To Fly in Open or Not - Is Ganking/Griefing Really That Bad?

[Gun Star]

I've been ganked by a CMDR that was looking to see what I had in my hold. I was just doing a passenger mission. I think he was just seeing if it was worth his time to kill me. I ended up switching to my Conda since I was in my home system and we hit up the nav point for a while. I talk to him every so often and we will wing up for a Haz ReS or CZ.

I have had instances of CMDR's especially at the alien ruins sitting there with a Cutter and blasting any weak explorer ship that showed up. As soon as a couple battle Condas showed up to defend explorers the cutter and his buddies combat logged. So griefers complain about combat logging, but when faced with a worthy adversary they just do the same. A lot of them just want to pray on the weak ship to make themselves feel superior. I wont attack another real CMDR unless attacked. Even in CZ's on opposing sides.

 

[StainlesSteelRat]

Due to some recent "impulse" purchases, I'm running a 4.5million rebuy FDL with about 800k in cash. You think I should participate in a CG in open?

I think not.

 

[A2lucifer]

Here nearly 600 hours played. Every time I play a cg in open I got ganked. The problem its the poor punishment system. I got 300 mcr in cash and 1b in ships. So lose a ship doesn't matters to me but . Frontier has to improve really the punishment system. For a trader it's a death trap going to a cg. In a combat ship you can flee. So not fun in open.

 

[WindWpn]

Well, relative to CGs, simply look at the current Sale of the Century CG.... Lots of PvP there, but overall, commodities are being delivered.

 

[Luniticisi]

Well, relative to CGs, simply look at the current Sale of the Century CG.... Lots of PvP there, but overall, commodities are being delivered.

quite likely in Solo/Private Groups

 

[Drelthar]

It's really not bad at all.

I've been greifed once and I've played almost exclusively in open since launch (1.0)

- - - Updated - - -

quite likely in Solo/Private Groups

Well, I was pirating a lot of very full ships and killed only one (by accident... That's twice now...) and my cobra can only hold 32 tonnes. I normally only take about 15 though because it's tough to get more if they resist due to da cops.

So people are delivering over 200 tonnes or so even if I manage to pull off a successful job.

- - - Updated - - -

Due to some recent "impulse" purchases, I'm running a 4.5million rebuy FDL with about 800k in cash. You think I should participate in a CG in open?

I think not.

I think you should fly something less expensive till you can afford the rebut, even in Solo!!!

 

[William J Smith]

I play exclusively in open (yeah I'm crazy)

Been annoyed by sdc at a barnacle site,(fortunetly I landed at Maia first so did'nt have far to go on rebuy) and at Maia a couple of days later(if you talk to those SDC commanders , they cant help but chat away... so used that to sneak past while their typing a long answer to a question )been hit at I think it was Farseer (or another engie base), made it in on the second attempt 5 mins
The only one that really annoyed me was the engie base one because I was gear out and 4 seconds from landing*

But thats the risk of open, the dangerous part of ED

But away from hotspots, you'll only really liable to see lots of people at places like Lave or Sothis and they want to be left alone to trade just as much as you do

Bill

*they were waiting for me when I took off........... showed them exactly what an engineered AspX with a loony pilot can do [woah]

 

[Dietger]

To Fly in Open or Not - Is Ganking/Griefing Really That Bad?

No its not. Open is a friendly place. I meat a lot of nice folks all around the world online in Elite, all of them helpful.

Griefers need publicity, if you stay away of highly attractive places, like new found galactic lifeforms, alien ruins or high paying CGs, your good to go. Go there later, you'll be fine.


My stats:

I own 203.712.445 Cr total (ships and all)
My rebuy cost are 19.949.015 Cr
37 deaths total of which aprox. 1/3 were PvP
I killed 5 or 6 Commanders and find it not very amusing, so I stopped playing for the kill.

1531 hours and 40 minutes played. I play OPEN exclusively, so far not a minute SOLO or PRIVATE

Cheers




ps.


