ANNOUNCEMENT Game Balancing Pt.2

[CMDR BlackFyre]

Again though, this comes down to what people want from the game, not everyone wants to trade, explore, fight NPCs and mine and that's the point of the balancing, is to cut the ridiculous amount of money people could make mining, while boosting the money people can make doing other 'trades' in the game. Games are fun for you if you actually have to achieve things and I tend to agree with you, that's how I play too, but I know plenty who would sign up to Elite to blow up other CMDRs and do PVP, only to find it's not that simple, you have to grind for a week before you can afford the ship, then grind another month to unlock the engineers, then grind another week to pick up all the materials you need... if you extend the credit grind even further, most players who come in just for the PVP aspect, will bail. FDev knows this and it's why they introduced Arena/CQC, only that didn't end up really being all that popular and sometimes it's hard to find a match at all. Campaign mode should be a campaign, but not a lifetime of dedication

"but I know plenty who would sign up to Elite to blow up other CMDRs" suspicios reading
issue here is that again you cant make things right for everyone, but i find that the money now is actually quite ok

 

[Nugstar]

not really, we seem to agree on the idea that progression should be the right speed, we just disagree with what speed that should be, because we want different things from the game, which is the essence of my point

I can agree that for a new player 25m credits per hour is great – but for an experienced higher ranked player, 100m credits is better.

Tough one to solve for the devs lol.

 

[Husanak]

I like these changes... although as a 5-6 week old player I will say I didn't have a ton of experience with bounty hunting before. I did it for a few hours in the first couple weeks to see if I would actually enjoy this game before going on a mission to "catch up". Everyone is upset about new players getting "rich" but people seem to forget this is what a 5 year old game ? I for some reason skipped this game at launch even though I have enjoyed space MMOs over years of many different levels of gaming from Star Treks theme park to Eves non theme park.

Yes after dabbling in a bit of everything I found ways to make bank. I mined, I core mined, I ran passengers... I even did a night of courier missions for the federation to unlock rep... and if you don't donate to every million credit mission you can actually make money doing those. (The time bonuses add up) NO it wasn't the 120-150 million void opal runs I was doing but it was still probably 20-30 million an hour if you find a loop with some famine going on. (and you figure out how to do the super cruise speed dock... as I was going between 2 systems with 3 and 4 stations)

Anyway I like the BH changes... I did some pew pew in my Corvette and that was fun. Although the large dock requirement puts a hamper on the systems you can mission in. I outfitted a Python for fighting. I know its not optimal still working on what works best for me... and my next move will probably be to kit out a smaller ship with some fixed weapons to get my head around that. Getting paid enough to be able to make the credits to built the next thing is nice.... although I could still go jump in my Fleet carrier and go mine.

So yes a little over a month in I do have a fleet carrier... I have unlocked Fed ship rep, and I do have a kitted corvette, or at least 3/4 fitted I believe most of the bubble engineers unlocked. At some point (probably the next few weeks) I will plan a trip out to Colonia... and who knows from there. I don't see my earning all that in a couple months being a problem for the game frankly. It took dedication and.... I don't suspect there are tons of players that just grab the credits and buy the first big ship they can afford, fit it with junk and go sploding and uninstall. However there are lots of players like myself... who have been gaming for years and just never picked up ED. Frankly if I had to grind for a year in a 5 year old game to "catch up" with vets. I would probably not bother. Its a fine line the developer needs to walk... unlike other MMOs they are not offering pay to win packages where new players can "catch up" it all has to be done in game WHICH IS GREAT. Most MMO developers simply sell level up packs, grand start pack type junk creating the wallet warriors which is far worse, then allowing some basic game grinding for credits. I agree that when I came in mining may have been a bit to high (ok a lot too high)... however to be honest. I made WAY more doing passenger missions. I went from 1.4 billion (after spending probably that much on ships) via mining in my first month to going to 6 billion to commission my carrier in less then a week via passenger runs.

