First off. I love Elite, and I'm having a fun enough time with it for the moment. Also, any criticism I lay is to make the game better not just to tear it down.
So here goes:
Dear FDev,
Your mission system makes no sense. You can get a mission to assassinate NPC "Lucky Catfish" right next to "Deliver 99 Tonnes of feces to BFE". Missions are erratic, payouts are unpredictable and fluctuate wildly, and the game states lately have even been glitching. And look, I get that you want it to be more difficult to earn the higher payouts, to get into bigger, faster, better ships. But there is SOOOO many better ways to do it. First off, nerfs are bad for the game, even if balance is good. Here's why. Players are human, first and foremost and the psychology of Loss Aversion is a thing. After nerfs, players may feel the game has lost something, sometimes even quitting outright. It's bad to nerf your game, especially nerfing mission payouts for EXP/or Credits in the event of Elite. It harms the game, and adversely affects your player base.
Secondly, Massacre missions come with a high degree of risk, considering our current combat system. And in most cases, you absolutely have to be in a nearly solid A fit ship, and take friends to make it profitable over the long term. Some systems in Civil War have only 1 or 2 CZ that are visible to players at any one area. And not always is a Low Intensity zone available. Also, the game can't even decide what "Low Intensity" even means, considering that 17 Draconis means everything including corvettes. A corvette, a python and a couple of ship launched fighters can and WILL wreck your day in a heartbeat if you do CZ alone, even in a A spec ship. And not everyone wants to play in open, and risk getting griefed by players in a game with an inadequate crime and punishment system.
10 Alternatives to Direct Payout Nerfs and Mission Caps:
1. Add cash sinks to other aspects of the game, in line with immersion, lore, and game context. Like, "Regular Maintenance" where modules can degrade from use, or pieces of equipment requiring cleaning after excessive use. In warships and tanks in real life, these things are very necessary. Other cash sinks could be increased Ammo Costs for Premium Ammo, but increased ammunition options much like the crafted ammunition grades.
2. Add ship grade variants (with included warnings about "Default Fits" to encourage upgraded loadouts at purchase), I.E. Purchasing an Anaconda for the first time with all A grade modules out the gate, adjusted for the cost of those modules with a 'Convenience Fee'. Most players know, a default fit ship is not very effective in combat on it's own. It would be up to the player to take a poorly fit ship into space.
3. Add ranking requirements for the purchase of more ships, albeit a more "Arbitrary" limit on the speed at which people could acquire ships. Like, "Combat Rank Competent Required" for flying an Anaconda. Or "Allied Status" required to purchase ship from a station with a 15% discount. Maybe even categorize them as Pilot License Grades.
4. If a particular kind of mission payout and mission board structure causes people to cluster to 1 of 2 systems to spam them, then create a Combat Contracts board that provides only combat missions. Separating them from Commerce will be beneficial for both combat and commercial pilots, as well as encourage more civil war/conflict participation in other systems (not just those with quicker easier mission acquisition/payouts).
5. Have consequences for faction involvement in Civil Wars, like decreased faction status with the other factions, and also their related or allied factions, or by locking people out of faction switching to prevent some players from milking both sides of the conflict, to improve payouts and total carried missions when the mission board seems to "Dry Up" a bit. AKA, Faction consequences and loss of standing with antagonistic faction and their allies.
6. Introduce Faction War Bounties, where a repeatedly successful combat pilots racking up large sums of cash in combat zones will gain a short term bounty for war efforts, with a 30 to 300 minute cool-down based on the total kill per hour tier of the player. Faction War Bounties would cause progressively more difficult bounties to come after you as your War Bounty increased, even in combat zones, increasing difficulty respective to the payouts.
7. Introduce a "Combat Hull Stress Meter", which accumulates and affects ship integrity to a degree which requires some degree of cooldown and/or extended repair routines to compensate for them. This could either be a timed cooldown system or a Money Sink, but preferably not both at the same time. Money sinks would have a less negative impact on players over an arbitrary timed cooldown gate.
8. Introducing Taxation system to the game affected by faction standing, respective ranking, assets and ship size. Taxation would increase as one becomes more wealthy, and flies bigger, more expensive ships, collectable upon docking. Additionally, buffing all other payouts to have equal "Time to Payout" ratios would be likely necessary, to prevent any one player time from taking the brunt of the change. Failure to pay them could result in bounties.
