Engineers have driven me away yet again. Fix this broken system.

[Grim Gearheart]

Once again, and for the last time, the engineer and material grind has driven me away from this game.

I've tried. I've been trying for 10 years to love it. But I don't. Every ship I want to build and experiment, or avenue I want to pursue, is gated behind hours and hours of grinding engineers or materials, doing things I simply don't want to do. Maybe time to move on to X4, or Star Citizen or something.

Remove engineers from this game. Let players buy materials with their credits.

Until that day, this game will remain a failure.

 

[metatheurgist]

Can't be fixed. It's a fantasy MMO mechanic in a scifi spaceship game. Should never have been implemented in the form it is to begin with.

 

[Alaska Sædelære]

If it was so easy you may as well not have any mechanic to improve equipment at all. People want everything instantly and without effort, that is the problem and not the developer's ideas.

Material collection for engineering is only a "grind" if you're in a mindset that you want the result immediately. The "grind" itself is already offered as a shortcut for those who don't want to play missions or any game loops where the ingredients are offered as rewards. You don't have to do it but somehow people turn it into an obsessive-compulsive thing and then complain as if it was someone else's fault. Not being able to get over it is a recognised psychiatric disorder.

 

[Grim Gearheart]

If it was so easy you may as well not have any mechanic to improve equipment at all. People want everything instantly and without effort, that is the problem and not the developer's ideas.

Material collection for engineering is only a "grind" if you're in a mindset that you want the result immediately. The "grind" itself is already offered as a shortcut for those who don't want to play missions or any game loops where the ingredients are offered as rewards. You don't have to do it but somehow people turn it into an obsessive-compulsive thing and then complain as if it was someone else's fault. Not being able to get over it is a recognised psychiatric disorder.

The reason it's a grind is because I want to build different ships and experiment with different builds. That means I have to engineer multiple modules over and over again. That means I need a LOT of materials. So I need to fill up my bins, which involves grinding.

This game COULD be fun. It COULD let you do engineering at certain stations, instead of unlocking a single person and having to reputation grind them. It COULD let you buy materials with the billions of credits I've EARNED (not immediate), but they don't.

It's a bad system, people have been saying it since it's inception.

 

[Alaska Sædelære]

The reason it's a grind is because I want to build different ships and experiment with different builds. That means I have to engineer multiple modules over and over again. That means I need a LOT of materials. So I need to fill up my bins, which involves grinding.

This game COULD be fun. It COULD let you do engineering at certain stations, instead of unlocking a single person and having to reputation grind them. It COULD let you buy materials with the billions of credits I've EARNED (not immediate), but they don't.

It's a bad system, people have been saying it since it's inception.

You just proved my point by saying "I have to". You say the game COULD be fun if it did everything as I WANT. Sure there are likeminded, or more precisely broken-minded in the same vein, individuals who have been saying this. Others are saying the opposite. The developers hear both.

 

[Shadowsnog]

Thousands of players were able to figure it out. Probably at least hundreds are still playing without engineering and having fun.
Im sorry you feel that way and i hope that, perhaps at some other time, you will be able to find some joy playing elite despite the engineers you dont like. Maybe one day you will cross that barrier and will be able to enjoy the perks of finely tuned ships like we do.
Some people say elite has steep learning hill, i say its a cliff with some very enjoyable plateaus...

But
With all due respect
If i had to choose between engineers or you being in the game...
Rewards take effort. This isnt fortnite.

 

[Raedawn]

Stop engineering things and just play for awhile. I was caught up in engineering fever when I first started playing and now I really don't engineer most things. My Imperial Clipper I am using for Colonization has only one engineered item on it and it was borrowed from an older ship build (this build also bought my carrier before that, it has been awhile since my break up with engineering).

Cheers,

RAEDAWN

.

 

[g0oglyeyes]

I like Engineering where it is. Please FDev don't touch a thing!

 

[anShpan]

I've tried. I've been trying for 10 years to love it.

Joined ED about a year ago. First 150-300 hours was trying to figure out how things are working while unlocking Engineers. Ability to customize ships' and weapons' core mechanics by engineering is at least a half of fun for me. Unlocking Engineers is unforgettable play time! Please, please, please do not even touch it !!!

Maybe time to move on to X4, or Star Citizen or something.

Engineering (as it is) is one of few things what makes ED so unique. If you don't like it then no problem, there are plenty of games without Engineers at all, most with better graphics, etc. You know what to do. But, please, leave ED Engineers alone!

 

[Dillon Fallon]

I've been trying for 10 years to love it.

What is it someone once said about the definition of insanity?

It's a video game, so it's meant to be fun. Don't persist with something for 1% of that time if it isn't.

 

[rootsrat]

It's a bad system, people have been saying it since it's inception.

Wrong. Some people.
Some were saying it needs upgrades.
And some were and are happy with it.
So...

