More ships, way more paintjobs of the same old kind, placeholders but also some revamping and maybe redesigning of core gameplay mechanics.
I'd wish for a real economy.
I'd wish for a real economy.
What Is Everyone Expecting?
- Thread starter Evoflash
- Start date
I agree with most of your post with the exceptions noted above. The trade tools are a great idea and well done if you're staying in the same area and don't need to buy something from another station. IF you've been to a station and you have a mission you can easily fill up your hold and make a profit. If not you're back to third party sites or roulette.
And, if you need to purchase a commodity, say for a source and return mission, forget about it. It's a waste of your time as either the system won't begin to have enough or will have plenty to sell, but it will be way over galactic average making your profit dwindle on an already low paying mission. Source and return missions in general need a massive payout buff or need to be tied into the trade scheme so that to get the best paying haulage missions you need to be actively doing source and return missions.
The engineering changes were welcomed, but again, the lack of usefulness because of the limitation that you can't convert a legacy module unless you are at an engineers and that if you're at Felicity's and want to convert your G5 DD drives you have to start from scratch instead of converting it to a G3 DD drives. The trading rates at the materials trader when going up grades or across grades of mats is beyond atrocious.
Again, some improvements, but plenty of limitations that often turn positives into a net loss.
Power play may make the game better, but if you need a third party site to figure it out or keep track of it, no thanks, you're wasting more time and resources.
Nuff said..
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It might be time to come to terms with the fact engineers are a part of the core game now. They directly intertwine with ships, materials, missions, and are one of the few things that get direct in game guidance. They are as core as PP, the BGS, planetary landings, missions, every profession, and even the most basic core function, flying a spaceship.
I am pretty sure 'core' is just a synonym for 'stuff I think is important'.
That’s actually an interesting question: what are core mechanics?
In my opinion, core mechanics are the foundation of the game. They are what everyone utilizes while playing no matter how they play. They are the rules which every bolt on feature is comprised of to provide new content.
In short, I feel the core mechanics of Elite are:
- Trading
- Exploring
- Pirating
- Bounty Hunting
- Salvage
- Mining
This is the golden rule of open world sandbox games: design a core of solid mechanics first, then utilize that core to provide meaningful gameplay and scenarios. You can’t get the latter without the former. Frontier did it backwards, and the game has suffered for it.
Beyond was advertised as going back to fix this error, yet Frontier seems intent on continuing their mistakes to a large degree. It isn't working, just look at the Guardian and Thargoid content and say with a straight face that it is working out. If the game had a stronger core then the Guardians and Thargoids would subsequently be stronger content as well.
But those arent mechanics but professions, consisting of multiple mechanics. Mining is a profession. Using a mining laser is a mechanic. Scooping cargo is a mechanic. Using a prospector drone is a mechanic. Mining has been improved a lot by bolting on mechanics to the profession: prospector limpets for example. "improving the core" and 'bolting-on mechanics" aren't opposites at all. The real question is what additional mechanics would be an improvement to you. That would be a constructive discussion that the devs may actually find interesting. The blanket "improve the core mechanics" is in the end fairly meaningless.
Its not that I dont understand what you are saying, or disagree with what you feel, but the language is too often too fuzzy around here. The best suggestions are the most precise suggestions: suggest (not in this topic or noone will ever read it) what you want added to exploration, and break it all the way down to the user-input level. Describe the situation, describe under which conditions which button(s) are held/toggled for how long to get what result, and which mechanic it interacts with, how and why. Its also a good exercise to detect 'the dream' in a suggestion: is it the actual mechanic or the abstract concept that is appealing?
For example: the abstract concept of gaining access to mysterious new technology by exploring ancient alien ruins is awesome. But when there is no real mechanic to find them yourself when exploring, and the only real new mechanic is a very basic 'puzzle' that has to be repeated over and over again, the mechanics are terrible. I have the same with many suggestions made by explorers: its nearly always about concepts that sound cool, but rarely about actual well-defined mechanics.
Although I agree, to be fair- the chosen professions are pretty terrible as it stands, too.
The only thing that really stands out is combat mechanics and combat professions. The rest is all merely "fluff" in comparison.
