Care packages should be more interesting

Disemboweled Ego

D
There have been a lot of complaints about the rank system being bad/too grindy and I think a lot of it comes down to how there's nothing interesting between the big unlock levels - which aren't that big due to being spread so far apart and almost exclusively unlocking old content that's been in the game for years.

This could all be improved if the care packages were more interesting.

What's in a care package currently?
I looked at the contents of the care packages I got when leveling from 1-100 and it seems the formula is something like:
  • G1 Horizons
  • G2 Horizons
  • G3 Horizons
  • G4 Horizons
  • G5 Horizons
  • ? Odyssey
  • ? Odyssey
  • ? Odyssey
  • ? Odyssey
  • ? Odyssey
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The odyssey materials have some sort of pool for each slot (for example Aerogel/Graphene will only spawn in slot 1 and Microelectrode in slot 5) which isn't really important (though it likely means a few assets are could be left out from the pool and it's slightly biased on that side.

The credits reward is insignificant.
The G1-G2 materials are insignificant and can be traded to full from just 1-2 G5 mats when needed.
The G3 mats are unlikely to roll the few useful ones you actually use a lot of when engineering your ships.
G4 materials are good, can contain the highest tier of raw materials while not blocking the extra G5 mat slot.

Odyssey assets are almost useless - the 100 different types of goods/data you need to engineer specific things that you can't use material traders for are the main blocker in odyssey engineering. On top of that odyssey engineering is limited enough that you can just be done with it and never have an use for those mats again.

If it was 1-2 slots of high barter value assets, 2 slots of odyssey data and 1-2 slots of odyssey goods then it would still be pretty bad as a reward (due to RNG on the data) but it would actually give people who don't want to do odyssey content a leg up on engineering their odyssey stuff and maybe pull them in that way.

By the way - what happens on my Epic alt who doesn't own odyssey after I open 40 care packages, will it just never clear the next ones from my inventory when my odyssey inventory which I can't access is full?

What could be in a care package?
Now that is out of the way - as the the thread title suggest I don't necessarily want better care packages just more interesting ones.

I think the best way to make it interesting would be to just have more types of care packages and let you choose which one you want to redeem out of 2-3 like some sort of rogu-elite level up.

Other types of care packages could be:
  • Odyssey Care Package (only odyssey mats, more of them)
  • Ship Engineering Care Package (only horizons mats, more of them)
  • Guardian Care Package (guardian mats for tech broker unlocks)
  • Thargoid Care Package (thargoid mats for ammo synth)
  • Federal/Imperial Navy reccomendation (alternative way to gain a bunch of navy rank for those that still need it)
  • Weapons/Modules (instead of permanently unlocking PP modules just give away a single one of them without the unlock)
  • Merits (for those that want to compete in the top 10 or do big picture powerplay stuff if these count towards system progress, could also be some sort of 4th low volume super power play cargo you can get via this package that does a lot of system progress wherever you put it)
  • Credits (its money!)
  • Tritium Delivery to my FC fuel tank (its time saved)
  • Distilled jumponium in a bottle (supercharges your FSD in a station (with the good stuff too from neutrons), hightly legal, useless for explorers, but great for getting around the bubble)
There's a ton of small ways to reward players and if you get a choice between multiple rewards not all rewards have to be created equal or fit every player/situation.
 

Disemboweled Ego

D
Darrack said:
Cant agree with these as they are specialist items which should be part of the respective grind/gameplay
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Yeah, but as they're not a guaranteed drop from powerplay you couldn't do powerplay to fully skip the guardian grind. Especially since these could be like a super rare 1-in-10 chance to even spawn as an choice care packages.

A new player could still end up stumbling into a way to get some guardian stuff without going to the sites, but that would set them on an unique progression path which can be a fun thing on it's own since it gives off a massive illusion of choice.

Darrack said:
Just noticed this one, im assuming that's a joke :ROFLMAO:
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Not a joke, but yeah it's a wild and potentially both totally useless/useful thing that should be thrown into there care package choices just to have totally unique stuff/buffs you can't get anywhere else. I know some people would take a "All I got from the care package was this t-shirt" rare good (not even a cosmetic!) for their collection. Sometimes you just need to have fun stuff in a game (controversial). This messes with the expected value of the thing when there's some stuff there that has a weird emotional value or just stuff you click once to see what it does. Prevents it from becoming too algorithmic.
 

Willyum-71

Willyum-71
I just received my 2nd care package package, gonna be a long road for me... But maybe they could treat it like a CG and occasionally give a 'unique' ship paint job to motivate. Everybody breaks their neck for paints.
 

Disemboweled Ego

D
Willyum-71 said:
But maybe they could treat it like a CG and occasionally give a 'unique' ship paint job to motivate. Everybody breaks their neck for paints.
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Gabriel H said:
Care packages should be fun and interesting rewards, not a replacement for grinding. Aim higher.
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I strongly agree that this stuff should be somewhere in the pp 2.0 rank system too, but as separate rewards from care packages which kinda have to be grindy due to the repeatable nature.
 