 

[SlickPBW]

A lot of responses ran through my head, but I settled on this one. No matter what I’m doing, I’m also gathering engineering materials. In ships and on foot, I spend the few seconds it takes to get the thing, scan the ship or whatever. I have well over 100 ships and they all are fully engineered, BUT because of my play style I’m almost always maxed out on most engineering materials so it’s just a matter of taking care of most common upgrades with strategic pinning of my most used upgrades and a quick trip around various engineers to put on experimental effects. I hate swapping modules so many of my ships exist just so I can pick the right configuration for whatever I want to do. I’m saying all of this because I have done a crazy amount of engineering and it never seems like a grind because my play style includes a very small but constraint effort to gather materials when the opportunity presents itself during normal gameplay. To each his own, I guess, but since it seems to be your kryptonite, maybe it’s not for you, but certainly demanding that FD “fix” it because it’s making you leave the game isn’t going to resolve the issue. Cheers.

 

[Brrokk]

Once again, and for the last time, the engineer and material grind has driven me away from this game.

I've tried. I've been trying for 10 years to love it. But I don't. Every ship I want to build and experiment, or avenue I want to pursue, is gated behind hours and hours of grinding engineers or materials, doing things I simply don't want to do. Maybe time to move on to X4, or Star Citizen or something.

Remove engineers from this game. Let players buy materials with their credits.

Until that day, this game will remain a failure.

What? Where's the grind?

• Visit a few HGEs and fill up on manufactured materials.
• Go to crashed Anaconda or crystal shards for raw materials.
• Hang around a stronghold carrier scanning ships and wakes.
• Even things out at material traders.

The material gathering phase has been dumbed-down out of all recognition compared to e.g. a year ago; I don't think we need it any easier. I can't stop my bins from filling up and consequently can't claim PP care packages.

 

[VR micmacmoc]

The mats gathering is really easy compared to what it was, I'm doing a mandalay up for DW3, really enjoying the mats gathering. Perhaps if thats not what interests you then do move on. Shooting the mats off those tree things in VR is great, so is the Guardians site 'grind'. The HGE finder site is realy helpful. So is INARA.
Its so easy now!
Also it is fun!

 

[Dougie]

Just dropping in to wave 'bye-'bye ....

 

[Lysander666]

Once again, and for the last time, the engineer and material grind has driven me away from this game.

I've tried. I've been trying for 10 years to love it. But I don't. Every ship I want to build and experiment, or avenue I want to pursue, is gated behind hours and hours of grinding engineers or materials, doing things I simply don't want to do. Maybe time to move on to X4, or Star Citizen or something.

Remove engineers from this game. Let players buy materials with their credits.

Until that day, this game will remain a failure.

I detest engineering and I detest grinding, and I absolutely refuse to do it. You're not the first person to be put off by it, and you won't be the last.

My solution is simple - I just don't do it.

My DBX and Mandalay have a cap of ~40LY? Awesome, I'll do 40 light years per jump.

I have to scour planet surfaces for materials for hours so I can get FSD injections for longer jumps? No, I'll just change my destination.

At the end of the day, it's a game and the enjoyment is in playing. Fortunately, Elite is also very flexible in how you play it and you control the narrative to a very large extent.

I'd encourage you to take a look at my latest thread over in the exploration subforum. Originally I was going to go to Erikson's Star in The Void and then found I had to grind for surface mats for FSD injections to make the longer jumps. No. So I just decided to go somewhere else in that region.

I know some people have been put off by engineering and left the game as a result. My stance [and practise] is to change how you play the game so you don't need to do it.

 

[Grim Gearheart]

Wrong. Some people.
Some were saying it needs upgrades.
And some were and are happy with it.
So...

Ooooh...that must be why the game's been dead as a doornail for the last 5 years. Because people really like engineerings. Go google "Elite dangerous engineering" and count up how many threads say they hate it, and how many say it's great. It won't take long.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Ooooh...that must be why the game's been dead as a doornail for the last 5 years. Because people really like engineerings. Go google "Elite dangerous engineering" and count up how many threads say they hate it, and how many say it's great. It won't take long.

Has it? Player numbers were on the rise last I checked.

Looking five years ago is pretty pointless given recent changes as well. My only problem with engineering materials is I could do with having more storage for them as I keep running out of room.

 

[rootsrat]

Ooooh...that must be why the game's been dead as a doornail for the last 5 years. Because people really like engineerings. Go google "Elite dangerous engineering" and count up how many threads say they hate it, and how many say it's great. It won't take long.

 

[Grim Gearheart]

What? Where's the grind?

• Visit a few HGEs and fill up on manufactured materials.
• Go to crashed Anaconda or crystal shards for raw materials.
• Hang around a stronghold carrier scanning ships and wakes.
• Even things out at material traders.

The material gathering phase has been dumbed-down out of all recognition compared to e.g. a year ago; I don't think we need it any easier. I can't stop my bins from filling up and consequently can't claim PP care packages.

The material grind has been made easier. But you still have to grind engineer reputation to even unlock them. Yesterday I wanted to unlock Plasma Accelerator engineering, but Bill Turner requires you unlock and rank up 2 other engineers, unlock the Alioth permit, and then mine 50 tons of Bromelite. All things I don't want to do. It's what finally broke the proverbial camel's back.