Confession of a shameless Mode Switcher...

[DukeIronHand]

I get it's not "officially" considered a bad thing but even I think it's gamey and tried to avoid it until recently when I looked at the numbers.

Been playing ED for almost two (or is it three?) years and in my current career a bit over 7 months. No combat involved and I run missions, trade, mine, and explore in that order. Also I guess I would be considered a "casual player" as 6-12 hours a week is all I can spend with ED. Not because I wouldn't do more if I could but real life stuff. And I like to try different ships. Like to try the rank locked ships as I have the rest. So I started this career with a side goal, besides having fun, of achieving rank.

Okay the stage is set: For the Feds I have been running a lot of missions and trade. For 7 months playing the "normal" way running missions as they pop up, working the BGS for factions to cultivate missions, etc.

In 7 months of mostly mission running I obtained the rank of CPO. Finally grinded one week at Ceos and made Ensign. Think it was close to 200 missions.
I figure at this pace (with rank getting harder as you go up) it might take me almost TWO YEARS (yes I meant to use caps) to get the rank to buy a Corvette. Almost TWO YEARS with "normal" play.

Okay I had zero Imperial rank so as a test (kind of) I went to the latest, greatest Imperial ranking spot and, thru mode switching to stack missions, I just made Baron in about 10 days (15 hours?) of play. And after dropping probably 6-8 million in Donation missions. Unfortunately with way the rank ladder progresses I would probably have to spend a month (at least) doing this solid to try a Cutter.

Your probably wondering where this is all going so my point:
For the casual player, with no gimmicks or "exploits" or mode switching how long would it take to achieve high faction rank with "normal" gameplay...12-24 months I am guessing depending on how many hours a week you want to work at it? Good Lord. This is not a complaint or whine as it's the game but I swear if there was a cheat code I would probably use it after weeks/months of rank grinding. I like ED but it's a game not a real life career.
If you want to Mode Switch and stack for rank please do. Tell 'em DukeIronHand sent you. No judgement here.

TL : DR - Mode Switch your behind off for rank missions if you want. The amount of time for a casual player playing "as intended" to make high faction rank is almost a ridiculous prospect. If FD wishes to pay me to play full time I am willing to negotiate for terms of service.

 

[Stealthie]

Must admit, I don't really get the whole "I don't play enough to make progress if I don't use expoits" argument.

Are there other games where you can expect to make the same progress as somebody who's played for twice as long as you?
If you're the person who has played for twice as long, wouldn't you expect that commitment to yield an advantage over somebody who's only played for half as long?

Personally, the only reason that exploits bother me is that they create the potential to give a player an advantage over other people which they haven't really "earned".
As long as you're not using exploits to give yourself an advantage which you then deliberately use against other players, fill your boots. [up]

 

[Marklar_]

The Fed rank grind isn't that bad, you seem to be having awful luck or something. I'd say about 3-6 months of casual playing should be enough. Be sure to move to a different system once you become allied with local minor factions, the reputation gains dry up otherwise. Also be sure that you are only doing missions for minor factions allied with the Feds.

 

[CMDR-AD]

The superpower ranks are steep. I doubt I'll ever have access to the Cutter or Corvette. Now at 2+ years of play, and not even near halfway to either, lol.

 

[Stealthie]

The superpower ranks are steep. I doubt I'll ever have access to the Cutter or Corvette. Now at 2+ years of play, and not even near halfway to either, lol.

Said it before; I officially started my "Imperial rank grind" on the Thursday (In Fehu) and I was on my way to collect my shiny new Cutter on the Sunday evening.

I did that deliberately, to verify just how much of an advantage exploits could yield.
I got my fed' rank more conventionally and it took about a year.

 

[MikeHawk]

if FDev thought it was such a big deal they'd have fixed it/taken it out. For ppl to cry cuz they spent more time getting the same rank is dumb AF. Why do you care what it took someone else to do ingame? This is 90% of the problem with this game. Everyone's looking around whining "IT TOOK ME 2 YEARS TO DO THAT" Admitting that is ok for you? But you not looking for a shortcut is our fault? I'm sorry you're too dumb to figure it out...of course it's our fault you're stupid

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I can't remember exactly what rank I'm at in the feds, but I think I need two more to get the Corvette.
And I worked out, I needed to do 250~ missions to finish my current rank.
Probably 1000~ for the next rank, and 2000~ for the one after. At a complete guess. So 30 missions a week, will take me.... Let's see.... Too long. Lol
(I don't do the data delivery back and forth thing, it's not fun)

Basically. I've decided the Corvette isn't worth it. I'll get the damn thing when I get the damn thing. Got no use for it anyway. I don't do PvP, and my Anaconda is way way way more than good enough for PvE.
The reward isn't worth the effort. Same goes for the Cutter.
I got my ships, I just need new content to use them on.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[House0fDerp]

Must admit, I don't really get the whole "I don't play enough to make progress if I don't use expoits" argument.

Are there other games where you can expect to make the same progress as somebody who's played for twice as long as you?
If you're the person who has played for twice as long, wouldn't you expect that commitment to yield an advantage over somebody who's only played for half as long?

