I've said it before, but if Frontier wants folks to play in Open they need to deal with gankers and griefers. That's it. There are well-known bad actors who have absolutely been recorded and documented who specifically make it their mission to make the game frustrating and unenjoyable for other players, particularly new ones. Serial, long-term gankers and griefers need to be banned, severe penalties and punishments applied to any players engaging in harassment tactics, and adjustments made to the game's instancing and online play to heavily discourage and even prevent ganking. (Something like Fallout 76's dueling system where PVP damage is almost entirely nullified unless both parties shoot at each other, or even the "Pacifist Mode" that disables PVP entirely could be a great start. Of course, these systems could be disabled in certain "hotspots" like powerplay carriers, RES, combat zones, etc.) The idea that folks should be allowed to play a game, socialize with others, and enjoy each others' company without being subject to a gaggle of assholes whose only mission is to ruin everyone else's day for the sake of hurting other people in real life is somehow incredibly controversial in Elite. There's a whole lot of cope about how you need to learn how to deal with gankers the correct way, or how naming-and-shaming bad actors is wrong and evil, etc. etc. but at the end of the day, if you want people to engage with Powerplay and actually treat this game as somehting more than a single-player experience by playing in Solo, you need to remove the bad actors poisoning the well. This comment is going to piss off a lot of Elite veterans and every single one of them is going to prove my point.

I'm a solo player. I know they are a lot of upstanding, splendid people in Open, but as in all human communities there are some......people I wish to have nothing to do with. Therefore I play Solo, and I'm happy there. I don't wish to be deprived of game developments, but I suspect by the very nature of the situation the Open players in their squadrons will combine to squish the wishes of the individuals, who are unlikely to form agenda groups.

If they want more players in open, and encourage PvP, they should start by solving the problem that leads most players to choose to play solo or in PG, that is, gankers. Consensual PvP is one thing, forced PvP is completely different, especially when gankers force PvP on players who, in most cases, are not prepared for it. I understand that they don't want to ban this type of game, but they should find a more effective form of punishment for players who commit crimes. As an example, ranking the type of crime committed, like pirating being less serious than destroying other players' ships, and more serious crimes having harsher punishments, such as banning entry to the systems in which the crimes were committed, or making security forces react more quickly when a crime is being committed. As long as the punishments are solely "financial", taking into account the ease with which credits are earned nowadays, there is nothing that will make gankers think twice. Resolve this issue and, probably, many players will become more receptive to open play.

The more commanders of any preferred playstyle participate in the Powerplay system the healthier that system will be.

If they want PVP for Powerplay, but still allow people to play it in solo, give those who play in Open a 2x to 5x bonus to their power progress

Good stuff Buurs.. I with you on the STO problems. Glad we will not see that in Elite.. This is something I can get behind.

The clarifications about the pre-built ships are a major relief. I still think FDev are dancing a fine line, but so far it looks like they're doing it right.

I love the Buur pit videos. Burr pit just gives me a summary of the news straight up and down, without its own influenced opinions on everything that is or is being released. Burr pit withholds its view until information is/was further released. Other major ED content creators (I won't name names) just went off the deep end three days ago about how FDev are going to release ships as "P2W!" and how 'the sky was falling', before we even had any further details as to what those ships were. What a headache having to read the comments. Two thumbs up to you. Keep doing what you're doing. I've been coming here for some time but now it will be exclusive coming here for my ED news summaries.

I think I'm going to have to make that flowchart I mentioned to make this all a bit easier for my smooth brain to comprehend. Great stuff as usual CMDR Buur, and beautiful visuals as ever CMDR Rheeney. o7

Thank you for your level-headed news especially this week! I'm glad the details were clarified, and that it's really not pay to win - it's a jumping off point, but not as good as what can be earned in game. I think lots of folk need to hear that given that the initial announcement's response got media attention. PowerPlay 2.0 does sound like they're really trying to improve it!

Here's a great revenue idea, a DLC with ship interiors and EVA...

"-without anyone being able to openly discuss the issue first through the medium of, say, railguns." 😂 got me good, I havent played ED in a long time but I keep coming back to your updates because of writing like this! Might have to come back for PP 2.0 though, sounds interesting...