9. Implement a better crime and punishment system with real sticking power, and even faction standing consequences to prevent players from getting griefed constantly in Open, and create a Wing Search feature to find players and what missions and systems relevant to them to encourage more players to play in open. The current "Bounty" and punishment system is brutal on new players, and ineffectual against wealthy veterans.
10. Offer More Donation missions to players Allied with a specific faction they've chosen to fight for, which can rebuff against wartime loses of ships and faction influence to sustain the war, and give a cash sink. Maybe even almost like "War Dues". (Such a system wouldn't function well without also used option number 5 in play as well to prevent war profiteering turncoats).
Nerfs that will make a game's system intrinsically more grindy are kind of bad for player involvement and the spirits of your community, and they are ill-advised, in my personal and professional opinion. (Considering my former experience and employment). They can give a perception of unfairness, or even a "Grind for the sake of the Grind" perception in your disfavor. Moreover, they actually emotionally hurt your players and demotivate them, as does any kind of "Lose Aversion" related psychological reaction. It feels like a punch in the gut to your loyal players, or even not so loyal. Careless nerfs can sent the message that you either don't care or don't understand. I have reason to believe neither is the case, but not all folks are going to be willing to consider that before they say '@#$% this game, I'm going to play Star Citizen/Avorion/Hellion/Sci-Fi Flavor of the Week, et cetera'.
You really don't want to alienate your player base, and all that is needed for that is to give a "Perception" of apathy, ignorance, or unfairness. That said, I love the work all of you do and have a great deal of respect for what you've created with Elite Dangerous, and I'm really engaged in your game and I want to see the best for it. Moreover, I'm a lot more patient than others may be, because I'm retired. I wish you well, FDev and Fellow Science Fiction Lovers and Enthusiasts. Elite Dangerous is the kind of Space Sim and Science Fiction I've been longing for since I realized the amazing things computer graphics could do, as a young servicewoman in the USAF.
Sincerely,
Reneta Scian
P.S. Could we also get an object clipping or object instancing limit setting in game to prevent CZ from becoming Slag Ridden Cesspools of Latency and Client Crashes after 20 - 30 minutes of combat?
So here goes:
Dear FDev,
Your mission system makes no sense. You can get a mission to assassinate NPC "Lucky Catfish" right next to "Deliver 99 Tonnes of feces to BFE". Missions are erratic, payouts are unpredictable and fluctuate wildly, and the game states lately have even been glitching. And look, I get that you want it to be more difficult to earn the higher payouts, to get into bigger, faster, better ships. But there is SOOOO many better ways to do it. First off, nerfs are bad for the game, even if balance is good. Here's why. Players are human, first and foremost and the psychology of Loss Aversion is a thing. After nerfs, players may feel the game has lost something, sometimes even quitting outright. It's bad to nerf your game, especially nerfing mission payouts for EXP/or Credits in the event of Elite. It harms the game, and adversely affects your player base.
Secondly, Massacre missions come with a high degree of risk, considering our current combat system. And in most cases, you absolutely have to be in a nearly solid A fit ship, and take friends to make it profitable over the long term. Some systems in Civil War have only 1 or 2 CZ that are visible to players at any one area. And not always is a Low Intensity zone available. Also, the game can't even decide what "Low Intensity" even means, considering that 17 Draconis means everything including corvettes. A corvette, a python and a couple of ship launched fighters can and WILL wreck your day in a heartbeat if you do CZ alone, even in a A spec ship. And not everyone wants to play in open, and risk getting griefed by players in a game with an inadequate crime and punishment system.
10 Alternatives to Direct Payout Nerfs and Mission Caps:
1. Add cash sinks to other aspects of the game, in line with immersion, lore, and game context. Like, "Regular Maintenance" where modules can degrade from use, or pieces of equipment requiring cleaning after excessive use. In warships and tanks in real life, these things are very necessary. Other cash sinks could be increased Ammo Costs for Premium Ammo, but increased ammunition options much like the crafted ammunition grades.
2. Add ship grade variants (with included warnings about "Default Fits" to encourage upgraded loadouts at purchase), I.E. Purchasing an Anaconda for the first time with all A grade modules out the gate, adjusted for the cost of those modules with a 'Convenience Fee'. Most players know, a default fit ship is not very effective in combat on it's own. It would be up to the player to take a poorly fit ship into space.
