Time sinks? Joking surely?

[Flavourless]

I cannot refrain longer from posting my opinion.

Many players are complaining about time sinks in ED, (while others see them as a core feature that sets the game above others).

Please just consider for a moment.

Tried travelling over a short journey on Earth in the real world? Seen how long it takes?
Now in ED, players can take a spaceship, refuel and repair it, start it, undock from an orbital station, fly to a distance that allows a hyper jump, jump to another star system lightyears away, travel to a particular location in the new system, dock the ship in a space station or on a planet. All in less than 5 short minutes! Time sinks - you are having a laugh.

 

[Helfar]

Very true. Some people it seems wont be happy till you land at a station, have to log off for an hour while the loading team have cups of tea and smoke breaks while loading your ship. Then to await confirmation of a time you can leave the station, with the control tower, and then do your trip to system B, where you have to wait outside the station for permission to land, then log off for an hour for the loading team to unload your stock so you can sell it. Meanwhile you have to wait several hours for them to fit your new multicannon onto your ship.

There is immersion and then there is just a waste fo time. Though I will say I'm not a fan of insta ship trf, I can understand it for a game play perspective.

 

[charognard]

I cannot refrain longer from posting my opinion.

Many players are complaining about time sinks in ED, (while others see them as a core feature that sets the game above others).

Please just consider for a moment.

Tried travelling over a short journey on Earth in the real world? Seen how long it takes?
Now in ED, players can take a spaceship, refuel and repair it, start it, undock from an orbital station, fly to a distance that allows a hyper jump, jump to another star system lightyears away, travel to a particular location in the new system, dock the ship in a space station or on a planet. All in less than 5 short minutes! Time sinks - you are having a laugh.

Modern gaming must be FUN and nothing more, sorry, we are living in the wrong time my friend...

 

[CMDR Pugwash]

You're right they're 'avin a bubble!

 

[Dregory The Crow]

I love when people compare computer games and real world.

 

[Flavourless]

I do not advocate a 1:1 time simulation of "real life" in the 34rd Century
But in a game promoted as having a 1:1 scale model of a galaxy, then having to use some time to get about is not only a no-brainer, it is also fun, and playing the game.

 

[GaryII]

Real life is NOT a video game
In general FD needs to "balance" time sinks in the game I doubt that most of people would OK with watching timers for 702t cargo loading for 100th time...the same applies for refuel, refit etc
About traveling - while you travel you just do not watch timer all the time, NPC/player can interdict you.

 

[Martian Successor]

I cannot refrain longer from posting my opinion.

Many players are complaining about time sinks in ED, (while others see them as a core feature that sets the game above others).

Please just consider for a moment.

Tried travelling over a short journey on Earth in the real world? Seen how long it takes?
Now in ED, players can take a spaceship, refuel and repair it, start it, undock from an orbital station, fly to a distance that allows a hyper jump, jump to another star system lightyears away, travel to a particular location in the new system, dock the ship in a space station or on a planet. All in less than 5 short minutes! Time sinks - you are having a laugh.

Computer game. Real life. Comp-uter ga'imm. Reeel loif. Computer..... G.A.M.E...... Real life.

Am I making any sense yet?

 

[SirDavros]

That's a very specific example you've used. The whole docking, refueling part is quick. But there are a lot of other 'time sinks' in the game. I'm not necessarily complaining myself, I do like the sense of progression and feeling like I've earned my stripes and rewards but many people want to be able to play and simply don't have the time to sit around for 10-12 hours a day waiting to achieve something. I imagine that's where a lot of those sort of complaints or views originate.

Sadly, the game (and it is a game) can't be all things to all people.

 

[Truesilver]

The problem, for some of us, is that the current time sink debate concerns ship transfer but follows on the heels of the undoubted time sink that was (and is) RNGineers.

I am an owner of pointy coloured dice and once would have taken the immersion/RP line on everything, hence would have been in favour of delayed transfer. Heck, it was months in game before I would even harm a friendly NPC.

But RNGineers broke my RP into a thousand pieces. Even though I was previously someone who traded etc in Open and accepted lower profits, more risk and more inconvenience for doing so, every aspect of RNGineering I have ground in Solo. Just to save time.

And likewise I voted for instant ship transfer because I am now in favour of anything - anything - that will save me time, so that I can then use that time to play the parts of ED that I like most.

I have spent months playing the parts of the game I enjoy least. If I can get 5 minutes back here and there, I'll take them.

 

[ahwala]

It's a huge time-saver compared to what we have to do now in order to transfer ships from one place to another, but apparently that isn't good enough.

