New currency in Odyssey

[Ydiss]

If this is true, then that is a bummer. Separating the two modes further certainly isn't what I want, but I may be in the minority here. I'd prefer they focus on further improving and growing on the things that make Elite the game it is, as opposed to chasing small bits of what makes a game like SC interesting.

We still have only 2 types of large stations. Still only 1 SRV, since the launch of Horizons. It's depressing and makes no sense.

That said, they've repeatedly said things like "if you prefer flying your ship, cool keep doing that.....on foot only, cool.....combined? EVEN BETTER.

This doesn't embrace that concept to me.

I don't think reserving some of the new progression rewards for doing the new stuff only really enforces segregation. Prime example: Engineers isn't segregated from the core game (if anything it's inescapably intertwined with it) yet uses a separate currency to prevent inflation of credits obliterating any sense of progression. It has worked.

What segregated planetary content from ships wasn't the currency, it was the core game play (virtually no meaningful interaction between ships and planets except to land and it mostly ends there). We've not got nearly enough information to know if Odyssey will improve or exacerbate that but there's quite a lot of suggestion that on foot and srv/transport is going to be intertwined more.

It'd be a massive faux pas if fdev left it to credits. Not just because of inflation but the game has had six years based on an economy of assets up to 5bn credits and where even the absolute cheapest asset would cost way more than most personal assets should, by rights, in order to make sense.

If they did that, they'd have two options:

1) make fps rewards suitably low to balance them with progression for fps gear

2) accept that there is no progression for fps gear because a day doing basic missions in a ship would allow the acquisition of all fps gear

Neither option is good. 1) would massively segregate fps and ship game play (no one would do fps for starters!) and 2) is obviously really bad.

The more you think about it the more you realise a separate currency is the only sensible approach. With this, fps content can have suitably high credit rewards that still makes sense and makes it worth doing if you want to use fps content to save up for a ship. But fdev can perfectly balance the rewards against fps progression.

It's a perfect model.

 

[xzanfr]

well that brought back some memories

I mainly remember trying to understand regional accents - Nothing made me feel more like a stupid southerner than when it was Northern Ireland or Scotland week!

 

[dubsdj]

Obsidian Ant mentioned here that gear purchased when on foot in ports and bases will not be bought with credits, but rather some other valuable item required for trade.

Implementation details as yet unknown, personally I don’t think this sounds like a good idea on the surface of it. It seems that it would act as a sort of split between in-ship and on-foot gameplay, where financial progress in one doesn’t translate to financial progress in the other, which may make it feel like you’re playing two separate games.

This might be mitigated somewhat through currency conversion, and I think that may possibly be the case, with conversion from credits to the new currency almost certainly being significantly lossy, or perhaps even lossy both ways.

Whether there is no conversion to the new currency, or there is conversion at a loss, I think the reason for that would be so that existing progress in the current game doesn’t immediately put players in a position to have all top-tier gear without having “earned” it by working their way up to it through the new gameplay.

That’s understandable if it ends up being the case, but I don’t agree with it.

This is supposed to be one game in the same game world, so in the first place I don’t think it makes sense to have currency you spend at a station when in your ship invalidated when you’re in that same station on foot.

Secondly, segregating financial progress in this way means effectively splitting a player’s investment in the game, which is almost like playing on two different accounts.

This is of course mostly speculation at this point, and I’ll wait to see the full details before I judge, but it honestly doesn’t bode well in my opinion.

If any developer or community manager can provide some clarification on this, or point out if there has been some error in communication regarding the proposed new currency, or the current understanding of it, that would be much appreciated.

I agree, credits should be the same in space or on foot. I know it means some players will instantly buy all the nice stuff (But that's true in real life also, so why would it be any different in this) but they can still have special addons that require you to complete certain milestones like distance travelled on foot and so on (rank system).

 

[Zieman]

I agree, credits should be the same in space or on foot. I know it means some players will instantly buy all the nice stuff but they can still have special addons that require you to complete certain milestones like distance travelled on foot and so on (rank system).

And still need to engineer the new shiny stuff.

 

[tolm]

Yeh, I saw this and physically sighed. I know, like everyone has 72 gajillion credits now (I don’t, for the record ... would take me another 4 years to get a fleet carrier ...) so they don’t want existing players to just be able to get everything on Day 1 but, to me? It just seems stupid.

