Simple answer to the above question - they are not fun. Let me elaborate.
All engineers are hidden/closed off behind brain cell killing mindless grinds. Why do I need to reach allied with Sirius Corp to gain access to Sirius to then gain access to the desired engineer? I've been killing Sirius Corp on sight. They are not allied with my Power or Empire. I have NO desire to help them, yet I have to in order to gain an access to engineer.... Or I have to fly somewhere to buy 200 gold and ferry it over for an engineer to gain access after I've already jumped through hoops to get their invite in the first place...
Problem isn't in the fact that the engineers ask us to do something, but that they ask us to do things that are boring and often go against our roles or how we "role" play in the game.
At this point it would be pointless going into the mats and their RNG nature or into the fact that we have No influence over the results of our RNG as making a minigame would be too hard..., It is completely pointless to go that far, because even getting the access to those so called Gods of RNG is boring to a point that a paid Gold farmer for Asian MMOs would probably cry while doing those tasks for others...
Most people like that idea of improving their ship, most love the fact that each build is now unique, but almost nobody likes the process, thus making the whole experience dull and highly unrewarding.
How Engineers could be fun?
Simple - their ranking, unlocking and engineering needs to be delivered through entertaining and and difficulty scaling content. It is clear that FD took a page out of MMOs when designing RNGeers - Collect materials, Unlock stages, RNG loot drops ect.... but they have missed the Fun Part... The content that makes the mats and unlocks fun to do. In ESO if I wanted a Set of Armour I had to "grind" a Dungeon for 10-15 runs and as a group we did it as many times as needed, but we had fun while doing it as the dungeon was hard, challenging and compelling with engaging story and even when we were very well synchronized and could complete it rather fast without dying too much it was still fun and we felt that we achieved something. No such luck in ED. Instead I get to grind painfully normal missions for a faction I've been killing on sight .....
Instead of asking for 200 gold - the engineer could ask as to investigate a wreck where some unknown technology is to be found. We could search through ship wreck (yes actually created and placed content rather then subjected to random spawns) and be attacked by pirates (Yes some prescripted and voiced missions won't harm this world
) - those in fast ships would be able to kite and carry on searching through this debry field and those who are large could engage or wing up until they find the right unknown technology - all this could be also voiced over in ideal world... After returning we get welcomed by the engineer and the unknown part is used in his upgrades. Micro Story arc like this would go a long way in the RNG world of ED... And when we collect the mats (that part could be improved too, but collecting materials is by default bit dull) we could then select the upgrade we desire and a mini game could be introduced to determine the effect - Wire arrangement and random puzzles in the style of Deus Ex and many other RPGs would be much better and more engaging then waiting for the roulette to end spinning...
I could go on and on, but the reason why people hate RNGeers isn't due to balancing (although balancing is very important too), but due to the boring grind they come packed with. Unless this is fixed RNGeers will receive a lot of hate from the community because those who RNGeer will be stronger then those who simply can't put up with the painful grind they introduce..
PS This RANT comes after a whole afternoon spent on ranking up Sirius Corp against my will, and also due to the fact that I have only 4 hours or so a week to play ED and the last thing I want is to spend it doing mind numbing content...
Please Frontier make this horror end and please introduce Real Content supporting the Engineers, so we can have fun upgrading our weapons or modules and not cry tears of utter boredom...
All engineers are hidden/closed off behind brain cell killing mindless grinds. Why do I need to reach allied with Sirius Corp to gain access to Sirius to then gain access to the desired engineer? I've been killing Sirius Corp on sight. They are not allied with my Power or Empire. I have NO desire to help them, yet I have to in order to gain an access to engineer.... Or I have to fly somewhere to buy 200 gold and ferry it over for an engineer to gain access after I've already jumped through hoops to get their invite in the first place...
Problem isn't in the fact that the engineers ask us to do something, but that they ask us to do things that are boring and often go against our roles or how we "role" play in the game.
At this point it would be pointless going into the mats and their RNG nature or into the fact that we have No influence over the results of our RNG as making a minigame would be too hard..., It is completely pointless to go that far, because even getting the access to those so called Gods of RNG is boring to a point that a paid Gold farmer for Asian MMOs would probably cry while doing those tasks for others...
Most people like that idea of improving their ship, most love the fact that each build is now unique, but almost nobody likes the process, thus making the whole experience dull and highly unrewarding.
How Engineers could be fun?
Simple - their ranking, unlocking and engineering needs to be delivered through entertaining and and difficulty scaling content. It is clear that FD took a page out of MMOs when designing RNGeers - Collect materials, Unlock stages, RNG loot drops ect.... but they have missed the Fun Part... The content that makes the mats and unlocks fun to do. In ESO if I wanted a Set of Armour I had to "grind" a Dungeon for 10-15 runs and as a group we did it as many times as needed, but we had fun while doing it as the dungeon was hard, challenging and compelling with engaging story and even when we were very well synchronized and could complete it rather fast without dying too much it was still fun and we felt that we achieved something. No such luck in ED. Instead I get to grind painfully normal missions for a faction I've been killing on sight .....
Instead of asking for 200 gold - the engineer could ask as to investigate a wreck where some unknown technology is to be found. We could search through ship wreck (yes actually created and placed content rather then subjected to random spawns) and be attacked by pirates (Yes some prescripted and voiced missions won't harm this world
) - those in fast ships would be able to kite and carry on searching through this debry field and those who are large could engage or wing up until they find the right unknown technology - all this could be also voiced over in ideal world... After returning we get welcomed by the engineer and the unknown part is used in his upgrades. Micro Story arc like this would go a long way in the RNG world of ED... And when we collect the mats (that part could be improved too, but collecting materials is by default bit dull) we could then select the upgrade we desire and a mini game could be introduced to determine the effect - Wire arrangement and random puzzles in the style of Deus Ex and many other RPGs would be much better and more engaging then waiting for the roulette to end spinning...I could go on and on, but the reason why people hate RNGeers isn't due to balancing (although balancing is very important too), but due to the boring grind they come packed with. Unless this is fixed RNGeers will receive a lot of hate from the community because those who RNGeer will be stronger then those who simply can't put up with the painful grind they introduce..
PS This RANT comes after a whole afternoon spent on ranking up Sirius Corp against my will, and also due to the fact that I have only 4 hours or so a week to play ED and the last thing I want is to spend it doing mind numbing content...
Please Frontier make this horror end and please introduce Real Content supporting the Engineers, so we can have fun upgrading our weapons or modules and not cry tears of utter boredom...
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