The next big thing?

DarthLuca · Dec 19, 2014

What would you like to see as 'the next big thing'?

Two questions in one really:
What one thing (ok maybe two) would you (the player) like to see in the next enhancement and devs, what is actually planned for the next enhancement(s)?
.
Personally I think the thing I would like to see most, is "Missions" taken to the next level. In FRONTIER (Elite II - or more to the point PIONEER, I never really got FRONTIER to run very well) we had transport missions, short interplanetary/inter-base missions (and even a picture of the NPC who was giving the mission who we could have a short discussion with!) plus exploration/scan missions. I can't wait for E

to be better than ELITE, FRONTIER and PIONEER in all aspects of mission variety, scope and sophistication.

DarthLuca · Dec 20, 2014

Anyone out there?

Lobstris · Dec 20, 2014

I agree that I'd like to see at least the same functionality in the bulletin boards as in the previous two games. They are currently pretty retrograde (IMHO). Things missing include: The ability to see the NPCs we are dealing with, the ability to ask questions of NPCs (Can I have half my money up front? Should I expect any problems?), Other types of missions (what happened to scouting, photography and base/asset kill missions? and the current assassination missions aren't really a patch on the previous two games).
.
I'm also pretty dismayed at the faction rank progression missions - I've seen someone on Reddit claim to be an Imperial Knight already. Ranking up to high levels took a lot more low level courier missions (blank data cards and superconducting wire oh my!) in the previous games, but that kind of gameplay is dismissed as 'grinding' and too time consuming these days (sigh!). Now we get 'source us some combat stabilisers to rank up' when that item is being sold at the same bloomin' station! (double sigh!).

bassman · Dec 20, 2014

Some additional multiplayer facilities are apparently imminent, wings and hopefully improved chat.

callezetter · Dec 20, 2014

Communication. You know talking, discussing, helping, teasing, planning with other human beings in the game. As every other online game have developed functionality for in the last 10 years.

And I dont mean the random clicking and hailing nerest CMDR who happends to be in range before they leave.

Tooks · Dec 20, 2014

I dont know if this is in the cards but I'd like something like player owned companies or real estate. Something for rich traders to spend their fortune on.

Personally I'd love it if we could CEO a company, hire NPCs or other players to work for us. In my head I imagine owning an small industrial corporation, I have a small fleet of pilots operating in low-end mining rigs (supplied to them by the company at a cut of their profits). Would give pirates extra targets to go for as there'd be NPC/Player workers out there. The CEO could also hire bounty hunters to either protect their workers or hunt down someone who's been hassling their employees.

Kicks · Dec 20, 2014

Wings really should have been a Priority over anything else... even without missions (Crazy, I know?).

Humans are innovative creations, and they get even more innovative (for better or worse

), when they are able to group together for a common aim.

Co-operative game-play is the future, in my opinion, with some PvP thrown in (especially Wing vs Wing?!

). For Elite Dangerous to have truly emergent game-play, all the tools that players' need to "blaze their own trail" need to be in. Now if you throw in co-operative missions in to the mix, and you have a very solid basis and lots of fun. Humans like playing together, be id adversarial, or co-operative.

I love Elite, and it'll be a game a play for a long time. FD can win a lot of hearts by concentrating on the multi-player experience, from both a stability, and game-play perspective.

I'd like to log in with my friends, go collect a "Wing" mission where we have to transport X within an hour, and have to use multiple ships to do so.
I'd like to accept bounty missions of the 500K variety, where we have to take out a number of difficult targets.
I'd like the emerging story to encourage group-play.

These things will come, I honestly think. Frontier have developed a brilliant framework which is functional, and fun to be in (for me), but needs to go to the next level.

From an art/sound perspective, I'd not change anything.

Udayana · Dec 20, 2014

i think the next big thing right now is wings, i read somewhere few days ago that they are focusing on that.

Nikonthenet · Dec 20, 2014

I'd like the following:

WINGS - essential. An experience shared is twice as valuable!

NPC PERSISTENCE - Currently, all NPCs spawn only for you. They are not real -they do not effect the trade system, the system faction, or anything else. They fly around in circles going no where. Destroying them has no effect on anything. You can't destroy trade ships to effect the markets, you can't destroy opposition faction ships to help your chosen faction. You can't blockade a station, as the market works independent of everything. Its all below shallow, its false. Where is the 'living breathing galaxy'?

Serrin · Dec 20, 2014

WINGS

Intro video with background story:
People who have played the original Elite will know about the factions in this universe and their motivations. For someone who has not played the original game a big part of the immersion is lost because the factions feel like random / generic factions and you are not attached to them in any way. But you should, because you are not playing a newborn baby, you play a character who already lived in the universe for some time and should know the basics about the ruling factions.

