Powerplay = Punishment for Not Playing: Welcome to Your Second Job

[Sentience]

I've come to the conclusion that Powerplay is designed to be your second job.
It punishes you if you decide to stop playing it, like a girlfriend that nags you for watching a ball game instead of taking her shopping. Better yet, it's like your boss calling you asking why you aren't at work and taking away your hard earned perks.

We are given all these tools to expand territory and prevent others from expanding territory, but the rewards are, in one succinct word...abysmal.

I tried going to an Expansion system and participated in a Violent Protest zone.
I killed about 5 Pythons, 3 Anacondas, a half dozen Vultures and a few assorted Vipers, Cobras, and Eagles. I get back to my HQ and turn in the combat vouchers.

My reward? 1,500 credits for 40 mins spent fighting.

Why even bother giving me anything at all? I could have spent 40 minutes at a RES (well, not anymore, that got nerfed) or doing Bounty missions and making hundreds of thousands of credits.
1,500 credits killing Anacondas and Pythons is a joke. It's an insult to my time as a gamer. Instead I expected to be rewarded with Merits at least.

My Merit reward? 17 Merits.

I could have spent those 40 minutes running Utopian propaganda for the Preparation phase earning 10 Merits every 5 minutes or so.

So then I decided to go undermine the Pirate Power's fortification of a control system.
I arrive, and I'm immediately interdicted and attacked by a 3-ship Denton Patreus player wing.

So what are they doing there? No reason for Denton Patreus to be anywhere near Pirate space at the edge of the habitable galaxy. They were there just to kill other Power players, since everyone shows red as enemy and the local police DO NOT get involved.
Powerplay now gives players an excuse to murder with no penalties, despite the "completely revamped" bounty system that doesn't do anything in the end.

10,000 Merits to grind every week just to maintain Rank 5? Forget it.
Forget Rank 4 too. I'm a casual player.
I decided Rank 3 would be my target. 750 Merits / week. That's 75 runs transporting stuff for preparation, or 30 hours killing for combat vouchers at the rate I was getting them.
And even if I did grind all those Merits...would I be significantly richer for it?

No. Powerplay pays diddly to the player.
Grinding isn't worth it. I would rather invest all my time playing a different game like Planetside where I know I'm going to earn certs in a timely fashion and I can immediately use them to buy weapons and gear that won't expire. I know my certs don't expire if I don't use them.

This game just turned into a second job and I don't want any part of this.

:TLDR:

Get rid faction decay. Don't punish me for not playing your game. If I want an incentive to play it's going to be earning benefits I can use whenever I want, not grinding out faction points just to keep my hard earned benefits.
Increase the cash payouts for Preparation/Expansion/Fortify missions. 1,500 credits for 40 min of work killing Pythons and Anacondas is a joke. I don't even feel like playing this game after that. It's punishing, not rewarding.

I shouldn't feel like I need to play just to keep stuff instead of playing because I want to have fun and gain stuff. There is a huge difference between these and FD just isn't getting it.

 

[CMDR Valvrave]

i second that - also as an explorer - you cant take part in PP when out in the void. you get punished for being an explorer twice.

 

[Muss]

Ok so what am I missing here, I thought I could ignore PP and just keep doing my thing is that incorrect ?

 

[n13L5]

I think current FD designers don't understand the game they're trying to make.

They probably understand the simple old Elite and converting it into some kind of MMORPG seems to be totally over their head, as they do one backwards thing after another. I'd say the decision makers in the FD team should be forced to actually play the game for a lot of hours per day, so they can tell what needs fixing before they graft far fetched new content onto the creaky undercarriage.


Oh yeah, and I know why I don't play ladders. It always turns into a second job. And Elite is already too close to that.

- - - Updated - - -

Ok so what am I missing here, I thought I could ignore PP and just keep doing my thing is that incorrect ?

I'm planning to do so. I deserve to be able to, as I backed this mess for the Kickstarter promise of an offline single player game they reneged on.

 

[X-Terminator]

Which is why it would have been better to use Play As Navy / Police / Security / Rescue / Escort roles in loaned ships instead of extending faction powers.

 

[Trenchfoot321]

This is exactly why everyone was complaining about it during beta but they released it anyways. Terrible system that's terribly broken. At least it doesn't negatively affect the rest of us who don't buy into it, at least not too much.

 

[Aegis I]

I enjoy Powerplay to be honest. It adds so much more depth to the characters of ED, which was missing (somewhat) from before.

The way I play it, powerplay is an add on minigame. I will allocate certain resources (credit, time, effort) into it, but my original motivation and goal in ED still stays. And the latter is where I would direct myself to most of the time. Simply put, powerplay serves to complement my existing goals.

That being said, I do feel that the exploration profession gets neglected pretty badly in the update. There is basically no way explorers can gain merit by exploring (as least not any that I am aware of). This calls for some consideration on how to make powerplay inclusive to all.

 

[gooddoc]

But the BASICS of Elite Dangerous is still the same as it has always been....do whatever you want & play your own game!

FREE update 1.2 - Wings....have i used it yet?.....NO! I'm an Explorer!

FREE update 1.3 - Powerplay....have i used it yet? will i use it? NO! & probably not I'm an Explorer!

It's still one of the best games Iv ever played & I'm playing it how I want to play it, not how everyone thinks I should be playing it!!!

 

[Tar Stone]

Don't worry, the next update will be a high score table.

