The idea is: what happens in a mode stays in a mode. Wanna play single player fine.
Wanna play open fine.
Wanna play both , fine.
But your stuff in one does not exist in the other.
This means pvpers can't hide in solo when in their taxi ship to CG, and then switch to open when they feel safe in their fdls.
This means bgs/pp can't be manipulated from another mode, but played in whichever mode suits you. But no one misses out.
This means pvpers can't farm in solo, they'd have to trade in open.
It means there is a natural nerf to credit exploits as people would be fighting to get on pads. Which would also be interesting because people would have to bring enough firepower when trading.
And best thing about this is that it would populate open more. Because you would have to do everything in open. Which may also mean that people would understand each other more, because they would have to engage in activities they didn't feel safe doing with other people around. Like how they now force lorry drivers to go cycling on busy roads now. Sympathy often succeeds where empathy fails.
Most of my points here have been highlighting it's impact on pvpers. I am a pvper. I did this so that the conversation doesn't devolve into, "the bad men are trying to hurt me" .
I think this is what elite needs, and would benefit PvP and PvE.
I would support this only if you take it a small step further: simply separate the solo game completely from the multiplayer game.
This would free the solo game from the awful suffocating multiplayer shackles and balancing nonsense.
The FDev solo team could then start to develop:
- an off line mode,
- allow for modding,
- add npc crew mechanics,
- add npc wing mechanics,
- add an awesome solo story campaign
etc. etc. etc.
Only then Elite Dangerous would be able to become the glorious spacesim it should be.
As long as the game is held captive by multiplayer shenanigans it will never become what it deserves to be.
AND...
This would be good for multiplayer too.