Noddles

Blazemonger is correct, there is no main pillar.  There are different reasons people play games like this and PvP is just one of them.  A successful MMO gives different players incentives to play in a way that interacts with and supports all the other "pillars" of the game.  I've played this game obsessively since the beta launch and have recently run into a hard wall when I realized this game has fundamentally failed on every one of these pillars.  What has been created here is a beautiful framework with tons of potential, but the game itself is missing.  Just take a look at each of these pillars along with my personal ratings.
 
1) RPG - Score 2 out of 10.  We have a set of worlds in a distant future and a minimal backstory, but that's about it.  There are no other aspects of RPG present.  There are no skills to hone, no factions to support or oppose, no arc of personal growth, no quests, no pve.   You can do nearly everything right from the start.  Those few things you need to unlock with a skill such as being able to place larger cores can just be put in a skill que, log out for a day and when you come back you are done.  As an industrialist I have access to build everything in the game right from the start.  All I need to do is have the materials and the appropriate industrial unit and I can on day 1 make the most advanced items in the game. 
 
2) Exploration - Score 4 out of 10.  The worlds are quite beautiful when they finally load in.  I have spent a lot of time flying around just to see the different type of landscapes, however flying 5 hours to another planet does not make for compelling gameplay.  Once you have seen the sights the only real reason to explore is to look for mining resources.  If mining isn't your thing then this pillar runs pretty flat.  Without creatures or any type of PVE, the worlds feel sterile.
 
4) Social - Score 3 out of 10.  I'm primarily a solo player, or only run with my small group of friends.  However, that being said, I enjoy games where I feel like the world is alive and what I do on a solo level somehow contributes to the playing community.  There seems to be no reason to interact with anyone.  Anybody can build anything, and nothing is ever destroyed.  There is nothing to strive for as a community, only your personal goals.   Here lately I don't get the sense that there is anybody else out there.  I can go weeks without even seeing another player if I don't go to one of the districts.
 
5) Economy - Score 0 out of 10.  To me this by far is their biggest failure.  These developers have absolutely no clue how to create a functioning economy.  If you want to make a player driven economy you can't have bots.   If you don't want a player driven economy then you need to develop the whole system yourself.  Half-assing it never works and using bots is half-assing it.  How do you get money?  Log in, or sell to bots.  Nothing which is built ever decays or disappears.  How can you call that a player driven economy?  What are your money sinks?  Bots and Territory markers.  That's it.  When I can make far more money selling the raw ore than I can selling finished product the economy is completely broken.
 
6) Building - Score 5 out of 10.  This is to me where they have had the most succes.  The ability to terraform  and create your own bases and ships is pretty incredible.   However, as good as this ability is, it is very cumbersome and non-intuitive.  If I have to go outside the game to only to see the ridiculous and very time consuming steps I need to do in order to make even fairly basic shapes then as a developer you are doing it wrong.  You have created immense barriers to one of your best features.
 
7) PVP - I will leave it unscored in that I have not personally engaged in PvP yet, however I will still classify it as a complete failure.  First off, you need 2 people, or yourself and al alt in order to PvP??  That alone is such a baffling decision and is one of the big reasons I have never bothered.   What I have seen on youtube of PvP looks completely lifeless and boring.  My gamestyle is geared more to mining and crafting but I very much like the idea of building bases and becoming an industrialist in a high-risk environment.  The only problem is so far it's the empty promise of a high risk environment.  Decisions on building ships, bases, factories, and supply routes all depend on what the PvP environment is and of right now it's just not present.  If I build a base or a space station will it be safe?  Don't know, that system isn't present.   If it's not safe what kind of defenses would be practical?  Don't know, that system isn't present.  How will I dodge pirates when seeking  materials?  Don't care.. not worth flying 4+ hours and spending the time to set up a base and mining operation when I have no idea if I'll be able to keep anything or how risky it will be to fly materials back because the territory PVP system doesn't exist yet.  As of right now it seems like it would be relatively safe in that I am hearing all the PvP players are quitting because they are bored.  What sort of items should I manufacture?  Answer - Nothing.  It's more efficient to sell raw ore and buy anything I need.    No point in building anything for PvP either because nothing is ever destroyed.
 
