So I have been leaving the same comment on a lot of post and figured I should make a thread about it.
With a lot of people talking about the in-game economy I feel that the same issue pops up a lot. One method of making money is OP, everything else is not worth the time. And I think I know the core reason for that is. The game has no end, middle, or early game. What you do in a type 6 transport to make money, you will probably be doing in a cutter. If a cutter can make make a billion credits in a hour, a type 6 can make a 100 million in a hour probably. This leads to the problem of players making money too quickly, so fdev nerfs it, but than the player in the cutter can't make as much money as they want. See more detailed explanation below
The main issue is that once a player reaches around their first 2-3 million credits they tend to be flying a type 6, a vulture, or maybe a asp. One of those equivalents. At this time their old methods of making money, such as bounty hunting, rare trading, or running various missions no longer earns them enough credits to get to their next milestone. So they join into whatever the credit making meta is. Once they do that they begin making a lot of credits very quickly, suddenly they see no reason to stop. They make skip from a t6 straight to a anaconda, ignoring any ships or activities in-between. There is no middle game, it's just straight to the end game. This makes the game feel very disjointed for a lot of players, they never feel like the game play or mechanics of the game are changing as they unlock new ships and better equipment.
Let me compare this to BEFORE Horizons and Beyond which in my opinion is where the problem started and has gotten worst. I remember starting ED and the first thing I did was a few courier missions and some nav beacon bounty hunting to get a viper. Than I did bounty hunting in res sites with the viper. Than I eventually got a type 6 and did a mixture of rare/bulk trading. Than I a vulture and did combat zones/riskier res sites. Than I got a asp and did Robigo, back in the old slave smuggling days. Than I replaced my vulture with a Fer-De-Lance, and than after doing combat/trade for a while I got my anaconda. Notice how the game play changed as I got better ships, the newer ships allowed me to do activities which might has been out of my reach or too difficult before. I am not saying it was perfect (it wasn't) but I do think it was better than it is now.
However if I started the game now, I would have gotten my t6 and rushed to mining and probably gone straight to a Anaconda. The game gives little incentive not to do that unless your inflicting a self imposed handicap on your self in the name of "fun". What the game really need's is "early game content", "Middle Game Content" and "End Game Content" each with different rewards. This way players in a anaconda can earn the large amounts of credits they need/want but without ruining the experience of early game players. I am not against people rushing for the end game, players like that will always exist and that's fine. I am against how the current game economy basically causes that to happen whether they want it to or not, it feels like the game has no natural progression and that more than half the ships, missions, and activities in the game serve no purpose as a result. Certain activities/mission types are just useless because there is no reason to do them, which makes the game feel like it has less content, it hurts the experience.
I do have some solutions in my head but I wanted to hear what the community thought. Please keep in mind this not me making a statement, all the above should be seen as "This what I think is wrong with the economy" not as "This is what is wrong the economy." Please don't attack me!
TLDR: The lack of a Early, Middle, and End Game causes the game to feel disjointed and lowers the diversity of game play. It encourages the players to do the same thing over and over again even though different mission types and activities do exist in the game. The game needs to balance out it's content so that it feels like there is a natural progression for players as they unlock better ships and equipment.
With a lot of people talking about the in-game economy I feel that the same issue pops up a lot. One method of making money is OP, everything else is not worth the time. And I think I know the core reason for that is. The game has no end, middle, or early game. What you do in a type 6 transport to make money, you will probably be doing in a cutter. If a cutter can make make a billion credits in a hour, a type 6 can make a 100 million in a hour probably. This leads to the problem of players making money too quickly, so fdev nerfs it, but than the player in the cutter can't make as much money as they want. See more detailed explanation below
The main issue is that once a player reaches around their first 2-3 million credits they tend to be flying a type 6, a vulture, or maybe a asp. One of those equivalents. At this time their old methods of making money, such as bounty hunting, rare trading, or running various missions no longer earns them enough credits to get to their next milestone. So they join into whatever the credit making meta is. Once they do that they begin making a lot of credits very quickly, suddenly they see no reason to stop. They make skip from a t6 straight to a anaconda, ignoring any ships or activities in-between. There is no middle game, it's just straight to the end game. This makes the game feel very disjointed for a lot of players, they never feel like the game play or mechanics of the game are changing as they unlock new ships and better equipment.
Let me compare this to BEFORE Horizons and Beyond which in my opinion is where the problem started and has gotten worst. I remember starting ED and the first thing I did was a few courier missions and some nav beacon bounty hunting to get a viper. Than I did bounty hunting in res sites with the viper. Than I eventually got a type 6 and did a mixture of rare/bulk trading. Than I a vulture and did combat zones/riskier res sites. Than I got a asp and did Robigo, back in the old slave smuggling days. Than I replaced my vulture with a Fer-De-Lance, and than after doing combat/trade for a while I got my anaconda. Notice how the game play changed as I got better ships, the newer ships allowed me to do activities which might has been out of my reach or too difficult before. I am not saying it was perfect (it wasn't) but I do think it was better than it is now.
However if I started the game now, I would have gotten my t6 and rushed to mining and probably gone straight to a Anaconda. The game gives little incentive not to do that unless your inflicting a self imposed handicap on your self in the name of "fun". What the game really need's is "early game content", "Middle Game Content" and "End Game Content" each with different rewards. This way players in a anaconda can earn the large amounts of credits they need/want but without ruining the experience of early game players. I am not against people rushing for the end game, players like that will always exist and that's fine. I am against how the current game economy basically causes that to happen whether they want it to or not, it feels like the game has no natural progression and that more than half the ships, missions, and activities in the game serve no purpose as a result. Certain activities/mission types are just useless because there is no reason to do them, which makes the game feel like it has less content, it hurts the experience.
I do have some solutions in my head but I wanted to hear what the community thought. Please keep in mind this not me making a statement, all the above should be seen as "This what I think is wrong with the economy" not as "This is what is wrong the economy." Please don't attack me!
TLDR: The lack of a Early, Middle, and End Game causes the game to feel disjointed and lowers the diversity of game play. It encourages the players to do the same thing over and over again even though different mission types and activities do exist in the game. The game needs to balance out it's content so that it feels like there is a natural progression for players as they unlock better ships and equipment.
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