Horizons So happy I'm not one of those.

[Sanderson]

One of those that has ground their way to the best ships/gear available and now looking for "fun". I'm not slamming those that choose to play this way, to each their own, but I read a few threads earlier with people asking "now what?". Good lord, I have so much to do and go see, even after two years, it's almost overwhelming. I can't remember leaving the bubble, or if I have it was brief. I've never flown into a nebula (That I know of), I have yet to see an ingame black hole, I don't remember ever being the first to discover a system, I've yet to outfit a mining vessel and make a substantial amount of money as a miner, I have never even tried anything in power play or the BGS, If I've ranked up in any of the big three it was by accident, I've never participated in a CG. About all I've really done, other than briefly touch a few of the commander "path" options is bounty hunt and try a few ships. I did do a couple engineer runs to try it but not maxed like so choose to do (again to each their own).

So glad I'm not one of those and have a few years left before I may ask "What now?", but I doubt I'll be asking that even a few years from now. Sure there's things I'd like to see in the game or perhaps tweaked or changed, but for now there's more than enough to do and see and so little time.

I plan to finally go exploring for real in a day or two. I imagine I could be gone for a couple years just doing that without getting bored. [up]

 

[Pville_Piper]

Me neither. I've always bummed around a bit, taking missions that I enjoy never worrying about amassing a big fleet of ships or billions in the bank. I have my fun, done some engineering, trading and such. I stopped grinding a long time ago and concentrate on having fun.

 

[AnotherVoice]

I read a few threads earlier with people asking "now what?".

Now, go do some missions to participate to the BGS and collect engineer commodities to upgrade yo ships while you're at it. Oh wait, you can't, we don't have storage.

 

[rrobes]

I have two of the big three. One of them is parked while I am off to Sag A* in my CondaX. I left partly because of all the turmoil I was reading about in:re the payouts, passenger missions and what not, so I figured good time to leave and found an entire community of explorers running around the galaxy and enjoying themselves. They seem to be more inclined to be social since the running dogs can't/won't jump out that far and do their ganks and griefs but they are definitely on the look-out. And are focused on entirely different goals, good for them.

There is plenty to do with 1900hrs play, but I do agree that the game has been "uneven" as of late. Still, it is OK for me, however, I would hate to start again as it is way different, and I think harder, than when I was last in a Sidey.

I will give it time to settle but I agree that current corrections should take place before adding more content.

 

[tomalus]

Having mountain of ships and credits makes the game more enjoyable for me, I enjoy building diffirent builds,mods,loadouts and using them for specific roles.

And exploring is the worst part of the game,you jump,scan and refuel,how people travel to beagle point is beyond me... I traveled to jaques and back and the trip back was frustration.

 

[AdmiralFloof]

Only have the game for 11 months, have all the end game ships including Beluga A-rated and Engineered. Still loves to fly Cobra and Viper and occasional FDL and Python.

 

[Harry Stone]

Good thread. I'm with rrobes on this one. I headed out myself in open for an exploration binge. I'll be touching base at Jaques every now and then but won't bother with the bubble till all the 2.2 woes are fixed. (Hopefully they will be).

Good to meet fellow xploras out in the traverse and yes I have an Xplora Conda engineered to 55 LY but held back at 51ly cos I took 2srvs and 6 taipans (for canyon runs )

See you out there and back at the bubble (in 6 months)

 

[4gui4]

I'm one of those,

Hey I did Admiral, Prince, Elite combat, Tycon trade and buy the 3 big ones.

Now I'm going to set up the grade A, engineering, get King ( I wanna by king , a time life oportunity), Get Elite Trade and i never will Elite Explorer so....

When the game decides to kill me and send uber enemies I die, all right. Happens

What happens after I do not know yet, but it is fun after 2000 hs.

