Powerplay kills the fun!

Florenus

Florenus
andre3000 said:
"I'm not being rewarded for just existing and doing anything anywhere." -> That's my point, pretty much... why not? You are part of a power, why would all your actions not improve the position of said power within whatever system you are in? (and thus, reward me accordingly) That would be much simpler AND, most of all, more fun than the headache powerplay currently is!

The main issue with powerplay is it being so disassociated from the game, what i mean by that is that i have to break my brain and forget about making the usual nice credits (or fun activities) JUST to focus on merits, that's the issue!

It would be MUCH better if you could pledge, forget about it and, in the background, the game powers dynamically change! We should not have to bother filtering statuses, etc...
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Look at this this way - let's say you are a supporter of some politician in your country right now in RL. How does this post of yours on this game forum helps his case?

And you look at merits in a wrong way I think - they are mainly a way to determine how much you helped a Power - every merit you earn is a point that's tipping the scale of your Power struggle somewhere. You hack a holoadvert, sell lots of cheap commodities to flood the enemy market etc.- your Power gains few more points there to win them some support.
So its not just a point you get for doing anything -it's an acknowledgment of your investment in the struggle.
If you're playing PP, you are participating in kind of grand strategy game against other Powers. So no, there's no point in rewarding you for every little thing you do somewhere, only for actual help where it's needed.
 

Darrack

Darrack
Ruthless4645 said:
"there ya go, now figure this s*** out on your own"
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Just how we like it, no hand holding in Elite

PpUEiUY.png


O7
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
Rubbernuke said:
Powerplay is like shopping at a supermarket with a rewards scheme. You buy your break and milk, and get given extra bread, milk and er.....heavy futuristic weapons.
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They on-sale my details and habits to third party marketers for profit and make me feel like the one that's benefitting? 😂 Sounds like PP. :p
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
andre3000 said:
Why can't i just relax, mine asteroids for 3 hours as i already like to do and sell them for profit AND get some merits?
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What do you mean? You can perfect well mine and sell the stuff and get merits for it. You just have to do in a system controlled by your chosen power.

In fact, mining is one of the activities that gives you the most merits. Efficient laser-mining can give you 5k-10k merits per hour even without going to absolute speedrunning extremes or trying to optimize where you mine.
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
vlazet said:
no kidding, ever since I found that tool, I gained over 1.5 mil merits from just mining lol Never did mining for merits before but that tool made it easy-peasy 😄
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Could someone give a quick tutorial on how to use it? I tried searching for systems that could be mined for rhodplumsite, which was selling for over 700k credits per unit, and it directed me to a nearby system and a couple of planetary rings there, so I went there with my core miner, and could not find rhodplumsite at all. I found all kinds of other minerals in the cores there, but not that. In the end I spent about 2 hours core-mining (without finding a single unit of rhodplumsite, only some other minerals), only to get about 8k merits. That's less than what I get from random laser-mining in the same timespan.

Clearly there's something I'm not getting.
 

Tifu

Tifu
I get the distinct feeling that many people no longer play chess or even checkers where putting a piece randomly on any square gets you nowhere fast ♟️

PP 2.0 is like playing galactic chess on an enormous chessboard with and against many commanders. Only certain moves are legal ( which earns you merits).
 
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Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
DjVortex said:
Could someone give a quick tutorial on how to use it? I tried searching for systems that could be mined for rhodplumsite, which was selling for over 700k credits per unit, and it directed me to a nearby system and a couple of planetary rings there, so I went there with my core miner, and could not find rhodplumsite at all. I found all kinds of other minerals in the cores there, but not that. In the end I spent about 2 hours core-mining (without finding a single unit of rhodplumsite, only some other minerals), only to get about 8k merits. That's less than what I get from random laser-mining in the same timespan.

