The Elite Dangerous ingame reputation system thread

[Ironwolf]

Reputation should mean something. We are our reputation.
Reputation should be scaled accordingly:
- Small factions : small scale for reputation. Easy to gain.
- Powers : large scale for reputation. Difficult to gain.
- Major Factions : massive scale for reputation. Very Hard to gain.

Loyalty to a power can trickle into your reputation.

Rank progression within a power should be scaled.
- Lower rep required for lower ranks, progressively higher rep required to be offered high ranking promotions.

It's been stupidly easy gaining ranks to date, more stupid with multiple major factions.
Pledging allegiance to a power is a serious commitment, and they do not share Commanders.
Defecting strips you of reputation and rank, leaving would remove rank with only rep loss if later you joined another power.

Those that pledge to a power have chosen a side, for better or for worse.
Those that remain independent have a different advantage, a certain kind of freedom.

Reputation is everything.
We are nothing but our reputation.

With a proper implementation of PowerPlay it would be very satisfying to request docking permission.
When the station welcomes you as a 'Respected Ally' you know exactly what it means.

 

[NapalmJunkie]

Did I miss something? 30 minutes of playing PP beta after installing it set me from "Allied" for Emp and Fed to "Friendly". And the arrow is still red. oO

Hmm. FDev said that they'd slowed down the decay in one of the more recent releases. This doesn't bode well, even if beta is sped up. Silly question, did you do anything (no matter how small) that may have had any bearing on your rep going down?

 

[Shuruga]

Need for reputation view on galactic map

Regardless on how reputation is going to be handled for future versions of the game, it would be good to show your reputation on the galactic map.

- This would help to identify where you could still perform naval rank promotion missions
- This may help to check regarding permit missions
- May be an alternate solution to iron out minor faction reputation issues without having to rely on a reputation decay
- May also be suited for powerplay content (avoiding bad corners of the galaxy after joining/defecting)

(If this will actually be part of Powerplay, my bad, I don't have beta access.)

Any feedback welcome.

 

[B33 ENN]

The only 'other commitment' you need to worry about is when I finally come to kick your asp.

One of these days we'll be in the same sector at the same time, and on that day, I'll have my revenge!

 

[n13L5]

It's a good thing. Reputation needs to be more dynamic and this helps it along.

Just saying "its a good thing" means nothing.


Please explain for what good reputation "needs" to be (more) dynamic?

Certainly, nobody wants to have to redo everything continually, as that's a gerbil wheel and not a fruitful idea for human beings.


Sales people and other corporate folks may need to be dynamic. Some people questionably call automobiles "dynamic"

Elite reputation already IS "dynamic". Commit some minor offense and you'll see how it drops in a large, shattering fall!



I'm surprised at a few people here who want the game more punishing, more work. Like they want a secondary reality, rather than a GAME...

 

[LVX156]

This is just terrible. I don't have a lot of time to play Elite, so in the future when I log on, I can't just go and have fun, I'll have to spend ALL my playing time grinding boring quests to keep my reputation up. This is a terrible, terrible mechanic.

 

[Oblivious]

One of these days we'll be in the same sector at the same time, and on that day, I'll have my revenge!

Come at me, bro!

 

[Captain Willard]

Makes sense to me to decay if you are not supporting the allies.

 

[PiLhEaD]

This is just terrible. I don't have a lot of time to play Elite, so in the future when I log on, I can't just go and have fun, I'll have to spend ALL my playing time grinding boring quests to keep my reputation up. This is a terrible, terrible mechanic.

On balance I tend to agree - I strongly suggest this is reworked.

Whilst this mechanic is quite logical, it seems at odds with having a fun game to play... and we are supposed to be having fun... right...?

I accept it is swings-and-roundabout, and that it would be helpful if an unfriendly reputation can fade away. My concern here is that, with the new reputation-based missions, this mechanic could quickly become a real pain for we players who can't devote huge time to Elite - and that whatever greatness the new missions-mechanic brings will be immediately lost.

To put it another way, would you expect to find you'd lost your Elite status, or faction rank, because you'd not (e.g.) hauled enough beans this month?

Perhaps, as a compromise, have reputation fade no lower than one status 'level' through time.

E.g. my friends whom I haven't seen for a year or so are still my friends, and turning up at their house to be told 'we don't know you' is silly. So is this decay.

 

[vjek]

Hi all,

To let you know we have changed the rate of decay today to make it a bit slower. The effect may not become apparent instantly (as servers need to update etc) but hopefully over the next few days you will notice a difference. Also just to clarify, your reputation should never decay below friendly (or above unfriendly).

Adam

That it decays at all is the problem, Adam. Making it slower doesn't solve the problem that the mechanic, in any form, is terrible, horrible, illogical, insane, and a very very very very bad precedent for the genre. (IMHO)

 

[vjek]

Did I miss something? 30 minutes of playing PP beta after installing it set me from "Allied" for Emp and Fed to "Friendly". And the arrow is still red. oO

Working as intended, evidently.

I don't understand why FDEV is shooting themselves in the foot like this.

Even if it all goes in bug free and as planned, here's the current scenario, post 1.3:

Player logs in, instantly reputation starts to decay, unless they constantly get on the skinner box hamster wheel and do nothing but reputation missions to remain allied.
But not with all factions, like you've been able to up to this point, because apparently that's not desired, for some insane reason.
So, some players that don't want to grind missions will quit playing.
Players that used to enjoy fewer interdictions due to reputation will now be interdicted more. Some players will quit because of this.
Then, anyone that tries power play will immediately find out that after selecting a power, they're kill-on-sight in 90+% of the remaining galaxy. More players will quit because of this.

