I 100% support this decision. This will help with a lot of issues and keep everything on an even playing field.
News Implementation of a dedicated mission server
That's a fair point. Maybe FDev will add a "Passenger Waiting Room" where the clients from accepted Passenger missions can wait (for a short time, before they cancel the mission & fining the player) wile the player changes ship/outfitting.
"Hi, I'll happily take you to Earth. Give me 5 minutes to park up my Vulture and grab my Orca, then we'll set off"
I'm all for putting mission generation on it's own server, however to remove board flipping without addressing the reason why people flip in the first place will be a disaster.
There is currently a finite number of missions generated.
These missions are distributed between factions in the station and are spread across different mission types - something which became more problematic when wing missions were introduced.
So there are mining, combat, trade, scan etc.. all spread out over the limited number of missions.
The more mission types are added, the worse this gets.
The filter at the top of the board merely filters the current received list of missions.
Unless this is changed from a limited set for all types and factions to a "What would you like to do?" request for missions based on the type of activity, then you will upset a lot of people.
As has been said, people don't want to board flip, but it's the only way sometimes to get missions which we want to do within the limited about of time we have to do them.
Please rework the mission board completely.
Stations contain millions of people, even outposts provide work for thousands- the small list of missions makes no sense in anything apart from a server stability standpoint.
Make it offer missions based on the activity dropdown at the top, for the faction you have selected.
Generate 40 or 50 missions for that selection and let the players choose. Add more activity types at the top if need be.
Our ship loadouts are different depending on the task
For instance, If I want to go bounty hunting for a faction, Let me choose that I want to go Bounty Hunting, make it my default if it's what I do a lot, Let me choose who I'm working for and give me targets to hunt and kill.
If I want to rescue people, let me choose rescue and give me a list of mission persons, I'll go bring them all back.
Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of thinking people are happy with a small offering of varied tasks for a bit more money - money that can be nerfed later - They're not, that's why we board flip, to increase our chances of finding something we want to do within the time we have. This is Player Agency at work.
By moving the mission generation to a new set of servers, you can implement this and it won't affect the game at large and you'll make a lot of people very happy.
There is currently a finite number of missions generated.
These missions are distributed between factions in the station and are spread across different mission types - something which became more problematic when wing missions were introduced.
So there are mining, combat, trade, scan etc.. all spread out over the limited number of missions.
The more mission types are added, the worse this gets.
The filter at the top of the board merely filters the current received list of missions.
Unless this is changed from a limited set for all types and factions to a "What would you like to do?" request for missions based on the type of activity, then you will upset a lot of people.
As has been said, people don't want to board flip, but it's the only way sometimes to get missions which we want to do within the limited about of time we have to do them.
Please rework the mission board completely.
Stations contain millions of people, even outposts provide work for thousands- the small list of missions makes no sense in anything apart from a server stability standpoint.
Make it offer missions based on the activity dropdown at the top, for the faction you have selected.
Generate 40 or 50 missions for that selection and let the players choose. Add more activity types at the top if need be.
Our ship loadouts are different depending on the task
For instance, If I want to go bounty hunting for a faction, Let me choose that I want to go Bounty Hunting, make it my default if it's what I do a lot, Let me choose who I'm working for and give me targets to hunt and kill.
If I want to rescue people, let me choose rescue and give me a list of mission persons, I'll go bring them all back.
Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of thinking people are happy with a small offering of varied tasks for a bit more money - money that can be nerfed later - They're not, that's why we board flip, to increase our chances of finding something we want to do within the time we have. This is Player Agency at work.
By moving the mission generation to a new set of servers, you can implement this and it won't affect the game at large and you'll make a lot of people very happy.
Really cool news!
God I hope so! FD have got pretty much all technical stuff in place for long and dynamic missions, lets move forward using them more and more.
God I hope so! FD have got pretty much all technical stuff in place for long and dynamic missions, lets move forward using them more and more.
I personally like OP information and look forward for time when it will go live.
For once I can say FDev does something good. dedicated servers for missions are a good step towards better network stability and most importnatly, removing the board flipping exploit is something worth noting as it's responsible for 90% of the gold rushes.
Having said that, I want to hope that the actual matchmaking server and the overall netcode gets some love as well. ALL kinds of multiplayer interactions are simply not stable and plagued with bugs and crashes. This needs attention. Despite FDev taking a really lazy 4 years to do this, FINALLY it's good to see atleast a tiny bit of actual improvement.
Having said that, I want to hope that the actual matchmaking server and the overall netcode gets some love as well. ALL kinds of multiplayer interactions are simply not stable and plagued with bugs and crashes. This needs attention. Despite FDev taking a really lazy 4 years to do this, FINALLY it's good to see atleast a tiny bit of actual improvement.
