Such as? You know you don't have to do missions? - you can go bounty hunting, do trade runs, head off exploring, hit a combat zone and pew-pew to your heart's content... none of these have time limits. There's even that multi-crew thing which I believe is a pretty casual setup too.
Having Only Timed Missions is Stupid
- Thread starter Jester362
- Start date
Such as? You know you don't have to do missions? - you can go bounty hunting, do trade runs, head off exploring, hit a combat zone and pew-pew to your heart's content... none of these have time limits. There's even that multi-crew thing which I believe is a pretty casual setup too.
Out of interest, what is your average play session time?
Grotesque? Seriously the guy has a point.
Then the timer should be the deadline for your actions to affect the BGS rather than the deadline to finish the mission. When the deadline ends, you still get your credits and your ranking improvements and whatever else, it just doesn't move the needle on any BGS stuff. Nobody cares about the BGS anyway. It's certainly no reason to hold the game design (and player's real-life scheduling) hostage.
This forum has always supported a substantial number of "moans" threads - or criticism. Of course there are others, and occasionally even thread of joy - although nearly every thread has some sour chipping in. Nobody is forced to read and respond to every thread - and just yawning is hardly constructive, is it?
I may not agree with the OP about the solution, but I recognise that FDev are perhaps missing tying in an even greater cohort of players by only really offering a model that disproportionately rewards people who do little else against the more casual gamer. I am personally struggling to commit the time, and more importantly, gamer friends I have dislike the commitment this game requires.
I also recognise that CQC is an alternative for the truly casual, but that misses out on huge swathes of what is fantastic about ED.
If people have wonderful ideas about how it could be improved, I think it would be great to share. If everyone thinks the game is perfect as is, fine - although they are bound to get more and more frustrated by the number of threads that do continually suggest changes or "moan"...! ;-)
I think not charasmatic enough to offer any opinion
Really??? Read up on the Background Sim!!
I play in sessions lasting from 30 minutes to several hours. If real life does interrupt I just log out if the game. The secret of this flexibility is not doing missions.
I realise of of course that I will have to do some missions to unlock permits and ships but even at my age there is no rush to do that, but I find it perplexing why so many seem to want to let a script determine their play by doing missions instead of making their own choices. I wonder sometimes if it is the glamour of thinking I am on a Mission, would they be so popular if they were called Tasks or Jobs.
At least the OP only has a problem with a minor facet of the game and not something essential.
I realise of of course that I will have to do some missions to unlock permits and ships but even at my age there is no rush to do that, but I find it perplexing why so many seem to want to let a script determine their play by doing missions instead of making their own choices. I wonder sometimes if it is the glamour of thinking I am on a Mission, would they be so popular if they were called Tasks or Jobs.
At least the OP only has a problem with a minor facet of the game and not something essential.
This^^
The timers are fine, most give you plenty of time to complete them, just check the time limit before you accept them. I've failed a couple of missions because of the timers and 'real life' getting in the way, but that's no big deal tbh. I think it would be a shame to change it.
Again, your time commit is not really an issue with the game. You bought the game, before you did you had the opportunity to research what the game was about - if you find it too time consuming for you then clearly you made a purchase in error, likely due to a lack of research on your part. Your friends don't like the time commitment and don't play, this sounds very sensible. I don't like turn based fighting games, and in the same vien I do not purchase them or play them and I certainly don't go on the developers forums demanding they become real time to accommodate my needs.
The only part of Elite that requires time and has a timer are the long haul passenger missions - I don't play them but I do pick the almost identical short haul missions which play almost identically and are often completable in 10 - 20 mins.... Pretty much every other mission type (maybe not the kill 50 pirates ones) can be completed in 10 mins to an hour and are accessible from almost all ships. This is not a pick up and play, portable / mobile phone / casual game nor should it become one because some people cannot find the time to play it.
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The only missions that take an *actual* long time, are massacre ship missions and long range passenger missions, but even then, the passenger missions give you weeks to complete.
You can avoid having to spend 5 hours doing these missions, by not doing these missions. Simple as that.
If your massacre mission to kill 42 ships will take you 3 hours, and you only have 1 hour to play. Don't accept it. Pick a smaller massacre mission.
If I don't have a long time to play, I'll only accept the missions I have time to complete. Hiccups will happen, which will cause them to fail, but in general I can complete quite a few missions in just 1 hour.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
You can avoid having to spend 5 hours doing these missions, by not doing these missions. Simple as that.