Pirates and faction players, bounty hunters are no gankers or griefers;

 

[Kyokushin]

I am playing over 2 years in only Open and meet a lot of fantastic friendly people. Over 2000 hours.

Important thing is a thinking where you flying. If you are not prepared for combat PvP or running then just avoid common known pvp locations like:
- Diso/Lave/leesti
- Founders wolrd
- Community goals

I not mean these location are forbidden. I mean you can meet here a player who is looking for PvP.
I specially do not care about that. I have always a ship so strong to make high wake or so fast to safety run, or so hard to engage and win the battle, but you just need to know that.


There is around 50 people who can interdict you without a reason even if you are in sidewinder. There is 400 blns of star systems, and these peopel are operating at 200ly cubic bubble. So its really hard to meet them, and again - they are focused at above location.

I am doing every single activity like trading, exploring in Open. Just no be so greed and put better shields with booster to your trading ship and do not engage a fight if you do not want to fight.

Remember, always you can do high wake. this is only 15s fsd charge + cooldown. Keep 4 pips and just jump.... if you meet hostile player.

This may help you:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...iefers-or-base-campers-a-quide-how-to-survive

And even if you will have some bad luck and someone destroy your ship, then what?
Then nothing mate. Completely nothing. Money are easy to earn, you will get some adrenaline, you will get some fun (yes, even if you loose, you will learn something about game, mechanic, build), thats only agame, just rebuy and keep rolling

I have 200 mlns (from a space station in most) in rebuys and earned around 4 blns.

P.S.
I was interdicted literally few times. Less than 10.

 

[SP_Predicador]

It's really bad.

I used to play in Open, because I really like the MMO mecanichs, even in ED, with that mechanichs so downgraded. And I don't like combat as main focus, so I really like speed civil job builds on my beloved Imperial Clipper (and Cobra before). To enjoy being in an MMO, even this, CG's and coop play, but with some defensive capabilities against griefers and gankers - run! XD. But After Engineers, the balance and rebalance is a total chaos, both ship builds components, and AI's. So I almost left to play. Because I don't want to grind and grind and grind non ending, specially in hotspots, where griefers are around. Just to be my effort useless, one month later.

We really need that safety areas will be really safety, (not pve only areas, but areas of real punishment, by force) and not a joke. Penalties in insurance to griefers, for example. Capital Ships of the Powers, that should be useful and proactive, not only a beatiful wallflower for beautiful pictures. PVP should be rewarding, as should be also PVE. In my opinion, many people are doing griefing and ganking, because PVP is broken (awful instancing, lack of objectives, lack of mechanichs) and there remains nothing more to do for them, in the game. Same thing as many of the old players, are doing exploration out of the bubble, playing Open, without risk, and enjoying a beautiful galaxy, the strong point of this game. And the rest of us are getting ill/angry, with the broken missions and the passangers as main income profit origin, in civil jobs now.

 

[aRJay]

This is the issue I have with all these "Open" is safe comments .. It's safe as long as you avoid anywhere where something is actually happening.

Every time I have ventured into open I have been attacked* because I was in a "Named" system or visiting an engineer .. We are told you need to have an engineered ship to compete, but we can't go to an engineer as we might be attacked*

*For no other reason but LoLz

No there is a reason, the attackers there think it immoral that anybody (other than their little clique) has an upgraded ship.
The actual reason is they probably wouldn't look as skilled in their video nasty's if they attacked someone with any sort of a chance.

 

[Rado]

I only play open. Went looking for PvP, I am the dirty ganker KoS deplorable. 12rebuys and maybe 2 or 3 are from PvP.
Guess what, you can always highwake to your safe space and if the pucker factor gets too high, just end the ED process and unjack from the matrix!

Getting ganked is rare and easily avoidable.

People being reluctant to try Open due to the fear of peeveepee is silly as this game is fundamentally anti PVP and broken in the multiplayer aspect.