That's why most have the impression the only thing being improved with any consistency is pewpew (which is non-partisan by implication).
So in essence, what ED really is - "Elite: Arcade Shooter".
And it's not even a good Arcade Shooter. If it was a good Arcade Shooter the missions would work and they would have a satisfying mission design with a bit of story behind them, with varied and engaging mission goals, scenarios ...
but no. not even that. missions are either: searching for target waiting and doing nothing most of the time OR going to combat zones having to shoot ridicoulous amounts of stupid NPC like angry bird simulator 1.0.
Oh at least assassination and special ops missions are working most of the time.
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In the kickstarter page:
1) Exploration was described as 'Head out to the far reaches of space and discover amazing sights'
2) Trade was described as 'Buy low, cross dangerous space lanes, evade or destroy pirates en route, then sell high, if you make the journey!'
3) Mining is mentioned exactly zero times.
I think they already delivered. And yes, combat is at the forefront, because that is simply the core of the Elite series. Its like complaining GTA5 has a lot of driving. Sure, there is a ton more non-driving stuff than GTA1 had, but its still pretty much about driving around like a gangster in a city.
Likewise, just wanted to remind Frontier (taken with a pinch or two of salt of sugar as you might prefer)...
[video=youtube_share;EM0Gcl7iUM8]https://youtu.be/EM0Gcl7iUM8[/video]
Feeling a bit cheeky and it's Friday, so bear with me here.
Basically, less MMO galactic respawn arena death match and more Commander agency and apt relevance in our own little ways, please. I don't play this game to be a wannabe 1337 grind monkey junky, but rather as a survivor, adventurer, and explorer Commander in the Pilots Federation. This is what keeps me going, not trying to get a crazy Engineered build or the like. That's just a means to an end for me, not what I find enjoyable from the game.
Cheers.
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They know they went the wrong route. Hence the reason why trading got a good update in 3.0 and mining and exploration will have an update in 3.3.
Regarding the thargoid stuff, well there seems to be a group that is really enjoying it. I am not one of them as I have done any of it yet.
Good luck to them. I am hopeful that 3.3 will fill some holes as it sounds like it will do with exploration missions and better scanning mechanics which will be used in missions too. That sounds good. All we can do is hope it is good.
Haha.
It would be nice if there was any content for this combat everyone is talking about.
I see only bugged missions and wonky pvp mechanics most people hate.
edit: ok, we can have random things in random USS distress calls... well yeah. That's totally random stuff not connected to anything obvious...
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Being fair, even the amazing sights are still mostly out of reach.
For now, we can still only go into the so-so sights.
I agree. Combat is in just as poor a state as everything else. Do people really think that Combat Zones and Res Sites are good.
Combat has all the mechanics but no great content to use those mechanics. Exploration has a load of content, but no good mechanics to enjoy that content.
On the other hand, the flight model and ship customization is absolutely ace, and for a space game the AI is superb as well. So the actual 'combat' part is very excellent IMHO. The context (missions, USS) indeed not so much.
Absolutely agree that the game has hit the nail squarely on the head in some regards. It's actually a pretty awesome experience in certain particular ways. With that being said, unfortunately, I feel the game has fallen rather short of its potential, at least so far. We'll see what the future holds, of course, but as the date progresses, the significant results seem less and less viable and relevant.
And if I'm being entirely honestly, I feel Frontier are starting to give up and move on, not that I can really fault them for it. I mean, I already paid for the full game so far a few times over (hundreds of USD) and am still playing it for what it's worth. It's 2018; I don't expect a miracle, but I think it would be mutually beneficial to both players and Frostier alike if the game saw the realization of it's potential.
Leastwise, I think most of us can agree that it hasn't yet, even if we continue to enjoy the ride.
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Yeah, matter over mind... that's all this is about. It's looking so sweet and flying feels so real. That's why I keep coming back, hoping there will be something to do with this sweetness. But no, every time I return there is the old modes discussion going on and buggy game play ruining the fun of it.
And if I think about participating in the alien story I'd either should have a diploma in decrypting codes or all the time of my life in my hands to grind for guardian stuff and engineering everything.
If Frontier could just decide to focus on one aspect of the game and really put some engaging and coherent game play to it.