Elite Dangerous | Type-8 Update (18.08) | Wednesday 7th August

[Rat Catcher]

But is it really more choice?
Because if we do talk strictly about BC and EC and MEF, the choice is less than before - less missions will offer them than we used to get - due to dilution and rng
And if i have to get a passenger from bubble to colonia to get 20 mef, then i'd rather relog at Jamesons...

Yes, it is more choice - unless the only mats that interest you are the 3 listed, most of which I'd take to trade against other ones...

Stanier Gateway (Cama Zotz) had several missions this morning offering 20 MEF, and none of them required much effort to complete.
It even has a Mats Trader for Data... (It used to be a favourite system for me to lurk in, then players decided that it needed to go Imperial, which took the shine off of it a lot!)

 

[TaoZero5]

I am an irritated one . . . Grrrrrr!

I'm playing right now, and it annoyed me so much I just have to say, "Look at this!"
Bad enough that the lines remain pasted on, stuck in place, when I switch them off.
I like to play without them, mostly, turning them on and off a number of times when piloting through a system - just to see, for efficiency, which route I might take. (muscle memory and process developed over the past 10 years)

The worst is that someone has taken a crayon and drawn all over my empty space.
Compare the FSS with what we have now -

 

[DjVortex]

I'm playing right now, and it annoyed me so much I just have to say, "Look at this!"
Bad enough that the lines remain pasted on, stuck in place, when I switch them off.

I'm quite certain it's just a bug that they will quickly fix in the next update.

However, I would really like it if they made the lines slightly thinner. I think they are just a tad bit too thick now. They kind of look bad, being so thick. I'd say something like 50-75% of their current thickness could be ok.

 

[V'larr]

Pharma Isos have always been rare. Not that many outbreak systems to begin with, and then it's still RNG. I've occasionally spent up to two hours to find a fitting HGE, sometimes I even gave up. This is unchanged in the new patch, search for a HGE may still take very very long. The original HGE system was way superior, where you just had to cruise in deep space at 30km/s, and the HGE would spawn in your path eventually, ready to drop in, as you were so slow.

Disagree. It is worth picking 2-3 systems to rotate through to look for an HGE, but the old method where the RNG was also timegated was not in any way a superior experience or faster than after that was changed.

It's the same RNG in every HGE spawn case. The only thing contributing to the perception of rarity for some types over others is the availability of systems with the right conditions. I've never experienced a problem finding Pharma Isos or any other HGE type, because I take the time to identify those 2-3 ideal systems to rotate through.

Nature of the RNG beast, it leads to a lot of confusion and confirmation bias.

 

[V'larr]

No-one forces you, the choice is yours:
Seek out HGE-s (boring, but fast),
Or sacrifice 2 optional slots on your PvE ship, which is completely OP against NPC-s anyway, to pick up phat loot from that pirate lord ship you were sent to assassinate,
Or stop rampaging through RES-s like an absolute maniac and take some time to smell the ashes and savor the moment while picking clear the bones of your enemies (where's the hurry, you need to wait for new targets to drop in and your shield to recover, anyway),
Or do missions that reward materials, ignoring all the loot your targets drop.

Enemies dropping loot has been a staple of all games ever, it's up to the player to either go rummaging through the pile of corpses or ignore all that and find an alternate way to get stuffz. For the record, I also ignore low level mook possessions after a certain point, but they are an invaluable resource during the early game.

When the combat grind remains by far the longest and most tedious slog in the game, that's "the hurry" with not wasting time scooping mats manually, especially because they most often aren't worth picking up anyway because they aren't the highest grades that are worth many times more of any lower grades.

CNBs are significantly better at spawning targets faster.

There are many good games out there with good looting-based-progression systems and mechanics. Elite has never been one of them.

 

[Shurimal]

When the combat grind remains by far the longest and most tedious slog in the game, that's "the hurry"

What combat grind? To get the decal? IDK, been there, got Elite in combat, have the sticker on my ship, but there really is no point in grinding for the mere sticker that doesn't do anything useful. It'll happen when it'll happen. It's just a sticker, and not even time-gated one like the Titan kill ones

 

[Luriant]

When the combat grind remains by far the longest and most tedious slog in the game, that's "the hurry" with not wasting time scooping mats manually, especially because they most often aren't worth picking up anyway because they aren't the highest grades that are worth many times more of any lower grades.

CNBs are significantly better at spawning targets faster.

