“Powerplay Puzzles: Unraveling the Joy in Frontier Forums!”

Greetings everyone!

I am a fairly new player, I just completed my “honeymoon phase” with this game, everything was splendid, I learned, amassed hundreds of millions, developed ship configurations, engaged in all activities I could locate, mining, transport, conflict zones, pirate chasing, engineers and more, and it was all exhilarating!

Then, I had one very poor idea, I clicked on “powerplay”…

That element is tormenting my brain! I attempted and attempted to discover ANY task that I could do to earn decent merits but it seems like the company creating this game is deliberately trying to hinder anyone from enjoying this segment! Why couldn’t I simply earn merits while I play? Why can’t I just unwind, mine asteroids for three hours as I already enjoy doing and sell them for profit AND receive some merits? (Almost) No one in their right mind is going to take on the frustration of finding a mining system that offers a fair price and qualifies for the merits! Why can’t I just relax, undertake transport missions for hours and accumulate some merits while I’m at it? Why, ultimately, does every activity have to be TERRIBLE when merits are involved??

So, it’s straightforward, I could simply choose to ignore that powerplay exists but my perfectionist side simply doesn’t feel comfortable with that, and rather, if certain aspects are inaccessible in the game I cherish, I would prefer to completely ignore the game in its entirety!
Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not one of those 12-year-olds who’d say “meh, fix this or I leave!” but genuinely, this entire powerplay concept forces me to choose whether I want to play as if it were a tedious job or if I want to leave, it’s challenging to articulate, but psychologically, it feels precisely like that! Powerplay utterly ruined the enjoyment I experienced while playing the game and since it disrupted the potential objectives I could pursue in the long run, why should I invest effort? Powerplay is a dream destroyer man!

Why can’t you simply join a power and naturally advance with that power by just playing as you typically would?

This is likely one of the numerous posts where someone complains about this or that but I genuinely wished to convey how cumbersome this entire powerplay concept appears to a new player, to the extent that I would have valued if a friend introduced me to the game and advised me: just one thing, NEVER engage with powerplay, it will ruin the game for you!

I do not know if I will stick around, perhaps after a few days, I’ll reconcile with the notion of just forgetting that, “unpledging”, missing out and playing my own interpretation of the game, but at this moment, I have just lost that enthusiasm I once had to play!

Such a remarkable game, such a joy-killing feature!

Regardless, cheers to anyone reading this!