Elite: Dangerous

[Ulminati]

Herp derp, game is shit and will be forever herp derp.

 

[J_C]

Herp derp, game is shit and will be forever herp derp.

Oh come on, you know well that wasn't a comment on Powerplay's quality, I was just trolling with the usual shtick you guys are parrotting ITT.

 

[praetor]

PP itself is kinda crap. it's basically the shitty community goals all over again, except slightly tweaked (for the better) and with faces. but still grindy as fuck. but 1.3 does bring some other neat stuff (ships, drones, some usability/qol tweaks like targeting the destination from sys view or galnet from the ship) but it's too little too late. the missions "overhaul" is pretty much the same stupid fetch quests as before, just with a bit more diversity. "meh" is giving it too much praise

 

[Ulminati]

Yeah. Flew around a bit more to test it out. Powerplay is just some fedex missions on a separate screen. Go to stations and collect a virtual commodity, then fly to another station and deliver it for "merits". and your merits degrade every week so you have to keep grinding. Places regenerate 10 resources every x hours. (It said 30 mins but I came back to a station after 2 hours and the trade good hadn't regenerated yet). Delivering a resource gives 1 merit. you need 10k merits to get the top tier. Enjoy.

 

[J_C]

Go to stations and collect a virtual commodity, then fly to another station and deliver it for "merits". and your merits degrade every week so you have to keep grinding....Delivering a resource gives 1 merit. you need 10k merits to get the top tier. Enjoy.

That sounds pretty stupid indeed.

 

[Ulminati]

Played a bit more. I'm now a baron of the imperial navy and Tier 3 stuffie for Senator Torvals. I haven't seen any new content, just the same ol' missions. Alhough mission payout is a bit better now than it used to be. And tied to your faction rating/naval rank/combat/explore/trade rating. I can get 100k from trade missions, 150-170k from smuggling and 100-200k from combat sorties now. And for tradE/smuggling I can usually carry some other goods on the side as well.

But it doesnøt change the fact that powerplay added nothing in terms of new content. And that's what this is sorely lacking to be a game. In many ways, the multiplayer design harms the game, since it renders the players actions meaningless. You can spend all day doing missions to help a power and if you're lucky you may add 5-10% to a bar. It just feels very underwhelming.

 

[J_C]

In many ways, the multiplayer design harms the game, since it renders the players actions meaningless. You can spend all day doing missions to help a power and if you're lucky you may add 5-10% to a bar. It just feels very underwhelming.

I haven't played Powerplay so of course I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I think you look it in a wrong way. The reason to play powerplay is to partake in a galactic power struggle. Sure, you only add a few percent in a day, but there are hundreds of players playing with you, who also add their own few percents. And this is what feels good IMO. I have watched the powerplay videos from the devs and it looks neat how you can acquire new systems with your faction.

 

[Ulminati]

Except there's not much in the way of coordination outside trawling the forums. Encountering other players in meaningful numbers is a rare occurance. The dev videos on powerplay sadly paint as accurate a picture of game play as the official trailer

 

[Morkar Left]

All I want is a fucking autopilot.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i read a guide and tried the new powerplay content.
oh my god, this is absolute, unadulterated shit. terrible grind, aimed at traders and with zero profitability. with the new missions rewards now in my asp i do about 300k per jump and all i have to do is dock the ship. the powerplay content lets earn 10k every 30 minutes.
sure, doing ot non-stop for more than a month nets 50m per week but only norfleet could endure such a mind-numbing task for more than a day without suiciding.

 

[Mortmal]

Logged in a bit to try,tried missions on the bulletin board. Nothing new except they restrict it to your combat rating, but I get the exact same shit as usual.
Ok the lore written for powerplay is cool, but I may as well read a sci fi book instead as it does not translate into anything gameplay wise. Seems another insane grind to extend influence of those imaginary people added over an already too grindy and bland game .Maybe I am missing something..I don't think this will ever be a game I love.

 

[Mortmal]

So I just did a crime sweep for my faction, wich is pretty much the same as high intensity war zone. You get 1 merit point by ship, eagle or python? 1 point, if you get the kill shot , and only the killshot.After 100kills I may get rank 1 and a weekly pay of 50K. If anything bad happens , a crash a collision, my rebuy cost is at least half a million now.At higher ranks I may unlock one piece of equipment and that's all only a gun.
Its beyond retardation that doesn't even pay the ammo .The only thing saving the game is chatting in game with people and larping.

 

[SCO]

Seems like a adequate simulation of how space travel and war economics would work

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

fixing powerplay would be just so easy... all it needs is to remove the new currency and make *every* positive action count toward the score. they way it is now, it's only sort of useful to those still on the starting sidewinder, which is exactly the opposite of what "powerplay" is supposed to be.

 

[Brandon]

The reason to play powerplay is to partake in a galactic power struggle. Sure, you only add a few percent in a day, but there are hundreds of players playing with you, who also add their own few percents. And this is what feels good IMO. I have watched the powerplay videos from the devs and it looks neat how you can acquire new systems with your faction.

There are two problems with it.

1) the way you add in your few percent isn't fun.

You don't get to play like you would normally, doing what you enjoy and earning credits. The community goals were great because they let you do that. Get a combat CG and go to combat zone and take place in battle, racking up bounties and killing opposing players. Smuggling CG, you actually smuggle stuff into starports and avoid those trying to stop you. Trade CG, haul multiple tons of cargo and try to avoid pirates working for the opposite side. Exploration, go explore and turn in the data. Mining, mine shit and turn it in.

