Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter

[Sandmann]

A 'skilled' trader in this sense would be someone who has a heavily defended trader (less cargo space) and goes to less popular trading locations (worse profit per ton) and perhaps aproaches things from safer directions (longer travel times).

All of these things lower profit per time. Thus the smart trader just plays solo while trading to maximize profits. Now, if there were open only trading mechanics that allowed for all the above things to still turn over higher profits than a dedicated solo trader, you would see people trading in open.

Its perfectly possible to do all pve activities in such a way that you are relatively safe in open, the issue is that its less profitable than doing the same things solo because part of the 'smart' way to play a non combat build is in knowing how to avoid combat, and that inevitably costs you something in terms of efficiency.

I'm quite happy to accept their contention that there is more i could do to defend myself. I confess that I know very little about the engineers stuff and that I have as little interest in learning about it as I do time to pursue it. None the less I find their offhand remarks such as "it's easy to escape a gank if only *precondiion*" because the precondition is invariably some huge, difficult, time sinking meta that gives you an extra 5 seconds breathing time, that they are trying to make sound trivial in order to blame the victim for the outcome of their antisocial gameplay. Yes, if I spent weeks or months in solo (coz you'd never be able to do it in open) grinding out a maxed out trading ship I might be a bit more survivable in open, but WHY would I spend that long doing something I hate just so I could be slightly more survivable in a gameplay style that I also hate, just so I could be some ganker's breakfast? It's basically the same as a murderer claiming their victim's death was their own fault because they didn't spend years studying martial arts, and didn't walk around wearing body armour and carrying an assault rifle.

Sorry, no thanks. The reason gankers gank is not because the game was designed for it - it clearly wasn't - but because there is no reason NOT to gank. Until open has consequences that would make gankers reconsider their actions in med - high security areas, or there's an open PvE mode, or PvP flags etc I see no need to play in open. To use the ganker's favourite idiom, the wolves need the sheep, but the sheep are perfectly happy without the wolves. The analogy is incorrect however... they're not wolves, wolves clean up carrion etc. They're parasites, feeding off the lives of others while offering nothing positive in return.

 

[Erika]

The thing that seems not to get through to some people (usually the pro-PvP crowd) is that there are people who choose not to want to play a PvP game.

All feelings are based on stimulus
Not wanting to do something or wanting to do something is an outcome, the question is always why do people want to do the things they want to do?

A brick layer may enjoy laying down a nice fancy porch. When they are done they might take a step back and look at that porch and feel satisfied and happy that they did that job. They take pleasure in it. However try getting that brick layer to do it for free, or even pay them to do it out in the middle of nowhere where a house will never be attached to it and it will simply erode away with out any use. They will more often than not decide against doing that because they need some sort of justification to kick them off to do it.
Some brick layers, if in the right mood, may take the opportunity to practice. A rare few may just enjoy the actual direct activity of plopping those bricks down, hearing the scraping noises of the trowel. But to most its the building of the porch that ties it all together, not the laying of the brick. Its the result of the efforts that they do it for.

Games are played not for fun but satisfaction, fun makes a game less tedious, but its not the reason people play - many people play tedious games and complain about their tedium yet continue on, because the real payoff, the satisfaction, is still there.

To the trader the satisfaction is in making credits. Now this may manifest itself in somewhat less direct ways. They may claim the satisfaction is in discovering a really good trading rout.. however how do they know its a good rout? Because it makes more credits.

So in this game if one goes out to trade they are going to try and do so in the most satisfying way, regardless of whether or not that is more or less fun than other ways they could potentially be doing it, satisfaction is the goal, and if fun doesn't align with that then its just bad game design, the fun is just there to prevent tedium and not to be the point.

The people who would want to be a trader in an environment where the payoff is diminished are the brick layers who would build a houseless porch nobody will ever see. Some are out there, but its just a different goal they are trying to be satisfied with - be it a test of their own ability or hubris to say they did it - their reward is ideological fulfillment and ultimately it is still for satisfaction that they work.

What im saying is just a reiteration of a previous point. The typical trader right now trades in solo because its making the most profits. If there were some mechanism where trading in open, and dodging gank attempts (which requires always-on gank avoidance strategies even if its a rare occurance to be interdicted) still provided a higher profit per hour, even factoring in potential losses, then that would be the normal goal for traders, as it would be the msot satisfying playstyle as it will produce the most credits, which is the 'score' for how good a trader you are being.

