Powerplay Is PowerPlay a complete waste of time?

[X-Terminator]

Completely.
Better to get Military/Police/Security roles to play. Not just these all too simple CZs.

 

[Smugallo]

It just seems like a lot of hassle. A treadmill that falls to pieces the minute you jump off. I already have a real-life job.

 

[askavir]

Well I guess that if there are so many players doing powerplay-related activities, then it is not a waste of time.

I honestly stopped "doing powerplay" (although I remain pledged) when I discovered that I had to carry papers back and forth, or go into hostile space and murder defenceless freighters. Really not the kind of stuff I want to do in my "game day"...

However there are things about powerplay that I like.

I like the concept of "hostile space", although I think it should be more dynamic, instead of always being hostile everywhere, there should be different conflict (or no conflict) states between powers according to in-game events.

I also like tha fact that powerplay events affect the galaxy, such as opening / closing black markets, affected security levels, specific goods being prohibited, etc.

I would like to see powerplay related npcs in the galaxy, like actually being able to see Senator Patreus Fleet parked outside a station, or in transit to attack a system, or seeing the Aisling Duval mothership arriving at a station, and a shuttle transporting her to the station for some anti-slavery speech, things like these.

I would also like thart you could support the powerplay factions with some of the existing occupations in the game, like ferrying weapons, or metals to make weapons for Hudson or Patreus, bounty-hunting slave smugglers for Aisling, etc etc.

Powerplay, like almost everything in the game, needs more life, and less numbers.

I think Poweplay in its current state is still a bit shallow, but it is a framework that can be developed in time to something better and more content-rich.

 

[Sunburn]

My opinion, for what it's worth, powerplay is a good concept but currently does little to support the objectives of the player from a trading/progress aspect, the few benefits it does bring are too transient and the workload is a distraction from most player's purpose. I also think the idea of "join one power and become the enemy of the others" is far too simplistic.

The non-powerplay model of supporting or undermining various factions through trade and missions seems a lot more credible to me, and for those us not driving anacondas there's enough danger in the galaxy as it is without turning myself into a kill-on-sight target for no reason.

 

[Uncertain]

Powerplay finally grabbed me when I realised Edmund Mahon at #1 could get me an extra 20% trade profits. It was finally worthwhile, so I pledged and paid for 100 merits. Then I realised I'd have to wait a week for it to take effect, so I forgot about it, and instead started smuggling Imperial Slaves from Zemina's territory (Hostile) into Edmund's (Illicit Cargo). That was very tense and exciting, until I got caught (in silent running at 1% heat!) and remembered the police don't lift a finger to stop you, so I started autodocking instead. With that, Powerplay and smuggling lost me again, and again I'm having trouble finding fun in the game.

Failure is a strong word that'll upset some people, because forum posts are infallible descriptions of your truest and innermost thoughts and can be taken completely literally. The separate parts of the game do work as long as one props the other up, but break down immediately without that support. All it takes to collapse half the game is the realisation that your favourite part is inefficient and unnecessary, even within the game's context. I think if the features were collectively more tightly knit and then individually refined afterward, the game as a whole would improve drastically in a very short time.

With Powerplay specifically, I think they'd get more out of it by amping up the rewards and how they're delivered. By ensuring the feature can be safely ignored by anyone, they've had to keep most of the benefits available to unpledged players, whereas pledging might get you a decent bonus every few weeks if you keep at it. This makes it unattractive in the first place, and keeps pledge numbers lower than they could be, but it also means the main benefits of the feature are enjoyed by theoretically everyone regardless of how many are actively pledged.

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

A feature that gives satisfaction to 20% of the playerbase while barely affecting the other is anything but a failure.

It's also base ground for potential CGs stemming from the story development, something that people who don't enjoy the PP might enjoy instead.

Oh yes, while we're at it, let's remove mining. Only a small fraction of the playerbase enjoys it, so it's obviously a failure.

Let's remove any ship with less than 5% usage as well.
Let's remove all the systems of the galaxy with low traffic as well.

Enjoy what you want, but don't try to impose it upon others when they also don't do the same.

Bravo. Repped.

Not everyone here will be satisfied with any feature. There will always be some that consider it a waste of time, others that have had fun and gained something from it.

