For sure, was tempted to anyways - from what I’ve seen as an employee it averages out to around 1k/hour, so yeah, I’m not going to try to fix that 172 
I’m agree with you. I wouldn’t be surprise if they were mainly inspired by GTA mission style ( which is probably the worst in the whole open-world category ), because activities like First Flight and Flight Seeing share exactly the same design. The only thing they can do at this point is to add a bit more flexibility by introducing an optional layer/level of difficulty without aids and boxes to “thick”. It’s not that simple as binding a key to remove those aids but it’s definetly doable. To be honest it’s virtually just there, they only need the time to flesh it out and introduce it officially in the sim. Possibly with a fancy name ( super pilot mode ? 
). I’ve only tried cargo and ferry flights missions without aids and it worked quite well. Not perfectly, but good enough.
To make this truely a career mode a lot of changes are required:
- Real and accurate flight lessons instead of these mickey mouse tutorials that teach people wrong stuff. FS9 and FSX had those lessons with Rod Machado which added much more depth. Maybe add something to read like in FS9 and FSX, there was some kind of built in Wikipedia were you could find everything from basic aerodynamics to VORs, etc.
- Correct certifications, you don’t need a PPL if you want to become a commercial pilot, you can go straight for CPL. Helicopter and planes are separate career paths, you don’t need any fixed wing certificates before flying helo’s or vice versa.
- Make these certificates more realistic so that you actually need to do some (proper) lessons first, not a single circuit and done. Demonstrate proficiency in different elements, steep turn, stall, simulated engine failure, navigation, pattern work.
- Actually focus on the correct elements, aircraft limitations (e.g. flap speed) is a good metric, however, touchdown smoothess isn’t. Instead of focussing on touchdown smoothness, focus on maintaining correct approach path and speed, thresshold crossing height and speed, touchdown point and centerline keeping. Otherwise things like, how often is the player looking around if flying VFR, etc.
- Make it possible to skip all the certifications and jump straight into SAR, fire fighting, crop spraying etc. for those that are not interested in the career part. Either provide unlimited credits to do all the certifications without having to collect money in between and / or a “instant action” mode of some sorts.
- These AI generated missions are nice, but they still don’t come close to the excitement of the missions FSX had. Some were downright unrealistic of course, but most were quite interesting and educational, flying an NDB approach into Dutch harbor in bad weather with an instrument failure, passenger with a heart attack, dual engine flame out over the ocean, some missions needed some kind of decision to be made. I’m missing that kind of excitement. Maybe it can be a mix between AI generated missions and hand crafted ones.
- These FSX rewards were also a whole different league compared to these achievements we have now… That would be amazing to bring back, these medals, patches, “bus ticket home”, post cards and what not.
For all the graphical improvements and now the built in flight planner and charts, a lot of things are still far behind FSX or even FS9. I think the educational value has been severely lacking ever since. These tutorials and missions are scratching the surface a little bit, but there is very little depth otherwise. The career mode is still such a far cry from the FSX flight lessons and missions.
I just remember the “flight analysis” in FS9 and X were you could actually see the route you have flown, speed and altitude plots. I have used that extensively when I was a student, flying basic IFR, intercepts, holdings, reversals with wind corrections and then use flight analysis to see it actually looks like a holding or a potatoe 
.
Still so much missing functionality. If it would somehow be possible to combine FSX with Asobo graphics and flight model, that would be best of both worlds.
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TIL. I just have to remember to set this up before going VR, since the tablet isn’t usable in VR in most planes. I can toggle it using the Tab key, but I can’t move or interact with it.
Although the base game provides a teaser for people to explore, it does provide them with basic theory and handling of both fixed wing and rotorcraft. At least enough to give inexperienced new players an idea of how to move around.
I suspect that Asobo intentionly left the training product offerings to 3rd Party developers such as FS Academy. For those people desiring more advanced training, I believe IRL YouTube videos and 3rd Party specialized trining products are the best path forward. As a casual simmer and not a real pilot, I really look forward to what FS Academy will offer for 2024.
Most people want everything for free, but in the real world, people must pay for advanced training. AND, they have to possess the hunger and desire to learn more to advance their careers in a rewarding cadence.
The knowledge gained is similarly rewarding within the MSFS experience as real training must be for real pilots. It is worth the added cost in investing more in oneself. It makes MSFS more fulfilling and entertaining, at least for me.
They can be turned off and I often, at least on light cargo missions, let the autopilot use the GPS Nav mode which does not follow the boxes and I don’t get dinged either XP or Money.
I’ll be honest I don’t think career mode was made with the hardcore simmer in mind. Most hardcore simmers in 2020 scoffed at the idea whenever someone brought up a career mode saying it was not needed.
I think it was made for those who were wanting some goals or guidance beyond free flight. Some people are motivated by the feel of progression they get when they are earning money to buy aircraft and advance a skill tree.
That said, there are still a lot of bugs to fix and improvements to be made in the mode still.
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I suggest if you don’t like it, stop using it!
If there are reproducible serious bugs, please file a systematic bug report, so that we can all benifit from your experience.
When devs can see a step by step description of a serious bug, they will be to take a look at the code and discuss the best action.
I spent my whole life writing engineering software …we always did our best to eliminate or mitigate serious bugs and appreciated any reproducible feedback.
The software can and will change day by day!
I don’t think I even mentioned whether I like it or not. Also, my post was not about what you call “serious bugs”. The bugs mentioned in my list (e.g. the flap issues) are already well-known. Most of my points were about design decisions. The discussion of game design has no place in the Bug section of the forum or on Zendesk. But they can be discussed in the Discussion Hub section of the forum, and here we are.