 

[Kyokushin]

Ganking in open is rather urban legend. However, yes - its happening sometimes.

Its like a monster in dark place in childrens room. Its growing and its sooo scary. But if you turn on the light there is no any monster. You just need to play few times and you will see there is no monster, no darknes.

A fear for unknown is natural

Its also like with sheeps. If one sheep is ganked by a wolf then this sheep is moving to group/solo. This sheep is creating an urban legend about scary dragon in open. Its a matter of time when another sheep will be also ganked (beause sheeps are flying dumbly unprepared at common known pvp location), so then we have two sheeps in private/solo zones. These two sheeps are rasing the urban legend again.

And finally there is 50 of wolves against 30 000 sheeps. But there is no any veteran sheep in Open who can make the resistance and beat the dragon. There is only 'old and wise sheep' who is telling you 'move to our safe place because there is big big legendary unbeatable dragon and he will gank you!'.

Thats how it looks

Do not fear the darkness. Sky is full of stars. They will guide You.

 

[aRJay]

I've been having some interesting conversations around piracy, specifically around gankers or griefers. I've had many pilots say they don't fly in open as they don't want to get killed or griefed, etc. This made me wonder how bad can it really be? I've gotten killed 5 times by gankers and I didn't care at all, but why? I don't have that much currency and haven't played the game all that long. So what is it that makes people play in solo/private? Being clear I strongly believe that everyone has the right to play how they want, in no way am I passing judgement or saying someone should play my or another other way. Who the hell would I be to dictate that??

So I did some math based on my play time and assets. I have no idea if I'm near average or not so if I'm majorly missing the mark let me know.

• I've played 400 hours
• I've been killed by commanders 5 times
• Each gank it takes 2.5 minutes for me to die
• Average rebuy cost is $4M
• I have $250M in the bank, assets of $450M and $1B spent on outfitting

NOTE: Let's rule out high risk cases like having a huge amount of trade data when returning to the bubble. I agree the risk is too high and pilots should go into solo/private for these rare times.

Okay, now let's look at some stats around the above numbers

• 125 minutes of death
• 24,000 minutes of play time
• 1.66% of my total play time I was getting killed and dying
• Those 5 deaths cost me $20M total
• That's 2% of the total I've spent on outfitting
• At the time of death it's 1.6% of my cash on hand.

I realize these numbers might be overly simplistic and I may be way off the mark in terms of average play time and assets. If I am please post your numbers and do your own math. IMHO I'd gladly have 1.6% of my time be getting killed as the excitement and risk it adds FAR outweigh any negatives to me.

Finally know I have no agenda here other than sharing what I enjoy with others. I think open is awesome, there's very little in the game currently that makes me play solo/private. Doing skimmer missions where another commander will be there doing the same, sure, solo. Sightseeing with friends who insist on private, great. Any kind of non-wing play and I'm in open, every time.

Very curious to hear from the hardcore solo/private players as to why they don't fly open. Again being 100% clear I'm not judging anyone nor saying that my way is the "right" way. There is NO right way to play Elite and thank god for me no wrong (as I'd surely be getting it wrong!!)

~X

I started in Solo then switched to Open for the Planet Wilson adventure I then stayed in open but have been killed 5 times by players one twice the other 3 times all occasions were during CGs I have now switched to Private Group.

I don't know offhand how long I have played.
My losses due to player kills would be averaging nearer 7 million. The last two ships flown are an Anaconda and an FDL combined rebuy around 27,000,000 not counting other losses.
About 130 million cash in hand.

 

[bendover]

I once thought that combat logging should be Punished,But it depends on the circumstance,If you interdict a sidewinder In a anaconda and destroy it Where's the Glory and Skill in that,Combat logging is akin to Admitting defeat,There is no formal way to concede defeat in ED Perhaps there should be

If the sheep where a little more organised it would be the wolves that would need to hide,But the Trouble is Solo in Name Solo in nature,Maybe us sheep should get organised we will soon be wearing Wolfskin coats

 

[Karunamon]

Ganking in open is rather urban legend. However, yes - its happening sometimes.