I think PP can certainly be expanded, improved and made more integral to the overall player experience.
It needs to be more meaningful, and have more far-reaching effects (and consequencs) for players. I like the epic scale, but it doesn't seem to 'do anything' to me yet when I go play in opposing powers' space, beyond pop up a few interdictions.

But it hasn't been a waste of time - far from it. I've had fun and been lots of places just testing out the mechanics.

Have patience; we are only seeing the first versions. I'm sure improvments will be along Soon(TM).

 

[Dubber]

I'm quite enjoying powerplay, however, it is a bit grindy hanging onto rank 5 and with the up and coming power plant fix that may increase the grind feeling even more as it will no doubt add some time to merit grab. If some sort of 'fix' isn't in the mix it'll probably cause me to look at powerplay in a different light

 

[PhanttoM]

Personally I wish Powerplay from a factions perspective had more focus on gameplay;

I don't participate in the Powerplay from a "conquer or forfify systems" perspective.
I don't grind for merits beyond rank 2 (sometimes rank 3 if I want the Powerspecific weapon)

I do want to be part of a more meaningful faction in terms of gameplay, which I think Powerplay still has a very long road to go.
For example: I am pledged to Arissa, a law enforcement faction. Why is 50% of my gameplay options limited to hauling cargo? The other 25% being undermining enemies, and the last 25% is the only thing that makes sense for a Law Enforcement faction aka the crime sweeps. (Which is nothing more than a renamed Combat Zone)

Why no missions to secure Nav beacons or resource extraction sites from pirates?
Why no missions to scan ships for illegal cargo in those areas?


In short: Powerplay factions all have the exact same game mechanics, they should offer variation.

 

[GluttonyFang]

Fold

Unfortunately I will be critical of FD in this case.

FD did not understand the competitive nature of PP when they planed and implemented it. FD does not have the meticulous and cautious touch necessary to maintain a competitive arena for players.

Unfortunately PP really magnifies this issue.

In regular game play, no one's going to complain as much since there's essentially no competition. Getting disenfranchised and handed disadvantages simply for choosing what are suppose to be intrinsically equivalent factions feels much more offensive and frustrating than in a non-competitive setting.

I'm fairly convinced at this point that FD cannot recognize their own favoritism from the degree they are willing to argue against it.

Everyone's heard of it by now, the "Empire Bias."

Sandro, I don't hate you, I think you do try, but it just seem that if you are willing to call any accusations of Empire Bias to be completely "absurd" and "factually incorrect," (these are his exact words) you either really really believe that is the case or you can lie very well with a straight face.

As it stands, Power Play is too shallow for what it strives to be, and due to that, it currently is not worth dedication from newcomers unless they are really passionate about the faction they support/oppose or just want the money.

FD's inexperience with competitive games is what caused PP to be what it is, as of now.

I won't deny that they seemingly want to make it better, but I have a really really hard time believing that they'll pull a sudden 180.

 

[Rubellen]

A feature that gives satisfaction to 20% of the playerbase while barely affecting the other is anything but a failure.

It's also base ground for potential CGs stemming from the story development, something that people who don't enjoy the PP might enjoy instead.

Oh yes, while we're at it, let's remove mining. Only a small fraction of the playerbase enjoys it, so it's obviously a failure.

Let's remove any ship with less than 5% usage as well.
Let's remove all the systems of the galaxy with low traffic as well.

Enjoy what you want, but don't try to impose it upon others when they also don't do the same.

Commander you assume that all of the participants who voted yes actually enjoyed it. I must say it was fun for a while but I soon got bored by the grind and went exploring. I really don't have a problem with PP an sich but it needsa lot more work to get interesting for me.

 

[Sandmann]

I'm kinda saddened at how B&W most people see this. I don't see PP as a major success OR failure.

[snip]

I suspect that there would be a lot less moaning about PP

I don't think anyone's really moaning about it anymore, we're all pretty much over it and have figured out that it's a boring grind and that we can safely ignore it. As for the previous poll being unrepresentative, there's no reason to expect that forum-using gamers are unusual as compared to non-forum-using gamers, and 1000+ respondents is a GOOD sample size, so it's a fair bet that that non-forum-using gamers have a similar response.

Perhaps if it were completely redesigned from the ground up... by someone familiar with successful board-game design... not expecting that to happen though.

 

[Smurfprime]

I'm fairly convinced at this point that FD cannot recognize their own favoritism from the degree they are willing to argue against it.

Everyone's heard of it by now, the "Empire Bias."

