Is it me? (TOTAL RANT)

[thorn-]

Your issue is the NPCs act like humans?

His issue is NPCs doing things that humans cannot. Try reading his post, instead of responding to some other post made in some other thread.

 

[Weps]

Read only the OP, pretty good summary. Not too short, not too boring either. Not too acrid, not too slack either.

 

[[VR] Marrs]

A tip for skimmer massacre missions - you don't need to destroy the skimmers in the settlement itself, you can also find them in POI around the settlement. This is especially useful if the settlement is guarded by ships as it means you can complete the mission with very little risk. The skimmers in POI are usually guarding some nice loot (gold, palladium, narcotics etc) for a nice little bonus.

 

[sp0q]

+1 as usual.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Or maybe it's the continuing PvP "meta" (How I loathe that word), basically forcing me to adopt the tactics of everyone else, or be left behind in the "meta race" (Heat mechanics, anyone?)

Nice rant.

However, regarding this one, its pretty much par for the course in any game that allows PvP that isn't designed with PvP in mind. Either accept it, or don't partake in PvP. If you want fun and balanced PvP, play a game that offers it.

 

[GluttonyFang]

Nice rant.

However, regarding this one, its pretty much par for the course in any game that allows PvP that isn't designed with PvP in mind. Either accept it, or don't partake in PvP. If you want fun and balanced PvP, play a game that offers it.

You tell them Agony, get these PvPers out of our PvE game!

*Chuckles in the background*

But on a serious note, since I do you have listed as my friend, I take your words seriously.

I think the developers do care about PvP to an extent, which is why they made various adjustments during the most recent beta and elsewhere to address PvP concerns.

So his complaint about the heat meta is valid.

 

[Cmdr Eran Mintor]

I heard there was free booze here so I decided to stop by. So far I have not received any free booze, what gives?

 

[Agony_Aunt]

You tell them Agony, get these PvPers out of our PvE game!

*Chuckles in the background*

But on a serious note, since I do you have listed as my friend, I take your words seriously.

I think the developers do care about PvP to an extent, which is why they made various adjustments during the most recent beta and elsewhere to address PvP concerns.

So his complaint about the heat meta is valid.

Heh, not quite. Just that if they want to PvP in ED, they have to accept there is a meta. There was a meta from 1.0 and there is a meta today. The meta changes from patch to patch, so PvPers have to keep up.

But you know me, i don't think PvP in ED is very good. For my PvP kicks I play Team Fortress 2. Fun for the whole family.... except when my daughter is pwning me.

Also, i like Chaos Reborn for PvP as well. Nice and strategic with an element of randomness so you have to judge your risk carefully.

 

[GluttonyFang]

Heh, not quite. Just that if they want to PvP in ED, they have to accept there is a meta. There was a meta from 1.0 and there is a meta today. The meta changes from patch to patch, so PvPers have to keep up.

Yes, true, and right now I have a 4X thermal shock FDL, and it works great, unless there's more thermal shock pointed at me. But that's the issue, it's so overpowering in its presence that it makes other choices look pale.

But you know me, i don't think PvP in ED is very good. For my PvP kicks I play Team Fortress 2. Fun for the whole family.... except when my daughter is pwning me.

And that is your choice which I respect, but I think there can be some adjustment made to the current heat meta from my personal experience so far.

SCB meta: Okay, everyone stack SCBs, but if I maneuver enough or bring a friend with me, I can handle a ship with more SCBs than me.

Silent running and rail meta: Okay, the build sucks at 1v1 against a shield build ship, and in wing fights we can intentionally plant a shielded ship to draw fire away while we attack the silent ships.

Thermal shock: Okay... crap, thermal vent can't keep up, whoever has the most heat sinks and the most thermal shock dominates. Counter... counter is more thermal shock! Silent running already got nerfed and now thermal shock beats its dead corpse a few times over. Shield tanking... lasts as long as heat sinks would allow. Heat sinks... oh right... nerfed...

.-.

I don't consider myself MLG in ED PvP (pirate about to retire after all), but I think I know enough to point out over powering factors in play.

Also, i like Chaos Reborn for PvP as well. Nice and strategic with an element of randomness so you have to judge your risk carefully.

