Gameplay and end game content shifted. Imagine the road new players need to take. The rest of the world is flying about in their shiny carriers
But people are NOT flying in their carriers. Carriers aren't the means through which you access the game's content, they are for the most part very expensive quality of life things. Their availability to veterans of the game should make no difference to the early game progression.
and the new ones have to grind themselves to death through ship progression ...
Which is the game.
... all the while getting jumped by to the teeth engineered ships.
The Engineers were initially not supposed to bring pure powercreep like they currently do. They were supposed to add sidegrades, such that they wouldn't replace ship progression but complement it. The fact Frontier completely messed up on that point and turned the Engineers into
the game is not an excuse for removing ships and modules as pertinent elements of the progression system. All these resources were invested in creating dozens of different ships, most of which are now completely irrelevant because their purpose as stepping stones is gone.
You would think ship variety is a pretty important thing in a game about flying spaceships, but nowadays even beginners will get their hands on an Anaconda or FDL in a matter of hours, and they'll have no reason to ever look back. Don't tell me that's not true, because I'm witnessing it right now. A bunch of gaming buddies of mine got into the game, and in a matter of hours abused wing massacre missions to get themselves Fer De Lances already. So far they have enjoyed their time as combat is the most intricate aspect of the game, but I know in a few days they'll be gone, because they're already starting to ask the "what now" question and there is no easy answer to that.
At the start of this game we had to go through ship progression because there wasn't anything else to progress through, and it made sense because we were all flying the same crap. These days are gone. The game, gameplay and its content evolved, old players should too.
We had to go through ship progression because that's the whole point of a game like Elite. Gameplay and content have
not evolved in a direction that would justify reducing or removing ship progression. More things have been added to do while getting to the top, but little has been added at the top. Once you have your yeetboat, there is very little there to keep you going. Thargoids will keep you busy for a while if that's your thing, or PvP, but these are very niche interests. If you remove the whole process of
getting there, there is only the shell of a game left.
Most of us who are still playing have found various ways of keeping entertained through the years (some go exploring, some hunt lore and puzzles, some do BGS), but tell me, how many of these '
activities' rely so exclusively on a high-end ship, that it would be a good idea to remove the whole early game to let the player reach that point faster?
And even if Frontier had really added more end-game content: why would that justify removing the early game at all? Surely a game having more content is a good thing, especially when it's spread out along and gated by a progression system wich introduced the player to new stuff gradually. I don't see why new content at the top should mean you should spend less time in the early game, if the early game is good. And the early game certainly used to be where ED shone.
How about just picking low paying missions that way you can enjoy the many months it will take to A rate your sidey.
Forcing myself to break character and give myself handicaps severely hurts my enjoyment.
