What plans do FDev have in this this year's updates to improve the enjoyment of material collection?

[CMDR Redcrest]

As per title.
With the nerf bat being brought down hard on settlement material gathering (E.g. 1:1 at Dav's Hope instead of 3:1 material gathering) do FDev have plans to make material gathering fun and more predictable?
As it stands there's a lot of hoping and praying to RNGesus for the right USS etc etc.
Will it be addressed going forward and will FDev be kind enough to say 'We're going to address it, more to come in an upcoming live stream' or 'We think it's fine as it is'.
A bit of reassurance would go a long way at this juncture I feel.

 

[crushdepth]

How about a 'scoop everything' mode in the SRV intead of making people individually select and scoop individual rocks.

I mean really, what were they thinking?

 

[RadActiveLobster]

Let me collect materials with a SLF.

No I don't want to make room in my combat ship for a limpet controller and manually scooping things is a pain in the in a large slow ship, especially since things decay so damn fast half the stuff is floating there with 10% health left by the time you're ready to scoop it.

SLF's are fast and nimble, would make collecting stuff from destroyed ships easier. You can even limit it to materials since they take no cargo space. If you want to make me manually scoop or limpet things that take actual cargo space, sure, we can compromise on that.

Another option would be have say 2 limpets as default for all cargo scoops on a ship and then you have the limpet controllers for more complex stuff and for having more limpets.

 

[Strangepork]

As per title.
With the nerf bat being brought down hard on settlement material gathering (E.g. 1:1 at Dav's Hope instead of 3:1 material gathering) do FDev have plans to make material gathering fun and more predictable?
As it stands there's a lot of hoping and praying to RNGesus for the right USS etc etc.
Will it be addressed going forward and will FDev be kind enough to say 'We're going to address it, more to come in an upcoming live stream' or 'We think it's fine as it is'.
A bit of reassurance would go a long way at this juncture I feel.

IMO in many ways materials are much more readily available now, drop rates seem to be considerably higher.

 

[CMDR Redcrest]

IMO in many ways materials are much more readily available now, drop rates seem to be considerably higher.

My point being: seeing as Beyond is supposed to be about improvements to core gameplay what are Fdev gona do about USS's and the RNG to improve the fun aspects of material gathering?
Will it always be USS for Imp Shielding (for example) or will there be a reliable way of finding such stuff that doesn't involve crawling around a star system waiting for HGE'S?
I doubt FDEV will answer, but you don't ask you don't get...

I spent some time today and my previous day off trying to gather materials. It was not fun.

 

[ForeverN00b]

G5 mats like imp shielding and CDCs can be found by exploding Anacondas. Go to a RES and find out (it probably works in CZs too).

This method is probably better for farming all the things, but worse for targeted farming.

 

[Mengy]

If the trend continues, they'll be reducing ALL data and material drops to a quantity of one instead of three at a time. You know, to make the experience more deeply "rewarding" and "challenging".


I honestly wouldn't expect much in the way of making material gathering more fun or easier. They seem to be very intent on at least keeping it as time consuming as it is now. The grind seems to be very purposeful.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

I am going to go out on a limb & say that I reckon it will be tied in with the Q4 improvements to Exploration & Planetary Tech. Detailed Surface Scanners.....or whatever they will be called in Q4......won't merely show what percentage of each material is on a planet, I reckon it'll also generate "heat maps" that show where on the planet these materials are, & very much in line with the changes to planetary colours (I think they even mentioned that, by Q4, planetary colours will be a much better visual guide to where certain materials reside in greatest quantities). Likewise, I suspect that USS's will be more persistent, once scanned for, in Q4.....& that we may be able to learn more about what resides within a USS than is currently the case (contrary to what some might believe, USS's are massively improved on what they were in December 2014, & continue to improve almost with every Update).

Lastly, I suspect that changes to mining, in Q4, will place Mining on a more level playing field with Surface Prospecting as a means of gaining materials. Heck, though it hasn't been mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Mining of planetary surfaces in Q4.

 

[Bdragon4]

Short answer: Nothing
Long Answer: FDev will do nothing to lessen the material grind.

If they really wanted to ease material gathering, they wouldn't have nerfed settlement mats to begin with.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

If the trend continues, they'll be reducing ALL data and material drops to a quantity of one instead of three at a time. You know, to make the experience more deeply "rewarding" and "challenging".


I honestly wouldn't expect much in the way of making material gathering more fun or easier. They seem to be very intent on at least keeping it as time consuming as it is now. The grind seems to be very purposeful.

Weird, but I'm finding it much easier to find lots of materials (even data) than back in 2.4. Likewise, with the much greater storage capacity, I'm finding myself less concerned about gathering "too much" of any one material.