All solo activities in this game have the most effective payoff when done in solo mode, apart from pvp itself which requires you to be in open. Whether or not the risk is minimal or drastic doesnt matter if the risk is technically higher and there is no gain from exposing yourself to it.

I'm quite happy to accept their contention that there is more i could do to defend myself.

Well, the point of my post is that there is really no reason for you to do those things when you can just play solo. Thats what I do, and im a person that always plays mmos on pvp servers just for the extra challenge of avoiding being ganked*, so i happily stay in solo while space trucking.

* looking deeper the reason i do that is not for the challenge but to show off that i could thrive under more challenging situations - by successfully doing it.

 

[MarkAusten]

The typical trader right now trades in solo because its making the most profits. If there were some mechanism where trading in open, and dodging gank attempts (which requires always-on gank avoidance strategies even if its a rare occurance to be interdicted) still provided a higher profit per hour, even factoring in potential losses, then that would be the normal goal for traders, as it would be the msot satisfying playstyle as it will produce the most credits, which is the 'score' for how good a trader you are being.

I'm not sure what a typical trader is. I am a trader by choice and I play n solo by choice. Not because of the payoffs but because I don't want to play with other people. That is where my greatest satisfaction lies. The profit is secondary to that.

Am I a typical trader? I don't know but I do know that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

But, I think your satisfaction criteria is a good point.

 

[JosiahD]

All solo activities in this game have the most effective payoff when done in solo mode, apart from pvp itself which requires you to be in open.

Not necessarily when you realise private groups are just as useful for completing solo activities and open usually is no different to solo through most of the playable area.

Just to also follow-up on your PvP point here - PvP can also be undertaken in Private Group mode of course. It's interesting that PvEers happily jump into a PvE centric private group to focus on PvE (eg Mobius), yet some PvPers seem so incensed by this that certain individuals have in the past seen fit to enter that group through deception to grief.....and those same types of PvPers insist on regarding such PvEers as carebears or cowards because they don't want to participate in open. It seems to me that a PvP private group would be perfect for their needs if they wish to avoid carebears and combat loggers.....if it's good enough for PvEers to avoid unwanted PvP, is it also not equally as good an option for PvPers?

 

[Erika]

I'm not sure what a typical trader is. I am a trader by choice and I play n solo by choice. Not because of the payoffs but because I don't want to play with other people. That is where my greatest satisfaction lies. The profit is secondary to that.

Am I a typical trader? I don't know but I do know that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

But, I think your satisfaction criteria is a good point.

If you derived satisfaction specifically from not playing with other people, you would just sit there alone and do nothing at all, as doing nothing at all would be fulfilling your needs. You derive satisfaction from something in the game and whatever that thing is is better pursued in solo in the current state. It may be something atypical in which just making trading more (net) profitable would not make you feel drawn to open, but it would do it for most people, most people try to game a game, and giving them a nice new enhanced efficiency to see more bigger rewards faster will be the thing they mostly do. Everyones a little different, but most people are different within a fairly narrow range of variability when it comes to how they will aproach a video game. The problem with players, and people in general, is few actually know specifically want they want, but everyone seems to know what they dont like. This is why revolutions seldom end in peaceful governance immediately afterwards.

And using that same analogy, revolutions, im not entirely sure trying to 'overthrow' the current trend by radically changing things to try and encourage mass migration into open would be a good idea. The games structurally flawed but its holding together. Adding more little things for people to mess around with might be the safest bet. Of course picking up the pace would be advisable.

 

[Martian Successor]

I just popped in to say you're all gankers. Happy New Year!

 

[Erika]

Not necessarily when you realise private groups are just as useful for completing solo activities and open usually is no different to solo through most of the playable area.

Just to also follow-up on your PvP point here - PvP can also be undertaken in Private Group mode of course. It's interesting that PvEers happily jump into a PvE centric private group to focus on PvE (eg Mobius), yet some PvPers seem so incensed by this that certain individuals have in the past seen fit to enter that group through deception to grief.....and those same types of PvPers insist on regarding such PvEers as carebears or cowards because they don't want to participate in open. It seems to me that a PvP private group would be perfect for their needs if they wish to avoid carebears and combat loggers.....if it's good enough for PvEers to avoid unwanted PvP, is it also not equally as good an option for PvPers?

