I've always said that Elite is the best single player space game but when it comes to MMO or even basic multiplayer style stuff, its just terrible. We still have problems getting everyone in a wing into the same instance, crashes when there are too many commanders in an instance, the heat bug, etc. The gameplay is also just lacking. The wing missions are all simple variations on normal single player missions but with arbitrary limits: I can take 10 different pirate lord assassination missions and do them all in one trip but if I want to bring a friend along I can only take one at a time. Multicrew is more or less pointless, especially because you can't do it with wings.
It seems like every other thread on this forum is either asking for a solution to combat logging or complaining about the lack of a good PvE mode and gankers, and they're all right. The recent series of patches have added a bunch of nice content with mining and new exploration stuff, and the scenarios, but all of this is single player focused. You can't really mine in a wing because the gameplay isn't really designed for it and the bug with prospector limpets in wings. Squadrons don't seem to really add anything new to the game, and again there are arbitrary limits on them.
Lets have a season of patches that focuses on multiplayer stability and quality of life, and also adds some unique and compelling content to encourage player to player interaction. Maybe this would take the form of new mission types - racing missions have long been asked for, and player groups are already doing this ad-hoc. Maybe we can have ways of actually interacting with other players we run into other than just waving to them or trying to kill them. Maybe we can finally expand multicrew so that someone other than the ship owner could take the helm. Maybe add some new multicrew roles that would work well in non-combat game modes, maybe a navigator who could plot a course or someone operating fighters set up with mining tools. The occasional ganker would be a lot less annoying if they were offset by a lot of fun multiplayer experiences.
It seems like every other thread on this forum is either asking for a solution to combat logging or complaining about the lack of a good PvE mode and gankers, and they're all right. The recent series of patches have added a bunch of nice content with mining and new exploration stuff, and the scenarios, but all of this is single player focused. You can't really mine in a wing because the gameplay isn't really designed for it and the bug with prospector limpets in wings. Squadrons don't seem to really add anything new to the game, and again there are arbitrary limits on them.
Lets have a season of patches that focuses on multiplayer stability and quality of life, and also adds some unique and compelling content to encourage player to player interaction. Maybe this would take the form of new mission types - racing missions have long been asked for, and player groups are already doing this ad-hoc. Maybe we can have ways of actually interacting with other players we run into other than just waving to them or trying to kill them. Maybe we can finally expand multicrew so that someone other than the ship owner could take the helm. Maybe add some new multicrew roles that would work well in non-combat game modes, maybe a navigator who could plot a course or someone operating fighters set up with mining tools. The occasional ganker would be a lot less annoying if they were offset by a lot of fun multiplayer experiences.