I’m not responding with “I suggest if you don’t like this thread, stop reading it”, because I feel that would sound aggressive and wouldn’t match the generally friendly, helpful, and compassionate tone of this thread.
Stuff I learned from this thread: I might not be able to disable the visual aids in career mode using the settings, but I can toggle them with a keybind. I can see my ground speed on the EFB. I can plan my flights as I want them and when the mission seems to gets stuck, it will recover when I use the ATC window to make my intentions known.
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That is F2P-like force grinding gameplay in a nutshell.
Sooner or later the entire objective the entire meaning of the game mode becomes repeating things in the most efficient way like a bot, without thinking without immersion without fun.
I tried to do checklists, save fuel, and follow the pattern perfectly at first, but after the game forced me to fly the freaking Cessna 172 endlessly with so little income and everything so expensive, that it would take thousands if not tens of thousands of hours of grinding to get all the aircraft I really want to fly. What choice do I have?
And I am afraid eventually when I finally reach those goals, I can no longer enjoy flying those aircraft in Career Mode with an immersive mindset. As the Career Mode is already strongly linked with bot like grinding.
The solution to me is simple, give us economic difficulty options to choose from. Or better, have a sandbox mode just like many other sim games. Let us fly whatever the mission with whatever the aircraft in whatever the conditions we like, similar to the free-fly mode. Play for immersion and maybe score ratings when Asobo fixed all the ridiculous scoring bugs, rather than endlessly grinding for credits because everything is locked behind a F2P-like grindwall.
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It looks like I was a bit blunt. With new software if I see something that is not of immediate benefit I just skip over it and look for the good stuff.
Levels in games are well established over the decades - I remember Doom running on a 386 PC and I thought it had awesome graphics. Each level was another more difficult challenge that drew my attention.
Career mode definitely has that level feeling, scoring points in time honoured fashion: killing aliens, building a farm, beating the clock, land in the fog etc.
Perhaps we could define a “being a very professional pilot” level, where correct behaviour is mandatory?
It’s a truism that everybody “plays” a flight sim their own way. Even a guided experience like career mode allows for that.
I got to the point where I could form a company, I purchased the starter plane, I crashed it, and I sold it for 0cr. I don’t complain, it was my own fault, I made a series of bad decisions, starting with where I based my company. Who would’ve thought that the weather could be bad in winter?
I’m now doing employee jobs I enjoy, expanding the bubbles I got from the golden missions all over the world. I don’t care about the money, since I have no money sink to fill. By the time the weather gets friendlier, I’ll probably be able to afford any plane I want, without any grind. “If you love what you do, you won’t have to work a single day in your life.”
I’ll do more job types as the bugs are fixed. And when my favorite FSEconomy planes start working in 2024, I’ll probably return there.
Filing bug reports with varying levels of severity at this point would be like trying to catalogue the mosquitoes in the Everglades.
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Upvote this wishlist item: "Professional" mode in Career
Even though I doubt the sim will actually teach bad habits to real pilots, it sure is annoying that I basically have to tell myself “this is the wrong side of the line, don’t stop here IRL” everytime I land at an airport in career mode lol
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da fuq? did you mean to post a picture of a t-shirt?
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What the hell Asobo, just wasted over an hour on this. Can’t finish because the R66 has no parking brake…
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It’s a Royal Air Force, Physical Training and Unarmed Combat Instructors vest.
I was a worse pilot to start with, it’s not been retrograde for me. 
(I accept it’s inevitably ‘simplified’ )
Meanwhile, career mode got me interested enough in banner towing and skydiving operations that I did a few hours of research to see how they work in real life. And 2024 isn’t too far off. Suffice to say I will probably never get on board a skydiving plane in real life!
MSFS has always been what you make of it. You can hop in a plane on the runway and fly with little thought, or you can get out virtual or physical charts and spend a half hour planning every aspect of your flight. Career mode is mostly auto-generated, and it’s obvious that Asobo is still working at getting the proper guardrails in place. They already fixed the hold short issue in this week’s patch, so you can strike that off your list. But expecting it to be super realistic would make it inaccessible to a large portion of the user base. I wish some of the training was better, but I never expected it to teach me how to fully utilize a G1000.
Speaking of your list: the one bad habit any flight sim will teach you is to hyper-focus on your instruments during VFR flight. Because without the physical sensation of being in the air, you have no choice but to constantly check your attitude and VSI/altimeter to ensure you’re maintaining level flight. Flight sims are great for finding your way around a cockpit, learning navigation techniques, learning IFR procedures, and even recognizing landmarks in the real world (even more so once 2020 was released). But being a full training tool is well out of the scope of any flight sim, the same way that Euro Truck Sim/American Truck Sim won’t teach you how to drive an 18-wheeler. It will get you familiar with the concepts, but it’s on you do to the primary research outside of the sim.
MSFS isn’t a formal educational tool, it’s an entertainment product for all ages. It can be used as an educational aid, but blaming it for possible bad habits would be like blaming someone for being unable to count dollar bills because it’s calculated automatically in the plethora of retail simulators on the market. I hope Asobo continues to make career mode better and more realistic, but I also wouldn’t expect or particularly want 100% realism. Getting a virtual call, fine, and forced re-education for breaking a TFR isn’t my idea of fun!
If only people who drive (any vehicle) had such high standards for themselves as people who fly.