There are many good games out there with good looting-based-progression systems and mechanics. Elite has never been one of them.

Onfoot missions can farm Combat Elite V in a month. And with the latest reduction, a good dominator with dual rockets can be farmed faster than before.

 

[aRJay]

What combat grind? To get the decal? IDK, been there, got Elite in combat, have the sticker on my ship, but there really is no point in grinding for the mere sticker that doesn't do anything useful. It'll happen when it'll happen. It's just a sticker, and not even time-gated one like the Titan kill ones

I found combat Elite useful when I reached it, access to Shin Dez and almost everything in one place was helpful and might have taken some months out of the time to get the other two.
Mind you if I didn’t enjoy combat I might have considered it a grind, I was certainly doing it a lot even got factions sending assassins after me during one CG.

 

[V'larr]

What combat grind?

Please, just stop. After over 10 years of it, I get tired of disingenuity.

You don't want to understand because you don't want to. Fine.

For everyone else looking at this game through non-rose-tinted-glasses, it is a grind, it is one of the few targets the game sets for you, and it is one of the only meaningful achievements in the game that has a visible & tangible title and badge to it that you can show off to people.

You want to be special and act like none of this applies to you? Knock yourself out, but please, stop acting like that applies for the vast majority of players engaging with the game.

 

[V'larr]

Onfoot missions can farm Combat Elite V in a month. And with the latest reduction, a good dominator with dual rockets can be farmed faster than before.

I still fail to understand, at all, why Combat rank is shared between on-foot and in space. One of the most baffling design decisions Fdev have made in this game, and THAT is saying something.

I still have yet to brave the darkness that is the total lack of livable anti-aliasing, but the changes to the grind has gotten me one step closer to dipping my foot into on-foot content.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Combat is a rank that goes up as you play. Combat happens all the time, unless you deliberately avoid it. I've reached Dangerous just by playing the game. I did grind out Elite by choice, because engineering was about to come, and I wanted to be Elite before that. Didn't fully manage, but almost. I got Elite I by just playing the game, mainly through my on foot engineering grind after Odyssey had become mostly playable.

 

[vanFace]

I got Elite I by just playing the game, mainly through my on foot engineering grind after Odyssey had become mostly playable.

Same here. On-foot legal settlement massacres are a turbo-boost for non-grindy combat rank increase. Seems like when it comes to Elite, you'll not only have to choose your battles wisely, but also your grind.

 

[Shurimal]

I found combat Elite useful when I reached it, access to Shin Dez and almost everything in one place was helpful

Don't need combat Elite to access ShinDez. Any Elite will do, trade is probably the easiest, but I got my first Elite in exploration.

You don't want to understand because you don't want to. Fine

Understand what? That the decal you get for reaching Elite is actually the most important thing in the game?

 

[Rat Catcher]

Please, just stop. After over 10 years of it, I get tired of disingenuity.

Is it disingenuity for one to have a different opinion?

You don't want to understand because you don't want to. Fine.

With no disrespect intended, understand what?

For everyone else looking at this game through non-rose-tinted-glasses, it is a grind, it is one of the few targets the game sets for you, and it is one of the only meaningful achievements in the game that has a visible & tangible title and badge to it that you can show off to people.

It took me around 4 years to get to Elite in Combat, looking at that with even the most jaded view it could hardly be described as 'grind', and yes, I got a pretty decal that announced to everyone in the game who might see it that I'd finally achieved triple elite - I don't bother with the decal, my choice, naturally.

No problem if you consider any game activity to be 'grind', we are all different, after all.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Please, just stop. After over 10 years of it, I get tired of disingenuity.

You don't want to understand because you don't want to. Fine.

For everyone else looking at this game through non-rose-tinted-glasses, it is a grind, it is one of the few targets the game sets for you, and it is one of the only meaningful achievements in the game that has a visible & tangible title and badge to it that you can show off to people.

You want to be special and act like none of this applies to you? Knock yourself out, but please, stop acting like that applies for the vast majority of players engaging with the game.

There's nothing disingenuous about it. Combat rank - any rank for that matter - is only a grind if you choose to make it one. Except for access to Shinrarta and a nifty sticker you get nothing for it, so grinding out Elite rank just to have it is a player's choice. And even that ShinDez access is debatable, I would assume most players reach trade Elite much faster than combat (I did; almost by accident through selling my mined commodities). At least, trade Elite is much much easier to achieve than combat, in my opinion anyway.

