I will start by saying that i have put a decent amount of time into this game for someone who plays it more casually. I started playing this game a while ago and back then it was a lot of fun to work your way up, upgrading as you go and discovering the systems at play and how to do all the quest types. Unfortunately, at some point you have to make goals and when you do that you find out just what is required to achive those goals and unfortunately how long it will actually take by doing the various tasks in the game that make money.
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My goal was getting a really good ship for exploration and outfitting it. It was to engineer it fully just so it will perform better outside the bubble but after getting one thing done i would rather hang myself then do that again. Its not that the tasks of engineering were bad its that the time it took to do it turned something that should be fun, since you are playing a game, into something thats actually quite the opposite. The problem lies in how long it takes to complete. There is nothing exciting doing the same task over and over again when you know nothing will change. The fun comes in variation and surprise. To top it all off, thats just one upgrade among many many others. Any excitment of doing it is washed away and leaves you feeling empty. There is no sense of accomplishment for geting the thing you want, its more a sense of, holy , im never doing that again, and imo, thats bad game design. This is after all a game. Not a way of life, not a job, not a chore, its supposed to be a game. I dont know if somewhre along the way the devs just stopped playing their game but if you pick it up and play it for yourself you will want to hang yourself too once that grind really sets in. There is no way there is someone who enjoys that kind of torture. Its like an element that exists in pay to win games that forces you to buy something with your own money to skip the grind except you cant, there is no boosters, there is no way to finish it any other way other then to drag your face along gravel from a moving vehicle. I would legit pay to never have to do that again, so again, bad game design. I would even pay in game credits for the mats needed to finish that crap even if they were expensive becasue the credit grind isnt even that bad but im sure they would make the costs outragious anyway for the mats so no point there either.
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Engineering aside there are moments in the game when players discover ways to really make bank. A gold rush so to speak. That is until the devs realise that they exist and nerf the hell out of it so nobody can enjoy a moment of relief and earn a decent living per time invested. They are great when they pop up and honestly moments that the game suddenly becomes quite alot of fun to play. It forces you to play the game differently then you would normally do if you want to take advantage of that gold rush and make that $$$. Goals suddenly become a lot more achieveable, you are getting a larger payout for a much smaller investment of your time. It really got me thinking, why isnt that a normal system in the game? Elite dangerous can easily implement a system where certain activities become very much in demand. This would push people to diversify who normally wouldnt and switch things up while also giving you a much higher then normal payout per time invested. This is afterall, my main gripe with this game. Its a time sink. Real life is short and at some point i want to be done with a game. If my goals are blocked by an arbitrary time allotment that is quite massive to begin with then i have to look at whether this game is even worth putting the time into. That makes this game a deturant for many people who pick this game up for the first time and realize the same thing. The player count would be much larger if this didnt exist. If this game actually bumped up demand for areas per faction whether it be combat, mining, trading, looting, transporting and actually switched it up to where some factions just have a boom for those quests or tasks more people would engage in it just to take advantage of the significantly higher profits. Thats how awful the money making grind is currently, people would do anything to have that increase even if its for a short burst. There is plenty of things that can be done to make it natural, new terraforming efforts require more mining, high demand for so and so faction. Increased pirate activity so a high need for combat. Right now people just find something that makes a lot and they just do it over and over and over again because its the best thing and everything is just static and never changes unless its something that makes too much money and actually adds a bit of fun to the game for the simple reason that its removing a lot of the grind, then its nerfed to the point its just like everything else and everything else sucks because it requires too much time. Kind of sad when players find happiness in having to play a game less and it shouldnt have to boil down to that to begin with.
.
I love the concepts and ideas of this game but a lot of the time i find myself just traveling around doing the same thing way too many times. Its not even the thing that im doing thats the problem, granted i wish there were more surprises and variations that would make things feel a little more unique, but its really the amount of time that im pouring into doing it. It just feels like id rather not do it at all. Credits feels like the hurdle to the rest of the game, once you have billions and you no longer have to worry about credits again then the game can really open up for you and you can finally start forging your own path as the game suggests. Its like its a two parter game. The first part is being the work horse and slaving away for money and then the second is like retirment where you get to go on vacations and spend all your wealth enjoyign the rest of your time for once free of restrictions. Until then you are stuck on a monotonous grind without end until you to decide that its either wasting your time or you have all the time in the world to waste.
.
Older players have taken advantage of many gold rushes throught the games history but newer players dont have that luxury. Because of nerfs, the ability to make money fast to do all the cool stuff in this game is a grind and honesly one that eats way too much time. Any sense of acomplishment is weighed by how much time it takes to get it. As a more responsible adult who has a life, this is not worth it and i cant even recommend this game to anybody who values their time, which i have tried to do and im now voicing these complaints. Elite dangerous just boils down to one giant fetch quest after another and if your lucky you can get enough money to break the chains of slavery that is the credit grind and finally forge your own destiny because as it is, this game feels increadibly linear until you are rich enough to not need it.
