My Thoughts on Exploration

[Arcane26]

Hi friends

Recently I finally took the time to visit the last remaining region I've yet to visit: Xibalba. I had a thought while manually jumping to The Explorer's Bar & Grill @ Arm's End, looking into the chalky white line that represents our galaxy in the far distance. This really is the only space game I've ever played that is able to express the sheer size of its space in the game world. Not just in the visual aspect, but the emotional aspect as well. Whether that be in the core regions being surrounded by a never-ending golden haze, making my way through the Festival Grounds from Colonia and looking at all the nebulae I'm flying past, or again, out here at the dark and sparse ridge of the galaxy.

(^My first ever trek to Beagle Point^)

Being out here, thousands upon thousands of light years away from the nearest human, it can be legitimately lonely. Forlorn is the word I always use. In one direction is your familiar galactic playground, and literally everywhere else, black. Nothing for millions of light years. This is why I like being an explorer. The sense of awe and wonder that is portrayed so accurately it makes you wonder what it's like to be human in the first place. None of us will ever be able to experience any form of space travel, this is the next best thing. The ability and the freedom to spend weeks going where ever you so please. But this galaxy is just one of... a countless number in the universe. And we are one of many different sapient organisms.

(^Everyone's favorite eerie ceiling fans^)

But despite the vastness of the explorer's game world, with the different views, different planets and whatnot to see, it's pretty empty. Now I know you're like not this argument again but hear me out. Space is supposed to be pretty empty. Sure. That's why it's called 'space' to begin with. In terms of what to do and find however, well, that is sort of the problem. Everyone can recall the cancellation (or more aptly, indefinitely postponed) of Distant Worlds 3, as well as the suspension of new entries for submission into the Galactic Mapping Project. Since Odyssey released, besides landable thin atmospheres, I can't quite put my finger on any other significant addition/change to exploration brought to us explorers. I'm not really including plants, as, to me, that's more along the lines of its dedicated exobiologist career more so than purely an exploration, space-fairing activity (like the anomaly and gyre trees above, and are also for some reason still called "Stolon Pod" in the codex).

All the love is going towards the ongoing Thargoid War in the bubble, which I've heard from a few is getting rather stale. Granted, it makes sense as the majority of the player base is here, but still. A major marketing point for the game was that it includes a 1:1 scale of the Milky Way! Heck, exploration hasn't really even been touched content-wise since. What I think of in terms of major updates for exploration include the addition of the FSS, and the Lagrange clouds (which are awesome). But those came all the way back in 2018. sadface

Imagine, for a moment, a fantasy world where FDEV treated exploration the same way they treat the (AX) combat roles and thargoid material. Oh MAN that would bring me joy. What new things/events might come along? I've always found it strange that in-game the star Gamma Velorum goes by its formal Bayer designation, but the surrounding sector is named after its informal name "Regor". Was the Wolf Rayet star supposed to go 'kaboom' at one point?

(^Four of the same nebula model in a row^)

Make every major nebula its own different model? If anything, I would want this implemented. At least for large, real life nebulae. The Carina nebula, Heart & Soul nebulae, and even out further like The Skull and Crossbones nebula, all by itself way out there. Maybe it should be changed to help it stand out as a major landmark for all explorers heading out that way?

What were the purpose of the various permit-locked regions scattered around the galaxy? Or even those random singularly permit-locked systems 20,000LY+ from Sol? If they will never be used for anything, or if the content that was supposed to go into them was dropped, why not just open them? Oh man do you know what would be SO COOL? Silently unlock one of those restricted regions out in the middle of nowhere and have like an 'explorer' tell vox galactica there totally isn't something going on around that area, and maybe have a community goal for us explorers to travel alllll the way out to that sector and to come back and submit data for that sector, with a large bonus for systems starting with XXXX sector name. Maybe plant another one of those 'exploration voyage gone awry' and a large team of explorers got stuck in that sector and they built their own separate bubble there?

