Before all that I would like to hear the Frontier Development response whether things I am talking about could be implemented, some general comment would be much appreciated.
I really enjoy the game itself, yet what I enjoy even more is the percieved living Milky Way - meeting other CMDRs. Be it pirates, bounty hunters, traders, or just marks on my radar I don't even bother to scan. The thing is, with solo and private there are too many people not in the actual multiplayer. Yet it is their right to be there. So, what could be done to increase the overall number of players, which will bring all the benefits to both players and Frontier Development? Making the base game free-to-play is most probably not an option, BUT. There is one way to let people experience all of the games features for free, to then decide if they want to actually buy it. It is implemented in Overwatch and is called free weekend. Every now and then there are special 3 days when every player can download and play the game for free. I fully understand that for Elite it would bring a lot of things to take care of, like BGS impact, griefing at the starting locstions, server load. Those things can be worked around (Some CG can be implemented to mentor/protect newbs, they could have their several starting systems cut from the rest of the map or have their features limited), solved or even ignored to an extent, since the immense benefits are worth it, for everyone - players get a growing, not decreasing community, developers get more copies (and more cosmetic items) sold. This would help the community a lot by driving the in-game mechanics to the next level, having more encounters and interest-based contacts (be it trading, exploring, war between huge player factions etc. This would simply make the world richer, as well as push developers for new forms of content and technical develolment (let's be honest, connectivity could and should be better - having more players would require a solution). Powerplay would finally be alive, CGs would be full of players, CQC might rise again, wings, fleet carriers and multicrew would be heavily used by those looking for a teamed-up gameplay. More players = more player-driven content, more excitement and detail to the world. What do you say?
I really enjoy the game itself, yet what I enjoy even more is the percieved living Milky Way - meeting other CMDRs. Be it pirates, bounty hunters, traders, or just marks on my radar I don't even bother to scan. The thing is, with solo and private there are too many people not in the actual multiplayer. Yet it is their right to be there. So, what could be done to increase the overall number of players, which will bring all the benefits to both players and Frontier Development? Making the base game free-to-play is most probably not an option, BUT. There is one way to let people experience all of the games features for free, to then decide if they want to actually buy it. It is implemented in Overwatch and is called free weekend. Every now and then there are special 3 days when every player can download and play the game for free. I fully understand that for Elite it would bring a lot of things to take care of, like BGS impact, griefing at the starting locstions, server load. Those things can be worked around (Some CG can be implemented to mentor/protect newbs, they could have their several starting systems cut from the rest of the map or have their features limited), solved or even ignored to an extent, since the immense benefits are worth it, for everyone - players get a growing, not decreasing community, developers get more copies (and more cosmetic items) sold. This would help the community a lot by driving the in-game mechanics to the next level, having more encounters and interest-based contacts (be it trading, exploring, war between huge player factions etc. This would simply make the world richer, as well as push developers for new forms of content and technical develolment (let's be honest, connectivity could and should be better - having more players would require a solution). Powerplay would finally be alive, CGs would be full of players, CQC might rise again, wings, fleet carriers and multicrew would be heavily used by those looking for a teamed-up gameplay. More players = more player-driven content, more excitement and detail to the world. What do you say?
