The other problem is a portion of the playerbase finds a "robust, scaled challenge" to be highly offensive.
Powerplay 2.0 “Open” Rewards
- Thread starter Ragnascot
- Start date
I really enjoyed your post tbh, but powerplay is a competitive environment
If FD want PP V2 to remain fresh, they have two choices- either let players via PvP do it (which to date is what they lean towards) or have NPCs do it. The problem is that in ED the challenge for players does not graph with time, it plateaus and after that it becomes repetitive. I know for some they like this, but considering V2 is geared for long term engagement FD have to do one or the other.
What frustrates me is FD have the components for both approaches in game right now, its just they never put it all together. Its especially frustrating because V2 is a massive step in the right direction too.
They need to have some means to counter alt farming or "friends" takin turns at farming each other.
Then, if they put emphasis on competitive PVP, they really need some solid means of anticheats
If every player has a value of how much work they do, value of ship / cargo, time between destruction its easy to see who is being farmed and that its not an alt sat in a sidewinder. In such a system you'd have to do work in your alt ship to work its value, which would offset the temporary loss due to destruction.
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I put up a thread about this because I felt like it deserves its own attention. On the one hand, no-one who cares about a functioning feature wants exploits to imbalance things. On the other, no-one who likes the idea of PvP counting wants to see it nerfed to oblivion to prevent exploit. Either make it a thing or don't. Don't put it in and nerf it out again.
So how do we solve the problem of balance between the modes, if in open mode you can expect to be unable to complete an activity whereas in solo it's butter? Mode is supposed to be a choice after all. Not a Hobson's choice.
Structured activities between competitors, not unstructured between predators and prey.
Its either jobs for modes and / or more targeted NPC danger (like via missions or a Nemesis like system).
Either solo has all the danger required, or Open does the job but they have to be exclusive to each other. Right now solo has none, while Open is inconsistent because of solos inadequacy.
So FD have to double down on one because half of both is not going to work.
FD proved they can design missions that can be hard enough - for pve players, no matter the mode
However, it remains to be seen how hard is hard enough?
To whom those missions would be tailored?
To super elite pilots that are able to hold their own in a pvp tournament and/or are able to solo kill medusas and hydras?
Or to pilots that find it difficult to survive an npc interdiction?
Yes, they can start by organizing CQC like Powerplay Wars where the winners and merits are decided by PVP only.
Nope, unless PP20 runs in it's own mode
A better question is: how much failure do you need to make Powerplay 'work'?
In solo today you can run at 100% in min/ max builds that artificially keep large powers going. Nothing stops you other than time and boredom threshold and that never changes. Powers can predict easy and consistent fortification in solo and there is little variation.
Just use the mission system- you choose your own difficulty. Wing missions can become the ultra hard jobs that push beyond what a solo pledge can handle. In all cases you can then price in a set reward for set amounts of work.
For example: simple PP cargo hauling. You can have danger priced into the cargo allocation and stacking allocations stacks your opposition. You can also then attack a PP theme to anything, where it might be a valuable passenger or cargo that someone wants to steal.
Your effort for the week can also dictate wings of NPCs like specops sent after you at random next week- this makes sense because a rival power would target the aces of the other side.
But it does not revolve around me choosing a difficulty, but the game offering value (in terms of PP merits, rewards, etc) to my effort.
If you - or generally speaking the pvp open only crowd - believe my time spent in solo is less important that their time spent faffing around in open (dealing with instance issues and other shenanigans) and you penalize me for doin PP in solo, then we have a problem.
Even then, it's still a skill issue.
I mean, i can laser mine 250+ tons of tritium per hour, while a lot of players complain they can barely make 100t per hour.
They say mining is bad, i say it's a skill issue
Again, to whom do you tailor those pve activities in solo? If we take my own example above - do you tailor it for the 10 people that can mine 100t per hour or to the 1-2 that can mine 250?
Similarly, Frontier mentioned a few hypothetical scenarios during the latest stream where I felt like there may be some disconnect between the design/vision and how it will likely play out in reality.Sorry if this has been mentioned here already (catching up after a holiday and only skimming threads) but one thing I'm kinda puzzled by is from this slide they showed.
If PP 2.0 wasn't Open Only (or at least Open strongly incentivised) then putting "Destroy Enemy Commanders" front and center of the things to do seems odd given that (and I'm not a PowerPlay player so forgive me if this isn't the case) surely most other players engaging in PowerPlay in such a system would be hiding in solo or another PG?
Sitting docked on a stronghold carrier, realizing someone who's silent running is messing with the carrier's weapons system so you undock and search for them and kill them, or meeting the opposing faction's #1 CMDR sound like fun examples. But I just don't think a lot of players would actually ever experience that.
Stronghold systems may be enough of a pull factor or focus, but space is still big. And even Open can be lonely.
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? Of course it does. An assassination mission can be anything from a FAS to a Corvette and escorts- but you choose the difficulty (and weight it with the goodies).
Hence the mission system can provide scaled and baked in resistance which you choose. The outcome is you are balancing how fast you benefit your power with your own safety.
Then why do you have varied mining missions? Its an offer for more reward for doing more. Currently PP has none of that.
Or mayo on a hot dog
There are no meds for that, only institutionalizationDid you take your medications?
Ultimately, everything revolves around time invested versus rewards - and all your answers are avoiding this issue.
So, what i'd like to see is not me being penalized, because my time spent in solo is as precious as your time spent in open
One of the things I am really going to be curious about is if you support a particular power, what happens when you bring your carrier into a system controlled by another power???
What if you "park" it next to one of the new Power ships?
Will your carrier be able to fire on enemy craft that approach?
Will there be a new permissions level for landing at the carrier that limits it to members of your power only?
THere are still a lot of things left to be answered about PP2.0
What if you "park" it next to one of the new Power ships?
Will your carrier be able to fire on enemy craft that approach?
Will there be a new permissions level for landing at the carrier that limits it to members of your power only?
THere are still a lot of things left to be answered about PP2.0