Gave Elite another try after Beyond 4. But missions are still no fun and there is still no progress

[Dr EviI]

After the last big Update me and a friend decided to give Elite another try. The last time we played in the end of 2017. So we missed the last 4 big updates!
We thought that now there would be much more interesting things to do and plenty of new stuff to discover, but we ended in the same situation we stopped playing a year ago.

I am flying a Vulture and he is flying an ASP Exp and we wanted to do some combat missions after we found out that in the normal sites like Res, Beacons and Belts nothing has changed at all (kinda boring). So we formed a wing and accepted a pirate mission where we had to kill 8 pirates in a nearby sector.
So we went there and because there was no Res site we decided to wait at the nav beacon (the mission description told us to wait at a beacon or res site). And after a while a pirate was coming in. I killed him with the support of the federate police without a risk. Then I waited for the other 7 pirates to fly in but even after 2 hours I just found a second one at the beacon. So I wanted to go into suprecruise but even there after 20 minutes I wasnt able to find another pirate and you guess what... we both ended up in Windows again.

Sorry Elite Fans... but for working people its NO FUN to FLY EIGHT HOURS to complete a simple pirate mission where 95% of the time you do nothing and just wait until a pirate flys in. And its also very boring to fight just one pirate at a time. It feels to artificial.... where are the pirate fleets or their mother ship?

I dont understand why this game is wasting so much potential. The engine is great, but there is still nothing to do except flying around and watching some stuff.

Also I still miss the progress... when yesterday I was killing 2 Anacondas with the help of the police what will come in a few weeks... more Anacondas? Maybe one day a Thargoid? Where are the huge battleships or big enemies? I dont see the reason to get the best ships when I can kill the biggest ships even now with ease.

And please dont tell me to explore the universe because I was really disappointed by this as well... got a passenger mission where I had to bring a passenger to an Ice gysire and man I was disappointed when there was just a nav beacon named Ice Gysire instead of a real Ice Gysire.... Sorry, but I will wait another year in the hope that FrontierDevelopement finally understands what makes fun and maybe adds some real progress which motivates players a bit more. I hope one day we will have systems which are really dangerous with big profits you can earn. There should be way more dangerous ships flying around and not the same stuff you see in the first hour of your playtime in the little Sidewinder.

Kinda sad for one year developement

 

[Jaffz]

In before pathetic can I haz your stuff replies
in before 'this isn't the game for you'
in before 'you want an I win button'

 

[Andovar]

The mission system was not a major update of the beyond series.
If you're looking for combat with your friend, check out the new combat zones. Or maybe even the thargoid incursion zones.
There was a huge overhaul to exploration with the Q4 patch. Passenger missions != exploration. There's tons of surface side things to see and discover now with the new exploration tools.

Though if you're looking to the mission system to give you direction or provide some pseudo story-mode, then yeah, you'll probably be disappointed.
I agree that the mission system still does need a bit of work. (I'm still hoping for some chained/branching missions in a future update)

 

[Sterling MH]

In before pathetic can I haz your stuff replies
in before 'this isn't the game for you'
in before 'you want an I win button'

The only one saying "Can I have your stuff" here, and with the last one where someone posted a flounce-off, is the ones wanting to slag others off for saying "Can I have your stuff".

And why can't someone ask for it? If he gives it, then he loses nothing he wants and someone does. Freecycle works the same way. Never heard anyone complain about people who get stuff on freecycle being meanies.

This isn't a Chris Roberts game. It's not even an Elite game, because it has to run "balance" now it is a multiplayer game. If you find it slow, try it as a passtime, a hobby, like reading, walking or gardening. You don't grind your way to a full patch of tiger lillies and a herbaceous border. you put a bit of work in and relax.

And if you can't do that, then the game is not for you and never will.

Given the number of people I hear who gush about how they have thousands of unplayed games on their steam account ('cos this proves Steam is great!) that they will never get to play. Somehow they don't seem bitter that they bought a game and aren't playing it.

