A bit late since the movie dropped, but did anyone else get the sense that we watched a run between the Initiative and the Servants?
I just got done watching it and thought it was okay and had some interesting ideas and parallels to the early game.
So something I've noticed during the contract outages is how difficult it is for players to engage with the game without them. Nearly everything that you do, especially as a newbie pilot, requires the contract manager to some extent. It's the only way you can build rep with different groups/factions, and probably the easiest way to start making money.
Does anyone else see a problem with this?
Sure, you could go rent a salvager or mining ship, and you absolutely can go explore and make money, but it tends to be a pittance compared to what the contract manager has on offer. In my mind, this should be flipped. The reason you do contracts/missions in similar games is for the rewards of the grind, not the money. Blueprints, rep, in our case Scrip, etc. How you make money should be from exploring the vast open world and happening upon some treasure of one kind or another. What's the point in having this vast beautiful world to play in if there is literally no reason to explore it?
As a corollary: Sites like the old Jumptown and Ghost Hollow are exactly what we need more of, not more theme park rides like TSG, ASD sites, etc. What made J-town and Ghost Hollow fun was that there was only one of them, and you had to compete and/or watch your back while you ran the site. I wish CIG would add more of this kind of content.