"openly discuss the issues through the medium of rail guns" :D :D

The early power play was really enjoyable for me. It was the time I was most engaged with the community.

Great, knowing that this PP 2.0 is going into open..i wont even be bothering from the outset

Thanks guys great vid. Must have taken ages to get this sorted this week with so much happening.

I am happy to help frontier out by buying DLC...but they dont really offer much...I already have all the good DLC. So make more ship kits, and more crazy space suits. Let me rent/buy a star system!

I have played and loved Elite Dangerous since it all began. I LOVE all this news!

I am wondering how this will effect independent factions? I would like Frontier to consider if players can work to keep a system independent & free from any and all major powers? That may have been considered by them already? However the dynamics of the PP mechanics on independent minor factions, should certainly be considered please? I am not completely horrified by the thought of change. In fact I personally am extremely glad that the game is being developed! But please consider the effect that the new system will have on none aligned minor factions? Can and should independent minor factions be able to stop the incursion of a major power by their players actions? Thank you.

All this sounds great. I came away from the Frontier livestream massively enthused about the future for the game.

Tbh, what im waiting for to get back in ED, is the exploration experience to get an overhaul. More atmospheric worlds, waterplanets, lige etc.

Excellent summation of what was contained in the stream and some key points of what was missing. Your vid helped me recalibrate my understanding of the plan. The issue I don’t understand is the timeline for when we will see the new systems.

I'd like to see PP actions in open count 3-4x more than in Solo or PG, but still let those safer modes have a *little* impact. Alternatively, make a PP mode, where pledged commanders can see and be seen by each other, but unpledged gankers can't.

One of those pre built ships has G5 Dirty/Drag drive thrusters. That module is as engineered as it can be. The T6 has an permit locked and tech broker purchased module in it. Other than those two modules the builds really are meh. But this is FDev's initial ships, how far will they take it? What else will be sold for real money?

Sounds like they are trying to find a way to attract newbie players by streamlining some of the professions for them with these ships. Not for me, ive got a ton of ships already and plenty of mats. But thinking about when i furst started, i do remember being pretty overwhelmed and a pre built ship would have helped for sure. Well, its not the worst thing ever. For now.

Anyone else remember seeing these hub carriers in screenshots taken from pre fleet carrier release? Interesting how we're now seeing them again..

Back before we got the Squadron added to the game a number of us were involved in PP1 and it was a lot of fun, flying around with other CMDRs to actively take on groups of other CMDRs working for other Powers, and being instructed by the Great Spreadsheet. IMHO the Prismatics and other special items should be moved to a Tech Broker to remove the randomness caused by CMDRs Power-hopping to get all of the stuff, and then PP2 made an Open-only thing to encourage more interaction - I don't really see acts of sabotage on the Power Fleet Carrier that can't be protected against actually offering much in the way of gameplay; unless they are protected by NPCs with Thargoid-like offensive and defensive ships.

Powerplay has potential for a special form of PVP: Asynchronous PVP. It's about making smarter decisions. It's about being effective. It's about anticipating your opponents actions. It's about planning. It is a quite unique experience playing it that way. If Powerplay 2.0 improves on that, then there is an opportunity. I am afraid it will loose the uniqueness and become a generic test of firepower with open only Powerplay. OMG the dopamine for turning a literal invasion upside down all by myself, because the opposing force lacked focus and cohesion, was priceless. More of that, please! That has great potential for interesting emergent gameplay that could draw more people toward playing Elite, because it is an experience they can have only there. Powerplay wasn't popular. There was not a whole lot of things there that could appeal to other player types like miners or explorers. Shouldn't we fix that first? Do players want to keep aimlessly shooting at things? Whether Elite is supposed to be more PVP focused is another discussion. Other games do that a lot better than Elite. The best would be, if Frontier figures out a way to improve the experience for everyone - including PVP.

