White Knighting in the game

[Beermachine]

Having read quite a few posts about people griefing new players in sidey's with vastly upgraded vipers, cobras, ASP's and god forbid Python's I've done some patrolling around LHS 3447, Eravate, Liaedin and other populated areas in my kitted ASP to try to teach them the errors of their ways.
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The problem is I can't seem to find any perpertrators, just loads of sidewinders, haulers trading, cobra's doing missions and no wrongdoers! Even ended up asking visiting ships if they'd seen any baddies but no-one seemed (the very few who replied) to be having any issues!
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So, is the problem vastly overexaggered, and ED open populated by a lot of people happy to get on with their business (as I witnessed), or is the instanting system, lack of station comms etc just making it very hard for someone to white knight the starting areas?
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Any tips from bounty hunters would be ideal, still new to the pvp side of things. I know friend requests work with pirates for same instancing, but my intended targets are not honorable pirates who'd be likely to accept them, more the psycopathic type.

 

[archeolog108]

This is human psychology: if everything is fine, no need to complain. If one thing is wrong, people will come to forum and cry and exaggerate the problem which is non-existent.

 

[Morbad]

So, is the problem vastly overexaggered

Yes.

Any tips from bounty hunters would be ideal, still new to the pvp side of things.

It's not easy to catch a Viper or Cobra that doesn't want to be caught in an Asp.

 

[Padaxes]

I found a guy at a Nav beacon getting engaged by a viper and helped him out That was my good deed for the day

 

[Sete]

Been around eravate these last few days only saw one wanted player. Weidly my interdiction was a sucess but he was no where to be seen.

 

[GorgonTMP]

can say even flat out lies.

you seen them on any forum of games , hoping to get rid of pvp

Exactly! One n00b gets killed and immediately its killing the game and open play is just for PvP.
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Did you notice guys that most topics that this game is gankingfest looks like this: "I play only solo because on forums I saw that there is just griefing in open play"

 

[CreepyD]

Surely a kitted out Viper / Cobra will beat an Asp anyway?
It's a massive slow moving target without really much extra weaponry anyway.

I would guess the top 5 bounties list would be people to go after possibly?

 

[Whiterose]

First time I played I got interdicted by a Python in my sidey, with "Die noob", I just found it amusing, 4 pips to shields, boosted away, FSD charging replied "loser" and jumped. All part of the game as far as I am concerned.

 

[Herik]

Exactly! One n00b gets killed and immediately its killing the game and open play is just for PvP.
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Did you notice guys that most topics that this game is gankingfest looks like this: "I play only solo because on forums I saw that there is just griefing in open play"

Well to be honest....this was the case earlier in the Alpha's and early Beta's, to (tsk tsk test) the game. Now there are various adjustments in game to alleviate the problem.

 

[peteuplink]

I'm not against PvP in the game. If someone is playing as a pirate and is doing so with the aim being to make money from stealing cargo from other players, then fine. Piracy is part of the game and it's one of the choices you make on how you decide to play.

The type of PvP-ers I'm not overly keen on are random players who just attack so they can blast the dirt out of you for no real reason than to get their kicks. I personally find it quite cowardly for some brainless numpty in a big tricked out ship, and more weapons than sense, to go around blasting any poorly defended smaller ships for no good reason that to show how "good" they are at combat, and get some childish thrill out of it. If people want to play that way they should pick on ships that are more equal to their own.

That being said bullies do crop up from time to time and I think it's something we'll have to put up with. In my experience it does seem quite few and far between and will probably lessen as more and more of us filter out into the far away systems away from the start areas.

 

[eddyvegasgames]

"I play only solo because on forums I saw that there is just griefing in open play"

This. Sartre was right, hell is other people.

 

[Riedquat]

Considering the amount of players, I think you may have trouble finding these 'griefers'.

Personally, I am still in the sidewinder and have not been interdicted yet by another player, the most I have was someone saying 'Boo!' over the comms.

 

[ParaB]

The threat from non-consensual PvP is so vastly overblown on the forums that it's simply ridiculous.

 

[Morbad]

Surely a kitted out Viper / Cobra will beat an Asp anyway?
It's a massive slow moving target without really much extra weaponry anyway?

The Asp is not slow, and has more potent weapons than the Cobra or Viper (and better convergence than the former), while also being quite a bit tougher.

A Cobra or Viper can still take down an Asp, but given pilots of rough skill parity, it's not easy, and the Asp can almost always get away. Good Asp pilots are extremely dangerous and a fully upgraded Asp can take huge punishment.

