Yeah I'm not keen on Elite+ ranks.
I get both sides.
One one side, you have the triple Eliters. This gives them another achievement to pursue, giving them a purpose to continue playing the game.
You have the combat experts/PVPers who find Elite Engineered ships dull and no challenge and want more powerful and competitive AI.
On the flipside, you have people still aiming for triple Elite or not necessarily aiming for it but for them it's an achievement they have been taking years to get and are nearing, you also have the triple Eliters who are happy with it being one thing on the checklist done and happy to go about pursuing others things in the game. Casual players.
You have the people not combat proficient or 'okay' at it, and are okay with how difficult Elite Engineered NPCs are.
Now, you raise the bar for everyone under the top minority of players that have mayed triple Elite, and the minority which are PVP/Combat Pros, everyone else below finds it too difficult and frustrating.
I remember when Horizons first came out and all the NPCs had Engineered ships, myself and my brother were by no means combat pros, but we were decent and we got utterly thrown around by the NPCs, tail between legs everytime.
We're competitive by nature, and are pretty skilled with FPS online games, but that time totally deflated us and wasn't fun, we took a long break from the game at that point.
People that play WoW, Pokémon Go etc know what it's like when the top level is raised.
It's good for developers as it keeps those avid gamers playing, raising the bar means a higher end-game, it means the release of new things associated with those new levels.
This often makes people that made that initial achievement feel like their time getting that special equipment that's now defunct with one more level, deflated. The people that just made it to the level itself feel like the time they spent needs to now be doubled, tripled etc.
Drive to play a game is well and good, but everyone gets to a point where they look at their life and wonder if they really want to do that for twice the amount of time more.
That said, nobody HAS to get from Elite to Elite+, but for some you're giving a new pursuit, others you're taking away what they've done.
What's the reason for Elite+ other than people that have been playing consistently since the beginning and got triple (Or those that fast-tracked to triple and get bored quickly of games).
If it's for those, then just supply content in the game instead of raising a bar.
If it's for the combat pros, give them areas in the game that they can go to fulfill their requirements, make super Elite, insane AI areas for them like Gears of War Waves, like CoD Zombies. An area that doesn't affect anyone that doesn't want to go there.
Instead of looking for an excuse to keep the top percentile happy but alienating plenty of others, find out what the top percentile want and provide content or the means for them.
Everyone is happy?
and spend their valuable time on something that adds value.
- huuuuh. I know, it is a long way for triple 'Elite'