But for some unknown reason, Powerplay contributes are all the same and stale. I joined Torval. Her Ethos for Preparation and Expansion is Fiance. So I can expect trading (and I would think mining since that fits under trading and her lore is mining corp). However, its not like I'm hauling Paladium in a big ship like the Community Goals and running from player pirates, there is a special contact where you get 10 and only 10 "Torval Trade Agreements" and take to the planet I want to prepare. For Expansion, its same thing only 10 "Torval Deeds". You can only get 10 global every 30 minutes.

Ok, kinda boring but its trading... what about her Fortifying Ethos which is "Covert". Smuggling, this should be more fun. Except its the exact same thing only the 10 cargo you get from that special contacts menu is now called "Political Prisoners". You don't actually smuggle them. There is no meeting with a contact outside at a sketchy rendezvous, no sneaking past security with slient running to make it into the starport - both things already in game.

And its like that for every faction and every 'ethos'. Well, the combat ones do allow combat, you kill an NPC pirate for 1 merit which is awful. Also you can Undermine enemy systems, but its all combat as well. So even playing for Torval, I can't smuggle stuff in or out of an enemy system to undermine it, or mine their system's resources - the only undermine option is kill npc ships.

So you either haul 10 items with flavor names every 30 minutes, or kill a lot of npc pirates. While making no money.



2) if you have money to blow you can Fast Track and add as big a percent as you can afford. And its just a credit sink for the game.

Don't want to wait 30 minutes for more cargo? Spend 100k and Fast Track to get 10 more cargo. As many times as you want. Its like paying to unlock content in a Facebook game. If you blow millions of credits you can have as much input on Powerplay as you want, AND get to max rank in a day. So the most efficient way to play is to get rich first doing your normal profession, then Powerplay when you can powerlevel everything.


What I thought it was going to be was basically Community Goals but with galactic influences. That would have been awesome. But for some reason they put in these shitty stale mechanics. I'm hoping its just a placeholder for actual content, but I'm not so sure. I gave up on it for now and went to just mining on my own since they mostly fixed mining now.

fixing powerplay would be just so easy... all it needs is to remove the new currency and make *every* positive action count toward the score.

Basically this. Let me mine in a system to prepare it, or smuggle, or whatever. Get rid of the pointless deeds and trade agreements.

 

[J_C]

Ok, kinda boring but its trading... what about her Fortifying Ethos which is "Covert". Smuggling, this should be more fun. Except its the exact same thing only the 10 cargo you get from that special contacts menu is now called "Political Prisoners". You don't actually smuggle them. There is no meeting with a contact outside at a sketchy rendezvous, no sneaking past security with slient running to make it into the starport - both things already in game.

Well this portrays the problem with the mission system in Elite, and not just in powerplay. This is why games like Freespace and the Starwars x-wing games are among my favourites. Because they have hell of a fun missions. I agree that Elite could improve that, but MMO-like sandbox games in general (and not just space simes) are usually built like that. Basic missions, with lots of grinding.

 

[Brandon]

Well this portrays the problem with the mission system in Elite, and not just in powerplay.

But they do already have smuggling missions. Pickup cargo and get into a specific station without being scanned. Go find cannisters at a signal source and smuggle them to the contact. Maybe not super inventive but its more than the powerplay 'covert' ethos trade 10 items. Also it turns out I was wrong about combat being different: they really are all trade ones. Check this post: Someone joined Lavgny-Duval and even though her ethos for both preparation and fortifying is called combat, its actually the same trade 10 items like Torval only they have 'combat' names I guess?

But I completely agree with you - the missions overall could use more variety.

They have added NPCs contacting you in supercruise and starting random missions, so that's a bonus.
But they have also added some more mechanics now - why not take advantage of them by designing new missions to support it?

For example, you can now outfit extra fuel tanks and get fuel transfer drones - why not a mission to refuel someone at a distress call? Then the guy you save was out exploring when he ran out of gas, and found something interesting that leads to a new mission? There is so much they could do even with just what mechanics are already in game if they bothered.

 

[J_C]

There is so much they could do even with just what mechanics are already in game if they bothered.

And this is what I can't get over my head. I'm not a game dev, but I imagine if you have the game engine and the full game in place, you can make missions like you described quite easily, with using a few triggers.

 

[Mortmal]

"Frontier Developments has just announced the release of Elite: Dangerous exclusively on Xbox One in the Game Preview Program. As a token of our appreciation for your continued support with the development of Elite: Dangerous we are delighted to be offering a £5 Gift Code, redeemable only on the frontier store, for customers who have purchased the game and who purchase Elite: Dangerous on Xbox One."

5£ gift if I rebuy the same game twice on xbox.. Fuck you frontier developments, seriously fuck you.

 

[J_C]

So instead of focusing their resources on expanding the game on PC, they split their time and money to develop it on 2 platforms. Fuck this!

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

why is david braben trying his hardest to make me hate him? dammit dude, i even asked you to autograph my boobs... not cool man, not cool.

 

[J_C]

why is david braben trying his hardest to make me hate him? dammit dude, i even asked you to autograph my boobs... not cool man, not cool.

Show me your boobs and I would gladly sign them.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

fyi, mine are manboobs. still interested?

 

[J_C]

Just shave them before, OK?

 

[DraQ]

Except there's not much in the way of coordination outside trawling the forums. Encountering other players in meaningful numbers is a rare occurance. The dev videos on powerplay sadly paint as accurate a picture of game play as the official trailer

So tell me, EDfags, was it worth it to drop so much cool stuff that could be built upon because of "muh MMO!"?