76. ED was once described as standing in a desert and someone whispering in your ear "blaze your own trail", and/or, as wide as an ocean, yet as deep as a puddle...funny stuff. But seriously, FD know, they themselves described it as a 'framework' at release, and improvements are being made all the time.

As far as I understood, new missions and branching missions are being added with 1.3, but I may well be wrong.

 

[Aimeryan]

Got me thinking, with the transporting people; how interesting it could be if these NPCs "talked" to you during your travelling. Sort of like relating stories of a personal nature, political talk, business talk, if liberating slaves (not selling them, where they would be kept in the cargo hold) then talk of how they have been treated, etc. Also, when getting attacked, or when doing illegal stuff, or etc., they got nervous, or exited, or whatever their personality mix is. Even more interesting if these conversations could branch if you gave responses.

Something more like Mass Effect, or Deus Ex, or something else with proper NPC interaction. It would take a lot of time and effort, but maybe an expansion could do it. It would really just be a major upgrade of what Galnet is; becoming interactive, something to do on your travels, more content than what Galnet currently offers.

 

[Ydiss]

Yep, but from what I understand, the changes are made so you can choose a faction and complete missions for that faction, to get rep...mostly it is the same as community goals, but with a different twist.

I will be glad if they add some more activities; so far I did mostly exploring because is the less tedious activity; but fundamentally the mission system is lacking in any department. Which is a shame, since the nature of the game is what it is.

Now with wings you can band together....to do what? Not much, but hopefully one piece at time....

It's a complete mission overhaul. It's not just power play. They've redone the mission system from scratch.

 

[Temple604]

I really hope 1.3 changes the game in a big way. I've been playing the game about a month and have quickly gone from being impressed by the vastness of what is available to the nothingness of what there is to actually do in a practical sense. To that I mean making game progression which mostly boils down to earning credits and to a lesser extent faction relations/rank. I've also been very disappointed in the impracticality of playing in open mode. The risk/reward factor needs to be flipped around so that teaming up with people leads to greater rewards. As it is now what point is there in teaming up besides pvp? Trade - safer in solo mode. Res farming - more efficient in solo. Exploration - what would be the point?

 

[Patrick_68000]

Version 1.3 will add richness to the game. And this is only the beginning. Lot of good things will come in the future

 

[darshie76]

I will be looking forward to the 1.3 version then, if that include a full overhaul of the mission system.

The idea of NPC that talk to you; the chance to befriend someone in this vast universe...which maybe could be hired in the future as NPC for an eventual multi-crew ship experience; now that's progress. But even if you hear them telling you their story. would be good enough....if I gotta play space taxi service; then the first common thing that came in mind is the conversation Or even better, the passenger may try to get your ship and kill you! But this is just utopia; we are at the point where things are getting better, but still far from such polished mechanics.

Freedom without a purpose is quite useless IMO; so hopefully there will be more than meet the eyes with new updates.

Temple604 brought a good point: group together should be intended as corporation system; this is no regular MMO, so you can't just group for a dungeon and then be done; the mechanics here are much different from a generic MMO like WOW or Rift and such. But this is back to square 1: we need better missions and better activities; or everything else just crumble down.

 

[Zplintz]

@OP - Since when do 'most of us play in solo'?

 

[darshie76]

@OP - Since when do 'most of us play in solo'?

Did the trend change? LAst time that I check, the majority was playing solo. I play in open and did not meet a single human player in months....

If you can tell me where do you see all these players, please let me know because I will head there.

 

[Jezzah]

We'll see what work they've done on missions in 1.3 in a few days time in beta test. I don't want to pre sage things but I think most effort will have gone into putting the powers system in place and the general mission system will have gotten a pretty makeover here and there but ultimately be as shallow as it is now.

Sorry glass half empty mood here tonight.

 

[Privata]

Remember 10yrs plan.
So thats 10 yrs of free updates and 10yrs of paid DLC , the game is epic and will be the death of me

 

[msyblade]

Did the trend change? LAst time that I check, the majority was playing solo. I play in open and did not meet a single human player in months....

If you can tell me where do you see all these players, please let me know because I will head there.

Eravate area if newbies don't bother you, Lave area if you're okay with pirates. And of course any Community Goal system is packed with players.

 

[Surly_Badger]

Probably best to see what 1.3 does for quests. There's plenty of time to complain after everyone's had some hands-on time, if complaining is in order. The current quest system definitely could use improvement; FD seems to show a pretty good awareness of where and how the game needs to be improved. So I'm pretty upbeat about it, really.

 

[excalibus]

ED is a sandbox game, all of the Elites have required use of immagination... Yes I wish we had passenger missions (with the required internal components to allow us to take passengers as well) like in the older elites... and I have no doubt that in time they will come... I hope we get more involved military missions and smuggling missions... But to expect a DM controlled like experience I find highly doubtful, maybe someday they will create persistent NPC's but even then I doubt FDev will turn ED into DnD

 

[Nonya]

Yes. This game needs more "Firefly" in it.
I aim to misbehave in it all the time.

 

[darshie76]

Eravate area if newbies don't bother you, Lave area if you're okay with pirates. And of course any Community Goal system is packed with players.

Good to know; beside Sol I found close to nobody during my travel. I mostly play the explorer, so I travel a lot and I assumed to see at least someone around, but no luck.

Newbies does not bother me; got rammed by any sort of people, so there is no room for prejudices at this point