Please do something about ranking

[barnstormer1126]

Ok, so the background explanation bit:

I've been playing off and on about 2 years now; just found out about and went through the "Road to Riches" exploration route to finally nab myself the Anaconda I've been after. Well, the 'Conda is great and all, but turns out I don't really like how thick the side profile is, so I wanna swap to the FedVette...but I haven't done anything about ranking for the Federation till now.

I happen to notice that apparently with all I've done in the 2 years I've been playing, I've managed to reach 100% for Recruit, which means I can rank up once I get the mission. Find a system with a bunch of minor Fed factions, do the log in/out to refresh the mission board trick, and get a rank up mission. Do that, and then I see I'm still at 100% for the next rank...sweet. Only I stop seeing the rank up missions in the system/faction I used before, even with the refresh trick. Ok, I figure it's that 'You're really at 99.x%' deal (which to be honest, is kinda bogus in and of itself....anyway) so I do a couple simple transport missions to make sure I'm at the full 100%. Go back to my 'home' system for the rank up missions, and see one again. Ok, cool.

And then the same damn thing happens for the next 2 ranks-I'm at 100%, but don't see the rank up missions till I do at least one other kind of mission, despite being at a full 100% for the rank AFTER the one I'm on.

This is....beyond ridiculous. Apparently I have a ton of ranks waiting for me, which would imply I'm at the full 100% and don't need to do transport stuff to see the rank ups...and yet apparently I do, cuz for some reason the game doesn't recognize the 100% until I've done another kind of mission.

Even then, yeah, I don't mind rank up missions being random 'drops'....but I'm sorry, they need to be a bit more common than they are when you ARE at 100%. Logging in and out 20-30 times in order to see just one is a bit ridiculous.

So, my suggestions?

1. If possible, (and I realize it may not be), get rid of this stupid 'you're at 99.7% but the bar shows 100%'. Either show the decimals, or go by whole numbers.
2. Increase the frequency of rank up missions appearing when you ARE at 100%-just slightly.
3. Figure out what the hell is causing rank up missions not to appear when you seem to have a 'backlog' of rank ups until you've done a random mission or two, and fix it.

**Edit:
Suggestion #4: For the love of CHRIST, do something about getting scanned by the Feds for these illegal transport ranking missions. I'm working for YOU, you morons! These missions don't pay much to begin with, then you lose what little profit there is because you get scanned twice, once on departure, once on arrival, which means TWO fines, and TWO cuts to the overall reward, and you can't avoid it because they're *that* about scanning. Just beyond stupid and immersion breaking *facepalm*

 

[Zeeman]

I think the ranking thing needs a total rethink...

Why is it that, in a "military" career, fighting for factions aligned to the main action doesn't get you any rank? Yet, halling propaganda flyers, killing civilians, pirating and the like... Do?

I'd like to have seen ranking done on a reputation type system, where missions are offered over time - kind of like how missions popped up int he original Elite.

If you maintain a good rep with the Empire, or Feds for a certain amount of time, and have a certain ranking, you will get a mission to become a recruit. Again, after a certain period of time, and high enough rating, you get the next mission, which is harder. So on, and so forth, rather than just a straight grind.

Being aligned to one faction should also mean you can't join the other. Or, perhaps, you can, as a double agent, but this would present risks, and as a highly ranked member of a navy, missions are issued at a moments notice. Not in stations, but direct to your HUD. Double agents are likely to get a missions from both navies, with timelines that mean it's almost impossible (almost) to finish both and keep your secret, but should you be caught, you're on a KOS list.

Anyways, I can dream about a situation where choices mean rewards and consequences, and every player has to make their choices...

Z...

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Ranking does need an overhaul.

It's currently painfully slow, if you don't exploit it or Uber grind it.
We do need alternative ways to rank up.

I'm in favour of increasing the natural speed of ranking, but making it slow down almost to a halt if you repeatedly do the same mission over and over.
That'll stop the Quince exploits, and making ranking more pleasant. In theory.

 

[William H. Bonney]

Agree that ranking needs improvements... would be nice if we had fed, imp and alliance missions at high populated systems, IE. not for the factions themselves, so we would have missions like the ranking ones all the time, being allied with the relevant factions in a system is how your rep score increases with said powers (+, ++, +++).