Sorry to turn this post in to a book... but in the end just saying I like the BH changes, I think there are still issues with mining as far as sell station pricing goes. However it seems to me there are at least 4 solid methods of earning credits now that I'm aware of as a pretty new player. I am sure there are a few more that I haven't figured out yet. In my estimation a new player to get to the point I'm at should take around 3-5 months. (I'm simply have lots of time, and a Vet of MMOs... I am space rich in every game I play I know I'm not the average) I think that is about right if Fdev can hold things around there it shouldn't turn new players off... while also not boring them before they get hooked. Push that progression out any longer then that and its just as big a problem as having a 2 week progression from new to carrier.

 

[CMDR BlackFyre]

I like these changes... although as a 5-6 week old player I will say I didn't have a ton of experience with bounty hunting before. I did it for a few hours in the first couple weeks to see if I would actually enjoy this game before going on a mission to "catch up". Everyone is upset about new players getting "rich" but people seem to forget this is what a 5 year old game ? I for some reason skipped this game at launch even though I have enjoyed space MMOs over years of many different levels of gaming from Star Treks theme park to Eves non theme park.

Yes after dabbling in a bit of everything I found ways to make bank. I mined, I core mined, I ran passengers... I even did a night of courier missions for the federation to unlock rep... and if you don't donate to every million credit mission you can actually make money doing those. (The time bonuses add up) NO it wasn't the 120-150 million void opal runs I was doing but it was still probably 20-30 million an hour if you find a loop with some famine going on. (and you figure out how to do the super cruise speed dock... as I was going between 2 systems with 3 and 4 stations)

Anyway I like the BH changes... I did some pew pew in my Corvette and that was fun. Although the large dock requirement puts a hamper on the systems you can mission in. I outfitted a Python for fighting. I know its not optimal still working on what works best for me... and my next move will probably be to kit out a smaller ship with some fixed weapons to get my head around that. Getting paid enough to be able to make the credits to built the next thing is nice.... although I could still go jump in my Fleet carrier and go mine.

So yes a little over a month in I do have a fleet carrier... I have unlocked Fed ship rep, and I do have a kitted corvette, or at least 3/4 fitted I believe most of the bubble engineers unlocked. At some point (probably the next few weeks) I will plan a trip out to Colonia... and who knows from there. I don't see my earning all that in a couple months being a problem for the game frankly. It took dedication and.... I don't suspect there are tons of players that just grab the credits and buy the first big ship they can afford, fit it with junk and go sploding and uninstall. However there are lots of players like myself... who have been gaming for years and just never picked up ED. Frankly if I had to grind for a year in a 5 year old game to "catch up" with vets. I would probably not bother. Its a fine line the developer needs to walk... unlike other MMOs they are not offering pay to win packages where new players can "catch up" it all has to be done in game WHICH IS GREAT. Most MMO developers simply sell level up packs, grand start pack type junk creating the wallet warriors which is far worse, then allowing some basic game grinding for credits. I agree that when I came in mining may have been a bit to high (ok a lot too high)... however to be honest. I made WAY more doing passenger missions. I went from 1.4 billion (after spending probably that much on ships) via mining in my first month to going to 6 billion to commission my carrier in less then a week via passenger runs.

Sorry to turn this post in to a book... but in the end just saying I like the BH changes, I think there are still issues with mining as far as sell station pricing goes. However it seems to me there are at least 4 solid methods of earning credits now that I'm aware of as a pretty new player. I am sure there are a few more that I haven't figured out yet. In my estimation a new player to get to the point I'm at should take around 3-5 months. (I'm simply have lots of time, and a Vet of MMOs... I am space rich in every game I play I know I'm not the average) I think that is about right if Fdev can hold things around there it shouldn't turn new players off... while also not boring them before they get hooked. Push that progression out any longer then that and its just as big a problem as having a 2 week progression from new to carrier.

Honestly wow. i know stuff went fast but fleet carrier vette and everything in a few weeks? how long did play per day?

