Repeat the same Guardian unlock 18 times? Really?

[Darty]

If FD were into actual space engineering they'd build the greatest rocket ever, then at the very end replace the heat shield with a wooden spoon. It makes no sense and obviously doesn't work. Sure, many design choices are by definition controversial. But here I have seen literally noone say that this is actually fun. Or even somewhat okay. It honestly boggles the mind.

The only explanation I can think of is that the design team has very little experience with mmos and open world game (both as designers and gamers) other than one or two f2p grindtropouloses and they are basing their design decisions (perhaps subconsciously) off of emulating those games, instead of thinking through their designs from a perspective of "how can we make the game the most fun for the players."

Which is why this game feels like it was designed to make you want to buy currency and booster micro-transactions, even though they aren't in the game.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me and I've been saying for a while now that the whole slew of game play revolving around materials has basically gone way too far.

There is far too much so-called game play which involves collection of materials - it has swamped the rest of the game. And there isn't much of the game left anyway if you discount materials and engineering and new module unlocking.

Let's see what the rest of this year's Beyond updates bring. It's Q2 now so the Q2 Beyond update will be in a month or so's time. Plus Frontier have hinted at paid-for 'premium' DLC, so I still live in hope that they manage to introduce something which compells me to play again.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Ian Skippy]

C'Mon Frontier. There has to be a balance here so getting these new modules is more fun than frustrating?

But what 'balance' is there even to be had here? You dont get stuff that gives you some kind of massively OP power over other players, and there isn't any challenge to the process. Why not just have us do it once because it is fun, and then give us the toys which are fun? What would be the purpose of adding 'balance', and against what would it even be balanced? :S

 

[Obsidian Ant]

It definitely isn’t random. I went to the same site for all my weapon blueprints. Never got a module blueprint from that site. The odds of RNG giving me the exact same result 12 times are remote.

Well it's a great relief to hear that, thanks for correcting me!

Still not convinced I will do 12 or 18 times though. My respect to all you people who have done it though...

 

[Lobey]

This thread is a shaudenfreudesque gift...

Unlike most eager cmdrs who rushed to get a shiny new chieftain and/or speed grind the new engineers, when 3.0 dropped I carried on slowly meandering my way through Ram Tah's old mission... and it rained Guardian blueprints, but only because the bugs introduced to RT's mission meant loads if rescanning, extra obelisk testing, and alt site visits. So, I don't feel your pain. Does that make me a bad person?

I did much the same - had\have bucket loads of them and I wasn't even trying - rattled through "new" enginereing on the only ship that "mattered" (the Python) with all the stored crap I had as well - pays to be a packrat.

 

[SpaceScania]

But what 'balance' is there even to be had here? You dont get stuff that gives you some kind of massively OP power over other players, and there isn't any challenge to the process. Why not just have us do it once because it is fun, and then give us the toys which are fun? What would be the purpose of adding 'balance', and against what would it even be balanced? :S

The level of grind involved should be more balanced and reasonable. Like some CMDR's said, doing these ruins 4 or 5 times is kind of fun, but at some point it stops being fun and just becomes a mire of repetitive grind. Maybe they just need to make some adjustments regarding drop rates or module requirements or both?

 

[Qohen Leth]

It's fun the first few times, but the definition of insane to go do it that many times.

Hats off to you, OA. I did it once, it entertained me a couple hours overall, zero point or pleasure in doing it again.

 

[Ethaidan]

For people looking for module blueprints, turtle site... see below. For people looking for weapons... I'm not home atm, but if you do notice a pattern relative to the site layouts (see below), do let Cannon know.

Seems the different site layouts (there are 7 found) give different blueprint types. Only 'turtle' gives Module. Some don't have any pylons so give nothing.

Site types are listed on the 'GS Scratch Sheet' sheet for now: https://canonn.fyi/grsheet

And these are the site layouts: https://imgur.com/a/GWQ4w - Turtle is in there, though different sites have different pylon locations, so you're probably best farming one.

o7

 

[Ian Skippy]

The level of grind involved should be more balanced and reasonable. Like some CMDR's said, doing these ruins 4 or 5 times is kind of fun, but at some point it stops being fun and just becomes a mire of repetitive grind. Maybe they just need to make some adjustments regarding drop rates or module requirements or both?

Sure, but why is doing it just once unbalanced and unreasonable? Why do we even need to think about how often we should repeat something? I honestly dont see what there even is to balance here in the first place.

 

[SpaceScania]

Sure, but why is doing it just once unbalanced and unreasonable? Why do we even need to think about how often we should repeat something? I honestly dont see what there even is to balance here in the first place.