Boom, new fresh area that has never been touched before and new content to interact with! All the permit-locked sectors are now are huge spherical roadblocks that you have to take the time to go around. Oh and you know what that reminds me of? Kelly Eldridge's Lost GGG, north of the locked Hyponia region.

I'll tell you what. The At The Eldritch Gate Expedition might have been the best thing for the Exploration Community in a very long time. Over 200 CMDRs were involved for the rigorous search of this lost planet. I haven't been more excited about this game, ever. I'm glad Frontier acknowledged this astounding feat. (But AFAIK there still isn't a tourist beacon commemorating the achievement?) But we can go further. Why not do something like this with actual game content? Clues floating randomly out in the black, somehow connecting to one another and leading us down a huge rabbit hole? I know FDEV can absolutely implement something like this. They do love their wild goose chases.

(It's sort of funny how Green Gas Giants in general, one of the explorer's holy grails, and rarest things in the game, were never actually intended to be in the game.)

Okay. Enough mindless ranting about what could have been. I've already done enough of that. And also, I've kind of had enough of the game. I recently surpassed 100,000 first discovered systems on EDSM, and went over 7,500,000 LY in hyperspace distance and I truly feel that I have actually seen it all. There's nothing new or fairly significant for me to see anymore. The only reason I kept playing over the past few months are researching Green Gas Giants, as well as Helium-Rich boxel hunting. Overall I just feel jaded, and am considering uninstalling the game to invest my time elsewhere. My fellow explorers might feel the same way, so I want to hear what you lot think about the current state of the Exploration role in Elite, what you'd like to see or what you don't like about it.

-CMDR Arcanic

 

[Raz Griffin]

But AFAIK there still isn't a tourist beacon commemorating the achievement?

It should definitely get a tourist beacon, even with NPCs giving missions wanting to visit it!

 

[strapkass]

After all the effort made by many Cmdr's and the exhibition organisers in re-discovering Kelly's original discovery I can think of no good reason why Fdev should not recognise it in some small way...

 

[DSF]

I strongly support the tourist beacon! I participated in the ATEG and it was great experience.

 

[Overspark]

Tourist beacon should definitely happen, I can't recall any other "lost" system like this that was actually re-found through a colossal communal effort.

 

[ORANGEORANGE]

I think Down to Earth Astronomy said it best in one of his recent videos, that with (seeming) limited resources being put into the development of future content for the game, Elite Dangerous should focus on what it does best, and what it does alone, which is exploration. Mining is done better in Star Citizen, and many titles are being developed for combat simulators (including star citizen). BGS in Elite is unique but ultimately comes down to faction-style gameplay, which has been done in other space games too, with varying differences.

But for exploration, there is no other game in development that comes even close to the feeling you get in Elite. No Man's Sky isn't a simulator, and despite having sextillions of systems they are all teeming with life and things to do, which never makes you feel truly alone. Star Citizen doesn't plan to have many systems, and even Starfield, which will have 1000 systems with supposedly some of them being "more empty" systems, is probably more focused on the narrative aspect and will probably have some quick way back "to civilization". For completion's sake, Space Engine is a simulator but it's a sandbox more than a game.

Elite is the only game that lets you go out into the deep deep middle of nowhere and get that feeling "I am very alone". It's the only game that you can be literal hours away from home, with no quick way of getting back (other than the self destruct button).

And to that end, D2EA (and I, for that matter), believe that Elite should play into its strength here, because there is no other game that comes even close.

My dream future for ED? Over the next few years open up some of those permit-locked sectors and let us explore them as a stopgap. Sprinkle some mysteries here and there. All this to bridge to the next major content update, which would be a way to traverse to another galaxy. You could make it a mysterious Guardian wormhole. Remember the early days of cartography, when people had to find shortcuts through the arms and there were many "beacons" where people met up? A new galaxy would hopefully revive this. Would the new galaxy have a lot of similarities to the Milky Way? Absolutely. But again, the cartography aspect would still make the explorers happy. Would there be some differences? There could many ways to have differences that tie into the game lore that makes it potentially more hostile or requiring more planning than the Milky Way (thargoid colonized galaxy, jump range mysteriously inhibited, theres a lot you can do here). Kudos if you somehow have the resources to add multiple galaxies, with some of them stringed together in a way such that it takes a monumental amount of time to get to some of them. That feeling of being hours away from home? Imagine if that were literal days?

