Having Only Timed Missions is Stupid

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

OP has presented a false premise in that running times missions is the only productive option for advaning earnings, standing, or whatever.

If you don't have time to run missions during a "casual" gaming session, them don't run missions during the session.

You can bounty hunt, earn combat vouchers, start a trading run, do some mining, go exploring, gather mats, or any of several non-timed in game activities.

 

[GhostUrsa]

Okay I get the point of putting a use-by date on missions to stop people stockpiling them. But could you do something about the assassination missions? There was one time I had to quit playing for the day and I checked what missions I'd still active. Everything had plenty of time on it.

The day after I started to find my assassination mission had failed. Even though the mission had quite a bit of time slapped on it as its use-by, the mission involved being at a certain place within a certain time window.

Could you please set the use-by time on these sorts of missions to match the last window of opportunity?

Yeah, I agree. I like the timers for almost everything but the assassination missions. If the mission fails if you go past the 'window of opportunity', then have that be when the mission failure is posted and not 3 days later. Either that, or have a secondary mission type that triggers if you miss the window that allows you to hunt for your target using nav beacons and contacts. They already have this partially in place when the target 'moves', so why not work that into the missions for when you go past the window?

 

[shadragon]

Anywho. I would just appreciate if I could enjoy all the features of the game, without having to commit at least a five hour block of time to playing it. Even if that means I don't get the same rewards from those modified, no-time-limit features!

So you want all of the benefits, but are not willing to work towards any.

You bought the wrong game.

 

[Arthur Shappey]

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.
...

Are you seriously saying you expect every player to be so good that they can always complete tasks in 15-20 minute allotments? That is very elitist of you (pun noted)... ;-)

I am nowhere near that good.

 

[aRJay]

Because most people don't have that much cash to spare.

Then they should do more CGs and fewer missions.

 

[TheNavvie]

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.

Persistent universe.

You're playing a game in the same universe as every other player, the clock never stops ticking. It's not ideal but FD made it clear before the game was launched there'd be no offline single player game because the whole game can't run on a normal PC or the game wasn't finished yet or something or other.

If you're not having fun playing the game. Stop playing it.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Because most people don't have that much cash to spare.

When people can have an Anaconda within a week, i find that statement very strange. And to have different ships for different activities it doesn't mean you need mega cash. A DBX for exploration, a viper for combat, a T6 for mining, etc.

 

[Privata]

Timed missions are good IMO.
They add to the feeling of the universe being real.

You take a contract , they give you a time limit. if you dont want to take a contract you dont take one , or you only take those you can do.

Missions are optional , at least I think they are. you can make a lot of money (often way more) by just going and doing things on your own (like free trading , bounty hunting of exploring)
And the mission times are massive now , you can take a bunch of missions in the morning and come back at night and finish them (dont recomend that however)

 

[CylonSurfer]

Are you seriously saying you expect every player to be so good that they can always complete tasks in 15-20 minute allotments?

Not at all, but I am suggesting that if you can't, you shouldn't take the job if you have something else to do in 30 minutes time which means you won't be able to play the game for another 24 hours (or however long the mission timer is).

I wouldn't take a long range passenger mission with a two week time limit the day before I leave for a 2 week holiday. Why would you take a mission that will take you longer than the time you have to spare? It's called common sense.

Know your limits and play accordingly....

To be honest, who even fires up a (non mobile) game if they have something else to do in 20 minutes time? Elite isn't the kind of game you play on the john while on a biowaste break at work. Why would you even try to load it if you have so little time to play it - why would you even buy it if evey day of your life affords you so little free time!!

Kids these days, when I was younger it would take 20 minutes or more just to load a game, that was if the game even loaded on the first try!! Now people complain about something in game taking as little time to accomplish and complain that it spoiling their enjoyment and want shortcuts. I would say that its comical - sadly it isn't.

 

[the100thmonkey]

1000th Monkey is technically right, but OP has a point.

Sir, you are wrong. By an order of magnitude.

I have 99 predecessors.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Are you seriously saying you expect every player to be so good that they can always complete tasks in 15-20 minute allotments? That is very elitist of you (pun noted)... ;-)

I am nowhere near that good.

Most tasks can. It's not even skill - it's just knowledge (including of which missions not to take.)

For instance, if a mission comes in for "locate/donate performance enhancers," I do one of two things, depending on my location - I either filter the galaxy map for high techs and look for ones in boom (which isn't hard; high-techs attract a lot of traffic and trade,) or I open my bookmarks and locate a system I know which always produces them, regardless of boom states. If it's less than 65ly (three jumps) to that station, I always go there, except when another high-tech one jump away is in boom. Then I go there. It's a 10-15 minute round trip.

If I only have an hour, I know not to take any mining missions with short timers.

