After playing the game for 4+ years I am thinking about what is missing currently from the game. Of course there is the obvious big ticket concepts like space legs and atmospheres, but that's not what I'm talking about. Those features while very exciting new content, likely wouldn't change the core drivers of activity in the game. So what are these core drivers that motivate us to jump onto the cockpit? It's a little different for everyone, but I think they can be divided into a few key common categories:
- Learning (exploring, mastering mechanics, general familiarizing yourself with the game environment and opportunities)
- Growing (collecting items, loot, upgrades, expanding BGS/PP factions)
- Flexing (making your mark on the Galaxy, building stations, tagging systems, flipping a govt, causing havoc at a CG, and yes even ganking)
- Community (participating in unique events, expeditions, races, hotbed CGs, tending BGS factions, discord chats, squadron participation)
- Competition (breaking/setting exploration records, BGS wars, PVP events, Power Play, Arena
These are all GAMEPLAY aspects of Elite, which while related, should largely be separated from CONTENT releases like planetary landing. Ever since the announcement that it will be 2+ years before the next big content patch, I hear people say "welp that's it for me, I think I'm gonna take a break, or just stop playing for a few years until atmo comes out" I have to think that Frontier has failed to deliver not just on content, but on several of the key gameplay aspects above that would otherwise keep people glued to their cockpit seats during the long dry spells between content releases.
So let's dive into each of these and try to see where Frontier could improve even with a few minor tweaks that could hopefully breathe some life back into the game:
Learning in any game is generally finite. In a game like Elite with fairly complex mechanics, a steep learning curve, and an entire galaxy to explore, you'd think this wouldn't be a problem. However, after a certain point, there are almost no surprises left. While it's true that every system seems to fit into a cookie cutter category after a while, I don't think this is the issue. I think the issue is that the extremely limited options for interacting with the galaxy means that anything we learn about astronomy or planet types is largely useless info. Does it matter that a planet with high gravity has a lot of metal? If you could create a mining operation on the surface, and fuel consumption was gravity dependent, it might. Does it matter that a ring system has a gas giant that is emitting a lot of EM interference? It might if your sensors & pulse wave ping were impacted by strong radiation sources. Does it matter that some planets we
drive on are hotter than many stars? Do black holes matter? Like
at all? No. No they don't. Currently the only celestial information that matters is: scoopability of stars, supercharging on NS, does it have rings for mining, and likelihood of ELWs/terraformables. That's it. When you look at it that way, the galaxy is extremely simple and incapable of letting you use your accumulated knowledge of the stars.
Growing in Elite is also extremely limited. Once you have enough money/rank/unlocks to buy all the ships and upgrades, then there is very little left to do. We have a galaxy with 400 billion systems, yet we cannot grow or expand out into these systems without express gamemaster permission. You cannot even colonize or build a planetary station without a god-mod CG. It's a bit ridiculous and extremely limiting. With 400 billion systems, and even the smallest landable planet being big enough to house bases for every player in the game, it's kind of crazy that we can't own and operate our own bases.
Flexing is another way of saying "player agency". What is player agency? It's the feeling you get when you know your decisions mattered even if only in some small way. While it's entirely acceptable that each player is not a princess saving hero (or a princess slaying villain), it's not acceptable that even with collective action of thousands of players, we aren't able to do more than change the faction name on a system/station, or submit a bureaucratic form to request a one-sided CG with a pre-ordained outcome. I understand that Frontier wants to retain a tight leash on the story of the galaxy. But it seems that in failing to automate the stuff that is currently accomplished via CG, they are micromanaging each faction via an inept stalinistic centralized authority, creating a hopeless backlog of player ambitions and goals, and leaving players with only 1 or 2 largely irrelevant options for CGs every week or so. This is the OPPOSITE of player agency.
Frontier's efforts to expand the
Community aspects of the game are commendable. However the recent barebones addition of squadrons largely duplicates currently robust apps like Discord, and only manages to add one semi-interesting feature: leaderboards. The new interstellar initiatives look like they could be promising, but tbh they look like more top-down micromanaged CG-like activies that focus on the most boring aspects of the game (guardian site grinding). We'll have to see how much actual agency players have. But I suspect that the "competing/opposition" efforts will just be like competing CGs. All-or-nothing affairs that encourage everyone to dogpile on the side that looks like it's going to win. So likely little to no real player agency to be found there.
The more
Competitive aspects of elite are really the only current bastion for gameplay that has any longevity, however since they entirely lack any context and have little to no impact on systems or the galaxy, and can be avoided by simply mode switching to Solo/PG, people usually become disillusioned with them very quickly. What is missing imo is a reliable arena for player interaction where people can easily locate a place to compete directly with other players with specific goals. It doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. All that it requires is some mechanism for players to know where to go, and what they are fighting for.
So these are just my thoughts on what gets players off netflix and focusing intently on what is happening within the game. What gets you into the cockpit?
