I think the game is finally in a good balance and is where it should be many years ago. The only think I would change a bit is the grind process for engineering mats that involves relogging.
what else are they making harder for new players? How many hours it is taking now?
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Agreed! I play with a small group (in EDO) most of the time, they like playing so are likely to stick around. There may be another 5k+ players on at the same time we started playing or not, it doesn't matter, in the most selfish way possible!
As always, steam shows a snapshot of players on in that hour timeslot, pick around 09:00 UTC and the numbers look poor, around 21:00 UTC and they look better... (and I guess around 23:00 UTC when the USA players start to join in)
and dont forget the epic games that dont count twords the total game population its known that you get more views or replys if you act like an ass and post inflamatory stuff.. see obsedians ants videos when he says ed is dying and his ussual videos on microsoft fligth simolator lmao .
Luckily i don't have a favorite youtuber, they are all idiots.
When i first started looking into the game the only guy i had any time for was the chap that did 'The Pilot Reviews', well put together vids and not looking for his name in lights.
O7
I think the idea behind the engineer unlock is "go out there and play the game, explore some stuff, and come back to me when you've got some more experience of the galaxy and I'll show you how to upgrade your thrusters". Not "Hey engineer I want better thrusters and I want them now! - what? I have to do a pointless 5000Ly trip :s"
Been playing about 6 weeks now. Loving it. Absolutely loving it.
I had a bout at the beginning where I gave up for about a week, but that was it. I did a lot of reading, getting some pointers from this forum and have been having a blast ever since.
I had a bout at the beginning where I gave up for about a week, but that was it. I did a lot of reading, getting some pointers from this forum and have been having a blast ever since.
the funny part is you can get yoru trusters to grade 3 without doing a 5k light year trip lmao.
You can even just park yourself on a carrier heading to Colonia and get it that way. Ally with one faction and pay up 100,000 in bounty vouchers and you're sorted. No need for sensor fragment hunting if you don't want to do it.
Speaking of the grind it was never the grind I found the problem in game but the stupidness of the grind.
Take engineering mats. If you try to collect the mats you need by honestly playing the game. Forget it, you'll be there for years and never find the ones you want.
Rather than fix this obvious randomly generated flaw you can find a signal source and log in out to get them.
Same goes or other mats, cargos or what have you.
That's why we have Dav's Hope.
That's why we have Jameson wreck.
That's why we have shard sites.
That's why we have that pointless probe thing tourists want to gulp at.
That's why we have Mats traders.
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Because it's near impossible to get what you need in a realistic timescale while enjoying the game the devs just placed pointless game loops you can visit.
Now. If a bit more imagination was used. What if you visited your Engineer and he/she says "I need one of these. Get me one of these and I'll engineer your ship in any area to level 5. So you accept the engineers quest and then have to complete five missions of varying skill, type, time.". You might need to do some exploration. Some combat. Some trading. Some mining. Maybe the missions are open ended so you can play over several weeks.
Now you are playing the game and not grinding.
Every class 5 FSD ship no longer needs unlocking an engineer for the FSD, fully engineered class 5 FSD is added in the human tech broker..
Every ship that has a class 5 can fit optional internal now, added extra jump range in the guardian FSD booster ...
Low gravity planets allow collection of items with out using the SRV... MA, guardian items and materials with no SRV use...
If you use the SRV cargo is now 4 not 2... ( returns to ship times are cut in half as you carry 4 now )
Over paying mission generation in the starter zone gives so much money getting cobra mk3 will just happen by default... The mission just pay so much...
Killing ships in high res with the cops in a sidewinder to cobra class gives so much money youll be in a class 5 FSD ship in no time...
EDO over pays when Playing on foot in combat zone pays stupid easy money and unlike ship combat there is ZERO penalty in dieing, none, and you get 300k bonus if your side wins... No risk just time..
You now buy EDO mats from other players at FC You dont search for them they do now...
Every ship that has a class 5 can fit optional internal now, added extra jump range in the guardian FSD booster ...
Low gravity planets allow collection of items with out using the SRV... MA, guardian items and materials with no SRV use...
