Make the Game a Bit Harder

[Von Shadow]

Difficult but not more pointless....

* decrease price for sold installed units. Let players choose it with wisdom;

Not until FDev introduce some kind of 'Showroom' concept for ships & modules
I'd love to see the old wire-frame graphics be used for a 'virtual' ship within the shipyard/outfitting so we can spec-up
a ship and take it out for a quick flight.

I'm interested in trying out a Python again but i don't want to lose 5m on the ship resale if i don't like it.

If they re-introduce module costs then it re-emphasises the need for our own 'station locker' to store modules
such that we can swapout (ideally via pre-mapped outfittings) using stored modules that we own.
Switching roles frequently would just be a cash-sink

* reduced income for killed ships. Make the payments proportional to the damage inflicted;

Bounty money should scale with ship size/class and pilot class but matched with suitable NPC skill flying in suitable locations
Haz Res should be intimidating. Even in a wing

Killing a novice sidewinder should be irrelevent for a good ship/pilot and reward accordingly.
Killing an Elite Anaconda/Corvette should be both difficult and well rewarded.


Missions should be varied, complex, rewarding and rewarded accordingly... hopeful on 2.1

 

[saab]

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!

I've been playing since Premium Beta and still love the game - but I know how you feel, and agree with some of your suggestions.

My suggestion is to try a self-imposed Ironman mode - ie, when you die, there is a chance you reset your savegame and start over. Mossfoot's Pilot Ejection Table is a good place to start. This completely reinvigorated the game for me, and takes away the point of grinding, since your character will die one day anyhow.

Valar morghulis!

 

[Von Shadow]

Bottom line there are usually ALWAYS ways for a player to make a game hard for themselves, in a FPshooter only use a pistol and don't pick up health, in a racing game never use traction control and ABS, in Elite use a smaller craft, less powerful modules, fixed weapons (as others have said) etc etc. Gamers usually don't have ways to make a game easier other than difficulty settings.

Making a game artificially difficult is artificial. The game mechanics should provide for that. Why should i fly in a sidewinder in a has-res just to make it difficult.... i want to fly in my anaconda/corvette in a haz res and be intimidated and scared of losing my ship

 

[Grisnir]

some the suggestion wouldn't make Elite harder, just slower.
Elite don't need to be more harder, it's need to be more complex

Sounds well earnt!

as someone who did the empire rank grind, i can tell you,
that everyone would love to have a hard, meaningful way
to rank up, but there isn't one, just do X Missions for minor fractions

 

[Soliluna]

I'm always happy for increased difficulties but to me there is a big distinction between some of your points and actual difficulty.

Increasing difficulty would be... forcing everyone to always fly FA off. It's a mechanical challenge within the game itself that requires your to learn or hone your skills to beat.

Increasing difficulty would not be... making the skinnerbox mechanics even more transparent. You overcome these with time, not skill.

 

[InMemoriamSirocco]

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!

How about you make the game harder for yourself and leave all the other players who already find the game hard as it is alone with your need for punishment?

Works for all instead of just a select few.

 

[Duane Dibbley]

increased price for some ships. Some ships feel like 3-10 times cheaper than they should be;

*cough* Cobra & Vulture *cough*

 

[ilgello]

I Agree, the game is too easy in PVE, not challenging and with the lack of content that's what make people stop playing, ah and solo mode

 

[biohazard15]

How about "No"?
The game is fine as it is, no need to make it a hardcore grindfest like (sorry) Dark Souls (I said I was sorry!). Actually, they should make it easier (anyone who endured the grind needed to get Corvette or Cutter would agree with me). Many of us "casual" players just want to play the game, not making it our job.

 

[Vorxian]

Why do people still think that credits are easy to earn in decent quantity?

People do stacked long range smuggling because it's the only thing in game that balances difficulty with earnings.

Why do people stack planet assault missions? because individually they pay nothing, you need to stack them to make it feel like you're doing worth while.

Why did I do seeking luxury spam? Because it was the only thing that actually paid off doing.

Make the game harder sure, but right now, if you're playing the 'game properly' and not chugging the log out refresh bulletin mechanic, and making 50m per 3 hour session, then let me know what you're doing and I'll try myself.

Right now, payments for missions / time is atrocious. The only way I know how to make 50m in a 3 / 4 hour game session without flipping instances is to trade in the Cutter.

Then the question is: How many credits per hour is the average targeted amount? Because for most, credits = ability to unlock ships & modules (tools) to make accumulation of more credits more efficient.