Honestly, for the most part no. I tend to play longer than others I know in the games I'm invested in and tend to like to be able to help others I know who play reach parity rather than need or desire to lord my superiority over them. Opens for options for group play, which is something I'd gladly chose over time investment based advantages.

That said I tend to view these systems as mostly padding anyways, and in a sandbox it's doubly egregious.

Edit: From a different perspective ED isn't strictly competitive either, especially with solo and private groups. Seems possible from both the casual or hardcore perspectives the system can inflate times for no actual benefit regarding player to player advantage.

 

[Dad Rock]

Go for it. I recently hosted a player on my ship through Multi-crew who had been playing for two days. They told me they'd managed to earn about 800,000 in credits just by joining combat in other ships. Was I upset because that kind of money was something I could only dream of when I started? Not at all. I've been enjoying the game the way that I want to all this time. The last thing I'd want is to impose my style on somebody else.

 

[Schmack]

If I had 1 Cr for everyone who sat at Tun and spammed donation missions to get to the ranks they needed, I could buy a corvette with it.

Anything and I mean ANY thing in the game that's not a violation of EULA is fair game. I don't care how others feel about it in their purist ivory towers.

 

[Morbad]

Anything and I mean ANY thing in the game that's not a violation of EULA is fair game.

I can't agree with this and even if I could, the EULA/ToS is written in a deliberately vague way that allows Frontier to interpret things however they like.

 

[Saxon Kili]

If I had 1 Cr for everyone who sat at Tun and spammed donation missions to get to the ranks they needed, I could buy a corvette with it.

Anything and I mean ANY thing in the game that's not a violation of EULA is fair game. I don't care how others feel about it in their purist ivory towers.

I play a game to have fun , not to follow some strict moral structure.

 

[ZeroAi]

I get it's not "officially" considered a bad thing but even I think it's gamey and tried to avoid it until recently when I looked at the numbers.

Been playing ED for almost two (or is it three?) years and in my current career a bit over 7 months. No combat involved and I run missions, trade, mine, and explore in that order. Also I guess I would be considered a "casual player" as 6-12 hours a week is all I can spend with ED. Not because I wouldn't do more if I could but real life stuff. And I like to try different ships. Like to try the rank locked ships as I have the rest. So I started this career with a side goal, besides having fun, of achieving rank.

Okay the stage is set: For the Feds I have been running a lot of missions and trade. For 7 months playing the "normal" way running missions as they pop up, working the BGS for factions to cultivate missions, etc.

In 7 months of mostly mission running I obtained the rank of CPO. Finally grinded one week at Ceos and made Ensign. Think it was close to 200 missions.
I figure at this pace (with rank getting harder as you go up) it might take me almost TWO YEARS (yes I meant to use caps) to get the rank to buy a Corvette. Almost TWO YEARS with "normal" play.

Okay I had zero Imperial rank so as a test (kind of) I went to the latest, greatest Imperial ranking spot and, thru mode switching to stack missions, I just made Baron in about 10 days (15 hours?) of play. And after dropping probably 6-8 million in Donation missions. Unfortunately with way the rank ladder progresses I would probably have to spend a month (at least) doing this solid to try a Cutter.

Your probably wondering where this is all going so my point:
For the casual player, with no gimmicks or "exploits" or mode switching how long would it take to achieve high faction rank with "normal" gameplay...12-24 months I am guessing depending on how many hours a week you want to work at it? Good Lord. This is not a complaint or whine as it's the game but I swear if there was a cheat code I would probably use it after weeks/months of rank grinding. I like ED but it's a game not a real life career.
If you want to Mode Switch and stack for rank please do. Tell 'em DukeIronHand sent you. No judgement here.

TL : DR - Mode Switch your behind off for rank missions if you want. The amount of time for a casual player playing "as intended" to make high faction rank is almost a ridiculous prospect. If FD wishes to pay me to play full time I am willing to negotiate for terms of service.

First, I have to admit I don't know why Fdev purposely does not sync the mission boards of the three modes?

Really, I'm just not sure why they update the boards "sometimes" just because you switch modes?

That said, if a player has only 30 mins to play and bad luck means no good missions show up, he can either waste time in the black hoping to find good missions somewhere else, or just board switch which takes under a minute.

Waste time, or board switch with only 30 minutes to play?

Hmm, kind of obvious what most would do.

And, I totally disagree that this is an exploit of some type when used this way.

THIS IS how FDev have coded the game, and they can change it with a few keystrokes.

And that's my two cents :-D

 

[Stealthie]

Honestly, for the most part no. I tend to play longer than others I know in the games I'm invested in and tend to like to be able to help others I know who play reach parity rather than need or desire to lord my superiority over them. Opens for options for group play, which is something I'd gladly chose over time investment based advantages.

I wasn't suggesting that experience should justify "lording your superiority" over people with less experience.