 

[Hellrider]

The ask was about $2,5 million. Not bad for what it was. The monthly "maintenance fees" were $3,300!

WTFug do you need that much money a month to maintain a townhouse lol.

This is why I hate the way FC are currently implemented in the game.

because this is megaship with whole crew, which want salary, not % of income.

 

[Husanak]

Honestly wow. i know stuff went fast but fleet carrier vette and everything in a few weeks? how long did play per day?

lol More then I should have. Probably 5-6 hours or so a day 5-6 days a week. May have been a few longer.... and there was the night I went to go tuck a kid back in and fell asleep on her bed. Apparently this game doesn't have an auto log out.... as I was still docked the next morning.

 

[Nugstar]

Anyway I like the BH changes... I did some pew pew in my Corvette and that was fun. Although the large dock requirement puts a hamper on the systems you can mission in. I outfitted a Python for fighting. I know its not optimal still working on what works best for me... and my next move will probably be to kit out a smaller ship with some fixed weapons to get my head around that. Getting paid enough to be able to make the credits to built the next thing is nice.... although I could still go jump in my Fleet carrier and go mine.

Me too, I actually think Bounty Hunting could do with a slight buff. It's still way slower than other methods.

 

[CMDR BlackFyre]

lol More then I should have. Probably 5-6 hours or so a day 5-6 days a week. May have been a few longer.... and there was the night I went to go tuck a kid back in and fell asleep on her bed. Apparently this game doesn't have an auto log out.... as I was still docked the next morning.

ok, hmm i dont even have that much time. and wow i guess i would have less issues if I wouldnt want to quit instantly when doing the "fast money methods" or engineers stuff

 

[Cmdr Walt71]

Salut Bruce, salut Cmdrs,

un rééquilibrage à la hausse de l'exploration est-il prévu?

Merci.

o7

 

[Skynet_600]

Greetings Commanders,

Last week we posted this announcement about our plans for game balancing. Make sure to give it a read for information on the changes that were implemented last week and an overview of our plans.

A lot has happened in the short amount of time since then. We've collected and analysed your feedback and are happy to confirm that Anti-Xeno combat and Powerplay (the most frequent topics in your replies) will be part of our long term plans as well as many other aspects of Elite Dangerous that were mentioned. On Monday we rolled out the Mining and Trade changes described in the post and made some adjustments which we'll continue to examine and tweak as necessary. For now, they seem to have had the expected impact but your continued feedback is welcome.

This past week we've been discussing and preparing the combat changes described in our previous post. The following changes can be expected later today alongside a GalNet article:

Bounties
Bounties from NPCs will see significant increases from approximately four times as much for the highest paying ones to ten times as much for the lower paying ones. Please note that the number of credits shown immediately in your HUD when you destroy a criminal ship won't display the newly increased amounts. This will need to wait until we're certain of the final numbers. Accurate bounty figures can be found in the Transactions tab in your left panel.

Solo Combat Missions
We're also increasing the payouts for Massacre and Assassination missions. Several economic factors affect the pay offered, but we expect these to grant around twice as many credits as before. For now, we've opted not to change Wing Massacre Missions following reports of consistently high payouts from these but we remain open to feedback.

For both Bounties and Solo Combat Missions, the changes will be carefully examined throughout the following days and weeks to review their effects and allows time for feedback.

Next Steps
Next, we'd like to carry out plans to improve the pay from other elements of Combat, including Combat Bonds and Anti-Xeno combat. More information on these can be expected soon in a post similar to this one. The changes are likely to happen before the end of this year and are likely to be the final ones before 2021 where we'll continue by moving onto other areas of gameplay.

Thanks as always for your support and feedback!

o7

i dont really know about the changes but it makes no sence spending like 4 hours on a hotspot of some material waste 250 limpets and i didnt get a single piece of that material
ok i m new on the game and maybe i did something wrong i can admit that but well also sometimes the games just crash or send me out for "account log on error" or something like that and guess what after i start up again pirates just kill me ...some things are fun on this game but mostly they are just anyoing and boring.

