General Feedback after 100+ hrs of gameplay from a casual player trying to be dedidcated

[Broken_One]

But, you still bought a game that defined its remit over 3 modes, then decided you don't like it?

who me? I like this game.

I just suggest that they split it up or have some reduction in effect.

I think they should incentivize player interactions better.

Its a suggestions forum. The OP made a suggestion. I like that lol



--

Out of curiosity what other MMO's do you play? -- I mean the concept of changing game mechanics is not foreign, and this particular one I do not know how dedicated they are to it.

In many other games though, they respond to suggestions so saying a suggestion is metaphorically "unelectable" is just a bad argument lol

 

[Rat Catcher]

I think the issue here is that there's nowhere near enough yearning for this.

The fundamental issue is that the BGS is a lot bigger than just the influence and state levels of factions - there's complex interactions with other parts of the game such as stock levels in stations, mining prices, community goals (when they're running), and so on. To run it in a way that the Open BGS wasn't affected by the Private/Solo one would require, essentially, two separate copies of the game [1]. Anything less would involve a lot of exploits which might make it easier for Solo BGS players.

That would be really expensive for Frontier - even running the limited low-capacity Beta server is something they don't do very much, and maintaining two systems full time, especially as they diverge, would be a lot of work for them.

But of course, if the majority of BGS-focused player groups supported this, there wouldn't be so many complaints in the first place because the majority of interactions would be in Open to start with. So I think there needs to be - rather than the negative approach of complaining about people hiding - a positive approach of showing how much more fun an Open-Open BGS conflict is. (There's a couple going on near me, so it's not that they don't happen - but people don't go around being positive about them when they do)

We have a war starting tomorrow in one of our faction's controlled systems - no doubt the majority of the 'offense' players will be in PG/solo, as we have seen in the past... The Reapers will be playing in open, as usual... Let's hope that, as previously, our efforts are enough to win for 4 days

 

[Linnunrata]

I mean the concept of changing game mechanics is not foreign, and this particular one I do not know how dedicated they are to it.

Well this entire mode conundrum has been debated a few hundred times with pretty much the same arguments, but I think when we reach the thread number 1000 it might change.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Out of curiosity what other MMO's do you play? -- I mean the concept of changing game mechanics is not foreign, and this particular one I do not know how dedicated they are to it....

None, MMO's I played in the past became boring very quickly, although I did spend around 3 years in WoW before it became a snooze-fest to me.

ED has a much older player base than many other MMO's, and is not a 'true' MMO, rather a single-player game with multiplayer being optional. (take a close look at instancing, how the BGS works and the actual size of the 'game world'), despite its amazing flight model, it wasn't developed as a PvP action game - which hacks off those who perceive it as such - and PvP combat, as a profession, doesn't exist, doesn't pay (although recently Arx can be earned ) and isn't particularly well supported.

If you want PvP, hang around Deciat - or SD - plenty to be found there Sadly very little actually happens in Conflict Zones (that evil BGS manipulation again) as it is more effective to clear a heap of Low CZ's, not in open, than it is to play in Med or High in open...

As for how dedicated to the game format FDev are... They keep reiterating it is a shared galaxy among 3 modes, regularly, I think they are a little stuck in their ways there.

ETA: To reiterate - you bought a game that clearly defines 3 modes - now are unhappy that 3 modes exist - I wasn't inferring you dislike the game, just didn't research well enough the implication of a shared galaxy before parting with your cash

 

[Rat Catcher]

Well this entire mode conundrum has been debated a few hundred times with pretty much the same arguments, but I think when we reach the thread number 1000 it might change.

...and we know that it will surface another few100 times in the near future also

 

[Linnunrata]

As for how dedicated to the game format FDev are... They keep reiterating it is a shared galaxy among 3 modes, regularly, I think they are a little stuck in their ways there.

And with good reason, just imagine if they now declared that they are going to spend the better half of 2020 splitting the servers to three divergent galaxies...

 

[Rat Catcher]

And with good reason, just imagine if they now declared that they are going to spend the better half of 2020 splitting the servers to three divergent galaxies...

Evil me: removing open would solve 97.2% of the disappointed in modes topics

As for delays, look how much salt has been shovelled into the forum since FC's were announced - or more recently in Galnet being 'withdrawn' for the forseeable future

 

[Broken_One]

None, MMO's I played in the past became boring very quickly, although I did spend around 3 years in WoW before it became a snooze-fest to me.

