Important Information From Operation IDA

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Was the grind even that bad 6 years ago?

When you engineered a roll you didn't get a guaranteed improvement and there was no way to find mats other than random chance or consulting other player experiences where to find the crap. And then when you engineered and wanted to install on a different ship you had to sell the item and pull up the other ship and hope it hadn't been deleted in the server cache in the meantime. And you needed to haul some dope cargo (with racks and all) to the idiot engineers to get anything done with the 100 mats FD allowed us to store on our account.
Yes, it was bad. And credit earnings you had to really pull from the game's rear, if you "just played the game".
Not talking about the rep progress, lol, you had to spend months running missions. And doing that you never knew if FD didn't stealth change the mechanic yet again and what you done last week or month until you found out was pretty useless, too.
They just can't design a game like this. It is for a very specific audience the way they design it.

I keep hearing the grind has been "improved". It took FD TWO YEARS to rework the engineers. And they usually don't mind changing anything unless their fresh new release drops player numbers rapidly. And yet, here we are again with that same old stuff.

 

[St0rmFury]

To add to the above:

1. No material traders
2. No geological signals so you have to drive around aimlessly looking for meteorites for raw mats
3. Mat were dropped in amounts of 1 (its 3 now)
4. Experimental effects were random & you have to sacrifice engineer rep to apply it

 

[Rat Catcher]

Was the grind even that bad 6 years ago?

Apparently the introduction of engineers was devastating... Players had to play to progress. But the initial scheme was allegedly a bit dire...

 

[Cori]

Apparently the introduction of engineers was devastating... Players had to play to progress.

The difference between engineered and vanilla ships was huge, even at the start.

 

[Jabo Zerstorer]

Apparently the introduction of engineers was devastating... Players had to play to progress.

I've been playing for about 3 years now (just prior to Odyssey's release) and I've barely done any grinding. I do have some engineered modules but I managed to get those mostly because I'd accumulated most of the materials naturally over time. A few I had to exchange other materials for though and only some wake exceptions I had to really go and look for.

I've not done any on-foot engineering. Nor done any Guardian or Thargoid stuff (except for buying a Meta Alloy to unlock Felicity Farseer).

Yet I'm still enjoying the game and find much to do without doing any grind.

 

[Rat Catcher]

The difference between engineered and vanilla ships was huge, even at the start.

I only started playing 5 years & 7 months ago, when progress, compared to today, was slower. But I did miss the initial introduction of engineers, true... But didn't engineer any of my own ships for almost a year, so yes, I noticed the difference.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I've been playing for about 3 years now (just prior to Odyssey's release) and I've barely done any grinding. I do have some engineered modules but I managed to get those mostly because I'd accumulated most of the materials naturally over time. A few I had to exchange other materials for though and only some wake exceptions I had to really go and look for.

I've not done any on-foot engineering. Nor done any Guardian or Thargoid stuff (except for buying a Meta Alloy to unlock Felicity Farseer).

Yet I'm still enjoying the game and find much to do without doing any grind.

There is no need to 'grind' anything in the game - despite some insisting that any play loops in ED are 'grind'...
The guardian sites are worth visiting, as are the Thargoid ones, in my opinion. Very unworldly, both races!

 

[Cori]

There is no need to 'grind' anything in the game - despite some insisting that any play loops in ED are 'grind'...
The guardian sites are worth visiting, as are the Thargoid ones, in my opinion. Very unworldly, both races!

I went to see the first Thargoid crash site when it was discovered. I remember some toerag blew up my Cutter while it was on the ground.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I went to see the first Thargoid crash site when it was discovered. I remember some toerag blew up my Cutter while it was on the ground.

Ouch!

 

[Cori]

Ouch!

That was when I stopped taking the Cutter into Open. Those things are expensive.

 

[Jabo Zerstorer]

There is no need to 'grind' anything in the game - despite some insisting that any play loops in ED are 'grind'...
The guardian sites are worth visiting, as are the Thargoid ones, in my opinion. Very unworldly, both races!

True but if you want to do any real exploration outside of the bubble, you need a decent jump range.

But getting a Double-Engineered FSD isn't all that difficult. I have two of them. Also the improved Planetary Scanner has been great for me and saves me time and no more lost Efficiency Bonus'! I also have two double-engineered Planetary Scanners as well. One in my DBX and one in my AspX.

 

[nemolomen]

I've been playing for about 3 years now (just prior to Odyssey's release) and I've barely done any grinding. I do have some engineered modules but I managed to get those mostly because I'd accumulated most of the materials naturally over time. A few I had to exchange other materials for though and only some wake exceptions I had to really go and look for.

This is pretty much how I play as well.

