contested zones are DOA when they think, they can add snipers as PVP element that just shoot other players from a hidden location. As long as this dumb idea is used by lazy devs to create "content" it will alienate the PVE share of players (like 95% of player base).
I think they'll probably be reasonably popular with the CoD/Tarkov crowd, especially since they're set in locations you can quickly return to after death (next to social spaces at space stations). Too bad the whole idea (or at least the way they talk about it) runs counter to the idea of death having serious consequences.
There's a lot of contradicting choices being made lately at CIG.
This is a major communication issue. You cannot say X and then deliver game play of Y which is the opposite of X.
Touting a "cargo event" and then deliver a combat event is exactly what is going wrong here. Everybody sees, that you either a dumb human or a lying human. Not exactly a good choice to make.
Using PVP as a filler will become a big problem over time when your vast part of players is PVE oriented.
I'd love to believe the "they made all this stuff for Squadron 42, that's why they focus on combat in PU for now" excuse but the truth is none of the discussion videos showed them having concrete enough plan for peaceful gameplay. Not enought to not make it sound hollow at least. It really feels like they have a problem imagining lack of combat being fun, I'm sorry, "having enough risk".
I'd really like some kind of a big design update on where the game is going. It's obvious that the original pitch is at least partially dead - the question is, how much is still in the cards. Or maybe I'm just out of sympathy for CIG and don't see how all the current changes will morph into the game we all supported years ago, who knows.
They're telling me very quickly that if I want to have a good gameplay experience, jet set and forget 'colonized space' and find a secluded valley (or better, asteroid cluster) in the middle of nowhere to base operations out of. Zero interest in the Tarkov, or worse, Rust crowd.