Imagine that galaxy's beagle point adventure...

 

[RolloTreadway]

I think sprinkling some mysteries, as Orangeorange puts it, would be a relatively straightforward and enjoyable way to promote greater engagement (and plain old fun) for exploration. FDev could tie it in with the Thargoidy stuff if they want to, drop some hints at something relating to Thargoids or Guardians being out there, leading to one of those big treasure hunts we've enjoyed from time to time.

Feels to me that there are a lot of explorers - from veterans to occasional dabblers - who would like to get involved in a big project.

 

[strapkass]

With regard to exploration I agree that there should be more content from the developers, especially after all this time and like you I have also considered uninstalling the game.

In fact up until the latest installment of the Thargoid conflict I had been absent from the game for two years or more.

I missed out on the Fleet Carrier deal...

I actually logged back in for Eldritch Gate before moving on to the Thargoid conflict.

We all get jaded with the game from time to time and for me it was the beginning of the Thargoid conflict.

I just got burnt out with it all.

The current Thargoid war is no exception either.

Three months ago it wasn't uncommon to find thirty to forty Cmdrs in a single instance.

Today I'd be surprised if 5% of the 5500 players registered in the Axin Discord are currently logging in to the game on a meaningful basis anymore.

A change of scenery is a good thing and a prolonged absence from the game is no bad thing either in my experience.

Log back in when something piques your interest.

 

[alexzk]

There's nothing new or fairly significant for me to see anymore.

You can't be sure until you check each of 400 000 000 000 stars

 

[marx]

Well, you went at exploring full throttle and played it a lot: it's only natural to feel burnt out after this much. If there's nothing else you'd like to see or find, then there's no good reason to force yourself to keep at it. You've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it, but everything ends eventually. Besides, if later you'll feel like exploring again, you can easily come back to it.


As for ATEG: sure, a tourist beacon would be nice. However, the discovery was featured on GalNet, and that was far more rare than the beacons are. But if Frontier finally fixed the Codex bugs, that would be the way most people would find their way to that GGG.
However, much as I'd love for Frontier to implement something similar, just intentionally this time around, apparently there has been a conscious decision that all the "mystery" hunts (through GalNet) have to be really easy, something any single player could do with just a pen and paper. This didn't use to be the case, there were some pretty clever puzzles years ago, but it seems there were too many people who complained about having to use external tools (even if simple ones) or high school math. So, enhancing a screenshot to better spot some dust clouds? That would be a no-go for them.

As for development on exploration: unfortunately, likely thanks to how minimal the actual gameplay around it is, it's a niche activity with the player base. If DW2 showed anything, it was that there'd be a lot of appetite if exploration had better mechanics (that was the promise of the FSS, after all), but right now, it doesn't. So, with relatively few of the total players exploring, major development is unlikely - but not impossible. We'll see if the promised feature rework for early next year will be exploration, or something else.

Even though the 1:1 mostly realistic galaxy is the strongest unique(!) feature of the game, the gameplay mechanics of exploration are mediocre at best. The first step to attract more players, and to keep existing ones exploring longer, would be to overhaul the current mechanics and to extend the gameplay, not just more content.

For example, suppose Frontier let us reach the unreachable cluster at the real end of the Outer Arm somehow, like a megaship ferry (which already exist). I think that'd trigger a gold rush with plenty people hopping back to exploration... which would last a month or two, and once all the systems would be exhausted there, it'd be back to business as usual.
Same goes for opening up the permit-locked spheres. Except those would last longer, as there are more systems in there... but on the other hand, there's nothing special about them. Similar to what you said, it would only make sense to open them up if there were some unique reasons to go there. Otherwise, a lot of people would be disappointed about going there and finding nothing out of the ordinary.

