Elite Dangerous - Powerplay 2.0 Merit Changes

[Darkfyre99]

My justification is that if you sell something in fewer quantity, it appears more precious to the buyer and they're willing to pay more for it.

In my opinion, merits are, ultimately, an abstraction of how well, or poorly, a Power is tending to the needs of a system as a whole. The “high profits” source of good merits are, in my opinion, as silly as rares, since they are usually luxury items, and a quick Look at a station’s commodity market typically shows that the people served by that market are starving, their factories are closed due to lack of materials and excessive inventory, and their people sick due to a lack of medicine.

It would make a ,or more sense, IMO, for commodities in high demand to produce the most merits, regardless of their profitability. On the flip side, when undermining, selling low supply commodities on a market is much is a much better way to ensure unrest, because below-cost imports kills local jobs.

 

[sacred aardvark]

I think there are differing and shifting expectations of a primary means here.

Clearly. I am trying to use the actual definitions of the word, while some seem to be using what they feel the word means.

I'm not sure why you would think for the weeklies to be equivalent to doing other activities they would need to be earning the same in 5 missions as a week's worth of the other options.

Because if the weeklies aren't earning the same as other missions in a week, then they aren't a primary source.

Look, pulling numbers out of a hat, if the weeklies give 25k in a week, and doing other activities you can get 25k a day (so 175k a week); which one is the (or a) primary source, and which is the (or a) secondary, or perhaps a supplemental, source? Or do you consider them both a primary source, despite the wild difference in efficacy?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

On the flip side, when undermining, selling low supply commodities on a market is much is a much better way to ensure unrest, because below-cost imports kills local jobs.

This does at least work - the "flood" action accepts commodities the station produces, and they're generally the easiest to guarantee will be below the 500cr threshold, generally the furthest below it, and therefore the highest merits/tonne.

In my opinion, merits are, ultimately, an abstraction of how well, or poorly, a Power is tending to the needs of a system as a whole. The “high profits” source of good merits are, in my opinion, as silly as rares, since they are usually luxury items

If you think about it as more about how well the Power is at tending to the needs (ahem, bribing) the system's ruling classes, that makes more sense. The more luxury items, donations, etc. you can send their way...

Look, pulling numbers out of a hat, if the weeklies give 25k in a week, and doing other activities you can get 25k a day (so 175k a week); which one is the (or a) primary source, and which is the (or a) secondary, or perhaps a supplemental, source? Or do you consider them both a primary source, despite the wild difference in efficacy?

Very much depends on how much you play in a week, of course.

25k a week and nothing more is still likely to put you comfortably into the top 50% of your Power. So if you stop there you're still more effective than half the pledged players and it was definitely a primary source.

Obviously if you get 175k a week (comfortably into top 25%, probably approaching top 10%) they're far less significant, and to the people in the top 10 they're almost irrelevant.

 

[CMDR_Brantford of FLC]

Thanks for the question. I can now confirm that settlement Data has now been enabled, however Rare Goods and Escape Pods remain temporarily disabled as investigate the issue.

As an aside, getting all these merits when this is all straightened out to show up in the journals would be helpful (even more helpful if they showed the individual systems they were earned in )

I get that Frontier might not want to code it into the game... but the 3rd party apps like Market Connector or Ed Discovery can show them, if they're allowed to appear.

 

[D Ghost NL]

Greetings Commanders.

With the update this morning, we have increased merits from by exploration data by 6x, and all other sources by 4x.

The effect on system scores and therefore system conflict progression remains unchanged.

We have also increased the merit award from all assignment difficulties by 20x

• This will take immediate effect on any uncompleted assignments at time of posting. Assignments which have already been completed will not be retroactively see this change

This is the first step in ensuring that all activities with Powerplay 2.0 both feel rewarding and are viable in advancing through the ranks quickly, allowing Commanders to obtain the first Powerplay modules in a much shorter timespan. We will continue monitor to both player feedback and data, and make further adjustments to merit gain for activities if needed.

o7, question if a wing of 4 bounty hunt in 1 alied system and they all shoot 20.000 merrits. thats 4 times 20k is 80.000. but the progress in system only went up 20.000. any know why or is this a bug?
greetings Ghost

 

[D Ghost NL]

Is this working as intended? In just 4 hours?

what did you do in 4 hours?