 

[Random Player]

clipper more agile

The best Core Ming ship is the Krait MKII. It might not have the same cargo space as the Clip, but FAR more agile and much better HP on target aim than the Clipper. The Clipper takes some getting used to with the off aim HP for setting charges, the Krait is dead on and much more maneuverable on target. Also, the Krait can last twice as long in the field, much larger fuel tank. I've been Core mining in the Clipper and actually nearly ran out of fuel before I was done filling up on VOs. It boggles me that the Clipper can't have a 32t fuel tank. What?!

 

[CMDR HollowPointPC]

i dont really know about the changes but it makes no sence spending like 4 hours on a hotspot of some material waste 250 limpets and i didnt get a single piece of that material
ok i m new on the game and maybe i did something wrong i can admit that but well also sometimes the games just crash or send me out for "account log on error" or something like that and guess what after i start up again pirates just kill me ...some things are fun on this game but mostly they are just anyoing and boring.

Try joining a squadron and looking for some guidance before you jack the game in, it can be SO fun, you just need to know how to do things and it can be difficult at first trying to get the information online, as some of that info is 4 - 5 years old and way out of date.

 

[Hellrider]

i dont really know about the changes but it makes no sence spending like 4 hours on a hotspot of some material waste 250 limpets and i didnt get a single piece of that material
ok i m new on the game and maybe i did something wrong i can admit that but well also sometimes the games just crash or send me out for "account log on error" or something like that and guess what after i start up again pirates just kill me ...some things are fun on this game but mostly they are just anyoing and boring.

Single hotspots suck balls.
But still, 250 limpets and no piece "hot" material? How? Where and what did you tried mining? Did you use prospectors?

 

[CMDR RuIncognito]

yesterday I was with 3 more friends, no mission (just went to a hazardous resources extracion site) and using a KWS we earn each one about 27 millions in 45 minutes. If we would have taken also wing missions and share, we would have probably earn 40-50 millions per hour wich for me is more than Ok.

The problem is people have used to go mining, spend an evening mining and get 1.000 millions, and that has broken the game because that has made people almost does not use entry level ships like type 6, type 7, vultures etc.

Until the mining nerf the procces was:

• Sidewinder, Cobra, Road to riches Bubble - robigo ===> Passenger python, then the same day, Anaconda, a few more passenger missions, and next day fully fitted conda, go mining, 5 billions in a week.
• Then that commander start grinding and farming materials for engineers and in the next ten days he has a fully fitted cutter for combat, mining, cargo, or whatever. And of course an FDL or Mamba.

And then most of this commander who have reached top-end ships so fast, get bored of the game because there are no more to do for then, specially if they don´t like pvp and play only in PG / Solo

I think now than the mining has been nerfed and is more difficult to progress in the game, people will have to plan each movement they do, every ship and module they buy/sale and will enjoy the game more.

But yes, probably there are people who think I am stupid, so go one, burn me

burn you! But seriously, you almost described my path, only it began with pumping out the reputation of the empire to which I jumped 35 jumps on the Adder. Then I bought myself a clipper, then I bought a cutter ... And I started mining .... now I have everything to enjoy the game and my friends will help me maintain my FC. Because I will give them a lift and together we will make community goals or kill the Thorgoids and so on ... I'm sorry that none of you and people like you think about newcomers. As I wrote earlier ... if I had to spend a year to buy this only 18 ships I now have + FC. Then I just wouldn't play ED. I am no longer a young schoolboy or student ... I don’t have time to play games for 24 hours ... And my friends have the same thing. There is no problem in the amount of mining rewards. This is a problem you made up because they paid less for battles and trade ... And you decided to break the game for everyone. I'm glad you didn't manage to break anything for me. But I'm sorry for the newcomers who come into the game, look at this forced long grind and go where it's easier. 2 analogs of "ED" will be released during the quarter. Then there will be a real fight for the players. Because in other projects everything is much simpler and clearer.