ED has a much older player base than many other MMO's, and is not a 'true' MMO, rather a single-player game with multiplayer being optional. (take a close look at instancing, how the BGS works and the actual size of the 'game world'), despite its amazing flight model, it wasn't developed as a PvP action game - which hacks off those who perceive it as such - and PvP combat, as a profession, doesn't exist, doesn't pay (although recently Arx can be earned ) and isn't particularly well supported.

If you want PvP, hang around Deciat - or SD - plenty to be found there Sadly very little actually happens in Conflict Zones (that evil BGS manipulation again) as it is more effective to clear a heap of Low CZ's, not in open, than it is to play in Med or High in open...

As for how dedicated to the game format FDev are... They keep reiterating it is a shared galaxy among 3 modes, regularly, I think they are a little stuck in their ways there.

ETA: To reiterate - you bought a game that clearly defines 3 modes - now are unhappy that 3 modes exist - I wasn't inferring you dislike the game, just didn't research well enough the implication of a shared galaxy before parting with your cash

No worries. I was just curious.

I know I bought this game with the overlapping modes, and I do enjoy that it bring more people to the game. I always advocate for open for sure. I understand that there are different strokes for different folks (Even heard of a guy that plays by voice only) so I am not here to rain on anyone's parade.

I just wanted to lend my voice to the OP to say that I agree that this in some ways is a con for some people. -- I take the pros with the cons. Just like I take the Greifers with the open player pirates. Never know when you get interdicted if it will be a fun conversation, or you just get gaffed.

Doesnt stop me though.

In my book its a community game. Community means compromise. Compromise means no one is 100% happy. (like grinding guardian tech components -_-) but as long as I am hitting the 90% I am good lol.

I did take a day off after I lost my first conda flying without a buy though.....

 

[Broken_One]

or more recently in Galnet being 'withdrawn' for the forseeable future

Maybe there is another hidden message no one has seen yet, and the devs are waiting for it? -- I can dream right?

 

[Linnunrata]

As for delays, look how much salt has been shovelled into the forum since FC's were announced - or more recently in Galnet being 'withdrawn' for the forseeable future

Personally, I have already reserved a cutterful of limpets for the disappointment salt generated by the unspectacular nature of FCs.

 

[Rat Catcher]

No worries. I was just curious.

I know I bought this game with the overlapping modes, and I do enjoy that it bring more people to the game. I always advocate for open for sure. I understand that there are different strokes for different folks (Even heard of a guy that plays by voice only) so I am not here to rain on anyone's parade.

I just wanted to lend my voice to the OP to say that I agree that this in some ways is a con for some people. -- I take the pros with the cons. Just like I take the Greifers with the open player pirates. Never know when you get interdicted if it will be a fun conversation, or you just get gaffed.

Doesnt stop me though.

In my book its a community game. Community means compromise. Compromise means no one is 100% happy. (like grinding guardian tech components -_-) but as long as I am hitting the 90% I am good lol.

I did take a day off after I lost my first conda flying without a buy though.....

Losing ships, even in PvE, is something that happens early in playing, and more as you get to the point of no longer finding NPC's challenging enough... (or when you make a N00b error, even after 3,000 hours of play!)

My favourite topic: It doesn't have to be a 'grind' for anything... unless one 'needs' something 'NOW!' My mats have been collected just playing, mission rewards, dropped by unfortunate NPC pirates, USS's and scooting around landables in a SRV... "Other methods are available"

If you pay attention to the content of this forum, you will 'discover' that even 'top tier' (I'll try not to laugh too hard!) players will eschew open to gather materials and engineering...

ED is a good game, it tries to be many things but doesn't do any one thing exceptionally well, as you mentioned - compromise - while it accommodates varying play styles it will remain as it is, should it change as suggested so very often, to a single 'open' mode a large percentage of the player base is likely to leave as they did buy a game with the option to interact as they wish... Think about it for a while

If you're bored - we have what should be an interesting war happening in Colonia, from tomorrow, and another in around a week if things continue as they are, you are welcome to join in

 

[Linnunrata]

I did take a day off after I lost my first conda flying without a buy though.....

It's a lot about varying loss tolerances, and that is why I think the modes are more good than they are bad.

I don't mind rebuys, I always have them, but I don't want to mine credits or farm mat nodes in Open, because they are chores. Sure you can minimize the risks by engineering, doing stuff off prime time, but is it really so unreasonable to want a mode where one can do the chores without even a minimal chance of having to do them again?

 

[Broken_One]

My favourite topic: It doesn't have to be a 'grind' for anything... unless one 'needs' something 'NOW!' My mats have been collected just playing, mission rewards, dropped by unfortunate NPC pirates, USS's and scooting around landables in a SRV... "Other methods are available"

If you pay attention to the content of this forum, you will 'discover' that even 'top tier' (I'll try not to laugh too hard!) players will eschew open to gather materials and engineering...

