Interesting article related to why I no longer play ED

[ste]

If this game was made pick up and play, instant constant reward, aimed at non gamers, that would be why I would no longer play it. I can only think of a handful of games Ive invested this much time in in the last 10 years. Possibly close to a record, playing the same game for 2 year, how many other games can you say you havent shelved long before this one. Most games get shelved after a week max.

Alot of games now only have the lifespan of a goldfish. Its nice that someone made a game for the people that want to game, while EA cater to everyone else. Why does every game have to be an EA game?

 

[Andovar]

Fast travel was one of the facets that drove me away from GW2 (a franchise i so dearly loved)
The game ended up feeling like it was lacking any cohesion. I was just bouncing around the map a lot to the next big 'dynamic' event. It got old fast.

While I agree that there's some areas of ED that could use some spice in their time-sinks, I wouldn't want any fast-tracking or skipping options.
It's just about striking that balance. Right now ED seems above average with time investment, and I'm ok with that.
If the pace of ED doesn't suit you, find a game that does.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Elite isn't for everyone. If time constraints limit your play time, but you want to leave your starter system and buy a Corvette all in the same 15 minutes, it's just not going to happen, and Elite is not for you.
If you're wanting to see the far ends of the galaxy, but you've only got 15 minutes a day to play - it's going to take you a very long time to get there, and Elite may not be for you.

Elite is a game of patience - look how long it's taken just to get route plotting greater than 1k Ly!

 

[Ddraig]

Well. Then probably you need a game that fits your current situation. But by no means Frontier needs to change the game to fit your current, personal choice of life.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I think something as simple as shortening or eliminating the deceleration required to smoothly exit supercruise would go a long way to cutting down less useful time spent in-game.

Are you using the 75% at 6 seconds auto-deceleration?

If so, don't do that - you can get in faster, with much less deceleration time, by following an actively controlled spiral deceleration path varied between 85-100% throttle. It goes from being a boring "sit at 0:06 for a couple of minutes" to an exciting challenge of managing speed, vector, and distance from various gravitational sources ... and even if you mess it up you'll probably still get there somewhat quicker than normal. As a bonus, it's got a decent chance of throwing off anyone trying to interdict you, if you twist it right. Easier in a smaller ship but you can still get some benefit even in an Anaconda; harder for planetary base approaches but still pretty useful.

 

[PS4gamer]

Not started to slate ED in anyway but first i've seen it discussed in a editorial

http://www.pcgamer.com/do-games-hav...el=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

One main reason I quit playing ED. With kids and minimal time, it felt like I was never going to get anywhere. So frustrating to spend a good hour jumping, getting half way through a mission to realize I'm out of time. Then wishing I was back at uni with, what seems like now, endless hours to spare

Made me wonder if some sort method could work with ED to allow people the option to speed up certain aspects. Does seem like there are two sides to the argument. 1. Spend and enjoy the length of the game or 2. speed through it to get the ship you desire to make combat "fair".

I would love to speed up the game and would it really effect the people who have the time to enjoy the length and time it takes?

Hogwash.

You don't need to "get anywhere", there is no end-game like other games.
I have limited gaming time, some days no time at all, some days an hour to play ED, perhaps 2 hours on sunday but as long as I'm having fun when I play, that's all that matters imo.

I don't grind and I am in no rush to get a huge ship. if it takes me 5 years of playing to get a Cutter that's fine as long as I have fun when I play it'll be worth it.

 

[Zebaoth]

I don't get all these "video games take so much time" comments.

Video Games are a hobby.
Ever learned another language? Takes time.
Ever pursued any other hobby than video games? Takes time.
Ever improved your skills by learning craftsmanship related things? Takes time.

People who complain about video games not respecting their own time need to learn to respect their own time in the first place.

 

[Stealthie]

Ye, I don't want fast tracking - I just want gameplay that's worth doing in itself.

Fair enough. [up]

One thing I've always advocated is content specifically aimed at small ships.
Let's have systems where "gunships" are illegal.
You can go there in an Anaconda or FdL if you want but SysSec won't like it.
Have stations and surface outposts which only have small landing pads.
Have plenty of content that just involves travelling around in-system.
And offer substantial rewards for people who are willing to deliver small quantities of stuff to those systems in small quantities.

Do that and, at the same time, you'd create little miniature versions of ED where people could achieve things with only a couple of minutes in SC rather than half an hour jumping across the galaxy.

 

[Gypsy12]

Elite: Dangerous

"You'll come for the game but you'll stay for the forum."

So, so true. I would love to encourage people to play this game, but its false advertising. Sure, you can PVP. The ship mechanics are great. After that its a black hole.

300 billion suns they said. They got as far as saying "WELCOME TO OUR GALA" and then stopped.

The only thing making "Elite Dangerous" actually "Dangerous" is annoying Potter. And to be honest I cant actually hate him and get along with him.

And the saddest thing? I like sitting next to huge black holes, and enjoying the audio. Everything in this game that should matter seems like an afterthought.

They could have actually concentrated on making the game... er... you know involved. They didn't. The galaxy itself is dead as a doornail. Everything is only a picture of what it could be. You arrive at a black hole. Nothing happens. You arrive at a star. You honk. Pictures come up. Nothing happens. You arrive at a neutron star and by golly you can actually interact with it. Its a welcome moment where you can smile.