 

[CMDR RuIncognito]

I like these changes... although as a 5-6 week old player I will say I didn't have a ton of experience with bounty hunting before. I did it for a few hours in the first couple weeks to see if I would actually enjoy this game before going on a mission to "catch up". Everyone is upset about new players getting "rich" but people seem to forget this is what a 5 year old game ? I for some reason skipped this game at launch even though I have enjoyed space MMOs over years of many different levels of gaming from Star Treks theme park to Eves non theme park.

Yes after dabbling in a bit of everything I found ways to make bank. I mined, I core mined, I ran passengers... I even did a night of courier missions for the federation to unlock rep... and if you don't donate to every million credit mission you can actually make money doing those. (The time bonuses add up) NO it wasn't the 120-150 million void opal runs I was doing but it was still probably 20-30 million an hour if you find a loop with some famine going on. (and you figure out how to do the super cruise speed dock... as I was going between 2 systems with 3 and 4 stations)

Anyway I like the BH changes... I did some pew pew in my Corvette and that was fun. Although the large dock requirement puts a hamper on the systems you can mission in. I outfitted a Python for fighting. I know its not optimal still working on what works best for me... and my next move will probably be to kit out a smaller ship with some fixed weapons to get my head around that. Getting paid enough to be able to make the credits to built the next thing is nice.... although I could still go jump in my Fleet carrier and go mine.

So yes a little over a month in I do have a fleet carrier... I have unlocked Fed ship rep, and I do have a kitted corvette, or at least 3/4 fitted I believe most of the bubble engineers unlocked. At some point (probably the next few weeks) I will plan a trip out to Colonia... and who knows from there. I don't see my earning all that in a couple months being a problem for the game frankly. It took dedication and.... I don't suspect there are tons of players that just grab the credits and buy the first big ship they can afford, fit it with junk and go sploding and uninstall. However there are lots of players like myself... who have been gaming for years and just never picked up ED. Frankly if I had to grind for a year in a 5 year old game to "catch up" with vets. I would probably not bother. Its a fine line the developer needs to walk... unlike other MMOs they are not offering pay to win packages where new players can "catch up" it all has to be done in game WHICH IS GREAT. Most MMO developers simply sell level up packs, grand start pack type junk creating the wallet warriors which is far worse, then allowing some basic game grinding for credits. I agree that when I came in mining may have been a bit to high (ok a lot too high)... however to be honest. I made WAY more doing passenger missions. I went from 1.4 billion (after spending probably that much on ships) via mining in my first month to going to 6 billion to commission my carrier in less then a week via passenger runs.

Sorry to turn this post in to a book... but in the end just saying I like the BH changes, I think there are still issues with mining as far as sell station pricing goes. However it seems to me there are at least 4 solid methods of earning credits now that I'm aware of as a pretty new player. I am sure there are a few more that I haven't figured out yet. In my estimation a new player to get to the point I'm at should take around 3-5 months. (I'm simply have lots of time, and a Vet of MMOs... I am space rich in every game I play I know I'm not the average) I think that is about right if Fdev can hold things around there it shouldn't turn new players off... while also not boring them before they get hooked. Push that progression out any longer then that and its just as big a problem as having a 2 week progression from new to carrier.

In general, there is no problem with the fact that people will have carriers

 

[aRJay]

lol More then I should have. Probably 5-6 hours or so a day 5-6 days a week. May have been a few longer.... and there was the night I went to go tuck a kid back in and fell asleep on her bed. Apparently this game doesn't have an auto log out.... as I was still docked the next morning.

No auto log out and no pause unless you go to the main menu, the one before where you get to choose Solo or PG.
If you weren't docked you would probably have been at the rebuy screen after your ship burned up all its fuel and exploded.

 

[[VR] CMDR TYRTHEMIS]

Greetings Commanders,

Last week we posted this announcement about our plans for game balancing. Make sure to give it a read for information on the changes that were implemented last week and an overview of our plans.

