Just don't feel like logging in...

[Lovecraft]

OP absolutely nailed it. I like this game but I find myself logging in only to find myself unenthused with my options, then logging out a couple of minutes later.

I had a bunch more words here but I'd only be saying the same old stuff; I do hope that content gets a serious look in at some point and FD realise creating grinds for grinds sake doesn't constitute content in and of itself. There has to be a reason for players to do things that don't exist solely in imagination and because it's there land.

 

[flynnmichael81]

Lots of people don't understand the sandbox genre, which is fine, but that's what this game is. They look at minecraft and say "what is there to do except for goals you set yoursefl", and its the same with Elite, or Lego, or the cool box fort I built with my son yesterday! If you want a game with a definitive ending then this is not for you!

 

[Amaze]

I have to admit I am feeling the increase in difficulty.
E: D it's getting harder and harder to hit that "START" button. Its quite Sad really

 

[CMDR Byrt Makklin]

Lots of people don't understand the sandbox genre, which is fine, but that's what this game is. They look at minecraft and say "what is there to do except for goals you set yoursefl", and its the same with Elite, or Lego, or the cool box fort I built with my son yesterday! If you want a game with a definitive ending then this is not for you!

Mate, every single example you gave is of a game or activity where you create something and then you can stand back and admire it. So, um, your argument doesn't really hold up here.

All I can create in E : D is credits. Which I use to buy bigger ships. To make more credits.

Creating the credits is fun sometimes but I need so many of them to get a bigger ship, it's not exactly a whirlwind of fun. Maybe if I could do some fun missions? Or feel like I was part of a world?

Send me some lego, I think I'd be happier building a space station than sitting in one that looks exactly the other 200 million out there.

 

[starman]

Yes come back when we are all Elite and in our Anacondas just dont moan about it

 

[Titus Balls]

Yea, I'm one of the paid up Frontier Defenders Force apparently - but I'm putting the game away for a bit. Just spent £70 on a new MIDI keyboard and got myself a subscription to Cakewalk SONAR - find myself something more creative to do that play this game for a bit and that includes making my videos.

 

[Zanten]

Lots of people don't understand the sandbox genre, which is fine, but that's what this game is. They look at minecraft and say "what is there to do except for goals you set yoursefl", and its the same with Elite, or Lego, or the cool box fort I built with my son yesterday! If you want a game with a definitive ending then this is not for you!

Ehhh, this game is definitely not Minecraft in terms of setting your own goals. xP Minecraft offers an extraordinarily varied set of options with regards to crafting, block types, etc, that essentially lets you exert your will upon the game and offers nearly limitless possibilities, taking the surrounding world and forming it to your image. I was pretty bloody addicted to Minecraft, (and now I really just don't play it to AVOID having it suck me back in,) because it gave me the opportunity to stretch myself by playing in Survival and trying to design city-block sized castles with hidden passages, portals to the Nether, enchanting tables, a greenhouse... alternatively, I could have just built a gigantic scale model of a Gundam automaton, or seen how massive an explosion I could make with a mountain of dynamite, or even actually pursue the nebulous central goal to defeat the Ender Dragon. I'm not even counting stuff like Redstone-based machines; my roommate, who was even more insane than me, made a fully functional, accurate to the second stopwatch, with a block-based digital-like display that was the size of a warehouse. (The reason for the size being that the amount of redstone switches and lines needed to actually design this thing borders on absurd, as with other creations like functional calculators, or a scale model of a computer chip.) The stuff you can build or do in Minecraft, be it vanilla or with added features via modding, is insane. I mean, have you SEEN the Enterprise-D?

The goals in Elite pretty much boil down to either money (get a super big ship, which people keep insisting is 'The Wrong Way To Do It') picking some super-distant point of the galaxy and toddling over there for a peek, or testing to see how functional the game mechanics are, i.e. 'Can I Do So-And-So?' Don't get me wrong, there ARE things you can presumably set for goals, but Minecraft, and even Lego, blows this game out of the water when it comes to the variety of possibilities, and so this game isn't going to really strike the 'Set Your Own Goals' chord with nearly as many people, because the number of possible goals are significantly more limited. :/

 

[Krait_79]

OP repped. Said it too many times already - great bones, no meat. Will it all come too late? I don't know.

This. Not only that but they need to make it harder. Despite the lack of content i was really enjoying the game until they made interdictions virtually non existent and dumbed down bounty hunting so it takes no skill.

Since then a game that was my first choice has become something i just occasionally log on for. The lack of challenge and danger is very dissapointing.