Its probably not because there are more axes (plural of axis) here than just pvp and pve, its a three dimensional problem. Some people are resigned to solo-centric existence, most of these people are 'pve' players though thats not their motivation exactly, they tend to be pve players because what they are wanting to do are things they can do in solo. To this sort of player a group like mobius is a neat environment they could hop into and continue doing whatever they were doing and maybe run into other people or do other stuff, its sort of a bonus to the solo game mode for some, and a 'safe open' for others.

On the other hand the 'pvp'ers are probably more correctly the 'open enthusiasts', more specifically the only ones left - the 'open enthusiasts' who wanted to do non pvp open things having fallen into said groups such as mobius or just quit or whatever.

So things have become entangled, the proponents of open tend to think pvp centric because only pvp centric people are left to care about open. Some sort of 'pvp group' wouldnt fix this issue for most (i think there are some pvp groups out there) because they are people who primarily want open to be a success and the primary game mode and for the universe to feel more 'alive', its just because, as i said, the non pvpers who shared this view for open have given up on open by now (mostly)

 

[StiTch]

Hey man truth be told I've sort of had a mental tip-over today, I realized that mocking on this forum yields about the same results as reasoning

Which made me trully appreciate the extent of comedy around here.

He's starting to see the way and the light guys...when both sides of an argument are fighting like children with pillows, my bitter sarcasm is all that makes the difference

 

[Zambrick]

Depends on what you by "help," but if you mean the proper skilz and engineered tools can't "help" him survive and hi wake, you are incorrect.

That isnt true either. It has nothing to do with how well armored/shielded you are or how prepared for PVP you are in a non combat ship. Nobody hull kills ships. They target power plants, thrusters and FSDs. Any PvP player worth their salts entire build is about taking out one of those modules in the fastest way possible. A non combat ship will have one of those modules destroyed in less than 20 seconds. They are actually safer going dead stick and pressing escape and then save and quit to main menu.

When module protection comes out, then we might see a change and then your statement might be correct.

 

[Salawat]

Dios mio. Is someone missing their quota for angst for the year? The level of contentious bickering has blown past married couple, put academics to shame, and frankly, left such an odious stain on the intellectual landscape that it looks like a bomb went off.

I now pronounce every prolonger of this not-even-argument PMS'ing, distempered Ph.D's.

Happy New Years, ya filthy animals.

o7

 

[SnowyNI]

It's ok OP, there is a eve style flying coming that may be what all the MDKers want. There may be peace in space after all, we'll see!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzfvIV2tTNM

 

[CMDR Aengus]

If you derived satisfaction specifically from not playing with other people, you would just sit there alone and do nothing at all, as doing nothing at all would be fulfilling your needs. You derive satisfaction from something in the game and whatever that thing is is better pursued in solo in the current state. It may be something atypical in which just making trading more (net) profitable would not make you feel drawn to open, but it would do it for most people, most people try to game a game, and giving them a nice new enhanced efficiency to see more bigger rewards faster will be the thing they mostly do. Everyones a little different, but most people are different within a fairly narrow range of variability when it comes to how they will aproach a video game. The problem with players, and people in general, is few actually know specifically want they want, but everyone seems to know what they dont like. This is why revolutions seldom end in peaceful governance immediately afterwards.

And using that same analogy, revolutions, im not entirely sure trying to 'overthrow' the current trend by radically changing things to try and encourage mass migration into open would be a good idea. The games structurally flawed but its holding together. Adding more little things for people to mess around with might be the safest bet. Of course picking up the pace would be advisable.

Time and time again players say why they are not interested in certain elements of types of gameplay and this is the response. 'You dont know what you want or you dont know how good it is until you come into Open and play MY way.'
A simple paraphrase suffices for all that text.

Heres why I play Elite. Relaxation. It chills me out. I put some tunes on and I fly around space, do a bit of this, do a bit of that.

Relaxation is the end product. What is the Why? The Why is because thats the end product. Relaxation. Not profits. Not having my avatars name plastered all over the galaxy, not having Elite in any one profession, not having all the ships and all engineered, not having all my engineered mods at grade 5.

Relaxation.

Theres an awful lot of players that just enjoy pootling about in spacehships. And unfortunately, , for some, so does Mr Braben, and its pretty much his ball, his yard and his mum making the lemonade and ginger biscuits.