Why on earth would all these “shops” insist on bartering for goods vs just taking credits? I wanna buy a space suit upgrade ... here’s some cash ... nope, gotta go earn 17 units of macguffin no. 3 for that ... makes no sense at all.

It almost feels like there will now be two entirely separate games that happen to exist in the same universe and we’ll all be starting from scratch if we wanna play the new one ... whereas I was hoping for an extension to the existing one,

 

[tolm]

I agree, credits should be the same in space or on foot. I know it means some players will instantly buy all the nice stuff (But that's true in real life also, so why would it be any different in this) but they can still have special addons that require you to complete certain milestones like distance travelled on foot and so on (rank system).

exactly... lock access to stuff behind missions and progress, sure, that makes sense but don’t require an entirely different currency to manage ... soooo many games just introduce currency after currency ... some can be earned in game ... some can be bought ... some come from specific events only ... and then there are ways of exchanging one for another ... no, please not in ED!,

 

[Cosmo]

Obsidian Ant said:
“Suits are obviously just one type of new on foot related item. Others will include various types of equipment in addition to weapons. For those of you wondering if you will be able to buy all of these with your current credits, the answer to that appears to be no. A new form of trading will be introduced where new valuable items will be required for the trade.”

Admittedly there is some room for interpretation there, but it doesn’t sound like the new form of trading, i.e currency, will be limited to engineering modifications.

Trading goods directly is bartering. That is an outdated way to trade, because in many cases people don't have specific items that others want.

It makes sense if the mission giver wants a specific item = then gives you a different item or credits as a reward. I understand for gameplay reasons they don't want rich players to directly buy all the best gear. So some (top tier) gear requires the completion of missions to unlock.

Besides that credits should be universally used for trade and to store wealth.

 

[dubsdj]

exactly... lock access to stuff behind missions and progress, sure, that makes sense but don’t require an entirely different currency to manage ... soooo many games just introduce currency after currency ... some can be earned in game ... some can be bought ... some come from specific events only ... and then there are ways of exchanging one for another ... no, please not in ED!,

yes, it makes no sense that credits which a lot of players have spent years accumulating (including myself) would be worthless at a station which you dock at all the time. FD you really need to consider this because why would you separate a currency just because a player is on foot, that's total nonsense, sorry. but that is like having 2 different games.

This is the same universe, on foot or in space. Put goals in place, milestones to complete, ranks, you know.. That way players will participate to achieve better things but you should not stop players who have spent years playing the game from being able to buy nice stuff. As far as I am aware, this isn't a pay to win game so credits are earned by hours and hours of playing the game. I really feel the community needs to stand up to this one and put a stop to it while there is time for the devs to make the change without having to re-do the whole thing after the fallout.

I am sure FD read these threads, so please FD think about this one because it's a really big deal. I get why you are doing this, because then it's a new game and will bring in more new players. But remember, this game isn't supposed to be like that, this is supposed to be a journey from right from the start when players first played Elite dangerous many years ago. I'm one of those players, never used an exploit and over the years have built up credits, travelled to SAG A twice, bought some nice ships, lost some nice ships but it was a journey which I am eternally grateful for and this game has given me so many years of enjoyment. If you want, do a spinoff for new players in an arcade style game with instant gratification, but don't punish the Elite dangerous loyal community.

ED is the only game I have installed on my beast of a rig. I am a programmer which takes up most of my time so don't have much time to play games, but there is always a place on my hard drive for ED and I am one of the many who are simply just sitting there waiting for a new update for ED so that I can get back into gaming again.

 

[Monk]

The grind is all in your mind.

You don't need to race to the best G5 everything. I've been playing since 2014 haven't even unlocked all the Engineers. Never once have I "ground" or felt resentful of any time I've spent playing it. I mean, I know that's anecdotal but... yeah...

Do some missions, explore a bit, mess around with the background sim, whatever. Do a bit of Engineering here and there as and when you find the parts. Your modules will still work with a grade two or three or four on there, and you'll not be having such a rubbish time.

There's nothing in this game that's locked behind G5 upgrades, except maybe competitive PvP.

The possessive obsessive perfectionist mindset is the enemy of fun times in Elite.

I really miss the challenge of trying to get a better class of power plant for my Cobra, forget even getting A-rated. Had to pick the mission carefully...will I survive? Is the reward worth it? What can I do along the way to eek a few more credits?