However, if Frontier added new mechanics for them, then why not add those for the entire galaxy?
Placing new unique content there would put it off from the majority of the player base though, since it would require a lot of monotonous travel to get there. It's no surprise that Frontier have consistently added all of the new story content to around the bubble. (Sure, some remote Guardian bubbles do exist, but there's nothing unique to them.) After all, one of the major problems with exploration is that interstellar travel practically has no gameplay and is boring.


In the end however, it's always best to play for what there is, not for what might be in the future. It might not be, after all. The game has plenty to offer besides exploration, right now, and if you find other stuff that interests you, then that'll last you a good while - quite possibly long enough until you'll want to explore again. But hey, if you don't, then there are plenty of other good games too.

 

[Agent_K]

Some of the more well known content creators and good chunk of the community are explorers. These are the very people requesting more exploration content rather than AX. It would be in FDev's interest to cater to them, at least I'd think. I really hope there is something more coming...

If not, it's probably because the current contents were created long ago and are just being released incrementally. And FDev no longer has the incentive to build more contents for ED.

That said, I still hope @Arcane26 and other explorer's accomplishments are acknowledged somehow. Strands of tourist beacons are better than nothing and does seem easy for FDev to deploy, or these could be CGs (with reasonable goals) in itself to get everyone involved.

 

[Arcane26]

I think Down to Earth Astronomy said it best in one of his recent videos, that with (seeming) limited resources being put into the development of future content for the game, Elite Dangerous should focus on what it does best, and what it does alone, which is exploration. Mining is done better in Star Citizen, and many titles are being developed for combat simulators (including star citizen). BGS in Elite is unique but ultimately comes down to faction-style gameplay, which has been done in other space games too, with varying differences.

But for exploration, there is no other game in development that comes even close to the feeling you get in Elite. No Man's Sky isn't a simulator, and despite having sextillions of systems they are all teeming with life and things to do, which never makes you feel truly alone. Star Citizen doesn't plan to have many systems, and even Starfield, which will have 1000 systems with supposedly some of them being "more empty" systems, is probably more focused on the narrative aspect and will probably have some quick way back "to civilization". For completion's sake, Space Engine is a simulator but it's a sandbox more than a game.

Elite is the only game that lets you go out into the deep deep middle of nowhere and get that feeling "I am very alone". It's the only game that you can be literal hours away from home, with no quick way of getting back (other than the self destruct button).

And to that end, D2EA (and I, for that matter), believe that Elite should play into its strength here, because there is no other game that comes even close.

My dream future for ED? Over the next few years open up some of those permit-locked sectors and let us explore them as a stopgap. Sprinkle some mysteries here and there. All this to bridge to the next major content update, which would be a way to traverse to another galaxy. You could make it a mysterious Guardian wormhole. Remember the early days of cartography, when people had to find shortcuts through the arms and there were many "beacons" where people met up? A new galaxy would hopefully revive this. Would the new galaxy have a lot of similarities to the Milky Way? Absolutely. But again, the cartography aspect would still make the explorers happy. Would there be some differences? There could many ways to have differences that tie into the game lore that makes it potentially more hostile or requiring more planning than the Milky Way (thargoid colonized galaxy, jump range mysteriously inhibited, theres a lot you can do here). Kudos if you somehow have the resources to add multiple galaxies, with some of them stringed together in a way such that it takes a monumental amount of time to get to some of them. That feeling of being hours away from home? Imagine if that were literal days?

Imagine that galaxy's beagle point adventure...

Well said, and I absolutely share your sentiment about the big focus on exploration, as it does really lead in that regard. Also, with other galaxies beyond the Milky Way, I've had very good plans on how FDEV could go about doing this. Most of this you heard already, in fact I recall you were in the same discussion when I shared this on IGAU, but for visibility's sake I'm going to share it here.