 

[Garik]

Spot on OP......

I'll add my 2 penny'th, not as an intentional whinge but more with an attitude of hope. These are random, off the top of my head thoughts.

I have considerable experience of X2 and X3........I have done grinds for money and big ships before, I have done it until I didn't want to do it anymore, I did it until I was sick of it. The added content of X3 kept me at it for about 18 months on and off. X3 was the natural decendant of the original Elite, Egosoft took it as far as it could go, when they tried to take it further it went belly up. Their latest offering in that series is a pig imo (or was a pig, not sure where it is at the mo).

No wonder DB doesn't want to go down that path.

Never played Eve, can't comment. Whatever that game is like DB doesn't want to go down that path either, fair enough.

So what path is he going to go down?

Sticking to the Original game ethos and feel? I seriously hope not: The original game was great for several reasons: It was a first in space exploration/trading and shooting. It was in a novel fromat, I.E. on a PC. It was a pioneering game on a pioneering platform, using pioneering technology....it was Elite in many ways and this was a major component of the enjoyment. It was a product of it's time and it complimented that era perfectly...........BUT LETS NOT FORGET..........it was a bloody GRIND. It was a grind in an era when grinding was new and novel, We even played Pong or Asteroids for days on end and enjoyed it. Grinding was OK back then but alas it isn't anymore......I've done my share of grinding since then and I want something more interesting.

As for constructive suggestions, well, what can I say........One of the real immersion breakers for me is the un-necessary difficulty of mundane tasks. Tasks that are not logical given the time setting. There's literally hundreds of requests on these forums to remedy those issues.....but wait.....all of those requests and suggestions make the game an X3 clone and nobody wants that.

A few other random thoughts......
........Planetary landings for their own sake: FD are not going to construct thousands of unique planetary surfaces. It's too big an investment in time. (see that? it was a full stop). ;-). I can't see what it will add to the gameplay either

.......DB has an artistic vision ---- FD have a financial vision. How long before the 2 views cause a falling out........I think I know who's view will prevail.

......Killing other players for no conceivable reason other than to kill a carebear is by definition anti social, it upsets the majority of recipients and the purveyors still think it's OK and fun. Whether DB intended this to go on or not is not clear but either way It reminds me of the rest of the potatoes in the world today and I don't need any more reminders of that, I already watch the real news.........

......I have no idea how this game can be made more interesting without copying other games........

........the massive galaxy is the only unique feature in this game as far as I can see, perhaps that can be utilised in a unique way?????..........

I could write reams more but it's getting to the stage where I don't actually want to think about it much more. Out of loyalty I've played this game more than was good for me. Good luck DB, FD and fellow forumites, I'll keep an eye on the forums and maybe play some more in a year.

 

[Felconian]

@ OP

Welcome to the 99% ..... ROTFL

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I must admit I'm not sure about ED at the moment.

Right now, it simply isn't fun to play.

A.

P.s. Awesome sounds though. Best sounds in-game evaaa.

Bottom line then.... Dont!. There are loads of great games out there - I have so many games I want to play but just no time. I AM loving Elite, but agree its a little light on content... but with so much stuff out there you would be mad to play if you are not enjoying yet. Go play something else for 6 months or so and then come back and see what is going on over the summer in Elite.

(if you need something else to try in space, if you have not played already there is Alien isolation, dead space and if you only want flying in space games then X3)

I agree with you on the sound btw

 

[Felconian]

I must admit I'm not sure about ED at the moment.

This isn't a "bye, I'm outta here, toys-thrown-outta-pram-door-slammed" good bye. I'm just bemused about the game, and don't much feel like playing it right now.

To set a scene: Beta backer. Played a bit, not too much, wanted to see where it would go. Played a little Gamma, thought there would be a wipe, didn't have much time to play once I'd realised there wasn't, so started on the 16th with approx the same as everyone else. Now sitting on about 200M/cr, courtesy of a t9 and a hefty time spent trading.

I've done some mining, bounty hunting, smuggling and trading. I've not played 12 hour days. I've mostly played 1-2 hours a day, on the days I have played. I haven't exactly spent every waking moment in the game. I say this to illustrate that I'm not "burned out".

I just....don't see the point right now.

Trading is a grind, and I've done quite a lot of it, and no longer enjoy it.

Fair enough, do something else.

But what?

