Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius

This is not a rant, just curious about your thoughts. Not sure what my point is really

I feel that the one thing ED is not giving me is a sense of connection to the universe, of having an adventure. I´m pretty much just engaging in money making actions aimed at upgrading components or getting bigger ships. I´ve been bounty hunting and exploring but not due to anything else than me wanting to do these things. The missions are pretty much generic and only differ in the name of the employer. No story arcs(?), nothing that really grips me and makes me want to help out the poor, abused people of system X in their struggle for a better life.
The foundations are there within the simulation, it´s just that I feel that they don´t jump out and try to grip me, to engage me. The closest thing to what I´m seeking are the advancement missions, but they are really just events that randomly-ish happen from time to time. I´ve gone exploring, but not because I´ve been asked by someone in-game to do it.

I understand that the sheer scale of the universe makes it difficult to have mission arcs á la MMORPGs, but I still miss those things. They give me background to the history, lore and going-ons in my surroundings. They guide me through an experience, which is also the great downfall of that system, what do you do when reaching the end of the story arcs. However, currently I feel that ED has the same sort of end game when I have the biggest, bestest(sic) ships, but I´m not given any adventure along the way.

Power play to me as a casual player is completely non-interesting. In ED I´m supposed to be a small fish in a very big pond. There is really nothing that gives me a personal motivation for why I should engage in Power Play, other than getting better options of making money in different ways. I´m a small fish asked to partake in the big fish machinations with no real sense of why? What if I add 0,001% to the effort? A small fish should be asked to help, or hinder, other small fish. Make it personal.

There must be ways to give goals and a sense of achivement to players? Actually seeing a space station being built by the materials I bring in. Seeing demand differ during the course of the construction, seeing decay starting to set in if no one brings material. Getting requests to bring passengers. Get requests to ship refugees from conflict zones, rescue missions for pirated ships followed by the already existing go-shot-Mr-X that pirated the ship in the rescue mission. Escort traders.
Getting rewarded for doing those things, not necessary monetary rewards .Perhaps being mentioned in the local stories, getting a local discount from the outfitter whos daughter you rescued. Things that make me want to stat locally a while and get entangled in the various stories there.

So, is ED basically just about making some cash and get the ship of my dreams? Should I resign to creating back stories in my own head? Or am I too casual too "get" the background behind the current mission system? Am I expecting too much, or rather, having the wrong expectations?

I think the point is to find your own path. It's pretty open, no direction is really given to you. I had gotten bored a couple months ago and went on hiatus, came back a month ago, recently joined this group, got into my Tradeconda and just started grinding rep for the federation so when the Corvette comes out I will be prepared.

You need to get a goal and work towards it. Only then can you enjoy the journey. If you flounder around not knowing what to do, it can get really old really fast.

For me it really finally started to make sense once I had a 'home' system. I could then be the defender of that system, help getting the supplies it needed etc. It also gives me a reason to go out. With that virus outbreak I thought that it would be a good idea to help out dealing with it (with the CG's) so it didn't infect my system and there was eventually a cure. Sure I go more for the roleplaying aspects as well. I have a back story for my character (written somewhere on this site) which enables me to justify what I do and I have to think about the characters background in deciding how I should go about things. For example he fought in his system as a younger man to free it of pirate raids, so given that he was on the 'good' side, it would be odd for him to now be a pirate without some life changing occurrence. It dictates what missions I take, no out right murder but will to defend the right faction in the system etc

I too have a home system as well, but I find my most amusement from being a smuggler and picking up illegal salvage. I tend to opperate mostly out of LTT 15574, but spend a lot of time in and around SOL as well.

When I get a little weary of smuggling and flying into Weak Signal Sources looking for salvage, I will participate in the CGs, as it is a fun way to meet other CMDRs and accomplish quick goals that tend to only last a handful of days. I also will go exploring, and get involved in the "Unknown Artifact" research by trying to find one of the UAs, which are rare - FD has plans for the UA...so I keep an eye on the Frontier Forums and what the other players are doing in the forum thread there.