Pushing PowerPlay to Open makes sense and a little bit exiting. But I also see a few comments already about griefers. To me lot of players won’t play in open for fear of previously mentioned greifers or just dying in general because of the increased risk of loosing everything or a large chunk of money in ship insurance. Maybe on option they could trial in open is if you die from another player then you can either 1. pay insurance and then fly straight back the system to keep fighting or 2. Get your ship back for free but are locked out of system you died in for a period of time (say an hour or two) so there is some positive consequences to winning and negative consequences loosing, but not risk everything. That may attract more players to open and make powerplay 2.0 a key focal point for the game.

I hope they don't entirely go Open only with PP2.0. I only play in private groups or solo because in a word, I absolutely suck at PVP but still want to engage with new content so the game doesn't get stale. I'd prefer a compromise where perhaps Solo or Private Group PP activity only has 30% of the effect it would in Open.

The start of a road is just that, the start of the road, it is what comes along that road, and the facilities on offer along that road that will tell if the road is Pay to Win or not.

If the shown builds are what we can expect from the rest, that's a great start. Not only gives players who can afford a starting point instead of an end point, it shows players who can't pay a target to make loadouts if they don't want to go search for tutorials. It ends up being positive to the playerbase as a whole. Frontier didn't disappoint. Thanks for the news you two. EDIT: Making PP 2.0 Open Only instead of being more interesting/effective on Open is one thing I disagree. That will be a downward slope. And as someone who is far from Frontier Servers, the latency will make PP related activities hell. Missing the Arx rewards is disappointing, but I don't know how much Arx is worth getting connection errors every 5 minutes or seeing things teleporting around. No point crying over something I never cared about, but it sucks that I can't care about it now that it got a nice update.

Very Well Said.

Huh. Honestly, fDev seem to be handling the pre-built ships pretty well. I was worried the game would become pay to win, but this is honestly a step in the right direction!

Great video, I've calmed down a bit over the pay to win mechanics and am looking forward to power play and the engineering change. I'm a bit pissed about the early access to the python mk2, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth after waiting for years for a new ship.

I think this a right move by FDv!

Thanks again for the excellently presented information pack, really helps me to keep up with things as they change. I'm looking forward to trying PP2.0 as it does look a lot better. About open only or not, I think the whole thing should be free to play in any mode but I think your weekly influence/impact should be capped to a fixed upper limit unless you engage in open. So, you can still get all the rewards and progression you want in your chosen power entirely in solo/groups but if you want to fully impact the outcome of conflict, you can only do so much before your actions have no impact at all, until the next cycle, unless you play in open. I think if FDEV can make PVP meaningfully fun and balanced (and maybe less of a grind with the Engineer rewrite) then this mode should be the flagship for PVP in the game. And with the introduction of the new focal points for PP, this would be well supported. All that said, I just don't think PVP in ED is very fun. So I'd not be surprised if it remains how it is indefinitely.

You can't finance developers and servers with one-time purchases of a game. It's amazing it took them 10 years to run the game only on the game sales and whatever arx a few players bought for paint schemes

They should look at a season pass, where we can obtain cosmetics and a ship kit through various quest goals over a few months. Could also do a free season pass with limited rewards. The paid for premium, for exclusive cosmetic skins and perhaps cosmetic ship parts that would complete an entire ship kit over the period of time. Power play looks good, I do still think that open play should impact influence and reputation, and solo and private only just reputation. Or something as 1darkthought put below me.

im really looking forward to finding out what the type 8 will look like after 6061 hours playing.

Thanks!

I feel that the pre-builds could even go up to grade 3 engineering and A rated modules without effecting players but actually be something people would buy. Powerplay 2 has the new carriers and the chance to play and fight around them. How solo will muddle this is unclear, but it does look much more fun to actually get into a battlefield!

Power play 2.0 makes more sense in the open because you could see factions real wars and not being able to influence politics from a paralel unseen universe.

