Devs, please, please, please take note,
Your player base is rapidly decreasing as newer games are being released with the same promises and better, more enticing game play than what you've promised. All that remains now is the most die-hard fans. And while I am a fan, and I would hate to see this game bite the dust, the evidence is clear...it is rapidly fading from the thoughts of most gamers.
Steam Charts shows the painful truth: Steam Charts - Elite Dangerous
Leading up to the release of "space legs" you saw an unprecedented spike of players, which immediately fell by 1/2 the following month due to releasing an unfinished product wrought with bugs. While the dedication to the fans has always been present, I think it's important to consider developing a game that new players would want to play. The mind-numbing grind-fest that rivals top Korean made MMOs you call "Elite Dangerous" is not that game.
January '22 saw another uptick, but only in contrast to the dramatic decrease of players following the failed space legs.
It's time to focus on improving what you already have. You have a decent game. Make some good QoL improvements to make some of the potential players come back, and after you build up your player base a little, you can be more ambitious and pursue larger developments. Let's get some of those 27K players who bought the game to see it was money well spent.
Now what youve been waiting for...my list of simple QoL improvements:
1. CUT OUT THE GRIND!!!
- I can't stress this enough. I know that you feel it should be a momentous achievement to acquire one of the Top 3 or a Fleet Carrier, and rightly so, yet that's not what it feels like. Usually it feels like this:
"OMG Finally I can afford ****, It's a-bout time. this had better be worth it."
For the average gamer, which btw has increased in age from mid-teens to early 30s (yes we grew up; Gamer demographics ), this is such a time consuming effort which we no longer have the freedom to invest. For the majority of us, we're reaching middle management positions within company, or leading busy lives raising a family (props to those who can manage both of these and still find time to play). At least in my case, I'm lucky to find 1-2 hours a day to play anything. And I'd hardly prefer to spend it just grinding. That's not relaxing, it's just plain boring. Not to mention, relax too much in this game and you die, which is just stressful.
Reduce costs for ships and equipment by a factor of 2 to 10. 1/10th might be a little aggressive, but the point is, people aren't enjoying the game anymore as a new interesting experience if they have to grind the same mission 100s of times just to afford that new shiny ship, or get that new spiffy part engineered; that's assuming they don't die in the process. Most of my ships are permanent "Hanger Queens" because I haven't finished engineering them enough to feel comfortable flying them out of the hanger. I've literally uninstalled this game almost everytime I popped and realized how much it would cost to replace my lost ship in terms of my time. I get paid $30 an hour. And you're asking me to sacrifice 100s of hours to collect some worthless in game currency for the equivalent of basically a NFT? I'm spending my free time doing this...my free time. So is everyone else who plays this game. Please have more respect for our time than sending us on endless scavenger missions for thousands of pieces of resources for an upgrade. It's so mind-numbing I feel drained everytime I play.
2. Introduce more automation
- If I have a Fleet Carrier, and I park outside of a nice mining hot spot, why can't I put hire pilot's to use MY SHIPS to mine nearby? You could have them operate similar to the NPCs who fly in and collect amidst players anyway. If that's too much of a hassle, then just "pretend" that's what they're doing and charge players a commissioning fee for hiring a pilot, do a simple spreadsheet transaction for the operation, add a timer, and treat it like a game of DnD. Depending on the security level of the area there's a % chance the mining ship fails and is killed or comes back empty handed. Done. People would accept this and there would be more incentive to make hot spots safer for miners by increasing the security. Obviously outside the bubble this wouldn't be an issue. A timer would allow all those players with jobs to set it before going to work, and by the time we get home we have a cargo full of mined resources ready to jump back to the bubble and sell. Does this mean people will be playing by "not" playing. Yes, but that's what you want. You want to occupy their thoughts rent free while they're at work. That's what keeps them coming back. They need to feel like they're accomplishing something even while they're doing other things.
Apply this logic to hiring NPCs to collect engineering resources as well. Anything to cut down on the grind...seriously, can't stress this enough.
P.S. - Should be possible even without Fleet Carrier. Hire pilots within stations to execute missions for you. Make it a statistic if need be. Roll a dice and success or fail depends on the quality of pilot hired, security of the systems involved, and how upgraded the ship is they are borrowing. If they fail, have it come back damaged, but not destroyed. You want people to use this system, not hate it completely.
3. Improve multiplayer
- Ok, so really confused how, despite so many successful multiplayer games on the market you guys can't find any inspiration to make this better. I mean, the interfacing in multiplayer is mediocre at best. I've seen comments on adding an area mic feature so people can RP pirates a little better, sounds great, you should do that. I've seen suggestions to add an auto jump feature with squadron. Yep, that should be a feature. I don't play much mutliplayer in this game because there's little incentive for me to do so, plus it's really difficult to lock down a time which I know I will be playing, much less when my buddies will be playing simultaneously. So, any improvements to make it more tantilizing might convince me to try this aspect a little more.
4. VR
- This is the future of gaming. You must, I repeat: MUST NOT abandon this. Read the title..."Innovate or die". The game that succeeds in making a totally immersive experience (i.e. - "Ready Player 1"), will be record breaking in terms of most interest among gamers. Because it is all about escape. The better the escape the more people will flock to it. VR is the stepping stone and first major step towards that, giving up on that is pairing yourself with 3rd and 4th generation consoles destined for a computer salvage store or landfill. Not retro enough to be collectible, but not innovative enough to be ground breaking.
