I've gone the other way. I liked the overall mechanic but worried that the pan-and-zoom would get tedious. Now that I'm out in the black proper, rather than floating around the edge of the bubble, I find I'm stopping in more systems and doing more full scans than I did before. If anything my biggest disappointment is that I'm not covering as much distance per session as I did when I was just honk-scooping with the ADS, but I'm enjoying the process of uncovering the details of the system without having to fly to every body so it's a good compromise at the moment. Finding surface stuff to add to the Codex is surprisingly compelling too, and is something I never would have considered bothering with using the old DSS-and-eyeball method.
Agreed. One of biggest concerns about going on DW2 is keeping up with the main group. Not only is my time to play limited, but I keep getting distracted by things I want to take a closer look at. For me, the FSS has not only injected a sense of discovery into exploration, but I’ve found myself flying to
more bodies than before, not less.
Before the FSS, flying out to a body I’d seen on the system map or Nav Panel felt like I was grinding for credits or “discovered by” tags, neither of which motivate me. Since the ADS did all the work, I never felt like I
discovered it. The interesting stuff had already done without me. With the FSS, I’m flying out there to take a closer look at something
I discovered. I’m indulging my own curiosity, not grinding for credits or tags. This means a
world of difference to me.
As with everything
ED, there's always a chance it'll hit an unexpected engagement peak and start sliding back down towards dull grind. The minute it starts to feel
only like pointing at circles, and not
simultaneously like uncovering the structure of a never-before-seen star system, I'll be in trouble. Sadly it sounds as though you're already there. The same is true for me of core mining, which I'm enjoying on my other account. The minute it starts to feel more gamey than science fictiony, the magic will be lost.
Also agreed. Which is a major reason why I explore the way I explore. Determining if a system is Interesting(tm)
without resolving bodies first is not only faster, but far more fun and engaging than playing the
“whack-a-mole” “mini-game”
first.
It also lets me determine
how I actually want to resolve the bodies
I’ve discovered, based on my mood, time requirements, whether I’m likely to probe something, or simply for the fish. There’s such a wide range of strategies for me to choose from, I can mix things up to keep it fresh.
But for now they're both engaging me much more than I thought they might (and the credits help on the mining, of course). As with a lot of the enjoyment I get from ED, having two accounts so I can switch between exploration activities and other activities is paramount. I know it's anathema to some players to even consider giving FD more money for the same game, but I know my patience with exploration would not be as great if I couldn't switch back to the bubble when I needed to.
I bought a second account for Buckyball Racing when I went on the Small Worlds 2 expedition, thinking meeting other explorers out there might cure the ennui generated by the old system. That was the only thing that allowed me to stick with it long enough to unlock Palin. Once that had been accomplished, I Buckyballed it back home ASAP. It’s different this time around. Not only have I been out exploring since the Beta for 3.3, but I
completely missed the fact that another Buckyball Race had been held.
