Gorf wrote:... They aren't elite because they are "gud", it's because they've persevered from the beginning. And now, the game's been rendered unplayable.
I will point out again that at one point in the early part of the games release, you could sit in a RES or CZ with a turreted Anaconda set to fire at will and just farm the NPC's. Good way to get to Elite, but it's like slipping the Driver License Tester cash to pass you. Does not mean you are qualified. I don't think the game is unplayable.
I honestly don't mind the new AI. It is definitely a challenge. I have not come up against the PA Spammer bug that they have documented or anything else I think is a Bug or what I consider cheating. I am sure that there will be fixes, adjustments, and tweaks that they make over the next while that will solve all the big complaints.
That being said, I am currently about 50% Competent. Getting to Elite in Combat is definitely going to be a hell of a lot harder. For me it is going to go one of two ways. Either it will cost me lots of money and will take me till Elite v.9 or 10, or I will make massive improvements in my ability and I will achieve Elite in Combat before Braben's 10 year plan ends.
Up until this point, ED has not given us a good reason for Winging up with friends. Everything in the game could easily be achieved playing alone. You could trade Alone till you have billions. You could become Elite in Combat all alone. And Exploring is by its nature a solo type of play. Sure the Sharing of Bounties, or Trade Dividends can be a good motivator, but not required.
Now, we have a reason to wing up and play together. Trading with a wingman is now a way to survive. Combat in a wing increases your chances. I am not sure what this means for Exploring yet, but Michael Brookes has said that Explorers should not go out unarmed now. (Exploring is hard to do in wing or group as it is, at least harder to see a benefit of working in a wing.)
The A-Team has been winging up regularly basically every day since 2.0 dropped. We wing up in game even if we are in different systems doing different things. It has allowed us to say to each other "Hey can I get a Hand" and we can move quickly to help each other. We have done a lot together, from Trading, to Exploring (both systems and planets), Combat, and missions. What we think is that 2.1 gives us even more reason to do this.
In fact, we may need it now that the AI is at the level it is.
If you are normally a solo player, I would suggest looking at playing in a wing even if you have never done so would be not only a great benefit but also makes for a real fun time. The fun factor in the game has gone up by over 1000% since we got together. I have never laughed so hard at myself and others as I have with the A-Team. We have a blast no matter if we are being crushed or being victorious (And being crushed is usually a lot funnier, and a lot less stressful than it would be if we were playing alone.)
I hope that others get to experience things the way we have as it has made the game much more enjoyable. Even when we are getting blown up repeatedly.

(Oh, and using voice comms means that it is even more fun. And I don't mean in game voice, real voice comms, like Discord and TS.)