I was simply pointing out that a person who has used exploits WILL have an advantage over another, otherwise identical, player who hasn't.
If those two people never interact with each other, no problem.
If, OTOH, they do end up in a fight and one is flying an FdL while the other is still flying a Cobra, the guy who's used exploits is probably going to come out on top.

As long as you're just doing your own thing it's not a big deal.
It's a bit silly to suggest they make no difference at all though.

I've certainly survived plenty of CGs in my Cutter which I wouldn't have survived in my T9.
Does that mean that "exploiting" my way to the Cutter has given me an "unfair advantage"?
probably, yes.

 

[BURL KNIVE5]

Since FDEV is cool with us mode switching to refresh the mission board so we can stack those missions, I wish they'd change the mission board so that the missions refresh every couple of minutes. If the devs don't consider it an exploit, then make it a part of the game.
Nothing fun about logging in and out over and over again.

 

[space voyager]

I very much feel for the OP. I have three children and ranking up to get any of the rank locked ships is practically unachievable. Love the game but this is not good. If only one could serve a superpower in form of story missions it would at least be meaningful and immersive. As is, it is inumerable missions of the same few types over and over, no conection between them.

 

[House0fDerp]

I wasn't suggesting that experience should justify "lording your superiority" over people with less experience.

I was simply pointing out that a person who has used exploits WILL have an advantage over another, otherwise identical, player who hasn't.
If those two people never interact with each other, no problem.
If, OTOH, they do end up in a fight and one is flying an FdL while the other is still flying a Cobra, the guy who's used exploits is probably going to come out on top.

As long as you're just doing your own thing it's not a big deal.
It's a bit silly to suggest they make no difference at all though.

I've certainly survived plenty of CGs in my Cutter which I wouldn't have survived in my T9.
Does that mean that "exploiting" my way to the Cutter has given me an "unfair advantage"?
probably, yes.

The Lording over part came out more condescending in tone than intended, but basically the intent is enjoying the advantages of further unlocks.

That said, such in the bane of non-linear play. Time is never the sole determinant even with the assumption of equal skill. Creating parity when you can't even assure that while allowing those motivated by certain goals to pursue them directly make the issue unassailable.

I agree over the course of genuine exploits, but to the concept of time creating the idea of a deserved advantage, that doesn't work out and trying to design for it just winds up incentivizing viewpoints like ops.

 

[Ozram]

Since FDEV is cool with us mode switching to refresh the mission board so we can stack those missions, I wish they'd change the mission board so that the missions refresh every couple of minutes. If the devs don't consider it an exploit, then make it a part of the game.
Nothing fun about logging in and out over and over again.

Indeed, give us a refresh button then. As someone who refuses to use exploits I feel like I have to play with my hands tied behind my back compared to most people. FD, stop rewarding exploits!

 

[ocflyer]

First, I have to admit I don't know why Fdev purposely does not sync the mission boards of the three modes?

Really, I'm just not sure why they update the boards "sometimes" just because you switch modes?

That said, if a player has only 30 mins to play and bad luck means no good missions show up, he can either waste time in the black hoping to find good missions somewhere else, or just board switch which takes under a minute.

Waste time, or board switch with only 30 minutes to play?

Hmm, kind of obvious what most would do.

And, I totally disagree that this is an exploit of some type when used this way.

THIS IS how FDev have coded the game, and they can change it with a few keystrokes.

And that's my two cents :-D

To answer your question "why Fdev purposely does not sync the mission boards of the three modes" is not easy. TLDR answer: The missions are procedurally generated from a random seed by many independent transaction servers on different continents. The time lag alone for sending and processing the sync command would prevent them looking the same to a mode switcher as he re-logs.

Secondly, the effort to change the transactions servers so that they would sync is a large effort and likely to generate many bugs until they finally get it sorta working.

Third, my opinion about why FD hasn't considered syncing them is because syncing the servers wouldn't inhibit mission stacking. It would merely increase the time to stack missions for some cases where the board doesn't present many missions to the player. In my experience, I'm able to get several missions from a single board, especially at places like Quince, Tun, Robigo, and others. That's one of the reasons that those places are so popular.

Before mode switching because widespread, for ranking purposes, I used a tactic of getting as many missions as I could from one station, then stacking missions at each of the local mission destination stations until I had a full stack. It only takes slightly longer than staying at one station and mode switching.

 

[GG7]

Since FDEV is cool with us mode switching to refresh the mission board so we can stack those missions, I wish they'd change the mission board so that the missions refresh every couple of minutes. If the devs don't consider it an exploit, then make it a part of the game.
Nothing fun about logging in and out over and over again.

I agree 100%

If the mission boards provided enough missions of the type I am looking for, I wouldn't need to switch. The fact that switching actually produces positive results is why so many players do it.

I personally see nothing wrong with this technique. Especially if you are trying to get a Navy Rank Up mission or something like that. Who in their right mind if going to sit there for 15 minutes waiting for the current mode's mission board to refresh? And if there is still no rank up mission, then what?

If you've got that kind of free time to waste, knock yourself out. [wacko]

But calling switching an exploit is...well... a bit clueless, actually. [wacky]