 

[PiscisFerro]

I will talk as a Bounty Hunter: I think OP's ideas won't change nothing, because the root of the problem is not that the game is "easy" the problem is that the game don't escalate well. For example, starting with a Sidewinder you can just do or a mission that rewards you 100.000cr or a few of 30.000-50.000Cr, you now can just jump into a Viper MKIII. After that you can go to a HRez and, after 30 min you leave it with 500.000cr or more in your bank. And then you can upgrade (or side-grade) to a DBS, Cobra MKIII, Viper MKIV or even ASP Scout.

That's a few ship just in a few hours. But after a day or two, you can reach the Vulture and then, the game start to became a grind, because your next upgrade is either a FAS (rank and Cr grind) or a FDL (Cr grind) and then the payments start to become low. 100.000 Cr is really high at the start of the game but it's a      when you need millions to just buy an A-Graded module.

And the problem is, that not matter your rank or your ship, if you go to a RES site and land just a single shoot to a nearly dead Anaconda, you will get 300.000Cr no matter is you just started the game and you are in a Sidewinder.

To me the solution is that this game needs to put you more time into smaller ships, either spreading their cost more (there are too much ships that cost >1.000.000Cr or reducing in some way the rewards that a newbie get and escalate it better.

On the other hand I think missions rewards and bounty rewards need to be increase (as well as the difficulty) for high graded pilots.

just my 2cents.

 

[NeilF]

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.

Yep, the dynamic (emergent) market mechanics DB suggested back in Kickstarter would be nice!

 

[DragoonKnight]

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!

Go rank up to rear admiral and king if you think rank progression is so quick and easy. It is the worst aspect of the game imo. I had to take a break from Elite after grinding to rear admiral.

The only ship that needs a price increase is the vulture. Some other ships could actually use a price drop.... FDS, ORCA, Gunship, Courier, Asp Scout. If you think many ships are too cheap then you obviously have not looked beyond the cost of the hull with its unusable E rated equipment. The cost of A rated equipment evens out the costs of the ship to where it is expensive enough.

If the income from kills is reduced then people will just run robigo for money instead. If anything they should introduce super hazardour res sites where ships like the Corvette can really rake in the cash. With everything costing tens of millions of credits we need better and more varied sources of income, Not less.

 

[Vorxian]

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.

That's only fair for the ones with 10b credits already in the coffers. I feel bad for those that missed out on the 'opportunity' to do seeking luxuries, or perhaps the original reputation grinding charity donations thing before they were nerfed.

Changing the game now will only help those that were fortunate enough to take advantage of (exploit) certain game functions in their infancy. The more FDEV 'FIX' things, they simply remove the opportunity for others to credit grind, or rep grind in the same manner as 'every one else did', and who are successfully flying around in top end ships, asking FDEV to close the door.

Like I said earlier, sure make the game harder, but you risk making things pointless for new guys.

IF FDEV make rewards scale with difficulty, then great. But 200,000 credits for a mission that takes +/- 30 mins is just soul crushing. Stacking 30 missions that pay 200,000 credits for a mission that takes 30 mins is more like it.

Have to be very careful when playing around with 'balancing'....

 

[fantasmic]

I don't care about the rest, but please for the love of god don't make faction rank more of a grind you crazy so-and-so. Maybe the first couple ranks aren't too bad, but as a rear admiral I can tell you that getting the higher ranks through normal mission activity is almost unfeasible. It's taken me over 7 weeks. That's in game time spent since just after launch, and you'd better believe I had to resort to cheesing out donation missions on more than one occasion to even get it in that amount of time. Ranking should not take that long, nor should I have to grind at it if I do spend that amount of time doing fairly regular missions.

 

[MottiKhan]

I agree with making the game harder. One thing that would help is to nerf the server connections. If you can't connect, the game becomes harder. Fun stuff.

 

[CMDR Muy Bien Gato]

Yikes. These suggestions echo the philosophy of FPS titles arbitrarily increasing hit-points and damage as a means of "harder difficulty".

I don't think making the game even more of a grind is the answer. I enjoy difficulty, but this is a sandbox, and difficulty is not necessarily synonymous with fun in Elite. If anything, the AI fixes coming should fix most of my gripes with the difficulty.

 

[fruitbat]

Sorry OP, what the last year has taught me, is that most players on this forum whilst not being able to admit it publicly, would love a button you could press to gain a billion credits at will.

Making the game harder or at least how it was for the first year or so would just lead to such a whinefest, that these forums would go into meltdown for months, it just isn't worth it.

It will be bad enough on these forums, if shadow deliveries get a makeover in the next patch.

 

[Crusina Luachra]

*shakes head*

People are actually taking this thread seriously.

 

[MottiKhan]

*shakes head*

People are actually taking this thread seriously.

Yes, shaking your head. That would make the game harder too. Maybe make the shaking camera a bit more intense so you can't see what's happening on the screen.

And why not bring back the blue on black "Mission Target" text? There are a lot of good ideas here.