The Magellanic Clouds would be the best place to go. Getting there wouldn't even be that hard. Perhaps like a huge station-sized carrier travelling back and forth, akin to what Jaques Station in that style (It could jump across the galaxy after all). Maybe in-lore it needs to lock onto something of significant mass because it is so far away, and use Sag A* as its destination in the Milky Way, as well as another large mass celestial body in, say, the Large Magellanic Cloud. I drew up some examples of how the galaxy map would look if the game world would include the two satellite galaxies, and perhaps a traversable bridge between them:

The Large Magellanic Cloud: 14,000 LY in diameter. One large galactic bar, with stellar density comparable to that of the core regions of the galaxy, along with the gap in the middle and outer regions with lower star density. It prominently features the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070 / 30 Doradus), the most active star-forming H II Region in the Local Group, that has its own massive and complex 3D model to traverse in its entirety, visible from everywhere in the galaxy.

The Small Magellanic Cloud: 7,000 LY in diameter. Albeit much smaller, it still has significant galactic topography such as various nebulae and stellar clusters.

The Magellanic Bridge: Arguably, if you want to have a station that could jump 100,000LY+, why not have it just jump between the clouds and not include this useless expanse? Well, for the sake of exploration! A region of extremely sparse star density. Apparently there are stars still forming in this region. If you want to dare to cross the bridge to the SMC, do so at your own risk! It's practically intergalactic space.

This would be a great opportunity to showcase more of what the Stellar Forge is capable of. First off, including more catalog stars, nebulae and clusters. Maybe even adding in star classes that didn't make it into the Milky Way (CHd, CH, DO, DX...) or including star classes that are in game but not procedurally generated (DQ, C) or luminosity classes that are also not procedurally generated and are in game (hypergiants (1a+ / 0) like 171 Puppis. Also more planet types (Looking at you Helium Gas Giants and Water Giants with Water Based Life) generated as well? Maybe some special ones that only exist in certain areas as an incentive to go and visit them.

What I want most from a DLC like this is the feeling of exploration I miss pre-carriers and pre-engineered FSDs where if you are out in the black, you are out there. No one to save you, no DSSA network to repair, no handicaps, just hardcore exploring. Everything is unknown like the old days. If you run out of fuel along the Magellanic Bridge, you are just done for. FCs aren't permitted as there won't be a system manufacturing any. Only way to get in and out of the clouds is through the jumping station carrying CMDRs to and fro, from the bottom of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Also, the view.

 

[DSF]

I would be happy with something really small, like if it would be possible to bookmark surface locations and navigate to them. If it would be possible to name them and share them through UC it would mean a birth of planetary cartography.

 

[DSF]

I would be happy with something really small, like if it would be possible to bookmark surface locations and navigate to them. If it would be possible to name them and share them through UC it would mean a birth of planetary cartography.

In order to avoid flood of names I would suggest limitation that you could put name only on the place where you actually landed and there can be just 10 names per player per planet. It would also encourage a cooperation.

 

[Griff Rogers]

Congratulations on the 100k EDSM FDs, Arcanic. Excellent accomplishment, and you're always a fun and interesting explorer to spend time with.

However, I have to say that your sentiments say more about where you are in your career currently than where the game is. I believe we have a lot of vibrancy and exploration opportunity in the current game, which is in a great place in its evolution. Odyssey represents significant development progress and such a huge leap forward in developing the detail and diversity of the planetary layer of systems. Odyssey planetary tech adds considerable depth to the procedurally generated galaxy, allowing the Stellar Forge planetary characteristics to be expressed in a cohesive planetary environment for the first time. I have scanned and mapped more than anyone else in Odyssey, and I am still finding new and unique planets every day. We still have different system configurations and rare bodies to track down. You yourself just developed fascinating and useful insights into the spawn criteria of certain bodies, including glowing green gas giants. And no matter how far you've traveled, there are still always different stellar fields and parts of the galaxy to poke around in. Certainly depth remains the weakness of proc gen, and you can argue that in a sense, exploration is very repetitive. Certainly many commanders find it interminably repetitive and don't really enjoy exploration as an activity (though I think many of them would find more interest and engagement if they took the time to learn about Stellar Forge and see more of the galaxy). But conversely, you can argue that there is endless diversity to see, especially since Odyssey launched.