If your massacre mission to kill 42 ships will take you 3 hours, and you only have 1 hour to play. Don't accept it. Pick a smaller massacre mission.
If I don't have a long time to play, I'll only accept the missions I have time to complete. Hiccups will happen, which will cause them to fail, but in general I can complete quite a few missions in just 1 hour.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
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I think everyone should be onboard with the game being less rewarding, even massively less rewarding, to those who have less time to commit. The problem is that the game is actively *punishing* to those who are unable to schedule their lives around the game.
I shouldn't have to look at my calendar in real life in order to decide whether to take on a mission or not. I should not be able to "fail" at a task when I am not even running the game. Time constraints as a challenge aspect? Sounds great. Give me a delivery mission which has to be there in 20 minutes, and send hoards of interdictors after me and I skin-of-my-teeth it to the destination. But make the timers countdown when I am actually logged in. Instead we get simplistic missions with completion deadlines which inconvenience us in real life, but add nothing to the game.
Giving me a mission which takes 15-20 minutes to complete, but which has a 16 hour time limit, does not add anything to the challenge of the mission itself. What it does instead is add challenge to my LIFE. A 16 hour time limit is basically a threat: "I don't care if it's your bedtime; you better sit here and keep playing until you finish this mission, OR you better make sure you come home early from work tomorrow and start playing immediately after you get home, or else Mission Failed."
Not only does that kind of design make the game less fun it makes my life less fun.
I wonder if you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds to people like me who works 60 hour weeks, commutes 2 hours per day, has a bunch of family commitments with kids and their activities, and still finds time to actively participate in the game and enjoy every minute of it.
Life is what you make it.
LOL - you are seriously suggesting that as a gamer you do not have 15 - 20 minutes (30 at a push) to complete a mission in a game you decided to play? If you turn the game on you surely know how much time you have to spend on it and take tasks which are achievable within that time limit, a limit I might add that is imposed by yourself not the game. The game is often giving you 24 hours to complete that 15 - 20 minute task. Serioulsy mate, you must suck at time management - not even your calendar will help you.
Personally, I play when I can, around my real life. Sometimes I log in for just 30mins to an hour, and when I do only have that limited amount of time to play I just take a few simple - quick to complete - missions. Often turning a profit of millions in that small time frame. If I have hours to play, I take more missions, missions which can take longer to complete. The game is not asking or demanding that you check your calendar to play, just that the end user has half a brain when choosing what to do with their in game time.
Well put.
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Troy_McClure
Banned
One of those 'redirected' missions, huh? Yeah, I know where you're coming from...*Yawn* indeed!
Sounds to me you shouldn't take 24 hour limited missions.
Try salvage ones or mining ones with several days.
Or just take a mission and get it done before bedtime
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Try salvage ones or mining ones with several days.
Or just take a mission and get it done before bedtime
.
The 24 hour timer on assassination missions is how long you have to claim the reward after completing the assassination. Just means you don't have to return to the place you took the mission from straight away.
Regarding the window of opportunity, it's worth noting that as soon as you accept the mission the target will spawn if you go to the location, no need to wait for the start time of the window.
Why not have separate ships for different tasks? That's what i do.
Well, fun aside.. do you really think with an attitute like that that a *sandbox* game is the right type of game for you?
The game gives you all the toys.. but if you get angry about the question "what to do with the toys"... I'm afraid sandbox games are NOT for you.
Well. but there is. And its not the games fault that you willingly chose to ignore the options to play "casually".
I'm a casual player myself.. and there are lots of evenings when I can set aside only 30 or 60 minutes of gameplay.. but I'm still entirely free in my dicisions to what to do in those 30 minutes...
When I know my available time is at premium - I dont take long lasting missions. I do something else.
And I usually find something to do that I find entertaining - no matter how much time I actually have on my hands.
The fun thing is.. you can go blaze your own trail...
Noone is going to blaze it for you.
So please dont blame the "what to do with maxed out cutter" or "missions that take longer than I have time to spend on" for the fact that your unsatisfied with the sandbox game approach.
Having played other games, I find Elite to be rather relaxing.
Because most people don't have that much cash to spare.
With all the complaints about board switching / mission stacking billionaires I find that very hard to believe. Besides, 4 - 5 Cobras would not cost a player that much. You can make millions in a few hours (be that over one evening, one week or several months) with just one ship that will fit an SRV or by completing salvage missions with just 4 tonnes of cargo space. Fact of the matter is, most people DO HAVE more than one ship because making money in this game is simple and the majority of ships are cheap. Likely why you own one or more of the big three ships.
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