Much better here in Italy with WIMAX ;-)
Powerplay 2.0 deep dive - Frontier Live 27th March
- Thread starter londonx
- Start date
LOL, I envy you. You must be the most evasive player ever.
Before the broadband fiber optic lines were built over here, my only option was some radio based connection. I had a small dish outside, mounted on the wall of the house, pointing at a central antenna in the middle of the village. It was OKish (about 25/10 Mbps) for a few years, but there were a couple of young trees between my house and the central antenna. The trees grew larger over the years, and spring come, they grew leaves, which made my bandwidth very erratic.
I haven't felt that evasive ever since.
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It's not even about the timing of the game, or even the quality of the internet. It's not even about the fact that I'll get a letter from the chief that I have to be on watch today from so many to so many in such and such a square.
The point is that if one force has a lot of good pilots, all the others will join them and one force will be far above the others without any alternative.
The point is that if one force has a lot of good pilots, all the others will join them and one force will be far above the others without any alternative.
As you all know I favour the Open Only Powerplay solution, but to make it so Powerplay shouldn't offer ANYTHING for players who are not interested in that kind of gameplay: this means, and I will never stop to say it, NO MORE POWERPLAY MODULES, current modules should be MOVED to tech-brokers for EVERYBODY, maybe if you want to feel nostalgic to the tech-brokers of the systems (at least) fortified by thier original Power, but Powerplay should be played EXCLUSIVELY by players that WANT to play Powerplay, which should have some very precise gameplay characteristics to offer for the players that may be interested.
Like the whole thargoid-war game mechanic: I never cared that much of the whole thargoid gameplay part, but I simply do not partake in that, for Powerplay it should be the EXACT SAME THING.
Like the whole thargoid-war game mechanic: I never cared that much of the whole thargoid gameplay part, but I simply do not partake in that, for Powerplay it should be the EXACT SAME THING.
I'm going to have to disagree on this one- given that PP is now positioned as a whole new layer of the BGS its gameplay is going to be quite broad (at least in the improvement of powers aspect which seems to be heavily BGS led).
If V2 was keeping V1 mechanics I'd agree in a heartbeat, but as FU #4 illustrated the old 5C reasons are gone, and that V2 is casual friendly with non decay personal perk progression.
Sorry mate I don't understand what you mean: are you saying that Powerplay modules should stay intrinsic to the Powers as they are or you don't just agree in making Powerplay Open Only? Or that in an even Open Only Powerplay you'd still keep the Powerplay modules?
What I mean is V2 PP is (judging by the devs explaining it) going to be what Powerplay V1 was supposed to be in relation to it being the conquest and war part of the BGS.
This involves long term reward structures which don't decay, and considering the mechanics of V2 are more sound so having a carrot of modules is OK IMO. If Sandros OO PP was introduced (which still had voting, waiting for 4 weeks and minimum effort) then I'd be fine with modules at brokers.
And as far as being intrinsic, what I'm guessing will happen is every pledge regardless of power unlocks all the modules in a linear way as they get involved with PP. So each tier unlocked in loyalty rewards gives you a new module until tier 10 where you get them all.
As far as Open is concerned, while I'd love an OO Powerplay I don't think (V2) will be fully OO. The devs spoke about PvP but they also seem to be feeling out where the line is drawn which to me suggests womething like weighting, or that some activities power INF are muted in solo. But you never know behind closed doors though
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...but do we have to switch power for that, or just keep grinding our power and getting the unlock anyway? So they're going to set a progression for the ranks, i.e. like prismatics shields at the end of it?
Ok NOW I understand.What I mean is V2 PP is (judging by the devs explaining it) going to be what Powerplay V1 was supposed to be in relation to it being the conquest and war part of the BGS.
This involves long term reward structures which don't decay, and considering the mechanics of V2 are more sound so having a carrot of modules is OK IMO. If Sandros OO PP was introduced (which still had voting, waiting for 4 weeks and minimum effort) then I'd be fine with modules at brokers.
