Do you Powerplay?

[defekt]

By any reasonable standard of measurement a sub-20% approval rating may well be considered a failure. Granted, the disgruntled complain the loudest and this might be a reasonable response to level against broadly 50-50 results, with perhaps a sway toward the negative, but at 20-80 you absolutely have to sit up and pay attention.

Bluntly, I don't think anyone has been fooled by how much actual depth and agency PP offers at this stage. (The same can be said for other areas of the game where it's largely about the illusion of choice and the illusion of agency.) I hope that PP as it stands now is merely a foundation upon which to construct something with a bit of life to it and that there is indeed more to come, and by that I mean an awful lot more to come.

 

[ElGuappo]

Bluntly, I don't think anyone has been fooled by how much actual depth and agency PP offers at this stage. (The same can be said for other areas of the game where it's largely about the illusion of choice and the illusion of agency.) I hope that PP as it stands now is merely a foundation upon which to construct something with a bit of life to it and that there is indeed more to come, and by that I mean an awful lot more to come.

The trouble is, if PP is (as it surely must be) an incomplete and only partially implemented game mechanic, why did FD bother? Pretty much every other aspect of the game is incomplete and partially implemented. Why not spend that time and money and resources evolving missions or trading or bounty hunting or... anything? Adding something else to the WIP queue is just inane.

 

[MarcusReed]

If only they had a player body they could consult when making these decisions, a sounding board...some kind of design discussion forum.

Aww I see what you did there. Well it took CCP 5 years to learn this lesson. Let's hope.

 

[jadefriendly]

Those have got to be a lot further down the line... Surely we first need:-
- more varied/deeper tiered missions, ideally with deeper/long term NPCs. Wing based/friendly missions?
- more general space flight content/depth.
- more depth/variety to the occupation mechanics.
- more depth/variety to exploration mechanics. ie: More stuff to discover and witness.

this this this

 

[Sandmann]

this this this

Can't argue with any of his suggestions. Can even think of several more to add. This thread and many others like it are full of good suggestions and people who approve of them (who have spent good money on the game and want to continue to do so IF they're provided something worth buying), and the poll is the most incontravertible evidence seen thus far of PP's failure as a crowd pleaser.

Problem is that we're preaching to the choir here, while those who could actually DO something about it are busy denying the existence of the many complaints & suggestions, questioning the extent and reliability of the dissatisfaction, and ploughing more and more development resources into chasing their failed concept rather than fixing the real core issues... in effect burying their heads in the sand about the realities, and "throwing good money after bad". Just lately we've heard that FD are "satisfied" with PP power numbers, but they won't actually tell us what those numbers ARE. My suspicion is that this is because such numbers would confirm the results of this thread's poll and put them in a position where it'd be difficult to justify continued development of their pet project. If not they could just outright deny and provide real data instead of trying to IMPLY that it's not reliable.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a political simulation as part of the game, in fact if well done it'd be a great addition that I'd enjoy playing but the current PP was and no amount of massaging and tweaking is likely to change that. We'd be much better off if they pulled PP in it's entirety for now and focused dev attention on getting REAL content into the game, while redesigning PP as a real, engaging, WORKING part of the game to be reintroduced at a later date. Seriously, for PP to actually be worthwhile playing (in my opinion) the size and scope of it would be more appropriately marketted as a purchasable expansion, not a core update.

 

[ozrix84]

There's an official reply from Sandro in the sticky Powerplay thread. If anyone missed it, here's the link.

 

[Rubellen]

There's an official reply from Sandro in the sticky Powerplay thread. If anyone missed it, here's the link.

Denial is a stage to get to acceptance... Perhaps there is hope for us

 

[Deleted member 37733]

There's an official reply from Sandro in the sticky Powerplay thread. If anyone missed it, here's the link.

So I read that with interest, looks like they still don't get it. FD seem to think the basis of complaints is because people are worried that we will all be forced to get involved with PP and it's now the 'new Elite'.

That's not the reason. We don't like PP because it's crap, it's largely irrelevant and boring. It added zero depth to ED because it's still just fetching stuff from one location and delivering it to another, there are plenty of other boring examples of that already in game.

CMDRs want content that is fun and interesting. Talk about burying your head in the sand.

 

[MarcusReed]

You can't deny that every aspect of the game got improved with every major update since release.

BH took 2 steps forward with 1.2 and 10 steps back in 1.3.

 

[CMDR Kantos Kan]

There's an official reply from Sandro in the sticky Powerplay thread. If anyone missed it, here's the link.

At least, they're aware of what people are thinking, maybe not for the good reasons, but they know that a lot of people don't like it as he mentions in his message "amount of the flak that the system is getting". So, they're aware of the "flak"!