Hm... I might look that up, never heard of it. But space ship flying wise, I like Dreadnought and Fractured Space a lot (not talking about star citizen since everyone knows it).

 

[ElPueblo]

I get a lot of mission updates that require me to deliver the goods in 0.00 sec.
I always fail those for some reason.
It is quite irritating to be honest.
I have even ejected cargo into space on several occasions as soon as they asked me to deliver it within 0.00 sec.
Sometimes I wish I could nuke space stations.

You do realize that this is additional payment for delivering the goods in said time, right?
You won't fail the mission, you simply won't be paid the additional money offered.

 

[Hagledesperado]

The ships look better than ever,
The skybox has been one of my favourite touches for a long time,
Planet textures are more awesome than ever (Suns seem to have gone a little odd recently)
Witchspace is the coolest loading screen ever, even if they keep fiddling with it it still looks & sounds great to me after thousands of jumps,
Outposts look better than ever, and the new assets that came with the Engineers stations are superb,

Yes, the graphics are nice. I don't think anyone contests that.

The galmap, for all it's foibles is a still fantastic tool when you can just zoom all the way out, move a bit & zoom back in anywhere, and now you can bookmark an interesting location for a later visit,

An improvement since 1.0. Yay.

But seriously, I agree, bookmarks really are nice.

The in-game music, sound effects & how the sound really adds to the experience, especially when your canopy blows out,

Yes, the audio is as good or even better than the graphics. I think everyone agrees with that.

The orbital mechanics of real and generated systems that are just so believable,
The flight model that manages to be arcade enough while still feeling cool & spacey,

Yes, 1.0 was a wonderful version.

There is a lot to like, there's a lot that isn't (badly) bugged. The rebuy screen seems bug-free too, I've been testing that a fair bit recently

There's probably a lot to like about bathing in icy lakes too, but it's not for everyone. I for one wouldn't pay money for the privilege.

I'm unsure about the intent of your post, to be honest. Are you damning The Engineers with faint praise, or was that effect unintentional?

Either accept it, or don't partake in PvP. If you want fun and balanced PvP, play a game that offers it.

Sadly, the same thing seems to be true for PvE at the moment.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Yes, true, and right now I have a 4X thermal shock FDL, and it works great, unless there's more thermal shock pointed at me. But that's the issue, it's so overpowering in its presence that it makes other choices look pale.



And that is your choice which I respect, but I think there can be some adjustment made to the current heat meta from my personal experience so far.

SCB meta: Okay, everyone stack SCBs, but if I maneuver enough or bring a friend with me, I can handle a ship with more SCBs than me.

Silent running and rail meta: Okay, the build sucks at 1v1 against a shield build ship, and in wing fights we can intentionally plant a shielded ship to draw fire away while we attack the silent ships.

Thermal shock: Okay... crap, thermal vent can't keep up, whoever has the most heat sinks and the most thermal shock dominates. Counter... counter is more thermal shock! Silent running already got nerfed and now thermal shock beats its dead corpse a few times over. Shield tanking... lasts as long as heat sinks would allow. Heat sinks... oh right... nerfed...

.-.

I don't consider myself MLG in ED PvP (pirate about to retire after all), but I think I know enough to point out over powering factors in play.



Hm... I might look that up, never heard of it. But space ship flying wise, I like Dreadnought and Fractured Space a lot (not talking about star citizen since everyone knows it).

Ah, this is a bit of a problem you are referring to here. People since launch have been demanding crafting option. Many people, PvPers included said the game needed more options, crafting to make things unique. But the more options you add, the harder it becomes to balance it all. Tweak one, others become better or worse in comparison.

Think about it, at what point was PvP at its best in the core game? I'd be tempted to say during 1.0, or even beta. When there were less options. A more level playing ground (not to mention people hadn't had time to grind out massively powerful ships).

If they make Engineer stuff have more downsides, people will complain that its not worth crafting (because people don't really want balanced crafting, they want more powah!).

The only way to ensure fair and balanced PvP is to really limit the outfitting options, and every single small addition would have to be carefully balanaced against all the others. I don't think FD have the time, desire, nor the in-house experience to actually do this.

 

[Clicker]

Maybe it is. Maybe it's because I'm having a bad week at work. Maybe it's because I've had one or two alcoholic beverages tonight. Whatever the reason, tonight I've decided to let loose in a thread. After all, that seems to be one of the major purposes of this forum these days.