Now I understand there are "big things to come" but the very basic things which make a game a game worth playing are simply missing.  It may be a sandbox, but there isn't much sand.  This game in it's current "beta" state is like being asked to test drive really nice looking sports car.  It looks great from the outside but when i get in there is no steering wheel, no gas tank and no engine.  I'm asked to imagine and get excited about the roar of the engine coming to life sometime perhaps in the next year.  Imagine how it will handle the corners and check out the awesome high-tech navigation system we have planned to implement in the future.  Why did you ask me to pay for the opportunity to test drive a pretty shell not even capable of driving?
 
I see the potential for this game and still have high hopes of what it could be, however I have very little confidence they will actually pull it off.  There needs to be far more game theory and far less "tech demo" of a single shard universe.  No point in making a single shard universe that is lifeless and absent players because those who are interested came, saw, and left.   You have lost a lot of good will from what would have been your most loyal fans by releasing this in the utterly incomplete state its in.
 
 
 
 
   

Naunet running by with a quick edit for clarity: Element Destruction will be applied to all damages sustained, both in and outside of PvP battles.

I always felt that lock ranges was an important mechanic that just needed balancing, not thrown out the window.  Obviously core size was a terrible metric to determine the lock range, but maybe total construct mass or something?

This is common. In eve their is power grid restrictions but also size restrictions. Battleship guns dont fit on frigates. 

I don't intend to quit the game, but one of the things that has bothered me since I started the game is NQ basically ignoring the playerbase when we explain how mechanics will be used and then implementing shoddy fixes. This happened with PvP, market bots and territory units just to name a few. If you could still see the alpha forums you would see players laying out the problems weeks before the implementation. 

I don't intend to quit the game, but one of the things that has bothered me since I started the game is NQ basically ignoring the playerbase when we explain how mechanics will be used and then implementing shoddy fixes. This happened with PvP, market bots and territory units just to name a few. If you could still see the alpha forums you would see players laying out the problems weeks before the implementation. 

I don't intend to quit the game, but one of the things that has bothered me since I started the game is NQ basically ignoring the playerbase when we explain how mechanics will be used and then implementing shoddy fixes. This happened with PvP, market bots and territory units just to name a few. If you could still see the alpha forums you would see players laying out the problems weeks before the implementation. 

About DU for sure, about it's players? Not so much
 
Have a look at how market 15 was handled. Or some of the last posts in ATV forum.
Or the vast majority of posts in the alpha forums where ppl pointed out problems, some NQ acknowledging it and promising it'll get looked at but nothing was done about it. Sometimes up until now, years after the post.
 
Caring indeed 

I don't intend to quit the game, but one of the things that has bothered me since I started the game is NQ basically ignoring the playerbase when we explain how mechanics will be used and then implementing shoddy fixes. This happened with PvP, market bots and territory units just to name a few. If you could still see the alpha forums you would see players laying out the problems weeks before the implementation. 

Knowing a second lockdown may be issued today, not really. 
I kinda enjoy this pandemic tbh (beside all the deaths ofc). Noone gets on my nerves, ppl don't come near me and don't bother me, I have time to read and everything is slowed down. Good times. If only it was all the time that way 

If it makes you feel better, NQ has always been blind to how the game is played. That and they seem to make the willful choice to ignore their playerbase when we bring up valid points about how future features will be abused.
 
The fact that you need a TCU to place statics is directly related to events that happened in Alpha. 
 
When we all saw the stats for weapons every active pvp org told NQ exactly what the meta would be. In the end we were correct.
 
NQ does not play their own game enough and that has been evident for years.

I rly doubt they look at any data from any expo (never was there but there were 2 expos already in alpha iirc)... and they still have problems with lots of constructs while the expo went somewhat well. Seems like they don't learn anything from previous expos 

Grow up. All they had to do was report the bug. If you use bugs for gain without reporting I have no sympathy for those banned. Good riddance. 

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If it makes you feel better, NQ has always been blind to how the game is played. That and they seem to make the willful choice to ignore their playerbase when we bring up valid points about how future features will be abused.
 
