spicy pp2.0 feelings (Pure Rant)

[MachoNatchoMan]

total rant, maybe best you don't read unless you wanna feel sad about the state of elite / elite's Powerplay 2.0 system.. also i won't be keeping an eye on this for comments or whatever, pretty much just purely to vent and voice my opinion on the pp2.0 system in the hopes that just maybe more people will feel the same and thus hopefully show the devs that they should make a change..

Note: in short for anyone who gets a headache just seeing all the text below.. i generally so far call the new powerplay system pp2.0... and not because of "PowerPlay".. and not because of the 2.0...

that being said, if anyone reads this and get's butthurt.. read the rest below.. or don't comment at all. show me at least that bit of respect of reading my reasons why before you try to challenge or explain or whatever, then again you're gonna be preaching into the void most likely as i won't even be looking at comments i think.. anyways. enjoy or not and so ons. gonna go fight for sol a bit then probably abandon elite for warframe until the cobra is out.. and available for credits.... ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥....





so.. i started out loving the 2.0 system, even after i'd seen that you need to do dozens and dozens and dozens of hours at the absolute very least, of solid constant grinding to get all the pp modules,

but at least you didn't have to switch factions every 2 weeks and have to wait 2 weeks before moving onto grinding the next module or whatever.. right?... this is what i assumed and what iv'e seen a lot of people assuming/thinking/hoping..

except iv'e just yesterday really dug my claws into the system and turns out... no... you need to do the weekly assignments... for each rank.... every... single... one... even the ones that give no reward/bonuses/modules even..... meaning if you wanted to get from rank 0 to 100 to get all the modules... you would have to essentially wait just shy of 2 YEARS........ of playing elite EVERY WEEK and completing ALL (i think) assignments EVERY WEEK.. as well as the separate grind for the merits themselves if you wanted 100+..

which brings me to another issue with this system.... they'd done all this work..... all this work to make it so that we can now earn merits via any activity we want... unrestricted, without being forced into any one piece of gameplay (i loved this change) (later also hated it though with how absolutely opposite of handholding it is when interacting with such things.. like needing to mine resources within the system(s) that you can earn merits from mining.... being able to finally use exploration for more than just fun, except they nerfed the absolute godly ♥♥♥♥ outa that and still haven't fixed it back into the game fully after 3-4 weeks....1-2 since they said they'd put it back in and fixed it..... then there's the whole "turn in your exobio data into the nearest power contact" thing.... that wasn't even the case when it was working.... people just hand it in to the place we always did and get merits just like with the discovery data ([/i]prOviDed yOurE in The rIGht tyYpe of sYsteeem
seLling your hUndReds of MiLLionS whEn yoU PRess thE Sell All BuTtoN[/i].... button which does not warn of the potential catastrophic loss of potential merits if sold in the wrong place... should be extra warnings and tooltips and toggle buttons similar to the sell or store button in outfitting when you are pledged to a power but noo.. they wanted to get this out there i guess... arrg..) and yet the in-game codex says to hand in to power contact.... it just all feels so borked and rushed and half baked..... sadly.. as with almost everything frontier has put into the game :,q

but to top it all off they've now buffed the weeklies to a degree where they alone will (i think) be more than enough for the weekly rankup itself.. so doing any extra curricular work for merits outside of weeklies is essentially utterly useless and just kinda wasted time in terms of rank seeing as you need to wait for the next weekly assignment missions to come on in.. as is the nature of weekly things... essentially kinda making all the work they put into making anything meritable (which isn't even fully ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ implemented yet to this day.. weeks after release.. in a live service mmo type game... i guess i just really wish they'd put more time and QA into pp2.0 before releasing it as it's just such a mess atm.... i mean i still can't get any exobio merits yet (and yes i collected after they (supposedly) put it back into the rewardables so to say.. and i also to top it off seemingly can't get regular discovery data merits either anymore.... (iv'e tried all the system types in several systems yesterday..)

and i ain't even touched upon all of the server latency crap that has gotten even worse in the past week making it to the point where i actually feel like it's about as stable as star citizen is nowadays (or rather, as stable as when last i played SC like half a year ago..) and that is baaaaaad......

what i'm realizing slowly as i'm writing this out actually.. is that they've essentially kinda turned the powerplay system into a battle pass... except one that you don't pay for and just get stuff over time... instead you need to pay.. with your time... alot of it.. especially so seeing as some of the weekly assignments can be the type where even veterans just go "eh, no, don't bother with that one...." which means if you do this... and you do need to do every single assignment every single week to rank up to 100 within 100 weeks then you are effectively being forced to play stuff you don't want to... or lengthen your journey to rank 100 by at the very minimum 1 week... my heart cries a bit for people that won't even live that long for whatever reason(s).. it's just such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ fomo type feeling to me....

