Make the Game a Bit Harder

[Lunatic_Asylum]

After playing the game for a year (1-3 hours per week maximum), I cannot be happy enough about it! However, there is no limit to perfection, and here is the list of what I would like to see:

* reduced income for killed ships. Make the payments proportional to the damage inflicted;
* some enemy ships refuse to fight and fly in a straight line around you;
* increased price for some ships. Some ships feel like 3-10 times cheaper than they should be;
* decrease progression among ranks. I spent only a couple of evenings after 12-hour work shifts and gained 1 level easily in a faction!
* decrease price for sold installed units. Let players choose it with wisdom;
* change prices at stations more regularly so that third-party tools cannot track routes for you. You will need to buy information from others or stations.
* the new update, hopefully, will bring missions that are much harder as you climb the ranks. I seriously hope about it.

Elite and David, [heart] we love you! You managed to create a game that appeals to casual players like me and yet be complex!

 

[Surly_Badger]

I agree with those points.

I'd add that I think you ought to die if you fly into a black hole. Or a neutron star. Or slam into a planet at 100C. Serious mistakes are too hard to make and too easy to survive, considering that the penalty for loitering is death.

 

[Lann]

I think what you are saying wouldnt make the game harder but more grindy.

For me, at certain point, the grind is a bit boring, and since i see some of the points you are saying boring (like ranking) i dont like what you are saying.

But this is my opinion...so thank you for your ideas. Some of your ideas are very good for me anyway, like balancing combat incomes.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

* change prices at stations more regularly so that third-party tools cannot track routes for you. You will need to buy information from others or stations.

I'd ultimaltely like to see a more volatile market, but only if FD then included in-game tools that with careful use and study you could seek out profitable trade routes, but the really profitable routes would shift and change as the market reacts. Would make trading perhaps more interesting than the mindless back and forward over and over again.

As for the rest of your ideas... i do think some things have become too easy, especially credit gain, but I don't think FD can change those things without it causing a major uproar and more accusations of FD making the game a grind.

 

[furrycat]

Harder to play or harder to enjoy?

Only two entries on the list - dumb enemies and static markets, both of which are confirmed to be addressed in 2.1 - fall into the first category.

 

[tawittle]

I don't like the idea of modules selling at a reduced price. There are already SO many incentives not to move in E, yet that contradicts DB's vision as he says he wants players to be mobile and is disappointed how little they travel...well then give us incentive to move! Being able to re-sell modules at no loss is vital to the game IMO.

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

I agree with those points.

I'd add that I think you ought to die if you fly into a black hole. Or a neutron star. Or slam into a planet at 100C. Serious mistakes are too hard to make and too easy to survive, considering that the penalty for loitering is death.

The idea that "look before you leap" would be cool.
And if you don't or have no experience then it won't end well.

 

[mistohise]

I disagree with most of those ideas. The issue with AI flying is due to be fixed in the 2.1 overhaul. The rest of the ideas seem like artificial blockers to enjoyment for people who don't already have rank/credits, whilst those who do have rank/credits would, of course, keep them.

Module purchases absolutely need to stay as they are. It's a key gameplay element to be able to reconfigure ships easily, and making that cost more credits just reduces enjoyment for those that don't have credits.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

After playing the game for a year (1-3 hours per week maximum), I cannot be happy enough about it! However, there is no limit to perfection, and here is the list of what I would like to see:

* reduced income for killed ships. Make the payments proportional to the damage inflicted;
* some enemy ships refuse to fight and fly in a straight line around you;
* increased price for some ships. Some ships feel like 3-10 times cheaper than they should be;
-* decrease progression among ranks. I spent only a couple of evenings after 12-hour work shifts and gained 1 level easily in a faction!
* decrease price for sold installed units. Let players choose it with wisdom;
* change prices at stations more regularly so that third-party tools cannot track routes for you. You will need to buy information from others or stations.
* the new update, hopefully, will bring missions that are much harder as you climb the ranks. I seriously hope about it.

Elite and David, [heart] we love you! You managed to create a game that appeals to casual players like me and yet be complex!

1) Yes, very much yes
2) Sounds interesting if the % is done right
3) I assume you mean purchase price, in which case I'd say see what the reduced income does first, raising prices and costs together may make it too unbalanced
4) Disagree, make ranks more interesting to do first since people are already grinding current ranks (both Elite and faction ranks).
5) This was introduced before to a huge backlash, need a testing area or a module storage option before this comes into play.
6) Yes!
7) Yes!

Overall yes but a few ideas require other changes before or with the suggested changes.

 

[Ryan P Bodfirst]

I agree that for the casual solo player it could be harder. I'd like re-sale value to be less, heat damage from the sun to be more potent etc - however I can see the argument that for multiplayer modes that this is would be annoying, and many solo players would object.

So what I'd like to see in the future are options to increase the difficulty settings for solo play/private groups.