 

[Notwyn]

I do not play Powerplay. I decided not to participate primarily because of the restrictions on travel pledging immediately placed on you. I prefer to go where I want and do as I please so that was a huge hinderance. I was curious about some of the game play but not enough to participate, never did pledge.

Hopefully the next gameplay plan they introduce will be more inclusive of the "lone wolf" type pilots.

BTW- Enjoying the game immensely.

 

[wolverine2710]

Nope. I like to blaze my own trail.

 

[Space Fan]

We don't like PP because it's crap, ..

Sums it up very nicely +1

(Oops, can't - another day.)

 

[Kramster]

So, they're aware of the "flak"!

So were WW2 bomber pilots but they kept on flying through it regardless

 

[Zplintz]

Voted No because I do not do PP. Although I think it is a nice idea (I have no objections to it nor to anyone playing it), it just isn't my thing.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

There have been some instances where FD have intervened to 'fix' the way the sim was going. Why? Let it play out. If a system falls into chaos, so be it. If Sol or Lave are taken over, so be it. If 95% of players join the Empire and wipe the Feds off the map so be it (just an example). At least that would be fun and would let players feel like they are achieving something.

As it is, it feels like playing a boardgame with the game designer hovering over you ready to slap your hand away any time you try to make a move they don't like. Doesn't sound like fun to me.

You noticed.

 

[CMDR Kantos Kan]

I do not play Powerplay. I decided not to participate primarily because of the restrictions on travel pledging immediately placed on you. I prefer to go where I want and do as I please so that was a huge hinderance. I was curious about some of the game play but not enough to participate, never did pledge.

Hopefully the next gameplay plan they introduce will be more inclusive of the "lone wolf" type pilots.

BTW- Enjoying the game immensely.

I think this reason of being tracked down and hunted is overblown. I'm with a faction under the Empire. I have been blowing up logistic ships that fortify some systems that belong to Hudson. I don't know how many but I have a fairly large bounty on my head in some of his controlled systems. I traveled to Sol yesterday which is also controlled by Hudson. Never had any problem flying around Earth and the Moon and landing at the starport orbiting the Moon. Folks, really, if you haven't tried it, don't spread exaggerated comments about how you're going to be hunt down if you travel in a system controlled by an opposing power. That's blown out of proportion!

 

[ElectricZ]

I think this reason of being tracked down and hunted is overblown. I'm with a faction under the Empire. I have been blowing up logistic ships that fortify some systems that belong to Hudson. I don't know how many but I have a fairly large bounty on my head in some of his controlled systems. I traveled to Sol yesterday which is also controlled by Hudson. Never had any problem flying around Earth and the Moon and landing at the starport orbiting the Moon. Folks, really, if you haven't tried it, don't spread exaggerated comments about how you're going to be hunt down if you travel in a system controlled by an opposing power. That's blown out of proportion!

This to me is one of the two main failures of powerplay. Affiliation with Alliance, Federation or Empire along with Naval Rank means nothing in PP. You can pledge to anybody you like and quit at any time with no repercussion. If you defect directly to another power, you can just wait a period of time and then go back. And as you've pointed out, it doesn't matter which faction you belong to, you can dock at "enemy" starports without any issue.

The reverse is also true. Fighting for the Empire, killing all of Hudson's forces, you should be earning the hate of the Federation faction and ranking up in the Empire. But the Feds don't care at all that you're attacking and destroying the forces of the actual President of the Federation. The Empire doesn't care that you're slaughtering enemy forces. It does nothing to help your reputation or rank with them. You might as well be knocking out target drones.

FOR me this crushes any illusion that there's a war on, or that any meaningful struggle is taking place versus the Federation and Empire or the other PowerPlay factions. Which is a shame because I want to be a pilot taking part in a galactic struggle... but in the existing Elite: Dangerous universe and not in this Bizzaro PowerPlay universe.

 

[JC Ford]

No, in its current form PP is not for me!

 

[NeilF]

I think this reason of being tracked down and hunted is overblown. I'm with a faction under the Empire. I have been blowing up logistic ships that fortify some systems that belong to Hudson. I don't know how many but I have a fairly large bounty on my head in some of his controlled systems. I traveled to Sol yesterday which is also controlled by Hudson. Never had any problem flying around Earth and the Moon and landing at the starport orbiting the Moon. Folks, really, if you haven't tried it, don't spread exaggerated comments about how you're going to be hunt down if you travel in a system controlled by an opposing power. That's blown out of proportion!

True... But I find it an annoyance now. I'm still signed up to a Power - I haven't bothered leaving and just waiting for my merits to drop down and foe me to get a free salary payment for a few weeks. More often than I'd like when trading now, when I'm in another Power's system I'll get interdicted simply for being "Hostile"... It's just annoying TBH, so I might actually just leave my Power to stop this happening.