Played 200+ hours...Lost everything...Was partly fun but now it's over

[Newbie2]

So this is my first time opening a thread on any type of forum so please go easy on me.
The only reason I am posting this is because one day I hope the game can become what I hope it will be and maybe one more thread on top of everything will be the straw that breaks the camels back and make the devs realize.

So what happened.

Started game.Learning the basics was really really fun.
Did bounty missions.
Did trading.
Did smuggling.
Did combat zones.
Did mining.
Did Mining RES hunting.

So after I did all of this I started to get bored with the game.So I decided to grind a python.and boy was it a grind.
Anyways Got the python and fitted it out(E rated,not very high).put a few weapons on and off I go again.
This was fun for a couple hours but eventually it also started to falter.I know the golden rule.Don't fly what you can't afford.See the thing is I was so bored from the endless grind that I didn't really care anymore I just needed something to do.Anything.Went up against a python and I lost my ship and everything.For a moment my heart stopped and I just knew I messed up bad.And I just sat at my pc screen staring at it.But then something happened.Initially I felt anger at myself for making such a silly mistake and all the time I wasted.Then I started feeling sad because I knew the grind will be real.But then something truly amazing happened.I realized that this game is for a very select few players.I had my fun with it.I learned a lot.I raged a lot.I was exhilarated a lot.But,and this is a big but.I also wasted a lot.A lot of time grinding,trading and mining specifically.And as I reflected on my time with elite I realized something quite horrific.If a game causes me to have to watch a video or series to get rid of boredom the game is doing something wrong and its failing in its sole purpose...to entertain me....This might just be the event that finally sets me free from elite and alas I think my life will be reclaimed.I got the joystick.I got voice attack.I went all out for elite.So why am I writing this exactly?To you devs,You have an amazing game.However it lacks something.I don't think it's necessarily content or bug fixes(although seriously get your act togheter on the bugs).It lacks a soul...How do you add a soul to a game?I don't know.But the biggest thing I can think of is other people.See the problem is that this is fun and all.But it gets really lonely.It is so difficult to have any meaningful interaction with other players.For a game that is advertised as a MMO this truly isn't MMO.I'm not so sure it would even qualify as multiplayer with the instancing ect.The other side of this coin is its always online.With an offline game I can play as I want.So if I want to skip the grind and just go straight to anaconda I can with cheats and trainers.Spending the 1 hour a day and 6 hours a weekend I have available is not fun if I have to grind it.The play style is in my hands.But not with an always online.SO we truly have the worst of both worlds.A relatively poorly implementded MMO and a relatively poorly implemented single player expierience.I hope it gets fixed because I want this game to be a huge success and this is something I have been hoping for for years.But for now I think I am going to take a break for a couple of years.Don't take this as a rant because it really isn't.Its simply my expierience with your game that I am giving you.I certainly had a lot of fun and it was worth the 50 bucks.however I am not buying the horizons or the following expansions for the above reason.

I don't know how but please fix this as I want this genre to succeed.Pardon my english it's not my first language.

Fly safe commanders and remember don't fly what you can't afford.

I will see elite again in a couple of years to see how it matured

 

[Vorxian]

Heart-felt OP my friend.

Yep I get you as well. I haven't lost everything like you did, but, I did take a 6 month break, and came back for a nose and still deflated by grinding for rep so I can fly the new boats in Horizons... I got to Serf or Master or something and logged out worn out. I like exploring, but i always feel i need to be grinding to be achieving.. i dunno it's a pit.

But I hear ya man. You'll be back in 6 months, for a looksie. Hope you like what you find. BUT sure as daylight take a break. Sounds like if you stay you'll just hate it more. That's not good for anyone.

/salute

 

[MottiKhan]

You had fun and that's the main thing. There always comes a time to set a game aside. You found yours with ED. Best wishes for the future and your newly gained time.

For me, ED actually gave me a respite from another time sucking game. I'm an "Elite Founder" for Galactic Civilizations 3. It was taking a significant part of my life, but the core of the game seemed to be a moving target. Then I came across ED. By comparison, ED is a much simpler game and I don't have to devote so much grey matter to playing it. In fact, I've kind of "zoned out" in battles and went into a sort of autopilot mode where I'm not really aware of what I'm doing. I wake to find myself l lot richer than when I lost awareness. I also tend to do mini naps when in SC, only to be awaken by some NPC wanting to commit suicide or something.

I might have put some time into ED, but not as much devoted time as GC3. ED is also easier to walk away from when I have other things to do.

 

[Maverick and Goose]

Great post OP. As I have been grinding on and off for the clipper, I also get very bored and occasionally frustrated. I took a long break last summer and suspect I'll do the same again this summer

 

[Newbie2]

Heart-felt OP my friend.