An urban legend is something that's often repeated but has no proof. That sentence is therefore an oxymoron.

We have plenty of proof. On the boards here, on youtube, and the popularity of certain PGs.

Closing your eyes, plugging your ears, and going LA LA LA GANKING DOESN'T HAPPEN has no effect out here in the real world where we can trivially see it does. You can't possibly be that surprised when someone would rather not risk 40M + hours of saved exploration data / cargo / etc through no fault of their own.

 

[Frenotx]

I have played almost exclusively in open since beta, and have been "griefed" exactly one time. I was doing some research tests on heat mechanics in an un shielded stock keelback by the station, and some joker launched a salvo of missiles at me. Every other interaction with CMDRs has either been a brief "how goes?" chat, a passing tip of the hat, a small number of cases of legitimate piracy, some powerplay-related scraps, combat (with or against) in a CZ, or the occasional consensual duel.

 

[Vorxian]

No one has an issue with players being pirates..

What cakes your boots in mud is the fact that players pretend to be on some kind of pirate deal, then seal club you when you're already prepared to role play the victim.

About now more players than not just seem to want to test their uuuuber engineered thermal epeenionic beam pew pew cannonz on you... so open is a turkey shoot.. or if not, usually for me a +/- 50m credit insurance screen game of roulette which I'm just not prepared to play. So banished to solo / private group for me.

Sooo.. is open as bad as people say it is? Well no if you're flying a 3000cr buyback ship. YES if you're hauling 800t of palladium in your cutter trying to earn some trade bucks.

 

[Mohrgan]

Your experience will vary based on the ship and with what load out as well. If you are a combat focused Commander, with a decently appointed ship, you'll find less ganking/griefer issues than you do in a Trader or Explorer fit. Those in combat capable ships aren't the prime targets for the aggressors. This has been been interfered with some due to Engineers, but the rule still stands.

I have over 2000 hours in, with a net worth of just under 500 mil cr, and I generally play in PG's. This allows me to determine who I interact with. This is not a firm decision, just a reflection on what I want out of the game. It has been too many years now, since I felt that proving myself in a video game made any difference at all, to force myself into flying in open just to be accepted in some fraternity. There is nothing in open that I cannot find in Mobius. I feel no loss, nor feel like I am missing anything when I avoid open. The idea that open has some mystique about it is just a ludicrous as saying all people playing in Solo are hiding.

 

[Dietger]

Ganking in open is rather urban legend. However, yes - its happening sometimes.

Its like a monster in dark place in childrens room. Its growing and its sooo scary. But if you turn on the light there is no any monster. You just need to play few times and you will see there is no monster, no darknes.

A fear for unknown is natural

Its also like with sheeps. If one sheep is ganked by a wolf then this sheep is moving to group/solo. This sheep is creating an urban legend about scary dragon in open. Its a matter of time when another sheep will be also ganked (beause sheeps are flying dumbly unprepared at common known pvp location), so then we have two sheeps in private/solo zones. These two sheeps are rasing the urban legend again.

And finally there is 50 of wolves against 30 000 sheeps. But there is no any veteran sheep in Open who can make the resistance and beat the dragon. There is only 'old and wise sheep' who is telling you 'move to our safe place because there is big big legendary unbeatable dragon and he will gank you!'.

Thats how it looks

Do not fear the darkness. Sky is full of stars. They will guide You.

THIS.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Kyokushin again I tried Kyokushin but I can't.

Really, if griefing in Elite was as bad as proclaimed here on this official game FORUM, there wouldn't be any coherent gameplay possible. Don't get my wrong folks: go SOLO if you must or like to; go private if you have good friends you like to join, no one tells you how to play this, but looking on actual game numbers, think CGs here, or any of the ongoing PvE established, player driven activities , Elite seems to come along nicely - anyway.