Player Features and Ideas Discussion

1. Good addition that was just tedious for no reason.

2. Kinda agree but I think that has more to do with probing being easier.

3. This I actually like. We just differ on this point.

4. No more people doing it = market prices driven down.

I enjoy the NPC change since it allowed me to bring a ship fit and rigged for exploration without needing an alt to tank and clear the site where NPC damage and ISK is relatively low and definitely not the focus or objective.

The mini game is OK and often very beatable, the problem I have is the can scatter. It is new and kind of cool but at the end of the day why would I bring more than one person just to scoop loot I used to get solo? It is also very similar to the problem with PI when that was released, it's just to much clicking and far to annoying for a lot of people to bother with.

When the mini-game "fun" wears off I predict we will see a significant drop in the number of people dealing with the click fest when it is far less hassle to earn ISK doing something else.

In short, go back to the single can method. Once the mini-game is cracked let the loot be scooped in one go from the container.

One does not need much SP investment for the exploration profession.

Pre-Odyssey I could not even scan down a simple data or relic site in highsec because of poor probing skills and the limited amount of probes that I could use.
I can remember how I tried to circumvent this problem by probing for salvager drones or other ships in space. I did not skill exploration related skills since then, however, with Odyssey I can scan down every single site, be it in nullsec or WH space.
I have CovOps III, Astrometrics III, Archaeology II, Hacking II and do not bother training more. CovOps and Astrometrics are even half done to IV. I just stopped the skilling half way because I did not see any need anymore to increase my scanning strength.

The minigame is pretty easy too. Go around the edges in order to get a max. surface area and the system core is usually on the other side of where you start, at the edge. Of course I fail some hacks, but I do not care, for a new site will spawn pretty soon anyway.
Hacks with red system cores are difficult for my current state of skills. I need T2 modules to go through those hacks more ore less smoothly, but since the loot is not worth that much anyway, I do not really care trying my luck and failing.

Overall, the scanning skills are pretty expensive for that what they offer. Rangefinding is (x8), other scanning support skills are (x5), and the scanning core skills are (x3). Too expensive skilling for that little bit of extra ISK. It is plainly more efficient to blow the cans up and visit the next site, for new sites will respawn in no time. The training time multipliers were justified back then before Odyssey, when one earned properly, but had to skill extensively, not only skilling for the scanning, but also for the proper exploration ship, like a T2 or T3 cruiser.

Nowadays, advanced skilling is almost exclusively required for combat probing in nullsec or WH systems, where every second counts.

I started playing pre-Odyssey and I always wanted to be an explorer. Wanted to have a Pilgrim and go exploring. I even loved the looks of the Pilgrim because it looks like the Star Trek Voyager ship and I was so excited about becoming an explorer. That's why I subscribed to the game. It felt so challenging and exciting and I had a long-term goal I could work on. I can remember how excited I was just because of that, and that's why I even subscibed.
Well, after Odyssey that dream died and I am seeking other activities. I am pretty disappointed and sad because of that and deeply envy all those who were TRUE explorers back then before Odyssey for all their experiences that they could make.
One was not only rewarded with fortunes for the dedication in developing the probing skills and the delicate skilling for a T2/T3 cruiser, but also for the actual probing itself, for not only the SP investment counted, but also the placing of the probes with care and patience and the careful searching for sites in every system. The exploration profession trained a persons personal skill in becoming more patient overall.

Post-Odyssey exploration is pretty inefficient ISK grinding for low-SP players, an entry profession like Venture-mining.
If you just want ISK and you do not have a lot of SP, well then try Factional Warfare, but please, do not waste your time so much on exploration, even in nullsec, except you are bored and you have time to waste.

Don't wanna offend anybody, but that's how I see the situation currently.
I hope the game developers won't do mistakes like that in future with other aspects in the game. The exploration "fixing" with Odyssey was a desaster. I know that one does not go back to that what was left behind and changed so we have to live with that what we have now, however, the game developers did nothing else but taking a beautiful antique chinese porcelain vase and shatter it in million pieces. Truly heartbreaking.

Confirming that scanning is so easy even I can do it.

That said, I miss the old old old days of scanning when it was a real pita.
You have different probes for each scan range and different probes for each site type.

What it meant was you'd go out looking for specific types of sites and couldn't scan down the others.
The process was more complicated and the skills were higher too as a result the things that you found were worth more.

I could have told you this when their promotional materials for Odyssey use a Nemesis for exploration...

Agreed, since the debacle that was incarna we haven't had one worthwhile expansion, we've had ui improvement and ship balancing passed of as expansions. Meanwhile CCP are developing other games and it shows in their core game.

The fundamental flaw with Odyssey is that the game designers forgot that explorers tend to be solitary folk, not interested in gang pvp or teaming up for missions. They usually have covert ops because they are not interested in having someone scout for them, hence the whole idea of teaming up with buddies to scan down some sites and reap the rewards of hacking is way of the mark.

This is why the loot spill sucks, making it suck doesn't encourage explorers to suddenly stop being solitary, it just makes them feel that the rewards are not worth sharing as you'll all come home with like half a million isks worth of random **** in the hold.

Not supported.

Scanning has gotten less stupid - This is good. My ship has lots of computers, why shouldn't it have probe formations? Of course it should remember previous scan results instead of forgetting them every time i hit the scan button.

salvagers not needed for relic sites - good

NPCs removed from k-space data/relic, this is good IMO, some of the nullsec NPCs were pretty rough and going around in a combat ship with no scanning bonus just to do profession sites was ridiculous.

Hacking minigame - I realize some people don't like it, I think its sufficiently quick and fun to be an acceptable time sink. Its not too hard to make explo in non-bonused ships unreasonable either, while still giving an advantage to bonused ships.

Loot pinata scattering - only point on which I agree, this is absolutely god-awful gameplay.

Slight increase in visibility of complex runners by showing people the rough location of cosmic sigs without requiring probes - this is good.

"The mystery is gone" - hahaha oh wow

People crying about how they miss the terrible interface and other nonsense will never cease to entertain me.

Love the way that you think null sec sites shouldn't be tough...

I find this is true. Before odyssey I really enjoyed exploration, it felt like I was venturing into the unknown, and discovoring new things in the game. Now it's just so arcade like. Auto listed sigs, easy scanning, strange minigame, and the little poof of loot.

Fix this please CCP!