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

[Jockey79]

OK, here is another quick thought.

OPEN ONLY OPTION

How about the option to flag your character as "Open Only"? Once you make this choice only the Open option is available to you.
While the appeal of this might be limited it could provide some interesting opportunities that aren't workable with the current modes.
These are the most obvious that spring to mind:

1) Bounty system
Player kills by Open Only players would result in a murder tag and a separate (very large) bounty that cannot be removed except by being claimed by another Open Only player. This would add a little more consequence to murdering another player and also make player bounty hunting more viable, as they would not be able to remove it or hide in solo. The tag and bounty would apply if you kill anybody who is not already tagged as a murderer.

2) Most Wanted List
Basically a list of the biggest murderers in game, ordered by current murder bounty. Caters both to those who crave infamy and those seeking to bring them to justice.

Interesting idea, my initial reaction is I like it.
Going to give it some thought, as at 1am my brain is not on full power

An interesting idea - but how is that going to work when I am sent to Uttanoplace, where 56k dialup is still a luxury? Should I have to clear my save in order to play the game? That connection won't support Open, and we only have one commander slot.

If I've understood, this is in addition to the current set up, so unless you sign up for being locked in to open - you'd carry as normal like you do now.

 

[QziQza]

An interesting idea - but how is that going to work when I am sent to Uttanoplace, where 56k dialup is still a luxury? Should I have to clear my save in order to play the game? That connection won't support Open, and we only have one commander slot.

think he means an 'option too' not having too..

although part of me wonders if that would just create an extra layer of 'issues' "you only play real pvp if you select the open only option.." you know how some folk are? thankfully not all, just some.

 

[Asp Explorer]

think he means an 'option too' not having too..

So if I opted in on my semi-decent connection, had fun and got a nice ship - and then found myself shoved into a place with rubbish connections, I'd lose my nice ship?

 

[Jockey79]

think he means an 'option too' not having too..

although part of me wonders if that would just create an extra layer of 'issues' "you only play real pvp if you select the open only option.." you know how some folk are? thankfully not all, just some.

With CQC coming, this idea has more of a hardcore RP aspect to it than PvP to me.
Could just be my interpretation however.

And lets face it, no matter the suggestion - extreme PvP and extreme PvE sides will pick fault.
Something about a horse shoe effect, far left and far right come back on each other, etc...

 

[Faded Glory]

OK, here is another quick thought.

OPEN ONLY OPTION

How about the option to flag your character as "Open Only"? Once you make this choice only the Open option is available to you.
While the appeal of this might be limited it could provide some interesting opportunities that aren't workable with the current modes.
These are the most obvious that spring to mind:

1) Bounty system
Player kills by Open Only players would result in a murder tag and a separate (very large) bounty that cannot be removed except by being claimed by another Open Only player. This would add a little more consequence to murdering another player and also make player bounty hunting more viable, as they would not be able to remove it or hide in solo. The tag and bounty would apply if you kill anybody who is not already tagged as a murderer.

2) Most Wanted List
Basically a list of the biggest murderers in game, ordered by current murder bounty. Caters both to those who crave infamy and those seeking to bring them to justice.

I'm not really sure what 'problem' your idea solves. Obviously, it's a voluntary thing to sign up for, which is fine, but presumably those wanting to sign up for something like that are already exclusively in Open. Now though, you get a problem, that if you've accrued a nice bounty for murder, and you get killed by a CMDR who doesn't have that flag set but is playing in Open, you will respawn still wanted if I understand you correctly. I don't believe the Open purists will consider that fair, and this would just add more animosity to the mode swapping arguments.

As to your second point, there already is a most wanted list, but I don't believe it takes into account whether a player is online or not, and I also don't know how often it updates.

 

[CMDR Malkov]

So if I opted in on my semi-decent connection, had fun and got a nice ship - and then found myself shoved into a place with rubbish connections, I'd lose my nice ship?

I understood you to mean that a poorer connection would make you more vulnerable. Surely a really bad connection is going to be a problem in any mode though?

 

[Jockey79]

I understood you to mean that a poorer connection would make you more vulnerable. Surely a really bad connection is going to be a problem in any mode though?

Log in to Solo mode, press [CTRL] + B

Then watch just how little bandwidth is used per hour of game play.
When they say you can play this on a mobile phones 3G (Cell phone) - they are not joking.

 

[Asp Explorer]

I understood you to mean that a poorer connection would make you more vulnerable. Surely a really bad connection is going to be a problem in any mode though?