A "change ship and accept" button would be fantastic. Press it and it gives you a list of currently stored ships that are currently fitted to take the mission. Outfitting would be trickier to implement, but "do you have a ship in the shipyard with enough cabins to take this passenger y/n" seems relatively trivial.
Since you can no longer "force" a mission board refresh, is there going to be some sort of auto-refresh after x minutes or any other way to get a new list of missions?
Also, would it be possible to separate wing and solo missions into different categories? Even though the ability to take on wing missions solo is much appreciated, wing missions seem to spawn in the same "slots" solo missions used to spawn, effectively reducing the amount of solo missions.
While I think boardflipping being gone is a good thing I truly hope that follow-up (and especially rank missions) will have a very high spawn chance in the future. It's not fun having to dock at 30+ different stations just to rank up. Been there, done that.
Also, would it be possible to separate wing and solo missions into different categories? Even though the ability to take on wing missions solo is much appreciated, wing missions seem to spawn in the same "slots" solo missions used to spawn, effectively reducing the amount of solo missions.
While I think boardflipping being gone is a good thing I truly hope that follow-up (and especially rank missions) will have a very high spawn chance in the future. It's not fun having to dock at 30+ different stations just to rank up. Been there, done that.
the point YOU'RE so saliently missing is that 2.8% of the playerbase is still a part of the playerbase and the "screw them, it's only 2.8%, who cares" attitude is exactly what mob rule is. 2.8% of the population do hardcore exploration. 2.8% of the population are dedicated PVP players. 2.8% of the population engage in serious BGS.
2.8% of the population is probably how many of the purchased copies of Elite Dangerous are still active.
2.8%
The board already auto-refreshed after 20 minutes (or something thereabouts).
I really hope this will not bring more "grind" to get interesting missions and/or rewards. Is board flipping a real problem in this game? Are we gonna have more missions (like 3x the amount to compensate)
I'm afraid it will make Elite just a little bit more boring.
And dedicated servers for everything else... when? (just to get rid of the cheaters exploiting the game...)
I'm afraid it will make Elite just a little bit more boring.
And dedicated servers for everything else... when? (just to get rid of the cheaters exploiting the game...)
Yes, because we all know if there is anything SJWs hate its minorities!
Is logic still on vacation or something? [big grin]
<sarcasm><sarcasm><sarcasm>#sarcasm
Don't worry friend, this will only bring less grind, but not letting you grind fast enough...
</sarcasm></sarcasm></sarcasm>
Yay for better stability.
As far as not being able to refresh the mission board: If my goal is to grind missions AND I don't find any missions I'm interested in taking, I'm just going to log out and play a different game. I'm not going to bother flying to a different station and regrinding rep for better missions all over again.
Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to waist looking for something to do.
EDIT: Please understand, we refreshed the board because it didn't generate what we were interested in doing. Some may see that as a problem and the refreshing thus a solution. I'm not trying to argue, just offer a point of view.
2nd Edit: I best be able to tell the game not to spawn a single smegging wing mission, ever. I better not see a single one take up a slot in my offered mission list.
As far as not being able to refresh the mission board: If my goal is to grind missions AND I don't find any missions I'm interested in taking, I'm just going to log out and play a different game. I'm not going to bother flying to a different station and regrinding rep for better missions all over again.
Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to waist looking for something to do.
EDIT: Please understand, we refreshed the board because it didn't generate what we were interested in doing. Some may see that as a problem and the refreshing thus a solution. I'm not trying to argue, just offer a point of view.
2nd Edit: I best be able to tell the game not to spawn a single smegging wing mission, ever. I better not see a single one take up a slot in my offered mission list.
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This. Nobody likes board flipping, but when I open the board and see that half of the missions are wing missions and the other half are unavailable due to insufficient faction reputation... what do you want me to do?
actually surprised the board-flippers make-up only 2.8%
Generally since the last patch cannot be bothered to even switch modes in an effort to find something I fancy, so just sigh and log-off.
But when I am feeling more motivated the board flipping gives a greater chance that I will make me want to play the game.
If there was one board with three times the missions we currently get per board then that would be neutral for me.
The issue is never the 'right and wrongs' of the mechanic (which exist and hardly breaks the game) but the chance of finding something to do.
Finding something each of us finds personally rewarding must be a good thing for the game - right?
As ascorbius indicates above , the debate should be about whether and how the news system achieves that - not the rights and wrong of flipping.
Generally since the last patch cannot be bothered to even switch modes in an effort to find something I fancy, so just sigh and log-off.
But when I am feeling more motivated the board flipping gives a greater chance that I will make me want to play the game.
If there was one board with three times the missions we currently get per board then that would be neutral for me.
The issue is never the 'right and wrongs' of the mechanic (which exist and hardly breaks the game) but the chance of finding something to do.
Finding something each of us finds personally rewarding must be a good thing for the game - right?
As ascorbius indicates above , the debate should be about whether and how the news system achieves that - not the rights and wrong of flipping.
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