Guardian's modules...the new RNGineers. Is this the best we can expect?

[rp198419]

I really love this game and have spent over 1,000 hours in game but, and I say this with great regret, the 'Guardians' seem to have been transformed from an ancient, mysterious alien race into nothing more than a a new form of grind-mechanic with an uncanny resemblance to the RNGineers.

Meanwhile - even assuming that you can be bothered to grind your rear end off in order to get the necessary required parts, usually by undertaking long, boring and in some cases excruciatingly repetitive activity - there is nothing to do with the new modules that you could not do before; unless of course you are as obsessed with Thargoids (re-skinned NPCs actually) as FD seem to be.

For new players, i see the challenge but it will not be long before they ask themselves why they are bothering. For more seasoned players, Guardians, Thargoids and their RNGineer offspring seem to offer nothing new.

Is this what FD mean by the 'fleshing out' of existing play-mechanics? I really, really hope it is not.

If all that FD are going to do in the future is to add more ship-pimping (which will probably end up with components being nerfed), that seems imo to be a terrible waste of dev-time which could otherwise be used to improve the trading system, missions (especially for solo players) and who knows what else, even atmo planets perhaps.

Your thoughts please?

 

[Blackcompany]

Based on past updates, yes, this is the best we will get. Whether this is a technological or talent based restriction I cannot say, but past indicators are that for whatever reason, this is all the Elite Dev team can manage.

 

[Riverside]

Not tried them myself but my understanding is that they are all things to all people - better than equivalent stock modules, effective against both Human and Alien ships.
I can see that they would be gated behind a lot of work, they are by all accounts just what everyone wants.


plus once unlocked that's it, unlocked forever (like an engineer). Unlocking the engineers is like a long mission, it's one of the better ideas in the post-launch game (imo). However, like some of the engineer unlocks (Qwent) the implementation seems to be missing something - or perhaps the community is.

Going from descriptions on this forum the repetition of a complex task seems odd. It would make more sense if each site's puzzle could only be solved by each player once and new mat sources needed to be found.

Frankly if you aren't prepared to put the effort in I'd say just live without the gear. I don't have any Power Play modules because I never did Power Play.

 

[Skeloton]

Not tried them myself but my understanding is that they are all things to all people - better than equivalent stock modules, effective against both Human and Alien ships.
I can see that they would be gated behind a lot of work, they are by all accounts just what everyone wants.


plus once unlocked that's it, unlocked forever (like an engineer). Unlocking the engineers is like a long mission, it's one of the better ideas in the post-launch game (imo). However, like some of the engineer unlocks (Qwent) the implementation seems to be missing something - or perhaps the community is.

Going from descriptions on this forum the repetition of a complex task seems odd. It would make more sense if each site's puzzle could only be solved by each player once and new mat sources needed to be found.

Frankly if you aren't prepared to put the effort in I'd say just live without the gear. I don't have any Power Play modules because I never did Power Play.

Ive heard they're really only good if, for the weapons fighting goids and for everything else don't have access to G5 engineering. Personally, i would much rather a handcrafted mission for each module to unlock. But yeah, that takes more money and effort than simply reusing the main gameplay loops revolving around RNG.

 

[Brrokk]

The Guardian gear offers alternatives. If you're prepared to engineer to G5 the Guardian modules mostly offer no significant improvement, but they're a way to get good modules another way. Some of the weapons have interesting pros and cons, particularly if you're going after Thargoids. It might seem disappointing that we thought we were going to get awesomely powerful upgrades and didn't, but it's not really desirable for one module type to always be the best in any category.

Choices in gameplay are good. Now we can choose whether to unlock engineers and gather materials, or visit Guardian sites and gather alien tech.

 

[Vedmo]

Player: "Are these AX weapons a joke? I'm not going to equip my ship with something that only works against thargoids, and then have to engineer them too."

FDev: releases the equivalent of moderately engineered weapons that hurt both thargoid and humans.

Player: "Is this it?!"

(I do agree the blueprint process sucks)

 

[NascentChemist]

Thargoids (re-skinned NPCs actually)

Were you expecting each Thargoid to be directly controlled by an Fdev employee?

Exploring alien ruins has been the most thematic and well-crafted experience I've had in-game. Sure, the data collection mechanics and puzzles don't always work, but the atmosphere is amazing. That's where you should look for the Guardians.

 

[Knightshark]

Is this what FD mean by the 'fleshing out' of existing play-mechanics? I really, really hope it is not.

This is what it looks like. So yes. As I and many others said in different occasions it really seems that this is the only "design" they can come up with.

 

[Dutchman141]

The grind is keeping me away from the Guardian stuff.
What bothers me more is the waste of degrading such beautiful constructed Guardian sites to grinding grounds.
They're mysterious, very atmospheric and a thrill to visit, but not for grinding them 18 times in order to get some reward.

Imho FD shot themself in the foot with this.

 

[Knightshark]

The grind is keeping me away from the Guardian stuff.
What bothers me more is the waste of degrading such beautiful constructed Guardian sites to grinding grounds.
They're mysterious, very atmospheric and a thrill to visit, but not for grinding them 18 times in order to get some reward.

Imho FD shot themself in the foot with this.