And as far as being intrinsic, what I'm guessing will happen is every pledge regardless of power unlocks all the modules in a linear way as they get involved with PP. So each tier unlocked in loyalty rewards gives you a new module until tier 10 where you get them all.
As far as Open is concerned, while I'd love an OO Powerplay I don't think (V2) will be fully OO. The devs spoke about PvP but they also seem to be feeling out where the line is drawn which to me suggests womething like weighting, or that some activities power INF are muted in solo. But you never know behind closed doors though
That said, I still believe that Powerplay at this point should be Open Only to make it different from BGS, apparently PP2 is designed to make crystal clear where you can find enemy activity and this seems perfect for a "Open Play cooperation/confrontation game style".
This is the main reason I would love for Powerplay to be completely "optional" for the casual player, the uninterested player and for anybody that simply don't want that kind of "cooperation/confrontation" game style.
Without Open Play I am afraid that PP2, even if is far, far, faaaar better than current Powerplay, would become more like a "upper scale, actually a little bit poorer in game mechanics" BGS.
Don't get me wrong: I welcome very happily this new PP2 even if it's gonna be open/solo as the rest of the game is right now, I just say that making it Open Only would give the game that final flavour FDev tried (and failed until now) to give until now (the REAL MMO flavour, where you find actual people and not just the consequences of their actions).
But if you make it Open Only THEN you need to give the Powerplay Modules to every player, even the ones that do not want to play Open (but BGS will stay as it is for that).
Basically making my reasoning as a flowchart it should be something like this:
Open Only Powerplay?
- YES: Power Modules to Tech Brokers for everybody
- NO: Will Powerplay Modules be unlocked at some point of the Tier System for every Power?
- YES: Power Modules can stay as one of the many Powerplay gift
- NO: Power Modules to Tech Brokers for everybody
But if you think about it it's easier to just put Powerplay Modules to tech-brokers, and it would make the pledge choice even fairer especialy for new Players.
Oh and by the way: if they REALLY want to make Powerplay Open Only, they should think about every problem connected to that:
- something like a "suspension system" for players attacking same pledged players (to avoid people pledging with secondary accounts to raid their true enemies)
- making the docking different: we don't know people occupying the docking bays just for the lolz, ships should leave the docking bay asap, despawning possibly then spawning again when they launch from the shipyard.
No- what I think happens is each tier has a module or two attached to it (or that certain tiers unlock a batch)- so you eliminate the need for inter power module shopping.
So as a hypothetical example: at tier 3 you get the Retributor, Granny Beam, Pulse Disruptor, at tier 5 Packs, Enforcer, APA, at tier 7 Cyto, Hammers, Containment MIs. and prismatics. No need to defect, and once unlocked are unlocked forever with no decay.
But this way you'd "force" people to get to Powerplay anyway so... less opportunity to make it Open Only.
Not necessarily though. If you separate out personal and power rewards (the latter driving the power, the former raising your tiers) you can still do PP but some things just don't count towards progressing your power. For example PP FC hacking- do it in solo and while you get the sweet tier tokens you get no INF for undermining.
Only if they were interested in the modules, which weren't incentive enough for lots of us to do PP1.
As a non PP1 player I would be more optimistic about PP2 if it didn't come with bribes.
No I mean: making Powerplay Modules accessible by actively playing Powerplay will make it far less "optional", and it means it would make Open Only Powerplay highly improbable. Most people just care about Powerplay Modules. And it is bad for Powerplay, imho.
PP1 was not very well received by most players because it was counterintuitive and repetitive. Period.
But almost every player has been pledged because they wanted the modules.
Reasons to play PP2 should be:
- to be straightforward and easy to understand, and they did it apparently
- to not be repetitive, and apparently they did that too
- to offer something "really different": and for that I only see Open Only as a really revolutionary concept for the game
I didn't do PP1 because its purpose didn't interest me and the activities didn't sound interesting outside that purpose. I didn't do it to get the modules as that seemed to be unfair to the people actually playing it and the modules didn't seem worth bending what passes for my principles over.