I believe a good middle ground could be reducing the effectiveness of your actions tenfold if you decide to partake in powerplay actions in solo or private group modes

Never been an open player. Playing in open dictates how I play the game. I will not have my game play experience dictated by other players. I use Elite Dangerous to engage in certain aspects of game play not all of them. I have been here since beta. I love to mine and to explore both space and planets. I have not engaged in fighting the Thargoids nor in any engineering activities. I go where I want to go because I choose to go there not because I am grinding out parts for engineering. Engineering eats up a lot of time I dont have away from Real World obligations. Aside from that, real humans suck. Put them in an environment where their actions hold very small or no consequences and the inherent psychopathic nature of the animal comes to the surface. The actions are the same be it PVP or PVE. When I desire conflict I go to one of a few FPS games to work on that. THanks for the video! Another good one.

ive wanted to get back into the game for a while now. just never had the time now with working and all. my goal was to get enough for a carrier so i could name it after my dad (the man who got me into elite dangerous in the first place) but im seeing now that is not going to be realistic with how my life is going rn. still cool to see how the game is still going on!

Okay, I'm going to buy a prebuilt ship and telling you guys when I have won. O7

love it

I will come back from the black when powerplay 2.0 arrives. Looking forward to it!

100% agree with your opinions on this. There is no pay to win in Elite Dangerous and the proposed changes to the ARX store and introduction of pre-built partially engineered ships that cannot transfer modules to other ships and cost zero space bucks is a good thing. I have no problem with them having the Python MkII as an early release, either. I am of the opinion that what people spend their own money on should not be the concern of others, but ONLY if it give an unfair advantage in actual competition. And in a game like Elite where what constitutes as player vs player competition is mainly PVP ganking; ships armed for PvP vs unarmed ships in Open; that is a very long stretch for the fear mongers and negative nancy influencers and youtubers.

Im quite looking forward to Powerplay 2.0 but if it goes to Open only I will just drop it like a hot potato as pvp just isnt my jam at all. The game is advertised as "Blaze your own trail" and not "Blaze your own trail how others want you to".

Ooohh, less materials needed, more being dropped in missions (and I hope a better variety of drops and a slight increase of the farming sites to less relogging being needed) are just what I wanted to hear. I do hope they add a sort of "in game preview tweaking" mechanic for engineering so you can get a pre iew if your goal.

Last time I tried PvP it was spoiled by cheating players using trainers. That along with the known bugs and lag make it a non starter for me…Agree that the majority of power players only use it to get their weapons of choice then NEVER go back to it…hopefully PP2.0 will give us all a reason to do it ..not sure I would want to be in open unless I felt comfortable that the playing field is even …

I did wonder into power play because I fancied some PackHounds, with just over a month of gameplay and leaflet deliveries I achieved my goal, however, no mention of you being hunted down like a dog once you decided to leave, and the hunters can pop up at any point and distance from the bubble, I think power play would benefit as an open only as long with this new PP2 still lets private groups carry on as intended and does not affect all their hard work and plans so carefully laid out over the years.

This is a solid dose of info on the upcoming changes. The number of videos with click bait titles is damn high

With how FDEV likes to reuse assets, I hope this means we're getting new carrier upgrades soon

Powerplay 2.0 looks like a move in the right direction, although I'm a little hesitant about making it Open only. Playing fairly in Open isn't viable for players living on opposite side of the planet.

I'd think there should be some level of powerplay that can be done in solo. It might not have the same world changing effect, but there should be some behind the scenes tasks for solo only players. Maybe system prep is solo, but real system expansion only happens in pvp?

Ha! That shot of ya'll walking out together at the end was awesome! My compliments to Reeny To the questions! I feel like I did last week, I've never really been against DLC, which is how I see it. Probably not, seeing as I own most everything I want now. Open only seems like the logical choice. I'm not a pvp'r, but I'am also A gamer, and if the thing I liked to do could be easily mitigated by something far beyond my control, it'd be a pretty hard pill to swallow.

Powerplay 2.0: well done fdev for reviewing it. The rewards system is looking good; the impact on systems is looking good. BUT, (and I am not an open player) if I want to hunt down one of the heroes of another faction who was in the top ten how can I do that IF they play in private or solo? I can’t! I like the ideas of fighting around fleet carriers… but if people play in solo or private there will be no fights. I understand the fears of open (I am not an open player) but Powerplay 2.0 going into open only might pull me into it. Else I might just stay in my bgs group in private and happily support the bgs group.

Like many, I play exclusively in Solo (By the way, does anyone know what the numbers are between Solo and Open on any given day?) If Poweplay becomes an Open thing only, then so be it, I cant say I've ever touched it or am interested in it, so nothing missed there.