A lot has happened in the short amount of time since then. We've collected and analysed your feedback and are happy to confirm that Anti-Xeno combat and Powerplay (the most frequent topics in your replies) will be part of our long term plans as well as many other aspects of Elite Dangerous that were mentioned. On Monday we rolled out the Mining and Trade changes described in the post and made some adjustments which we'll continue to examine and tweak as necessary. For now, they seem to have had the expected impact but your continued feedback is welcome.

This past week we've been discussing and preparing the combat changes described in our previous post. The following changes can be expected later today alongside a GalNet article:

Bounties
Bounties from NPCs will see significant increases from approximately four times as much for the highest paying ones to ten times as much for the lower paying ones. Please note that the number of credits shown immediately in your HUD when you destroy a criminal ship won't display the newly increased amounts. This will need to wait until we're certain of the final numbers. Accurate bounty figures can be found in the Transactions tab in your left panel.

Solo Combat Missions
We're also increasing the payouts for Massacre and Assassination missions. Several economic factors affect the pay offered, but we expect these to grant around twice as many credits as before. For now, we've opted not to change Wing Massacre Missions following reports of consistently high payouts from these but we remain open to feedback.

For both Bounties and Solo Combat Missions, the changes will be carefully examined throughout the following days and weeks to review their effects and allows time for feedback.

Next Steps
Next, we'd like to carry out plans to improve the pay from other elements of Combat, including Combat Bonds and Anti-Xeno combat. More information on these can be expected soon in a post similar to this one. The changes are likely to happen before the end of this year and are likely to be the final ones before 2021 where we'll continue by moving onto other areas of gameplay.

Thanks as always for your support and feedback!

o7

I’m glad you’re mentioning power play, I used to be really in to it. My suggested changes are as follows I think there should be many ways to help your power, I’d like a more streamlined approach to doing combat for the alliance for example. I’d also like the ranks to be easier to achieve. Sure keep them at 50,000,000 a week but make the merits necessary to get to a certain level less. I remember needing to grind THE MOST I HAVE EVER GRINDED IN ANY GAME EVER just to stay at rank 5 by doing crime zones for ALD. Also some better rewards would be great, the size locked modules are kind of a bummer. Side note: I’m super happy you’re rebalancing AX combat!

 

[Tavo]

Okay. Despite the fact, that FDev stays ignorant about the broken PWA (again, since SEPTEMBER 20!), i'll try another one.

Can we please get a way to hide the extrem ridiculous amount of Carriers in the system map? It's unbearable to search stations at the moment. It feels like spam to me. I don't want to see all the "creative" names. For me it's kind of a immersion breaker tbf.

Or is there already a way i'm not aware of? Tips are appreciated.

On PS4 btw.

Thanks in advance.

o7

 

[Random Player]

Okay. Despite the fact, that FDev stays ignorant about the broken PWA (again, since SEPTEMBER 20!), i'll try another one.

Can we please get a way to hide the extrem ridiculous amount of Carriers in the system map? It's unbearable to search stations at the moment. It feels like spam to me. I don't want to see all the "creative" names. For me it's kind of a immersion breaker tbf.

Or is there already a way i'm not aware of? Tips are appreciated.

On PS4 btw.

Thanks in advance.

o7

You can filter them out of your panel on the left hand side under things like system, signal sources, fleet carriers and what not but when you go into the map view I don't think there is any way to filter them which is absolutely stupid you should be able to filter them, it's a cluster!

 

[CMDR RuIncognito]

Navigation panel - filters - put all checkboxes except FC

Okay. Despite the fact, that FDev stays ignorant about the broken PWA (again, since SEPTEMBER 20!), i'll try another one.

Can we please get a way to hide the extrem ridiculous amount of Carriers in the system map? It's unbearable to search stations at the moment. It feels like spam to me. I don't want to see all the "creative" names. For me it's kind of a immersion breaker tbf.

Or is there already a way i'm not aware of? Tips are appreciated.

On PS4 btw.

Thanks in advance.

o7

Navigation panel - filters - put all checkboxes except FC