DW2 isn't pure, or even primarily, exploration. It's a pre-scheduled guided tour and social get-together, with a public itinerary.
This mandates very different considerations.
Yes, but again, it is not a tour aimed towards combat, so the same principle applies, though yes, since it is a tour the chance of getting attacked is significantly increased.
Reaching systems few other vessels can reach or minimizing the number of systems one needs to pass through to reach a waypoint is hardly the be all and end all of exploration.
Very, very little exploration ability is lost by making sure your ship can boost then adding a few E rated shield boosters and an MRP. If anything the increased safety margin is an asset to exploration, even in the absence of hostile ships. In the presence of such ships, survival and successful exploration become synonymous.
Sure, you can take a decent combat vessel exploring, I've done that several times, but that assumes you are alright and have the time for the amount of jumps slower jumping can take. Not everyone has the time for that, maxing jump range reduces amount of jumps, if or if people have the time for many jumps is not something I or I think anyone but they themselves can judge.
And again, will that make a big difference against a fully engineered combat ship?
I took a combat fit vessel so I wouldn't always be the one running.
Surviving an attack, ship and data intact, requires far less than that.
Cool, but again, that doesn't count for everyone, I do not know why others play with the fits they do, my point is merely, that they shouldn't be forced to play a fit they do not want to, they should play a game for what they find as fun, because it is just that a game. And not at the whim of someone else, no one, in my experience like being subjected to something like that. It is just easier for PvP'ers to generally brush it off, because there is very little, given the none permadeath nature, that they risk or lose with their preferred gameplay style, compared to other general none combat game play styles.
The ship I took explores just fine and has less than half the jump range of most DG vessels, let alone their prey.
I'm not saying you cannot explore with a lower range ship, it will just take more time and certain areas will be out of your range, why should explorers be forced to do that?
Ganking along DW2 is either a common (and loudly decried) phenomenon, or a 0.1% sort of thing. It can't be both. The ~3000 rebuys claimed by DG2 and frequent complaints on this board indicate to me that it is the former, and that a wise player will plan accordingly.
Ganking against explorers is the low chance, this is obviously higher because it is announced, gankers know where to go.
Because if they are weakly outfit and go into open at a DW2 waypoint or similar area they will likely be destroyed. Not 0.1% chance destroyed. I don't have a percentage but it's non negligible. I wouldn't be surprised if it was above 50% (open only - including solo/PG DW2 explorers it is a tiny %).
Otherwise agreed for solo/PG and off the beaten path locations.
Yes, and here's the issue and why I see there being people upset by it. Those destroying them, gain nothing from doing it other then personal enjoyment knowing they may have caused the explorer to lose a lot of exploration and have returned them home.
This causes many to not be in open, which causes PvP'ers to complain that open has no people, and wanting incentives to people so there are more people in open.
All because some people enjoy going after targets that generally as a concept have no chance, nor should they be expected to have a chance, even if they had a proper setup, they might not be combat pilots at all and freeze up or similar, it seems odd to expect them to fit into a role for another players enjoyment?
I don't. Only one of my last twenty kills on DG2 was challenging, and that was a pleasant surprise. To get it I ended up having to eat 50 million in rebuy+bounty from a station and lost my SLF NPC, but it was fun. The overwhelming majority (~93% since Jan 31st) of my encounters in DG2 have resulted in deaths or c-logs for the other pilot. (Note I am on console, so every encounter was 1v1, aside from a 1v2 where I was the "1").
One point of yours seems to be that gankers don't want challenging PvP. But wanting challenging PvP and killing explorers are not exclusive. Many of us want both.
The general concept of a gank, would seem to indicate that, what some people want is another thing, but if challenge is wanted then why go after explorers? sure you might find people that can fight back, but likely the majority won't be able to
Not at all, escorting is borderline impossible due to the game mechanics and unrewarding to boot. The more sensible defense is open explorers be prepared on their own.
Potentially compromising their game play, increasing their required play time due to lower jump range, or maybe they simply aren't combat talented, I do not know, I cannot say, and it seems a bit much to say that others can 'just' prepare.
As long as I'm willing to put in some extra jumps, I absolutely can do any exploring an explorer can, barring systems that cannot be reached with ~42ly jump range.
Certainly superior at blowing stuff up. Not necessarily as a player, since that is subjective.
Yeah, and if an explorer does the same with fit, they need extra jumps as well, extra time, time they may not have, time they may not want to spend, it entirely depends on the person.
And yes, I should hope a combat fitted ship can blow up a none combat fitted ship, but that doesn't really say much, it is pure mechanics at best.
Compared to the rest of the game, this is quite unpredictable. There are elements of ED that are opaque until studied, but the game is mostly predictable. Even if only one of twenty PvP encounters I've had lately was unpredictable, this is a significant increase of the zero of twenty PvE encounters that are unpredictable.
Plenty of BGS work, PP activity, etc. is as one sided as PvP. Personally I feel PP results in even more toxicity than ganking.
I enjoy PvP, because of that as well, the skill and requirements it takes, but that is also why this whole thing with attacking targets like this is lost on me.
It seems to do absolutely nothing.
I am forced to do plenty of gameplay I don't want to do. Mat grind being the most obvious example. It's unfortunate, and not due to another player, but it certainly disrupts the gameplay I do like. It's unpleasant but I deal with it to get to the gameplay I like. I don't feel there is some fundamental difference between unpleasant gameplay caused by design than by other players. If anything, the former "should" be more aggravating IMO.
It's much much easier for explorers to avoid the gameplay they don't like.
The former, gameplay design of the game, is equal for everyone.
The later is entirely up to random people online that you have no control over, a substantial difference in my book.
As for explorers avoiding game play they do not like, they still need to mat grind and similar, probably not as much for ammo and other PvP related things, no, but that is your choice, it is how the game is designed. It is no other players fault on how the game is, so why should they be punished for that?