 

[rootsrat]

I would guess the top 5 bounties list would be people to go after possibly?

That's a good idea!

 

[Veridis]

The threat from non-consensual PvP is so vastly overblown on the forums that it's simply ridiculous.

This. This so much.

 

[Beermachine]

That's a good idea!

While I think the top 5 bounties listed is a great feature, the problem is that there's no more localised system also. Checking Fed or Empire stations is useless as it's the same 5 people, and I bet there all professional pirates, targeting rich traders, not new players. That leaves independent, and even then the same names are generally listed. Even if not, in Eravate for example, tried to hunt the top bounty, but with no tracking / are they online / open / in my instance it's not easy. Sending a friend request to a complete stranger isn't really my style.

The Asp is not slow, and has more potent weapons than the Cobra or Viper (and better convergence than the former), while also being quite a bit tougher.

A Cobra or Viper can still take down an Asp, but given pilots of rough skill parity, it's not easy, and the Asp can almost always get away. Good Asp pilots are extremely dangerous and a fully upgraded Asp can take huge punishment.

The Asp is a beast, with top shields and cell bank it can tank a lot of punishment. While the idea of attacking a cobra with an upgraded asp seems very unfair to me, if that person is fine doing it themselves to lowly sidewinders then it becomes okay in my book.
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All I seemed to do was scare the hell out of a lot of new players, every ship seemed to be paranoid of my asp. Though after some time of no action I did start buzzing right in front of haulers in SC, fun to see them suddenly go hard point active

 

[Fl3]

This thread and may others reminds me of my first MMO experience playing Lineage II. I started playing just after the western release, and upon leaving the Dark Elf starting zone got ganked by an Orc of a much higher level. I whined to a friend and his reply was "That's what you get for playing an open world PvP game" It's the nature of the beast stronger players will pick on weaker players if they're given the chance. This is why bullies exist, this is why that guy in the office gives all the interns such a hard time. I'm not saying this is why PvP exists, most people who PvP do so because they feel it's more fun to fight against other humans than it is a line of computer code, and I can fully understand this, because a line of code can only react in the way it's programed to, but a human opponent has no but a human has no program to follow and is a much more exciting, unpredictable opponent. There will always however be those who just want to give other players a hard time, and they, are the ones who give PvP a bad name. Unfortunately, they're the ones who get noticed and commented on simply because they target everyone, and they're the people who turn forums against PvP.
ED has an answer in a way with Solo mode, anyone who isn't interested in PvP can simply play there, but I feel that they're missing out on a core element of the game, the fact that we can play with other people, the fact that a minority seem determined to turn non-PvPers against those of us who simply want to compete against each other. It's a shame that because of all the reports of ganking on the forums that open play sees to be emptying. Since launch, I've seen less and less people in open play. I know that people spread out, and our universe is now a large place, but I travel far and wide, and what I consider to be the hub systems in my region only seem to have had npcs in them recently. I think it's a shame that more and more people seem to be turning to Solo play. Hopefully, as Frontier implement more of the game it will entice players back into open, but even if it does, the problem will still remain.

 

[CmdrZaratan]

I've been playing in Open since late beta 1 and never once been jumped by another player outside of a couple of times in combat zones where we were on opposing sides (totally understandable, and even then they asked if it was cool first).

The risk of running into an actual griefer (as opposed to a player pirate) is practically non-existent. The chances of running into a player pirate are pretty freaking low too for that matter.

 

[Morbius]

Honestly, I feel like I'm one of the few players that consistently interdicts other players. I don't grief, but I interdict most every player I come across to scan them for bounties/illegal cargo. I'm playing as a 'to the highest bidder' merc for this save, so I've been cruising to different areas as events happen that promise lots of credits (I'm in Sorbago now, unsurprisingly).

The best way to find players attacks people is to watch the radar. You can usually see when an interdiction is happening, and if you suspect one, target then and get in position behind them and watch. You will see them erratically flailing around as they slow down and interdict. Once it completes, find the 'Low Energy FSD Wake' and target it to begin a scan (no Wake Scanner needed for low energy wakes). The scan only takes a few seconds, and then lets you jump to it like an USS, dropping you into the space normal-space instance that the interdictor and interdictee were dropped in to. You can also just look for the wakes, but this is a gamble, as you don't know who is interdicting who, and if any are even PCs.

Edit:
On a side note, I interdict Sideys and Eagles a lot without remorse. If they have a bounty, fair game. If they have illegal cargo, they can either drop it or get reported and fined, letting me collect a nice little bounty.