Snakebite
Banned
Why I combat logged and what to do with this pirate. - Devs read please
First let me make it clear, I love Elite, the game, the universe, the idea.... Elite Dangerous is the multiplayer Elite that I have dreamed of playing since we discussed the idea as kids back in 1984.
ever since the original Elite caught my imagination the very premise of travelling the stars making your way in a dangerous galaxy is one that appeals to me immensely and I really want to see this game succeed.That is why I am a kickstarter backer, and have played since premium beta.
I am well aware that ED is a work in progress, that's ok, the game can and should evolve, and certain key features that are currently missing will be implemented in good time i'm sure. I can wait a while to see Thargoids, and experience re-entry into atmospheric flight. neither am I in any great hurry to be able to get out of my ship and walk around. I can wait for all these features because at least in theory there is plenty to do and see whilst sat in the cockpit of my ship.
Now whilst you guys are doing a great job so far, the basic galaxy generation is great the flight mechanics are great, and the views beyond the canopy are a joy to behold. And although I have enjoyed many hours of gameplay so far. I (and others) are experiencing a great deal of frustration with some fairly basic game mechanics and balance issues that are completely wrecking the gameplay.
I and many others have posted and discussed to death some of these issues already, but whilst the game development is clearly progressing nothing seems to be getting done about a these tiny issues that are causing people to leave the game in droves (Ok i don't know if people are leaving in droves, but if a dedicated long term fan like myself is feeling fed up then its not a good sign).
I despise people who ruin other peoples gameplay by combat logging, or use cheat by using the solo mode swap exploit to avoid risky situations but I am now finding certain gameplay mechanics are forcing me to do just that. And I am seething about having to even consider doing so.
You see I decided that I wanted to play as a bounty hunter, and i've played that way almost exclusively for three months or so, (hundreds of game hours I bet) I have a fully tooled up Cobra and have acheived the rank of expert and earned a few million credits hunting down NPC pirates, but in all that time working as a bounty hunter I think I have only come accross two players with a wanted status. Its so frustrating to be a bounty hunter and not find any real targets. And its not for the lack of trying, I have been from one end of populated space to the other, camped out in anarchy's hung around rares trade routes, I have followed the most wanted lists, and done basically everything possible to locate pirates, but all to no avail....Very, Very frustrating. people on these forums have often declared that there is a lot of pirate activity around Lave, but I've spent many hours hanging out in Lave scanning every ship that comes past, nothing........ It is really drepessing being a bounty hunter in such a target devoid game. I think this should not have been called Elite: Dangerous at all but Elite: Tame & Easy
Now, having tested the Fer-de-Lance in the 1.2 beta I decided I want one in game, and as i'm so frustrated with bounty hunting and it doesn't pay much when you end up wasting all your time chasing shadows. So I decided to get the creds together through a spot of rares trading.
I swapped my cobra for a Type 6 transporter in Leesti and being as there are no pirates anywhere and the odd AI is so easy to defeat I took a single low powered beam laser and enough shield to survive a dodgy landing, and jumped out to Lave to get some brandy.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENED ON MY VERY FIRST TRIP TO LAVE AND WITHIN 5 MINUTES OF PLAYING AS AN UNARMED TRADER ?????
Yep , I get a guy in a fully tooled up Imperial Clipper demanding my cargo ! the BEST bit is that I recognise his name as i've seen him around on my travels as a bounty hunter but because he has always appeared CLEAN on my scans I have ignored him and let him go on his merry way. And now as a trader I am faced with dumping my cargo or being destroyed by him.
I can not tell you guys just how angry I am at this encounter.... Basically this guy is going around pirating and simply because of the STUPID game mechanic that allows him to wipe his criminal record constantly he not only gets away with murder but the same gameplay mechanic is ruining the game for anyone want to bounty hunt.
Now please don't misunderstand my reason for logging, I have no problem whatsoever with people playing the pirate role and i'm NOT doing this to avoid piracy which I see as a genuine and healthy aspect of the game. I would never normally take the easy way out of a tight spot by combat logging, no my reason for logging out is that given thatI cannot treat him as a pirate when i'm playing BH so now I will refuse to allow him to act as pirate against me when i'm playing trader, so I pulled the plug and logged off, and that is exactly why from now on I will be pulling the plug at ANY attack from a player that is showing as clean for exactly that reason, either they should be genuine pirates with a wanted tag that would allow bounty hunters to hunt them, or I will refuse to acknowledge them and engage.