Where to begin? I know, those damn NPCs. The ones who can shield cell spam, boost, and fire all manner of heat-intensive weapons whilst never ONCE using a heat sink (unless they have access to magic invisible heat sinks, or are completely cooking their ships unbeknownst to me). The ones who fly FdL's with a magic jump range, that can track a Python capable of 20+ Ly jumps unerringly from system to system. The ones who will materialise directly in front of me upon dropping into an instance, garnering me a fine (or worse) through no fault of my own (collisions in a no-fire zone, in case you were mystified). The ones who never seem to miss with railguns, and never run out of ammo. The ones who seem to have no cooldown on the FSD, and can chain-interdict all night long, whilst us plebian players have to make do with a minute's worth of cooldown, even upon successful interdiction.

Or maybe it's the missions. The courier missions I'm unable to hand in unless I complete any active missions in the same system first. The ones that give me a completely pointless "bonus" if I can make it into the station - from drop-in point - in less than a minute (Anyone managed one of these yet?). The missions that require a dozen skimmer kills from a settlement that spawns two at a time. The mining missions that reward me with materials/commodities gained from mining.

Or maybe it's the RNGineers. On second thought, that's a subject worthy of a thread all of it's own, and has been done to death by now. Not to mention there's band-aid "fixes" in the works, so let's wait and see how those work out.

Or maybe it's the seemingly pointless new "State" filter on the GalMap, that seems to accurately portray the state of a system maybe one time in four. Or the trade routes that lead me to systems where I can sell my cargo at a loss. Or the high-sec systems that despatch System Authority ships thirty seconds after I've won the fight. Or the System Authority ships that turn up, and then scan me, despite the fact that presumably I'm the ship reporting the crime.

Or maybe it's the continuing PvP "meta" (How I loathe that word), basically forcing me to adopt the tactics of everyone else, or be left behind in the "meta race" (Heat mechanics, anyone?)

Or maybe it's all of these piled on the camel's back, with the added straw of NPC pirates demanding my "tasty cargo" of biowaste midway through a Sothis run.

Today I feel like the only thing keeping me going with this game is the player group I fly with (IPC repreSENT!). The only thing I can engage with is pushing our player faction to expand and consolidate.

As the title states, this is a rant. I'm not quitting (inb4 "Can I haz ur stuff?"), nor am I demanding changes NOW DAMMIT!! I'm simply venting, and if not here, then where?

TL;DR: Unless you have untreatable ADHD, read the damn post. If you do have untreatable ADHD, I imagine you've moved on by now.

I recently decided not to read RANTs.
I failed and read yours (can't log into game you see and need some sort of ED fix)

Quite humorous. +rep for you.

And now the fix for all that ails you .... consume a few more alcoholic beverages!

Works for me.

Clicker

 

[Riverside]

I'm unsure about the intent of your post, to be honest. Are you damning The Engineers with faint praise, or was that effect unintentional?

The Op is demotivated (I am in a similar position) and mostly my list is a reminder that not only is it not all bad, but that quite a bit of this game is exceptional in my view.

I'm not purposely 'damning Engineers with faint praise' but it isn't on my list of things that aren't broken, nor would it be on my list of reasons why this game is worth the effort.

I'm sorry you felt my post wasn't clear. If I'm not sure of a posters stance on a topic, I check their profile & recent post history. Sometimes it still isn't clear

 

[shadragon]

A tip for skimmer massacre missions - you don't need to destroy the skimmers in the settlement itself, you can also find them in POI around the settlement. This is especially useful if the settlement is guarded by ships as it means you can complete the mission with very little risk. The skimmers in POI are usually guarding some nice loot (gold, palladium, narcotics etc) for a nice little bonus.

You don't even need POI. I just land 20KM from the indicated base even if I don't see a POI. I inevitably see an indicator on my wave scanner and head for it. I can do a skimmer killing mission without even seeing the target base and pick up goodies along the way.

 

[shadragon]

Ah, this is a bit of a problem you are referring to here. People since launch have been demanding crafting option. Many people, PvPers included said the game needed more options, crafting to make things unique. But the more options you add, the harder it becomes to balance it all. Tweak one, others become better or worse in comparison.