Its really simple. And yet posters on here insist that myself and everybody else is wrong, we arent trying hard enough, we're missing out, were not playing the game properly, somehow not getting the full range of experiences from the game... blah blah blah so on and so forth to an excrutiating endless loop.

Combat distresses me. Thats just pve, never mind pvp and all the meta that goes with it. Its not because its hard, but because it raises my heart rate, my blood pressure goes up, my eyes bulge and i turn into the ravenous scrub devouring Eve Online player that i used to be.

I still play Eve. I explore there now too.
Used to play a lot of fps, BF, COD, ravenshield, team fortress. I dont do that now for the same reasons.
It turns me into a knoob.

Im not mentally ill, i dont have ptsd, im not scared or some frightened little child, im not clueless, i dont need my hand holding, im not dumb, i dont need you to tell me how the game mechanics work, or philosophise me into some kind of enlightened game state.

I play certain parts of Elite Dangerous that chill me the buck out. I do that because FD have created a game environment that allows me, and this is the important part, the CHOICE.

You know there are still players in the world that enjoy single player games right.

I. Dont. Want. To. Play. With. You.

Allthough i will play with other people that are like minded and respect my gameplay and my choices as i do theirs and we all get along nicely and enjoy the game we want to play without distraction from the 'kiddies'

I get my kicks at work operating heavy machinery and pillaging the Earth. Or at my local MMA club

Thank you very much.

 

[Steve O B Have]

The OP and his ilk don't seem to be able to 'get' the reality of their situation. ALL you can see here is that a vocal minority fill the forum with demanding and entitled dross. When their prey decide that getting ganked or crashed into under the guise of 'emergent gameplay' or 'PvP because that's the way the game was made' turns out to not be the game they bought into nor the developers created and leave to the environment that better suits their play style, you have a whinge and accuse them of needing to get gud.

Well I have news for you. You're making your bed bud, you and all your PvP 'friends'. A few threads saying the same thing over and over is only indicative of a relative few making more noise. The game that the majority (as confirmed by the devs) want to play is not the same as the one that you want to make it into. Therefore the clear answer, and the one that will make everyone happy (including I suspect the mods and devs) is that you go away. Go find the game that has been designed to pander to your narrow view of what the game should be, I believe that EVE Online and the coming SC will allow you to fill your boots, so go there.

Clearly all the noise you are making is just that, noise, and frankly we're tired of hearing about it and your obtuse attempts at degrading those that don't agree with your 'vision' of what ED should be. You will not be missed.

 

[WillFrog]

Its probably not because there are more axes (plural of axis) here than just pvp and pve, its a three dimensional problem. Some people are resigned to solo-centric existence, most of these people are 'pve' players though thats not their motivation exactly, they tend to be pve players because what they are wanting to do are things they can do in solo. To this sort of player a group like mobius is a neat environment they could hop into and continue doing whatever they were doing and maybe run into other people or do other stuff, its sort of a bonus to the solo game mode for some, and a 'safe open' for others.

On the other hand the 'pvp'ers are probably more correctly the 'open enthusiasts', more specifically the only ones left - the 'open enthusiasts' who wanted to do non pvp open things having fallen into said groups such as mobius or just quit or whatever.

So things have become entangled, the proponents of open tend to think pvp centric because only pvp centric people are left to care about open. Some sort of 'pvp group' wouldnt fix this issue for most (i think there are some pvp groups out there) because they are people who primarily want open to be a success and the primary game mode and for the universe to feel more 'alive', its just because, as i said, the non pvpers who shared this view for open have given up on open by now (mostly)

Pretty much exactly what happened to me. I used to be a big proponent of open. I used to say to people "it's fine, most cmdrs you meet are friendly or simply ignore you and if you do get attacked it's pretty easy to learn how to escape." All of that is still true, but then came the Farewell to Walter CG. When the system got flipped to an anarchy and I came under relentless, pointless attack and then saw people laughing about it on Reddit.

I never saw a rebuy screen but it was such a stupid and depressing experience it soured me on the whole business and since then I've hardly visited open at all. I've been hanging out in Mobius and having a nice time. Perhaps at some point I'll get bored and go looking for a little danger to liven things up but right now I just don't feel that open is worth the bother anymore.