It's like every mechanic in the game is designed to make people quit playing. Is that the real goal here? Get the money from the customers, then make every mechanic in the game so punitive that the customers stop playing as quickly as possible? /boggle

 

[jannix]

Just want to add my voice to the folks here who do not think this change adds to more fun. I had a bit more time to play a few months ago and sunk a lot of hours running missions to get higher reputation and naval ranks. The little things in elite, like station greeting does add value to me personally. It is a recognition of the in-game work put in towards that faction. I don't get to play as much now unfortunately and feel a bit sad my federal allies will soon just treat me as an ordinary friend. Now if I was actively out there doing things that hurts the federation, I would most definitely agree that I should lose standings. But passive decay is bad. It penalizes casual gamers and discourages them from working towards getting "allied" in the first place if it is all just temporary.

I'd have much rather wished FD spent energy in explaining some of the more intricate relationships between standings and actual player actions. For example, it was very confusing for me why my reputation with federation was dropping when I was bounty hunting at a Nav site in a federation system on exclusively targets that are "wanted". Does this make sense? Making the dependencies of *player action* on standings would be where I would have wished effort was spent rather than on mechanisms that just auto-penalizes players over time with no negative actions from their end.

 

[Commander Starcloak]

I've been highly anticipating Powerplay, but, again just want to add my voice to others, I am totally dismayed at this reputation decay.

I should WANT to play Elite. Right now the reputation decay is making me feel like I am CHAINED to playing Elite whether I want to or not, and I'm envisioning having to play this game for 15 hours every single day for the rest of my life just to make sure I don't lose everything I've earned, and if I want to make any forwards progress at all. FDEVs - that is not a good feeling, that is not the feeling you want players to have with your game. I now feel like I can't even go on holiday for a week (got one booked and coming up soon), because I'm worrying about losing progress.

And I am a gamer who does not have a family to look after or a conventional 9 to 5 job. I can only imagine how the majority of players here, who do have families and conventional jobs, are feeling about this.

Please rework this before full release.

 

[Abomination]

Reputation decay compromise

Hello commanders and Frontier Development!
-
I think it's pretty obvious many don't like the issue in 1.3 in that reputation decays over time.
This is destructive for anyone but the most dedicated and should not be used to push people into playing this game 24/7.
I don't believe it is going to that point because the decay has been extremely fast in the beta, but the devs already said it will be slowed down.
But I don't think this is enough.
-
If the decision to have rep decay stays, why not do a little compromise:
Don't lower the rep for the major faction of the station you're currently parked at or the space you're flying in. This should include offline-time.
If, for example, you're 'living' in empire space, keep the rep for empire as is, indefinitely.
-
Also, keep a limit on how far the others go down.
If the player hasn't been online for a week, that shouldn't mean his/her rep goes down all the way back. Only go down by one, at max.
Now, if he/she comes back online and keeps playing for the same faction as befure, sure the other factions might go down more.
But, again, not more than one nodge at a time, independent of the time between two gaming sessions.
-
This game was always about doing things whatever you want whenever you want.
Don't turn it into an ever repeating grinding game just to STAY at the point you currently are.
-
Hope this makes some sense.
-
Best,
Commander Abo

 

[Wicz]

I doubt I'll be "upgrading" to a client with this functionality built in. I can't play anywhere near often enough to avoid the slide.

The new ships and drones look great, along with the other fixes and improvements, and I've been genuinely looking forward to trying them all out.

However, I won't be playing a game that penalises players for having a life.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I doubt I'll be "upgrading" to a client with this functionality built in. I can't play anywhere near often enough to avoid the slide.

The new ships and drones look great, along with the other fixes and improvements, and I've been genuinely looking forward to trying them all out.

However, I won't be playing a game that penalises players for having a life.

You don't have to participate in Powerplay you know? And faction rep decay has more or less been removed now (only for major factions, your rep with minor factions does not decay).

Here is my post on how powerplay can be beneficial for people who don't even take part: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=150228&p=2311236&viewfull=1#post2311236

You might want to read all most posts there as well, because most of it is based on facts rather than speculation (although i cannot avoid speculation where we are still lacking information).

 

[n13L5]

So, if you go out on exploration for a month, you come back and the Empire has dropped you from allied to friendly, resulting in less profitable missions being offered?

Why not decay our Elite ranks so while we explore, our trading and combat ranks drop back down, to make sure we can never "finish" the game, hence play it into all eternity?


This is designing the game as if you had a subscription game!

 

[Rall]

You don't have to participate in Powerplay you know? And faction rep decay has more or less been removed now (only for major factions, your rep with minor factions does not decay).

Here is my post on how powerplay can be beneficial for people who don't even take part: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=150228&p=2311236&viewfull=1#post2311236

You might want to read all most posts there as well, because most of it is based on facts rather than speculation (although i cannot avoid speculation where we are still lacking information).

If minor rep is unaffected I've got no problems with this. Building major faction rep is trivial as it is, I've allied with all three without even trying.

 

[GlyphGryph]

Hi all,

To let you know we have changed the rate of decay today to make it a bit slower. The effect may not become apparent instantly (as servers need to update etc) but hopefully over the next few days you will notice a difference. Also just to clarify, your reputation should never decay below friendly (or above unfriendly).

Adam

Have you considered not decaying the player's highest major faction and highest minor faction (or highest 5 minor factions)? It seems like this change would go a long way towards help those players with less time not have to constantly farm rep with their preferred factions.

 

[WreckWren]

In another thread @Saman suggested no rep decay for the major faction of the power you pledge to. I think that makes sense and stops this being an issue

This may be the only way that Rep can decay without it being a big slap in the face to gamers.

That said, why slap gamers in the face in the first place?