What do the player base think of the multiplayer element of Elite Dangerous?

[Muzz UK]

Purpose of this thread is to gain the opinion of other commanders not a chance to take a pop at Frontier etc. I want to see where my fellow CMDRs sit in terms of their overall opinion of EDs coop and pvp elements. I would like to discuss an idea too!

I'm a CMDR with over 4,000 hours played in ED I would say you could probably double this for the number of hours played across the Elite series since the early 90s. I have spent a fair bit of time in wings with friends pew pewing pirates and bad guys in various wars or bounty hunting. If my friends don't play however I've no way of getting a group together. There are a massive number of squadrons/clans etc but even finding your way into these requires so much out of game work. This is a game I love dearly but I must admit I have become a little disillusioned with the multiplayer aspect. A lot of MMOs of the past made in the game experience of getting together so much more streamlined.

I have played so much solo Elite I am craving the multiplayer element other games have. There is no proper organised multiplayer in game, there no fairly balanced PvP either. This isn't a pop at Engineers I've no problem with it... do agree it needs a rework but the concept is good just needs to be balanced to allow materials to be earned without forcing you down career paths which goes against the ethos of take a ship go anywhere do what you want. Without engineering though you have little to no chance against engineered players which closes the PvP aspect of the game off for a great number. I am engineered across 20+ ships but struggle to find a fair PvP match. Piracy is very hit and miss due to combat logging and no actual good rewards. I know that Arena didn't workout but my opinion is this should have been part of the main game with a proper group finder and ability to earn rewards the rank is currently worthless to 99% of us. Being able to use a holo clone of your ship in Arena with group finding mechanic to join matches and skirmishes is the way I'd have gone. You can see from the number of engineer moaning threads we have had for years players won't do something in Elite without rewards and thats why I think Arena failed. It offered nothing over the current pvp model... could probably use some bots too. I know some people won't like it but a way to join conflict zones or war zones across the galaxy which contain other players would be a nice idea too.

Early in EDs run the game was very much single player with an element of running into others for a chat but basically multiplayer consisted of PvP ganking/piracy etc. That element hasn't really evolved at all in my opinion. The Wings updated was added and was for the most part a great idea. Instancing took a while to stabilise and the addition of multiplayer missions in a group of 4 was nice but I find myself wanting more. I have had some fun in wings mining, pew pewing and exploring but again needed to work outside game with my real friends to get anything going.

There doesn't seem to be any element within Elite Dangerous to truly bring players together, no group finder, no match making and the PvE element of wings still needs work. A lot of group finding is clearly done outside game OR it is done if you just happen to turn up to the same Thargoid killing spot. Squadrons are under utilised in my opinion they need incentives to join.

I have lots of ideas but my main one:

An actual PvE/PvP mission board! I've discussed a number of times having a PvE/PvP board similar to the ground combat board. Players either join as a group or can join empty groups and fill seats this is something based in certain hub systems that is unlocked upon gaining Elite in any rank. Missions are time and objective based. 30 minutes or an hour to go to a local system. Salvage cargo, destroy targets, scan areas or make deliveries however other players are involved and aware. The team that returns with the most objectives complete gains rewards for example. Sort of like a galactic mercenary board that's available once you gain ELITE rank in one area. Players can either work together OR they can team up. I'd love to arrive at a planet with 8 objectives to kill on the ground in a base. Other players turn up we start skirmishing. Friend arrives in orbit starts bombing the base etc. You could almost run two sides of scenarios attacks and defenders. It would bring players together!

I won't get into the whole piracy thing I think this needs a big rework including crime punishment been discussed to death.

The reason for my post is I've sat here for the last few weeks TRYING to drag friends back into the game to play together they aren't biting. There are so many other single player space games available I just feel like my time would be better invested there at the moment. Maybe just a mumble jumble of random sunday morning ranting but wanted to voice my opinion.

 

[Riverside]

The Open v Solo v Groups thread

I guess they were right, it seems you can never leave. The topic of open vs solo vs groups continues to be a popular discussion. Rather than see new threads being created and closed when duplicate topics alreadys exist, we have chosen to combine these into one easily affordable single...

forums.frontier.co.uk

I think it's great! Most of the game works well played alone, with a small group of friends and with external tools for communication even with large groups. If it were ideally suited to any one size of group or demographic it would be a lesser game imo.

