Make exploiting unnecessary for many who feel it is...in one step...

[Tel Prydain]

The people who think the grind is unbearable because people think that everyone should be allowed a Corvette or Cutter. The game design (and the lore) suggests that those ships are rare rewards for pilots that excel, that tirelessly support one faction and pilots that work for them over long periods of time.

But no one 'needs' a Corvette or Cutter to access any of the game's content. In terms of PvP you'll see hundreds of videos of FDL (and now Chieftain) tearing the big three apart. In terms of exploration, small ships are better. In terms of trading... we'll the basic gameplay of trading doesn't change much. Anything from an Asp up can mine....

The idea that everyone 'needs' one of the big three is rubbish.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

The people who think the grind is unbearable because people think that everyone should be allowed a Corvette or Cutter. The game design (and the lore) suggests that those ships are rare rewards for pilots that excel, that tirelessly support one faction and pilots that work for them over long periods of time.

But no one 'needs' a Corvette or Cutter to access any of the game's content. In terms of PvP you'll see hundreds of videos of FDL (and now Chieftain) tearing the big three apart. In terms of exploration, small ships are better. In terms of trading... we'll the basic gameplay of trading doesn't change much. Anything from an Asp up can mine....

The idea that everyone 'needs' one of the big three is rubbish.

I find that large ships and even most Medium ships are an absolutely pain for what I've been doing (Researching Guardian Sites). You can't land them anywhere near many of these sites, the terrain does not allow it. Which makes these a very long and painful drive to reach, as some are at the tops of mountains with terrain that make our local roadways look like polished glass.

But a small ship.. that fits perfectly, and allows me to go about what I need to do in very little time.

Big ships have their places - mainly bristling with guns and parked in a CZ, or stripped bare and used as flying freight trains and jackpots for salt miners.

 

[Aashenfox]

Wait... so, effectively, the OP wants to encourage people to not play the game? [wacky]

Might sound a little harsh but I don't think there should be any extra assistance for people who play the game less.
If I play for 100 hours I expect to be proportionally better-off than somebody who only plays for 10 hours.

Sorry, but that's how I feel.

No, it;s just an idea, I don't want or reject it, it's just a thought that came to me that I personally wouldn't be averse to. Easy to balance. Anyway, I never expected this thread to last this long, so, I dunno...Go me!(?) I guess...

 

[Vasco Sapien]

I used to play the mobile hot wheels game, it's great, but I got bored of it due to usual pay walls, etc.

Why am I talking about Hot Wheels? Because it had an interesting mechanic, whereby you weren't heavily punished for being a casual. If you logged in more than 24 hours after the last login, you got double 'free crystal' rewards, triple for not logging in for a week or something like that.

Surely something like that could be added to Elite, whereby your hours played per week affects an arbitrary bonus to everything from mission payouts to rank gains...if you play less than 3 hours a week you get max bonus, if you play more than 20 hours a week, you get no bonus. It should still be balanced so that those who play more, get more, but it would also be more rewarding for those who play infrequently and make them feel like they are making better progress.

Just a thought, I'm not bothered honestly, either way, I'm in the 20 hours a week bracket myself (gaming overall, not just elite) but for those with limited time, seems like a possible helping hand. It wouldn't change elite being a marathon of a game, but would at least help people feel like they are getting some empathy from the game, which otherwise isn't going to let them get anywhere in 10 years, playing only three hours a week

So if i had 3 accounts and divide my play time between them all, Each account would power level during each account session. All 3 accounts would BONUS there way up the tree double time as each account is asleep for a while as i play the other accounts.

On Console, they can have as many accounts as they like. If i had an account which took me less time to build because of bonus injections, that account would be worth less to me and i would happily use it to troll others in game and not care. Also because im earning more in that account with this bonus scheme the crime and punishment system is less of an issue to me.

One of the Devs made a great point about ED to players with less time to invest... that some commanders have achieved tripple Elite, Explored the galaxy and shook hands with the Thargoids all in a Sidewinder. The game is open to you from day one.

 

[Aashenfox]

So if i had 3 accounts and divide my play time between them all, Each account would power level during each account session. All 3 accounts would BONUS there way up the tree double time as each account is asleep for a while as i play the other accounts.

On Console, they can have as many accounts as they like. If i had an account which took me less time to build because of bonus injections, that account would be worth less to me and i would happily use it to troll others in game and not care. Also because im earning more in that account with this bonus scheme the crime and punishment system is less of an issue to me.

One of the Devs made a great point about ED to players with less time to invest... that some commanders have achieved tripple Elite, Explored the galaxy and shook hands with the Thargoids all in a Sidewinder. The game is open to you from day one.