Just don't play it.

Good luck, hope the OP gets on playing a game they do like. Them liking another game does not ruin my game, so this is not even magnanimity. I genuinely hope they move on and forget this game because they're having fun elsewhere.

 

[Stewart_]

Beyond series has been overall, good. Trading, multi-play, mining, exploration, graphics, sound, ships - all have seen many improvements.

Sounds like Elite Dangerous isn't a game for you. Hope you find a game that you enjoy!

After the last big Update me and a friend decided to give Elite another try. The last time we played in the end of 2017. So we missed the last 4 big updates!
We thought that now there would be much more interesting things to do and plenty of new stuff to discover, but we ended in the same situation we stopped playing a year ago.

I am flying a Vulture and he is flying an ASP Exp and we wanted to do some combat missions after we found out that in the normal sites like Res, Beacons and Belts nothing has changed at all (kinda boring). So we formed a wing and accepted a pirate mission where we had to kill 8 pirates in a nearby sector.
So we went there and because there was no Res site we decided to wait at the nav beacon (the mission description told us to wait at a beacon or res site). And after a while a pirate was coming in. I killed him with the support of the federate police without a risk. Then I waited for the other 7 pirates to fly in but even after 2 hours I just found a second one at the beacon. So I wanted to go into suprecruise but even there after 20 minutes I wasnt able to find another pirate and you guess what... we both ended up in Windows again.

Sorry Elite Fans... but for working people its NO FUN to FLY EIGHT HOURS to complete a simple pirate mission where 95% of the time you do nothing and just wait until a pirate flys in. And its also very boring to fight just one pirate at a time. It feels to artificial.... where are the pirate fleets or their mother ship?

I dont understand why this game is wasting so much potential. The engine is great, but there is still nothing to do except flying around and watching some stuff.

Also I still miss the progress... when yesterday I was killing 2 Anacondas with the help of the police what will come in a few weeks... more Anacondas? Maybe one day a Thargoid? Where are the huge battleships or big enemies? I dont see the reason to get the best ships when I can kill the biggest ships even now with ease.

And please dont tell me to explore the universe because I was really disappointed by this as well... got a passenger mission where I had to bring a passenger to an Ice gysire and man I was disappointed when there was just a nav beacon named Ice Gysire instead of a real Ice Gysire.... Sorry, but I will wait another year in the hope that FrontierDevelopement finally understands what makes fun and maybe adds some real progress which motivates players a bit more. I hope one day we will have systems which are really dangerous with big profits you can earn. There should be way more dangerous ships flying around and not the same stuff you see in the first hour of your playtime in the little Sidewinder.

Kinda sad for one year developement

 

[Dr EviI]

The mission system was not a major update of the beyond series.
If you're looking for combat with your friend, check out the new combat zones. Or maybe even the thargoid incursion zones.
There was a huge overhaul to exploration with the Q4 patch. Passenger missions != exploration. There's tons of surface side things to see and discover now with the new exploration tools.

Though if you're looking to the mission system to give you direction or provide some pseudo story-mode, then yeah, you'll probably be disappointed.
I agree that the mission system still does need a bit of work. (I'm still hoping for some chained/branching missions in a future update)

I mean really.... who came up with the idea of such a mission type where you have to wait for SEVERAL hours until your targets may or may not spawn into your site so you can complete your mission? That is stupid! Give the player at least the coordinates of their base or their fleet so you can hunt them.
For Thargoids we are not good enough so all we can do is fighting in missions or sites and combat zones but it all feels the same. You have the same little ships fighting randomly with others and you try to make your money by hitting the dying ships before they explode. That feels not very satisfying.
Combat zones would be great IF there wouldnt spawn unlimted new ships like in each other site. It feels not like you can make any progress. I read that now after a week or so one side can win.. but it can take a week! That is waaaay to long. We want to fight for one side and we want to win or lose a battle in one game session at max. Because it feels very strange if we logg off and the next day we fly again to the conflict zone with the same situation as if we did nothing the day before.