 

[passey]

To get 750 merits it takes approx 5 hours its really not that hard.

i made 395 merits in 2 hours last night. And i was only in a diamondback scout and disnt pay anything.

 

[Tar Stone]

It's like complaining that you can no longer enjoy your Miley Cyrus singles because Pink Floyd have a new album out.

 

[fergal]

:TLDR:

Get rid faction decay. Don't punish me for not playing your game. If I want an incentive to play it's going to be earning benefits I can use whenever I want, not grinding out faction points just to keep my hard earned benefits.
Increase the cash payouts for Preparation/Expansion/Fortify missions. 1,500 credits for 40 min of work killing Pythons and Anacondas is a joke. I don't even feel like playing this game after that. It's punishing, not rewarding.

I shouldn't feel like I need to play just to keep stuff instead of playing because I want to have fun and gain stuff. There is a huge difference between these and FD just isn't getting it.

How does the amount of imaginary internet merits change your enjoyment of the game?
You earn merits, you hand them in, your Power gets some more numbers in its merits earned column.

If you don't enjoy doing the PP missions don't do them.
Do whatever it was you were doing before that you enjoyed more.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

No, it's not a second job, it's second life. In which I can log in and off whatever I want. Yeah, I will lose some rep or I can't really play PP, but I am not *forced* to play PP, am I?

You don't earn anything to treat it as second job. Play as much as you want.

If, of course, you want to get some achievements because you play. Then ED really not suited for that. Play TF2 maps thousand times in a row or something.

 

[Moriarte]

Yes, depleting merits are there to stimulate participation for one reason or another. They want you addicted (as opposed to passionate). Unfortunately, I passed the hamster age so I can't take part in it, in this shape, at least. By the way, Sentience, there is a way to earn 15 credits per every ship killed (I either missed it in your text or you are not aware), still the point stands firmly.

Elite has solid framework for player interaction in a way of space dogfights, good graphics, tremendous sound and the planetary landings are coming, so that already is and will continue to be one grand simulation arcade. As for the power play stuff, that's just nonsense. If I'd really want to be successful I'd have to grind myself to death with rainbows and unicorns or, alternatively, become hostile with most minor factions I visit. That's a bit too much, i think. Can't think of anything I can't do without diving into PP.

It could be interesting if power play leader would remunerate you for your contribution in gaining each control system on top of improved payouts for each killed ship/package delivered, etc. 5 mil for successfully luring system into your fold once you pass participation threshold and provided your side wins. An better interaction with background sum. would be favourable too. Population, wealth changes, stuff like this is still behind the curtain and largely unconnected and can't be affected substantially by the player.

Maybe I am not seeing the big picture, but the whole thing is very raw and directionless at this point, looking at it from my bell tower.

 

[Tar Stone]

It's about time the game had some depth to it, for the first time the game feels like it's out of early access and is actually on its way to something.

Edit - maybe instead of looking at it maybe actually play it. A simple run to a system for your power is a different game to doing a trade run.

 

[Jumbik]

The PP powers could use some linear progression path with no decay too.

How long do you think it will last until people give up? Who can keep up with the grind for longer than a month? And for what reason? Money? Well I can trade and have more in one day than what PP can give me in one week.

So far PP seems like a new toy for people who do not have any other thing to do in ED. For those who already have enough cash to buy anything and they just want some new diversion.

PP is counterproductive for new players. And does not bring any meaningful incentive for casual players either... I'm one of those and from my yesterdays play session I could already see that I will NEVER be able to do anything meaningful for my power. Because I simply do not have the time for it. I can have one day in a week but that will change nothing... as the next week I can have no time at all and all the work I have done will be evaporated by the decay.

But on a side note, I like all other things that 1.3 have brought on table. All the improvements are superb, and the game is even better now. I even do like the PP powers, but I loathe the week based progression and decay.

 

[kapparomeo]

You misunderstand the game fundamentally, Sentience. Powerplay isn't about the money, it's about the glory of making your favourite character dominate. If all you care about is making your credit score bigger, just keep playing the vanilla game.

 

[Flappers]

To the people saying "you don't have to play PP"

Here's the thing... we want to play PP. We want to experience what it has to offer.
But as it stands, casual players can't.

Well we can, if we want to stay at a rating of 1, and not experience the rest of it. But here's the thing... it's a new update, new content, and that content is locked out, only to players who can play every day, for hours a day.

 

[kapparomeo]

So far PP seems like a new toy for people who do not have any other thing to do in ED. For those who already have enough cash to buy anything and they just want some new diversion.

This is not a bad thing. Powerplay is ED's 'endgame' - when you hit the level cap in World of Warcraft, you go raiding; in Elite: Dangerous , when you 've got your Anaconda you pledge to Powerplay. If you don't have the time or interest for it, just keep playing the game unpledged, and it's taken nothing away from the game you've been playing before now.

 

[passey]

To the people saying "you don't have to play PP"

Here's the thing... we want to play PP. We want to experience what it has to offer.
But as it stands, casual players can't.

Well we can, if we want to stay at a rating of 1, and not experience the rest of it. But here's the thing... it's a new update, new content, and that content is locked out, only to players who can play every day, for hours a day.

what bonus of getting higher than rank 2 is there anyway?

only a weekly payout increase and some more votes.

once you get to rank 2 you get the benefits anyway.

7 kills makes100 merits and that wouldnt take an hour a week to do.

i only play maybe 3 / 4 hours a week max and im enjoying poweray.