4Game

I have now spent A LOT of hours on this, learning the process, unlocking some Engineers and trying to gather materials to improve my gear. The approach was to use EDO Materials Helper app, create a loadout and then use that loadout to create the list of required materials.

Note 1 – This feedback is from a perspective of a veteran player with over 5k hours in game with a immersion and role-play approach to Elite.

Note 2 – I didn't have many of the materials collected for starters, as I spent the majority of time on exploration trip since Odyssey was released. (I rage quitted to SagA* basically, due to the terrible state it was released in).

Note 3 – All of the below is my personal, subjective opinion. It's OK to disagree with it 📷

So I have started with this loadout:

• G3 Maverick suit with 2 mods
• G3 Karma AR50 with 2 mods
• G3 Tormentor with 1 mod

After Fargod only knows how many hours I now have:

• G4 Maverick +  3 mods
• G3 Karma + 2 mods
• G4 Torm + 3 mods

I didn't count my game time I spent to get here, but believe me it was A LOT of hours. Definitely Counted in 10s.

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OVERALL THOUGHTS

My overall impression is that EDO engineering is an absolutely terrible, time consuming and effort requiring process, which kills a lot of joy that I used to have when playing Elite. It makes me go out of my character's role play to mindlessly grind stuff, not caring about my backstory or in-game consequences. It has become a box-ticking exercise to me. Due to the RNG nature and lack of solid in-game info about where exactly get the materials, the amount of time that would be required to gather the stuff to max out, or even 4G just 1 loadout by "just playing the game" and adventuring around the bubble is beyond ridiculous and terrible game design in my opinion. I honestly don't even think it's doable for a regular gamer in a reasonable amount of time.

My biggest surprise is the rather opposite direction that EDO engineering has taken compared to ship engineering. Most of the process is a 180 degrees turn. A few examples:

• Ship material sources are very clearly described in-game for every single mat. Literally none of the EDO materials has the info about where to get it from.
• There is a plethora of ways to gather different types of ship mats, allowing for variety gameplay. EDO material gathering is rather limited in its variety.
• Player can exchange any ship material for another one at Mat Traders. Bartender will only trade in a small portion of materials and the rest needs to be gathered.
• Ship mods can be swapped. EDO mods are permanent.

This whole process really works more as a deterrent to upgrading my gear and even playing the game at all, which is a shame, because I quite enjoy the actual gameplay. But when I think about how much time I need to spend doing the same missions over and over again, and visiting the same POI over and over again, I'd really just play something else.

Let's do some bullet points, I love me a good list. Remember this is just IMO.

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THE GOOD

• Feeling of accomplishment when you finally gather enough mats to do ONE upgrade
• Ability for players to trade mats (but also see the bad)
• The involved gameplay is actually fun, even though a bit basic at times

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THE BAD (roughly ordered from the worst offenders to the minor ones)

• The complete lack of information regarding sourcing the materials
• Permanent modifications on weapons and suits, absolutely discourages experimenting with different loadouts. This was a lot of fun for ship engineering.
• The drop rate of some materials is absolutely ridiculous
• Many bugs that make the process even more tedious, grindy and difficult
• Objectively forcing players to choose the criminal path, which allows for more efficient mats gathering
• Rather limited gameplay options to gather the materials, makes the gameplay very "samey"
• No in-game tools whatsoever to support player to player material trading
• Limited options for NPC material exchange

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THE BUGS 

• Unlocking some engineers doesn't work, require FDEV support intervention
• Unable to transfer ship after being in jail, requires tedious Horizons workaround
• Bad game performance in some places
• Mission items not spawning, requires relogging to main menu, sometimes multiple times before the mission item is finally spawned. 

All of the above points combined make the EDO engineering process an extremely tedious, grindy and unpleasant experience that works as a deterrent to playing the game at all for me.

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HOW TO IMPROVE THINGS?

• Provide in game info of where to acquire the materials
• Increase the drop rate for some of the materials OR lower the requirements
• Allow players to exchange mods on weapons and suits
• Fix the bugs

Longer terms actions could include new gameplay loops and in-game UI for player-to-player material exchange.

I've had some more things in mind to write, but I think this post is already long enough. Hopefully this is a helpful feedback for FDEV from a passionate, veteran player. Hoping to see some improvements sooner rather than later! 📷

o7 Commanders!