Can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm gonna blame it on lack of progression for the meantime. I had fun in the sidewinder and hauler, and even the cobra, though I don't really like the cobra. I've tried the eagle, adder, and viper for combat, but I'm not really interested in combat in this game.
Last I really enjoyed this game was in the hauler, flying with max cargo and no shields doing missions. Unfortunately that gameplay doesn't scale up to any other ship. I had an Asp, but it's simply too expensive to fly even if you have insurance and all the best modules and weapons because there is no income stream level with doing missions in a hauler. You might make more credits per hour, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like it.
I've been too optimistic with the game thus far. I've devoted my gaming time to it, but it isn't paying off. I'm sorry guys, I really am, but I just can't continue to justify all the shortcomings ED has right now. All the people I've been praising the game to, I've had to intervene and recommend they NOT buy this game, and it has me feeling embarrassed. Still feels like early access.
I played Everquest when it launched and it at least fulfilled the promises the dev's envisioned at launch. Same with Anarchy online, Asheron's call, Dark age of Camelot, and World of Warcraft. You can say that no MMO had it right from the start, but you're fooling yourself - all these had groups, scaling missions, excellent loot, and well-defined progression. Every one of them was a fun, complete game at ship. Elite Dangerous has none of this, unfortunately. Is it fair to compare these games? Not really, but ED did bill itself as an MMO at launch, when we all now know that it never was. Until there are dedicated Frontier servers, it never will be a MMO.
I've had a support ticket in since 23 Jan that has been ignored (#00000030092). You may be tempted to give slack to Frontier, as I have, but think of this: back in 1998, while playing Everquest, I put in a GM ticket because my corpse was lost, and a GM (employed game master) ported himself to my position in a full suit of never-before-seen armour within the hour and helped me out. Imagine how cool it would be for a Frontier employee to jump to your position in a never-before-seen ship to take care of your problem ... while you're still playing. Have we really gone in the opposite direction in the past 15+ years of gaming? Yes, we have.
Guys n Gals, this game is awesome. It really is a reincarnation of the original. I never got the chance to play the original, but I've seen it in action, and this incarnation of the game is true and just. But, hey, this is 2015 ... where are the hoverboards - I mean the tangible passion of a true sandbox game? The freedom isn't here. Smuggling is a shadow of a joke, trading has been wrecked, pirating is entirely dependent on fools, bounty hunting is too low-paying beyond a viper, mining is TOTALLY ridiculous, exploring is ... actually, I've been tempted to try it, since nothing else seems stable enough to invest my attention to. Not really impressed with the black hole and neutron star effects that I've seen to be honest.
I know I'm going to get hate from the fans, but I also know I'm right. Hey, I AM a fan. I wouldn't be here if I weren't. This game has systemic flaws, not just something that can be fixed in a patch. There's like 6 months worth of work that needs doing here. Forget planetary landings and passenger ships - basic game progression isn't fully implemented! Remember, they're talking about GROUPING being added in a DLC! It's completely disappointing. Feel like I'm going to have to box it up for about a year or so until they actually make this game worth the hours you can sink into it.
ED has all the makings of a deep, engaging game, except it's neither deep nor very fun after a few hours right now. It's a beautiful framework for a game, but where is the gameplay? There are rookie mistakes in game philosophy here - like supercruise; On paper, and in theory, it's as it should be, but is it fun? No. Supercruise should work the exact opposite that it currently does. Wouldn't it be more fun to speed up because of gravity wells than to slow down? Wouldn't it be more fun to have the challenge of managing your speed if when you approached a planet, you were drawn in, rather than repelled? How could sling-shotting around planets and stars not be fun? A very engaging way to fight interdictions. In my opinion, these are the things we expect to happen in our minds while going superlumial because that's what makes sense ... in spite of being able to see anything at all while traveling faster than light. Frontier is bending the rules of physics for gameplay reasons, but not even close to far enough for fun reasons. I know it's too late to change, but supercruise could at least be improved by making acceleration & deceleration times faster by at least ten fold.
I didn't want to make a moan post, yet here it is, after months of sinking my time into ED. I just can't continue to pretend that nothing is wrong. I'll check in for the next couple of weeks, but for now, I'm moving on. I actually have more fun in SpaceEngine than in ED, believe it or not. See you's on the other side, fellow CMDR's!