Here is some feedback. Two points:

1) The first MAJOR issue that I have with ED is that there's no point to any of it, no goals beyond what you set yourself. And that's like looking down at your kitchen floor and deciding you will spend the next hour deliberately stepping on every corner of every tile, as a self-imposed objective, and calling it fun. It's a kitchen sandbox where you can play the way you want to play. Which is fun. Right.

So I set myself an objective to hit 200Mcr. Done that. It allows me to buy pretty much any ship in the game (excluding the 'Conda, really) and play it. But play it to do what?

I don't want to BH. It's pew pew without a purpose.
I don't feel an urge to explore. There's 400 billion uncharted stars out there, and when I've finished exploring them for hours, scanning the same old stuff again and again, there'll still be 400 billion uncharted stars out there (plus or minus a few).
I don't feel an urge to mine. No, that's not true. I've done some mining. I feel an urge to go and clean my kitchen before I do any more mining. Ever.
I don't want to be a jerk and turn pirate.
I've been-there-done-that on trading.
I deliberately haven't pursued naval mission ranks because there is no content there. I thought I would wait to see what story missions and rank content will (eventually, ultimately, many, many updates from now) be introduced, and enjoy playing them when they are. There is no value to be had in the ranks (as I see it) at this point, so no point playing the missions. I don't need a Clipper. I might get one anyway, but go no further. Perhaps. If I can be bothered.

I want some MISSIONS (that have a point and aren't repetitive drivel). I want a STORY (at least a skeleton of one). I want a PURPOSE.

And ED doesn't really have any of that.

And poorly implemented "community missions" or landing on planets won't give it any, either.

2) The second MAJOR issue that I have with ED is that it actually all feels a bit false. A bit of a lie. A bit of under-delivered promises and smoke-and-mirrors to cover holes.

Players do NOT have influence (e.g. Lugh) - FDev had to add that in after the event when there was an outcry that nothing had happened.
Players' rep activities do NOT influence environments. Much testing has been done.
Players' trading activities do NOT influence the market.
NPCs play to different rules (e.g. FSD under mass lock)
NPCs turn up in stations where there were none before...
NPCs turn up in random cruise-dropouts in mining belts where there were none before...

....it's all a bit cheaty. A bit botched. A bit....crap, really.

Basically, the ED world exists irrespective of whatever we, the players, do within it. So what's the point of doing anything?


In before
#it'snotthegameforyou
#I'mstillplayingandIthinkit'sgreatandeveryonewhodoesn'tthinksodoesn'tgethegame
#it'sstillinbeta


TL;DR

Like many others, I'd love ED to be successful. But, to be successful, it has to be a whole lot more than it currently is.

More content.
More soul.
More polish.
More interaction.

Right now, it falls a very, very long way short of that.

Right now, it simply isn't fun to play.

A.


P.s. Awesome sounds though. Best sounds in-game evaaa.

I agree ...its a waste of time playing ....!

 

[fatmanboozer]

I'm getting bored and frustrated with the game. I want to smuggle, i want to join a faction (an independent one) and help it expand. But missions are repetitive and the trade system in the game is just not realistic. Yes trading can be done and makes probably the most credits in the game. I cannot get my head around how it is suppose to work same goes for smuggling. I buy from where an item is produce and i go to sell in a place it is consumed, but it never seems to work out, its always in low demand or for some reason in high demand but way below the galactic average. Maybe this is more of a smuggling issue I don't know.

You should be able to store trade info (even if it ages) in your ships systems or a module. And before anyone says that wont fit in the spirt of the game or the game lore, theres a galactic average, which means somewhere in the universe it is being calculated which means the trade price information is being sent somewhere central and being calculated. It just annoys me that you can find out if a ship is wanted in a system thousands of light years away, have a flight assist installed by default yet not have a simple database in the ship to hold trade information.

I think the game has great potential but is just very shallow at the moment. Game looks great by the description, but in game its just a bore. just feels so lifeless.

 

[Devil's Refugee]

Frontier will have bigger problems to face in retaining a player base once No Man's Sky, Eve Valkyrie, Star Citizen, Limit Theory all come out. They'll offer broadly similar experiences and the proof for each will be which one nails the gameplay and content right on release. I'm sure they're all closely monitoring how ED is doing for starters. I just feel Frontier has fallen under the weight of its own hype and will be quickly overtaken. And that's the real shame of it, this game has so much potential that the real core is not being delivered fast enough.

