That said, I wouldn't care if the gameplay was just grindy. I've played grindier games. My critique is that its unrewarding. A mission in Elite Dangerous could give you 1 billion credits a second, and I would find THAT unrewarding and boring. I don't want to cheese my way through the game, anymore than I want to brutally grind it. The elements I'm criticizing detracts from me doing any kind of progression with friends, because the compromise to play Wing Missions as they are post patch is just more than is reasonable.
If I don't get frustrated and move on, my friends most certainly will. Trying to arrange social activities in any MMO can be difficult due to diverging needs and interests, much less when the activity itself makes people avoid it. I only have so much patience for shallow grind, (something with little depth and/or too much built-in repetition/tedium) in addition to inadequate rewards. If new players are cheesing through the game by getting too many credits, fix that aspect of it. Don't kill it for the whole player base. Moreover, FDev... Please, please, please stop underestimating how much people will still play your game if it wasn't an utter grind fest to get through.
I think most of the people I know just want the power to do the activities they enjoy most, and earn something and progress in doing so. Most people are willing to compromise at least a little, sometimes a lot if they've already invested as much in this game as me and my Sci-Fi/Space Gaming friend group does/has. And a LOT of activities in the game are EXTREMELY repetitive, and have very little challenge to them. Meaning, the rewards need to match or people simply aren't going to use them, and that's bad for everyone. Every piece of game content, or game systems and mechanics that players refuse to use is wasted energy which jeopardizes the game's long-term viability.
And there is a precedent for new, and rewarding content coming out, getting nerfed and then becoming a desolate wasteland. They talk about "Not wanting to waste our time", but that's exactly what it feels like when it seems the grind is there for it's own sake. Without any defined endgame or direction, it may just be that people are less willing to fight the grind for personal objectives. As well, a lot of the grind in this game (in my opinion), is UNNECESSARILY tedious. Like taking 5 - 10 minutes to collect your loot, getting stuck on a rock because of messed up collision boxes, or just having drop-rates and game mechanics that defy reality for the sake of that perceived grind (with little reason to do them).
I've been playing Elite on and off for around 2 years, for various reasons or another. I'm physically disabled, so I have an unfortunate abundance of time to sink into any game, and even I can't justify or get past the game mechanics that make Elite feel like a chore/job. And my former profession for the USAF, was probably one of the most tedious ones you could do. But I understood why I was doing it, and I was invested in making it happen, so it wasn't so bad. This is just a baseline of my experience, of course. I've played many MMOs, sometimes as an early adopter, so I've been where some of these "Vets" claim to be speaking from. The game needs to feel like it rewards your effort in a fair and proportional manner, and sometimes "well-balanced" is actually unfair.
Continually, that's my roadblock with Elite Dangerous content. The content feels unrewarding, tedious, unfun and ultimately a very long and unpleasant slog. And FDev can deny that it's a problem, and so call the saltminers, and veterans or whoever justifies the status quo of Elite Dangerous. It doesn't make it so.
If I don't get frustrated and move on, my friends most certainly will. Trying to arrange social activities in any MMO can be difficult due to diverging needs and interests, much less when the activity itself makes people avoid it. I only have so much patience for shallow grind, (something with little depth and/or too much built-in repetition/tedium) in addition to inadequate rewards. If new players are cheesing through the game by getting too many credits, fix that aspect of it. Don't kill it for the whole player base. Moreover, FDev... Please, please, please stop underestimating how much people will still play your game if it wasn't an utter grind fest to get through.
I think most of the people I know just want the power to do the activities they enjoy most, and earn something and progress in doing so. Most people are willing to compromise at least a little, sometimes a lot if they've already invested as much in this game as me and my Sci-Fi/Space Gaming friend group does/has. And a LOT of activities in the game are EXTREMELY repetitive, and have very little challenge to them. Meaning, the rewards need to match or people simply aren't going to use them, and that's bad for everyone. Every piece of game content, or game systems and mechanics that players refuse to use is wasted energy which jeopardizes the game's long-term viability.
And there is a precedent for new, and rewarding content coming out, getting nerfed and then becoming a desolate wasteland. They talk about "Not wanting to waste our time", but that's exactly what it feels like when it seems the grind is there for it's own sake. Without any defined endgame or direction, it may just be that people are less willing to fight the grind for personal objectives. As well, a lot of the grind in this game (in my opinion), is UNNECESSARILY tedious. Like taking 5 - 10 minutes to collect your loot, getting stuck on a rock because of messed up collision boxes, or just having drop-rates and game mechanics that defy reality for the sake of that perceived grind (with little reason to do them).
I've been playing Elite on and off for around 2 years, for various reasons or another. I'm physically disabled, so I have an unfortunate abundance of time to sink into any game, and even I can't justify or get past the game mechanics that make Elite feel like a chore/job. And my former profession for the USAF, was probably one of the most tedious ones you could do. But I understood why I was doing it, and I was invested in making it happen, so it wasn't so bad. This is just a baseline of my experience, of course. I've played many MMOs, sometimes as an early adopter, so I've been where some of these "Vets" claim to be speaking from. The game needs to feel like it rewards your effort in a fair and proportional manner, and sometimes "well-balanced" is actually unfair.
Continually, that's my roadblock with Elite Dangerous content. The content feels unrewarding, tedious, unfun and ultimately a very long and unpleasant slog. And FDev can deny that it's a problem, and so call the saltminers, and veterans or whoever justifies the status quo of Elite Dangerous. It doesn't make it so.
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