There, I said it. Now, everyone tell me that I want the game to pander to me, and that I want everything handed to me on a silver platter.
In all honesty, some of the game's larger ships feel far, far too expensive for what they are. In terms of piloted ships, Elite: Dangerous is a game about asymmetrical balance -- not about aspiring toward progressively better and more effective ship tiers, which is the case with Eve. Taking this into consideration, why are larger ships so, SO much more expensive than smaller, equally capable vessels? I get that heavy transports should cost a great deal to offset the inherent advantages they bring to the table in terms of long-term trade profits, but as a whole, larger ships in this game can easily start to cost well over a hundred million credits -- if not hundreds of millions -- after taking operating costs along the lines of upgrades and repairs into account, as well as the hefty initial price tag. But for what? If I want to kit out a Dropship or something for combat, I could just as easily kit out a dirt-cheap Eagle or Viper and start mowing things down just as capably.
I believe larger ships should be more expensive than smaller, lighter craft for obvious purposes, but it currently feels way out of proportion. The number of potentially fun, viable ways of even making the sort of money required for larger ships diminishes substantially when we're talking scales as ridiculous as ~100 million+ credits, and I for one don't feel like subjugating myself to that narrow road in a purported sandbox that was marketed as rewarding multiple playstyles. In addition, larger ships should require some kind of non-monetary prerequisite -- a permit that can be earned through hard work (potentially in terms of combat / explorer / trading ranks), for instance -- to pilot. A greenhorn shouldn't necessarily be able to pilot a two-man Python by himself if he happens to stumble across 50 or 60 million credits. Non-monetary operating prerequisites, in my opinion, would be a far more sensible -- and arguably deeper and more meaningful -- approach to large ships.
TL;DR - Simply demanding more money is a brutish, elementary way of prohibiting most of the player base from having the prestige of operating a giant vessel. Ship costs need to be decreased dramatically at the upper tier in light of the asymmetrical ship balance the game tries to sell, and pilots shouldn't be able to purchase and start flying larger vessels out of the clear blue when they accrue enough money to purchase them. The overall goal would be to reward more playstyles with the potential of operating large vessels while deflating the arbitrarily ludicrous cost of maintaining them. The current system is basically a bad, superficially-implemented way of ensuring that more prestigious ships aren't owned by everyone and their grandmother, and it forces those of us that have an interest in larger ships to play the big money game.
I don't want to be a credit-farming tycoon for the sake of being able to afford a ship I want while other players are kicking butt and are perfectly content with their equally capable, smaller vessels. I hate to pout, but it's just not fair.
In all honesty, some of the game's larger ships feel far, far too expensive for what they are. In terms of piloted ships, Elite: Dangerous is a game about asymmetrical balance -- not about aspiring toward progressively better and more effective ship tiers, which is the case with Eve. Taking this into consideration, why are larger ships so, SO much more expensive than smaller, equally capable vessels? I get that heavy transports should cost a great deal to offset the inherent advantages they bring to the table in terms of long-term trade profits, but as a whole, larger ships in this game can easily start to cost well over a hundred million credits -- if not hundreds of millions -- after taking operating costs along the lines of upgrades and repairs into account, as well as the hefty initial price tag. But for what? If I want to kit out a Dropship or something for combat, I could just as easily kit out a dirt-cheap Eagle or Viper and start mowing things down just as capably.
I believe larger ships should be more expensive than smaller, lighter craft for obvious purposes, but it currently feels way out of proportion. The number of potentially fun, viable ways of even making the sort of money required for larger ships diminishes substantially when we're talking scales as ridiculous as ~100 million+ credits, and I for one don't feel like subjugating myself to that narrow road in a purported sandbox that was marketed as rewarding multiple playstyles. In addition, larger ships should require some kind of non-monetary prerequisite -- a permit that can be earned through hard work (potentially in terms of combat / explorer / trading ranks), for instance -- to pilot. A greenhorn shouldn't necessarily be able to pilot a two-man Python by himself if he happens to stumble across 50 or 60 million credits. Non-monetary operating prerequisites, in my opinion, would be a far more sensible -- and arguably deeper and more meaningful -- approach to large ships.
TL;DR - Simply demanding more money is a brutish, elementary way of prohibiting most of the player base from having the prestige of operating a giant vessel. Ship costs need to be decreased dramatically at the upper tier in light of the asymmetrical ship balance the game tries to sell, and pilots shouldn't be able to purchase and start flying larger vessels out of the clear blue when they accrue enough money to purchase them. The overall goal would be to reward more playstyles with the potential of operating large vessels while deflating the arbitrarily ludicrous cost of maintaining them. The current system is basically a bad, superficially-implemented way of ensuring that more prestigious ships aren't owned by everyone and their grandmother, and it forces those of us that have an interest in larger ships to play the big money game.
I don't want to be a credit-farming tycoon for the sake of being able to afford a ship I want while other players are kicking butt and are perfectly content with their equally capable, smaller vessels. I hate to pout, but it's just not fair.
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