The Butchers bill for the Beta

[Ouberos]

These last week's have been fairly entertaining on the forums but there has been more than a little blood in the water where the Beyond changes are concerned.

I was adding them up and was surprised at how much different Beyond will be.

1. Crime and Punishment: For me this is the worst cut and I am salty about it. It seems as though the Criminal element of gameplay is being unfairly pushed out because some folks don't build ships correctly and can't git gud. I have listened to the alternative view point about rebalancing the game but I just don't understand why Traders fly around with weak shields in Open at CG's. This is a video game. What did you expect? On a positive side I get mega ship gameplay but let's face it, if my Pirate ship is unable to use Galactic Logistics I'm not going to be raiding many.

2. Engineers: I'm not really invested in this and consider myself a very poor Engineer. I have some ships that are mostly G5 (A AspX for travel and a Python for PvE Piracy) but the rest, even my PvP Pirate Cobra are a bit slapdash. I came up against a properly Engineered T9 the other week and got my handed to me. Reading the threads about engineers though it does seem as of the new system is going to be a PITA for some folks. I'm happy to reserve judgement on this for now but I'm thinking this could be a real thorn in the side of the game (And the Forums!!) until it gets changed again.

3: Passenger missions. As a rider of a high horse named "Playing as intended" all I have to say about this is "HaHa!" . However, from a game perspective I do think it's weird that FD throw out these big credit exploits and then nerf them. Some folks like an easy ride and others have a big ship goal to hit so I guess I can understand the saltyness. If you are a Beluga pilot whose currently drowning their sorrows in Lavian Brandy then my advice would be to take heart. These things are like busses. Space busses. Empty space busses.
Sorry.

4: The KWS. This is a new one. I only caught up with it today and I'm not sure of the implications exactly but as a Pirate I'm all for it. Unlucky Res welfare claimants.

5: The detailed surface scanner. Why do I need one when I can see what's on a planet? Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic here, the DSS does maximise earnings out in the black but certainly for material hunting (see Engineers for how much more of that we will be doing) in the bubble I won't need one. In fact I'm looking forward to eyeballing those purty rocks and learning what colours mean what. So I can see shares in Detailed Discovery Scanners R Us going downhill.

6: Third party apps. Why do I need EDDB now? I dunno? What do you think?

7: Have I missed anything?

Things which are still unresolved for me which I am surprised at are :

Lat/Lon finder. Come on FD. Get it done.

NPC crew member escape pods. I would sacrifice a module in a bigger ship for the chance to keep my current perky young fighter pilot around.

All in all one thing's for sure, this is going to be an entertaining few weeks.

Also Im still going to play the game. Until my ship is unwelcome In every port and my bank balance is empty.

 

[CmdrKull]

On 1). I think they have to get the consequences perfect before they can offer incentives. I look forward to seeing what they do with crime once it’s difficult to be a criminal.

On all the others... I think we are in agreement? Idk.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I am scheduling time tomorrow to read changelog Because imagine if these are spotlight changes, how huge list of small ones will be.

 

[Siobhan]

Until my ship is unwelcome In every port and my bank balance is empty.

Eh, if/when that happens, hit me up and I'll drop you some mugs and gin. Won't even have to open your gun ports...

 

[Ouberos]

I am scheduling time tomorrow to read changelog Because imagine if these are spotlight changes, how huge list of small ones will be.

I agree. In fact, like you I was wondering what's going to be skipped in between the lines. I'm expecting something juicy about the BGS and I'm hoping for a Powerplay death.

 

[Glyphic]

6: Third party apps. Why do I need EDDB now? I dunno? What do you think?

7: Have I missed anything?

Things which are still unresolved for me which I am surprised at are :

Lat/Lon finder. Come on FD. Get it done.

NPC crew member escape pods. I would sacrifice a module in a bigger ship for the chance to keep my current perky young fighter pilot around.

All in all one thing's for sure, this is going to be an entertaining few weeks.

Also Im still going to play the game. Until my ship is unwelcome In every port and my bank balance is empty.

Please explain to me why I should have to alt tab every ten minutes to look up something on external website is good for the game.

 

[Ouberos]

Eh, if/when that happens, hit me up and I'll drop you some mugs and gin. Won't even have to open your gun ports...

I appreciate the offer.

I have a feeling I'll have to take you up on it too..

 

[Ouberos]

Please explain to me why I should have to alt tab every ten minutes to look up something on external website is good for the game.