 

[Steve O B Have]

A rather sad aspect of this whole situation is that the PvP brigade aren't even interested in playing the game. The point of it as a creation is lost due to a drastic lack of imagination and maturity. PvE is about exploring and enjoying the universe created whereas PvP can't see past shooting another player, it's sad and really you need to either morph your game play into something that the universe was intended, ie play the game not the mechanic, or go find something that better caters to your mentality.

 

[MarkAusten]

Time and time again players say why they are not interested in certain elements of types of gameplay and this is the response. 'You dont know what you want or you dont know how good it is until you come into Open and play MY way.'
A simple paraphrase suffices for all that text.

Heres why I play Elite. Relaxation. It chills me out. I put some tunes on and I fly around space, do a bit of this, do a bit of that.

Relaxation is the end product. What is the Why? The Why is because thats the end product. Relaxation. Not profits. Not having my avatars name plastered all over the galaxy, not having Elite in any one profession, not having all the ships and all engineered, not having all my engineered mods at grade 5.

Relaxation.

Theres an awful lot of players that just enjoy pootling about in spacehships. And unfortunately, , for some, so does Mr Braben, and its pretty much his ball, his yard and his mum making the lemonade and ginger biscuits.

Its really simple. And yet posters on here insist that myself and everybody else is wrong, we arent trying hard enough, we're missing out, were not playing the game properly, somehow not getting the full range of experiences from the game... blah blah blah so on and so forth to an excrutiating endless loop.

Combat distresses me. Thats just pve, never mind pvp and all the meta that goes with it. Its not because its hard, but because it raises my heart rate, my blood pressure goes up, my eyes bulge and i turn into the ravenous scrub devouring Eve Online player that i used to be.

I still play Eve. I explore there now too.
Used to play a lot of fps, BF, COD, ravenshield, team fortress. I dont do that now for the same reasons.
It turns me into a knoob.

Im not mentally ill, i dont have ptsd, im not scared or some frightened little child, im not clueless, i dont need my hand holding, im not dumb, i dont need you to tell me how the game mechanics work, or philosophise me into some kind of enlightened game state.

I play certain parts of Elite Dangerous that chill me the buck out. I do that because FD have created a game environment that allows me, and this is the important part, the CHOICE.

You know there are still players in the world that enjoy single player games right.

I. Dont. Want. To. Play. With. You.

Allthough i will play with other people that are like minded and respect my gameplay and my choices as i do theirs and we all get along nicely and enjoy the game we want to play without distraction from the 'kiddies'

I get my kicks at work operating heavy machinery and pillaging the Earth. Or at my local MMA club

Thank you very much.

Great post. Thank you.

+1 virtual rep cause I've already given you some.

 

[stooger]

I fly in open since the beginning (2 years) and I have no problems with PvP. I was destroyed a few times but it was never a big surpise. Taking T9 to CG in open is risky to say the least and I knew the risk, was destroyed few times and had to go somewhere else. Bubble is big and anyone who want to trade in peace can do it in 100s/1000s of systems. The problem is people are lazy and just have to get the best deal, best cr/h route. They won't be cautious because if they are destroyed they just go solo and do the same trading/cg/whatever, or play solo from the start. I respect other people opinions but imo ED shouldn't be truck simulator in space. Risks should be a part of the game and only risk there is now is other players (Yes I know defending trade ship vs G5 FDL is impossible but that's completly different matter of balance). What I imagined as ED gameplay as non pvp player was people taking safe routes, flying carefully and adapt to situation. "Are there dagerous players around? I better fly somewhere else" noone ever said playing ED. People are just flying solo because there is no risk at all there. They can do anything, everything, fly everywhere and no npc can stop them. I bet if the game would be 'open" only that people would play like the should. The bubble is so big that there is no problem in making 100s of millions before some other player finds you and destroys you. But people prefer to get everything easy, so they fly solo and when they fly solo they don't need to pay attention to anything because there are no risks. "Open only" would force people to take under consideration more than how much cr/h route they are flying and imo it would be great. Not to mention much more people around in open means much less chance to get interdicted by pvp player in crowded areas. Proper CP system would be great but I bet people would still fly the easiest road to more CR which means solo play. The people and ability to play in different modes is the biggest problem here imo.

