The grind is killing me.

[Jingez]

Well what shall i say? After a 3 year break i entered the cockpit again aiming to fight against thargoids. With just a few engineers unlocked and never been to guardian sites i decided to unlock blueprints and give them engineers what they want. 1 Week later with exclusively grinding towards those goals i unlocked the most important guardian modules and my list shows 12 engineers still not unlocked. There are severel things that are really so anti fun anti enticing.
As beautiful as elite might be the grind for guardian modules and engineers is a chore and it doesn´t stop there mechanics are so laborious. Why the hell do i have to visit engineers again to get an experimental effect, why am i only allowed to pin one blueprint, why do i have to farm innumerable materials and what not, why there have to be different material traders (raw, encoded, manufactured) so that i have to fly from system to system when i want to exchange material a into b. It´s so anti fun and excludes you from doing the real fun stuff.

I don´t get it Guardian sites Gameplay looks like this: Activate pillars, destroy sentinels, collect materials activate main machine and collect blueprint, drive 500 m away log out log in rinse and repeat untill you have everything you need. Great!!! Same stupid design for Materials like Selen etc. Farmin HGE´s another boring time consuming activity. It´s not that i don´t want to grind to achieve something or be able to afford something but at an certain point to much is to much and it is obviously so far from being fun and enticing gameplay.

The only thing i wanted is building a ship for thagoid combat :-(

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Its a bit of a trope, but the simple answer is don't grind.

You're not on any sort of deadline or schedule. There is no rush. You say you want to build a ship for thargoid combat, that's ok, but they are pretty much endgame content, so if you haven't reached that stage yet then you have to make a choice. Either go all in on getting the stuff you want or take it easy.

But its your choice, and if the grind ends up making you hate the game then you'll never get around to your objective anyway, so its all wasted effort.

Regarding guardian unlocks, you don't have to unlock everything. I've only done the shield booster, the FSD booster, and the SLFs. And i actually enjoyed doing those unlocks.

Focus on doing stuff you enjoy and keep an eye on what you need to do to unlock engineers and see if you can get synergy with your activities.

At the end of the day, its your choice. The game isn't going anywhere, and hopefully neither are you, so there is plenty of time.

 

[Slange Lands]

I hear you. Since you are mainly interested in Thargoid Combat, I very much suggest you join the Anti-Xeno Initiative Discord Server.

Join the Anti-Xeno Initiative Discord Server!

The Anti-Xeno Initiative is an Elite: Dangerous community centered on Thargoid Combat (Anti-Xeno). | 27467 members

discord.gg

AXI is extremely helpful and may be able to assist you with lessening the grind of some of the unlocks. There are some Guardian modules that are key and some that are not at all important so that you need not waste your time unlocking them.

In addition not all the Bubble engineers are necessary. Once again, AXI will be able to give you solid advice.

And most importantly, it is super fun for a bunch of humans to all gang up together and "inform" a wandering Thargoid Interceptor that The Inner Orion Spur is Ours. AXI holds a lot of fun events. The grind is odious, but the ability to steamroll a Thargoid bully with your fellow Commanders is well worth it.

o7

 

[STRONTIUM DOG]

the elite galaxy is extremely wide but not very deep at all

 

[Turric4n_ED]

Its a bit of a trope, but the simple answer is don't grind.

You're not on any sort of deadline or schedule. There is no rush. You say you want to build a ship for thargoid combat, that's ok, but they are pretty much endgame content, so if you haven't reached that stage yet then you have to make a choice. Either go all in on getting the stuff you want or take it easy.

But its your choice, and if the grind ends up making you hate the game then you'll never get around to your objective anyway, so its all wasted effort.

Regarding guardian unlocks, you don't have to unlock everything. I've only done the shield booster, the FSD booster, and the SLFs. And i actually enjoyed doing those unlocks.

Focus on doing stuff you enjoy and keep an eye on what you need to do to unlock engineers and see if you can get synergy with your activities.

At the end of the day, its your choice. The game isn't going anywhere, and hopefully neither are you, so there is plenty of time.

You need to do the ruins at least five times when you want to experience ax combat. This is not optional and it is not eventually unlocked by playing the game. It is a dedicated grind with a loop that's fun the first time and annoying every subsequent run.

Then you need to get obelisk data, which is even more degenerated. Go in front of an obelisk, scan, relog. I made a script for this because this is not playing a game. Came back some hours later and was full.

