So, I have the game, and I've had it since it came out, but it seemed as if all I could do was run around collecting bounties and making trade runs, or picking a direction and exploring cataloging a bunch of the same same star over and over...
It got dry fast, and seemed a bit repetitive. So, for those still involved, did I miss something? Is there something more? Something of a storyline to catch my attention? Or is it just PVP fighters and trading?
I still play it. It's pretty much like AH, where you have to make your own goals and find an activity that strikes your fancy. The main difference is that most fly Tempests, LA7 and 262s because they have been grinding to bigger ships, for used exploits like bounty exploits, beacon exploits.
1.2 AKA Wings brought some cool stuff that allows you to team up with your buddies and go run missions/trades-escort/or plain terrorize a sector. 1.3 (next week) will bring more of what you are looking for, meaning you can fine tune your allegiance to faction specific characters that will supposedly shape the 'land grab' of the galaxy with faction specific rewards. (Meh for me, I fly AH for the fights, not for 'winning the war', but we will see).
Anyway,
exploration is for the sights. If you like space sights, some breath taking stuffs out there dropping in planet rings from nebulae systems, or looking for that generation error where a sun would be half swallowed by a black hole. Kind of like hicking the mountain with a camera looking for that one shot. Some like to just see by themselves what their astronomical knowledge built in their mind since it's still is a procedurally generated 1 on 1 milkiway. There's also that feeling that drove humanity to ever expanding, that's "I wonder what's out there and I want to be the first one to discover it, or accomplish it". And there's the all constant risk that you might lose you weeks of data in an instant by a silly mistake or a jump that throws you between 2 stars. I myself got jump on the way home by a Cobra and rammed to a canopy breach. I had 25 min of air and was 250 LY away from the nearest station, I made it with 3 minutes to spare.
Trading is silly boring but comes with it's own fun. Mostly is building data sheets from station to station market, and finding out where max profit can be made as far as profit per ton per time of travel. The excitement comes from the possibility of being interdicted and lose it all. So what ship should I use, how should I equip her more cargo/profit ... more survivability? And sweating it when an another human shows up on the radar and how you are trying to avoid him if it gets hardcore.
Mining is also one of those potentially boring things (new version introduces drones so you don't have to scoop manually anymore ... thank abouttime you ED). You grab your cup of coffee and go kick it in asteroid belts, prospecting for the 'mother load'. Kind of like the same thrill as spending hours in a casino pushing a button waiting for a 777 to appear. Of course, like trading you have to deal/sweat/plan for Pirates or other players that will just blow you up to make you cry.
And off course
combat, motivated by whichever role playing excuse your brain could find. Still many exploits that are being slowly fixed but still fun especially with your friends. Most of the fun is finding what fits your playing style as far as ship and load out. So you mix and match and test kind of fun, and like AH do you want to be going easy mode flying a Spit/LA7 or do you want to be that guy that shut sent 3 Fer De Lance packing in an ASP using only fixed weapons?
The
grind , getting anything, losing anything costs money. Fighting your $$$ ship will cost you $$$ when someone blows it up. Like the perk system in AH, but where a Spit 16 50 perks, 190 D9 would cost you 100 perks, a 262 1000, it goes away quick. So if you want to have nice stuffs and keep on fighting with nice stuff you need to make your money.
How I play it? Like I play AH. I do a bit of everything, try to achieve the goals I fix while still interacting in open world. That risk from the human element is what makes it, I can't understand peeps playing solo. It would be the most boring game ever, but then again I see peeps playing candy crush over and over and over. To each is own, and ED like AH has it, somewhere if you can find it.
But ED will not entertain you if you are the type of individual that gets dropped in Yellowstone National Park and says :'There's nothing to do here'. Anyway : CMDR MEDEVAC.