I've said my piece. Please comment, I love to read 'em. As always, fly safe commanders! And see you in the black. o7
Your player base is rapidly decreasing as newer games are being released with the same promises and better, more enticing game play than what you've promised. All that remains now is the most die-hard fans. And while I am a fan, and I would hate to see this game bite the dust, the evidence is clear...it is rapidly fading from the thoughts of most gamers.
Steam Charts shows the painful truth: Steam Charts - Elite Dangerous
Leading up to the release of "space legs" you saw an unprecedented spike of players, which immediately fell by 1/2 the following month due to releasing an unfinished product wrought with bugs. While the dedication to the fans has always been present, I think it's important to consider developing a game that new players would want to play. The mind-numbing grind-fest that rivals top Korean made MMOs you call "Elite Dangerous" is not that game.
January '22 saw another uptick, but only in contrast to the dramatic decrease of players following the failed space legs.
It's time to focus on improving what you already have. You have a decent game. Make some good QoL improvements to make some of the potential players come back, and after you build up your player base a little, you can be more ambitious and pursue larger developments. Let's get some of those 27K players who bought the game to see it was money well spent.
Now what youve been waiting for...my list of simple QoL improvements:
1. CUT OUT THE GRIND!!!
- I can't stress this enough. I know that you feel it should be a momentous achievement to acquire one of the Top 3 or a Fleet Carrier, and rightly so, yet that's not what it feels like. Usually it feels like this:
"OMG Finally I can afford ****, It's a-bout time. this had better be worth it."
For the average gamer, which btw has increased in age from mid-teens to early 30s (yes we grew up; Gamer demographics ), this is such a time consuming effort which we no longer have the freedom to invest. For the majority of us, we're reaching middle management positions within company, or leading busy lives raising a family (props to those who can manage both of these and still find time to play). At least in my case, I'm lucky to find 1-2 hours a day to play anything. And I'd hardly prefer to spend it just grinding. That's not relaxing, it's just plain boring. Not to mention, relax too much in this game and you die, which is just stressful.
Reduce costs for ships and equipment by a factor of 2 to 10. 1/10th might be a little aggressive, but the point is, people aren't enjoying the game anymore as a new interesting experience if they have to grind the same mission 100s of times just to afford that new shiny ship, or get that new spiffy part engineered; that's assuming they don't die in the process. Most of my ships are permanent "Hanger Queens" because I haven't finished engineering them enough to feel comfortable flying them out of the hanger. I've literally uninstalled this game almost everytime I popped and realized how much it would cost to replace my lost ship in terms of my time. I get paid $30 an hour. And you're asking me to sacrifice 100s of hours to collect some worthless in game currency for the equivalent of basically a NFT? I'm spending my free time doing this...my free time. So is everyone else who plays this game. Please have more respect for our time than sending us on endless scavenger missions for thousands of pieces of resources for an upgrade. It's so mind-numbing I feel drained everytime I play.
2. Introduce more automation
- If I have a Fleet Carrier, and I park outside of a nice mining hot spot, why can't I put hire pilot's to use MY SHIPS to mine nearby? You could have them operate similar to the NPCs who fly in and collect amidst players anyway. If that's too much of a hassle, then just "pretend" that's what they're doing and charge players a commissioning fee for hiring a pilot, do a simple spreadsheet transaction for the operation, add a timer, and treat it like a game of DnD. Depending on the security level of the area there's a % chance the mining ship fails and is killed or comes back empty handed. Done. People would accept this and there would be more incentive to make hot spots safer for miners by increasing the security. Obviously outside the bubble this wouldn't be an issue. A timer would allow all those players with jobs to set it before going to work, and by the time we get home we have a cargo full of mined resources ready to jump back to the bubble and sell. Does this mean people will be playing by "not" playing. Yes, but that's what you want. You want to occupy their thoughts rent free while they're at work. That's what keeps them coming back. They need to feel like they're accomplishing something even while they're doing other things.
Apply this logic to hiring NPCs to collect engineering resources as well. Anything to cut down on the grind...seriously, can't stress this enough.
P.S. - Should be possible even without Fleet Carrier. Hire pilots within stations to execute missions for you. Make it a statistic if need be. Roll a dice and success or fail depends on the quality of pilot hired, security of the systems involved, and how upgraded the ship is they are borrowing. If they fail, have it come back damaged, but not destroyed. You want people to use this system, not hate it completely.
3. Improve multiplayer
- Ok, so really confused how, despite so many successful multiplayer games on the market you guys can't find any inspiration to make this better. I mean, the interfacing in multiplayer is mediocre at best. I've seen comments on adding an area mic feature so people can RP pirates a little better, sounds great, you should do that. I've seen suggestions to add an auto jump feature with squadron. Yep, that should be a feature. I don't play much mutliplayer in this game because there's little incentive for me to do so, plus it's really difficult to lock down a time which I know I will be playing, much less when my buddies will be playing simultaneously. So, any improvements to make it more tantilizing might convince me to try this aspect a little more.
4. VR
- This is the future of gaming. You must, I repeat: MUST NOT abandon this. Read the title..."Innovate or die". The game that succeeds in making a totally immersive experience (i.e. - "Ready Player 1"), will be record breaking in terms of most interest among gamers. Because it is all about escape. The better the escape the more people will flock to it. VR is the stepping stone and first major step towards that, giving up on that is pairing yourself with 3rd and 4th generation consoles destined for a computer salvage store or landfill. Not retro enough to be collectible, but not innovative enough to be ground breaking.
I've said my piece. Please comment, I love to read 'em. As always, fly safe commanders! And see you in the black. o7
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