I have been sittign in a "A" modded ASP for over a month. I am not so much concerned about getting any other ships beyond it. I got lots of credits...but no ambition to buy. Just flying around doing my thing having fun.

Elite isn't a game like Fallout or Elder Scrolls that tells a deep story. If anything, I'd say it's more of a role-playing game because of that. It is you, living your life as a pilot, in 3301.

You are not the hero of prophecy, you will not likely change the course of the universe single-handedly either. You are really kind of playing out a slightly more interesting life among the stars.

So you're right, it's not adventure per se. But there are a great many things to do, just as in life. Especially when you get some free training and a starter ship.

(I do love Fallout and Elder Scrolls, but they fill a different need in my gaming library.)

Hmmm I'm not so sure. I suspect a lot of people could be lost as to what to do because there is no "we'll hold your hand" style of gameplay / missions. Right from the first text adventures we're been fed with "do this, then you can do this, then this, and you get this reward, then...." so I can imagine its difficult for people to get a grip with being left to their own devices.

I find it best to think of ED as less of a game and more of a simulated environment (I do realise it lacks several features of a true simulation), and as such you are existing in something that it much much bigger than you are, once you think this way you appreciate that in reality you are never really going to make any significant difference. Now this can be difficult for many people, it's true that we have been brought up as being the hero in our games, the key player in an evolving story, ED isn't like this, you are just another Joe Schmo trying to grind out a living in an uncaring galaxy.

ED holds up quite a good mirror to life in this way, we may turn the tide of one battle, but as individuals we'll never win the war, it will always be about the numbers, and because it's about the numbers, that is all we will ever be, a number in someone else's plan.

Once you accept this, you realise it's about finding your own small individual victories, and these victories vary from person to person, for some it'll be wealth, for others ships, or flipping control in one system, or finding that forest moon, but whatever it is, it has to be because you have set it.

Now I fully expect that FD will add more complex missions with greater variety over time, but we are never going to be heroes except in our own minds.

Wow, this turned out darker than I expected

Xebeth wrote:I find it best to think of ED as less of a game and more of a simulated environment (I do realise it lacks several features of a true simulation), and as such you are existing in something that it much much bigger than you are, once you think this way you appreciate that in reality you are never really going to make any significant difference. Now this can be difficult for many people, it's true that we have been brought up as being the hero in our games, the key player in an evolving story, ED isn't like this, you are just another Joe Schmo trying to grind out a living in an uncaring galaxy.

ED holds up quite a good mirror to life in this way, we may turn the tide of one battle, but as individuals we'll never win the war, it will always be about the numbers, and because it's about the numbers, that is all we will ever be, a number in someone else's plan.

Once you accept this, you realise it's about finding your own small individual victories, and these victories vary from person to person, for some it'll be wealth, for others ships, or flipping control in one system, or finding that forest moon, but whatever it is, it has to be because you have set it.

Now I fully expect that FD will add more complex missions with greater variety over time, but we are never going to be heroes except in our own minds.

Wow, this turned out darker than I expected

I don't really see it that dark, to be honest. As long as I'm raking in credits through my own hard work, I don't really care that there are no parades for me.

Oooh, I just have to find that forest moon now.

If only to get that ewok fur coat...

If I wanted to be uber-king arthur-jesus warrior saviour christ on a velociraptor i play skyrim

Others have said it with more feeling and verve, but this game really only shines when you have imagination and or are goal oriented. If you have lost some of your imagination over the years then start slow. Like other said you can start by finding a home system, star, and station. Your home station is your base and like powerplay your max jump range from there is your territory.

Find a faction within that territory and run missions for it until it expands. Grow its influence across 3-4 systems yourself, build a community, or join a community. I know that there are a few players moving to Azazel in preparation for the Mobius faction being introduced. If something like that interests you maybe move there and get a feel for how it all works.

If you are just goal oriented and don't want to work on your imagination then play it like a sim. If you dont like working off of what others provide and want to build your own actual trade database then I recommend Trade Computer Extension. TCE makes finding optimal trades and logging your travels easy when compared to the ol standard of keeping a handwritten notebook.