.
My goal was getting a really good ship for exploration and outfitting it. It was to engineer it fully just so it will perform better outside the bubble but after getting one thing done i would rather hang myself then do that again. Its not that the tasks of engineering were bad its that the time it took to do it turned something that should be fun, since you are playing a game, into something thats actually quite the opposite. The problem lies in how long it takes to complete. There is nothing exciting doing the same task over and over again when you know nothing will change. The fun comes in variation and surprise. To top it all off, thats just one upgrade among many many others. Any excitment of doing it is washed away and leaves you feeling empty. There is no sense of accomplishment for geting the thing you want, its more a sense of, holy , im never doing that again, and imo, thats bad game design. This is after all a game. Not a way of life, not a job, not a chore, its supposed to be a game. I dont know if somewhre along the way the devs just stopped playing their game but if you pick it up and play it for yourself you will want to hang yourself too once that grind really sets in. There is no way there is someone who enjoys that kind of torture. Its like an element that exists in pay to win games that forces you to buy something with your own money to skip the grind except you cant, there is no boosters, there is no way to finish it any other way other then to drag your face along gravel from a moving vehicle. I would legit pay to never have to do that again, so again, bad game design. I would even pay in game credits for the mats needed to finish that crap even if they were expensive becasue the credit grind isnt even that bad but im sure they would make the costs outragious anyway for the mats so no point there either.
.
Engineering aside there are moments in the game when players discover ways to really make bank. A gold rush so to speak. That is until the devs realise that they exist and nerf the hell out of it so nobody can enjoy a moment of relief and earn a decent living per time invested. They are great when they pop up and honestly moments that the game suddenly becomes quite alot of fun to play. It forces you to play the game differently then you would normally do if you want to take advantage of that gold rush and make that $$$. Goals suddenly become a lot more achieveable, you are getting a larger payout for a much smaller investment of your time. It really got me thinking, why isnt that a normal system in the game? Elite dangerous can easily implement a system where certain activities become very much in demand. This would push people to diversify who normally wouldnt and switch things up while also giving you a much higher then normal payout per time invested. This is afterall, my main gripe with this game. Its a time sink. Real life is short and at some point i want to be done with a game. If my goals are blocked by an arbitrary time allotment that is quite massive to begin with then i have to look at whether this game is even worth putting the time into. That makes this game a deturant for many people who pick this game up for the first time and realize the same thing. The player count would be much larger if this didnt exist. If this game actually bumped up demand for areas per faction whether it be combat, mining, trading, looting, transporting and actually switched it up to where some factions just have a boom for those quests or tasks more people would engage in it just to take advantage of the significantly higher profits. Thats how awful the money making grind is currently, people would do anything to have that increase even if its for a short burst. There is plenty of things that can be done to make it natural, new terraforming efforts require more mining, high demand for so and so faction. Increased pirate activity so a high need for combat. Right now people just find something that makes a lot and they just do it over and over and over again because its the best thing and everything is just static and never changes unless its something that makes too much money and actually adds a bit of fun to the game for the simple reason that its removing a lot of the grind, then its nerfed to the point its just like everything else and everything else sucks because it requires too much time. Kind of sad when players find happiness in having to play a game less and it shouldnt have to boil down to that to begin with.
.
I love the concepts and ideas of this game but a lot of the time i find myself just traveling around doing the same thing way too many times. Its not even the thing that im doing thats the problem, granted i wish there were more surprises and variations that would make things feel a little more unique, but its really the amount of time that im pouring into doing it. It just feels like id rather not do it at all. Credits feels like the hurdle to the rest of the game, once you have billions and you no longer have to worry about credits again then the game can really open up for you and you can finally start forging your own path as the game suggests. Its like its a two parter game. The first part is being the work horse and slaving away for money and then the second is like retirment where you get to go on vacations and spend all your wealth enjoyign the rest of your time for once free of restrictions. Until then you are stuck on a monotonous grind without end until you to decide that its either wasting your time or you have all the time in the world to waste.
.
Older players have taken advantage of many gold rushes throught the games history but newer players dont have that luxury. Because of nerfs, the ability to make money fast to do all the cool stuff in this game is a grind and honesly one that eats way too much time. Any sense of acomplishment is weighed by how much time it takes to get it. As a more responsible adult who has a life, this is not worth it and i cant even recommend this game to anybody who values their time, which i have tried to do and im now voicing these complaints. Elite dangerous just boils down to one giant fetch quest after another and if your lucky you can get enough money to break the chains of slavery that is the credit grind and finally forge your own destiny because as it is, this game feels increadibly linear until you are rich enough to not need it.
