Good thread. I've been meaning to ask where the grassroots pvp is in the game as I know there have had to at least been 1 v 1 tournaments in the past/crossroad type pvp hangout systems. Bummed to hear it has stagnated. What about in the vein of group pvp? Without a guild war system for squadrons such an event would need to be organized but has that ever been a thing?
I've been getting back into the game a bit recently and felt compelled to post some of my thoughts over in the hotel thread but I want to reiterate something here as it seems the place to do so.
The game should have a consensual pvp system. Two sides at war, pick a side and flag hostile everywhere to the opposition. Earn points for shooting down enemy players and spend those points on rewards. Those rewards could be anything from simply credits or engineering mats to something more awesome like unique decals or other cosmetics. Why they didn't do something easy like this instead of wasting time and resources on CQC I'll never understand.
To those who point to CQC and say, "there's your pvp system" I must point out the fact (as I'm sure others have) that CQC is a completely different game and it's kinda meh. This take can also sometimes be construed as lumping all pvpers together as players that only want to pvp and have no interest in any other facet of gameplay, when that is just not the case. Also, even in consensual systems, pvp in "the field" as it were in a typical mmo setting is a different bag than the typical FPS arena gameplay with powerups that is present in CQC. Plus I mean come on, it only lets you play with 4 ships for crying out loud. I hope y'all can understand how in that way it's sort of like telling pvpers to go play star wars squadrons or x-wing vs tie fighter.
To those who say you can go shoot each other anywhere so nothing needs to change in the game for the sake of a few pvpers, I would say on that same token you can go deliver those trade goods to the station for free so why do you want to get paid for doing it? Why get any credits for exploration if the joy of doing it is enough? Why have any system reward the player at all?
Every game loop mechanic rewards the player so why should a consensual pvp system be any different? There's nothing to lose by implementing such a basic feature and lots to gain.
IMHO, of course.
o7