Didn't they also say that pre built ships would have a $0 rebuild cost unless you make changes to it?

After introducing exobiology some years ago is re-buy cost still a thing to care?

While I understand why some want PP to be open only, I for one won't engage in it if it is. That's the conundrum for FDEV though - make it open only in the HOPE it will attract players but noting it will certainly disenfranchise and lose non-PvP PP players, or leave as is knowing they'll both keep existing PP players but fail to attract those who want it open only. I don't like the idea of mode-based incentives at all, but it may end up being the best middle ground compromise, although I think anything above a 2x multiplier in open would be too excessive. On the P2W question, what FDEV has announced is most definitely NOT P2W as there is no winning in Elite with respect to player/ship progression (were they to sell ships with definite PvP advantages, for example, that would be a different matter). The key will be the pricing. Let's hope they don't go down the route of ridiculous prices like CIG....

"Powerplay is intended to be an outlet for consensual PvP" - Sandro Sammarco, 2015 The problem is however, due to Powerplay's equal mode nature, if you want to do PvP in a PP context, you will nearly always spend your gameplay session flying around and finding nobody to oppose (because players always perform PP actions in private modes). Just limit it to open and let it be what it was always was supposed to be in the first place FDEV...Solo and private group players have the BGS if they want to do something similar.

New powerplay? I'm SO in.

If they fix griefing/ganking by increasing the penalty for it, i'll be done to play in open.

I wonder what happens when all the titans are rekt, which seems to happen soon. Even now @april 27th there is only 1!(ONE!!) System left, with a burning station or in this very case 2 damaged outposts. So no AX-rescue missions in future? They have been reduced week by week and were one of my main duties and income in recent weeks. And i really liked them (and the loads of cash)

Its good that Fdev is addressing the negatives of Elite

From a personal perspective I wouldn't ever really notice whether another player bought their ship with real money, vs their own time. So I'm not sure it matters much as long as they can't get things that cannot access.

Pre built ships: To me this is not pay to ‘win the game.’ I am probably classed as a seasoned player( note not a good player- just okay and playing for a long time). I feel sorry for new players some of whom probably have seen the thargoid war and want to join in. There is no way in the world that in my early days (months even years) I had the ships and equipment to engage with it ( nor the ability bits that’s not my point). The pre built shops therefore give a slightly speedier route to other pathways- it’s not a cheat. It’s a way to play interesting aspects of the game which are totally inaccessible without money and materials. And you still need to learn the game mechanics and skills… but at least it gives you a fighting chance. Well done fdev!

How do faction ranks and their unlocks factor into 2.0? I would like for them to keep them personally as it’s the only grind that makes sense, grinding up the military rank ladder. Hopefully it allows for unlocks in the faction carriers or new mission types, or new rewards for ranks rather than just a leaderboard. Im hoping for faction military uniforms as an example.

IF PP2 goes to open only, it's assumable that those of us who play in SOLO, won't have access any more. My question is: What happen's to the various mod's I've earned via PP1, prior to PP2 being OPEN only?

You had me at "obfuscation." I challenge you to use "juxtaposed" in the next video...

I don't know what if anything is being done about basic QoL stuff, but I find it really had to have any real interest in PVP or even risky PVE when the in-game market tools are so bad. I know things like Inara exist, but damn it, I want to do it in game. Easily. Like it actually will be in over a thousand years, if we're even still around. FTL space travel but I can't ask the year 3300 internet to find me the 10 closest stations selling X for a price between Y and Z. This is just one thing among many that makes Elite a game I usually install, play for a week or two, then forget about for a month or two before giving it another go.

They should add ARX subscriptions. I’d pay an optional subscription.

The more I learn about how they're implementing the purchase of ready made ships, the more I support it. Mind you, I was already inclined to support it, primarily because "pay to win" is kinda silly in a game in which the only way one "wins" is by having fun. Sure, you could say that PVP might suffer from P2W, but only if FDev does something really stupid like make a killer, if you'll pardon the pun, ship killer build. Given what they've done so far, that seems unlikely. Especially if it's a choice between paying for ships (and no doubt other items) and Elite dying, well, I know which I'll choose.