This is a common assumption, but completely wrong. This is an issue I addressed in my former career as a game designer. Game design, when done right, will survive tweaks to individual weapons and modules as long as the established underlying mechanics are respected. You lay down solid rules and the logic for use on day one and do not vary from that. As long as a Yin Yang approach is used where an attack can be countered by some sort of defense then balance is maintained.

I'll give you an example: A knight warfare game designer sets down that damage will be absorbed by the knights armour first. Components are listed, helmet, chest piece, grieves, etc and each given a value. In a fight, when the armour value of one of those pieces goes to zero, then the flesh or limb underneath takes damage. Add a more powerful sword and the damage may be increased, but a more powerful piece of armour or shield can counter that. Balance is maintained. For every action, there is a viable counteraction.

Introduce an archer class who can pin-point shots directly into the visor slot to avoid any helmet defensive armour bonus and that will unbalance things in a hurry. In short order, you'll only have archers running around doing headshot insta-kills.

Elite began with solid rules. Shields negate damage and when the shields are gone the hull / modules take hits. That worked very well for a long time. It was balanced, predictable and understood by all. A single pebble tossed into a pond creating uniform waves outward. Today, we have multiple weapons that can completely circumvent shields (or take them down in an eye blink). That's the same as a continuous stream of rocks tossed randomly into a pond causing chaos on the surface. Players can't defend against that. We can't buy special shields to offset any particular type of damage. We're now taking massive amounts of module damage, but can't see where or how much without taking our eyes off the fight to go to the module tab. One moment you are in a fight, then without warning, you are dead in space with no thrusters. Predictability has gone out the window and it's more chaotic because they've moved away from established gameplay to make things more "exciting". Survival in combat is now left to RNG rather than skill and that's counter to what has happened in the past. The only viable tactic now is to run.

Further complicating things, we have more powerful AI using Engineer weapons. Bugs in both systems (AI / Engineers) are harder to find because we're not sure which system is responsible. Frontier should have put in the better AI, gotten it working, locked it down, THEN given NPC's the special modded weapons to simplify the bug fix equation. We have so many variables in the air right now, it's confusing and saps player morale as the OP stated.

It can be fixed, it just takes will and effort to get things back under control.

 

[Starkiller_]

Ah, this is a bit of a problem you are referring to here. People since launch have been demanding crafting option. Many people, PvPers included said the game needed more options, crafting to make things unique. But the more options you add, the harder it becomes to balance it all. Tweak one, others become better or worse in comparison.

Think about it, at what point was PvP at its best in the core game? I'd be tempted to say during 1.0, or even beta. When there were less options. A more level playing ground (not to mention people hadn't had time to grind out massively powerful ships).

If they make Engineer stuff have more downsides, people will complain that its not worth crafting (because people don't really want balanced crafting, they want more powah!).

The only way to ensure fair and balanced PvP is to really limit the outfitting options, and every single small addition would have to be carefully balanaced against all the others. I don't think FD have the time, desire, nor the in-house experience to actually do this.

1.0-1.3 was a good time for PvP, it required skill. Take Bangfish for example, he would take on Anacondas and come out on top, not because of the build but because overall he was more skilled.

 

[Sandmann]

Maybe it is. [snip]

Yeah.. uhuh... oh look, a squirrel!

TL;DR: Unless you have untreatable ADHD, read the damn post. If you do have untreatable ADHD, I imagine you've moved on by now.

Sorry, were you saying something?

 

[Philip Coutts]

I have recently started experimenting with railguns on my DBS. It heats up pretty quickly and if you try and spam more than 3 or 4 shots (2 medium railguns firing together = 1 shot) you get the heat damage warning messages. NPC's seem to be able to spam considerably more shots. So either they are cooking their ships or there is some funny business going on!

 

[Starkiller_]

I have recently started experimenting with railguns on my DBS. It heats up pretty quickly and if you try and spam more than 3 or 4 shots (2 medium railguns firing together = 1 shot) you get the heat damage warning messages. NPC's seem to be able to spam considerably more shots. So either they are cooking their ships or there is some funny business going on!

If you watch how NPC perform they do not ever drop heatsinks. That is one of the main issues with how they perform. Personally I like the new NPCs but things like that just need to be remedied.