Reward Balance is plaguing Elite: Dangerous the most
INTRO AND THE TWO TYPES OF ELITE PLAYERS
The time you put into Elite does not equal the rewards you receive.
Players are only going to play games they feel are worth their time & effort and with a good chunk of the players being adults with jobs, this game can frustrate them the most because Elite can feel like a second job for the fact of the level of time it takes to do/get to do simple things in the game.
If Police Officers and an Office Workers both recieved the same pay an hour, then Police Officers would demand a raise as their job is WAY more life-threatening, stressful and time comsuming. (EDIT: this statement has been debunked by some so the statment irrelevent but I'll leave it in for reading purposes)
There are two types of players: (and some even shift between both categories) "Play for Fun" players and "Play for Progression" players.
Play for Fun players desires a fun game to play, as a game being fun to play is the reward itself. (ie. Sea Of Thieves)
Play for Progression players desire a system that gives them a sense of progress, results, and a practical (heavy emphasis on practical) goal to chase as they put time into a game. (ie. Fallout Series)
A good progression system benefits BOTH types of players, as a poor progression system only benefits the "play for fun" type of player as they don't care about a progression system.
As ships, modules, powerplay propaganda, combat, mining, trading and exploration all revolve around Credits and is the CORE of Elite, it's correct to say that earning Credits is Elite: Dangerous's MAIN Progression system.
GREAT CONTENT THAT AREN'T WORTH THE PLAYERS' TIME
There is SO MUCH to do in Elite: Dangerous that it'll take a while just to name it all, but the problem is most of it isn't worth the players' time because the reward they receive scares them away from ever doing it again or doing puts them off doing it at all.
Examples Being:
CQC - Very minor credits for playing and rank (which doesn't do anything)
POI's on Planets - VERY random on what is there, hard to pinpoint exact location, very little combat and tedious item pickups (SRV can only carry 2 at a time back to ship)
USS's (excluding material) - Random in difficulty, Hard find specific signals without the use of External Sources, little to no reward for most
Search and Rescue - Unbalanced rewards as rarer finds aren't significantly higher than others
Megaship Pirating - High risk, difficult to understand/master WITHOUT the use of external sources, very low cargo rewards
Guardian Tech - Hard to Prep for, difficult to find sites, VERY difficult to master the puzzles WITHOUT the use of external sources, MUCH repetition without skill is needed and Logging is encouraged to conserve on time (which is never a good sign for game design)
Thargoid Scouts - 10,000 credits per kill but are ONLY in specific locations on the outskirts of the bubble, meaning mainly experienced players with lots of money to afford the trip are going to go there and 10,000cr per kill might not seem enough for the trip and the repair cost to the player's hull for killing them
These are just some of the few that could have went SO MUCH further if the reward for doing them were worth the player's time and effort. This is the reason why "Play for Progession" players lean on Sothis and Ceos/Rhea at times. They feel this is worth they're time and effort for the reward even though it's just as (or even more) repetitve as the thing they were doing before.
IMBALANCED MISSION EXAMPLES (what I currently receive in the game + my opinion on the difficulty for AVERAGE player)
Mining
Time: 30min-2hour
Difficulty: low (BUT VERY COMPLICATED TO LEARN BY ONLY USING IN GAME TOOLS)
Profit: 1,200,000
Assassination
Time: 10-20min
Difficulty: Medium-High
Profit: 2,000,000
Trade
Time 7-15min
Difficulty: Low
Profit 600,000
Massacre Mission (90 ships)
Time 1-5hours
Difficulty Very High
Profit 5,000,000
Pirate Massacre Mission (90 ships)
Time 3-8hours
Difficulty: Medium (VERY HARD TO FIND TARGET USING ONLY IN GAME TOOLS AND IN GENERAL)
Profit 2,000,000
"Difficulty + Time = Reward" is imbalanced on missions at the moment and this forces players to do repetitive tasks that pay the most or stay in their comfort zone for progression. (players in the "play for fun" catagory are NOT included in any of this as Fun Gameplay = Reward)
MY SMALL OPINION ON PLAYER AGENCY
Player agency is a problem, but not as big as this leans more on mechanics that react a player rather than mechanics that reward a player.
HOW TO IMPROVE PLAYER AGENCY ON
MINOR FACTION
*Players could actually pledge to a minor faction
*Have more variety of choice of missions to fit they're playstyle (some factions only spawn 3 missions)
*Completing USS's around the faction's station/settlement (their sphere of influence) increased their Influence in the system
THARGOID NARRATIVE
*Have the thargoids ALSO invade important systems instead of ONLY sitting in their own part of space
*Paint the Thargoids in a more negative light
*Give players the option to ALSO protect a station from a Thargoid attack rather than just ONLY repairing the station afterwards
*Include Thargoid Vs NPC Ship Conflict Zones
CONCLUSION
Elite: Dangerous has A LOT of content in their game, way more than most Triple-A Games (and that's without hyperbole), but unfortunately Elite: Dangerous will never reach their full potential of being BETTER than a Triple-A Game if the imbalance continues to plague the game.
The reason why I still play Elite: Dangerous is because I have the money and ships that allows me to play MY way, and because of what Frontier Developments has put in front of me is like nothing I've seen before this motivates me to want to grow and be a part of the unfolding phenomenon that is Elite: Dangerous for years and years to come.