 

[Heavenly-Hammer]

At least 50% of the ED player base:

[video=youtube;2zcVnNwAHys]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zcVnNwAHys[/video]

Best of luck reasoning with them. They are only capable of rabid tunnel visioning. They will get what they want in record time, then be back asking "what now?" or they'll not be playing the game in a few months. Because as it turns out, most of the ED experience is about the journey (memories made doing things, ships you bought, upgrades you made to them over time) rather than the destination (finishing some maxed out ship). As I've said in several threads, if you're not having fun in the ships you have now doing the activity you most want to do, a big ship isn't going to change that. Some people don't find out until they burn themselves out grinding for something, then they become those bitter people griefing at CGs, complaining on forums, and not otherwise playing.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

I'm also eleven months into the game, however with work commitments I have blocks of weeks at a time where I havent logged in. Consequently my total flying hours is probably lower than Aliffalfiry's however like him I have all 4 of the end game ships, Cutter Corvette 'Conda and Beluga, with some engineering mods...

Despite these absences I've made double elite in combat and trade, I'm working on exploro-passenger-missions to go sightseeing and make the third elite rank, I've dabbled in just about every play style you could name, I've been to jacques, to Sag-A and beyond, I regularly detour to fly though nebulae and have been to a couple of black holes, including obviously the supermassive one at Sag-A, I've flipped governments in sytems, relegated BGS factions to the annals of history, promoted others into expansion into multiple systems. I am also working on developing my harem of pilots, I'm also considering refitting my cutter as a mining ship and keeping the conda for long range stuff, corvette for combat. I use my FDL for bounty hunting, my clipper and my python for mission running, will probably use my asp for solo exploring - ie sans passengers.

I have mates who have ground every exploit such as sothis to death, and are probably able to buy a coriolis station outright, I'm happy enough just keeping my bank balance above a couple of rebuys for anything I chose to fly then working hard to get the credits to buy anything new and shiny that I want. I am acutely aware that there is only so much you can do with money, hence I won't chase it endlessly, but equally so I wont take part in anything that doesnt offer me a sufficient reward on my effort and invested equipment. I've got some other friends who despite working their gonads off are always skint from punching in tens of thousands of merits worth of fort or prep for powerplay. If i'm donating credits, I'm of the opinion that I'm better doing cargo transfers with new players and helping them get a leg up, a few mil to a multi billionaire is nothing, but its game changing to a guy in a viper wanting a vulture or someone buying or building their first big ship.

So in essence I am the sort of player the OP says hes glad he's not, and while you could say I've got it all, the way I'm looking it isnt as though I've completed the game now what, i'm looking at it as now I've made it, the galaxy is my oyster.....

 

[Skyfire]

I'm one who's done a bit of the 'grind', however it was only ever to achieve whatever the next ship was that I fancied. I did intersperse that with other elements such as bounty hunting, missions, mining, and some exploring too.

I did join a power for a while but left again. I have now been spending some time visiting a few engineers, again interspersing this with passenger transport missions, and also helping out a couple of new players by showing them elements of the game, such as how to mine properly, how to bounty hunt alongside the security forces, and how to progress your rank, and how the powers work.

I have been off on a couple of explore sessions, one of over 2 weeks and I believe I have my name on some systems out there (to me that's a 'nice to have/see', but not essential). That was enjoyable, stress free from possible interdictions etc, and some great pics. I will probably go out again sometime ...

I still like to stack a few missions and also mix in a few passenger missions amongst them, not necessarily for the money (some missions I take are only 2,500cr or so), but purely for the immersive nature of 'being involved' with activity within the bubble. By stacking I don't mean that I get some missions, log off and on again, take more etc etc, but just take what's there, and then have a whole 'route' of missions and people to drop off, collecting more as I go. I just enjoy the fun and 'time pressure' it can give if something is suddenly needed much more urgently and you have to make 3 jumps and then fly 10000ls to get it there within the next 10 mins, or whatever!

I just enjoy the whole 'immersive feel' of the game. I now have a fleet of 4 ships (1 x vulture, 1 x mining Asp X, and 1 x explorer/passenger/cargo Asp X, and the main multi-role Python) and I have about 80million credits, but I'm in no hurry to work up to an Annaconda as yet. Maybe I'll get another Clipper next (I loved that ship) but not yet sure.