The grinding in this game is neither optional for certain content nor interesting.

Anyway wrong place for this discussion. Brace for white Knight fanbois telling you that you play wrong.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

You need to do the ruins at least five times when you want to experience ax combat. This is not optional and it is not eventually unlocked by playing the game. It is a dedicated grind with a loop that's fun the first time and annoying every subsequent run.

Then you need to get obelisk data, which is even more degenerated. Go in front of an obelisk, scan, relog. I made a script for this because this is not playing a game. Came back some hours later and was full.

The grinding in this game is neither optional for certain content nor interesting.

Anyway wrong place for this discussion. Brace for white Knight fanbois telling you that you play wrong.

I would guess there are people who will show that is quite possible to do AXI without 5 guardian unlocks.

However, let's roll with your statement that 5 is necessary. If you find it not fun the next 4 times, well, fair enough. I'd say its actually a fun loop, one of the more involved and interesting in the game. I did it 5 times (FSD, shield booster, 3 SLFs) and enjoyed it each time. I'd happily run it many more times if there was anything else i wanted from it.

Brace for white Knight fanbois telling you that you play wrong.

Worthless comment. If you simply dismiss any opposing opinion as being from white knight fanboys then you're not interested in discussion, only dismissal of contrary opinions.

 

[Turric4n_ED]

I would guess there are people who will show that is quite possible to do AXI without 5 guardian unlocks.

However, let's roll with your statement that 5 is necessary. If you find it not fun the next 4 times, well, fair enough. I'd say its actually a fun loop, one of the more involved and interesting in the game. I did it 5 times (FSD, shield booster, 3 SLFs) and enjoyed it each time. I'd happily run it many more times if there was anything else i wanted from it.



Worthless comment. If you simply dismiss any opposing opinion as being from white knight fanboys then you're not interested in discussion, only dismissal of contrary opinions.

It is one the better grind loops this game has to ob offer, that is right. But there is no variation in the first and tenth. So it does not feel natural. It's not even necessary to visit different locations. There could have been some cool handcrafted mission with different ruins and clues to the next location behind it. Something that would make you look forward to the next step and not a simple logout and repeat.

Missed opportunity. There is ram tah mission i think, but i never stumbled upon this so far. So can't comment if this would be what i am looking for.

The people that are not interested in discussion are the ones telling you to go play another game in their first comment. Which will eventually happen. This i gladly dismiss as non-discussion.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

It is one the better grind loops this game has to ob offer, that is right. But there is no variation in the first and tenth. So it does not feel natural. It's not even necessary to visit different locations. There could have been some cool handcrafted mission with different ruins and clues to the next location behind it. Something that would make you look forward to the next step and not a simple logout and repeat.

Missed opportunity. There is ram tah mission i think, but i never stumbled upon this so far. So can't comment if this would be what i am looking for.

The people that are not interested in discussion are the ones telling you to go play another game in their first comment. Which will eventually happen. This i gladly dismiss as non-discussion.

So you're wanting variation between all different options? That would be a lot more work for the devs. Best you can do variation wise is go to different site. Although there is some variation actually built in since you have to different sites for SLFs at least. (actually, its module, weapon, and SLFs right? 3 different sites? I never did weapons).

But if you are actually asking for different gameplay (beyond the SLF variant where you got to the space thingy) its more work.

Then we are into the territory of how much custom work and variation devs should put in for different things. Creating more variety comes with a cost of slower development elsewhere... and then we have people complaining more about how it takes FD longer to do other stuff, as if we don't have enough complaints about how long it takes them to do stuff as it is.

Or, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you might just get it

 

[Factabulous]

So you're wanting variation between all different options? That would be a lot more work for the devs. Best you can do variation wise is go to different site. Although there is some variation actually built in since you have to different sites for SLFs at least. (actually, its module, weapon, and SLFs right? 3 different sites? I never did weapons).

There are a lot of different site layouts for the different items, something like 15? Plus the difference in site locations. Ofc grinders always head for the same ones, then complain there is no variety. Because ... Grinders.

 

[Turric4n_ED]

So you're wanting variation between all different options? That would be a lot more work for the devs. Best you can do variation wise is go to different site. Although there is some variation actually built in since you have to different sites for SLFs at least. (actually, its module, weapon, and SLFs right? 3 different sites? I never did weapons).