then there's also the fact that people who just don't know this yet, like me until now/yesterday.. people who have been playing but just don't know and come in and start grinding the weeklies say 3-4 weeks after pp2.0 rellease have automatically lengthened their journey to 100 by 2-3 weeks

if i remember correctly, the old pp system would take you roughly a year to hotswap between and get (access) all the modules one at a time and now the time has practically doubled.. at minimum... not to mention you could fast track the old system with credits... i don't think that's even possible anymore..

ugh.. sorry to anyone who has spent the time and effort reading through this, both for the doom and gloominess and for any unclear wordage from me as i'm sure there is some and as this really is kinda just a rant for me to vent my frustration, imma not be proof reading much :q sayonara folks o7 hope everyone has a good day, including the devs, maybe they'll realize how hard they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up the pp2.0 system and how utterly horridly grindy it is compared to even the old system which was already considered one of the biggest grinds in the game...........

this all being said btw, it's really just the pp2.0 system that i absolutely hate with a passion... the new ships and the thargoid content as well as not to mention the story unfolding, is all the most excitement for content in elite iv'e had for years (though i absolutely hate the FOMO nature of taking part in said thargoid content.. (alas, is just what it is, in a mmo/live service game like elite...) but i especially hate it when say for example.. you need to leave for a trip the same darn day an event advancement happens and you don't get back until the night before the next advancement and find out that all of a sudden you have illegal passengers cause it's no longer allowed to try and evacuate sol?!??!?!..... then get almost killed by police like 2 times as a result while still holding onto hundreds of millions in explo data in hopes that frontier will fix their pp2.0 ♥♥♥♥... not to mention i forgot about thargoid hyperdictions.. almost died once there too and would have if i didn't do a combat log.. otherwise loosing my hundreds and hundreds of millions in explo data..... o lordy.. imma stop now or i could go oooon and on... bye.)

[magnumaniac]

Originally posted by MachoNatchoMan:

except iv'e just yesterday really dug my claws into the system and turns out... no... you need to do the weekly assignments... for each rank.... every... single... one... even the ones that give no reward/bonuses/modules even..... meaning if you wanted to get from rank 0 to 100 to get all the modules... you would have to essentially wait just shy of 2 YEARS........ of playing elite EVERY WEEK and completing ALL (i think) assignments EVERY WEEK.. as well as the separate grind for the merits themselves if you wanted 100+..

I think you have some fundamental misunderstanding of how the system works.

You do not have to do any weekly assignments beyond the first set. After they are completed once, you can rank up as quickly as you can gain the merits. Can reach rank 100 easily within a month (and many people already have).

[^0[.SAS.]^4HunterCat]

Originally posted by magnumaniac:

Can reach rank 100 easily within a month (and many people already have).

Yeah, by an oversight of exobiology, which was nerfed to the ground on the second week after PP 2.0 was up

[Shivra]

I love PP 2.0. Im rank 15 in one week without any stress. I come back in game after 6 years and i didnt come bact just to get everything new and "old" in one week. I think we get rewards in PP 2. evan to easy and to fast specialy now when we dont loss any rank like before.

[magnumaniac]

Originally posted by ^0.SAS.^4HunterCat:

Originally posted by magnumaniac:

Can reach rank 100 easily within a month (and many people already have).

Yeah, by an oversight of exobiology, which was nerfed to the ground on the second week after PP 2.0 was up

Maybe the case - I don't do exobiology, so don't know about any of that. I do know I pledged to a power for the first time last Friday, and am up to rank 20 within a week without breaking a sweat. Just doing what I normally do for fun (stacking massacre missions) - so rank 100 within a month would be fairly easy just by putting a bit of effort in.

Certainly isn't going to take anyone 2 years like the OP is incorrectly claiming.

[Un1k0rn]

It really is typical of this community to be in a fuss about hitting PP 100 ASAP

Nerfs are pretty obvious in motive: Frontier doesn't want people getting there too quickly (The rate of progression and its "correct" rate being a subjective opinion, yes, but Frontier getting an executive say over what rewards what and thus, only their opinion finally matters)

It covers almost all activities in the game now. There is a reason for this: Progression is, well I won't say "supposed to" because I know that will upset some people, but it certainly lends itself to being a passive thing that will naturally grow over time.

Of course for anyone who is simply after the modules, and let's be real here: That's the sole motivator for many a player, this isn't going to be what they consider good enough. But then again anything short of "press button to get instantly" will always be too slow for some.

[Sighman]

Originally posted by MachoNatchoMan:

except iv'e just yesterday really dug my claws into the system and turns out... no... you need to do the weekly assignments... for each rank.... every... single... one...

No you don't.

[spam]

Originally posted by magnumaniac:

Originally posted by ^0.SAS.^4HunterCat:

Yeah, by an oversight of exobiology, which was nerfed to the ground on the second week after PP 2.0 was up

Certainly isn't going to take anyone 2 years like the OP is incorrectly claiming.

Yes, I started a week after PP 2.0 was released due to indecision and waiting for inevitable bug fixes and am now at rank 43 despite mostly ignoring the weekly tasks.

Stacked pirate massacre missions (SPMM) and mining are both great PP activities as they both pay a lot of credit and a lot of merits, and both are enjoyable.