The fact that you need a TCU to place statics is directly related to events that happened in Alpha. 
 
When we all saw the stats for weapons every active pvp org told NQ exactly what the meta would be. In the end we were correct.
 
NQ does not play their own game enough and that has been evident for years.

I think he has some big conspiracy that the top orgs are run by NQ or some shit.

been rambling for YEARS now that they need well written EULA/TOS - and clearly state what's allowed and what's not allowed. They didn't do it back then when they had time for it and now they're presented the consequences. Can't really say I'm sorry that this happend - cause everyone and their mother knew it was coming. Except NQ lol

If it makes you feel better, NQ has always been blind to how the game is played. That and they seem to make the willful choice to ignore their playerbase when we bring up valid points about how future features will be abused.
 
The fact that you need a TCU to place statics is directly related to events that happened in Alpha. 
 
When we all saw the stats for weapons every active pvp org told NQ exactly what the meta would be. In the end we were correct.
 
NQ does not play their own game enough and that has been evident for years.

We are what, 7 weeks in from Beta launch?  For me personally game has been super stable.  I 100% agree, fuck all this bullshit and these handouts.  Only things that should be investigated is when a player loses all of their base/container inventory and things of that nature.   I wouldn't be surprised if it was way beyond 50/50 and to the point of 80%+ are just scam reports. 

The UI/UX in general is really not good, if not bad. Not having an actual UI/UX designer and letting developers do it themselves using a very basic framework with a simple set of templates. I can only assume there is no designer for the UI/UX as if there is, he or she is really not very good at their job; so much wasted screen space, font choices that really do not fit the purpose, a non modal approach.. It's all very... chunky and clumsy IMO.
 
But NQ has pretty much sold their soul to the Coherent Labs framework and only a full rewrite of the entire UI/UX/Lua component of the game will allow them to get rid of it.. which obviously will not happen. Coherent can provide much better results than the "box of blocks" approach NQ went for but it still is a resource hog.
 
Now, NQ may well have plans for a much needed revamp (and not just a reskin) of the UI and improve the UX but as usual they will just leave us guessing and speculating on this instead of communicating such plans once a discussion comes up here.
 
IMO we also _really_ need an API for a number of things in game, including markets. We need access to historical date, be able to pull data to see trends and more. Maybe not immediately but the sooner the better I feel.

EVERY UI needs work....

The problem I have with NQs approach to indy balance is that they cant seem to decide if they want us to be able to do it quickly or not. We went through alpha where we told them "hey indy and mining are too slow for it to ever be able to provide for the majority of the playerbase." This led to us getting the mining changes, crafting changes, and more crafting skills. 
 
Now it seems NQ believes industry is too easy and too fast. Granted this ignores that for the first week or so you were able to still sell high tier ore to bots and buy loads of industry. Would we still see the massive indy setups even without that? Probably. But this is what NQ should want. They should want some players or orgs to have very large scale setups so that they provide for the other players. 
 
To their actual planned changes, they exist as speed bumps and not actual nerfs. Assuming they dont do anything crazy like require 1 generator per 5 metalworks, there's no deterrent to just building more power generation. Especially if they allow some form of passive generation from solar panels or wind turbines. 
 
The buying crafting recipes thing is just another quanta sink that frankly we don't need. Why not make an actual research gameplay element or at the very least tie it to the production itself. Want to make T2 recipes? Make a lot of T1 parts so that your character starts to learn how to make things better. That is quite literally how things work in real life.
 
A lot of this stems back to the game needing more quanta faucets that arent tied to industry or to mining. Everything in the game stems from mining right now and it hurts the game as much now as it did a year ago.

If it makes you feel better NQ/JC confirmed interdiction and tractor beams a long time ago.

Give this man a shit ton of credit. He got shot in the pvp zone, but came to the forums asking what HE could do better to prevent it. Yes we know pvp needs lots of work, but in the mean time you use what you have. I for one sir applaud you and if you want you can personally message me and I will give you a bunch of tips for avoiding pirates with and without warp. This type of attitude is what people should strive for when choosing to play this game. 

You can also claim a tile with ships in it. This gives you maneuver rights to the constructs allowing you to dock the opposing ships to your own.