Who is Odyssey for?

[Soon(TM)]

I am a premium beta backer, so have been riding this train since the beginning.

Like many other players, over the years I have built up a fairly huge fortune in credits.

I'm a billionaire in Elite Dangerous.

For me, when I load up odyssey, I'm left sat there wondering who this expansion was developed for?

I can instantly buy all the suits, all the weapons and as many grenades and breach tools as I can hold, without it making a dent in my credit balance.

Apart from engineers grind (which I refuse to do out of principal due to the insane repetition and mind numbing grind), the basis of progression in elite is credits.

So FDev introduce a new expansion that allows most players to reach the max within 5 minutes of logging in?

I just don't understand what the aim is here, even new players can do a few passenger or trade runs and have enough cash to buy everything on offer in Odyssey.

I get the first footfall thing is a bit cool for the first few times , but after the novelty wears off, it's just more repetition.

The expansion lacks any sort of progression and just feels like a couple of mini games bolted on to the main game.

I don't need to eat, I don't have a home to defend, I can't blow up buildings, I can't steal items to take home and have as trophies, I can't change my suit colours or design in any way, I can't walk around in my ship, service it's parts or change it's interior look so it feels like it's "mine", I can't group up with friends on foot, I can't Eva to repair the outside of my ship or collect scrap/debris, I can't Eva and board someone else's ship.

Odyssey is a head scratcher to me, I just don't get why Fdev took this basic plain approach, but then again, I was around when multicrew was implemented so I should have expected this I guess!

And we all know Odyssey is an expansion, not a season, so we already got what we paid for, maybe the roadmap will show fixes, but I'd be shocked to see atmospheric planets or walking inside ships or EVA to be on that list .

If odyssey was created with the Devs knowing how easy it is to get all the gear and weapons, why didn't they add more "fun" and "adventure" into the expansion, because from what I've seen, it doesn't have either of those things, just more grind and repetition.

 

[Jup]

Who is Odyssey for?​

For touch screens.

 

[Sunyavadin]

For SC players who are used to buggy unfinished messes with a promise of a fabled future in which it'll be finished.

 

[Soon(TM)]

For SC players who are used to buggy unfinished messes with a promise of a fabled future in which it'll be finished.

To be fair SC has the right idea, just the wrong implementation.

ED:O has the wrong implementation and the wrong idea so far

 

[Rubbernuke]

I can see the reason for stations as a more physicalised representation of the BGS state (hopefully!), but the rest is....debatable.

Why some easy low hanging fruit (along with nearly four years of suggestions from players about what they actually want) were never done is beyond me. ED:O is like the Fast Show:

 

[lysan]

allows most players to reach the max within 5 minutes of logging in?

If you look at the game this way, yeah we can buy whatever we want, however new players can't.
And you can create a new story doing what you want focused on foot gameplay.

Now FDEV really need to support that with the missions so the players can create their own story, as of now only the introduction story is supporting this,
they need to make more missions to support the player with this, now some would say you can't do that in a MMO, my answer would be yes you can, and if you can't you should not make games.

 

[Soon(TM)]

If you look at the game this way, yeah we can buy what ever we want, however new players can't.
And you can create a new story doing what you want focused on on foot gameplay.

Now FDEV really need to support that with the missions so the players can create their own story, as of now only the introduction story is supporting this,
they need to make more missions to support the player with this, now some would say you can't do that in a MMO, my answer would be yes you can, and if you can't you should not make games.

I can start a new commander and have over 10 million within an hour and a half of play. Odyssey gear doesn't cost anywhere near that much.

 

[Peter Drakon]

Elite is not your typical game you can "finish", it's about the journey in the galaxy and not the destination. That is why many people have issues with how to play it (sometimes including me). (Note: the game should have much more content and more cross-content but that would not change the above.)

EDO has just given the players more ways for you to be able to journey around in the galaxy. And I do hope more is to come.

 

[lysan]

I can start a new commander and have over 10 million within an hour and a half of play. Odyssey gear doesn't cost anywhere near that much.

It's not about the cost, the cost of stuff is just to support the game world, money or credits means nothing in ED, it SHOULD be about your journey who you are in this galaxy, not just a focus on credits, unfortunately FDEV has been very bad at creating this in an interesting way, as you mentioned the grind is what people do to get a FC or better weapon etc. etc. and that is my criticism regarding FDEV, they forgot how to create a good simple mission, all the missions is focused on materials, influence, reputation or credits, however they are end goals, it should not be about your destination, it should be about your journey, who you meet, what you become, and the materials, influence, reputation or credits are just tools you can use to shape you character, and FDEV is not very good at making this interesting.

 

[Soon(TM)]

Elite is not your typical game you can "finish", it's about the journey in the galaxy and not the destination. That is why many people have issues with how to play it (sometimes including me). (Note: the game should have much more content and more cross-content but that would not change the above.)

EDO has just given the players more ways for you to be able to journey around in the galaxy. And I do hope more is to come.

EDO is another minimum viable product with little thought put into it other than the basic, shoot this, scan that, run here mechanics expected in almost every first person based game since 2002.

No moulds were broken here.

 

[Stigbob]

It's not about the cost, the cost of stuff is just to support the game world, money or credits means nothing in ED, it SHOULD be about your journey who you are in this galaxy, not just a focus on credits, unfortunately FDEV has been very bad at creating this in an interesting way, as you mentioned the grind is what people do to get a FC or better weapon etc. etc. and that is my criticism regarding FDEV, they forgot how to create a good simple mission, all the missions is focused on materials, influence, reputation or credits, however they are end goals, it should not be about your destination, it should be about your journey, who you meet, what you become, and the materials, influence, reputation or credits are just tools you can use to shape you character, and FDEV is not very good at making this interesting.