I agree.

I think it's a shame for the dedicated folks who have guided us all through this half formed game for so many years though.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

but I just don't understand why Traders fly around with weak shields in Open at CG's.

I have pointed out time and time again how easy it is to mod shields and armor in this game. You can literally do it all (Shields, Boosters, Bulkheads, HRPs) by unlocking five engineers. Now, with the new system, not only will traders have access to these, they will have a clear path to max rolls, and more convenient ways to roll them.

Despite this, there will still be people who make excuses and fly crap builds at CGs. Bet me.

2. Engineers: I'm not really invested in this and consider myself a very poor Engineer. I have some ships that are mostly G5 (A AspX for travel and a Python for PvE Piracy) but the rest, even my PvP Pirate Cobra are a bit slapdash. I came up against a properly Engineered T9 the other week and got my handed to me. Reading the threads about engineers though it does seem as of the new system is going to be a PITA for some folks. I'm happy to reserve judgement on this for now but I'm thinking this could be a real thorn in the side of the game (And the Forums!!) until it gets changed again.

I think most folks are with you there, Ouberos. There seem to be different tiers of folks (The god-rollers, the "pretty OK G5" crowd, the casuals, the anti-modders). Of those groups, I think the casuals are probably the largest - folks who play their game and enjoy a touch of engineering here and there, but don't go all wild with it. I also think that is the core audience for whom the system was originally built, and I don't think that FD originally intended for many people to be running around in full G-5 modded to the hilt ships.

I'm hopeful that for the majority of players, the new engineers will provide a clear path to competitiveness and survivability. I do understand that it's going to take more rolls for one-off mods, but at the same time, the mat conversions and guaranteed progression should, IMO, make those rolls pretty easy to push through.

We'll see how it goes

 

[Kaltern]

These last week's have been fairly entertaining on the forums but there has been more than a little blood in the water where the Beyond changes are concerned.

I was adding them up and was surprised at how much different Beyond will be.

1. Crime and Punishment: For me this is the worst cut and I am salty about it. It seems as though the Criminal element of gameplay is being unfairly pushed out because some folks don't build ships correctly and can't git gud....

BZZZT Failed, rest of OP is pointless.

(although I notice it's mainly I'm not, Why do I, PvP... so pretty much the opinions of one person within a minority group.)

Basically, I kill for fun, and I don't like the way the game has changed to make that more difficult.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

BZZZT Failed, rest of OP is pointless.

(although I notice it's mainly I'm not, Why do I, PvP... so pretty much the opinions of one person within a minority group.)

Basically, I kill for fun, and I don't like the way the game has changed to make that more difficult.

I don't think Oubs is into that, OP. From what I know of him he tries to be a conscientious pirate.

 

[Kaocraft]

1) This is the only thing I'm really sold on at this point. I would like it to be elaborated upon a bit further eventually (can we get to a point where both CMDRs and ships have their own notariety/wanted status, and those things interact and compliment one another in interesting but logical ways?), but as a foundation it seems really solid as described. Looking forward to seeing how many different ways career criminals can break this system during the Beta.

2) I think on balance this is more good than bad, but it's also a band-aid on top of a more fundamental problem (excessive RNG and inconsistent/poorly communicated material gathering system), plus it removes some elements of (admittedly frustrating) player agency which I think should have been fixed rather than scrapped. It makes for a shallower game experience.

3) I don't care about this really, but: it was a really good idea and a welcome change for missions to adjust their payouts to reflect the amount of Supercruise travel you have to do. I think an ongoing problem with the game is that Supercruise is boring and non-interactive. I don't think we would be talking about these missions as "exploits" if not for the fact that you can go AFK for 20 minutes to complete them. If you had to *do something* for those 20 minutes with skill attention and risk; the missions would be more valid.

4) The KWS change is bad and I'm really hoping we've just misunderstood it so far.

5) I don't think this changes much about the value of the DSS, which yeah is an underutilized module and should be better integrated into the game. You may be able to get a rough sense of what's on a planet by looking at it but the DSS give some you relative percentages of everything, which is crucial for rare materials.

6) You never needed EDDB and yeah you *still* don't need it now. I trade a lot and never use it. But if you want "easy mode" then you'll want to keep using EDDB because the new trade tools do not do what EDDB does.

7) Wing missions. Great potential but launching half-baked as always. I hope that over the long term we as a community can eventually push Frontier for full multiplayer functionality in *all* missions