Nope. I gave up KWS'ing them ages ago. They never have a bounty. Their sole purpose seems to be to waste your time. I've never had a mission where they are are involved.
Why make an already grindy game even more grindy?
- Thread starter Shads
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Nope. I gave up KWS'ing them ages ago. They never have a bounty. Their sole purpose seems to be to waste your time. I've never had a mission where they are are involved.
Last night, 1 mission to kill 4 pirates, simple right?
The target system had 1 star, nothing else.
4 interdictions, 4 interdictors, 20+ USS, 15 kills and I finally get all 4 'pirates', 2 hours of boredom.
Some players wanted to flip one minor, insignificant backwater system. 90 players grinded for 3 week and accomplish basically nothing. God know how much more grinding they will need to do, to do what one of the selling points of the game was. Shaping the dynamic universe and politics of the game. That is kinda grindy to me.
True, I think most players admit the rep/political/trade mechanics need work and/or tweaks but it is still an optional activity. For me grind is something a game forces me to do in order to progress so I don't get left behind or have areas locked because I haven't put in the hours of 'bear killing'
I don't even think that we need a scanner, assuming that the contents of the USS is set before you enter it (if not then all is lost) all we need is a very vague description:
Multiple contacts: Could be the wedding barge, a trader convoy or an authority check point.
Weak Contact : Could be a debris field with or without cargo, or maybe a single small ship.
Large contact : Could be an Anaconda Pirate target or one of the T9 traders like the metals magpie.
Just some examples of the idea, to make it feels a bit more like a search and less like a lottery.
Unknown signal sources are crap. I refuse to enter them because I've already wasted enough time. That does mean for the most part I can't do missions but that's no big loss because they're all crap too.
I remember at the start of the game spending ages looking for a handful of pirates in an empty system or trawling for a black box and getting nowhere. At first you see the random stuff in a USS and you think, "oh, that's cool" but then you quickly realize there's only five things to see and none of them are what you're looking for.
I hate when people try to justify the inclusion of grindy elements in a game by saying it's a challenge and the result makes it worthwhile. Is it a challenge? Flying back and forth over and over again is challenging? Are you only using your teeth to fly your ship or something? Its not a challenge but it is a big commitment of time doing the most mundane and repetitive tasks. In a well designed game you might have ships that take time to earn but in the process of getting there it actually does challenge you, and it needn't feel like a dull, laborious, grind.
Nothing can make me feel as though flying performance enhancers to some dude over and over again is a worthwhile use of time.
Less grind, pls.
I remember at the start of the game spending ages looking for a handful of pirates in an empty system or trawling for a black box and getting nowhere. At first you see the random stuff in a USS and you think, "oh, that's cool" but then you quickly realize there's only five things to see and none of them are what you're looking for.
I hate when people try to justify the inclusion of grindy elements in a game by saying it's a challenge and the result makes it worthwhile. Is it a challenge? Flying back and forth over and over again is challenging? Are you only using your teeth to fly your ship or something? Its not a challenge but it is a big commitment of time doing the most mundane and repetitive tasks. In a well designed game you might have ships that take time to earn but in the process of getting there it actually does challenge you, and it needn't feel like a dull, laborious, grind.
Nothing can make me feel as though flying performance enhancers to some dude over and over again is a worthwhile use of time.
Less grind, pls.
The problem with the USS mechanism is one that highlights a very disappointing shortfall in game-play compared to Frontier/FFE. They are completely passive. In the Olden Days trouble would come to you and would come to you in a frequency and intensity related to the politics and law status of the system. It would often be unavoidable. The galaxy was a very dangerous place which rewarded risk.
It was exciting to spend an hour battling through multiple intercepts by often multiple superior fighters to make a big sale in an anarchy system.
Danger in the ED galaxy is almost completely voluntary and pretty minor.
NPC interdiction rates are low to begin with. When I submit 60% of the time there's nothing there. And the other 40% of the time you're mostly being menaced by shieldless idiots and incompetents. If I go about my business trading in open I rarely even see another player but at least when I do I get a hint of danger.
This is the most disappointing aspect of the game. Danger isn't danger if you have to deliberately go out of your way to find it.
It was exciting to spend an hour battling through multiple intercepts by often multiple superior fighters to make a big sale in an anarchy system.
Danger in the ED galaxy is almost completely voluntary and pretty minor.
NPC interdiction rates are low to begin with. When I submit 60% of the time there's nothing there. And the other 40% of the time you're mostly being menaced by shieldless idiots and incompetents. If I go about my business trading in open I rarely even see another player but at least when I do I get a hint of danger.
This is the most disappointing aspect of the game. Danger isn't danger if you have to deliberately go out of your way to find it.
I like the background USS events like the funeral procession etc. They remind you that you are not the "chosen one" as you are in most MMOs, the galaxy keeps on spinning and stuff happens. Whether or not it is of interest to a player is irrelevant, remember this is a lot more of a Sim than the other MMOs where you grind your way to max level and start raiding for the next set of epixx.