And furthermore what should happen if I catch up with this *pirate* when i'm in my tooled up FDL in a few days time ?
Should I attack him as *I now know* that he is a pirate and accept the stupid gameplay mechanic that will then list me as the bad guy and make me wanted.
or should I go along with the stupid gameplay mechanic that effectively says this guy is innocent and should not be attacked even though he has in fact committed piracy ?
And whilst its not for me to tell the guys at Frontier that are generally doing great job how to write their game, I have to say that this simple to fix mechanic really is making the game miserably unplayable as a bounty hunter (at least from a multiplayer perspective)
Come on guys this is a easy one to fix and would revolutionize the gameplay for us bounty hunters. Just don't let them clear the bounty for xx days, or make it permanent in the issued system *or something*. Personally I'd like to see it linked to reputation so that your criminal status gradually improves if you do *good things* and ideally it should also diminish with both time and distance. But please just do *something* to make bounty hunter a viable playable type.
For anyone playing as a bounty hunter being able to actually find pirates is not *a nice to have* its *game critical*
Edit
Ok after reading through all the comments two things are very clear.
1) Lots of people really angry at me for logging, which I fully understand and actually quite agree with.
2) 99.9% of players agree with the main point raised, that of pirates being able to easily erase there bounties and get off scott free.
With regards to the combat logging I have to agree it *is* cheating plain and simple. And now that I've made my point I think i'll refrain from doing it again. I have had a number of suggestions PM'd to me and I'm going to think about them.
With regards to the fines/bounty status there is little to do but wait and hope the devs take some remedial action, I'm please at the support and feedback i've had from this post, its nice to know that i'm not the only one who is finding frustration with the exact same issue and its especially heartwarming to see that even the majority of pirates players are in agreement on this. At the end of the day I care about the game and want to encourage the devs to keep up the hard work, they do seem to listen to us on these forums so I just hope that they read this thread and understand that the bounty hunting mechanic needs urgent attention and a few small tweeks may be all it takes. But until the Wanted stat is fixed bounty hunting is just not realistically possible.
Further EDIT
Thinking about setting up a group to act as vigilante posse against *known criminals* and hunting them down regardless of their status. What do you guys think ? anyone fancy getting a wanted status for hunting 'bad guys', don't forget you can always clear your name after the flogging, lol.
First let me make it clear, I love Elite, the game, the universe, the idea.... Elite Dangerous is the multiplayer Elite that I have dreamed of playing since we discussed the idea as kids back in 1984.
ever since the original Elite caught my imagination the very premise of travelling the stars making your way in a dangerous galaxy is one that appeals to me immensely and I really want to see this game succeed.That is why I am a kickstarter backer, and have played since premium beta.
I am well aware that ED is a work in progress, that's ok, the game can and should evolve, and certain key features that are currently missing will be implemented in good time i'm sure. I can wait a while to see Thargoids, and experience re-entry into atmospheric flight. neither am I in any great hurry to be able to get out of my ship and walk around. I can wait for all these features because at least in theory there is plenty to do and see whilst sat in the cockpit of my ship.
Now whilst you guys are doing a great job so far, the basic galaxy generation is great the flight mechanics are great, and the views beyond the canopy are a joy to behold. And although I have enjoyed many hours of gameplay so far. I (and others) are experiencing a great deal of frustration with some fairly basic game mechanics and balance issues that are completely wrecking the gameplay.
I and many others have posted and discussed to death some of these issues already, but whilst the game development is clearly progressing nothing seems to be getting done about a these tiny issues that are causing people to leave the game in droves (Ok i don't know if people are leaving in droves, but if a dedicated long term fan like myself is feeling fed up then its not a good sign).
I despise people who ruin other peoples gameplay by combat logging, or use cheat by using the solo mode swap exploit to avoid risky situations but I am now finding certain gameplay mechanics are forcing me to do just that. And I am seething about having to even consider doing so.
You see I decided that I wanted to play as a bounty hunter, and i've played that way almost exclusively for three months or so, (hundreds of game hours I bet) I have a fully tooled up Cobra and have acheived the rank of expert and earned a few million credits hunting down NPC pirates, but in all that time working as a bounty hunter I think I have only come accross two players with a wanted status. Its so frustrating to be a bounty hunter and not find any real targets. And its not for the lack of trying, I have been from one end of populated space to the other, camped out in anarchy's hung around rares trade routes, I have followed the most wanted lists, and done basically everything possible to locate pirates, but all to no avail....Very, Very frustrating. people on these forums have often declared that there is a lot of pirate activity around Lave, but I've spent many hours hanging out in Lave scanning every ship that comes past, nothing........ It is really drepessing being a bounty hunter in such a target devoid game. I think this should not have been called Elite: Dangerous at all but Elite: Tame & Easy
Now, having tested the Fer-de-Lance in the 1.2 beta I decided I want one in game, and as i'm so frustrated with bounty hunting and it doesn't pay much when you end up wasting all your time chasing shadows. So I decided to get the creds together through a spot of rares trading.