LSS, Buy the game if you like PVP. That's it.

If you want the real game, hit the forum.

 

[ste]

it was the community complaining it was too dangerous why the danger got removed, they wanted to be able to sell their shields and get to a to b as quickly as possible. We call our selves gamers but we rage quit at death or having anything happen that isnt routine plain sailing. In fact almost everything wrong with the game was customer requests.

Now the thargiods are coming, and whos scared, nobody, because froniter cant add danger if fear of upseting the players. So they will be about as much threat as a tinfoil sidewinder

 

[Privata]

it was the community complaining it was too dangerous why the danger got removed, they wanted to be able to sell their shields and get to a to b as quickly as possible. We call our selves gamers but we rage quit at death or having anything happen that isnt routine plain sailing. In fact almost everything wrong with the game was customer requests.

Now the thargiods are coming, and whos scared, nobody, because froniter cant add danger if fear of upseting the players. So they will be about as much threat as a tinfoil sidewinder

I miss the good AI.
It was the most fun I ever had in dogfights in any space game , ever.

The thargoids might be a threat for the first few days , but they will be nerfed to being as pointless as the AI we have now , that just cant kill you.

Without trying to be funny its harder to die than it is to kill

 

[Winterwalker]

Combat equip an Eagle .. go to a High Combat Zone and survive! (take a few with you) = 'end game'.

Spoiler

No wait .. go mining and listen to the football on the radio = end game.

No wait .. go somewhere nobody (not even devs) have ever seen, study the orbital periods and distances = end game.

No wait .. buckyball or go SRV base jumping = end game

No wait .. be a fuel rat ...

No wait .. break the hyperspace jump record =

No wait .. get your SRV into a space staion

No wait .. wing protect a trader =

No wait .. gank a wedding barge = end game

No wait .. be a photographer =

No wait .. neutron superhighway to Beagle = end game

No wait .. space taxi !

No wait ..

.. maybe NOW I'll think about getting an Anaconda

Maybe.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Elite isn't for everyone. If time constraints limit your play time, but you want to leave your starter system and buy a Corvette all in the same 15 minutes, it's just not going to happen, and Elite is not for you.
If you're wanting to see the far ends of the galaxy, but you've only got 15 minutes a day to play - it's going to take you a very long time to get there, and Elite may not be for you.

Elite is a game of patience - look how long it's taken just to get route plotting greater than 1k Ly!

You have just named Elite's greatest time sink: Fixing the game.

it was the community complaining it was too dangerous why the danger got removed, they wanted to be able to sell their shields and get to a to b as quickly as possible. We call our selves gamers but we rage quit at death or having anything happen that isnt routine plain sailing. In fact almost everything wrong with the game was customer requests.

Now the thargiods are coming, and whos scared, nobody, because froniter cant add danger if fear of upseting the players. So they will be about as much threat as a tinfoil sidewinder

Do. Not. Impugn. The Sidewinder.

 

[gorsey]

Personally, this article struck a nerve with me and I immediately thought of ED. This is exactly why I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I have 1300 steam hours in the game, but about 1100 of those were before I had a kid. After having the kid, I have maybe 1-3 hours per day of gaming time, and a library full of games that are purchased but not played yet; I don't have time for a game where a small fraction of my time is spent doing things that I find interesting. The only times I've played ED in the last year and a half were when I was on vacation. That's the only time I feel like I can commit enough time to deal with all of the time-wasting aspects of the game.

I'm a professional astrophysicist and I bought this game because I wanted to explore the milky way. The fact of the matter is that exploring actually puts me to sleep. About the only thing that keeps me awake is combat, but I also get bored with that after a few days, and in the end, I always feel like I need to finish unlocking the engineers and upgrading my ships, and it's at that point where I feel like I just can't put up with the "type" of grind present in ED.

I don't mind the grind in a game; I raided competitively in WoW for several years. But in ED I have found that it doesn't take very long for me to wonder "what's the point?" I fully acknowledge that some people are happy with the game the way it is, but my feedback is that I want to love the game, and it has sucked me in for long periods of time, but after a month or two, without fail, about 5 times now, I end up jaded, frustrated, and flat-out ticked off at the developers. So that's my feedback, and this article nails it for me.

This is 100% my point. I love the game and want to be involved in the events. I found by the time I got a ship prepped and go to said event, it was pretty much over. I agree with other posts that certain other aspects of the game can be done by jumping on and off - exploring for example. However if you want to get involved in the actual game, time is a major barrier. I started engineers and such a major time sink.

I wondered if any aspects could be optional sped up.

 

[gorsey]

Your first and foremost problem: You think you are in a competition.

You are not.

Elite is one of the games where progress doesnt count. And in general: THere´s always a bigger fish in the ocean - no one cares.

While I can see where your coming from, actually when I quit was when there was a search for the barnacles I think (while ago!). By the time I got a ship, jump miles away and got there. It was pretty much over and things had progressed past that part of the 'story'.

The article highlights that time should be a factor ED take into action for players. Not just 'how can we keep current player engaged....engineers should take 500 hours to complete, lets do it'. If there was a way I could be 'involved' and play a few hours a week, then I would jump back in. Maybe the game is not for my type of play style.