But if you are actually asking for different gameplay (beyond the SLF variant where you got to the space thingy) its more work.

Then we are into the territory of how much custom work and variation devs should put in for different things. Creating more variety comes with a cost of slower development elsewhere... and then we have people complaining more about how it takes FD longer to do other stuff, as if we don't have enough complaints about how long it takes them to do stuff as it is.

Or, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you might just get it

The site is already handcrafted. So what i am trying to say is that fdev made it once but forced you to repeat it 6 times. This is basically lazy. Repetitive tasks are not bad when they are interesting. This is not interesting since you only have one approach and no challenge at all. Shoot sentinels, shoot pillars, scan a thing. No different builds, no different strategy.

So either just don't have the need to repeat it six times or make the task interesting. It would be better for everyone in the end.

Also without guides you would not even find this type of content and without the information that 4 of 6 weapons are basically useless, you would be forced to do it six times. Since you only need two weapons, guides are a mandatory part to reduce the chore.

 

[Northpin]

After a 3 year break

Well, guess now you remembered why you took that break.

Certainly the game is not for everyone
And absolutely not for the people that cannot invest a lot of time in the game.
ED is not the game you can finish in 30-50 hours.

In my case - with some very minor slides, ED is the only game i played for the last 2 years

 

[Agony_Aunt]

The site is already handcrafted. So what i am trying to say is that fdev made it once but forced you to repeat it 6 times. This is basically lazy. Repetitive tasks are not bad when they are interesting. This is not interesting since you only have one approach and no challenge at all. Shoot sentinels, shoot pillars, scan a thing. No different builds, no different strategy.

So either just don't have the need to repeat it six times or make the task interesting. It would be better for everyone in the end.

Also without guides you would not even find this type of content and without the information that 4 of 6 weapons are basically useless, you would be forced to do it six times. Since you only need two weapons, guides are a mandatory part to reduce the chore.

So, you should be able to do it once and unlock everything?

 

[Turric4n_ED]

Well, guess now you remembered why you took that break.

Certainly the game is not for everyone
And absolutely not for the people that cannot invest a lot of time in the game.
ED is not the game you can finish in 30-50 hours.

In my case - with some very minor slides, ED is the only game i played for the last 2 years

You can finish the game? What is the criteria for that?

 

[Turric4n_ED]

So, you should be able to do it once and unlock everything?

Well, if its a bland experience otherwise this would be a better solution than copying it 30 times to artifically blow up playtime and mask shallow mechanics.

But I'd rather have interesting mechanics. Maybe two sentinel enemies, different weapons on the srv. The approach to do it without fight through stealth or hacking.. The possibilities are endless and not binary.

 

[alexzk]

As beautiful as elite might be the grind for guardian modules and engineers is a chore and it doesn´t stop there mechanics are so laborious.

As for my taste it is NOT enough of grind. Done all that all ago, and now nothing to do except continuous pew-pew or tracking.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Well, if its a bland experience otherwise this would be a better solution than copying it 30 times to artifically blow up playtime and mask shallow mechanics.

But I'd rather have interesting mechanics. Maybe two sentinel enemies, different weapons on the srv. The approach to do it without fight through stealth or hacking.. The possibilities are endless and not binary.

You find the guardian unlocks shallow? Oh... i see.

I find them fun.

And yes, what you suggest are possible, but then we are back to the other point i was making. In you want that sort of depth and involvement in gameplay, be prepared for slower devleopment elsewhere.

Guardian stuff is stuff you do once (per item that you want) then have no reason to revist. If there is to be extra "depth" to stuff, i'd rather have them put that in other areas. For example, the regular missions from mission boards. Stuff that you do over and over again.

 

[WaveRider]

Well what shall i say? After a 3 year break i entered the cockpit again aiming to fight against thargoids. With just a few engineers unlocked and never been to guardian sites i decided to unlock blueprints and give them engineers what they want. 1 Week later with exclusively grinding towards those goals i unlocked the most important guardian modules and my list shows 12 engineers still not unlocked. There are severel things that are really so anti fun anti enticing.
As beautiful as elite might be the grind for guardian modules and engineers is a chore and it doesn´t stop there mechanics are so laborious. Why the hell do i have to visit engineers again to get an experimental effect, why am i only allowed to pin one blueprint, why do i have to farm innumerable materials and what not, why there have to be different material traders (raw, encoded, manufactured) so that i have to fly from system to system when i want to exchange material a into b. It´s so anti fun and excludes you from doing the real fun stuff.

