Modes The Solo vs Open vs Groups Thread - Part the Second [Now With Added Platforms].

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Robert Maynard

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First time posting in this thread as I see it as pointless, but I just have to ask, isn't the whole discussion basically moot because the game modes will never change?

Some participants are content with the core game features as they are and some participants seek to change them to suit their own particular play-styles. Frontier haven't changed anything even though this debate has been going on for over two and a half years now. However, threads on the topic continue to be created and they are merged here to continue the discussion.
 
Again, no idea what you're talking about. Maybe it's a language barrier. But I have been playing this game a long time, and I have never ONCE had an NPC pirate me, in ANY ship, with ANY combat rank, and come anywhere CLOSE to actually being a danger to me. Not once. And I have been interdicted by thousands of NPCs

NPCs that interdict you don't even use their boost to try and catch you. How can you say they are not programmed to fail? Of course they are.

I suspect that they are programmed to give the average player a run for their money, and not have them destroy every PC in sight all the time. You would have to ask Sarah Jane Avory, she knows, but probably wouldn't tell.

They are however being continually 'improved', and in time you can expect to see higher ranked NPCs that are a threat to most players, at least, that is what I take from the various threads where I've seen it discussed. They may still not be a threat to you, because you are obviously a very good pilot. I guess the downside to that is that you may eventually run out of challenges in this game.
 
I'm totally fine with rewarding players more who play in more occupied areas, and those who play in empty areas in Open mode treated the same as Solo mode (which is essentially the same, hence no reason to have Solo mode).

So now even if a player is in open, they should be penalized for finding a backwater trading or RES-farming where there are no other players?
 
Some participants are content with the core game features as they are and some participants seek to change them to suit their own particular play-styles. Frontier haven't changed anything even though this debate has been going on for over two and a half years now. However, threads on the topic continue to be created and they are merged here to continue the discussion.


Ahh roger that, it just seemed oddly futile for it to keep going on, and on, and on..Thanks for the clarity... :)
 
First time posting in this thread as I see it as pointless, but I just have to ask, isn't the whole discussion basically moot because the game modes will never change?

If someone feels like they are disadvantaged in open they are free to choose to play solo instead. And can switch over as often as they please. So there is no advantage. You just play the way you want to play and don't try and force others to play your way.

The difficulty of solo vs open isn't cut and dry. A lone player in open can be attacked by a group of players and have no chance whatsoever. And in a wing you can potentially get more money by taking out bigger opponents in the more difficult locations that lone combatants have no chance in. The wing can watch each others back and make short work of even the most dangerous ship in a group enabling them to earn more with far less risk.

The biggest benefit of open is being able to team up in a wing and remove most of the danger. Solo players don't get to have backup but do have easier more predictable enemies due to NPC AI.

The vast majority of players that pick solo play that mode to not have to put up with other people. They don't want a MP experience and would rather do their own thing uninterrupted. Sure a might want to grind for some perceived advantage. I don't see the point since there's always going to be someone better than you who has played more than you regardless of how much you grind. Some people only bought the game while others have been playing over a year and have a huge experience advantage if they have spent some decent time in the game. And that's regardless of what ship they are flying.
 
Ahh roger that, it just seemed oddly futile for it to keep going on, and on, and on..Thanks for the clarity... :)

dont mention it anywhere but i think all the mods that has read this thread is useing professional help to withstand the trauma that we do to them:p
 
Regarding WoW: ever heard about PvE realms? You can't be attacked by other players on those, ever, without giving explicit authorization by flagging yourself for PvP. In other words, even if other players see you, they can't do anything about it. Just find a player from a low pop PvE server, like Garrosh, to group with you — or use multiple accounts to do that without having to ask anyone for help — and you can go farm there with impunity and likely never meeting anyone while you are farming.

And yeah, there are even solo nodes currently, or the equivalent, inside the instanced Garrisons. You could get every crafting material you might ever need without having to set foot in the open world, if you so wanted.

Back to ED, it's not game-breaking at all; it's a deliberate feature, much appreciated by a large part of the player base. And, even if it was somehow game-breaking, forcing players into unwanted PvP would be far more game-breaking in any game that was explicitly sold as allowing players to avoid PvP, like ED was.

It helps the game immensely by allowing players to avoid people they find undesirable. There is a reason MMOs that force non-consensual PvP on the players are, and have always been, niche games, and particularly so if death has consequences above a slight wrist-slap.

Yes, in WoW you can choose either PvP or PvE, either way you are playing with others though. And you can't just switch your character from a PvP server to a PvE one on a whim. Yes, you can transfer your character between the two, but it costs like $10, takes processing time, and there are limitations on how many times you can transfer. In ED, you can go from Open to Solo on a whim and without cost or consequence.

If ED would make a PvP server, where you can be attacked at anytime, and a PvE server, where you can only be attacked if flagged, and make each of them separate servers, that would be totally fine. If you want, you could transfer your stuff from one to another, but for a cost and a cooldown associated with it. So instead of Open and Solo mode, we have PvP and PvE mode. I would be fine with that.
 
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Because I think if they WERE faced with that ultimatum, they would ultimately admit that the benefits of open outweigh the occasional hassle of being pirated, or shot down by a crazy murderer. It would force traders (and other players) to be more careful about where and when they enter certain systems... it would force them to learn new methods to ditching players who want to cause them harm... and it might force traders to ditch their class 6 or 7 cargo rack for a proper shield generator, so they could better escape interdictions. It would make trading more exciting (and more survivable), it would cut into trader's profits, slowing down the ship progression and bringing trading profits closer to the profits of other professions.

It's a win win.

Not a hope, and I would not start a new CMDR for open either, so open would lose me.

I played open for a long time, not so much at the moment but I still pop in from time to time, I may do more so in the future, unless OFC DBOBE has changed his mind in the last day or two.
 
If ED would make a PvP server, where you can be attacked at anytime, and a PvE server, where you can only be attacked if flagged, and make each of them separate servers, that would be totally fine.

That idea was submitted already and PvPers shot it down. They're too afraid people would swarm to the PvE mode and the PvP mode would be a wasteland. Was Ultima Online the game that proved it ?
 
So now even if a player is in open, they should be penalized for finding a backwater trading or RES-farming where there are no other players?

You aren't being penalized, you just aren't given a bonus like the players who are playing in a more populated, and thus more risky, area.
 
I suspect that they are programmed to give the average player a run for their money, and not have them destroy every PC in sight all the time. You would have to ask Sarah Jane Avory, she knows, but probably wouldn't tell.

There was a recent comment from one of the Devs along the lines of they could make the NPCs tougher than any player could handle, but they choose not to for reasons of balance as you suggest. I don't even remember where it was though. :(
 
Ahh roger that, it just seemed oddly futile for it to keep going on, and on, and on..

If the thread were closed and all such posts on the subject were deleted, then things would get even more shouty, it's easiest all round just to keep dumping them in here. Players have the right to express an opinion, even if it's that the world is flat.
 
When did I start playing WOW ???

I thought this was Elite: Dangerous, a game sold as Flexi-player set in space.
Oh and does not have a monthly sub either.

Well if this game wants to classify itself as an MMO, it should take some pointers from other successful MMOs. Fine, some veteran Elite players still see this as a single player game, but I want it to be more than that. I want it to overcome WoW as the most popular MMO ever (even though that will never happen).
 
Well if this game wants to classify itself as an MMO, it should take some pointers from other successful MMOs. Fine, some veteran Elite players still see this as a single player game, but I want it to be more than that. I want it to overcome WoW as the most popular MMO ever (even though that will never happen).

isnt like the others mainstream mmo's though
 
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