For my part, I am happy as long as I get to fly my ships and find new shiny celestial objects and vistas to stare at and photograph. We all cycle and need breaks. The galaxy is always waiting for you to return and explore some more. But at its heart, this game is the quintessential sandbox, truly liberating in the sense that your goals and interests and enjoyment are your own and subject to no one else's definitions or limitations, and this game has a lot to offer in every activity, including (especially) exploration.

I'd certainly love to see a tourist beacon making use of the outstanding exploration stories around the lost glowing green gas giant to add interest to the system and engagement for every visitor to it. And it's certainly something Fdev and the exploration community can all celebrate.

I hope to see all of you in the black, now or later, and keep sharing discoveries.

Griff Rogers-

 

[Richard Fluiraniz M]

Arcanic is not quitting, he is just going to another galaxy temporally.

Serious note though, the tourist beacon is overdue, and I will campaign to get it done.

 

[CMDR dkO]

First off I have to say that your exploration stats are insane and I want to thank you for all the content you shared thus far. It is sad to see such an experienced and passionate explorer finally thinking about calling it quits but I can only agree with your thoughts and feelings you shared....

Now I don't have as many systems visited or jumps recorded but I do share this same passion for the game like you do. I have spent over 3000 hours total as of now and have hit this burnout stage multiple times since starting back on console when Beyond launched. The way you feel about the scale of ED and how it is implemented is the reason why I even started playing. I feel that the dedicated explorers appreciate that the most and it is why we keep logging in travelling thousands of LY away from the bubble....

The GGG expedition sounded incredible and I wish I was playing at the time so I could have experienced it. The fact that Frontier recognized it but has not put a beacon in the game is extremely unfair. I also missed out on Distant Worlds but as you said with it now being cancelled along with GMP.....I really feel like that was the peak of Elite Dangerous exploration.....

I only recently joined the exploration communities and they have helped me gain interest in this game again. Learning the in's and out's while seeing others dedicated to the same activity is incredible. They have helped me learn what was left to know regarding Exploration. I now play the game in a different way than I first did but even so I have always felt like there could be MORE and looked forward to what the devs would include in future updates involving Exploration.....

With that being said, my feelings towards the developers have been declining as each update is released. This started when I transferred to PC back in 2021 and was still playing Horizons. I had no intentions on purchasing Odyssey until I saw the way the Stargoid was introduced....

I remember instantly thinking back a few years when the Thargoid ground sites were first being discovered. Cmdrs had to locate these signal sources for clues and they saw that the audio from one of the sources printed out images of symbols in an audio spectrogram as a clue. I thought that since Odyssey was still fairly new and this was the next major update.....the devs would have plenty of new things for us to discover and solve again. I felt the devs were pushing the War and it was going make humanity finally expand out to other areas of the galaxy. I was at least expecting them to include explorers in CG's by flying out to vast area where they were first spotted and trying to find the system/sector for further knowledge (Col 70). The same kind of puzzles like before......but nope.....the only exploration CG added was the credit bonus for finding and scanning AW within the bubble......lmao

It was at this point I lost hope in the devs focusing on Exploration at all. All of the permit locked regions would remain locked, lighting still unrealistic with stars, terrain generation wonky, no new atmosphere types/storm clouds/anomalies/bio/clouds, no new ships/SRVs/tools. Forget expanding the on-foot content (which also has been mostly ignored since Odyssey launch besides cosmetics) but at least rework the existing roles to spark interest again is what the game ultimately needs. Seeing the staff changes recently and the lack of communication with the player base after announcing they were going to change that made me lose hope that they were taking the right steps to make this game what it ultimately could be.......it is an absolute shame because this game still has so much potential and we ALL know it.