 

[smiths121]

Before you and your buddy move on again, have a go at a wing assassination between you. I suspect it will be tuff but doable in a Vulture and Asp. I like doing these with a mate.

Simon

 

[noldunar]

Sorry that the pirate mission didn't work out for you. If you should decide to give it another try, before accepting the mission, check the target system's system map: If there are no ringed gas giants in the system map, don't accept the mission. Ringed gas giants are a good indication that there might be res sites (still not guaranteed).

If you want to get into missions I suggest finding a suitable system as base of operations, scout out the nearby mission target systems, and work from there. If you want do do missions it is recommended to stay in one place and increase your rep with the local factions got get more missions and better payout over time. Once you know your turf you know which systems to avoid and which systems are good mission target systems.

 

[zebcarter]

Hmm...I usually don't do these missions...but what about finding some nice USS? Some might even be flagged as Mission Target

 

[Sterling MH]

I mean really.... who came up with the idea of such a mission type where you have to wait for SEVERAL hours ....

FDev. That's how they get things programmed. They come up with ideas and implement them. And histrionics doesn't help. Several hours means you keep missing the mission. It's there, you aren't seeing it. Done it myself once.

 

[B1rdy]

I mean really.... who came up with the idea of such a mission type where you have to wait for SEVERAL hours until your targets may or may not spawn into your site so you can complete your mission? That is stupid!

Yes it is. Some people here seem to be biased by the game and overlook such issues, because "it has always been like that".

You have the same little ships fighting randomly with others and you try to make your money by hitting the dying ships before they explode. That feels not very satisfying.
Combat zones would be great IF there wouldnt spawn unlimted new ships like in each other site. It feels not like you can make any progress.

CZs actually changed. If they aren't bugged, you can actually win a fight. Read the patch notes.

 

[Andovar]

Combat zones would be great IF there wouldnt spawn unlimted new ships like in each other site. It feels not like you can make any progress. I read that now after a week or so one side can win.. but it can take a week! That is waaaay to long. We want to fight for one side and we want to win or lose a battle in one game session at max. Because it feels very strange if we logg off and the next day we fly again to the conflict zone with the same situation as if we did nothing the day before.

Sounds like you haven't actually tried them. There's also dynamic scenarios that can pop-up during the CZ battle.
And if you want "one game session" battles, then I'd recommend assassination missions. Avoid the "kill 'x' pirates" ones, as they can take a while to find sufficient targets.
Also get allied with a local faction for better mission selection and payouts.

 

[Phil JMac]

OP - did you scan the nav beacon?

That should give you a POI in system that will have a bunch of pirates in it... those missions have been a little buggy but give that a try. I read somewhere that mission targets may also spawn at res sites etc but I can't confirm that


If you and your friend want more of a challenge do a wing assassination like smiths121 said - I can just about do those in an engineered corvette on my own, but it's a challenge.

I'm yet to try the new CZ's but it seems they now contain harder enemies. There are also big nasty Thargoids out there that are very hard to take down without a wing too.

Don't write off the game on account of the pirate missions, they are ok but theres more stuff to do thats more fun

 

[StuartGT]

Okay

 

[The Chairmaker]

use your fss scanner, it can identify specific locations were pirates are concentrated. Just drop into that pirate uss and its all good to go.

Just be aware these pirate USS tend to come with heavily engineered pirate ships so expect a fight

 

[Old Duck]

I actually love the game. I just hate the bugs. It would be way easier if I hated the game itself, because then I'd just go play something else without making any fuss.

 

[Mohrgan]

Another idea would be to equip an Interdictor Module and seek your targets in super cruise. You can pop in and out of the Nav Beacon and pull some target types, then go back to a re-set Nav Beacon when SC is clear.