I know the exploits too well now...even if I wiped I could be back on the gravy train to riches before being "forced" to use a Type-7.

 

[Exeider]

Honestly, I don't think they should do a new currency, the base and perhaps a few of the "better" suits, weapons and gear being purchasable in credits, with the top shelf stuff requiring salvage or materials, some kind of crafting type thing.

Perhaps access could also be regulated by your local reputation too, this would be a chance to make Local rep actually mean something and not just a stepping stone on the way toward superpower rep.

Like being the "Hero of Tau Ceti" gets you access to the "golden, oh my gawd s/he's here!!!!" suit but go a few jumps away, they've never heard of you.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

This is silly! OP must of read the headline and not listened to the video. It's not what OA said!

I read the script OA provided in the linked thread. He said that credits couldn’t be used to purchase gear when on foot, therefore some other form of currency is required. This is what I raised a concern about. I didn’t speculate about what form that currency would take, as my issue is primarily with the invalidation of credits as a currency.

 

[goemon]

"Exchanging valuable items" is exactly what Frontier said, and is what I said in the video.

I read the script OA provided in the linked thread. He said that credits couldn’t be used to purchase gear when on foot, therefore some other form of currency is required. This is what I raised a concern about. I didn’t speculate about what form that currency would take, as my issue is primarily with the invalidation of credits as a currency.

maybe edit OAs clarification in this thread into the threads first post?

 

[Patrick_68000]

We will have the Pop Corn as new currency.

 

[Ydiss]

We will have the Pop Corn as new currency.

Salted.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Salted.

Yes compulsory.

 

[Rat Catcher]

It is quite amusing, the screams of "My 42 Billion credits won't buy me a meta-spacesuit!!!1!!one!!!111 " as by inference it appears that the hinted at 'new' engineers will be the controllers of upgrades...

Really quite satisfying to read

 

[Ydiss]

It is quite amusing, the screams of "My 42 Billion credits won't buy me a meta-spacesuit!!!1!!one!!!111 " as by inference it appears that the hinted at 'new' engineers will be the controllers of upgrades...

Really quite satisfying to read

As much as I ultimately dislike the resulting power creep meta of Engineers, its currency is now perfectly designed. Never any inflation. Always useful.

Even if they allowed material trading between players (and I hope they do just that in these social hubs), they could do it based rigidly on the existing trader conversion rates (maybe a touch less aggressive to make player interaction more desirable).

An upper cap on a currency inherently stops inflation. I think materials actually make the game much more interesting (mission rewards are better, there's stuff everywhere to gather if you want to).

I just dislike the meta behind their primary use.

But I'm guessing our ability to negotiate rewards (love that, long requested feature) might let us negotiate this alternative reward structure instead or in part with credits.

This is a Good Thing.

 

[PaulieWotsit]

I'm picturing a new cmdr starts in a settlement on a planet somewhere and with a ship that instead of having an fsd, has a supercruise drive so you can only travel in system until you reach a certain rank and get the fsd unlocked. It would make for a fantastic meta where you can only influence your home system, therefore giving a new player a basis in the bgs, before being able to influence the nearby system...

 

[thistle]

It would be bonkers to use credits.

 

[Morbad]

The main thing is, it may render your credits useless for EVA play, which is concerning.

Credit progression has been broken for five and a half years. So, if they want any sort of sense of progression at all, they cannot rely on credits. This is probably why Engineering requires materials and unlocks, rather than credits...they had already ruined any credible progression mechanisms that featured the prior currency.

How much would a spacesuit cost?
If you say a couple of thousand - (call it 3,000 cr) then anyone playing the game would be able to buy all the suits on offer almost instantanously (there would be no reason to charge in the first place)
If you say a couple of million - (1.5Mil cr) then you are saying that the spacesuit is more expensive than 10 different ships that could be purchased in the shipyard.

I don't find it unreasonable for more advanced personal equipment to cost more than less advanced, but much larger, vehicles.

I just don’t like the artificial invention of a new currency as a solution.

I doubt any one does, but since actually fixing things would be far harder for most people to swallow, that's what we're likely to get.

There is a marked difference between collecting materials that are physically needed for use in an engineering modification, and having a separate currency requirement for a pre-manufactured product at a station or base where other service and product providers accept your credits while you’re in your ship.

Given that a suit would have to be customized to it's wearer, while Engineered modules are now identical and mass produced...