Grindy gameplay is grindy gameplay I am fine with it to a point. Elite is always going to feature this style of play. But of course the amount of grind required to achieve a specific result matters a great deal?

 

[Obsidian Ant]

Sure, but why is doing it just once unbalanced and unreasonable? Why do we even need to think about how often we should repeat something? I honestly dont see what there even is to balance here in the first place.

As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, at some point in game design, gameplay become about unlocking modules / weapons rather than using them. That totally shifts where people expect the balance to be. Personally, I don't see "the number of times we repeat a puzzle" as a matter of balance.

If it was meant to take a long time, then perhaps it would have been better if the puzzle itself had been more intricate and took longer to complete.

 

[GG7]

Well I hope you are right on that one.

Won't make too much difference to me either way though, because like you, it's highly unlikely I will actually go and do that. It's fun the first few times, but the definition of insane to go do it that many times.

I totally agree OA!

I bailed on this whole tedious mess when my original Ram Tah mission got deleted by that bug a week in, and I lost close to 15 hours worth of progress on the mission.

Just couldn't bring myself to go through all that again. Besides.... The Guardian Weapon demos I watched on YouTube left me pretty MEH.

 

[Eldragon]

From what I can see of the new Guardian weapons, they require 18 weapon blueprints.
With the "fix" introduced by ED, I see that we now get a whole 1 material per run through of the Weapon Blueprint unlock.
Implications are very easy, please player, go REPEAT this section another 18 times.

I get that Elite has a degree of grind in it, after all that's how you get to Elite. But 18 more times, of the same thing.

Are you trying to say "go forth and play DCS my young padawan".

And this is why I'm not going to bother with the Guardian content. I went to a ruin, killed a few sentries and did a single pass of the unlock. Looked at the materials I got for the effort, then went "Screw this" and flew home.

 

[cmdrGVO]

Definately not doing that 18 times again. Did it 12 times and it was horrible after a while.

If only Heatblur would finish the Tomcat

 

[Codger]

Well, FD had the last laugh on me. I was out there at the Guardian sites right at the beginning, so I wound up with a bunch of blueprints due to what later turned out to be a bug. But FD let us keep them.

So I spent them on the new Guardian FSD booster.

Which doesn't work.

So, they got the materials back, after all.

 

[Brimstone]

This thread is a shaudenfreudesque gift...

Unlike most eager cmdrs who rushed to get a shiny new chieftain and/or speed grind the new engineers, when 3.0 dropped I carried on slowly meandering my way through Ram Tah's old mission... and it rained Guardian blueprints, but only because the bugs introduced to RT's mission meant loads if rescanning, extra obelisk testing, and alt site visits. So, I don't feel your pain. Does that make me a bad person?

When 3.0 first dropped, all of the Guardian Obelisks were giving the new module/weapon/ship scan data, which was a bug. That's since been fixed, and we now have to do the pylon power up game for one data piece.

 

[TheSisko]

This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me and I've been saying for a while now that the whole slew of game play revolving around materials has basically gone way too far.

There is far too much so-called game play which involves collection of materials - it has swamped the rest of the game.

Yep, I've been getting that feeling too.

I'm spending a lot of time gathering materials to get access to content. I wouldn't mind if material gathering was enjoyable and challenging, but.....it isn't. Its mainly repetitive RNG, which I've done recently while watching Champions League Football on my Modular Terminal.

Shouldn't this game have my full attention while playing it?

 

[Maka Gucci]

From what I can see of the new Guardian weapons, they require 18 weapon blueprints.
With the "fix" introduced by ED, I see that we now get a whole 1 material per run through of the Weapon Blueprint unlock.
Implications are very easy, please player, go REPEAT this section another 18 times.

I get that Elite has a degree of grind in it, after all that's how you get to Elite. But 18 more times, of the same thing.

Are you trying to say "go forth and play DCS my young padawan".

Keep voicing it, it's ridiculous and adds nothing to game play, only existing as undeniable proof of the low effort grind existent in Elite.

Yes I love the flipping game, but mechanics like these just absolute detract from what I love about it.

 

[Bob McBobblehead]

The Guardian grind is not that bad compared to other parts of the game. Getting from system A to system B is the most grinding part of the game, and it's been the same way for years. Jump, scoop and honk x1,000,000.

 

[Mr_sukebe]

Having pondered for a few mins, decided to leave my Conda at the site until FD come to their senses.
Off to fly my Harrier now.

yes, I do understand that my Conda might be covered in space dust by the time it gets used again.