Why this is beyond anyones comprehension is beyond me.
If someone's fun depend on ruining the game for me, then I'm happy he isn't having fun.
The more irony is that I suspect that if traders did not have the option of hiding in solo mode then they would not actually enjoy the game any less. They would probably have more fun, but human nature is to take the easy route so they do.
You assume too much. You like the kind of unannounced PvP that can result here, and project on other players your own preferences. Not everyone is like you; in fact, judging by the little publicly available data about where players prefer to play, my guess is that most players dislike this kind of PvP enough to leave games over it.
IMO FD should abandon solo mode, or at least stop mode swapping, and concentrate on getting the core gameplay balance right so that everyone can have an enjoyable and rewarding experience in open.
For many players, myself included, an "enjoyable and rewarding experience" has the hard, non-negotiable requirement of never, ever, being attacked by another player without first explicitly agreeing with it. And Frontier explicitly tailored their advertisement to attract this kind of player when they made clear from the start that players would be able to play solo, in groups, or in open, and freely switch between those without any kind of penalty.
Please explain exactly how is a solo game in any way preferable or superior to a 'properly balanced' multiplayer game.
Balanced for who? Different players have different preferences, so the best balance for each player is different.
Being able to determine when and how to meet other players allows each player to reach the optimal balance to maximize his fun, apart from a few exceptions that seem to only be able to have run by ruining the fun for others. A single 'properly balanced' multiplayer game mode will bring optimal enjoyment to the few for whom that mode was balanced, and will be less enjoyable, or perhaps even outright not worth playing, for the rest of the players.
After all, if a single balance that pleased everyone was even possible, those arena PvP games would have a single game mode each. The fact there are multiple modes is due to a single 'properly balanced' mode never being good for everyone.
All i'm saying here is that IMHO the con's of solo outweigh the pro's to the game as a whole.
Nope. That is only valid for you and those that think like you. For some players the existence of the solo mode is what actually makes the game worth playing, for example, and no con can ever offset that.
Not everyone thinks like you, and with ED, the feature set and advertisement seemed tailored to, for the most part, bring players that think differently from you, players that want full control over who they meet and when they meet them. People for whom, in many cases, a game with just one multiplayer mode where everyone is always free to attack others is worthless as entertainment.
I don't give a rats about people playing in solo be they traders, bounty hunters or w/e but this is a multiplayer game and they are usually balanced to ensure a level playing field for all players. Currently to keep that playing field level requires logging on to solo to increase your credits/hour, which I think is a bit silly.
It's kinda funny how those that want to bring players into open keep shooting down each other's arguments. Part of you keep saying that solo is easier, that it's not fair for those that stay in open if those in solo can get the same rewards with less risk/effort/time/whatever; part of you keep saying that player conflict in open is so rare that, on average, any increase in risk is minimal, mostly illusory, propaganda from those that want to bury the open mode, and that most solo players wouldn't even notice a difference.
So, which is it?
I wouldn't say the goal is to push people in any direction per say - isn't the idea of an open, dynamic universe appealing to you?
Actually, no. Or, at least, not if that dynamic element is provided by other players. I came due to the promise of an offline mode, not only I couldn't care less about the online stuff, I find the interference of other players in how the galaxy develops to be detrimental to my fun.
(Though, as I said in a previous post, if I'm being forced into having an always online connection, then I want to be able to change modes in a whim without having to create another character. I'm not going to be stuck with just the disadvantages of this badly thought online requirement without getting any of its advantages.)
Even if it does attract additional people, isn't that a good thing? And it's not hurting anyone in Solo. I can't see any reason not to implement a 10% bonus to people trading in open.
Why it's a bad idea:
- Whether it's a bonus to people in open or a penalty to those in solo is just a matter of point of view. And I guarantee you that most solo players will see it as an unjustified 10% penalty on them.
- You can be in open without the risk of seeing anyone by just tweaking your firewall or your router settings. Heck, for common broadband connections, you can make the matchmaking system not put you together with anyone else by simply starting a torrent (as it degrades the connection for realtime gaming down to unacceptable levels, something the matchmaking supposedly detects).
So, not only it would be ineffective, it would also irk solo players.