What is the “Type 6” you referred to?

Have we had any indication as to when PP 2.0 will be happening? Is it going to drop in May?

Does this involve working over BGS?

My concerns are once you have paid real money for a ship, and destroy it for whatever reason, can you purchase it back, and if so, what happens if you don't have enough credits? New players are unlikely to think about re-buy costs. Will you lose your ship if you don't have enough re-buy credits?? Also, will you be able to transfer the modules out of these pre-built ships? I heard you will not be able to.

If they rework powerplay missions to not be those boring activities and actually become those missions we get from stations (altough powerplay themed), I will actually give it a try

Will changes to engineering materials be made to the legacy (console) version of the game too?

Great Video Cmdr and thank you so much for keeping up the balanced info for so long. I've wanted a python 2.0 for about 8 years ish so I would probably do terrible things for one... I'm not really worried about prebuilt ships and I had rather assumed they would be sufficient for a task, but not good. Debates aside on whether they could do a good build if they were attempting to... you can buy a vette and fly it stock... but... would you. Changing powerplay from a punitive form of gameplay is great, curious to see if there are ground asset changes to go with this and bridge Odyssey and the real, err, main, pardon me, game in a meaningful way.

I really want the Fdev to also fix the mining market by increasing the sale of minerals :(

You dont need to reduce the requirsd number of materials... make a purchasable 1.5 * drop quantity bonus, and another 1.xx * quality bonuses to make farming easier for those that want bonuses, and provides regular income to the game through something that can be purchased as a subscription. Also drop a subscription for access to cosmetics as long as that subscription is active. This allows players that want access to lots of cosmetic options the abity to buy access to them, but players that want permanent but more limited selection of cosmetics can purchase them permanently as it works now. Basically allow features that reduce the grind or cosmetic to be purchased as a recurring subscription that can allow continuous income for Fdev to allow players to help support the game.

The AX experts say that the pre build is very poor and runs too hot. Perhaps there would be more buyin to this if FDev had actually asked the community to design a more viable build or a selection of builds that we could have voted on. If the AX is not viable or desirable, it's not going to make the money Frontier think they will. I don't want pay to win, but pay to get part way there maybe ok with me. Good reporting Buur, I almost understood Powerplay 2. :-)

I'm guessing the new variants (like Python MKII) could be pseudo pay-to-win for a limited time as these are only available for ARK initially (and for credits later) The pre-engineered starter ships seem very underpowered and, although designed as a introduction designed to invite commanders into the greater game, could be better than they are. For example, the AX variety runs too hot to be safe in Titan space and would get an unsuspecting new player killed right away.

Powerplay 2.0 needs to be open only. The huge issue with BGS historically has been people hiding in solo/PG and affecting the BGS with no opposition. If FDev wants Powerplay 2.0 to actually carry meaning in an MMO (which Elite Dangerous advertises itself as), then there needs to be offense AND defense. Not just offense in separate instances.

It be great if we could also RENT out ship’s also not just sale!

the prebuilt ships all depend on their prices. if it's just something to dabble in a specific line of work, i wouldn't pay more than 10-15 dollars. i've always wanted to try combat but a lot of the time i leave after my shields go down because i dont wanna pay for that rebuy after having just bought and outfitted an anaconda. not having to pay for the ship, its modules, and not having to grind for engineering and search around for the weapons is a big help, but ultimately if i can do it for free i'm not gonna spend too much to speed up the process.

I think it's a good ideal for us players to pay money to buy ship! This way we can have the ship we want without having to spend so much time in getting them! S.C. is already doing this, so what the problem in E.D. doing the same thing! Plus this will give the game makers money to make E.D. that much better! 😮

Greetings from Hawaii.. Yes to burning the flag of module shopping. And loyalty incentives and detriments seem like a good idea. Traitor tax something like putting out PVP bounties for you for disloyalty to affection or changing factions.. and power play is going to affect the open world. Maybe it should only be affected in open world.. That's my two cents commanders B. Please continue having an excellent day 🪐