 

[babelfisch]

After the last big Update me and a friend decided to give Elite another try. The last time we played in the end of 2017. So we missed the last 4 big updates!
We thought that now there would be much more interesting things to do and plenty of new stuff to discover, but we ended in the same situation we stopped playing a year ago.

I am flying a Vulture and he is flying an ASP Exp and we wanted to do some combat missions after we found out that in the normal sites like Res, Beacons and Belts nothing has changed at all (kinda boring). So we formed a wing and accepted a pirate mission where we had to kill 8 pirates in a nearby sector.
So we went there and because there was no Res site we decided to wait at the nav beacon (the mission description told us to wait at a beacon or res site). And after a while a pirate was coming in. I killed him with the support of the federate police without a risk. Then I waited for the other 7 pirates to fly in but even after 2 hours I just found a second one at the beacon. So I wanted to go into suprecruise but even there after 20 minutes I wasnt able to find another pirate and you guess what... we both ended up in Windows again.

Sorry Elite Fans... but for working people its NO FUN to FLY EIGHT HOURS to complete a simple pirate mission where 95% of the time you do nothing and just wait until a pirate flys in. And its also very boring to fight just one pirate at a time. It feels to artificial.... where are the pirate fleets or their mother ship?

I dont understand why this game is wasting so much potential. The engine is great, but there is still nothing to do except flying around and watching some stuff.

Also I still miss the progress... when yesterday I was killing 2 Anacondas with the help of the police what will come in a few weeks... more Anacondas? Maybe one day a Thargoid? Where are the huge battleships or big enemies? I dont see the reason to get the best ships when I can kill the biggest ships even now with ease.

And please dont tell me to explore the universe because I was really disappointed by this as well... got a passenger mission where I had to bring a passenger to an Ice gysire and man I was disappointed when there was just a nav beacon named Ice Gysire instead of a real Ice Gysire.... Sorry, but I will wait another year in the hope that FrontierDevelopement finally understands what makes fun and maybe adds some real progress which motivates players a bit more. I hope one day we will have systems which are really dangerous with big profits you can earn. There should be way more dangerous ships flying around and not the same stuff you see in the first hour of your playtime in the little Sidewinder.

Kinda sad for one year developement

So you tried the new update but ignored the new mechanics... Why didn't you just use your new FSS and locate the mission USS which takes something like 30 seconds and gives you all the targets you need?

There are also lots of things to find during exploration and the game offers all the tools you need to find them. Including ice geysers, alien lifeforms, geological POIs, biological POIs and they aren't just a tourist beacon but actually stuff you can find on planetary surfaces.

 

[babelfisch]

Sorry that the pirate mission didn't work out for you. If you should decide to give it another try, before accepting the mission, check the target system's system map: If there are no ringed gas giants in the system map, don't accept the mission. Ringed gas giants are a good indication that there might be res sites (still not guaranteed).

If you want to get into missions I suggest finding a suitable system as base of operations, scout out the nearby mission target systems, and work from there. If you want do do missions it is recommended to stay in one place and increase your rep with the local factions got get more missions and better payout over time. Once you know your turf you know which systems to avoid and which systems are good mission target systems.

Nonsense, just use the mission USS like it is intended.

 

[Sterling MH]

So you tried the new update but ignored the new mechanics... Why didn't you just use your new FSS and locate the mission USS which takes something like 30 seconds and gives you all the targets you need?

I suspect, with the reasonable presumption the OP is genuine, that was merely an example. They don't have fun doing missions and don't feel there is progress. The rest is just "an example". So it's not that he didn't think of using the new tools: he didn't have fun a year ago playing Elite and isn't having fun playing now.

Given which the hints on how to get the mission is speaking past him. He doesn't like the game.

i just don't see why he wanted to tell everyone. We don't force him to play. Not even the most rabid PvPer would demand he stay so the PvPer can PvP. Tip the hat, say bye and let him find fun elsewhere. He's grown up. We aren't his parents. He can find fun without us being obligated to tell him how to have it.