Yep I get you as well. I haven't lost everything like you did, but, I did take a 6 month break, and came back for a nose and still deflated by grinding for rep so I can fly the new boats in Horizons... I got to Serf or Master or something and logged out worn out. I like exploring, but i always feel i need to be grinding to be achieving.. i dunno it's a pit.

But I hear ya man. You'll be back in 6 months, for a looksie. Hope you like what you find. BUT sure as daylight take a break. Sounds like if you stay you'll just hate it more. That's not good for anyone.

/salute

You know I hope when I come back in 6 month's or a year it will be more refined.When I think of elite it's kind of this love hate relationship.I loathe the grind but this darn game has the most potential I have ever seen in a game and it makes me cry to see that potential unreleased...:-(.Maybe the reward cycle is too long?Smaller rewards maybe in more frequent doses.So you perceive it less as a 'grind'?

 

[Gamel0rd1]

If you could make your own home on a planet, customise it, make a town, heck even a city. That would be amazing. Your own planet to YOURSELF. Income, trade, prospecting. Done by you and AIs. Real life, GTA, space and car sim all together. The biggest game. We need that. A place to call home. Jobs, income, FUN. The game is lacking - horizons right now is a waste of money, but I bought it to check it out. Some people like the barren worlds. I, on the other hand, have a keen attention to detail and the same brown planet with the same white clouds you can't even land on, or a yellowish craterd planet copied and pasted in the SAME SYSTEM is outright lazy.

Things you can do in horizons:

Land
Land at bases (the same generic model with no difference from outposts at all)
Drive (pointlessly. Nothing to do except discover existing elements?)
Admire the view

A "game" is initially entertainment. Staring blatantly at the surface of a planet is certainly not entertainment. I admit, some views are spectacular, but not fun. You might say it's "not my kind of game" but there's a reason for that. So I asked my friends (gamers) to check out the game via my YT channel which had enough content in the game to portray a good picture. They all said

"Boring". There are 8 of them.

That says something. We need more stuff to do. I know engineers is coming soon, but what does it add? Crafting? Er... Yeah sure cool but... Surely there's bigger priorities? A place to call home would be the game for me. Develop, expand and protect my very own planet with animals, plants and people. The game is really good most of the time, but it is definitely NOT an mmo. Solo play? Does LoL, Dota, WoW, Fractured space have solo? No! They're MMOs!

I know coding all this will happen eventually and I respect that it's coming, but... The game feels like a beta. People will be mad at removing Solo play, but it ruins player experiences in Open where they want to socialise or meet others.

This is a long post, and has not much to do with the thread, but I'm expressing my opinion in an honest way. Please don't kill me over this.

 

[Newbie2]

If you could make your own home on a planet, customise it, make a town, heck even a city. That would be amazing. Your own planet to YOURSELF. Income, trade, prospecting. Done by you and AIs. Real life, GTA, space and car sim all together. The biggest game. We need that. A place to call home. Jobs, income, FUN. The game is lacking - horizons right now is a waste of money, but I bought it to check it out. Some people like the barren worlds. I, on the other hand, have a keen attention to detail and the same brown planet with the same white clouds you can't even land on, or a yellowish craterd planet copied and pasted in the SAME SYSTEM is outright lazy.

Things you can do in horizons:

Land
Land at bases (the same generic model with no difference from outposts at all)
Drive (pointlessly. Nothing to do except discover existing elements?)
Admire the view

A "game" is initially entertainment. Staring blatantly at the surface of a planet is certainly not entertainment. I admit, some views are spectacular, but not fun. You might say it's "not my kind of game" but there's a reason for that. So I asked my friends (gamers) to check out the game via my YT channel which had enough content in the game to portray a good picture. They all said

"Boring". There are 8 of them.

That says something. We need more stuff to do. I know engineers is coming soon, but what does it add? Crafting? Er... Yeah sure cool but... Surely there's bigger priorities? A place to call home would be the game for me. Develop, expand and protect my very own planet with animals, plants and people. The game is really good most of the time, but it is definitely NOT an mmo. Solo play? Does LoL, Dota, WoW, Fractured space have solo? No! They're MMOs!

I know coding all this will happen eventually and I respect that it's coming, but... The game feels like a beta. People will be mad at removing Solo play, but it ruins player experiences in Open where they want to socialise or meet others.

This is a long post, and has not much to do with the thread, but I'm expressing my opinion in an honest way. Please don't kill me over this.

You know I read this post through 4 times to find something I disagree with but the only thing I can do is echo exactly this what you said...