I swapped my cobra for a Type 6 transporter in Leesti and being as there are no pirates anywhere and the odd AI is so easy to defeat I took a single low powered beam laser and enough shield to survive a dodgy landing, and jumped out to Lave to get some brandy.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENED ON MY VERY FIRST TRIP TO LAVE AND WITHIN 5 MINUTES OF PLAYING AS AN UNARMED TRADER ?????
Yep , I get a guy in a fully tooled up Imperial Clipper demanding my cargo ! the BEST bit is that I recognise his name as i've seen him around on my travels as a bounty hunter but because he has always appeared CLEAN on my scans I have ignored him and let him go on his merry way. And now as a trader I am faced with dumping my cargo or being destroyed by him.
I can not tell you guys just how angry I am at this encounter.... Basically this guy is going around pirating and simply because of the STUPID game mechanic that allows him to wipe his criminal record constantly he not only gets away with murder but the same gameplay mechanic is ruining the game for anyone want to bounty hunt.
Now please don't misunderstand my reason for logging, I have no problem whatsoever with people playing the pirate role and i'm NOT doing this to avoid piracy which I see as a genuine and healthy aspect of the game. I would never normally take the easy way out of a tight spot by combat logging, no my reason for logging out is that given thatI cannot treat him as a pirate when i'm playing BH so now I will refuse to allow him to act as pirate against me when i'm playing trader, so I pulled the plug and logged off, and that is exactly why from now on I will be pulling the plug at ANY attack from a player that is showing as clean for exactly that reason, either they should be genuine pirates with a wanted tag that would allow bounty hunters to hunt them, or I will refuse to acknowledge them and engage.
And furthermore what should happen if I catch up with this *pirate* when i'm in my tooled up FDL in a few days time ?
Should I attack him as *I now know* that he is a pirate and accept the stupid gameplay mechanic that will then list me as the bad guy and make me wanted.
or should I go along with the stupid gameplay mechanic that effectively says this guy is innocent and should not be attacked even though he has in fact committed piracy ?
And whilst its not for me to tell the guys at Frontier that are generally doing great job how to write their game, I have to say that this simple to fix mechanic really is making the game miserably unplayable as a bounty hunter (at least from a multiplayer perspective)
Come on guys this is a easy one to fix and would revolutionize the gameplay for us bounty hunters. Just don't let them clear the bounty for xx days, or make it permanent in the issued system *or something*. Personally I'd like to see it linked to reputation so that your criminal status gradually improves if you do *good things* and ideally it should also diminish with both time and distance. But please just do *something* to make bounty hunter a viable playable type.
For anyone playing as a bounty hunter being able to actually find pirates is not *a nice to have* its *game critical*
Edit
Ok after reading through all the comments two things are very clear.
1) Lots of people really angry at me for logging, which I fully understand and actually quite agree with.
2) 99.9% of players agree with the main point raised, that of pirates being able to easily erase there bounties and get off scott free.
With regards to the combat logging I have to agree it *is* cheating plain and simple. And now that I've made my point I think i'll refrain from doing it again. I have had a number of suggestions PM'd to me and I'm going to think about them.
With regards to the fines/bounty status there is little to do but wait and hope the devs take some remedial action, I'm please at the support and feedback i've had from this post, its nice to know that i'm not the only one who is finding frustration with the exact same issue and its especially heartwarming to see that even the majority of pirates players are in agreement on this. At the end of the day I care about the game and want to encourage the devs to keep up the hard work, they do seem to listen to us on these forums so I just hope that they read this thread and understand that the bounty hunting mechanic needs urgent attention and a few small tweeks may be all it takes. But until the Wanted stat is fixed bounty hunting is just not realistically possible.
Further EDIT
Thinking about setting up a group to act as vigilante posse against *known criminals* and hunting them down regardless of their status. What do you guys think ? anyone fancy getting a wanted status for hunting 'bad guys', don't forget you can always clear your name after the flogging, lol.
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