We have free arx every week and during some events, and I saw arx as a reward in the mockups of PowerPlay 2.0. So you can "pay" without real money...

kinda cool buy a ship kit get a ship with it =)

I've never fully understood the concept of powerplay. How does it connect with the 3 major powers and the microfactions that inhabited systems have? Does changing which powerplay person has control in a system change their major power affiliation, or is it another layer of government? Sounds confusing for those living in a system if you have not only the laws of the major power, the microfaction, and a powerplay individual. That being said, this system looks very interesting and if I ever can find the time to start playing more seriously again I may have to try it out. Now personally I would prefer the interactions be open play only. But to be honest I wouldn't mind the game being open play only, though in the end aside from a handful of popular systems the difference is minimal. I would also like them to upgrade instancing to both allow significantly more players to physically interact and also guarantee that you can see everyone that's in your area, though I could see some potential issues with landing pads in busier systems.

I have played 97% of my near to 3000 hours of Elite Dangerous Odyssey in OPEN mode. I possess things like Packhound Missiles, and Prismatic Shields. It is my firm and obviously informed opinion, that PowerPlay should be an OPEN mode only thing. Its not right that actions can be taken against a system by opposing players, and there is zero way to fight back or stop them.

I have to assume that the PowerPlay 2.0 isn't going to come out with the first release of this update with so many fairly important decisions being still on the drawing board. Like @1darkthought wrote and I'll expand just a tad, PowerPlay is supposed to be important but no one knows who it's supposed to be important to. Sadly I don't believe FDEV does either otherwise those rewards and gift packages would have been easier to work on and iterate upon. If Power Play is supposed to be for the mid to end game player take it out of Solo. If it's for the PvP community up the combat and hunting of random players in PP systems so non-PvP players in Solo can get a feel for nail biting combat. If I was owner of Elite Dangerous (not FDEV, they may be too far gone down the rabbit hole of shallow themepark games) - my money making idea would be selling DLC Story Arcs. Reward upon completion and engineered beautifully crafted, uniquely engineered ship, armour and or weapons. Ohh make it purchasable via ARX too because why not. Or take out the unique Engineering and put it in the Epic Story Arc DLC. I mean, why not we've got the entire galaxy to play in? Before all that however there's a few low hanging fruit I would need to address and thankfully it seems FDEV are reducing the materials required for engineering, hopefully not just the quantity but the line items themselves. More than that I really hope they take a look at the engineer fitting options themselves and ask themselves who uses that, why and is it necessary or even nice to have? There's so much fluff and some that will just make your ship worse than not having it if you're not really careful. I also hope they look at the NPC corporations too. Decimate the number to make them more important, so you can't go 30 lights years and be amongst strangers within the bubble. If you've got poor standings with an NPC Corp be it Solo, co-op or Open you should need to go much further out and even then there may be outliers because everyone can travel just like you. Five years on from my ownership I'd have hoped to generate enough income for Elite Dangerous: New Frontiers - online Full PvP RPG experience of flying first person space ships and maybe walking around but who cares it's still Elite Dangerous. Single shard universe, full trading and manufacturing with credit sinks and taps to keep the economy going. A few years after that Elite Dangerous: Close Encounters (has that already been done?) - Elite Dangerous 2 basically but co-op online only featuring moon mining (illegal or permit purchasable, just like in the original experience), Personal quarters/bases, chapter led story missions, some repeatable others one time to advance the story. If this sounds like Warframe, GTA 5 Online and others, you'd be spot on. However it's just basic story telling. Only the mediums have changed and how people relate to stories both passive and interactive. Elite Dangerous could have been a great canvas upon which to build many great stories but the progress of that story telling has been beyond slow. The introduction of Thargoids was years ago and it was even longer that a new ship was released, let alone any iteration of the existing mechanics. Elite Dangerous deserves far better. Why do I write so much when talking about Elite Dangerous?

Powerplay in open sounds fun , but Frontier have got to actively keep ,and be seen to keep the hackers out . Or it will die real quick.

i cant believe ppl are screaming about p2p over early access via ARX really some of you have played the game for years costing nothing more than the initial fee to buy... if it earns a bit of credits that can only be good for the game going forwards imho