3. Add ranking requirements for the purchase of more ships, albeit a more "Arbitrary" limit on the speed at which people could acquire ships. Like, "Combat Rank Competent Required" for flying an Anaconda. Or "Allied Status" required to purchase ship from a station with a 15% discount. Maybe even categorize them as Pilot License Grades.
4. If a particular kind of mission payout and mission board structure causes people to cluster to 1 of 2 systems to spam them, then create a Combat Contracts board that provides only combat missions. Separating them from Commerce will be beneficial for both combat and commercial pilots, as well as encourage more civil war/conflict participation in other systems (not just those with quicker easier mission acquisition/payouts).
5. Have consequences for faction involvement in Civil Wars, like decreased faction status with the other factions, and also their related or allied factions, or by locking people out of faction switching to prevent some players from milking both sides of the conflict, to improve payouts and total carried missions when the mission board seems to "Dry Up" a bit. AKA, Faction consequences and loss of standing with antagonistic faction and their allies.
6. Introduce Faction War Bounties, where a repeatedly successful combat pilots racking up large sums of cash in combat zones will gain a short term bounty for war efforts, with a 30 to 300 minute cool-down based on the total kill per hour tier of the player. Faction War Bounties would cause progressively more difficult bounties to come after you as your War Bounty increased, even in combat zones, increasing difficulty respective to the payouts.
7. Introduce a "Combat Hull Stress Meter", which accumulates and affects ship integrity to a degree which requires some degree of cooldown and/or extended repair routines to compensate for them. This could either be a timed cooldown system or a Money Sink, but preferably not both at the same time. Money sinks would have a less negative impact on players over an arbitrary timed cooldown gate.
8. Introducing Taxation system to the game affected by faction standing, respective ranking, assets and ship size. Taxation would increase as one becomes more wealthy, and flies bigger, more expensive ships, collectable upon docking. Additionally, buffing all other payouts to have equal "Time to Payout" ratios would be likely necessary, to prevent any one player time from taking the brunt of the change. Failure to pay them could result in bounties.
9. Implement a better crime and punishment system with real sticking power, and even faction standing consequences to prevent players from getting griefed constantly in Open, and create a Wing Search feature to find players and what missions and systems relevant to them to encourage more players to play in open. The current "Bounty" and punishment system is brutal on new players, and ineffectual against wealthy veterans.
10. Offer More Donation missions to players Allied with a specific faction they've chosen to fight for, which can rebuff against wartime loses of ships and faction influence to sustain the war, and give a cash sink. Maybe even almost like "War Dues". (Such a system wouldn't function well without also used option number 5 in play as well to prevent war profiteering turncoats).
Nerfs that will make a game's system intrinsically more grindy are kind of bad for player involvement and the spirits of your community, and they are ill-advised, in my personal and professional opinion. (Considering my former experience and employment). They can give a perception of unfairness, or even a "Grind for the sake of the Grind" perception in your disfavor. Moreover, they actually emotionally hurt your players and demotivate them, as does any kind of "Lose Aversion" related psychological reaction. It feels like a punch in the gut to your loyal players, or even not so loyal. Careless nerfs can sent the message that you either don't care or don't understand. I have reason to believe neither is the case, but not all folks are going to be willing to consider that before they say '@#$% this game, I'm going to play Star Citizen/Avorion/Hellion/Sci-Fi Flavor of the Week, et cetera'.
You really don't want to alienate your player base, and all that is needed for that is to give a "Perception" of apathy, ignorance, or unfairness. That said, I love the work all of you do and have a great deal of respect for what you've created with Elite Dangerous, and I'm really engaged in your game and I want to see the best for it. Moreover, I'm a lot more patient than others may be, because I'm retired. I wish you well, FDev and Fellow Science Fiction Lovers and Enthusiasts. Elite Dangerous is the kind of Space Sim and Science Fiction I've been longing for since I realized the amazing things computer graphics could do, as a young servicewoman in the USAF.
Sincerely,
Reneta Scian
P.S. Could we also get an object clipping or object instancing limit setting in game to prevent CZ from becoming Slag Ridden Cesspools of Latency and Client Crashes after 20 - 30 minutes of combat?
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