If they'd made anything not instantly available to space billionaires the whinge would be about that instead. Some people just like moaning.

 

[alexzk]

I think this is ground base for future. They can add many more things later.

 

[CMDR Yates]

I have to admit I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

But I am sort of an aimless drifter from one thing to the next rather than a focused planner/grinder.

I buy all the suits and go to check out some new atmospheric planets.

Look at a sunset. Looks cool. See some plants. Start scanning them.

Find there's one type of life (bacteria) I can't seem to track down.

Fly back up into space. Look at the heatmap, find a small patch. Go down, find it, scan it. Nice.

A ship flies overhead while I'm finishing up. I see its shadow cross the landscape, blotting out the low banks of fog as it goes.

I jump in my ship, notice the other guy is wanted. I fly up and dogfight with him in the pastel light of dawn.

Fly back to station to turn in bounty and samples. Someone asks me to power on a settlement that was devastated by attackers. Okay.

The settlement is a sprawling farm in pitch darkness. I spend maybe an hour there, finding the power room, putting out fires, looting everything not nailed down and making trips back to my SRV to unload (I guess the settlement will be claiming all this stuff on insurance anyway... this stuff is just an unspoken part of the payment, right?).

Maybe one day I'll look into whether I have enough junk for some equipment upgrades, but I'm not worrying about that yet.

On leaving, I look at the planet map and notice a settlement nearby is a conflict zone. I fly over there in my ship to have a look, land nearby, and dive into the fight in my SRV.

Eventually my SRV is damaged and I bail out before it blows up. I'm fighting on foot now, dodging plasma bolts and sniping enemies at control points.

We win. Woo!

I see an interesting boulder field in the distance. I wander off to have a look...


Could it do with a lot of work? Yes. But Odyssey just adds more activities for me to wander between. More environments and scales to experience while doing it. I'm a simple man. That's exactly what I wanted.

So I suppose I'm who it's for.

And when I look around at people tearing hair out over "the grind" or whatever, sometimes I think I'm who Elite Dangerous is aimed at in general.

 

[Kemo]

I think this is ground base for future. They can add many more things later.

 

[Ydiss]

Me.

 

[CMDR Von Abrahart]

EDO is another minimum viable product with little thought put into it other than the basic, shoot this, scan that, run here mechanics expected in almost every first person based game since 2002.

No moulds were broken here.

It is at the moment. But I consider this a ‘step’ a tech step for more fabulous extensions - odyssey is just a tech implementation For us Beta testers to de-bug. ( edit I hope ! )

 

[Koma Pahu]

I can start a new commander and have over 10 million within an hour and a half of play. Odyssey gear doesn't cost anywhere near that much.

You’re not a new player though. How long did it take you to make that much when you actually started?

 

[Astaran]

Frankly, I do not know either. As a "salty old vet" with an own carrier and a fleet to accompany it...where are my new money sinks? Where's my "endgame" content? Grinding new engineers? That's it? Really?

If combat zones were actually fun to do with different scenarios and challenges, if new exploration content wasn't just about picking flowers, if missions weren't so repetitive and boring, if Coop-gameplay actually worked as advertised...

FDev could have designed ground combat zones in a way that higher difficulties mean tougher enemies that aren't just bullet sponges. Hostile SRVs, Skimmers, heavy weapon troopers in Exo-Suits/Power Armor. Makes those things a hell of a lot more interesting and fun. Throw in different scenarioes like Defend&Attack ("Rush" mode in old Battlefield titles), capture the "flag" (data disc, computer, baby Thargoid, whatever) etc.

There could have been proper xeno archaeology of some mysterious new race (or at least recycle/expand Thargoid/Guardian content). New mysteries to solve, new wonders to see.

They could have used the Dredger clans for some new content out in deep space. Befriending them or fighting them over salvage.

They could have used those newly voiced NPC mission givers to kick off a new narrative driven mission chain similar to Ram Tah. "Pilot's Federation Alert..." and all that.

There could have been new ships and modules to tinker with. New and more specialized SRVs for combat and salvage.

There's plenty of things they could have added with Odyssey as interesting content for "endgame" players who already have massive fleets and more money than anyone ever needs.

The only think I was excited about was the new planetary tech. I've already seen some nice and impressive landscapes, but I do have to wonder if this feature alone is really worth the ~40€ I paid for Odyssey (and Alpha access).

 

[VR StarLightPL]

Task-focused people won't understand the purpose behind Odyssey. It's a missing piece of the puzzle. There are a few puzzles missing still, for example more interiors (SHIPS!) and EVA. Now we can finally see our ships from the correct perspective and admire their scale, or the srv scale for that matter. Before that you needed VR to appreciate it.

So... EDO is for me... As long as they make VR working, because it's the ultimate dream of being a space explorer come true

 

[Sunyavadin]

If they'd made anything not instantly available to space billionaires the whinge would be about that instead. Some people just like moaning.

If anything, the prices are baffling from the other end of the spectrum. Do I buy a pistol, or do I buy a sidewinder with twin pulse lasers and still have change in my pocket? Why is everything in Odyssey so expensive? It's cheaper to buy entire cargo holds full of personal weapons than it is to buy individual personal weapons, talk about a bulk discount!