I don´t get it Guardian sites Gameplay looks like this: Activate pillars, destroy sentinels, collect materials activate main machine and collect blueprint, drive 500 m away log out log in rinse and repeat untill you have everything you need. Great!!! Same stupid design for Materials like Selen etc. Farmin HGE´s another boring time consuming activity. It´s not that i don´t want to grind to achieve something or be able to afford something but at an certain point to much is to much and it is obviously so far from being fun and enticing gameplay.

The only thing i wanted is building a ship for thagoid combat :-(

Wow, you're not far off where I am, or vice versa, as I have some way to catch up to you lol - however, I started to play the game in 2019 and then stopped when work took me away. I recently came back to the game and am picking up where I left off.

Bottom line up front: Of course each to their own and if there are areas where you think improvement is needed then I think it is good to discuss, but what is it you actually want? What for you would be the way to improve the process?

Please remember that I have not reached the Guardian Stage yet (in fact I have only opened 3 Engineers); when I started, I got used to the game by trading, improved my ships and then picked a particular 'grind' as you call it, in order to purchase and kit out a Krait for core mining. As stated, a little while later I stopped playing.

But I ask the above underlined questions because what you explain regarding collecting/grinding, is part of what I expect from the game. I could say 'Buying from one place and selling at another, in order to make profit over and over again is a grind and repetitive' - but to me it's the pathway that leads to the next stage in the journey that is the game.

Trying to empathise with you more - core mining: I find the full pips to engines and boosting, whilst pinging asteroids in the hope of finding one to mine is mind numbing. Not the actual finding and mining part - but the searching, the constant drone of the boosters and ping of the Pulse Wave as I move along searching. But like mining of old, if I don't put in the 'grind', then I'm not going to find the hidden loot! To put it simply, the benefit I get from the endeavour makes it worth while, because it unlocks that next step in the journey. I am at the stage now that along with the opening of Engineers, I am sorting a ship to do laser mining in the hope that it is a little more 'active' than core mining - but I will still 'grind mining' even if it isn't - if it helps me progress.

Get ready for the mystical 'Grasshopper' saying (apologies if you don't know the TV show to which I am referring), but the journey and achievements along the way is what makes this fun for me. I was quite disappointed that I am not ready/able to do the current CG - but there will be others in the future. What I dread is the point where I have completed everything - I'm sure there will still be stuff to do - but I probably won't have as big a buzz from accomplishment. <O

 

[Turric4n_ED]

You find the guardian unlocks shallow? Oh... i see.

I find them fun.

And yes, what you suggest are possible, but then we are back to the other point i was making. In you want that sort of depth and involvement in gameplay, be prepared for slower devleopment elsewhere.

Guardian stuff is stuff you do once (per item that you want) then have no reason to revist. If there is to be extra "depth" to stuff, i'd rather have them put that in other areas. For example, the regular missions from mission boards. Stuff that you do over and over again.

You do it five times at least and around thirty if you want every item. What's your point. Why the need to repeat it twice then in the first place?

 

[Agony_Aunt]

You do it five times at least and around thirty if you want every item. What's your point. Why the need to repeat it twice then in the first place?

Then we are back to the suggestion that once should be enough... for everything. That's a lot of content created for something that people do just once.

Besides, 5 or 30 times, doesn't compare the number of times i've taken assassinaiton missions or delivery missions or courier missions, which i've done thousands of times.

Also, i think you're getting into hyperbole territory. Its not 30 times, i count 12. For everything. Doing a guardian base run takes 10 minutes or so. 2 hours effort, plus the trip to the guardian beacon thingy to get the whatchamacallit mcguffins for the SLFs.

 

[Turric4n_ED]

Then we are back to the suggestion that once should be enough... for everything. That's a lot of content created for something that people do just once.

Besides, 5 or 30 times, doesn't compare the number of times i've taken assassinaiton missions or delivery missions or courier missions, which i've done thousands of times.

Also, i think you're getting into hyperbole territory. Its not 30 times, i count 12. For everything. Doing a guardian base run takes 10 minutes or so. 2 hours effort, plus the trip to the guardian beacon thingy to get the whatchamacallit mcguffins for the SLFs.

So why are a lot of people complain when it's fine in your opinion?