 

[sacred aardvark]

Very much depends on how much you play in a week, of course.

25k a week and nothing more is still likely to put you comfortably into the top 50% of your Power. So if you stop there you're still more effective than half the pledged players and it was definitely a primary source.

Obviously if you get 175k a week (comfortably into top 25%, probably approaching top 10%) they're far less significant, and to the people in the top 10 they're almost irrelevant.

Oh good grief...

I specifically said "pulling numbers out of a hat", and you respond like they have any bearing on current leaderboards.

Okay, divide the values by 1k so you don't get confused by comparing current system leaderboards to new system outcomes... so 25 merits a week, and 175 a week; which is the primary source of merits?

We assume in both of these completely hypothetical scenarios that the playtimes are equal, and there isn't any cross pollination by doing weeklies AND other stuff (which in this arbitrary scenario would result in a total of 200 per week). I merely asked, in this imaginary scenario, which is the primary source, or are both a primary source? You can even change the merits to snickers bars, or didgeridoos, it doesn't matter; it was a question on linguistics.

 

[Neestar]

question if a wing of 4 bounty hunt in 1 alied system and they all shoot 20.000 merrits. thats 4 times 20k is 80.000. but the progress in system only went up 20.000. any know why or is this a bug?

i believe that is working-as-intended by design, based on @Paul_Crowther 's OP on page 1 here--> https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/elite-dangerous-powerplay-2-0-merit-changes.630583/ .... specifically the part where it says: "The effect on system scores and therefore system conflict progression remains unchanged. "

 

[DemiserofD]

I really would like it if we could haul in needed goods like medicines or food or even water and get merits for it.

Just...trade in general feels really off right now.

 

[Scienti5t]

Clearly. I am trying to use the actual definitions of the word, while some seem to be using what they feel the word means.




Because if the weeklies aren't earning the same as other missions in a week, then they aren't a primary source.

Look, pulling numbers out of a hat, if the weeklies give 25k in a week, and doing other activities you can get 25k a day (so 175k a week); which one is the (or a) primary source, and which is the (or a) secondary, or perhaps a supplemental, source? Or do you consider them both a primary source, despite the wild difference in efficacy?

This sounds insincere or not very sensible.

If the weeklies give 25k and you can complete them in a day, compared with other activities getting you 25k daily they could be seen as equivalent in efficiency.
If you play 1 day doing weeklies and 6 days not engaging with PP you should only really compare the one PP day.

Also, I'm not sure what definitions of which word you are trying to use - still 'primary'? - but I think everything here should be something we could understand the intended meaning of regardless. This kind of to and fro has a combative feel to it and seems a ways off discussing opinions and observations of something we do for fun.

 

[Chernabog70]

Greetings Commanders.

With the update this morning, we have increased merits from by exploration data by 6x, and all other sources by 4x.

The effect on system scores and therefore system conflict progression remains unchanged.

We have also increased the merit award from all assignment difficulties by 20x

• This will take immediate effect on any uncompleted assignments at time of posting. Assignments which have already been completed will not be retroactively see this change

This is the first step in ensuring that all activities with Powerplay 2.0 both feel rewarding and are viable in advancing through the ranks quickly, allowing Commanders to obtain the first Powerplay modules in a much shorter timespan. We will continue monitor to both player feedback and data, and make further adjustments to merit gain for activities if needed.

Still no word on the roll backs for players that were able to utilize the higher merit exchanges for rare commidties or whether you will add levels to those of us that were shorted on the merits from rare commodity trading.

 

[DemiserofD]

Thinking about trade more, I've had a few thoughts.

1. Profit should probably always be the primary concern. If you can make more credits trading one thing than another, that should give more merits.

2. But on the flipside, it should not DIRECTLY correlate to profit, or the only things it'll EVER be worth trading are the most profitable things. Right now, trading Food Canisters or Tea is basically pointless.

3. Therefore, we need to have some sort of diminishing returns on higher profit, or have a certain baseline that profit only increases gradually, or something like that.

