During
Episode 336 we discussed the idea of a new rank grind where Shan was incredibly against the idea, but Ben was more “meh” about the whole thing, so we thought we’d get your opinion, do you want:
- Ranks above Elite (i.e. Elite+ or Archangel)
- The existing ranks to be spread out more? (i.e. Very Deadly etc)
- A prestige mechanic
- Recognition for a greater variety of game achievements (i.e. Mining, AX, Passenger, etc)
- No changes to the current ranks
- Change what you like about Trade and Exploration Ranks, but leave Combat alone
- A new “Post Elite Rank” grind (i.e. The Banking Consortium has noticed your trade rank and we’d like you do do some jobs for us, etc)
I've always felt the rankings & stats strongly appealed to the Achiever player type in the sense that the game offers an arbitrary and very large target to aim for (if the player chooses) that is based somewhat on skill (Getting Elite isn't the end, but it's the end of the beginning, you have learned the skills required to play & proved you are able to apply them) and largely based on tenacity. I reached Triple Elite a long time ago, I found the targets good motivation & have used the in-game stats on several occasions as further motivation (distance from start, all the passenger types etc).
So
1. Yes happy to have extra ranks as long as they continue to double and don't just start from whenever the extras were added to the game. There is a certain freedom that comes with being able to say 'done that' and put them behind you once completed though.
2. Could do, might be useful to rebalance Trade rank & Exploration has already had this a couple of times.
3. Maybe? I'd be happier if my ranks could go down as well as up so I have to maintain them, just going back to harmless & starting again seems a bit pointless compared to having extra ranks.
4. I don't think recognition is needed at all beyond what the player wants to say about their stats, I think it dilutes the concept of being Elite at something a bit, but that ship sailed a few years ago so don't really mind. The possibility of achieving Elite status in an activity I'm not interested in won't motivate me to try, but it may for others.
5. Trade could use a rebalance, maybe Exploration too mostly because it's possible to get to Elite without really understanding how commodity markets & exploration works now so maybe the criteria could be tweaked to reward 'true' trade & exploration. Having to find a good place to sell mined commodities is a useful skill, passenger missions & mapping earth-likes in the bubble doesn't teach the player much about star classes & planet types though.
6. Probably yes
7. I think the stuff that is currently gated by rank is enough, no need to have the challenge or difficulty continue to escalate beyond that but more could be unlocked at Elite than is currently.
WRT stats beyond Elite according to my Codex I have killed over 90,000 NPCs and earned about 6.9BCr from selling exploration data. A lot of what counts towards trade rank is missions that the Codex doesn't show but I probably have similarly over-achieved there too. I'm 0% Helpless at CQC & that's unlikely to ever change