Valorin

Valorin
Willyum-71 said:
I just received my 2nd care package package, gonna be a long road for me... But maybe they could treat it like a CG and occasionally give a 'unique' ship paint job to motivate. Everybody breaks their neck for paints.
Click to expand...
If you get paints from powerplay, we should get them from other activities as well.
 

Gabriel H

Gabriel H
Disemboweled Ego said:
I strongly agree that this stuff should be somewhere in the pp 2.0 rank system too, but as separate rewards from care packages which kinda have to be grindy due to the repeatable nature.
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What you are suggesting would turn PP into a black hole, sucking in everything and everyone that gets close to it, because the rewards you are suggesting make doing anything else unnceccesary.

Care package should be things that don't affect gameplay, but rather silly things like cosmetic rewards. Something sparkly outside of normal gameplay to attract players and keep them motivated.
 

Willyum-71

Willyum-71
Valorin said:
If you get paints from powerplay, we should get them from other activities as well.
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Technically, you do.... You get ARX for playing the game, then you pick your cosmetic. This thread seems to be based on Achievment levels, PP2.0 is their new headline gameplay. Just like the Thargoid war was achievement based and people got Decals and Paints and kits. We were gonna complete the thargoid war regardless of those prizes, if not for the sake of being filthy rich, but it was fun knowing there would be a special prize that made me excited to see which kit or paint we might get.
 

Disemboweled Ego

D
Gabriel H said:
What you are suggesting would turn PP into a black hole, sucking in everything and everyone that gets close to it, because the rewards you are suggesting make doing anything else unnceccesary.
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As long as it's balanced so it's suboptimal compared to any other way of getting the same stuff it'll be fine. Which is why it should be interesting rather than rewarding.

Gabriel H said:
Care package should be things that don't affect gameplay, but rather silly things like cosmetic rewards. Something sparkly outside of normal gameplay to attract players and keep them motivated.
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The issue with those is that you get them all and you're done with powerplay.

There are ways to make those things last longer too like the CS2 decal spray mechanic (where you get a limited amount of sprays when buying/unlocking a spray via a random drop). I don't think that or limited use items like ship paints you can apply once are good or fun for the players (or technically feasible without a lot of work for FDev).

Motivation is the key here though and PP2 needs to just do it better on all fronts - not limited to rewards and care packages. Currently there's been no narrative payoffs yet or any serious flashpoints for big conflicts due to things being "balanced" towards certain actions.
 

galahad2069

G
Disemboweled Ego said:
The issue with those is that you get them all and you're done with powerplay.
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You keep getting these above rank 100 as well (not my pic):
1731790367244.png
 

Elpapo

Elpapo
Disemboweled Ego said:
The issue with those is that you get them all and you're done with powerplay.
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It seems there is no cap for levels yet. Some cmdrs reached 130+ and more already in just 2 weeks. Thats lot of free mats from it, especially from 100+ packages, even in current form.

galahad2069 said:
You keep getting these above rank 100 as well (not my pic):
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I was wondering what these 100+ packages would gave, it turned out its just double amount of mats per each, 10 instead of 5 but otherwise same. Litte disappointing but neverless, thats atleast one less thing to wonder about.
 

Disemboweled Ego

D
Disemboweled Ego said:
The issue with those is that you get them all and you're done with powerplay.
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To clarify this a bit, my point was that the care packages are infinite, but as soon as you try to make it about anything else like paintjob or decal unlocks there's a finite amount of them, both in terms of content and how much it would make sense for FDev to give away for free at a pace where the rank system would feel like you're raking up and getting stuff that you're interested in at intervals that don't make the average player give up on the whole thing entirely.

Elpapo said:
Litte disappointing but neverless, thats atleast one less thing to wonder about.
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That's how I feel about it only offering engineering mats too - I'm past rank 100 on my main and I'll probably just keep my engineering mats topped off passively from the PP rank rewards, but with the engineering materials rebalance that wasn't even really needed so there's nothing those packages could have that's worth working towards or that would be a lucky drop or whatever.
 

Commander Biscuit

Commander Biscuit
Getting a care package doesn't do much for me. I can't even open them because my mat storage is full.

Whatever they contain, it should be something that isn't cappable.
 

Tifu

Tifu
metatheurgist said:
Crazy idea, I'd like to see them produce a game mechanic that doesn't rely on participation bribes. Imagine playing something just because it was enjoyable.
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Ideally yes, but the Power modules should still stay within Powerplay and not be under the Tech brokers. Just making it clear 😉
 

forbiddenlake

forbiddenlake
I can't even claim most of my care packages, for two reasons:

1. My backpack is full, and I can't transfer most items to my carrier due to Transaction Error. I don't have any duplicate items nor items with strange commander IDs.
2. I'm full on most mats. I even did a bunch of useless trades to get under cap, but then I played the game and did a bunch of bounty hunting and whale hunting and re-maxed on several encoded and manufactured mats.

So right now I'm not sure what to do with these care packages but leave them unopened. Maybe after I engineer my next ship I can open some, but I pretty much won't be able to open them all ever.
 
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