Not in Solo - server transactions don't take much, but playing with other people on a rubbish connection is going to be painful for everyone involved.

 

[CMDR Malkov]

I'm not really sure what 'problem' your idea solves.

It's not intended primarily to solve problems but rather to provide a means of adding certain kinds of content to Open without spoiling things for anybody else.
The obvious problem it does solve is not being able to hide in solo if you made this choice.

As to your second point, there already is a most wanted list, but I don't believe it takes into account whether a player is online or not, and I also don't know how often it updates.

Yes there is a bounty list but it is usually populated by players you will never meet who may have racked up bounties from all manner of things - smuggling, parking fines, PowerPlay etc. Before the bounty changes it was mostly full of exploiters of the system getting rich quick.

 

[Faded Glory]

It's not intended primarily to solve problems but rather to provide a means of adding certain kinds of content to Open without spoiling things for anybody else.
The obvious problem it does solve is not being able to hide in solo if you made this choice.

Fair enough. So do you honestly believe that a player who currently kills in Open and then 'hides' in Solo to avoid getting bounty hunted will voluntarily sign up for this?

Yes there is a bounty list but it is usually populated by players you will never meet who may have racked up bounties from all manner of things - smuggling, parking fines, PowerPlay etc. Before the bounty changes it was mostly full of exploiters of the system getting rich quick.

Why will you never meet the players on the current most wanted list?

 

[Jockey79]

It's not intended primarily to solve problems but rather to provide a means of adding certain kinds of content to Open without spoiling things for anybody else.
The obvious problem it does solve is not being able to hide in solo if you made this choice.
.

What do you propose for a way of Open [locked] players being able to find other open [locked] players.
Also, I assume open [locked] can still see / interact with open [unlocked] ?

 

[CMDR Malkov]

Fair enough. So do you honestly believe that a player who currently kills in Open and then 'hides' in Solo to avoid getting bounty hunted will voluntarily sign up for this?

No, it won't solve this as people want to be free to switch modes. It is not intended as a way to eliminate cowards/griefers etc.

It's aimed more at the people who pretty much only log into Open anyway.
It is a badge of honour if you like for those who WANT to engage in adversarial play and want to do so against similar-minded players.

Why will you never meet the players on the current most wanted list?

Because most or all of them might never have logged into Open at all. You can't bounty hunt somebody who got their bounty in a parallel dimension and will never appear in yours.

 

[Roland2]

No, it won't solve this as people want to be free to switch modes. It is not intended as a way to eliminate cowards/griefers etc.

It's aimed more at the people who pretty much only log into Open anyway.
It is a badge of honour if you like for those who WANT to engage in adversarial play and want to do so against similar-minded players.



Because most or all of them might never have logged into Open at all. You can't bounty hunt somebody who got their bounty in a parallel dimension and will never appear in yours.

If it's for " the people who pretty much only log into Open anyway", why is it needed at all. Just so they can say the did. Seems like a big waste of money/resources to me. Why not just ask for a special ship skin that only people who have only logged into open can buy? It looks like it would serve the same purpose, and be relatively cheap/low resources to make.

 

[Faded Glory]

No, it won't solve this as people want to be free to switch modes. It is not intended as a way to eliminate cowards/griefers etc.

It's aimed more at the people who pretty much only log into Open anyway.
It is a badge of honour if you like for those who WANT to engage in adversarial play and want to do so against similar-minded players.



Because most or all of them might never have logged into Open at all. You can't bounty hunt somebody who got their bounty in a parallel dimension and will never appear in yours.

Ok. Firstly, I believe that your take on the CMDRs on the most wanted list is wrong. I have no proof, but then I don't think you do either, and for what it's worth, plenty of the names I see on that list are players who in the past have come onto the forums and even given their precise location so bounty hunters could come and have a crack at them.

And remember, you can't bounty hunt someone who's at work / school / sleeping either.

And Roland2 ninja'd me. I do not think FD should spend 1 minute of dev time creating a 'badge of honor' for people just because they choose to play in Open only, although I like his idea of a ship decal or something. It's just a mode of play in a game, do it if you want to, don't do it if you don't. It really doesn't make a person special playing in Open, and people playing in other modes, or heaven forbid mode switching are not necessarily 'cowards or griefers'.

 

[Jockey79]

If it's for " the people who pretty much only log into Open anyway", why is it needed at all. Just so they can say the did. Seems like a big waste of money/resources to me. Why not just ask for a special ship skin that only people who have only logged into open can buy? It looks like it would serve the same purpose, and be relatively cheap/low resources to make.