 

[LeetNoob]

I agree too. This game has run out of steam completely for me. Nothing left to do or keep me playing.
I really wanted this game to succeed but it looks to me like its circling the drain. I think a big problem they had was with this ‘vision’. It doesn’t quite fit a single player elite like a lot of people wanted, and doesn’t quite fit an online game in the traditional sense. It looks like the whole thing is just a simulator so Michael Brookes can experiment with this vision.
It has a great engine, graphics and sound so there is still hope that expansions and other continued development can make this a great game. But I’m not confident Frontier will pull it iff.

 

[Mellom]

I feel about the same. This game was rushed out 6 months too early, and it should be obvious to anyone who has played more than 20 hours that there is simply not enough content. (use your imagination derp durp) The game is amazing the first couple of hours, everything is new, and shiny and cool. I got 4 friends to buy the game on release (I started in premium beta), all of them have quit weeks ago.

People often say that games like Counter-Strike and Dota2 are more repetitive than E: D, since they're much more strict on what you can actually do. But the thing is, in those games every game is different, you'll never know what's going happen. That's why people keep playing them. In E: D, after 20 or so hours, you know whats going to happen whatever you do. Nothing will surprise you anymore, everything then falls down to repeat itself a million times. Pirates behave the same, traders behave the same, missions are the same (fetch or kill quests). The novelty of this game wears off fast. I think they made a big mistake releasing this game so early. Once they have enough than barebones content, in about 6-8 months, I wonder how many people are still playing.

Not many. And since its online-only, well..

 

[Stein]

Feel the same way as you, OP.
I just want to feel some purpose to my grind and get something in return, anything, however small.

I've replayed entire other games over and over again, just to see the alternative ending cutscenes. Felt worth it. Elite, however, offers nothing like that.
I've spent hours hacking and slashing my way through dungeons, just to get that one piece of unique loot from the end-boss. Gave me a thrilling sense of accomplishment. Elite, however, has no loot. I don't touch whatever falls of the ships I kill, it's just all stolen generic crap anyway and the cops will try to kill me for it.
I've spent hours leveling up my characters, to get them to the point where I can tackle the harder enemies. In Elite, there's nothing you really can't kill in a decent Cobra, no types of cargo that can't be shipped in a Hauler, so why bother the excruciating grinding of credits to afford the bigger ships? I can earn credits faster in a bigger ship and kill enemies faster, but why? I can't get anything except credits for my effort, there's nothing besides ships and generic equipment to spend money on. Why grind for ships when you really can't do anything special with them?
In many games I've scoured every nook and cranny of the map, to see if I've found every single one of the hidden chests and secrets. Elite has 400 billion stars, but I know there are no secrets at all in any of them. And if there were, there's no way I'd spend several lifetimes searching them all... I can get all the gameplay there is just jumping back and forth between a handful of systems.

Some use the argument that players need "instagratification". That's the complete opposite of the real problem. Elite offers loads of "instagratification". It's fun to fly a spaceship, docking in spaceports and jumping through hyperspace. It's thrilling to kill an enemy. It stops my heart when I'm limping back to a station, shot to bits, watching the life-support ebb out.

There's just no long term point in doing it though. I can set my own goals, sure, but I need something - just a tiny carrot somewhere on the road - in return from the game.

 

[Varrag]

Lots of people don't understand the sandbox genre, which is fine, but that's what this game is. They look at minecraft and say "what is there to do except for goals you set yoursefl", and its the same with Elite, or Lego, or the cool box fort I built with my son yesterday! If you want a game with a definitive ending then this is not for you!

You're right, some people do have troubles with sandbox games in general. But rest assured that you can drop that argument in my case because I've been playing both single player and online open world sandbox games for decades, that's my thing in gaming: Op. Flashpoint, Fallout, both Frontiers, WWIIOL, Arma, Stalker, Morrowind, Gothics, Mortal online, EVE... and it all started with the original '84 Elite. Perhaps I am wrong, but I tend to think that I can recognize quality when it comes to this sort of games.

ED has vast potential, but right now it simply fails to deliver. Fact that I am starting to feel lack of enthusiasm to login after just a month of playing is not a good sign.

 

[salad]

And I don't feel like logging out!

 

[Rhywden]

Lots of people don't understand the sandbox genre, which is fine, but that's what this game is. They look at minecraft and say "what is there to do except for goals you set yoursefl", and its the same with Elite, or Lego, or the cool box fort I built with my son yesterday! If you want a game with a definitive ending then this is not for you!

How exactly is Elite supposed to be a "sandbox"?

I can't build stations. I can't destroy them. I can't influence even the tiniest of star nations by myself. I can't build nations. I can't destroy nations.

The only thing I have control over is my starship.

That's not a sandbox.