And not for the first time. I just actively participate in the outrage, hoping they fix it, and then in a few months enjoy the content myself. Standard procedure, unfortunately!

 

[Flimley]

I think you have summarised it quite well. I have excluded myself from this portion of the game, just by reading the accounts of others. Seems as though the forums are a curse and a blessing in that some good in-game info can only be found here, and some of the excruciatingly repetitive (as you put it) game play can be happily avoided.
There is no benifit for me regarding guardian technology as I won’t engage the thargoids.

Flimley

 

[Knightshark]

I think you have summarised it quite well. I have excluded myself from this portion of the game, just by reading the accounts of others. Seems as though the forums are a curse and a blessing in that some good in-game info can only be found here, and some of the excruciatingly repetitive (as you put it) game play can be happily avoided.
There is no benifit for me regarding guardian technology as I won’t engage the thargoids.

Flimley

But still, it's a real shame. I loved the first guardians mission (after it had been fixed many months post release). Brilliant atmosphere and great lore. But this now?

 

[Flimley]

I will visit them for the intrigue and atmosphere, but not interested in gaining the modules. ...And absolutely will not repeat 18-20 times in order to gain them. (That’s just senseless) It really is time for the “just a few more weapons” to end now.

I have heard however; the next deadly enemy the galaxy will face are giant space dwelling marshmallow squidpeople. And none of what we have will kill them! Instead plasma flame thrower tech will be required.

Flimley

 

[Chorda]

Decided to give this a whirl today, and yes, it feels like a missed opportunity.

The original ruin run was far from perfect (what with the unlit obelisk bugs etc.), but it had a nice, thoughtful pace that suited the atmosphere. More importantly, the ruin layouts accommodated the SRV's handling. With these new ones, it's easy to flip or get stuck on scenery even before the sentinels show up. Then there's the timer and the fact that you only get 1 blueprint per run. On the whole, pretty dull and frustrating.

 

[rp198419]

There is no benifit for me regarding guardian technology as I won’t engage the thargoids.

Flimley

Me neither. Can't see the point.

 

[Blackcompany]

The grind is keeping me away from the Guardian stuff.
What bothers me more is the waste of degrading such beautiful constructed Guardian sites to grinding grounds.
They're mysterious, very atmospheric and a thrill to visit, but not for grinding them 18 times in order to get some reward.

Imho FD shot themself in the foot with this.

Agreed.

Repetitive grind is bad enough. Especially when its the only game mechanic you have even TRIED to implement in three years time.

But turning mysterious alien ruins INTO a grinding ground? On purpose? Thats just embarrassing. I honestly feel sorry for the people who spend time building stuff like these ruins, just to see them turned into something out of a cash grab mobile game looking to get money from people who want to bypass tedium.

Wonder how long post-beyond before the store starts selling Mat boosters...

I will visit them for the intrigue and atmosphere, but not interested in gaining the modules. ...And absolutely will not repeat 18-20 times in order to gain them. (That’s just senseless) It really is time for the “just a few more weapons” to end now.

I have heard however; the next deadly enemy the galaxy will face are giant space dwelling marshmallow squidpeople. And none of what we have will kill them! Instead plasma flame thrower tech will be required.

Flimley

The biggest enemy after that will be a million closed wallets, demanding actual game play. I...dont think you can grind to make that problem go away...

 

[Crystles]

Frankly, it's daft at this point to expect anything, even slightly, to not revolve around some form of grind mechanics. I'm incredibly disappointed in Fdev's utter lack of creativity in this regard... Elite Dangerous has such an amazingly solid back bone for a great, fun, involved game, and it feels like it's going completely to waste, even after all this time.

"Guardian" modules, especially the weapons, should absolutely never have existed. They should have just been more things you could acquire normally, with advantages and drawbacks, to increase the depth of choice in how players outfit their ships. Instead, this new, potentially interesting content is locked behind a frankly hideously boring grind wall.

The best thing Frontier could possibly do for Elite D at this point would be to spend the next year solely developing the actual content of the game. The game, as it is, is a wide open field, a billion mile wide inch deep pool. Sure, you can go lots of places, do lots of things, but when you try and dive into it, theres almost nothing there...

 

[Cosmo]

ED needs fun missions, random encounters, deeper interaction with NPCs and aliens. A lot of the classic space sims and FTL: Faster Than Light are good examples.

 

[rp198419]

The best thing Frontier could possibly do for Elite D at this point would be to spend the next year solely developing the actual content of the game. The game, as it is, is a wide open field, a billion mile wide inch deep pool. Sure, you can go lots of places, do lots of things, but when you try and dive into it, theres almost nothing there...

I agree with you. +1

Trouble is, FD believe that 'grind' is the content of the game; hence the 'Guardians' and their modules, which are...

RNGineers MkII ...or was that MarkIII?

 

[Oopsie Daisy]

What's more, the Guardian weapons are basically just human weapons with the added ability to be able to hurt Thargoids.

Guardian Gauss Canon = Rail Gun
Guardian Plasma Charger = Plasma Acceloration
Guardian Shard Cannon = Fragmentation Cannon

And the Guardian weapons are almost as good as engineered weapons but you only have to grind once. Convenient for people who don't like doing engineers... which I think is the point.