With all that said, as DNA-Decay pointed out, if you don't have readily-available ships set up for a wide variety of tasks, getting missions your current ship is actually set up for can be a bit of a chore. That's a first-world problem though, as it's limited to players who are actively trying to push factions rather than make money and progress a little.

 

[Kaocraft]

Persistent universe.

You're playing a game in the same universe as every other player, the clock never stops ticking. It's not ideal but FD made it clear before the game was launched there'd be no offline single player game because the whole game can't run on a normal PC or the game wasn't finished yet or something or other.

If you're not having fun playing the game. Stop playing it.

You don't get to just say "persistent universe" as if that is an explanation in itself. It's not an explanation or a justification.

I don't CARE if the game world clock keeps ticking when I am offline. That's fine. But whyyyyyyy do MY missions, which only I am responsible for, which DO NOT EXIST for anyone else in the entire (persistent!) universe, which have no effect on ANYONE but me; why must they have timers which tick down when I am NOT PLAYING?

My ship doesn't consume fuel when I'm not playing. My shields don't recharge when I'm not playing. If I have an Unknown Artifact in my cargo hold, the cargo hold doesn't corrode while i am not playing. If I have an assassination mission to kill a particular NPC, that NPC DOES NOT EXIST when i am not playing. He doesn't go flying around the galaxy doing his thing independent of me, and some random CMDR can't stumble across him and kill my target before I find him. If I have a mission to go retrieve a black box over at some random system, I am the only one who can do it, because the black box does not exist, and will not exist, until I personally go and look for it. No one else can find it. Ever. And if a pirate chases me away before I can scoop it up, or I crash into the canister and blow it up, I can fly around for a while and suddenly it will re-spawn surrounded by a whole new set of different random debris and in a different location and under different circumstances.

But if I accept a delivery mission on a Wednesday, and then sign off from the game until a Friday, it's "Mission Failed" because Persistent Universe.
Yeah, OK.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

..but is it even possible to do missions with someone else?

Yes.

I mean, I'm flying through empty space all the time doing the same thing, over and over again, and I am continually questioning the point.

Flying through space.

CAN I PLEASE JUST HAVE A OPTION FOR CASUAL PLAY?? WHAT EVEN IS THIS MESS OF A GAME WHAT ARE WE ALL DOING WITH OUR LIVES THAT WE NEED A GAME TO DEMAND THAT WE PLAY IT CONTINUOUSLY IN ORDER FOR US TO FEEL ACCOMPLISHED GOD.

If your sense of accomplishment comes from grinding in a video game, then you need to reconsider your priorities.

Anywho. I would just appreciate if I could enjoy all the features of the game, without having to commit at least a five hour block of time to playing it. Even if that means I don't get the same rewards from those modified, no-time-limit features!

I don't get it. Aside from bulk passengers, which only give you a couple of hours to complete, most other missions give you days to finish them, and pretty much every mission-type except for mining can be completed in a virtual instant.

As for time constraints, don't bite off more than you can chew. Take as many missions as you can complete in your hour of play and log back in tomorrow. The mission boards will still be there.

 

[Kaocraft]

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.

Way to miss the entire point. It's not about how much time anyone has. It's about having the freedom to turn the game off at any time, and return to it later without being penalized for no good reason. It's not about how much of a burden it is or isn't, or about how much of an amazing genius you are at time management compared to me or anyone else. It's about whether or not it's reasonable to have to schedule your life around a game, rather than having the freedom to schedule the game around your life.

If I have 30 minutes, but not 31 minutes, at a particular sitting, why can't I defer that 31 minute task until some point in the future when I actually have the time to do it?

Books burst into flames if you don't read all the way through a chapter in one sitting. Movies can't be paused and resumed, they must be started from the beginning every time. Your email client automatically deletes everything in your inbox every 24 hours whether you've looked at it or not. And anyone who complains is an idiot who sucks at time management. This is your Utopia.

 

[Kaocraft]

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.

I don't know. I don't know why someone like you, most of all, wouldn't want to be able to pick up a mission where you last left off, at your own discretion and on your own schedule.

 

[CylonSurfer]

Way to miss the entire point. It's not about how much time anyone has. It's about having the freedom to turn the game off at any time, and return to it later without being penalized for no good reason. It's not about how much of a burden it is or isn't, or about how much of an amazing genius you are at time management compared to me or anyone else. It's about whether or not it's reasonable to have to schedule your life around a game, rather than having the freedom to schedule the game around your life.

If I have 30 minutes, but not 31 minutes, at a particular sitting, why can't I defer that 31 minute task until some point in the future when I actually have the time to do it?