ED is a good game, it tries to be many things but doesn't do any one thing exceptionally well, as you mentioned - compromise - while it accommodates varying play styles it will remain as it is, should it change as suggested so very often, to a single 'open' mode a large percentage of the player base is likely to leave as they did buy a game with the option to interact as they wish... Think about it for a while

If you're bored - we have what should be an interesting war happening in Colonia, from tomorrow, and another in around a week if things continue as they are, you are welcome to join in

Agreed 100% on the grind topic.

!!! WHAT!!! is that what is driving the LTDs through the roof out there lol!?!?!

I might but idk. I would probably have to stay up getting there in my asp.

but yea I gather mats in the open. I try to do it the 'fun' (in my book) way -- e.g raw mats are an exploration expedition, Signals I travel to various systems and do salvage ops, combat mats I get from well.... combat, or "mining" hi res sites. -- Hope to see you out there CMDR. Mayhaps I will head to colonia tonight Would be my first trip since I unlocked the gaurdian FSD booster so should be much faster. (plus this time I wont bring passengers )

Have a good one !

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Because solo is intended for a personal world where you dont interact hence the word SOLO. Open is for people to interact. Private is a controll enviroment where you chose who interacts. It is very clear. Open should be ONLY for players who are not affraid or feel a detriment to interaction with other players. The fact i cant forcibly via game mechanics stop a player from solo from affecting the open world is counter intuitive. If he wants to affect Open why dont they just play in Open?

The BGS is there for players to create gameplay opportunities for other players. Denying that from solo players is wrong. If you are talking about PvP, then that is the worst way to combat players manipulating the BGS as you have no idea why players are there anyway. The best way is to manipulate the BGS yourself, not wasting your time flying around searching for other players.

 

[Broken_One]

The BGS is there for players to create gameplay opportunities for other players. Denying that from solo players is wrong. If you are talking about PvP, then that is the worst way to combat players manipulating the BGS as you have no idea why players are there anyway. The best way is to manipulate the BGS yourself, not wasting your time flying around searching for other players.

you can run BGS by yourself in open or in solo. -- The OP's point is that they cannot stop them.

For instance you might spend a day clearing all the CZ's in open and competing with another player group. Dominating them.

Yet another player, in solo, could simply go kill the NPC's to the same effect and counter act your efforts. -- with much less effort as it is only NPC's

AS I clearly stated I understood this coming in to the game, yet I do still see some issue with it. (for instance you can just go spend all day mining in solo, but the best ships. Get them fully engineered. Fly to a PVP system in solo. Then switch to open. -- where as a player that does this in open has the potential to get jumped along the way.)

At the same time this game is so awesome I am more then happy to live with the crossover.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

you can run BGS by yourself in open or in solo. -- The OP's point is that they cannot stop them.

Playing it on your own is pointless. The idea is that other players create gameplay for other players by interacting with the BGS. If you are the only one doing it, you are in a static BGS that never changes unless you make it change. Basically its useless and pointless without other people interacting with it.

As to stopping them, you can via the BGS. As to stopping them, who are you stopping, how do you know who is manipulating the BGS?

For instance you might spend a day clearing all the CZ's in open and competing with another player group. Dominating them.

Yet another player, in solo, could simply go kill the NPC's to the same effect and counter act your efforts. -- with much less effort as it is only NPC's

Killing player ships is not going to help you win a combat zone. Killing NPC ships does that. Basically you are hampering yourselves by concentrating on killing other players. Also you may dominate in that instance, there could be players in open that have no other players in the same instance.

Seems what you want is a completely different game to what ED is.

AS I clearly stated I understood this coming in to the game, yet I do still see some issue with it. (for instance you can just go spend all day mining in solo, but the best ships. Get them fully engineered. Fly to a PVP system in solo. Then switch to open. -- where as a player that does this in open has the potential to get jumped along the way.)

So what. If that's what they want to do, they can. Also there are no PvP systems in the game.

At the same time this game is so awesome I am more then happy to live with the crossover.

It is awesome, but please don't try to make it into a different game it will become a lesser game.

 

[Brrokk]

They should be seperate servers. No one in open should affect a solo or private play and vice versa. I mean it says it all in the words solo and private that experience shouldnt be shared.

I think it's easy to say "separate servers" without understanding what that would entail.

Why would FD suddenly start running another two servers? How would those be paid for? Would two more be enough, or would every PG need its own server?

