Fans of high-speed space dogfighting have something to celebrate and sink their teeth into during the wait for EVE Valkyrie. Elite’s CQC mode, introduced in the 1.4 update, can now be bought separately as a standalone game, titled Elite Dangerous: Arena.
“Elite players get very attached to their ships, and they don’t want to risk them in PVP,” said Frontier CEO David Braben in an interview with PC Gamer. “You’ll play against Elite Dangerous players in Arena, but you won’t mind risking your ship as much as they might. You’ll push it right to the edge, but in the main game you’re less encouraged to take risks.”
Arena/CQC take place in a series of matchmaking-linked instances, as opposed to the Elite Dangerous galaxy. Instead of paying for ships through mission running or trading, new hulls, pieces of equipment, and loadout slots are unlocked by earning XP from matches. Credits earned from matches are transferred to characters in the sandbox game, making CQC a viable alternative to grinding in the starter ship.
“We don’t know how many there are, but my gut feeling is that there are quite a lot of people who want to play a session-based game like this. Some will move over to the main game, but a lot won’t,” said Braben.
Whether Braben is correct in that remains to be seen, but many players have praised Elite Dangerous’ combat while expressing frustration with the pace of its sandbox gameplay. I’ve personally had a blast with the CQC beta, and hopefully this game mode will see continued support.
So far, reception to Arena has been positive, at least going by Steam reviews. Have you tried CQC from the main game, or through Arena? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Elite Dangerous: Arena is now available on the Frontier store, and on Steam for $7.50 US or the local equivalent.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Ryan Vincent.