 

[Lucifera Danzig]

Short answer: Nothing
Long Answer: FDev will do nothing to lessen the material grind.

If they really wanted to ease material gathering, they wouldn't have nerfed settlement mats to begin with.

It's interesting that you focus on the sole example of reduced materials at settlement scan points as "proof" of FDev wanting to "maintain a grind, while completely ignoring the vast increase in number and variety of materials being offered for mission rewards, including G5 materials such as the modified embedded firmware and cracked industrial firmware. Missions like cargo and combat, not just one type.

Try it, you'll likely find it a lot faster and productive than scanning data points at settlements, if the rate of acquisition is the issue for you.

 

[Bdragon4]

It's interesting that you focus on the sole example of reduced materials at settlement scan points as "proof" of FDev wanting to "maintain a grind, while completely ignoring the vast increase in number and variety of materials being offered for mission rewards, including G5 materials such as the modified embedded firmware and cracked industrial firmware. Missions like cargo and combat, not just one type.

Try it, you'll likely find it a lot faster and productive than scanning data points at settlements, if the rate of acquisition is the issue for you.

I actually get my materials from blowing stuff up and wandering around planets. I get them from missions every now and then, but most of my mission rewards have been lackluster so far.

Yes, they added better material rewards from missions, but in nerfing the settlement materials, they equaled it out again. They seem to be perfectly content with the state material gathering.

 

[Lucifera Danzig]

I actually get my materials from blowing stuff up and wandering around planets. I get them from missions every now and then, but most of my mission rewards have been lackluster so far.

Yes, they added better material rewards from missions, but in nerfing the settlement materials, they equaled it out again. They seem to be perfectly content with the state material gathering.

Blowing stuff up works too. But between the increase in mission reward options, occasional surface prospecting, scanning ships as I pass them, and the material traders, I'm finding materials I need faster than I ever have before.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Material collection isn't the problem, its the fact they are tied to "progression" that turns a relaxing experience into frustrating, itchy needle in the haystack / threat of failure feedback loop.

eg: surface prospecting turns into more about looking at the terrain than really needing arsenic.
eg: uss salvage can be about rp salvage rather than what drops there.

Same with everything else in the sandbox:

- Combat is fun if you don't care about credits.
- Mining is fun (and genuinely not frustrating) if you don't care about credits.
- Trading is only about credits so is exempt.
- Exploration is only really exploration out of the bubble so is also exempt. (There was a time where you were looking for bgs attributes for gameplay but frontier dumbed and dumbered it a few patches ago so station based exploration is no longer a thing.)

/ramble back in in my day things actually WERE better.

 

[Mengy]

Blowing stuff up works too. But between the increase in mission reward options, occasional surface prospecting, scanning ships as I pass them, and the material traders, I'm finding materials I need faster than I ever have before.

Not everyone loves to blow things up. Some players prefer the more peaceful ways to gather mats. Unfortunately Frontier seems very intent on making those ways horrid. There is no reason to nerf settlement mat drops other than to punish the players who like collecting mats that way. It simply doesn't need to be nerfed, yet Frontier is going to do so.

 

[Valorin]

I really don't get the outrage about material gathering. Sure, if you want all your G5 modules done in one day and all your ships in a week, then it's not enough, but that's not the time frame G5 modules are supposed to be done in.
It's supposed to take time and materials are easily collected while doing other things and doing a few detours inbetween if you don't want everything fast. *shrug*

 

[Legacy_LuckyLuke]

Stop complaining and just play the game ...

 

[Spacemanz]

How about a 'scoop everything' mode in the SRV intead of making people individually select and scoop individual rocks.

I mean really, what were they thinking?

This would be a great QoL. They could apply it to ships too, or make limpets collect faster. As it is now, limpets are worthless for material gathering. They are so slow. I can manually scoop the materials faster.

Stop complaining and just play the game ...

Yeah you can go ahead and play the game. We are here to offer suggestions to improve the game.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

I really don't get the outrage about material gathering. Sure, if you want all your G5 modules done in one day and all your ships in a week, then it's not enough, but that's not the time frame G5 modules are supposed to be done in.
It's supposed to take time and materials are easily collected while doing other things and doing a few detours inbetween if you don't want everything fast. *shrug*

I wish. Nope, it takes more like at least a week to get one ship to G5, at least if you have a life, job, etc.....and dedicate the rest of the time to the grind. Being a day one player I have got a fleet of 17 ships, give or take one. Most of them were G5 modded under the old system. Not godrolled, but decently functional. Now I'm looking at 3-4 months of grind to convert and re-G5 them all.

 

[babelfisch]

Suggestion:
-Every time we pick up materials the game shows random cat videos from YouTube.

Should definitely improve enjoyment!