Last I really enjoyed this game was in the hauler, flying with max cargo and no shields doing missions. Unfortunately that gameplay doesn't scale up to any other ship. I had an Asp, but it's simply too expensive to fly even if you have insurance and all the best modules and weapons because there is no income stream level with doing missions in a hauler. You might make more credits per hour, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like it.
I've been too optimistic with the game thus far. I've devoted my gaming time to it, but it isn't paying off. I'm sorry guys, I really am, but I just can't continue to justify all the shortcomings ED has right now. All the people I've been praising the game to, I've had to intervene and recommend they NOT buy this game, and it has me feeling embarrassed. Still feels like early access.
I played Everquest when it launched and it at least fulfilled the promises the dev's envisioned at launch. Same with Anarchy online, Asheron's call, Dark age of Camelot, and World of Warcraft. You can say that no MMO had it right from the start, but you're fooling yourself - all these had groups, scaling missions, excellent loot, and well-defined progression. Every one of them was a fun, complete game at ship. Elite Dangerous has none of this, unfortunately. Is it fair to compare these games? Not really, but ED did bill itself as an MMO at launch, when we all now know that it never was. Until there are dedicated Frontier servers, it never will be a MMO.
I've had a support ticket in since 23 Jan that has been ignored (#00000030092). You may be tempted to give slack to Frontier, as I have, but think of this: back in 1998, while playing Everquest, I put in a GM ticket because my corpse was lost, and a GM (employed game master) ported himself to my position in a full suit of never-before-seen armour within the hour and helped me out. Imagine how cool it would be for a Frontier employee to jump to your position in a never-before-seen ship to take care of your problem ... while you're still playing. Have we really gone in the opposite direction in the past 15+ years of gaming? Yes, we have.
Guys n Gals, this game is awesome. It really is a reincarnation of the original. I never got the chance to play the original, but I've seen it in action, and this incarnation of the game is true and just. But, hey, this is 2015 ... where are the hoverboards - I mean the tangible passion of a true sandbox game? The freedom isn't here. Smuggling is a shadow of a joke, trading has been wrecked, pirating is entirely dependent on fools, bounty hunting is too low-paying beyond a viper, mining is TOTALLY ridiculous, exploring is ... actually, I've been tempted to try it, since nothing else seems stable enough to invest my attention to. Not really impressed with the black hole and neutron star effects that I've seen to be honest.
I know I'm going to get hate from the fans, but I also know I'm right. Hey, I AM a fan. I wouldn't be here if I weren't. This game has systemic flaws, not just something that can be fixed in a patch. There's like 6 months worth of work that needs doing here. Forget planetary landings and passenger ships - basic game progression isn't fully implemented! Remember, they're talking about GROUPING being added in a DLC! It's completely disappointing. Feel like I'm going to have to box it up for about a year or so until they actually make this game worth the hours you can sink into it.
ED has all the makings of a deep, engaging game, except it's neither deep nor very fun after a few hours right now. It's a beautiful framework for a game, but where is the gameplay? There are rookie mistakes in game philosophy here - like supercruise; On paper, and in theory, it's as it should be, but is it fun? No. Supercruise should work the exact opposite that it currently does. Wouldn't it be more fun to speed up because of gravity wells than to slow down? Wouldn't it be more fun to have the challenge of managing your speed if when you approached a planet, you were drawn in, rather than repelled? How could sling-shotting around planets and stars not be fun? A very engaging way to fight interdictions. In my opinion, these are the things we expect to happen in our minds while going superlumial because that's what makes sense ... in spite of being able to see anything at all while traveling faster than light. Frontier is bending the rules of physics for gameplay reasons, but not even close to far enough for fun reasons. I know it's too late to change, but supercruise could at least be improved by making acceleration & deceleration times faster by at least ten fold.
I didn't want to make a moan post, yet here it is, after months of sinking my time into ED. I just can't continue to pretend that nothing is wrong. I'll check in for the next couple of weeks, but for now, I'm moving on. I actually have more fun in SpaceEngine than in ED, believe it or not. See you's on the other side, fellow CMDR's!