I've not done any on-foot engineering.

Me neither and I've been playing Ody since launch. I also haven't upgraded any thing either, its all store bought...

Nor done any Guardian or Thargoid stuff (except for buying a Meta Alloy to unlock Felicity Farseer).

I did go for the Guardian FSD Booster early on and the Guardian Gauss Cannons and Guardian Hull and Module Reinforcements a little over a year ago.

Yet I'm still enjoying the game and find much to do without doing any grind.

I am too. I even play in Open mostly...

There is one thing I do grind for, credits...both Trade and Mining...

 

[Cori]

True but if you want to do any real exploration outside of the bubble, you need a decent jump range.

But getting a Double-Engineered FSD isn't all that difficult. I have two of them.

Jump ranges are important.

Back when I had an idea to try out mining, I plotted out a cheap-ish mining ship build based on a Federal Dropship. I found the nearest system you could buy one on EDDB, flew there, bought it ... and discovered that the stock FDS didn't have the jump range to reach anywhere outside that system.

There were no better FSDs available in that system. And this was before you could pay to transport unused ships or modules somewhere else, and before carriers.

There was literally no way for that FDS to leave the system where I bought it. I eventually just sold it again.

 

[Jabo Zerstorer]

Jump ranges are important.

Back when I had an idea to try out mining, I plotted out a cheap-ish mining ship build based on a Federal Dropship. I found the nearest system you could buy one on EDDB, flew there, bought it ... and discovered that the stock FDS didn't have the jump range to reach anywhere outside that system.

There were no better FSDs available in that system. And this was before you could pay to transport unused ships or modules somewhere else, and before carriers.

There was literally no way for that FDS to leave the system where I bought it. I eventually just sold it again.

Yep. I think a stock T-9 Heavy does less than 10 lys. You can barely go anywhere in it. You either have to buy it in populated space, or buy another ship and transfer the T-9 to another System once you've travelled there in the new ship.

I basically transferred my T-9 to Deciat to engineer it to increase its jump range.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I've been playing for about 3 years now (just prior to Odyssey's release) and I've barely done any grinding. I do have some engineered modules but I managed to get those mostly because I'd accumulated most of the materials naturally over time. A few I had to exchange other materials for though and only some wake exceptions I had to really go and look for.

I've not done any on-foot engineering. Nor done any Guardian or Thargoid stuff (except for buying a Meta Alloy to unlock Felicity Farseer).

Yet I'm still enjoying the game and find much to do without doing any grind.

For a number of players it was like flipping a switch. Over night, bullet sponged enemies filled the NPC places of my main activities. They say it is "end game" stuff now. Cheap way to repurpose content.

 

[Rat Catcher]

True but if you want to do any real exploration outside of the bubble, you need a decent jump range.

Indeed, I took a Krait II with a jump range of 40 LY out to the Abyssal Plains and back. The nicest thing was that on the return trip, 3.3 arrived and the 'new' scanners. I was stopped over in Colonia then, so had a trip back where I was finding loads of stuff I had never found previouslly. It took a little while to get back!

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Yep. I think a stock T-9 Heavy does less than 10 lys. You can barely go anywhere in it. You either have to buy it in populated space, or buy another ship and transfer the T-9 to another System once you've travelled there in the new ship.

I basically transferred my T-9 to Deciat to engineer it to increase its jump range.

Or transfer an FSD to the T9, there's also the friendly fleet carrier option for those with rich friends.

 

[Red Rocket]

There is a big shift in Elite Dangerous game play, in the past I could get on and do whatever I felt like doing, bountty hunting, mining, exploring, gathering materials.
Now Fdev makes you feel guilty that if you don’t participate in the war the bubble will be destroyed.
They have set the rules in a way to keep you putting many more hours in over weeks just grinding away only to reset to nothing.

 

[Kzak]

There is a big shift in Elite Dangerous game play, in the past I could get on and do whatever I felt like doing, bountty hunting, mining, exploring, gathering materials.
Now Fdev makes you feel guilty that if you don’t participate in the war the bubble will be destroyed.
They have set the rules in a way to keep you putting many more hours in over weeks just grinding away only to reset to nothing.

Currently, it seems that way, which is not good. But I presume they will adjust this so as not to fully reset the progress each Thursday tick, but perhaps reduce the progress by a fixed number of percent to suggest Thargoid reinforcements. Give them a bit of time.

 

[Red Rocket]

This is a very interesting interview with Todd Howard about gaming and mostly game design, how to make a game that engages the player and giving them a rich gaming experience.
That it’s important to have the gaming experience feel like you are winning is important.

Source: https://youtu.be/H9AAnV59ddE