That instant gratification crowd will sooner or later ruin the one thing that sets this game apart: its scale, which allows for epic accomplishments. Wait one more year, and not only will we have instant ship transfer, but instant travel to any system in the game. One of the greatest, most epic community efforts I witnessed in gaming, the Distant Worlds expedition, would mean nothing and comparable stuff would never be possible again. It's tragic that FD even came up with the idea of instantaneous ship transfer in the first place, instead of being proud of the magnificent galaxy they've created and advertising and emphasizing its scale.

Why does everything have to be easy and instant? It devalues everything. For things to be meaningful, they have to be hard. Not everyone can or has to be able to reach Jaques or Beagle Point. Because then what's the         point in having a galaxy spanning 80,000 lightyears.

 

[Arkantes]

For things to be meaningful, they have to be hard. Not everyone can or has to be able to reach Jaques or Beagle Point.

There's nothing hard about that, a bot could do it.

It would be hard if you had to determine each jump coordinates through various challenging scans and calculations (as it should have been implemented in the game, Gamma be damned).

 

[ahwala]

There's nothing hard about that, a bot could do it.

It would be hard if you had to determine each jump coordinates through various challenging scans and calculations (as it should have been implemented in the game, Gamma be damned).

Hard or not (it was somewhat hard before synthesis, jumponium, and soon to be implemented jump-boosting neutrons/white dwarfs), you need to have some determination in order to make it. I agree it could be more involved, but that was not my point.

The point was that the scale of the galaxy already offers activities for a wide range of people, some easier than others, some harder than others, some require less time, others more. You can explore the Pleiades Nebula or make a circumnavigation of the galaxy, and anything in between. Both can be equally fun, but one takes more dedication than the other, and therefore feels more epic. You could expand the argument to combat, trading etc..

I want a galaxy that allows for epic stuff to happen. Dumbing the game down, making everything easier, instantaneous and available to everyone without any effort, makes all accomplishments feel meaningless. And people who don't have the time (or don't want to get good) can explore closer regions (or fight npcs in less difficult places etc., or trade in the bubble instead of feeling the need to be able to haul stuff to EOL PROU...). There are so many fun things to do in the game which don't require much time, so why not do those instead of undermining the epic scale for those who love the game because of it.

 

[Macros Black]

One word: Hutton mugs.

Takes a wee bit longer than 5 mins...

 

[Mephane]

I can understand lots of people would prefer the time between the "action" moments to be reduced to a minimum. The thing is: games like this are already plentiful. Even space games. In fact the majority of all space games is split 50/50 between RTS/4X and mission-based/arena combat. Instant action is as valid a preference as anything, but instant action is being catered to all the time.

ED is one of the rare exceptions. Now maybe someone has entered the game under the impression it were all about instant action, fair enough, but that is then possibly the fault of marketing material that may make it look like that, but not the game itself.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

One word: Hutton mugs.

Takes a wee bit longer than 5 mins...

That reminds me: FD should add an actual hutton mug ingame item to put into the cockpit.

 

[kofeyh]

Spoiler

 

[Borgkube]

I cannot refrain longer from posting my opinion.

Many players are complaining about time sinks in ED, (while others see them as a core feature that sets the game above others).

Please just consider for a moment.

Tried travelling over a short journey on Earth in the real world? Seen how long it takes?
Now in ED, players can take a spaceship, refuel and repair it, start it, undock from an orbital station, fly to a distance that allows a hyper jump, jump to another star system lightyears away, travel to a particular location in the new system, dock the ship in a space station or on a planet. All in less than 5 short minutes! Time sinks - you are having a laugh.

Sadly, so many people these days are used to instant gratification. They want undock, jump, jump, jump, dock. Be sure and gather all the trophy's along the way and don't miss those hidden caches of credits. "Oh Darn I only found 500cr of the possible 505cr". Personally, I find games like that boring.

It being at least several hundred years too early, ED is the closest thing any of us will ever get to interstellar travel, I love it! ( OP, you probably don't like self driving cars either! )

 

[Vasious]

My ship lacks the spare utility slots to fit time sinks :S

 

[goemon]

movies have cuts.

books have cuts.

for a reason.

it takes time to read the 10 books of "malazan books of the fallen", nevertheless it has cuts.

it is about "experience in time (duration)" more than "time".

i traded all rares, some are on stations 400 k ls from entry point. added to "experience of time".

i played a weekend "elite: shiplogistics (moving and engineering my fleet". didn't add to my experience.

i searched (fruitless) hours for level 4 threat convoys with unknown probes. i experienced a search.

i farmed unknown fragments for palin. was a time sink.

it is not about "things taking time."

 

[CMDR Digiel]

I think if I worked in the docking area of a space station that broadcast threats of annihilation to loiterers, I would be pretty sharpish in carrying out my duties.