 

[goemon]

what i enjoy:

• the option to play together in a small group (wing)
• to meet and cooperate on something (e.g. material collection)
• to play together or against each other on something asynchronously (BGS)

what i miss:
- a framework making fun to play against each other with random encounters.
a) problem of size of the gamemap --- in most places you'll never encounter someone randomly.
b) problem of balancing since engineering. either i sit in a ship, which can escape every time, or i sit in a ship which will survive only a very short moment. i loved blockade running and random encounters with pirate-players pre-engineering.

generally i'm used to external tools with all games i play, so ed is no difference there.

 

[vanFace]

For PvE events like Distant Worlds or AXI the current multiplayer options are good enough to give a nice experience. I can't comment much about PvP, because I usually don't do that.
For coop setups the current implementation is too buggy IMHO. It would be wonderful if you can team up in a stable manner, but as it is now, e.g. assembling a crew, flying to a settlement, doing a mission there, and flying back has a 80% chance of failing due to a disconnect somewhere. Thus people don't bother with it after a while, and this is really sad. I'd love to see this more stabilized, especially for Odyssey missions.

 

[aRJay]

I usually play Elite on my own whichever game mode I am in, I have played with and against other commanders on occasion and I enjoy playing with them much more than playing against them. But multiplayer wasn’t an incentive for me buying ED.

Introducing in game tools to facilitate teaming up would probably be a good thing for those who hang around high player population areas but basically the scale of the “map” works against this working as well as some hope.

Also as I am not a fan of mission based play I would prefer to see more ways to get rewarded for stuff I wanted to do rather than what I was told to do.

 

[metatheurgist]

Coop is what I want most out of it. The isn't much to do that actually requires people working together.

 

[dudekri2017]

I echo the view of the OP.... the multiplayer elements are good but the problem is getting into them and since wings came out nothing new has been added. I had a group of friends I played exclusively with early days they left long before Odyssey so I've had no chance to do Odyssey content in a group. I've managed to find the odd group for Thargoid hunting but took work out of the game. I joined two squadrons with a discord but both died every quickly. I am so disappointed at Frontier for not doing the cqc game mode better. I'd love to be able to match make with others using with shield tank clipper in a game mode or some sort of mission board akin to the one in star citizen where other players are involved. I like the idea of pve and pvp modes via a board. Like the op i have thousands of hours but i accepted ED is a single player game with bolted on multi player ages ago. David Braben sold me the idea of bustling starports, comms chatter and great adventure... so far I have great adventure. ED can be a very lonely place. I do get it space is big and black and open but no reason populated systems can have more options to drive collab. Missedc opportunity with the bgs and powerplay too.

 

[Brrokk]

I see ED as essentially a single-player game with some options to meet up with other players added on via the P2P instancing, the galaxy state being a shared feature. I quite like this as it's a relaxed way of playing when my available play time is unpredictable. Organising actual multi-player activities does take some work and needs out-of-game tools like Discord or social media.

 

[Crumly]

I've been part of a large squadron for years, but I keep stopping playing because it's hard to find anyone to play with who wants to do same thing at same time.
a looking for wing feature would be good

 

[Muzz UK]

I see ED as essentially a single-player game with some options to meet up with other players added on via the P2P instancing, the galaxy state being a shared feature. I quite like this as it's a relaxed way of playing when my available play time is unpredictable. Organising actual multi-player activities does take some work and needs out-of-game tools like Discord or social media.

Same thoughts as me then on the taking work to get things together multi player. I honesty think the issue Frontier had was pleasing the backers and vet players from the 80s 90s first. Its a shame because so much of this game is amazing.

 

[Crumly]

I see ED as essentially a single-player game with some options to meet up with other players added on via the P2P instancing, the galaxy state being a shared feature. I quite like this as it's a relaxed way of playing when my available play time is unpredictable. Organising actual multi-player activities does take some work and needs out-of-game tools like Discord or social media.

I agree about 50%, alot of the content you need to be expertly skilled to even attempt solo, I have managed to kill cyclops alone a small handful of times, but I feel like I need to learn to climb a mountain to do it, and I could just play a match of league of legends instead... so I barely even turn ED on anymore

i wish I could easily group up with commanders inside 10 minutes or less to do anything. missions, thargoids, base raids

 

[Muzz UK]

I agree about 50%, alot of the content you need to be expertly skilled to even attempt solo, I have managed to kill cyclops alone a small handful of times, but I feel like I need to learn to climb a mountain to do it, and I could just play a match of league of legends instead... so I barely even turn ED on anymore

i wish I could easily group up with commanders inside 10 minutes or less to do anything. missions, thargoids, base raids

I think the recent move to a story narrative has tried to get people together the issue is still need tools. You don't know until you jump into an instance whos there if they're good bad solo or group hunting goids.