What is a "server"? What would happen if a station changed controlling faction in one server but not another? Would FD start having to publish three different strands of story fluff? Would there be three Galnets?

If Thargoids hate one faction more than another (as some speculate), would they trash a station on one server but not on another? Could we find "Schroedinger Hub" both burning and not burning?

Would first-discovery tags be different in Solo, PG and Open?

What would make the BGS work in Solo? What extra development would FD have to do to make this happen?

If the three galaxies diverge, would it still be possible to log from one to another, or would every player be restricted to only one of them? (If not restricted, there could be juicy trade exploits).

If players had to choose one mode and stick to it, my guess is that Open would be much emptier than now.

 

[Broken_One]

Playing it on your own is pointless. The idea is that other players create gameplay for other players by interacting with the BGS. If you are the only one doing it, you are in a static BGS that never changes unless you make it change. Basically its useless and pointless without other people interacting with it.

uh? huh? lol? one person can BGS.

As to stopping them, you can via the BGS. As to stopping them, who are you stopping, how do you know who is manipulating the BGS?


Killing player ships is not going to help you win a combat zone. Killing NPC ships does that. Basically you are hampering yourselves by concentrating on killing other players. Also you may dominate in that instance, there could be players in open that have no other players in the same instance.

So you are saying blowing up another players ship and preventing them from attaining their BGS goals will NOT stop them?

That is a really strange argument.

The reality is if me and you are in the same CZ and I blow you up, I have more free reign to kill the NPC's -- Faster to victory - More BGS ticks

do you even bgs bro?

Seems what you want is a completely different game to what ED is.

Yes but it is not an essential game mechanic. The only reason they did it that way is to increase the player base.

As I said I live with it. You can spend you time arguing with me but you wont convince me.

So what. If that's what they want to do, they can. Also there are no PvP systems in the game.
It is awesome, but please don't try to make it into a different game it will become a lesser game.

Um what? so you have never PVPed in elite? lol ?
like I can link you to some youtubes.

your opinion is noted, and quite possibly the reason that they did it. They wanted to include a wider variety of players.
Still doenst change my opinion of it.

Have a good one CMDR

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

uh? huh? lol? one person can BGS.

You are BGS against nobody. The rest of the bubble doesn't move either. It would be pretty awful if everything just stayed the same unless you yourself had to change it.

So you are saying blowing up another players ship and preventing them from attaining their BGS goals will NOT stop them?

What BGS goals. How do you know they have any? If they are being law abiding, commiting crimes in your supported factions space is counter productive.

That is a really strange argument.

I agree as you don't seem to understand how the BGS works.

The reality is if me and you are in the same CZ and I blow you up, I have more free reign to kill the NPC's -- Faster to victory - More BGS ticks

So you think spending 20 minutes trying to blow up an opposing player is helping. Lol.

do you even bgs bro?

Oh, only yeah a little bit, only shortly after the game first came out.

Yes but it is not an essential game mechanic. The only reason they did it that way is to increase the player base.

You seem to know slot about it, you an Fdev Dev? Nope, that is not the reason why they did it.

As I said I live with it. You can spend you time arguing with me but you wont convince me.

I don't need to convince you. You are just wrong. Simple as that. I shouldn't ever be seperate servers.

Um what? so you have never PVPed in elite? lol ?
like I can link you to some youtubes.

I don't believe I have ever said I haven't PvPed in the game. I'm just said there are no PvP systems as in star systems in the game.

your opinion is noted, and quite possibly the reason that they did it. They wanted to include a wider variety of players.
Still doenst change my opinion of it.

Have a good one CMDR

They did it like that because the game is predominantly a PvE game, not a PvP game. It has never been centred around PvP and I very much doubt it ever will be.

By all means petition Fdev for a brand new game from Fdev to fullfil your PvP needs, but ED is not that game and neither should it be.

 

[WR3ND]

Sorry, but 100+ hours is nothing for this game. It's been out for over half a decade.

Not saying you're wrong, but your perspective, from my perspective, is like a mosquito complaining about the wind.

It's the reality of things we must deal with for the viability of game-play. Shields are what they are because of Engineers. There must be a chance of living beyond the meta elite, and this potential of domination is what Engineering is entirely based on. It's meta pandering trife crap that we all eventually must strive for to stay relevant in the eyes of Frontier, context be damned.

Do some aspects of the game suck? Yes, they do, and it is entire by design, sorry to say.

But there are good aspects of the game as well, and you can make it along well enough either way, so long as you don't care for pretending to be the best of players so much as some.

Personally speaking, I already know I'm the best. Proving it in a stupid meta is worthless to me.

Cheers. o7