Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, as they say. [noob]
With extremely low drop rates and mission rewards for materials needed for only level 1 upgrades, Fdev seemingly forgot to test whether the gathering part felt fun or fair to the player. In any case, I'm going to try and compile the list of suggestions and common criticism players have made across several threads to give Fdev a nice place to find feedback.
Criticism 1: Too Frustrating
This is by far the most common complaint. Gathering and crafting for the engineers is way too frustrating. Why?
Criticism 2: I don't want to do that.
I hope I covered most of the bases here. If you see a critisism that's not mentioned, please, post it below! Lets give Fdev all the information they need to fix the problems with this update.
With extremely low drop rates and mission rewards for materials needed for only level 1 upgrades, Fdev seemingly forgot to test whether the gathering part felt fun or fair to the player. In any case, I'm going to try and compile the list of suggestions and common criticism players have made across several threads to give Fdev a nice place to find feedback.
Criticism 1: Too Frustrating
This is by far the most common complaint. Gathering and crafting for the engineers is way too frustrating. Why?
Point 1: Layers of RNG.
-The player is dependent on multipule layers of RNG to craft one item. Then, when they do, the item itself is subject to the RNG gods.
Suggestion: By either making the crafting values fixed, or materials less dependent (or more generously provided) by the RNG, the chances of being RNG screwed lower drastically. Remove or lessen the impact of the RNG at ALL levels of crafting.
Point 2: Not enough benefit at low level upgrades.
The measly 4-5% benefit at level 1 is arguably not worth the time invested to upgrade. This means the lower level upgrades are seen as a frustrating, grind-y progress bar to get to the good stuff, rather than something that is worthwhile to go after in and of itself.
Suggestion: By making the low-levels more substantial, it may alleviate some frustration. By getting a reward that is on-par with the time invested, players won't feel as frustrated and even feel accomplishment!
Point 3: Cannot find materials
Some players have been having trouble locating and finding crafting materials. This is due to the hints for the materials not necessarily being accurate in all cases. For example, Dropping into a signal source doesn't necessarily mean they'll find a firmware package.
Suggestion: Give the player more information as to where to find missions that will grant them the materials they need. An NPC may look at your pinned blueprint and say, "well, I don't have any of that here, but I hear the good people at Lave may have some, for a price." If the player knows where to find their materials, then the search for mats becomes a hunt instead of a blind hope.
-The player is dependent on multipule layers of RNG to craft one item. Then, when they do, the item itself is subject to the RNG gods.
Suggestion: By either making the crafting values fixed, or materials less dependent (or more generously provided) by the RNG, the chances of being RNG screwed lower drastically. Remove or lessen the impact of the RNG at ALL levels of crafting.
Point 2: Not enough benefit at low level upgrades.
The measly 4-5% benefit at level 1 is arguably not worth the time invested to upgrade. This means the lower level upgrades are seen as a frustrating, grind-y progress bar to get to the good stuff, rather than something that is worthwhile to go after in and of itself.
Suggestion: By making the low-levels more substantial, it may alleviate some frustration. By getting a reward that is on-par with the time invested, players won't feel as frustrated and even feel accomplishment!
Point 3: Cannot find materials
Some players have been having trouble locating and finding crafting materials. This is due to the hints for the materials not necessarily being accurate in all cases. For example, Dropping into a signal source doesn't necessarily mean they'll find a firmware package.
Suggestion: Give the player more information as to where to find missions that will grant them the materials they need. An NPC may look at your pinned blueprint and say, "well, I don't have any of that here, but I hear the good people at Lave may have some, for a price." If the player knows where to find their materials, then the search for mats becomes a hunt instead of a blind hope.
Criticism 2: I don't want to do that.
Point 1: Some engineers require players to do things they may not necessarily want to do. Some may require mining, or smuggling, getting wanted in the empire, or exploration. Or, in some cases, 200 units of lavian brandy. While engineers having specific wants builds character, some needs seem over the top and, quite frankly, discouraging.
Suggestion: Give an alternative way to get known by an engineer. This allows players to choose what path they'll take and may address this problem.
Suggestion 2: Make engineer requirements fun.
Collecting 200 of a single rare good is grind. Period. Instead, perhaps a multi-part smuggling mission, or make the requirment something you can do easily while making progress doing something else, such as getting good rep with a faction.
Suggestion: Give an alternative way to get known by an engineer. This allows players to choose what path they'll take and may address this problem.
Suggestion 2: Make engineer requirements fun.
Collecting 200 of a single rare good is grind. Period. Instead, perhaps a multi-part smuggling mission, or make the requirment something you can do easily while making progress doing something else, such as getting good rep with a faction.
I hope I covered most of the bases here. If you see a critisism that's not mentioned, please, post it below! Lets give Fdev all the information they need to fix the problems with this update.