 

[Screemonster]

Elite is a singleplayer game that you can play with friends.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Very definitely a single player game with an optional multiplayer component.
This contrasts strongly with other MMOs I've played where having other players to share it with is essential and without whom the games become stale rather quickly.
Co-op play does rely heavily on the squadrons and can be incredible at times though these are subject to issues regarding leadership.
PVP; in CQC yes, bugs aside. In PP if that's what you're into fine.
I'm rather less interested in the 'pvp enthusiasts' that cluster at 'popular systems'.
Having said that Elite has some robust methods for dealing with problem individuals, far superior to certain other MMOs.

 

[Gleitfrosch]

Multiplayer lacks / has only rudimentary tools for group organisation and communication, I have never found them to be user friendly. Also there are not enough group activities to encourage playing in a group, plus multiplayer content can be undermined or even exploited in solo play, e.g. in Powerplay.

A major issue is also the size of the galaxy, outside of a few specific systems, you barly meet someone. No galaxy wide chat (could be optional) makes it therefore difficult to find players to play togerther. Thris party tools can help, but not everyone uses them.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Multiplayer was barely on my radar from day one, but Frontier's lacklustre design and MVP implementation of most of the multiplayer aspects put me off altogether. I still play in Mobius from time to time, if only for that odd thrill of occasionally seeing someone "real" flying around, but mostly because that's the kind of thing I used to daydream about back in the 80s when all we had were BBC Micros and Econet. But my actual engagement is still as close to zero as makes no odds. I suspect that my headcanon about what these pilots are up to as I watch them entering and departing the stations is a damn sight more interesting that what they're actually doing.

The exception was CQC, nee Arena, with which I had a lot of fun in the early days. But even that was ruined by FD's insistence on arbitrary progression vs balance (though not nearly as bad as in the main game) and the terrible lobby/matchmaking system.

Ultimately ED is, as others have said, a single-player game with experiences that can occasionally be shared with others. In its own way that is in itself something to be admired, even if it has led to some players engaging in a permanent war of ideology around the Modes. But it is what it is. I actually feel a lot of sympathy for players like the OP who still wax lyrical about the possibilities for improving the multiplayer experience(s). It's not enough just to have the possibilities, it needs FD to have the will. And if they didn't have it 8-10 years ago I can't imagine them suddenly finding it now.

I don't agree with "pleasing the backers and vet players" being a root cause of the game's multiplayer woes though. Believe me, had FD listened to and acted upon suggestions and warnings coming from some elements of the community prior to launch, the game could be have offered a much better multiplayer framework on which to build these desired features. But FD knew best, and by late 2014 they had a concrete launch date to meet. That was where it all started, with that weak foundation.

 

[CMDR-AD]

I did minimal to zero multiplay from the base Elite Dangerous through Horizons. Only during waypoint events like DW or something.

Odyssey I've been playing nearly full time in Teams coop with a friend. We meet up and do Exobiology, or have gone in to AX combat and killed waves of Interceptors. After the session, we typically end up sitting on a sofa in the concourse bar and talking over the highlights of our play. It's been 99% rock solid on the technical side, and quite a fun change sharing the journey.

 

[GreySix]

As others wrote, my experience is SP, and since my preferred gaming is exploration - it works. I use my fleet carrier as a mobile base, dropping off discoveries and mapping, and then mining tritium as required.

When I get the multiplayer itch, I fire up Star Citizen on the weekend with my org mates there.

 

[metatheurgist]

Elite is a singleplayer game that you can play with friends.

True, and there's very little reason to do anything with them, most things are better done alone. The obvious exception is killing space flowers. They don't even have mechanics for MP exploration but that's not surprising since explo barely has any mechanics at all.

 

[DemiserofD]

On the whole I enjoy it.

Coop is fun mostly from a social perspective. Mining, for example, doesn't really entail cooperation so much as just all mobbing together and magically extracting extra rocks from the rocks. Combat in most cases is total overkill with more than about 2 players and very rapidly goes from easy to comically easy.

Multicrew is more fun, since it actually takes some semblance of cooperation and teamwork. Unfortunately, it's not designed very well, so actually using turrets is a pretty challenging endeavor. Still the most fun though, and the easiest to coordinate on the whole.

PVP is the one thing I don't really care for, on account of it being completely pointless. There is nothing gained or lost, the skills are almost entirely specific to exclusively pvp and don't have broader applicability, and I really don't understand why people care for it. But to each their own, I suppose.

What I would really like is content that would allow us to manually scale our difficulty to the desired level. Let me spawn in more NPCs to fight, for example. That way getting more than 2 people isn't a total waste.