 

[tafkabb]

This isn't the first time I've seen someone die without a rebuy.
This isn't the first time I've seen someone quit after dying without a rebuy.
This isn't even the first time I've seen someone quit after dying without a rebuy after playing for 200 hours nd grinding to a Python

It's not the first time I've commented either.

And still people blame the game.

 

[Hans Slowlow]

Fly safe commanders and remember don't fly what you can't afford.

This pretty much says it all. You gambled and lost; perhaps without a true understanding of the risks. This game is totally unforgiving in that respect. However, it is not exactly as if this is a secret to anyone who researches whatever game they happen to play.

Forgive me for not reading your post completely. I would have if it were not large block of text. It hurts my eyes attempting to read it (I'm old and partly mentally deranged ).

I understand that English is not your first language, but give me a line break here and there to separate the main points.

Good luck playing whatever you chose next.

 

[Scoopy Doopy]

I hadn't got as far as you when I lost everything, I only had an Asp and a Vulture, some exploration data and 80M in credits. I lost it when the starting screen hung and I mashed the keyboard a bit and when I restarted the game, found I had re-set my commander.

However annoying it was, it was fun starting out in a sidewinder again. I was much better with it than originally

However, I think the key to this game is not to grind. It's your own choice in the end. I will get the cash for the Anaconda one day i'm sure but if I don't, it doesn't matter. If you reach a point where the game isn't fun any more, just grinding for something bigger is not going to make the game any more fun for you. If you reach that point, maybe you have done with it. Maybe that's it. I got bored of chess. I used to play all the time and now I don't play at all.

Well done for noticing you have had enough and good luck with what ever you will spend your time on now.

 

[Newbie2]

This isn't the first time I've seen someone die without a rebuy.
This isn't the first time I've seen someone quit after dying without a rebuy.
This isn't even the first time I've seen someone quit after dying without a rebuy after playing for 200 hours nd grinding to a Python

It's not the first time I've commented either.

And still people blame the game.

Where do I blame the game for losing my python and having to start over?

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

This pretty much says it all. You gambled and lost; perhaps without a true understanding of the risks. This game is totally unforgiving in that respect. However, it is not exactly as if this is a secret to anyone who researches whatever game they happen to play.

Forgive me for not reading your post completely. I would have if it were not large block of text. It hurts my eyes attempting to read it (I'm old and partly mentally deranged ).

I understand that English is not your first language, but give me a line break here and there to separate the main points.

Good luck playing whatever you chose next.

I truly apologize about the formatting....I will get it right next time

 

[TheSisko]

Its scary how much of a time sink this game can be. Never has my TiVo had so many unwatched shows for me to watch. But it was my choice to play the game, to obtain those ranks and promotions and ships and to...grind I guess. Because for now, I enjoy playing. And the day ED stops being fun, I have Forza 6 and The Witcher 3 to get started on.

I can see why the OP is leaving the game (great post BTW), but.....do not fly without insurance! Why? Why do players still do this? Why do players embrace this pure insanity in a game this ruthless, this.....dangerous?

When/if the OP returns the game will be improved and hopefully will have more for players to do.

 

[Klab]

I understand where the OP is coming from. I think the key to this game (any game really) is not to overplay it. It will soon become tedious & dull, just like any other game if you play it relentlessly. The trick for me is to pick it up when I'm bored, or I have a particular idea or plan, then put it down once I've had enough for the day. Usually a couple of hours sometimes more. I'm still 'grinding' towards my goals, but slowly & without any rush. What is the rush anyway? The game isn't going anywhere is it? I joined in Jan 2015 soon after ED launched, I have also 'done everything' - I made triple elite months ago. There is still much to do for me, and doing it in a non-rushed way certainly keeps the whole experience fresh. My two pennies & good luck OP whatever you decide to do next

 

[StewartScott]

This isn't the first time I've seen someone die without a rebuy.
This isn't the first time I've seen someone quit after dying without a rebuy.
This isn't even the first time I've seen someone quit after dying without a rebuy after playing for 200 hours nd grinding to a Python

It's not the first time I've commented either.

And still people blame the game.

Exactly.

 

[bitstorm]

Another pointless comment by the Frontier's White Knite group.

The game is to blame when people grow so bored of it they say : "Heck, I'll risk everything I earned by flying a bigger ship simply to try and be somewhat entertained."

Dude's played 200+ hours and is now bored it it? That's not bad.

He says he'll be back too.

Honestly there's nothing to say everyone has to play consistently for 10+ years every day or else the game is at fault. Dip in, dip out. Not many games you'd have 200+ hours from and still know you'll come back to.