Clearly there's something I'm not getting.
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Going to chime in here as while I'd love to help you there, despite posting the link you're not going to want the 'benefit' of my experience of mining, since it equates to having made 330 million credits selling mineable goods in 7 years. Literally anyone else on this forum could instruct you better in that area.
 

vlazet

V
DjVortex said:
Could someone give a quick tutorial on how to use it? I tried searching for systems that could be mined for rhodplumsite, which was selling for over 700k credits per unit, and it directed me to a nearby system and a couple of planetary rings there, so I went there with my core miner, and could not find rhodplumsite at all. I found all kinds of other minerals in the cores there, but not that. In the end I spent about 2 hours core-mining (without finding a single unit of rhodplumsite, only some other minerals), only to get about 8k merits. That's less than what I get from random laser-mining in the same timespan.

Clearly there's something I'm not getting.
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all I can say is check out https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteMiners/. I didn't do any mining before I went all in with the meritminer.cc and it was fairly easy after some research to make a couple of billion credits and 1.5mil in merits 😜
 

Knuttin Atoll

K
Florenus said:
I have this problem with ARX, unfortunately. Before ARX were introduced I never felt any pressure to do anything, which was great. Now I feel like every week I just must get my free ARX quota, but what I want to do in game rarely gives any for some reason, so every week I quickly do obligatory set of things to get my ARX, so I can relax. I hate it, but I understand this is my problem, since I "choose" not to ignore free ARX.

I don't have this problem with Powerplay. If I want to help a Power, I need to do more specific things, like mine in certain system, which seems understandable. I'm an agent - I'm not being rewarded for just existing and doing anything anywhere. What I do needs to make sense for the Power I'm supporting. The good thing is that there's plenty of activities to choose from and there's no pressure, like weekly merit decay, so if I'm bored I can take a break and nothing will happen.
I'm in a good position to enjoy that because I really don't care about unlocking any special equipment, so the speed of my rank advancement doesn't bother me at all and actually the only reason I'm taking part in PP is roleplaying.

I understand that when you have some goal in mind, trying to reach it ASAP might take its toll on the fun you're having.
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This post resonates with me because I'm on the opposite spectrum in both areas.

Arx, I used to care about earnings when free skins were attainable within a few weeks, whereas now everything is so far out of reach that I no longer care even looking at the options available now.

I engage in PP not because of RP but for the sake of unlocking modules. The lore etc is so paper thin that I can't RP around a single image of my "leader" and a page of written ethos summary. The rest is just endless tug of war mechanics which feel kinda pointless to me. But my OCD gets triggered by progression mechanics, and despite being familiar with almost all PP modules I can't help but enter the hamster wheel each week to unlock them.

Am level 50 now and realise the modules aren't really worth persevering (the new Concord Cannon was though, somewhat). I don't want to unsubscribe to lose access to what I already have, but the unhideable weekly task list and the game telling me about my hostile status (with no real repercussions so far) remind me of that hamster wheel. It also limits me to a small section of the bubble. It's all a "me" problem but PP feels more like busywork for the sake of it rather than a tool to build a more immersive game world, unfortunately.
 

vanFace

V
FWIW, I like PP2 more than the first version. There are still problems with it, but I have the impression that they are gradually worked out. As just another activity to do in Elite, I find it a wonderful addition to my game-play. The progress is reasonable (a bit like reaching Elite in combat), but some of the rules are not documented good enough, so there is often trial and error involved. All in all, I'd say the re-design was a success.
 

Hugh Jardon

H
andre3000 said:
Let's say TODAY... (that is part of the issue, because, for ALL activities i would have to bother "recalculating" to make it work not too badly with powerplay) i want to go mine!

Now, i have 2 choices, 1) Go to my usual spot, mine for 130 millions, sell it in the same system and be happy! 2) Take an hour to try and find a place where i could mine, and a place where i could sell, without losing TOO MANY credits and get merits!

It's just bad design! I am not gonna bother planning like crazy every time i feel like doing something because "merits"!

