My humble opinion on ED

[Itaki]

Regarding OP:

1st point: Yes, I would have thought that rank progression would not take an eternity. Someone might say, "Well, you aren't supposed to play for rank progression", or "Goals are not how you should play." And my reply would be "Why have ranks then?" ED is fun but it's rank progression system is not really enough to hold my attention. I'm with the OP in this respect. And so we're left with puttering around in a sandbox. I think ED is like a Zen garden. The point of it is the here-and-now of playing it. It isn't really future based as there is no end-game. Other 'living' worlds are like that too. Have fun in the moment. If you level up, that's a bonus. If you find Elite getting boring, play something else a while. ED does not make a very good spouse.

2nd point: I think there are a lot of things that family men (and women) just don't have time to do. ED might be one of them. Golf, travel, rebuilding that motorcycle in the garage are others. How many of these other things has Dad not been able to do since family became the focus of his life? DB ought to try to make a product with a wide appeal, sure, but I think he also should retain some of that 'dream' that he had for the game as well. Balance is tough.

3rd point: Home. Yes, I'd like a small base or personal hangar to put all my stuff. Maybe have two modes of operation for a player base. Open Mode would allow the benefits (and liabilities) of NPC/CMDR interaction and limited growth potential. Private Mode would keep your base safe but more limited in scope than Open Mode.

4th: Additional content not specifically based on combat or hauling would be nice. Space legs would be a nice non-flight alternative. So would puttering around my own personal base. Regarding combat, large scale opt-in PVP or PVE battles would be nice. Expand on the CZ concept. Let a lot of commanders into a single battle instance. New and different reasons to play new and different content. This game is a huge undertaking though. It all takes time.

5th: If you could get this inverse work/reward thing to fly at my job, I'd love that. Work 5 hours, and get paid for 40. I'm in! haha But I don't think ED players would go for that , though.

 

[x_m_n]

Regarding OP:

1st point: Yes, I would have thought that rank progression would not take an eternity. Someone might say, "Well, you aren't supposed to play for rank progression", or "Goals are not how you should play." And my reply would be "Why have ranks then?" ED is fun but it's rank progression system is not really enough to hold my attention. I'm with the OP in this respect. And so we're left with puttering around in a sandbox. I think ED is like a Zen garden. The point of it is the here-and-now of playing it. It isn't really future based as there is no end-game. Other 'living' worlds are like that too. Have fun in the moment. If you level up, that's a bonus. If you find Elite getting boring, play something else a while. ED does not make a very good spouse.

2nd point: I think there are a lot of things that family men (and women) just don't have time to do. ED might be one of them. Golf, travel, rebuilding that motorcycle in the garage are others. How many of these other things has Dad not been able to do since family became the focus of his life? DB ought to try to make a product with a wide appeal, sure, but I think he also should retain some of that 'dream' that he had for the game as well. Balance is tough.

3rd point: Home. Yes, I'd like a small base or personal hangar to put all my stuff. Maybe have two modes of operation for a player base. Open Mode would allow the benefits (and liabilities) of NPC/CMDR interaction and limited growth potential. Private Mode would keep your base safe but more limited in scope than Open Mode.

4th: Additional content not specifically based on combat or hauling would be nice. Space legs would be a nice non-flight alternative. So would puttering around my own personal base. Regarding combat, large scale opt-in PVP or PVE battles would be nice. Expand on the CZ concept. Let a lot of commanders into a single battle instance. New and different reasons to play new and different content. This game is a huge undertaking though. It all takes time.

5th: If you could get this inverse work/reward thing to fly at my job, I'd love that. Work 5 hours, and get paid for 40. I'm in! haha But I don't think ED players would go for that , though.

Wow, probably the first constructive reply after 11 pages.
I'd like to elaborate a bit.
For the 2nd point, it seems only logical that the one with the most time spare on their hands are the loudest ones, and also don't mind spending a ton of time in the game. Meanwhile some of us have life outside of the game, and it's a game. When other replies liken my proposal to socialism, that's where they were wrong. This is a game and shouldn't be treated as real life. Especially since I thought the appeal of Elite was that you get to do what you what, but it seems like if what you want is to amass credits and buy the "end-game ships" quickly then no you can't do it, gets nerfed right away. You said it better, there is no "end-game". The ships gets expensive but that's about it. That's why I say it's shallow.

Regarding 5th point, yea if that can be done at work it'd be great. Problem is, like I said, this is a game, not work. I already have a 40 hour/week job, I don't want another one, that's why it'd be nice if progress is quicker rather than get stretched out like it constantly is everytime an 'exploit' is found. To the point that I don't care to go find exploits anyways, I don't play nearly enough, by the time I find something chances are it'd be nerfed already. But I'm getting on a tangent. While the inverse work/reward thing might sound too nice, I simply proposed it as a way to balance the game. Instead of finding a static number to balance the game, why not let it dynamically balanced based on the player's dedication to the game. That way FDev can set a standard bar for progression, say... a month or 6 months for progression, and thin it out for the ones who play a lot more, but not too thin so to reward them for the dedication, but at the same time not a ridiculous advantage over those who can't play as much. It'll also fix the exploiting problem, as one person's progression is different from another, you can't tell everyone how to perform an exploit that is just for you. And if you abuse the exploit, aka play a lot more often all of a sudden, it'll scales down and the exploit will go away by itself. FDev don't have to do a thing. Whether that's ethical/right is up for debate, but would it fix the problem of players complaining everytime their exploit is nerfed? Definitely yes!

 

[Cmdr Sundog]

Dear OP,

All valid points. I would love to have so much more in this game, but that is not the case, yet.
Try to enjoy it as much as you can. I have played Elite on the C64 when I was 12 years young and the sequels on Amiga and PC.
It is definately far from perfect, but for me with Elite Dangerous a dream come true...Enjoy it and have hope for the better.
Cheers