On your "white knight" comment, I think generally people react to the nonconstructive comments here on the forums. If folk are non-constructive with some huge negative rant you're gonna see comments with a similar tone.

On OP's running with no insurance, well that's on his head. Weve all done it at one time or another, some of us get caught, some of us get away with it. Op got caught. [ugh]

 

[Newbie2]

Its scary how much of a time sink this game can be. Never has my TiVo had so many unwatched shows for me to watch. But it was my choice to play the game, to obtain those ranks and promotions and ships and to...grind I guess. Because for now, I enjoy playing. And the day ED stops being fun, I have Forza 6 and The Witcher 3 to get started on.

I can see why the OP is leaving the game (great post BTW), but.....do not fly without insurance! Why? Why do players still do this? Why do players embrace this pure insanity in a game this ruthless, this.....dangerous?

When/if the OP returns the game will be improved and hopefully will have more for players to do.

To answer the simple question of why this insanity.
Because I really just wanted to do something else...That new shiny python seemed to be it.However I am almost convinced that the pyhton was a momentary gratification.After this it would have been a grind to the anaconda...And then the inevatible...Me leaving elite for a while...

I think elite is a game for people who do not need purpose in a game,and I am a person that needs goals to fulfill.Something to drive me.Missions to complete...Meaningful missions.I need to invest myself into the characters...The factions...I need to feel emotionally tied to what i am doing...

Why can't elite have both...Allow you to wander aimlessly through space and do whatever you are doing now and have a mission driven section..."A planet is under attack and the civilians need your assistance to defend their planet" ect?.Regardless this game has so much potential waiting to be released...Akin to Goku going supersayan...Its going to be amazing when that happens...

 

[subhouse07]

Man, at the risk of sounding like a , I have no sympathy (if that's what you are looking for anyway). I am baffled by how many people get upset when they become dissatisfied with this game after GRINDING AND GRINDING AND GRINDING. In what world do grinding and fun go hand in hand? I've got about 400 hours in this game and havent subjected myself to a single grind, I just don't get how people fall into it without expecting to get bored. You don't have to do the same thing over and over again, and if you get bored of the game, then take a break or play something else. Why would you continue to grind your way to a Python, then nihilistically get blown up knowing (and not caring) you wouldn't be able to buy it back? Why is everyone grinding anyway? My mind goes to Citizen Kane where a guy grinds his way into his own personal palace only to find himself old and burnt out reminiscing of his stupid sled he had when he was a kid. Imagine you possess all the wealth and knowledge the universe has to offer...does life not become futile and insignificant at that point???

The game has it's shortcomings, I am not blind to that fact, and I also understand that the type and level of enjoyment each individual gets out of the game is subject to personal taste, but if you do everything in the game, decide you're bore with it, then proceed to grind up to a Python only to decide you "dont even care anymore" that's on you man!

Again I apologize for the windy post, I'm just sooooo bored of seeing these types of posts.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Why? Why do players still do this? Why do players embrace this pure insanity in a game this ruthless, this.....dangerous?

Even weirder is that usually, as in this OP, the poster starts by saying 'he doesnt care', then goes into detail about how he cares very much, and then rapidly shift gear into 'but this game stupid anyway'. These posts generally read the same way a teenager describes his break-up.

"So I was drunk yesterday and by accident set the dog of my girlfriend on fire. She told me she never wants to see me again but I dont care lol. My life is so miserable now I cant stop crying. But she's stupid anyway, who cares about girls, right?"

 

[Newbie2]

Exactly.

Guys please you are misqouting me terribly...I never once said I am quitting because I lost everything.Neither did I say I am angry at the game for me losing everything.I know I ran without insurance but this is not the point.Regardless of if I lost my python or not the end result would probably have been the same...

 

[Kristov]

My first time restarting in a Sidey, I'd JUST finished getting my Imperial Clipper fully A graded and a military hull, spent a lot more than that Python cost you as it happens, a hell of a lot more. Lost it all due to MY own stupidity, as, just like you, I took it out without having enough for the rebuy, hell, I didn't even have enough to cover repairs if I scratched the paint, 1038 credits in the bank, that's it. However, just like you, I did take it out, and just like you, I got blasted into scrap.

That was the FIRST time I lost it all...not the only time, and not even the most expensive loss I've had.

The Beagle is a quarter billion credit investment right now, exploration build, and I've got enough coin in the bank to buy a Cutter, if I had any use for one.

And you know what?

I haven't grinded anything, and I didn't stop playing because I was an idiot, repeatedly, and I'm still enjoying myself, hundreds of hours after I lost it all the first time...ain't nothing FD can do to make the game better for you, it's a grind now for you just to afford a cheap Python?