I"ve also gained a few rankss doing on-foot restore power missions to finally level up my on-foot equipment. The merits are meager compared to mining and SPMM, but this is something I would be doing anyway, so it's gravy.

It's a shame that FDev nerfed Exploration and Exobiology into the ground and completely axed merits from rare goods trade, and escape pods (with no in-game sign that they were axed...) but there are still lucrative alternatives.

[Un1k0rn]

Originally posted by spam:

Originally posted by magnumaniac:

Certainly isn't going to take anyone 2 years like the OP is incorrectly claiming.

Yes, I started a week after PP 2.0 was released due to indecision and waiting for inevitable bug fixes and am now at rank 43 despite mostly ignoring the weekly tasks.

Stacked pirate massacre missions (SPMM) and mining are both great PP activities as they both pay a lot of credit and a lot of merits, and both are enjoyable.

I"ve also gained a few rankss doing on-foot restore power missions to finally level up my on-foot equipment. The merits are meager compared to mining and SPMM, but this is something I would be doing anyway, so it's gravy.

It's a shame that FDev nerfed Exploration and Exobiology into the ground and completely axed merits from rare goods trade, and escape pods (with no in-game sign that they were axed...) but there are still lucrative alternatives.

I don't blame them either, however.

I was playing the night it came out and those pods were like... Yeah you know, I really do have to say that picking up pods to get all the way to whatever rank was really lame. Not exactly the image of an exciting game and conflict.

The word you use there: Gravy. That's the right way to be looking at all this in my opinion. This isn't something that's enjoyable if you hyper-fixate on the merits. It just makes it another self-inflicted grind that was never necessary to subject oneself to in the first place.

So, that is of course what many players are doing to themselves.

[Agony_Aunt]

I'm quite enjoying it. Gives me a few different tasks to do each week, which sometimes encourages me to do things i wouldn't normally bother doing, but can enjoy.

No problems with bugs/stability.

Rank 100 is a far off dream, but that's ok. I don't mind it taking 2 years to get rank 100 if it just do the weekly tasks. It would go much quicker if i did more than those, as i'm sure most people who are really engaging with PP are doing.

I actually got a ton of merits bounty hunting when i wasn't even considering the PP merit reward. You can get merits for doing a ton of stuff without intentionally thinking about it. Even just scanning ships as you fly around gets you merits.

So, while i'm doing the weekly's most weeks, i'm also doing other stuff, BGS work, etc, and as i do, i get merits thrown in. I guess it won't take me 2 years to get doing that.

Also loving the care packages, adding nicely to my stock of materials, saving me time for hunting them.

And as others have pointed out, you do not need to do the weekly's every week, although they do provide a nice bonus of merits for doing so.

[Sighman]

Power Reactivation missions pay 1800 merits, plus hundreds (or even thousands) of merits for power data and loot from power chests.

I did a dozen reactivations in 2 days and earned 10s of thousands of merits.

And I hadn't finished my weeklies yet, and went up 2 ranks.

[spam]

Originally posted by Sighman:

Power Reactivation missions pay 1800 merits, plus hundreds (or even thousands) of merits for power data and loot from power chests.

I did a dozen reactivations in 2 days and earned 10s of thousands of merits.

And I hadn't finished my weeklies yet, and went up 2 ranks.

I haven't had any payouts from power reactivation missions beyond the PP data downloads, Did you get the 1800 from a weekly assignment? I did get a couple of levels from power restoration missions, so the payouts are not untenable, they just don't compare favorably with mining.

Edit: capitalization

[Stelar Seven]

I might read this, but I'm amazed by the double standard from the OP insisting on respect while committing to ignoring responses and close mindedness.

My dude, this isn't your blog, you deserve only the level of respect you offer and you aren't offering much.

[funkynutz]

need to do every single assignment every single week to rank up to 100 within 100 weeks

What's the rush?

[spam]

Originally posted by funkynutz:

What's the rush?

Endorphin rush from completion is one of the reasons may of us play games to begin with.

[Sighman]

Originally posted by spam:

Originally posted by Sighman:

Power Reactivation missions pay 1800 merits, plus hundreds (or even thousands) of merits for power data and loot from power chests.

I did a dozen reactivations in 2 days and earned 10s of thousands of merits.

And I hadn't finished my weeklies yet, and went up 2 ranks.

I haven't had any payouts from power reactivation missions beyond the PP data downloads, Did you get the 1800 from a weekly assignment? I did get a couple of levels from power restoration missions, so the payouts are not untenable, they just don't compare favorably with mining.

Edit: capitalization

No, they were just missions I took from the station in my home system. The reactivations were in my home too. The system is in Exploited state.

All support missions count in reinforcement and undermining systems. They also work in Acquisition *if* it's in conflict only.

Merit gain proportional to donation size for those missions, with cargo donations much more effective. Restore/reactivate Odyssey missions are very good.

Taken from this page below, which has a very good reference card for all powerplay stuff:

https://heatmap.sotl.org.uk/powers/refcard