1. This would allow me to set the game to be a bit more challenging if I wanted. For example to set re-sale value losses, mission difficulties or heat damage settings, AI levels etc.
2. It wouldn't be unfair as I can only increase difficulty from the standard game
3. it's only possible to do this in solo and globally for private groups. This would allow "Iron man" type private groups to be set up.

 

[kilvenny]

The problem with reducing payouts and increasing prices is that you increase the grind. What you also do is make the game very difficult for the beginner or casual player to achieve anything. As someone with limited game time I look at a lot of the game mechanics and think that they are only possible if you have game time available. I play in a manner that allows me to maximise my enjoyment in the limited time I have available and when I look at how I play, I effectively only use elements that were there at launch. That means nothing that has been added provides me a compelling reason to utilise it. That for me is a scary thought.

 

[AlexVII]

More grinding and frustration? Yes please!


Ps. Not sure if this is a "troll post" or not...

 

[Vasious]

Maybe increasing the price of the cheaper ships, to make saving up for them and upgrading them more of an achievement that doing 1 rescue mission as a new pilot to find one life pod paying CR 100,000 which is enough to get any one of the SIX cheapest ships.

That from One mission open to a Zero rank netural rep pilot and can take as little as 10 minutes.

The inflation of earnings cant be reversed at this stage

 

[Retrograde]

I agree with these suggestions. They would improve the game. For the people complaining about the increased "grinding", the most expensive ships could be made cheaper to compensate - so that it would take the same playtime, on average, to afford them. That seems to be their only concern.

 

[sp0q]

I'll support this when the in-game earning activities get more interesting.

 

[Ziljan]

The current level of difficulty would be fine for Iron Man Mode. But otherwise, yes, the grind and combat skill required is too easy. That is why I am only using fixed weapons and small ships atm. To increase the difficulty to a reasonable level. I feel like I'm missing out on half of the content by doing this though.

 

[Karla]

The current level of difficulty would be fine for Iron Man Mode. But otherwise, yes, the grind and combat skill required is too easy. That is why I am only using fixed weapons and small ships atm. To increase the difficulty to a reasonable level. I feel like I'm missing out on half of the content by doing this though.

After my second PvP battle, I decided to give all fixed weapons a try. So I loaded up an FDL with 4 fixed beam lasers and a huge cannon. I then went into a hazardous RES and picked a fight with an imperial eagle. What should have been over for the imperial eagle in less than a minute went very badly wrong for me and I ran away wimpering.

I've gone back to using gimballed weapons but I am now untargetting when the enemy starts chaffing so the weapons become fixed.

Elite like all good games is relatively easy to pick up the basics but difficult to master. After a few hundred hours in solo in a HazRes I'm now relearning all my combat skills to make use of FA off, silent running, switching into reverse, using lateral thrusters on a second joystick and eventually using fixed weapons.

I've since realised how rubbish I am at combat.

 

[Lunatic_Asylum]

As for the rest of your ideas... i do think some things have become too easy, especially credit gain, but I don't think FD can change those things without it causing a major uproar and more accusations of FD making the game a grind.

The majority of players, as shown here, are for making this game reasonably harder in order to get the feeling of accomplishment and enjoyment; though, as we can see, some disagree with some of those ideas. I do, however, see how making this game easier will create more outrageous feedback than making it harder.

Maybe it is time to listen to the player base? Look at most titles on the market: people play for the first years, then, the company makes a game a walk in the park, and veterans and loyal players leave it in packs. Elite has already catered for gamers, not for lazybones who use "casual" as a misnomer to "I am too lazy, give me all of the rewards at once and more content" and "elitist" (what a pun!) to name anyone who wants to put effort into a game. I hope David will not disappoint his playerbase and will listen to us!

As for the feeling of "grinding" mentioned by other players, I can say that there is too much to do in Elite to feel the game to be repetitive or boring. As a solo, open-play, and group casual player, I can confirm that.

Alex B., yes, I meant the purchase price!

It is always great to read so much positive feedback here! Even the negative feedback feels well-mannered, and I am quite happy to be among such players!

----
CMDR Alandalar here if you want to add me (piloting Vulture & Type-6; saving up for an Imperial Clipper).

 

[Hellhawk666]

I'd ultimaltely like to see a more volatile market, but only if FD then included in-game tools that with careful use and study you could seek out profitable trade routes, but the really profitable routes would shift and change as the market reacts. Would make trading perhaps more interesting than the mindless back and forward over and over again.

Agreed, although this could be a very difficult thing to achieve given the design of the economic simulation. The only way would be to have an array of variables based on the system type, demographics, etc. but it would just be introducing market randomizing elements without any real connection to the rest of the game.

If the economic sim had been designed like a true simulation then we'd already have volatility (and more) built into the model ... but we don't :S

 

[serialsid]

Don't think you should lose money on selling modules, I change my ship internals all the time depending on what missions I'm taking on or the way I'm going to play. That's part of the fun in elite and stops it getting boring. Would make it a lot harder for new players to experience all the game had to offer if they couldn't afford to change their loadouts when needed.