I think you misunderstand, there's no way the offline bonuses would ever exceed the hourly earning rate of a player. See the example I posted above, where a player with max bonus for minimum in game time (less than 3 hours a week) earns 1/9th what they could earn if they were a non bonus earning player (20 hours a week+). 1/9th in the example. It would never be more profitable not to play, it would just be a little more rewarding when you did.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

I Disagree with you here, I have lots of time on my hands and play games for 8-10 hours a day, I play games to give me something to do due to my disability making other things impossible.

however I don't feel like its much fun when I get 1million credits in profit from a 20 minute trade run( yes I know your gonna say you need to find a better trade route or that's awesome profit I wish I could make that) when I know that I can get 30 million in 20 minutes doing certain mission. don't get me wrong I don't find doing those mission particularly fun either, as there all grinds in one way or another but if I wanna get a better ship with good internals I need money so where do I spend my 20 minutes?

and this is why ill never get elite in trading cause its just not as good as missioning, we need more incentive in game to do all aspects of all parts of the game, or people will just get pulled to the new cash cow to get there credits faster, and having or not having time on ones hands shouldn't be a factor of playing or buying a game

You honestly have many other ways to get money on a decent rate. Bounty hunting, exploring, missions, trading, etc. Its your choice which one you do.

I fundamentally disagree with your post. I started with Elite in 1984 on a BBC Micro. I made it all the way to Elite without cheating, without exploits but with lots of fun and imagination (wireframes, guys). Now I'm older, I don't have the time to invest in gaming as I used to. My work takes up much of my time, as do my wife and children. Nevertheless, I love Elite. This incarnation is fantastic, but the grind is abominable. Truthfully? I'd love to get onboard with the exploits and make the 100 millions of credits an hour. By the time I hear about them they're already nerfed. Then I could get on and play the game as I want to play it, and enjoy the non-linear gameplay and the rich, interesting universe it presents. But no. Grind, grind, grind.

Who the heck are you to suggest that this isn't a game for me?

I never played the previous Elites but considering the fact that the current one is more like an MMO, grind is to be expected although it certanly is something that could be improved upon.

 

[Nadreck]

it's not an unreasonable idea, because there could be an in-game rationale for it. ED is supposedly a persistent shared universe (OK, galaxy) in which things are happening even when I'm not playing... so what IS my character getting up to while I'm not logged in? Maybe earning a bit of cash on the side?

There are a number of ways of implementing it which make it look plausible. Maybe pay the player 100k per day per Trade rank to represent "return on investments" (possibly require the player to pay upfront for "shares" to get that), or "profits from my shipping company". And maybe some combination of Combat rank and Naval rank for "military reservist pay", which you have to earn occasionally by going on a Navy mission. Preferably several different schemes that players could invest in, all of which offer some sort of regular salary/income, with a diminishing-returns formula to reflect the fact that the character can't be everywhere at once.

Perhaps you wouldn't even need to take hours-played into account. It would proportionately benefit the occasional player more, shmply because he's earning less overall, no need to artificially nerf it for the full-time gamer. And it could be easily implemented as a new mission type and reward: "do this for us, and we'll let you invest in our company / sign up to our plan".

 

[John Xenir]

I couldn't care less if someone having 10 times less time to play could catch up with me. I say let'em catch up with me and have fun!
I don't care if they get to Cutter/'Conda/'Vette 10 times quicker than me. There's a good chance that like many, they'll fly it around for some time and then actually decide the smaller ships were more fun. I say let'em - the sooner they realize the Big3 is not worth it, the sooner they'll be back having fun in smaller ships and this will only contribute to their improved fun.
And the sooner they'll drop credit grind and actually enjoy the game.

For this reason, I am supporting the idea of game scaling to someone's availability.

 

[Aashenfox]

it's not an unreasonable idea, because there could be an in-game rationale for it. ED is supposedly a persistent shared universe (OK, galaxy) in which things are happening even when I'm not playing... so what IS my character getting up to while I'm not logged in? Maybe earning a bit of cash on the side?

There are a number of ways of implementing it which make it look plausible. Maybe pay the player 100k per day per Trade rank to represent "return on investments" (possibly require the player to pay upfront for "shares" to get that), or "profits from my shipping company". And maybe some combination of Combat rank and Naval rank for "military reservist pay", which you have to earn occasionally by going on a Navy mission. Preferably several different schemes that players could invest in, all of which offer some sort of regular salary/income, with a diminishing-returns formula to reflect the fact that the character can't be everywhere at once.

Perhaps you wouldn't even need to take hours-played into account. It would proportionately benefit the occasional player more, shmply because he's earning less overall, no need to artificially nerf it for the full-time gamer. And it could be easily implemented as a new mission type and reward: "do this for us, and we'll let you invest in our company / sign up to our plan".

How refreshing, someone who thinks to develop an idea into something usable instead of shooting it down based on a typo. Kudos (and rep) to you sir. I like your suggestions.

 

[askavir]

I'd rather see the progress into something with less nonsense, not more.

 

[Verdigris]

I kind of like the idea of trade dividends, or some other residual income based off of various pilot's federation ranks. Or perhaps a use for those NPC pilots we hire for SLFs. I mean, some of them used to fly Panther Clippers, right?

By doing this, it helps all players. Casual players would have some parity. More consistent players would be able to have credits coming in while pursuing other activities. This would detract from the appeal of the credit boom systems, and enable more of the "play your way" scenario.