So, hiding Solo / Group in the main menu from selection is more work than creating a paint for EVERY ship in game?

Don't have much experience with programming do you ?

 

[relayer]

Cry those tears.

I am talking about stuff that could make the game more engaging, you are stuck in your PVP am Bad.. PVE am GOOD..

People like you are the reason I play open, so I can avoid you.

\

Then quit whining about open & how solo mode is bad.

You finally made me use my forum superpower/ignore list; you're only the second one on it.

"To the cornfield!"

 

[DarkWalker]

No, it won't solve this as people want to be free to switch modes. It is not intended as a way to eliminate cowards/griefers etc.

It's aimed more at the people who pretty much only log into Open anyway.
It is a badge of honour if you like for those who WANT to engage in adversarial play and want to do so against similar-minded players.

A different idea for how to do this: if a player, for the last 15 hours of gameplay and seven days in real time (numbers subject to tuning), only logged in Open, he gets a "Hardcore Open" badge. Logging into any other mode causes the badge to vanish.

Optionally, if they have the badge, they get a confirmation prompt if they attempt to log in a different mode, so as to avoid accidentally losing it.

Advantages of this implementation:

- No need to create a different mode, or a different slot; the players can use their current commander.
- If the player needs to play in Solo for a while, they can do so; they will merely lose the badge while they are in the other mode and for a while after returning to Open, but can reclaim it afterwards.

Disadvantage: it doesn't stop players from grinding in Solo until they are well geared and then switching to Open. Though the same can be achieved by playing in Open but blocking peer to peer connections, so I'm not sure it's much of a downside.

BTW, not exactly an original idea. Mario Kart Wii does something similar for the "Golden Steering Wheel" badge, and I'm sure it's not the only game with something of the kind.

 

[QziQza]

With CQC coming, this idea has more of a hardcore RP aspect to it than PvP to me.
Could just be my interpretation however.

And lets face it, no matter the suggestion - extreme PvP and extreme PvE sides will pick fault.
Something about a horse shoe effect, far left and far right come back on each other, etc...

extremism always needs its direct opposition, even if it has to be imagined or created. it often becomes its own reason to exist, and is perpetuated as a way to justify its actions and opinions. (or sometimes just out of habit and a lack of imagination lol)

i'm just here for the good company and to help maintain the perpetual stalemate between both sides of the triangle

 

[why fi at all]

Cry those tears.

I am talking about stuff that could make the game more engaging, you are stuck in your PVP am Bad.. PVE am GOOD..

People like you are the reason I play open, so I can avoid you.

some people want the devs to bring people into open, maybe by force.
some people are not interested in player interaction, and will NOT be coxed into open.
some people are out of open because they are not interested in being someone eases non-consensual soft target, over and over and over again.
some people are out of open because there are too many people that have no interest in the game and only in interrupting the enjoyment of other people.


some people say that open is a wasteland where there are none to very few players.

i mistakenly identified another person in this thread as majinvash.
now i will tell majinvash what i told the other person by mistake.

maybe the reason you find so few people in open is because you have won the game.
the game is not winnable, but you have won it anyway.


you are the top of the heap.
the greatest.
the most magnificent.
you have become the greatest killer of other players.
and the the match maker has nobody of your skill level to match you with in your instance.
and so you see all players of your kill level.
none.

except for very few random encounters with unlucky victims, you don't get anyone with you.

you're the winner of Elite Dangerous. how does it feel?

 

[Mouse]

Cry those tears.

I am talking about stuff that could make the game more engaging, you are stuck in your PVP am Bad.. PVE am GOOD..

People like you are the reason I play open, so I can avoid you.

Can you add to the discussion without insulting others? You have not talked about stuff that would make the game more engaging, you constantly harassed and bemoaned about solo and group.

None of us are saying PVP is bad. That is your melodramatic attempt to prove a point that doesn't exist.

All of us would love to make Open enjoyable.. and people are working on ideas. PVP has a place, sadly griefers and PKers are making it so that others don't want to be in open because others have ruined their fun. These same people invade private sometimes as well.

Fun.. that is the principle that drives everything. People having fun in the game. There is many different ways to have fun and we want the game to be fun for people.. that will NOT happen with free for all greifing PKers remove the fun for others. IF we want people to play more in open rewards and other carrots are not going to do it. Changing the behavior of a minorty that is fubaring things for others is the key.