IMO, the multi-crew experience is so bad it hurts the rest of the game. Now I love Elite, been a fan for a long time, and with the PS4 release I can play it with my good buddy. We were stoked for multi-crew, we expected we'd be like Han and Chewie, Luke and R2, Alex and Grig, having adventures in our own spaceship. We were wrong. Every time we attempt this we get frustrated with all the bizarre restrictions and that we end up frustrated and play something else instead. Here is a list of things that bug us:
Random players: This should not even be supported. It feels like a mistake to consider that people will want to fly around with random people. You should have designed the feature around people being able to multi-crew with friends only. For every feature that accommodates random people the playing with a friend experience suffers.
Breaking the law: One crew member breaking the law ends the mutlicrew session. This feels right when playing with random people, but I want to play with a friend. If one of us commits a crime, it should not end the session for both of us. When the multicrew session ends beyond our control it is a negative experience.
Holographic crew members: This is an unnecessary gimmicky feature to get around in-game fiction that nobody cares about. Nobody cares that another pilot magically appears in the cockpit. Make them flesh and blood like the pilot. If you insist that they MUST be telepresence holograms, then why have physical seats?
Cannot configure load-out with multicrew: Why not? Unless there is a technical reason I see no problem unless it was because you don't want people to wait around for the pilot to make changes. If multicrew were friends only this would not be an issue.
Multicrew can't be copilots: It sure would be handy if my friend could lay in a course via the galaxy map or navigation console. It sure would be handy if my friend could manage modules. It sure would be handy if my friend could fly the ship.
Friends can't contribute to ship: It would be great if me and my friend could both contribute toward a new ship we can fly solo or as a multicrew.
Multicrew activities: I don't understand what I am selecting at the start of a multicrew session. Why do I have to choose bounty hunting, exploring, etc. Why can't we just do what we want?
Multicrew session report: It feels like everything exists to support this one screen. Throw it away, let people do what they want and get rewarded like normal. Missions should be slit evenly between all members present. Won't always work out fair because xyz reason? Who cares?
Multicrew controls: What the hell is even happening here. My buddy has to remap his controls every time he wants to join my crew.
Funds transfer: Crew members should easily be able to transfer funds to cover costs of ship loss and installations of modules.
It feels like going into multicrew you missed the most important thing: Make it fun. As it is it feels like it's trying to work around other features, and like I said you tried to make it grief proof and it sacrifices potentially cool experiences. We certainly don't feel like Han Solo and Chewbacca, more like Han Solo and Chewbacca trying to remote control c3po against his will.
Random players: This should not even be supported. It feels like a mistake to consider that people will want to fly around with random people. You should have designed the feature around people being able to multi-crew with friends only. For every feature that accommodates random people the playing with a friend experience suffers.
Breaking the law: One crew member breaking the law ends the mutlicrew session. This feels right when playing with random people, but I want to play with a friend. If one of us commits a crime, it should not end the session for both of us. When the multicrew session ends beyond our control it is a negative experience.
Holographic crew members: This is an unnecessary gimmicky feature to get around in-game fiction that nobody cares about. Nobody cares that another pilot magically appears in the cockpit. Make them flesh and blood like the pilot. If you insist that they MUST be telepresence holograms, then why have physical seats?
Cannot configure load-out with multicrew: Why not? Unless there is a technical reason I see no problem unless it was because you don't want people to wait around for the pilot to make changes. If multicrew were friends only this would not be an issue.
Multicrew can't be copilots: It sure would be handy if my friend could lay in a course via the galaxy map or navigation console. It sure would be handy if my friend could manage modules. It sure would be handy if my friend could fly the ship.
Friends can't contribute to ship: It would be great if me and my friend could both contribute toward a new ship we can fly solo or as a multicrew.
Multicrew activities: I don't understand what I am selecting at the start of a multicrew session. Why do I have to choose bounty hunting, exploring, etc. Why can't we just do what we want?
Multicrew session report: It feels like everything exists to support this one screen. Throw it away, let people do what they want and get rewarded like normal. Missions should be slit evenly between all members present. Won't always work out fair because xyz reason? Who cares?
Multicrew controls: What the hell is even happening here. My buddy has to remap his controls every time he wants to join my crew.
Funds transfer: Crew members should easily be able to transfer funds to cover costs of ship loss and installations of modules.
It feels like going into multicrew you missed the most important thing: Make it fun. As it is it feels like it's trying to work around other features, and like I said you tried to make it grief proof and it sacrifices potentially cool experiences. We certainly don't feel like Han Solo and Chewbacca, more like Han Solo and Chewbacca trying to remote control c3po against his will.
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