As a new player myself, this was a steep learning curve the first few days, but it was so fun, I've already spent nearly two weeks straight playing the game. Yes, this is another post about the AI and some people may say we whine a lot, but it needs to be said again and again until people here us! This is a game, for entertainment, that drives people to play. I left EVE after playing for over a decade, because it just became about the combat (being solely focused on PVP, in which I do not care to participate), as are most of the games out there. FD fixed the PVP issue by offering solo play! OMFG, yay! If I want to trade, or mine, or build up a faction to earn merits, I can do that, apart from combat. At least, until 2.1. I played the beta, solely for the engineers interface to see what I could do to my drives, powerplant, and other non-combat items. FD thinks it's funny to ram combat down my throat by making it up front and in my face. I've not grinded like others, and mostly ranked up by doing exploration of the massive universe (still have yet to get my name on a star or planet, I think they nerfed that showing up though?). I was excited to think that maybe I could get some multi cannons and do a bit of shredding, like I've seen some YouTubers post about in the 2.1 beta 6, but didn't realize that I would be outclassed from the initial patch. Lost 4 Vultures in one hour. Yipes! Yes, I'm gonna group up with a work buddy and team up on targets to see if I can learn to fight better, but the wind has been taken out of my sails and I have only played about 4 hours since the patch. Mostly due to buzz crashes when going from SC or trying to land at planets, etc. It was a very persistent problem for hours and I just didn't have time for it. I understand you OP guys out there, with your hard earned billions from exploiting game mechanics are loving this right now. I respect that you've gotten what you've been hoping for for awhile. Honestly, I think the only reason you are playing ED at all is because a certain other game that offers cut-throat PVP and combat is still in production (having the mass of people for their own personal greedy gain, IMHO). ED has delivered what that game may never; a working game. That should not, however, dictate that all games should fall prey to the forced game play mode. I want to make my own character, as it states, the way I want to play. Not be force-interdicted every time i'm in SC, shot to pieces, having had my drives targeted without a way to escape. Yes, the game title is Elite: Dangerous. I actually thought about paying to play this game, for a week, since there was no demo. Having committed my money to the chaps in GB, I'm of the mind set that I will not renew the next season at this rate, unless something changes. I had this forced down my throat once with WOW, where it went from being an alright PVE experience, to "must grind with teammates to make it anywhere in game", and I'd just not like to do it again.
Ok, that said, I applaud FD for making a space flight sim that looks great, runs smooth, and is massively infinite in scope. It's a good way to escape RL and see the universe, especially with D.A.R.K. telling me all about Orion, etc. I love the HOTAS setup interface, and bought one to fly better (keyboard and joystick weren't very user friendly). I thought about getting a VR setup, just because I like the idea of being totally immersed. I've considered the IR tracker, but have a family of 6 to think about. FD has made such a fun game, at least until this point, that I want to participate in and keep playing for years. I'd like to see the ability to build player stations in remote areas of space, since we can travel there, it only seems logical that we would try to colonize. I would like to see player made factions, where the AI have to compete again the real life power of human teamwork (more than just the powerplay system now). Multi-person cockpits! YES, that is awesome. More of our childhood Star-Trek fantasies in player form for us to continue drooling over.
Please don't ruin it with forcing us to participate in OP AI combat, unless we choose to. Thanks!