Sandro, I don't hate you, I think you do try, but it just seem that if you are willing to call any accusations of Empire Bias to be completely "absurd" and "factually incorrect," (these are his exact words) you either really really believe that is the case or you can lie very well with a straight face.

Yes, everyone has heard about it-- specifically from you, repeatedly, in every damn post you make. Please give it a rest, it is all you ever freaking talk about and Sandro is not the only one who thinks your arguments are absurd and factually incorrect.

Just rank up and buy a damn Clipper like everyone else if you think it is that much better, ANY player can rank up and buy one.

As it stands, Power Play is too shallow for what it strives to be, and due to that, it currently is not worth dedication from newcomers unless they are really passionate about the faction they support/oppose or just want the money.

FD's inexperience with competitive games is what caused PP to be what it is, as of now.

I won't deny that they seemingly want to make it better, but I have a really really hard time believing that they'll pull a sudden 180.

This at least rings true. FD seems to confuse Grinding with Content, powerplay is a prime example.

 

[GluttonyFang]

Yes, everyone has heard about it-- specifically from you, repeatedly, in every damn post you make. Please give it a rest, it is all you ever freaking talk about and Sandro is not the only one who thinks your arguments are absurd and factually incorrect.

Just rank up and buy a damn Clipper like everyone else if you think it is that much better, ANY player can rank up and buy one.

Hi, I am an owner of the Clipper and Courier, I'm quite fond of both of them, but I dislike the idea that they contribute to the bias.

Also, I can also make the argument that I'm not the only one that thinks FD is blatantly ignoring the issue of favoritism.

Criticizing my stand with blatant frustration is all you "freaking talk about."

See what I did there? If you disagree, simply disagree, there's no need to emotionally attach yourself to your argument.

This at least rings true. FD seems to confuse Grinding with Content, powerplay is a prime example.

Indeed, quite unfortunate.

 

[Apos]

Yes, everyone has heard about it-- specifically from you, repeatedly, in every damn post you make. Please give it a rest, it is all you ever freaking talk about and Sandro is not the only one who thinks your arguments are absurd and factually incorrect.

Just rank up and buy a damn Clipper like everyone else if you think it is that much better, ANY player can rank up and buy one.

My rank is ready for me to buy a Cutter in 1.5. Because I'm 99% sure it will be better than the Corvette.

I'm still not happy about the Alliance being shoved to the side in every corner and being told to deal with it because the Empire's story is more important and must conclude first(and having things happening at the same time is apparently a preposterous notion), while we are continuously the overachievers in the game mode that FD themselves introduced as a new way to enrich the story development. All while getting 5th collumned for the 6th week in a row now and FD doing nothing about, because sniping is more important now that some princess suffered from it, despite everyone else having to deal with it for close to 3 months now and doing just fine.

 

[Arithon]

No.

Glad I could clear that up for you.

See longer explanation here: http://www.elite-dangerous-blog.co.uk/Blog/2015/8/30/getting-to-rank-5-in-powerplay-in-three-days

 

[Phil^]

A feature that gives satisfaction to 20% of the playerbase while barely affecting the other is anything but a failure.

If this thread is any indication, of that 20% of the forum users which play PP, a significant portion of them aren't satisfied with it.

The whole argument is academic though without actual numbers of participants and an in-game satisfaction poll.

 

[Apos]

If this thread is any indication, of that 20% of the forum users which play PP, a significant portion of them aren't satisfied with it.

The whole argument is academic though without actual numbers of participants and an in-game satisfaction poll.

It depends from whether that displeasure originates from.

The imperial bias is a completely different root which provides displeasure for many parts of the game, not just PP. The mechanics are relatively unrefined, but in it's general form, PP has provided a community for many players.

 

[Fangwulf]

I keep hearing that PP is a waste of time, but I also keep hearing the benefits. I haven't been able to do any participation though, since I'm still on the other side of Sagittarius A. It is rather disheartening to hear it being a waste, as my friend told me, saying it just adds to the grind. That one power tailored for exploration looks good (forget the name) but I don't think I will have the time to maintain or even achieve rank 5. Is it true that PP doesn't affect gameplay, or is that more of an opinion? Either way I'm excited for 1.4.

 

[GoodGorilla]

I think PP is great, but collectively I can tell you the amount of time lost over bugs, surpass lifetimes.