INTRO AND THE TWO TYPES OF ELITE PLAYERS
The time you put into Elite does not equal the rewards you receive.
Players are only going to play games they feel are worth their time & effort and with a good chunk of the players being adults with jobs, this game can frustrate them the most because Elite can feel like a second job for the fact of the level of time it takes to do/get to do simple things in the game.
If Police Officers and an Office Workers both recieved the same pay an hour, then Police Officers would demand a raise as their job is WAY more life-threatening, stressful and time comsuming. (EDIT: this statement has been debunked by some so the statment irrelevent but I'll leave it in for reading purposes)
There are two types of players: (and some even shift between both categories) "Play for Fun" players and "Play for Progression" players.
Play for Fun players desires a fun game to play, as a game being fun to play is the reward itself. (ie. Sea Of Thieves)
Play for Progression players desire a system that gives them a sense of progress, results, and a practical (heavy emphasis on practical) goal to chase as they put time into a game. (ie. Fallout Series)
A good progression system benefits BOTH types of players, as a poor progression system only benefits the "play for fun" type of player as they don't care about a progression system.
As ships, modules, powerplay propaganda, combat, mining, trading and exploration all revolve around Credits and is the CORE of Elite, it's correct to say that earning Credits is Elite: Dangerous's MAIN Progression system.
GREAT CONTENT THAT AREN'T WORTH THE PLAYERS' TIME
There is SO MUCH to do in Elite: Dangerous that it'll take a while just to name it all, but the problem is most of it isn't worth the players' time because the reward they receive scares them away from ever doing it again or doing puts them off doing it at all.
Examples Being:
CQC - Very minor credits for playing and rank (which doesn't do anything)
POI's on Planets - VERY random on what is there, hard to pinpoint exact location, very little combat and tedious item pickups (SRV can only carry 2 at a time back to ship)
USS's (excluding material) - Random in difficulty, Hard find specific signals without the use of External Sources, little to no reward for most
Search and Rescue - Unbalanced rewards as rarer finds aren't significantly higher than others
Megaship Pirating - High risk, difficult to understand/master WITHOUT the use of external sources, very low cargo rewards
Guardian Tech - Hard to Prep for, difficult to find sites, VERY difficult to master the puzzles WITHOUT the use of external sources, MUCH repetition without skill is needed and Logging is encouraged to conserve on time (which is never a good sign for game design)
Thargoid Scouts - 10,000 credits per kill but are ONLY in specific locations on the outskirts of the bubble, meaning mainly experienced players with lots of money to afford the trip are going to go there and 10,000cr per kill might not seem enough for the trip and the repair cost to the player's hull for killing them
These are just some of the few that could have went SO MUCH further if the reward for doing them were worth the player's time and effort. This is the reason why "Play for Progession" players lean on Sothis and Ceos/Rhea at times. They feel this is worth they're time and effort for the reward even though it's just as (or even more) repetitve as the thing they were doing before.
IMBALANCED MISSION EXAMPLES (what I currently receive in the game + my opinion on the difficulty for AVERAGE player)
Mining
Time: 30min-2hour
Difficulty: low (BUT VERY COMPLICATED TO LEARN BY ONLY USING IN GAME TOOLS)
Profit: 1,200,000
Assassination
Time: 10-20min
Difficulty: Medium-High
Profit: 2,000,000
Trade
Time 7-15min
Difficulty: Low
Profit 600,000
Massacre Mission (90 ships)
Time 1-5hours
Difficulty Very High
Profit 5,000,000
Pirate Massacre Mission (90 ships)
Time 3-8hours
Difficulty: Medium (VERY HARD TO FIND TARGET USING ONLY IN GAME TOOLS AND IN GENERAL)
Profit 2,000,000
"Difficulty + Time = Reward" is imbalanced on missions at the moment and this forces players to do repetitive tasks that pay the most or stay in their comfort zone for progression. (players in the "play for fun" catagory are NOT included in any of this as Fun Gameplay = Reward)
MY SMALL OPINION ON PLAYER AGENCY
Player agency is a problem, but not as big as this leans more on mechanics that react a player rather than mechanics that reward a player.
HOW TO IMPROVE PLAYER AGENCY ON
MINOR FACTION
*Players could actually pledge to a minor faction
*Have more variety of choice of missions to fit they're playstyle (some factions only spawn 3 missions)
*Completing USS's around the faction's station/settlement (their sphere of influence) increased their Influence in the system
THARGOID NARRATIVE
*Have the thargoids ALSO invade important systems instead of ONLY sitting in their own part of space
*Paint the Thargoids in a more negative light
*Give players the option to ALSO protect a station from a Thargoid attack rather than just ONLY repairing the station afterwards
*Include Thargoid Vs NPC Ship Conflict Zones
CONCLUSION
Elite: Dangerous has A LOT of content in their game, way more than most Triple-A Games (and that's without hyperbole), but unfortunately Elite: Dangerous will never reach their full potential of being BETTER than a Triple-A Game if the imbalance continues to plague the game.
The reason why I still play Elite: Dangerous is because I have the money and ships that allows me to play MY way, and because of what Frontier Developments has put in front of me is like nothing I've seen before this motivates me to want to grow and be a part of the unfolding phenomenon that is Elite: Dangerous for years and years to come.
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