Disclaimer: This is a taken from comment I wrote on the subreddit. I felt is deserved a little attention here.
There are some aspects of the game which are not as intended. Here, I'm speaking of what is collectively referred to these as balancing issues. More specifically, I'm referring to the balancing issues regarding the actions and interactions of players in different job types (eg. Traders make too much money, pirate make too little, unsubstantiated levels of griefing in major systems, etc.). We're all hoping for a silver bullet patch. Where is it? Why is FDev focusing on 'Wings' when we some coulds assume that a balancing patch would be much more timely and be equally effective as at fostering the open play community.
The real issue, I think, is that FD was hoping that some kind of equilibrium of profit would balance everything out between the defferent jobs. In other words, profit levels are the 'plug'--if you know any type of systems modelling. Everything else (eg. # of Traders, BHs and pirates and all of their interections) is endogenic, reaching some 'equilibrium' through negative feedback. The forces which drive profit in all 'jobs' would reach a level of 'fair play' naturally, and FD could act 'laissez-faire.' This is very convenient for a smaller game dev which isn't charging a monthly fee.
The issue, however, is that balancing isn't so 1 dimensional, and this profit 'plug' isn't going to sort everything out. A lot of factors (eg. solar system design, galaxy size, NPC system authority AI) do not interact so simply.
Overall, FD's 'player profit system' may just blow up like the laissez-faire neo-liberalism of the '90s. At some point, players become discouraged, and either play in solo or don't play at all. Explicitly, traders almost exclusively play in solo, and bounty hunters turn their attention away from consistently fleeing pirates. At this point, either we then rely on NPC traders/BHs--just like solo--or the open play system breaks. Either way, bored pirates may decide the only exciting thing to do is grief each other. E: D open play turns into a Space FPS: griefing and conflict zones are the only p2p interaction.
Text based space sims from days of yonder took awhile to figure this kind of system out. However, they could very quickly patch their system and they didn't have to worry about a lot the 'other factors' I mentioned above.
I think my money was well spent, but I too worry about E: D.
Do you think FDev needs an intervention about their lack of intervening?
There are some aspects of the game which are not as intended. Here, I'm speaking of what is collectively referred to these as balancing issues. More specifically, I'm referring to the balancing issues regarding the actions and interactions of players in different job types (eg. Traders make too much money, pirate make too little, unsubstantiated levels of griefing in major systems, etc.). We're all hoping for a silver bullet patch. Where is it? Why is FDev focusing on 'Wings' when we some coulds assume that a balancing patch would be much more timely and be equally effective as at fostering the open play community.
The real issue, I think, is that FD was hoping that some kind of equilibrium of profit would balance everything out between the defferent jobs. In other words, profit levels are the 'plug'--if you know any type of systems modelling. Everything else (eg. # of Traders, BHs and pirates and all of their interections) is endogenic, reaching some 'equilibrium' through negative feedback. The forces which drive profit in all 'jobs' would reach a level of 'fair play' naturally, and FD could act 'laissez-faire.' This is very convenient for a smaller game dev which isn't charging a monthly fee.
The issue, however, is that balancing isn't so 1 dimensional, and this profit 'plug' isn't going to sort everything out. A lot of factors (eg. solar system design, galaxy size, NPC system authority AI) do not interact so simply.
Overall, FD's 'player profit system' may just blow up like the laissez-faire neo-liberalism of the '90s. At some point, players become discouraged, and either play in solo or don't play at all. Explicitly, traders almost exclusively play in solo, and bounty hunters turn their attention away from consistently fleeing pirates. At this point, either we then rely on NPC traders/BHs--just like solo--or the open play system breaks. Either way, bored pirates may decide the only exciting thing to do is grief each other. E: D open play turns into a Space FPS: griefing and conflict zones are the only p2p interaction.
Text based space sims from days of yonder took awhile to figure this kind of system out. However, they could very quickly patch their system and they didn't have to worry about a lot the 'other factors' I mentioned above.
I think my money was well spent, but I too worry about E: D.
Do you think FDev needs an intervention about their lack of intervening?