Changes in the Update 1.5.1 - Journey (my opinion)
I will only discuss some changes that are now significantly worse than they used to be.
I will discuss also these matters and add up a few of my interpretations to let you guys know what I think.
Free Loyalty vouchers changes: (moved to Open Space contracts - irregular, unpredictable and random low-reward missions of the specific type)
New update brought many questionable economic decisions that may turn out to be bad for most players, despite some other improvements in different areas.
It certainly didn’t make existing ones better.
Loyalty contracts, provided that you have all relevant DLCs’ boosts, gave you quite a boost to contracts, 58500 free loyalty for each faction’s side, and 87750 free loyalty with the Premium license.
I have done all six contracts a day to prepare for the new module releases.
In 13 days, I could level up all 6 sides to the maximum cap limit of 1 million free loyalty vouchers. It was worth it for the time spent.
That was all before the update.
Well, now it’s almost impossible to determine what type of contract will pop-up for Open Space and the rewards are so ridiculously low that’s absurd just to think about it.
There is another issue. Corporate contracts are gone as well.
These contracts were helping most players, especially newcomers that joined new and small corporations who are still in the delicate state.
They were an integral part of the process that is now left behind. That’s a major setback that should not be taken for granted at such low population count and dwindling numbers.
I believe that this was a wrong move. Most contracts are now Open Space only. And those who aren’t, are giving pitiful rewards now.
You should have kept them intact, the old ones, as they were, but with some minor changes.
The only thing that you could have changed is that you can complete them in any rank range, in addition, that this can also be accomplished in Open Space.
If you’re still so determined to keep this now, then you can only drastically increase the rewards, but let us choose the reward.
Loyalty affiliation or type that’s close or the same to what we used to have before.
Six different faction sides with a fixed reward to complete were much more gratifying than these screenshots below. And that was after the fix, all DLC bonuses, and a Premium license.
Even if you increased the research/loyalty reward for the module that’s currently equipped on a ship, there is no excuse for this.
Screenshots:
NOW:
BEFORE:
Research option mechanics:
Another big problem with so-called researched loyalty vouchers is that you must own a proper or specific ship first in order to research any module.
You may need to downgrade or upgrade any customizable ship if you wish to research some module or weapon to match its rank.
At the current state of the game and other major changes to equipment that can now be found mostly only in Open Space, you may come to find an unfamiliar module.
The ship is not available yet, but the module for it already exist. So what can you do? Can you research it? No! You cannot because it must fit the ship it belongs to first.
To conduct a research and to ‘level up’ or ‘upgrade’ the module without free loyalty vouchers, you need to lack them first or you must have enough of them to upgrade it directly.
The research slot for any module should be made universal. It should count as the ship slot itself, without any more unnecessary hindrance.
Screenshot: (Universal Research slot - no restrictions of any kind)
Reworked and constantly manipulated loot spots:
Screenshot: Is it true that +2 extra loot attempts can now bring me a minimum of 3080 credits in one match?
The only upside of a Premium license is that you can get rare resources slightly quicker, but the loot will always remain the same. Credit loot, with only occasional one rare drop, nothing more.
This is one of the major problems right now that is hugely underestimated and must be changed quickly and for the better. There should be diversity in the loot spots, not the other way around.
Premium license and related issues: Iridium gains from purple slots and non-changing conversion rate with the Premium license: (No +50% boost to regular and salvage and GS option)
Screenshot:
Iridium is considered to be a rare resource, yet no Premium bonuses affect its amount.
That’s another devaluation right here.
GS to Credits conversation rate is also a problem: (30 EUR for 5 million credits should be long gone by now.)
Screenshot:
That’s all I have to say.
Best regards,
[Koromac][SRS]