Books burst into flames if you don't read all the way through a chapter in one sitting. Movies can't be paused and resumed, they must be started from the beginning every time. Your email client automatically deletes everything in your inbox every 24 hours whether you've looked at it or not. And anyone who complains is an idiot who sucks at time management. This is your Utopia.

Way for you to miss the point, this is how Elite works. Its not a bad thing and no one is asking or forcing you to take missions. If you only have 31 minutes to play (highly unlikely) then why are you taking missions? Why are you even playing on that occassion. Besides there are plenty of other things to do. Even mobile games use the same 'out of game timer' - some are very basic like resturant story - You start something cooking and it doesn't matter if you log out, the stuff burns if you are not there to take it out of the oven....(the other half plays it). Its the style of game you purchased. Don't like it - don't play it. No one is forcing you to.

What you are failing to accept is that the missions you take have an effect on the galaxy, if you fail them for whatever reason it has an effect on the faction you took it from and likely any other faction the mission involved. The game doesn't stop because you are not there playing it. What happens if a system goes into famine while you are away with a list of stacked missions with no timer and suddenly come back and complete them all? It effects that, enough of you and it reverses that. People / groups trying to play the BGS would exploit it, with second accounts stacked with missions ready to undo any damage done while they were away from the game. There are reasons certain mission types don't show when systems are in certain states. How can you even take a war mission, keep it for weeks and then go back to complete it when there is no longer a war or combat zones to finish it.

The timers are very generous, its not like anything has to be done in a rush or if they need to be at all in order to progress. When the game first came out delivery mission had 30 min timers, some less...much less. The developers have already addressed the issue and extended the timer and even that isn't enough for some of you. If you are going to play the game put aside enough time to, if you can't then either accept what it is or don't play but don't expect everyone else to agree to watering down the game more than it already has been.

If I had my way refueling would take time, unloading cargo would take time and damaged modules would mean swapping them out to be repaired (during which time they are not usable) or switching ships if required. We have a middle ground and its still not enough for some people.

 

[DefiledDragon]

Let's see who can say "persistent universe" the fastest.

Yes, I get it, the people who have time to invest in this game want it to feel continuous. I'm fine with that. You can keep your crazy fancy ship that took you 800 hours of gameplay to afford. Have fun! But not having ANY options for people who don't want to spend 5 hours at a time flying the same missions over and over again? Really? Can't we get a couple, at least? And what is even the reward of this stuff? Once I get a maxed out Imperial Cutter what am I going to do with it? When I encounter other players in the game there is literally ZERO interaction. Doing anything with them is completely impossible and a huge pain. I don't know because I haven't found anyone interested in trying, but is it even possible to do missions with someone else? I mean, I'm flying through empty space all the time doing the same thing, over and over again, and I am continually questioning the point.

CAN I PLEASE JUST HAVE A OPTION FOR CASUAL PLAY?? WHAT EVEN IS THIS MESS OF A GAME WHAT ARE WE ALL DOING WITH OUR LIVES THAT WE NEED A GAME TO DEMAND THAT WE PLAY IT CONTINUOUSLY IN ORDER FOR US TO FEEL ACCOMPLISHED GOD.

Anywho. I would just appreciate if I could enjoy all the features of the game, without having to commit at least a five hour block of time to playing it. Even if that means I don't get the same rewards from those modified, no-time-limit features!

Thanks.

Thing is OP, you made a mistake. You mistook ED for a video game. ED is not a video game. It's designed in such a way that you will find yourself firing up the casino because you feel like you have to, not because you want to. It's designed to addict with it's slot machine RNGineers and OCD material gathering. It's designed to compel with it's mission timers and punitive reputation decay. It's not here to entertain you, it's here to consume your life and hopefully your bank balance with the excessive cosmetic not-so-micro transactions.

Put it down OP. Put it down and feel the burden lift.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

Seems some pigeons aren't happy with their Skinner box. We should adjust the pellet reward schedule.

 

[SentineI]

@all
Rather than saying why something CAN'T be done, why don't you trying thinking of idea about how it COULD be done?
Try to be positive for once

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 is a GENIUS idea. Seems like it solves most of the problem straight away...

Timed missions are good IMO.
They add to the feeling of the universe being real.

I quite like having mission timers counting down while I am playing the game... But it's when they are counting down while I'm NOT playing the game that's problematic for casual players. And I don't see that adding to the feeling of realism at all...

So an alternative solution would be to have mission timers pause when you are logged-out... but if you don't complete them in (say) 1 day of real-world time then they won't affect the BGS at all.

 

[Kaocraft]

Seems some pigeons aren't happy with their Skinner box. We should adjust the pellet reward schedule.

http://www.skewsme.com/behavior/pigeon.jpg

You know what works eeel gud is random pellet rewards. It won't make the pigeons happier, but it'll sure keep them *busy*.