So, in the end, it's almost like "either i play powerplay... OR ... i play elite dangerous!'
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This should help stop your whinging. How to get loads of merits from mining:

Elite Dangerous Mining Helper

meritminer.cc meritminer.cc
 
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Yure

Yure
andre3000 said:
Hello everyone!

I am a somewhat new player, i just finished my "honeymoon phase" with this game, everything was wonderful, i learned, i made hundreds of millions, i made ship builds, i participated in all activities i could find, mining, transport, conflict zones, pirate hunting, engineers and so on, and everything was a blast!

Then, i had one very bad idea, i clicked on "powerplay"...

That thing hurts my brain! I tried and tried to find ANY activity that i could do to make decent merits but it feels like the company making this game is actively trying to prevent anyone from enjoying this part! Why couldn't i just earn merits while i play? Why can't i just relax, mine asteroids for 3 hours as i already like to do and sell them for profit AND get some merits? (Almost) No one in his right mind is gonna bother giving himself the headache that it is to find a system to mine in where you can sell for a decent price and that qualifies for the merits! Why can't i just chill, do transport missions for hours and get some merits while i'm at it? Why, in the end, does every activity have to SUCK when merits are introduced??

So, it's simple, i could just forget that powerplay exist but the perfectionist part of me just doesn't feel ok with that, and rather, if some things are not accessible in the game i love, i'd rather completely dismiss the game in it's entirety!
Now, don't get me wrong, i'm not one of those 12 year olds who's like "meh, fix this or i leave!" but genuinely, this whole powerplay thing asks me if i want to play as if it was a boring job or if i want to leave, it's hard to express it, but psychologically, it feels just like that! Powerplay completely destroyed the fun i felt playing the game and since it messed up the possible objectives i could have in the long term, why bother? Powerplay is a dream killer man!

Why can't you just join a power and naturally progress with that power by just playing as you would usually?

This is probably one of the many many posts in which someone whines about this or that but i truly wanted to express how clunky this whole powerplay thing feels to a new player, to the point that i would have appreciated if a buddy introduced me to the game and told me: just one thing, NEVER click on powerplay, it will destroy the game in your mind!

I don't know if i will stick around, maybe after a few days, i'll come to terms with the idea of just forgetting about that, "unpledging", missing out and playing my own version of the game, but right now, i just lost that eagerness i had to play!

Such an amazing game, such a fun-killing feature!

Anyway, cheers to anyone reading this!
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Hey bud, PP is definitely confusing. The instructions on it aren't really clear. That's a stapled trademark of ED. Out of curiosity did you link up with your power's discord server. You generally have a lot of good folks that can direct you where to mine or do things.
 

DaveB

DaveB
Unlike the OP, I'm not a "relatively new player," but I've recently dipped my toe into PP for the first time. I will freely admit that the whole idea of PP1 left me completely cold. PP2 is enough different that it seemed worthwhile to give it a shot. (Fair warning, though, Li... Soon as I've got a full set of shinies I'm off your crew. I'll do my best for you while I'm on it but beyond that point I will revert to completely independent)

I'll remind everyone with an axe to grind here (that's all of us, probably, including me) of one fundamental thing about Elite - if some part of the game is not fun for you, you don't need to do it. At all.This goes for everything. Don't like PvP? Play in solo or in a group that doesn't allow it.Don't want to deal with other folks at all? You can do that. Don't want ships aligned to opposing powers aggro-ing on you? Don't pledge.Don't enjoy a particular mission type? Don't take them. There is no single part of the game that you cannot avoid completely if you don't enjoy it. Well, apart from flying spaceships, but if that doesn't float your boat then you might have picked the wrong game altogether!

Even mentally deleting the things you don't enjoy, there is likely to stilll be the vast majority of the rest of the game left over.

If PP is "killing the fun" then don't PP - simple as that. Because you don't have to.

But if you can't find anything in the game that's fun for you, and decide to kiss your Asp goodbye, welll that's ok too. I'm sure there are other games that you enjoy that I don't.
 
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