10 Starfield Updates That Need To Happen Before The Shattered Space DLC

Bethesda’s space RPG, Starfield, has been out for quite a while now, and developers are currently working on a DLC for the game called Shattered Space. While the prospect of a DLC is exciting, there are still many problems that are frustrating players in the base game, which need to be addressed first. These issues standing in the way of making Starfield as enjoyable as it could be are things that should be updated to the base game and not cost additional by being tied into a DLC expansion.

Since the release of Starfield in September 2023, there have been many patches and updates to repair bugs and glitches that the game launched with, and updates have been coming roughly every six weeks to the game. Although these are encouraging to see and have helped considerably with making a smoother experience for players, the question remains that the base game might not be complete enough yet to warrant people spending additional money on DLC. Many quality-of-life enhancements need to be made, including adding proper city maps.

10
The Economy Needs To Be More Conducive To Different Play Styles

Outpost Manufacturing Is Far Less Profitable Than Delivery Jobs

In the roleplaying experience of Starfield, players should be encouraged to play the game in different styles to match what makes them happiest, but the game’s economy is pretty linear in its approach. Outposts seem like fun areas to set up manufacturing systems to gather resources and craft items that can be taken to sell.

Unfortunately, the time, energy, resources, and effort required to set up a manufacturing facility to make items and then sell them can be a massive ordeal that ultimately is not rewarding enough. The credits earned from that labor of love are only a percentage of what one can get by simply accepting a quest to deliver cargo from a console, fast travel to the location, and complete the quest. This seems to be a faulty system when changing the numbers or creating bonuses, which could make a much more enjoyable situation.

9
NPC Merchants Could Be Made More Useful

More Money, Ammo, & Resources

Along those same lines, the merchants in Starfield are often woefully poor, considering that it is a game where players go to a planet with a huge cargo hold of things to sell and need to get money to buy very expensive parts and pieces. Likewise, the amount of ammo and other items that need to be purchased at these merchants can be insufficient.

As is often the case in Bethesda games, merchants have a certain amount of credits to buy things from the protagonist, and they can run out of money before a player is able to clear out what they need to get rid of. While there are ways to deal with the situation, it is an unnecessary hassle. NPCs do not need to have an infinite amount of money or stock, but raising the amounts some would be an improvement.

8
Improved Inventory Management

Icons, Sorting, Categories & Clearer Names

Inventory in Starfield is a problem in many ways. Inventory management in the game seems unnecessarily complicated when having more categories, customizable tabs, better sorting, or any number of methods of organization would make it so much better. Simply allowing players to create their own system of arranging the inventory menu would help those who find it aggravating.

Many of the items could benefit from having icons added to their titles to make it quick and easy to see what something is. Likewise, several miscellaneous objects deserve better descriptions or the chance for players to enter descriptive notes. For example, many players collect coffee mugs in Starfield, yet although there are more than twenty unique coffee mugs to find, they are all simply titled “Coffee Mug” in the listed inventory menu, and they do not stack.

7
Outpost Functionality For Crafting Things Like Ammo And Meds

Make Outposts More Worthwhile

Building outposts on planets should be an immersive and engaging experience, yet Starfield is still missing something from these facilities. Building them currently has no real purpose for players, as their usefulness is limited. As said above, changes to the economic functionality of creating items could help to make outposts better. Using them to solve a player’s ammo problem could be even better, however.

The areas could be tweaked by developers to allow for players to utilize the outposts to craft ammo and meds for the main character while they are away, giving purpose and responsibility to each outpost. Ammo and meds are frequently in short supply, and NPC merchants often have a short supply of them. This would encourage players to build outposts, and return to them to collect the crafted goods.

6
Communication Devices Like Radios & Phones

Could Let Players Listen To Music, Too

A common problem that players run into in Starfield is that simply to finish a mission by talking to an NPC, the main character has to travel far distances across the galaxy to talk to them face-to-face for a moment. In this era of space travel, it doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility to have a form of communication device such as an advanced cell phone or even a radio to talk to someone.

Additionally, a radio could make the game even more immersive and enjoyable by adding radio stations and music to Starfield. Even if it was an item that was expensive or hard to come by, having the possibility of a radio or phone to communicate with NPCs and listen to some music would make the game much more enjoyable while still being realistic.

5
Console Support For 60 FPS

Better Performance For Console Players

Many players on the Xbox Series X/S consoles have been expressing some exasperation at the fact that this beautiful sci-fi game is capped at only running at 30 frames per second (FPS), while PCs have the ability to run the game at 60 FPS, depending on the PC capabilities. Running at a higher frame rate would make the game much smoother and more polished.

Even with the Xbox Series X being one of the most capable consoles available, running Starfield at 60 FPS was said to have some performance issues, which is why the game was capped at a lower frame rate to give better overall quality. Fixing the issue to support Xbox running Starfield at 60 FPS is something that should be addressed before the Shattered Space DLC arrives.

4
Mod Support With The Promised Creation Kit

Developers Continue To State Modders Will Be Supported

Bethesda games have long been a fantastic playground for creative and talented modders in the gaming community. The mods that are available for Skyrim are one of the main reasons that the game has had such a successful decade-long run. Before Starfield was released, Bethesda promised support for modders with their own Creation Kit that would make modding the game easier.

Before a DLC is released, focusing on giving the community the tools they need to mod the game could help bring a lot of people that have walked away back to Starfield. Of course, modders should not be expected to save the game from the developer’s failures, but having community-made mods more readily available for frustrating issues that arise in the game could be helpful to everyone.

3
Even More User-Friendly Improvements To The Starmap

Make Travel More Approachable And Less Confusing

The Starmap in Starfield has already seen some quality-of-life (QoL) updates since the games launch in 2023, but it still has a lot further to go. The confusing Starmap covers a galactic number of stars, planets, systems, and more, which can become extremely overwhelming. While adding the ability to see the names of systems on the screen in an earlier patch was a giant first step, the experience continues to be a bit less than useful.

Whether by adding a way to create a favorites list so players can easily select from often-traveled locations or simply giving a better display with easily read features for the Starmap itself, many possibilities exist for improvement. As anyone would expect, Starfield utilizes a lot of travel through space, and this is an area that should be a central focus for QoL patches and updates.

2
Ground Vehicles For Exploring On Planets

Buggies, Go Karts, Anything To Improve Surface Travel

Although it has been said that Starfield developers chose to not include land vehicles in the game because they feared it would detract from the gameplay experience, this continues to be a large point of contention among players. It is true, in the major cities a vehicle such as a small car or buggy might be problematic, as the cities are not designed for them, but on the surface of a massive, empty planet, it would be beneficial.

Walking and using the jetpack to cross large countrysides and deserts on unexplored planets is fun for a few minutes, but becomes tiresome and tedious quickly. It is fun to see the scenery, so having multiple fast travel points is also not the best solution, but giving a small planetary go-kart or buggy would be a fun way to traverse these areas while still enjoying them.

1
City Maps Need To Be Functional

Exploring Cities And Areas Is Impossible With These Maps

The number one issue that developers need to address to make Starfield a more user-friendly experience is the map mechanics within major cities. Currently, opening the map in a place like New Atlantis or Akila City looks as though developers forgot to finish working on it, although that is not the case. The maps were designed to encourage players to explore without the use of navigational aids and to slow down and enjoy their surroundings.

Instead, these maps, if they can even be called that, have been a constant source of headache for anyone trying to navigate through the maze-like cities to find where they want to go. These maps are essentially a blue screen with a dotted grid and a handful of key locations. Unless someone is able to memorize the layout of each city, this makes getting around in Starfield cumbersome and problematic, and something that developers need to correct.