I have to admit to being one of those who had the game in 1984 on the BBC Computer, and actually achieved Elite the proper way (no cheating, as some were able to do, apparently). Then in the 90's came Frontier:Elite 2 and that included many new elements, then Frontier:First Encounters but that was rather bugged. However, what we have now is much of what I imagined in my head going on in the background of that original version!

 

[HalloweenWeed]

Wow, I've found my home in this thread. Agreed with most of you. It's about the journey, not the destination. I have to admit: I do occasionally grind when I really want something, but then promptly back to stop and smell the roses, and look for fun. I avoid chaining grinding for stuff. Have my IC now, am in a good spot with my stuff. Taking my time, exploring systems as I go. o7

 

[Ca$hback]

I tend to be spiteful of metas and if somethings too popular, following it is nails on the chalkboard for me. I've been playing for a little over 1.5 years. Expert/Tycoon/Pathfinder (long way to go there), Baron/Ensign (lots to do there), 8W game time, 511Mil in assets.
I used Robigo when I couldn't stand the T7 anymore. I got discouraged about the distance to the Python so I cheated
Before 2.3 dropped I suspected an overall profit nerf so I took a day out of the CG and did a couple Robigo runs to get within striking distance of the Conda. I didn't want to miss my chance and have to grind for a year to get it. Now I "only" have 12.5Mil in the bank but I've got a big fishy.
I feel I cheated the game and not myself. The lion's share of my profits were made from good old fashioned hard work and I feel I've put my time in. Not worried about the profit nerf because I got the hard part done already. May take me a couple years to get a Cutter or Vette but that doesn't bother me now.

 

[Harry Stone]

I still refuse to think that Robigo and Sothis were a cheat or exploit or whatever - I got great gameplay from those runs and a satisfying profit at the end of it.

And a great sideffect of that was achieving an anaconda - which is, in my mind, the *only* ship for exploring (I wasn't satisfied with the AspE).

Getting the Anaconda was not the end game for me, it was the start, as my main aim with Elite is to be able to spend months outside the bubble, so the whole career path for me since the kickstarter was to this point - almost like an exteneded tutorial.

 

[rrobes]

Capital is the means to the end, but the ends can be made to take a while.

Scoff at some of the insane levels of capital, but if used intelligently, they offer a tremendous freedom within the game.

Getting ready to arrive at the center of the galaxy, less than 5kly to go and many earth-like planets to find, I've already found goodly number. Now I may consider going to Colonia on the return leg to bubble-land.

 

[GG7]

I am in the same camp as most of you guys in this thread but...

Money = Freedom in Elite Dangerous. It can make the difference between having a ton of fun with all the cool stuff out there or feeling like you are working a second job.

Unfortunately right now, Frontier has once again screwed around with our earning potential by way of the nerfed mission payouts which is going to make new player advancement even more tedious than it already was!

Veteran players really need to show some empathy here for those complaining.

There have been so many glitches over the years in this game that have allowed those who were around to amass huge multi-billion credit fortunes in very little time. If not billions, at least hundreds of millions, enough to buy and fully kit out a nice little fleet if we wanted to. Those fortunate few can basically do anything they want in this game at this point. So I take issue when I read some of these same fortunate players lecturing new players when they complain about how hard it is to earn credits in "today's" Elite Dangerous Universe!

Night and Day does not even describe the contrast between earning CR back in the day and earning CR now. The pre-nerfed passenger missions was a little taste of the good ol days, and I was pleased that new players finally had a way to advance in a fun and less grindy way. Leave it to Frontier to go in and mess around with that good thing and totally bork it in the opposite direction!

I just hope that one day soon, Frontier FINALLY manages to balance mission payouts correctly and then LOCKS DOWN those changes and throws away the key!

Then perhaps, we will finally have a game economy that isn't in a constant state of disarray.

 

[Mike Reacher]

I have been hoping to get a Python so doing a lot of grinding. I had a Python once and was told to NOT outfit it in a big way before I bought it. It only lasted one mission and I was back to 12 million in the bank. Sure there was insurance, but going up against super NPCs after the Python crash took everything away.

I appreciate the comments here, as not all players are good at combat. Another word for self protection.
I came up against a 2 second destruction last night. Don't know if it was the station or the Anaconda.