 

[Smiler99]

The GGG needs a Tourist Beacon, Definitely.

 

[Leif_Erikson]

I also presumed Gamma Velorum, in a permit locked region, Elite Dangerous would have made this go boom. It is a likley supernova candidate, relatively close and as it's set over 1000 years in the future who can say when it would ka-boom. Also remember circumnavigating the Bleia permit locked region a few times expecting it to be unlocked to give us explorers something fresh in the future. I'm sure when the game was young and full of hope these permit locked regions were for future content but the contents went missing as ED went in other directions over the years

The lost and recovered GGG wowed me,like many other cmdrs during the event, should at least get a tourist beacon but it seems they are as rare as hen's teeth to obtain. Over 6 years ago I found my best find 'The World of Death' and that still has no tourist beacon there and they seems not to offically recognise the find. They did a post few years ago on the official Facebook page but then wrote it orbited a Neutron Star

You seem to be humming The Clash tune...'should I stay or should I go' and the choice is yours. Perhaps you should take a break and the game may drag you back into playing again. It worked for me when I felt burned out a few years ago but later on felt a malaise and lack of interest with the game and 18 months later am in the retired explorers area- I don't miss the game and have no interest in returning to the cockpit in it's current form.

 

[Gadnok]

I only recently joined the exploration communities and they have helped me gain interest in this game again. Learning the in's and out's while seeing others dedicated to the same activity is incredible. They have helped me learn what was left to know regarding Exploration. I now play the game in a different way than I first did but even so I have always felt like there could be MORE and looked forward to what the devs would include in future updates involving Exploration.....

Maybe it's the fact that Exploration has been a viable career for some time now, they don't want to mess with a "winning" formula. Also, the developers who created the Stellar Forge and gave exploration meaning in the first place are no longer working for Frontier. I could see the devs handling the project now being nervous about ruining the experience by adding the wrong things...

That being said, Elite is a huge ever-expanding game with a lot to offer. I haven't been burnt out yet in my 3 years of playing because between exploration bouts, there's so much to do around civilization; and the evolution of a Commander's play style is just crazy. Like dkO said, he's still an explorer but plays in a different way than before. I'm a player who likes to give himself goals to work towards, both short and long term. I reached Elite V in Trade through CG's, Elite V in Exploration, then Elite in Combat that I now work to build up by fighting Thargoids.Then you get a Fleet Carrier and the game changes; you can collect commodities, build more ships. When I explore I'm looking for completely different things than I used to as well. There's Guardian space, Codex completing, fill your mats, engineer ships & suits. Elite is a completionist's nightmare, and a stoner's wet dream.

Then you can buy a HOTAS/HOSAS set up and the game changes again. Ever experienced Elite in VR? I think even if I killed a Thargoid in VR, I would still want to see Sag A* in it too! My point is that there are so many avenues within the game and external to it that keep it fresh for a lot of us out there. Even just playing as the actual mmo it is with other people makes every activity feel brand new. Then go into Open... the friends we make along the way, right?

As mentioned, you can always switch to other great games and eventually you might yern for ED and remember it's the ultimate space sim (hehe). Or if you really enjoy being in the cockpit of your Anaconda, try other game loops you've never done in your ship(s).

@Arcane26 Your achievements are astounding, I hope you find love for the game again. Enjoying it for what it is and not what we want it to be is VERY important. We don't need another galaxy, we've explored >1% of this one. We just need more incentive to explore it, and that should come from the developers. Elite Dangerous deserves a bigger team of devs all dedicated to enhancing the space sim experience they've mastered. I legitimately feel like most human's lives would be enhanced by just trying ED to see if they like it. And I bet some NASA employees binge it when they have vacation..

It really is the only galactic space travel we get in our lives.