I do like the idea thought that you get a clue, multiple contacts, large contact etc so you can decide whether or not to investigate.
I do like the idea thought that you get a clue, multiple contacts, large contact etc so you can decide whether or not to investigate.
"Grinding" is the wrong mindset to get into. This is not a mmorpg, grinding is only there if YOU put it there.
I've been playing since last April, I do not "grind". I just earned credits until I had the ship I wanted (Cobra MkIII) and now I explore. I don't feel the need to have billions of credits, I don't feel the need to have the biggest or most expensive ship.
There is only grinding if YOU put it there.
I've been playing since last April, I do not "grind". I just earned credits until I had the ship I wanted (Cobra MkIII) and now I explore. I don't feel the need to have billions of credits, I don't feel the need to have the biggest or most expensive ship.
There is only grinding if YOU put it there.
Personally I think the shallow mechanics of exploration make it a grind. I think the shallow mechanics of bounty hunting make it a grind. I think the only way to avoid a grind in Elite: Dangerous in its present state is to not play it.
I'm playing this game for fun, not to rack up credits. Happy in my Cobra. Don't need anything bigger, so grinding isn't something I'm in any way interested in. Whether USS missions is grinding or not is just semantics, but it can be horribly time wasting if you are simply playing for the sake of fun. I've pretty much given up on them for now for this reason to. There is no 'challenge' in hopping into USS after USS trying to find your target, other than to test your patience. In its current form it is off putting for many of us.
I like some of the suggestions here - particularly the signal strength idea, to at the very least give us half a clue what we might find. If not a USS scanner is a good substitute as well, though I prefer the signal strength idea. I'm already having to make enough tough choices as to what to fit onto my Cobra.
Also yes, the dynamics of USS missions seems lazily repetitive. If I hear one more NPC go on about how he is lucky to be alive, and will never visit X system again, Imma shoot that sunbish down! Mix it up FD - get creative!
I like some of the suggestions here - particularly the signal strength idea, to at the very least give us half a clue what we might find. If not a USS scanner is a good substitute as well, though I prefer the signal strength idea. I'm already having to make enough tough choices as to what to fit onto my Cobra.
Also yes, the dynamics of USS missions seems lazily repetitive. If I hear one more NPC go on about how he is lucky to be alive, and will never visit X system again, Imma shoot that sunbish down! Mix it up FD - get creative!
or maybe if each object type had it's own signal signature and we could scan the USS for signal profile we could learn to recognize common types
I am taking my sweet, sweeeeet tiiimmmme with this game so I don't feel the grind, however...
With regards to USS I could not possibly agree more, especially when they are used in missions. It's this game's sore thumb, absolutely!
What I'd like to see:
• Currently, with them appearing next to our ships, they find us. Doesn't make any sense and should be the other way around.
We should have ways to discover them with the built-in scanner. Which, on that occasion, should be able to pick up a signature revealing a ship, several ships or wreckage=cannisters
Since getting to an USS takes time anyways (more often than not - as it is - wasted time) maybe there could some triangulation mini game to pinpoint the location.
Now, to make that worthwhile...
• Haven't thought so much about content but some things I am pretty sure about: in case of floating cargo (and see other threads about salvaging ideas),
'Rebel Transmissions', 'Military Plans'? Let there be Rebels, let there be Military! We should get choices what to do with the stuff. Like, give it to the Rebels or sell it to them,
likewise for Military. Big cash if you sell Rebel Transmissions to the opposing faction, big rep and influence gain if you hand them over for free. Stuff like that
• Also, about cargo: I'd like to see other parties showing up. Random soldiers of fortune, some more dangerous and hostile than others. Or, a salvage party of the company the cargo belongs to.
• etcpp.
With regards to USS I could not possibly agree more, especially when they are used in missions. It's this game's sore thumb, absolutely!
What I'd like to see:
• Currently, with them appearing next to our ships, they find us. Doesn't make any sense and should be the other way around.
We should have ways to discover them with the built-in scanner. Which, on that occasion, should be able to pick up a signature revealing a ship, several ships or wreckage=cannisters
Since getting to an USS takes time anyways (more often than not - as it is - wasted time) maybe there could some triangulation mini game to pinpoint the location.
Now, to make that worthwhile...
• Haven't thought so much about content but some things I am pretty sure about: in case of floating cargo (and see other threads about salvaging ideas),
'Rebel Transmissions', 'Military Plans'? Let there be Rebels, let there be Military! We should get choices what to do with the stuff. Like, give it to the Rebels or sell it to them,
likewise for Military. Big cash if you sell Rebel Transmissions to the opposing faction, big rep and influence gain if you hand them over for free. Stuff like that
• Also, about cargo: I'd like to see other parties showing up. Random soldiers of fortune, some more dangerous and hostile than others. Or, a salvage party of the company the cargo belongs to.
• etcpp.