Greetings,
18 pages of replies so far?
Frontier tries to make everyone happy. But like any political election only half of the voters are going to like it.
Solo mode gets the job done without any interference from live players. Many Group and Open players use this especially when trying to learn something new in ED. Just for combat developing their ship, weapons, engineering with effects, combat maneuvers and understanding the C&P taking on missions. It also works for trading, passenger and all other play styles to figure out what works best in ED.
Group mode adds a thousand different groups one can join (try
Inara) playing with others in any aspect of the game including every style of game play and with combat as an example from no-fire against live players in Mobius to advanced combat training preparing to go to Open even with Discord comms on a headset. But a player has to like playing with other live players. Sometimes ego mastering other MMO games interferes with playing ED. Other MMO rules don't apply here.
Open mode is the wild west. With a lot of experience one can fly in Open and avoid the usual "traps" with popular starting systems, engineer bases, community goals and Frontier live stream get togethers. The PvP combat in Open is a quantum leap from anything in Solo with NPCs. It requires highly engineered ships and weapons but more importantly A LOT of experience to use them wisely. Nor does one ship setup will ever cover any PvP engagement. One has to have experience with the PvP players, the systems they like, and the right ship, weapons and a few friends who are also experienced to take them on. A new player coming into this environment is target practice for more experienced players.
Then there is the new player going to Open mode, wanting to make friends and then getting blown away in 10 seconds costing them a rebuy they may not be able to afford especially if they try again without understanding what is going on. There are a thousand posts on the Forum about this. There are another thousand posts on how to change it on both sides of the PvP concerns in Open mode.
Still with three game modes one can deal with Open arriving at a station in Solo, switch to Open departing then after jumping to another system switch to Solo or Group. Maybe with experience go to Open for the final approach to the station. Add in the 15 second timer per logging out to the main menu, 15 seconds for a high wake to another system without a mass lock per a low wake in the system. Add in a ship and pilot skills designed to avoid a PvP player. That can be a lot of fun! Enjoy it.
Open mode allows extreme combat at a much higher level than Solo or Group. Frontier designed it this way to make extreme combat pilots happy. Solo lets a new player figure out the game. Group goes advanced with a specific interest players may have. It all actually works across a broad scale of players and their abilities once a player understands the modes. But then again with any mode half of them will like it and the other half won't. Awaiting another thousand posts on the Forum.
Welcome to Elite Dangerous.
Regards
Now I return you to the regular posts per two or three arguing with each other and no one else is really paying attention.