Something like 1 merit per ton + 1 merit per 15k profit. That way, you WANT to trade the high-value goods, but even the lower-value goods can be worth, at minimum, half as much, not ~10% as much or less as they currently can be.

 

[sacred aardvark]

think everything here should be something we could understand the intended meaning of regardless.

I agree, which is why I've been questioning your yet yo be defined "primary" in an effort to get a feel on where your definition is, since it's clearly not the dictionary one. (or if you did mention the definition you're using, I do apologize for missing it)

Since if words lose their definitions, or one uses differing definitions to the norm; trying to correctly understand someone becomes literally* impossible.

*since literally can these days literally mean "literally" or "figuratively", I'll let you figure out one which I intended there. Luckily in this context it doesn't really matter, since one would be patently incorrect while the other would be hyperbole.

This kind of to and fro has a combative feel to it and seems a ways off discussing opinions and observations of something we do for fun.

I originally stated my opinion, granted quite vehemently, and then multiple people have proceeded to respond with responses that either ignore what was said, or try to redefine words, or read between the lines something that wasn't there.

But yeah, since you're not interested in a good faith conversation where words have meaning, I think you were correct earlier that we should end it. Good day to you sir. May your hyperjumps be short in duration, fuel stars plentiful, and docking pads always available. o7

 

[BDelacroix]

I've got no weekly assignments. New bug?

EDIT: Oh, wait, they appeared now.

Ok, I recognize that avatar.

 

[yianniv]

It would make a ,or more sense, IMO, for commodities in high demand to produce the most merits, regardless of their profitability. On the flip side, when undermining, selling low supply commodities on a market is much is a much better way to ensure unrest, because below-cost imports kills local jobs.

Both your arguments are valid and make sense.
In my view, the higher price of smaller quantities also helps the new commanders with smaller cargo spaces. In case of big ships, I view it as an opportunist that sells small quantities to increase prices, instead of flooding the market. Like someone selling water to thirsty travelers in the desert, and showing them one bottle at a time, making them compete to buy it.

 

[Darrack]

Mining

So a quick half an hour in a Plat hotspot located in Utopian space (selling at the station therein)
Osmium 31T sold in bulk for 1076 Merits
Silver 38T sold in bulk for 1168 Merits
Gold 36T sold in bulk for 1384 Merits

That's 3628 Merits in about half an hour, ironically i didn't find one Plat rock!
Plus Merits from an Elite Anaconda on the way back to the station

Its about on a par with loop trading between two Utopian ports.

O7

 

[Darkfyre99]

Both your arguments are valid and make sense.
In my view, the higher price of smaller quantities also helps the new commanders with smaller cargo spaces. In case of big ships, I view it as an opportunist that sells small quantities to increase prices, instead of flooding the market. Like someone selling water to thirsty travelers in the desert, and showing them one bottle at a time, making them compete to buy it.

That does fit with the dystopian/cyber-punk feel of the setting, especially given how Frontier has chosen to implement that setting via the game mechanics.

 

[kofeyh]

Thanks for the question. I can now confirm that settlement Data has now been enabled, however Rare Goods and Escape Pods remain temporarily disabled as investigate the issue.

That's great, Paul, how about exploration and exobiology? Handing over data doesn't seem to be generating merits (or the system description for which system to hand said data too is incorrect).

 

[Nowski]

That's great, Paul, how about exploration and exobiology? Handing over data doesn't seem to be generating merits (or the system description for which system to hand said data too is incorrect).

The info we have from FDev is that explo and exo were reinstated on Nov 7, but only for data collected after 6pm UTC on that day. This was working for me as of last week.

And then yesterday rates for exploration data were increased by 6x

If you're within the correct conditions for handing in and getting no merits, then, this would be a new bug I guess, and need evidence gathering and an issue to vote on perhaps. I haven't seen any mention of either getting or failing to get explo / exo merits before yours.

 

[eXpErT]

Everyone celebrates fast rank, yet.

Bartender trash
Limpets trash
pods trash
Merits to impact system ultimate trash
Odissey power mats can only sell a few for merits, rest is out of range. Probably of the trash bin
My rank 100 has a 200% bonus of trash useless actions.