- That would be good.
- As would that.
- Different is good forcing people who want to take part to have to play in a way they don't wish is not the sort of revolution I want to see in the game.
I think the rewards for Powerplay should be Powerplay itself. I see the modules as a failed attempt to bribe people to participate. If the gameplay loops of PP are enticing enough with some immaterial rewards like discounts on outfitting, ships and rebuys or bonuses for trading, combat bonds etc, it should draw in players regardless of module bribes. Then modules could be moved to tech brokers or even simply to general outfitting in fortified systems, akin to rare goods and superpower specific ships. And pledged players can buy them at a discount, or even given for free as loyalty rewards.
Why in my opinion this would be better than having them as strict rewards for participating? Because not tying these modules to participation would completely disincentivize people who don't care about powerplay at all for the powerplay, but still want the shiny stuffz, from pledging and doing a half-asped effort at it just to get the modules--and then cry about The Grind on forums and Reddit because they have to get their rep up to Tier 7 to get their oh-so-essential prismatic shields And conversely, if some non-powerplay players discover that their home system, that used to be a convenient source for buying prismatic shields, has come under attack and loses the availability of these oh-so-essential modules they might be incentivized to sign up with The Princess and fight for their availability
Why in my opinion this would be better than having them as strict rewards for participating? Because not tying these modules to participation would completely disincentivize people who don't care about powerplay at all for the powerplay, but still want the shiny stuffz, from pledging and doing a half-asped effort at it just to get the modules--and then cry about The Grind on forums and Reddit because they have to get their rep up to Tier 7 to get their oh-so-essential prismatic shields
And conversely, if some non-powerplay players discover that their home system, that used to be a convenient source for buying prismatic shields, has come under attack and loses the availability of these oh-so-essential modules they might be incentivized to sign up with The Princess and fight for their availabilityAbout point 3 I know it would make many people discontent, but this game needs something for Open imho, mostly because the only way to have many people against each other (and making videos, live streams, etc which is all good advertising for the game btw) is to give them something where they know they matter. In a mixed Powerplay, as for everything else in the game, the most effective way to give your contribution would be in private, making Open deserted as it is right now and getting many players to chose something else. To do so, new rules should be crystal clear since day one. And an Open Only Powerplay 2 would be optional as thargoid wars mechanics are. It's not Powerplay 1 changing: Powerplay 1 is dead. The real question is: if you don't want to play open only then why should you want to give your contribution in something designed to be open Only? The "I want to give my contribution the way I want to do it" is invalid for every game mechanic. As, for example, you need to grind the right modules to give your contribution in the thargoid wars. Everything is optional. The real question should be: what would benefit the game most? I think that Open Only Powerplay would really benefit the game. Let's be honest: you need people playing against each other to make it really something different and try to access to new potential customers.
I could say that any bonus or perk in PP is a bribe- LYRs yard discount, in the early days the bounty uplift from ALD and Zack and a few others also drew groups to expand the power for them alone- at some point you will need to offer new players rewards for doing that part of the game and away from the BGS (which has none of that).
I suppose the ultimate compromise would be to have both- unlocks via PP and have tech brokers for the most used modules- you get them all at a reduced price on stronghold FCs while brokers have to be unlocked individually and cost a lot of money.
No more than they're "forced" already. I've been pledged both to Arissa Lagivy-Duval (for role-playing reasons, the "benefits" were atrocious for a non-combat oriented player like me) and Aisling Duval (also for role-playing reasons, and more aligned with my play style), and I never earned enough merits to purchase either of the special modules. I simply couldn't stand either of the merit earning methods, and any merits I did gain during my limited play window would decay, so I concentrated on the BGS aspects of PowerPlay instead.
The fact that you can pledge and have your merits not decay would go a long way towards what I originally had hoped PowerPlay would be: a way to aligning with one of the SuperPowers, and participating in the "cold war" between the various major Powers of the galaxy and the Alliance.