 

[Sams]

I fly in open since the beginning (2 years) and I have no problems with PvP. I was destroyed a few times but it was never a big surpise. Taking T9 to CG in open is risky to say the least and I knew the risk, was destroyed few times and had to go somewhere else. Bubble is big and anyone who want to trade in peace can do it in 100s/1000s of systems. The problem is people are lazy and just have to get the best deal, best cr/h route. They won't be cautious because if they are destroyed they just go solo and do the same trading/cg/whatever, or play solo from the start. I respect other people opinions but imo ED shouldn't be truck simulator in space. Risks should be a part of the game and only risk there is now is other players (Yes I know defending trade ship vs G5 FDL is impossible but that's completly different matter of balance). What I imagined as ED gameplay as non pvp player was people taking safe routes, flying carefully and adapt to situation. "Are there dagerous players around? I better fly somewhere else" noone ever said playing ED. People are just flying solo because there is no risk at all there. They can do anything, everything, fly everywhere and no npc can stop them. I bet if the game would be 'open" only that people would play like the should. The bubble is so big that there is no problem in making 100s of millions before some other player finds you and destroys you. But people prefer to get everything easy, so they fly solo and when they fly solo they don't need to pay attention to anything because there are no risks. "Open only" would force people to take under consideration more than how much cr/h route they are flying and imo it would be great. Not to mention much more people around in open means much less chance to get interdicted by pvp player in crowded areas. Proper CP system would be great but I bet people would still fly the easiest road to more CR which means solo play. The people and ability to play in different modes is the biggest problem here imo.

You ruined your own argument when you mentioned this single word... 'Force'.

Elite has options so nobody is 'forced' into doing something they don't want to do. I like having the 'choice' to play how I wish to play at any given time ;-)

 

[Robert Maynard]

"Open only" would force people to take under consideration more than how much cr/h route they are flying and imo it would be great.

Given that every player bought the game with the ability to play in any of the three modes, forcing "Open only" might just cause some players to leave in disgust.

Not to mention much more people around in open means much less chance to get interdicted by pvp player in crowded areas.

Sounds like a method of providing more targets for the PvP minority.

Proper CP system would be great but I bet people would still fly the easiest road to more CR which means solo play.

Solo (without Wings) is not necessarily easier than Open.

The people and ability to play in different modes is the biggest problem here imo.

You are entitled to your opinion, of course - just as Frontier are - and Frontier set the game design, in relation to player freedom of choice on which mode to play in while, at the same time, affecting and experiencing the single shared galaxy state, over four years ago and released the game with these features intact over two years ago.

As Frontier have acknowledged the oft speculated, i.e. Frontier are well aware that the majority of players do not get involved in PvP, I doubt that the game will be significantly modified to cater to a minority whose behaviours can cause the majority to lose enjoyment in the game.

 

[Han_Zen]

I fly in open since the beginning (2 years) and I have no problems with PvP. I was destroyed a few times but it was never a big surpise. Taking T9 to CG in open is risky to say the least and I knew the risk, was destroyed few times and had to go somewhere else. Bubble is big and anyone who want to trade in peace can do it in 100s/1000s of systems. The problem is people are lazy and just have to get the best deal, best cr/h route. They won't be cautious because if they are destroyed they just go solo and do the same trading/cg/whatever, or play solo from the start. I respect other people opinions but imo ED shouldn't be truck simulator in space. Risks should be a part of the game and only risk there is now is other players (Yes I know defending trade ship vs G5 FDL is impossible but that's completly different matter of balance). What I imagined as ED gameplay as non pvp player was people taking safe routes, flying carefully and adapt to situation. "Are there dagerous players around? I better fly somewhere else" noone ever said playing ED. People are just flying solo because there is no risk at all there. They can do anything, everything, fly everywhere and no npc can stop them. I bet if the game would be 'open" only that people would play like the should. The bubble is so big that there is no problem in making 100s of millions before some other player finds you and destroys you. But people prefer to get everything easy, so they fly solo and when they fly solo they don't need to pay attention to anything because there are no risks. "Open only" would force people to take under consideration more than how much cr/h route they are flying and imo it would be great. Not to mention much more people around in open means much less chance to get interdicted by pvp player in crowded areas. Proper CP system would be great but I bet people would still fly the easiest road to more CR which means solo play. The people and ability to play in different modes is the biggest problem here imo.

Your experience in Open (since start of Gamma, never been killed by a commander) matches mine, but I see absolutely no problem with the different modes. Let people play where they want and how they want.