Although I don't agree, or at least didn't take part in it (for everything I achieved, I just "played the game"), I can understand that material acquisition can be perceived as grindy if you don't have the time, patience or mindset to fill your bins by just playing the game, because materials have an actual use and are required to progress. Combat rank? Pssssh. Bragging rights, not much more. And not even that, everyone and their grandma is Elite +something these days.

 

[Florenus]

Please, just stop. After over 10 years of it, I get tired of disingenuity.

You don't want to understand because you don't want to. Fine.

For everyone else looking at this game through non-rose-tinted-glasses, it is a grind, it is one of the few targets the game sets for you, and it is one of the only meaningful achievements in the game that has a visible & tangible title and badge to it that you can show off to people.

You want to be special and act like none of this applies to you? Knock yourself out, but please, stop acting like that applies for the vast majority of players engaging with the game.

I'm not looking at the game through any tinted glasses and I must tell you that in this case it's your problem - problem with you making it an issue and your approach to it - not with the game.
Any Elite rank is not a target, it's just a metric, and I would say the game would be much better without it, because some people feel they need to complete it just for the sake of achieving it, even if it's mostly meaningless. I mean, when you see someone with Elite combat rank only thing you know is that he has spent a lot of time shooting at AI ships.
I've been there. I was able to ignore looking at Combat ranking for years, until I've noticed that I'm close to Elite and it switched my OCD on and started to bug me and I begun to look for ways to increase my combat XP and reach the Elite. It was a grind. It was boring like hell and exhausting, but it was my problem, because I have brought it on myself for absolutely no reason. It was like trying to finish a game ASAP instead of enjoying it. It was great relief to finally reach the rank and be able to just forget about it. Of course then Odyssey landed and Frontier increased ranks to Elite V, but fortunately I think I've learned my lesson and now I am able to completely ignore it. Nothing will make me repeat that grind again.

 

[vanFace]

HIP 19091, Gluschen, Leuni .. also no rewards (for Tier 3).

FWIW, I also have contributed around 40M bonds in all 4 remaining Thor controlled systems (which of course is not that much), and got no rewards at all when they finally got to 100%. Will wait until after the next "Thorsday", but if it's not showing up by then I'll call it a well-played bluff by FDev.

 

[Shurimal]

And even that ShinDez access is debatable

Highly so. If you want discounts, Sirius powerplay systems offer better ones and Zachary powerplay systems offer even better discounts for weapons. You just have to shop around a bit more, but at the same time you won't need to run the gauntet of would-be PvP-rs (or switch to solo)

I mean, when you see someone with Elite combat rank only thing you know is that he has spent a lot of time shooting at AI ships

So much this. The most skilled combat players often aren't ranked as Elite since player kills don't give XP Theoretically the top dog can be ranked Harmless, it's just a few engineers that require you to do PvE combat to unlock and these engineers aren't essential (you only miss out on G5 railguns if you skip Etienne Dorn in Colonia, but G3 long range is generally enough).

EDIT: And on the flip side, theoretically a player with combat Elite could have achieved that without ever shooting at another ship, but murdering a million scavengers and settlement occupants to death

 

[aRJay]

Don't need combat Elite to access ShinDez. Any Elite will do, trade is probably the easiest, but I got my first Elite in exploration.

I wasn’t saying you did just that it was the first one I got by around a year and eighteen months later for the others.
Different ways to play and so on change how fast things get done and how easily.

Understand what? That the decal you get for reaching Elite is actually the most important thing in the game?

For some it will be.

Back in my late twenties playing original Elite on my Spectrum I would have loved to have one the metal badge.
All these years later I was delighted to get each of my Elites, strangely enough my interest in the extension ranks is minimal, I still love doing the stuff that earns them but while I will display the decals I am not pursuing them.

 

[Northpin]

That the decal you get for reaching Elite is actually the most important thing in the game?

At some point in time, the Triple Elite Decal was quite important to me.
So i actually did the "grind" to Elite combat on my first account - but for me it wasnt really a grind - i farmed scouts and i used a ship with a mix of gausses and ax mc turrets, taking this opportunity to learn how to use fixed weapons / delayed hitscans (rails/gausses)

For the second account elite in combat just happened over time
My epic account, the 3rd one, started in december 2020, is still not Elite in combat - and i dont care much about it