If you use the SRV cargo is now 4 not 2... ( returns to ship times are cut in half as you carry 4 now )
Over paying mission generation in the starter zone gives so much money getting cobra mk3 will just happen by default... The mission just pay so much...
Killing ships in high res with the cops in a sidewinder to cobra class gives so much money youll be in a class 5 FSD ship in no time...
EDO over pays when Playing on foot in combat zone pays stupid easy money and unlike ship combat there is ZERO penalty in dieing, none, and you get 300k bonus if your side wins... No risk just time..
You now buy EDO mats from other players at FC You dont search for them they do now...
Except now you are making me do missions, I don't like doing missions it feels like I am an employee again.
I have absolutely no problem with playing this game for even more years than I already have especially as since the introduction of the three types of Materials Traders I don't need to find the mats I need I just trade the ones I find for them.
Could they change things so they aren't so simplistic of course they could, should they I am not sure but I am sure that in a game that has a scale of the entire galaxy a realistic time scale is not minutes or hours...
This - and this from someone who only joined, what, about 2 years ago and wants to explain to those who have been with ED since 2014 that what they have experienced is not true because he knows better - or something
Oh well, that's it then. I'm uninstalling the game right now.
Tell me you don't understand representative samples without telling me you don't understand representative samples.
The issue with concurrent numbers from steam, is that they don't tell us what that representative sample actually is. Yes, you can get an idea that there are less people playing, when concurrent players are lower, but we don't know how much. There could be many players that are just playing less then what they were, and actual players who play regularly are still high. It's all just a rough idea. Yes, there are less players, but by how much is guess work.
It's amusing reading this thread because recently I've been thinking how easy it is playing ED than when I first starting playing (back in beta - 2014).
For example on Sunday I joined in with some combat in an un-engineered Diamondback Explorer (which is not a great ship for combat) as part of the Radi07 Charity Event. I went there fully expecting to die a lot and lose money through rebuys, however, I didn't die once and I made around 4 million in combat bonds. The lowest amount I made from a single kill was 180k.
I had a lot of fun and I wasn't even using a engineered combat ship. One doesn't need the best ship or all of the engineered modules to enjoy playing Elite Dangerous.
(P.S. I play ED a lot and don't use Steam, just the native launcher, so I'm not part of the statistics that keep being pointed out)
For example on Sunday I joined in with some combat in an un-engineered Diamondback Explorer (which is not a great ship for combat) as part of the Radi07 Charity Event. I went there fully expecting to die a lot and lose money through rebuys, however, I didn't die once and I made around 4 million in combat bonds. The lowest amount I made from a single kill was 180k.
I had a lot of fun and I wasn't even using a engineered combat ship. One doesn't need the best ship or all of the engineered modules to enjoy playing Elite Dangerous.
(P.S. I play ED a lot and don't use Steam, just the native launcher, so I'm not part of the statistics that keep being pointed out)
Tell me you don't understand bias in sampling without telling me you don't understand bias.
Is it? I flew out to one of the Thargoid sites to get mine: That was quite easy. I guess everyone else could do just that too.
Well, it isn't the 'good old days' of LTD core mining, that is true, (at 1.2 million each) but it is still easy enough to mine Platinum or similar high-value materials using lasers and get a very good return for doing so. Have no idea about Robigo, it never appealed to me.
They are shovelling credits at a player compared to the time I started playing in 2017 - all perspective I guess!
But you can fly in a group and share 4 between yourselves. I don't recall ever being able to share more than a single mission, but maybe I never tried.
I really couldn't say!
How many of them? 4 are common knowledge and are quick enough to get to level 3/4 to unlock the other 4 important ones, a trip to Colonia (so easy these days with the Fleet Carrier 'bus service' providing transport to and from every week) and a little time playing unlocks these, so not long at all.
Scouts can be killed with normal weapons, so no time at all. Of course, killing a Medusa etc. takes a little more effort - although, allegedly, they have been killed with a Sidewinder, so the question is 'flexible' according to the individual player's skill, isn't it?
In a nutshell, it certainly appears to be much easier for a new player today than it was 'back in the day'.
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