So... I've done 2 weeks' worth of PP Weekly Assignments, and I'm wondering...

SlickPBW

S
Preface: I was away from home and unable to play when the last update dropped so admittedly I'm coming to the party late, so bear with me. Also, what follows might sound critical of PP 2.0 but in general, I do like most of the changes, and I intend to participate significantly, whereas under PP 1.0, I just was in it for the modules and stayed pledged to ALD at level 2 for the BH bonus. However some of the things don't make sense to me, either that or I just don't understand what's going on.

What happens if I don't do the Weekly Assignments, and only earn merits?

Do the Weekly assignments themselves contribute in any way to benefitting my power? If so, how/where can I see the miniscule progress that I have earned?

I did things like scan megaships in systems with a certain PP state in effect. I delivered rare goods to certain systems. I scanned ships in certain systems. WHY was I asked to do these things, and what, if any, measurable effect do these assignments have on the power struggle? How do these specific actions tie into the ongoing conflicts or help to further my power's objectives? I'm currently at level 5. I have no issues putting in the time and doing grunt work for my power person as I work my way through the low levels, but I am having trouble understanding how these assignments are connected to the overall power struggle, and more importantly, they seem to have no obvious visible effect on anything. I strongly suspect that Weekly Assignments don't actually do anything, except exist as another hurdle to leveling up (FD does love creating grinds after all).

Lastly, I have a gripe. This week, when I was assigned to scan a total of 20 megaships (split between 2 different assignments, 11 in undermining systems, and 9 in reinforcing systems), I found it frustrating that I could find no way in game to find locations for these. At first I started just (unsuccessfully) looking for megaships in those systems until I realized that there must be a better way, so 1 google search and 1 YT video showed me how INARA could locate nearby systems containing megaships, and the galmap could be used to see if those systems were in the right state. WHY was such an assignment created with no easy way to find the locations??? Please pass on to the dev who came up with this overly cumbersome and grindy assignment a big 👎 from me. I eventually scanned all 20, but (expletive deleted), that was a GRIND!, and since it apparently does nothing to advance our power, are we really going to face these make-work grindy weekly assignments each week??? I sure hope not! I would really like it if it was clear that the weekly assignments are tied in directly, and the required actions make sense to supporting ongoing work/conflicts in the target system(s), This way, the player can see the measurable effect on the power's progress, albeit taking into account that he/she is one of many players doing these actions each week.

I am armed with my trash can cover and wiffle ball bat, and I stand ready for the onslaught! Bring it.
 

Tifu

Tifu
This guide by @Nowski will help a lot 👍

Powerplay 2.0 Activities

A summary of Powerplay Activities based on the Pilots Handbook and info panels in the Galaxy map. See also @Ian Doncaster 's Activities Reference Card, part of his Powerplay tool suite, which has extra details on the Activities. Note: (after April 30th Trailblazers Update) Merits are...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk

We're all groping our way through PP 2.0 and there are several serious bugs & exploits but it's still a giant step forward from PP 1.0

You can ignore the weekly assignments for now once you reach rank 2. I find it useful for testing PP activities I'm not familiar with but other than that it has no effect on your rank progress except for additional merits
 

Kaocraft

Kaocraft
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's also no way to locate rare goods in game? Apart from maybe a handful where you could notice the advertisement holograms and look up the system and then derp around?
 

SlickPBW

S
Kaocraft said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's also no way to locate rare goods in game? Apart from maybe a handful where you could notice the advertisement holograms and look up the system and then derp around?
Click to expand...
Partially. Many (most?) rare goods have the system name as part of their name. But for the generic assignment “bring xx rare goods to this system”, then no, there’s no in game rare good search function; you would need to remember where you have obtained them in the past, or use an external tool.
 

Kaocraft

Kaocraft
SlickPBW said:
Partially. Many (most?) rare goods have the system name as part of their name. But for the generic assignment “bring xx rare goods to this system”, then no, there’s no in game rare good search function; you would need to remember where you have obtained them in the past, or use an external tool.
Click to expand...
Right that's what I'm saying. They're never named or mentioned until you find them. So if you're doing powerplay and not googling this stuff you're hosed
 

SlickPBW

S
It’s what I’m saying too. For all the tools and interface added for PP2, it’s sure dependent on 3rd party tools. It’s this kind of thing that causes players to occasionally wonder out loud if they play their own game.
 

Gabriel H

Gabriel H
Kaocraft said:
Right that's what I'm saying. They're never named or mentioned until you find them. So if you're doing powerplay and not googling this stuff you're hosed
Click to expand...
At this point I'd presume that FDev take the view that committed players are using 3rd party tools.

Edit: One has to wonder how badly ED would be affected if the voluntary keepers of EDD and EDMC suddenly decided to shut up shop. Would love to hear the risk assesment on that one.
 

Florenus

Florenus
I consider weekly assignments just a suggestions that have some merit bonus attached. They also provide a way to learn what I can do in PP.
But other than that I don't feel the need to fulfill any of them. Because there's a lot of things to do otherwise, I can just do what I like and find my niche within the PP. Like being a search and rescue operator for example.
One of the things I like about PP2.0 is the fact that there's no merit decay and you earn merits per single operation (whether it's a scan or commodity delivered), so I can do it at my own pace. No forced grind, I'm happy.
 
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