Apologies if this is the 100th time this suggestion has been made, but I haven't come across it yet.
I know that theoretically Frontier is hoping to add out-of-ship exploration and whatnot; sounds cool to me, but the difficulty with that, of course, is having an integration with the current game that makes SENSE.
I propose that missions be included that are highly specific FPS-style combat-based instances.
Let's take, for example, a Federal rank progression mission: A message board could have a "Assault on <shipname/planetname>" that you accept, and are dropped into a sandboxed fight on a random ship interior map or limited planetary map with orders to assassinate someone or defend some landmark against an attack.
Possibly larger events could occur which players would queue for and enter in bigger groups. In a scenario like this, large station-based assaults could perhaps trigger a system-wide emergency alert for friendly players in the area to come help repel the assault. It could be an interesting tipping point and game mechanic for systems in the final stages of civil war/switching allegiances.
A system like this would eliminate a lot of the obvious issues with any FPS-style addon to ED as the level system could simply be your Federal rank or faction relationship, gear would be static and assigned based on your rank and the mission itself; no MMORPG style levelling system or crafting/mob farming/loot drop system would need to interfere with the basic ED "space shooter" mechanics.
This same system could also be expanded into capital ships and boarding parties; parties of players in a larger ship could attack and board larger ships and be thrown into instances together.
Again, my apologies if this has been rehashed a lot!
I know that theoretically Frontier is hoping to add out-of-ship exploration and whatnot; sounds cool to me, but the difficulty with that, of course, is having an integration with the current game that makes SENSE.
I propose that missions be included that are highly specific FPS-style combat-based instances.
Let's take, for example, a Federal rank progression mission: A message board could have a "Assault on <shipname/planetname>" that you accept, and are dropped into a sandboxed fight on a random ship interior map or limited planetary map with orders to assassinate someone or defend some landmark against an attack.
Possibly larger events could occur which players would queue for and enter in bigger groups. In a scenario like this, large station-based assaults could perhaps trigger a system-wide emergency alert for friendly players in the area to come help repel the assault. It could be an interesting tipping point and game mechanic for systems in the final stages of civil war/switching allegiances.
A system like this would eliminate a lot of the obvious issues with any FPS-style addon to ED as the level system could simply be your Federal rank or faction relationship, gear would be static and assigned based on your rank and the mission itself; no MMORPG style levelling system or crafting/mob farming/loot drop system would need to interfere with the basic ED "space shooter" mechanics.
This same system could also be expanded into capital ships and boarding parties; parties of players in a larger ship could attack and board larger ships and be thrown into instances together.
Again, my apologies if this has been rehashed a lot!