I have not left the bubble. I only trade/mission. Been to Maia and Farseer.
I still can't find Skimmers in those missions, so there is a small loss there.
I have been grinding for a hard shelled ship for a while. And will continue. It is a fun game, sort of. A bit disappointing when a ship goes boom, but I have reached 95 million credits so far. The days of good pays are gone. (Way before my time)

Some good people have offered to help in an open game which is most laudable. It is just that I hate holding people back when I play so slow. (So have not done that yet)

 

[_Iceman_]

I am in the same camp as most of you guys in this thread but...

Money = Freedom in Elite Dangerous. It can make the difference between having a ton of fun with all the cool stuff out there or feeling like you are working a second job.

Unfortunately right now, Frontier has once again screwed around with our earning potential by way of the nerfed mission payouts which is going to make new player advancement even more tedious than it already was!

Veteran players really need to show some empathy here for those complaining.

There have been so many glitches over the years in this game that have allowed those who were around to amass huge multi-billion credit fortunes in very little time. If not billions, at least hundreds of millions, enough to buy and fully kit out a nice little fleet if we wanted to. Those fortunate few can basically do anything they want in this game at this point. So I take issue when I read some of these same fortunate players lecturing new players when they complain about how hard it is to earn credits in "today's" Elite Dangerous Universe!

Night and Day does not even describe the contrast between earning CR back in the day and earning CR now. The pre-nerfed passenger missions was a little taste of the good ol days, and I was pleased that new players finally had a way to advance in a fun and less grindy way. Leave it to Frontier to go in and mess around with that good thing and totally bork it in the opposite direction!

I just hope that one day soon, Frontier FINALLY manages to balance mission payouts correctly and then LOCKS DOWN those changes and throws away the key!

Then perhaps, we will finally have a game economy that isn't in a constant state of disarray.

GG7 Do you know everybody here in this thread and you can make the difference between supporters and players ?

correct me if I'm wrong , nothing news if I say that ED is space combat game !?

Ok ! so money = Freedom in ED and everything turns around since the begining , yes and more than freedom it's the nerve of war.

We have too high spending to maintain our current assets (big ships repairs / insurance) and so the losses are much greater than before with the new reward system and It's normal that the players are complaining

I dont think the problem is with veterans players, personally I've 800h played and no problem with others. Let me show a kind of empathy from some nice peoples.

In my opinion the problem is no longer in the game, the problem is between 2 clans about the viability of the game, the minority who directs the project and its supporters against the mass of players destabilized by the last changes and no one to maintain us informed of changes and their relevance.

And finally, while trying to understand while browsing this forum, we realizes that for doing well; one must be silent, Otherwise it disturbs.

 

[rrobes]

I have been hoping to get a Python so doing a lot of grinding. I had a Python once and was told to NOT outfit it in a big way before I bought it. It only lasted one mission and I was back to 12 million in the bank. Sure there was insurance, but going up against super NPCs after the Python crash took everything away.

I appreciate the comments here, as not all players are good at combat. Another word for self protection.
I came up against a 2 second destruction last night. Don't know if it was the station or the Anaconda.


I have not left the bubble. I only trade/mission. Been to Maia and Farseer.
I still can't find Skimmers in those missions, so there is a small loss there.
I have been grinding for a hard shelled ship for a while. And will continue. It is a fun game, sort of. A bit disappointing when a ship goes boom, but I have reached 95 million credits so far. The days of good pays are gone. (Way before my time)

Some good people have offered to help in an open game which is most laudable. It is just that I hate holding people back when I play so slow. (So have not done that yet)

If you want to wing up in a private group, let me know. I am out at the galaxy center currently, but will return to the bubble. At this point, I won't go into Open, but would certainly wouldn't mind helping in pvt group. I don't need the capital and I've got the ships to cover your back, NPC's are just a source of CR to me. And you wouldn't hold me back, I'm perfectly happy with my current situation, don't have any pressing issues. The only question is coordinating the meet ups. I am a lone wolf solo player but wouldn't mind learning the wing thing. Send me a message if you want, I am in the eastern US time zone.

Good luck!