Therefore I think an intro video would be awesome. It could be made just like an image slide show with a nice voice actor telling the backgroundstory by introducing the main factions and their main characters. In the end there could be something like "what will you do in the universe"? (ok that might get old because the Star Citizen trailer has this text... but hey, its so fitting...).
PS: I know there is some fluff text on the homepage but it was not very satisfying (for me at least).

ascendence · Dec 20, 2014

Nikonthenet said:
I'd like the following:

WINGS - essential. An experience shared is twice as valuable!

NPC PERSISTENCE - Currently, all NPCs spawn only for you. They are not real -they do not effect the trade system, the system faction, or anything else. They fly around in circles going no where. Destroying them has no effect on anything. You can't destroy trade ships to effect the markets, you can't destroy opposition faction ships to help your chosen faction. You can't blockade a station, as the market works independent of everything. Its all below shallow, its false. Where is the 'living breathing galaxy'?

these things!

Flatpackhamster · Dec 20, 2014

A way to taser players who gripe on the forums about how hard the game is.

DarthLuca · Dec 20, 2014

Yep starting to see living, breathing NPC's would be high on my list. (ok Non-living, non-breathing') but we know what we mean. This has to happen at some stage and I hope they don't wait all the way to the 'Get of ship' expansion to implement them.

bassman · Dec 20, 2014

Nikonthenet said:
NPC PERSISTENCE - Currently, all NPCs spawn only for you. They are not real -they do not effect the trade system, the system faction, or anything else. They fly around in circles going no where. Destroying them has no effect on anything. You can't destroy trade ships to effect the markets, you can't destroy opposition faction ships to help your chosen faction. You can't blockade a station, as the market works independent of everything. Its all below shallow, its false. Where is the 'living breathing galaxy'?

This would transform the whole feeling of the game, the transient NPC mechanic is probably the single thing I dislike the most in ED. It should be entirely doable. You dont need much server side data or computing power to keep track of them really - I would think you easily track several million persistent NPCs in a gigabyte or so and mid power server, which would be plenty to cover all the systems that would have players in them (systems without players can use statistical simulation of NPC activity). The server would track their movements in SC and in hyperspace and hand off to player clients when instances are created.

It would create vastly more opportunities to "create your own story" e.g. follow a trader to protect him from pirates or convoy up with them if your a trader yourself, follow a pirate back to their base etc.

Chris Dettmar · Dec 20, 2014

When flying to stations I'm always seeing NPCs dropping out at the station I'm heading to, but they're never there when I drop out myself. It would be nice if they were. It's always a bit strange to arrive at a station with basically nothing there.
.
Also I'd really like to see some more involved missions as OP suggested.

kvmetternich · Dec 20, 2014

Better mission systems and/with a good co-op atm.This are the weak parts of the game atm.
Then we need the 10/15 ships missing and more big Stations types and interiors.
After that, we can really consider the 1.0 near perfection and wait for the exps.

Ixnatifual · Dec 20, 2014

Besides general stability improvements, wings and expanding the mission system.

MARPATdroid · Dec 20, 2014

Tooks said:
I dont know if this is in the cards but I'd like something like player owned companies or real estate. Something for rich traders to spend their fortune on.

Personally I'd love it if we could CEO a company, hire NPCs or other players to work for us. In my head I imagine owning an small industrial corporation, I have a small fleet of pilots operating in low-end mining rigs (supplied to them by the company at a cut of their profits). Would give pirates extra targets to go for as there'd be NPC/Player workers out there. The CEO could also hire bounty hunters to either protect their workers or hunt down someone who's been hassling their employees.

This has come up multiple times, and it is not in the cards. Elite isn't that type of game, and the devs don't want to go in that direction. Personally I agree with that decision, as the game is supposed to make you feel relatively small in a big universe, and I feel that being able to become some galactic super power would take away from this. Maybe further down the road this will end up being implemented since there seems to be a fair number of people who want this type of functionality.

Puck · Dec 20, 2014

I would hope mission variety would be something being worked on next. Just aren't enough types and the few that I like almost never show up. If not that, more filter types on the galaxy map. Would be nice to be able to filter by democracy, dictatorship, etc. Also ways to find out more info on factions in the game. Would probably require too much writing as I guess a lot of them are randomly generated.

Pipe dream would be player owned hangars. Not stations (well yeah stations, but I figure hangars would be something far easier to add), but hangars that you rent that allow you to store commodities and equipment.

Ytheleus · Dec 20, 2014

NPC persistence is the main one. It will transform the depth of gameplay, though it will obviously be a technical challenge to say the least.
I'd like to see greater mission variety, long haul deliveries of various tonnages (eg 50+LY) being an obvious example, suitable for slightly more kitted up players.
Rudimentary player homebases (in asteroids or whatever) that your friend list can also use. I am not at all keen on players manufacturing stuff, but it would be nice to have somewhere to store ships and cargo, with a basic repair bay. Probably expensive, perhaps temporary in duration. This could open up the fringes of explored space and allow, for example, mining far away from civilization.

Oh, and a player comms rework. it needs a serious overhaul imo.