As neat as the bulletin board changes are or the addition of a few new detailed planetary bases are, I don't feel they really solve significant problems if any. Sure you have a face to look at with hopefully more logical mission progression but if the missions are still shit, it's not a big win. I don't know, my hope for 2.1 is dwindling fast.
Justified concern, and I do think the missions will remain "shit", meaning they'll largely stay the way they are now. But the bulletin board update will "solve" or at least significantly improve quiet a number of issues. For one, the changing faction faces will give context to the player actions, even without elaborate dialogue trees. No to mention the apparently
much improved info in the new mission descriptions. Giving players the information what effects completing a mission will have goes a very long way as well.
And it's not just the bulletin board update, but also a number of changes to the mission/game mechanics that should much improve certain issues. Take scanning USS from supercruise for informationn on what to expect within it, mission USS being placed at specific locations and the rank requirement for missions being dropped, but rather the player rank being a parameter for the mission generation (difficulty, complexity, payout?).
I still don't feel like they have a grasp on a proper feedback/progression loop. If all this rep building with persistent npcs ultimately just leads to me getting more money, what's the point? I think the original Elite model fails for a modern game. Think everyone needs more than an Elite tag and a big ship to feel they've accomplished something. Maybe factions are the way forward but they refuse to add any ownership there for some bizarre reason. Meh.
Some day... Some day it might dawn on them, that giving players direct influence on aspects of the world and more elaborate ways of interacting than shooting each other (trade, ingame asset "crafting"?), may turn the game into something that feels alive. Because being player driven, it would be.
Loving the Engineer's base btw! Might we be seeing some of the improved planet textures in this screenshot already?
The boulder textures are new and break up the uniform rock surface a bit. They seem to be placed where rocks breaking off and tumbling down the hill would collect. Wonder if they'll have actual geometry to back this up when approaching these areas. It would be a very welcome change to planet surfaces in my book.
Moar edit: Also voiced station radio chatter, landing and takeoff guidance and asteroid mining. Good stuff!
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