If I am in open play doing powerplay and BGS, I can just block everyone from that faction and effectively play solo but in open.
Its abuse-able weather you think so or not, a block should be the social side NOT a way to avoid death in an online game.
and if they are useing a exploit that what the report function does.
The Elite Dangerous servers will be offline for all platforms on 18 September at 8:00 AM (UTC) for approximately 9 hours as we apply the September Update. There is a chance that this could run over, so we really appreciate your patience.
Whilst the servers are down, tune into our launch livestream as we talk about the update and all the latest from the Elite community!
As always, we'll keep you updated here and on our social media channels.
Thank you for your patience and we'll see you in the black!
Please find the Patch Notes below:
New Features
New Starter Experience
Added a curated experience for new players that will guide them through the basics of ship control, combat, travel and docking
The experience has localised voiceover in all supported languages
Certain UI elements are highlighted at key points during the flow
Players are given a mission once the flow has been completed, that introduces them to the mission board (with voiceover)
Added the experience to the 'Training Simulations' list, accessible from the internal cockpit panel
Updated the throttle UI to better show the players current direction of travel (the rectangular blocks are now chevrons, and added a subtle pulse animation)
Pre-flight checklist is now off by default when starting a new game (it can be turned back on)
Supercruise
Added new option to the Flight Assist tab to allow the Supercruise Assist module to control the throttle automatically
Supercruise 'Safe to Disengage' message has been updated to include the binding that will disengage Supercruise
ARX
ARX is the new currency that takes over from Frontier Points and real money transactions across all platforms
Players purchase a pack containing a number of ARX that are then used to purchase in-game cosmetic items (Game Extras) for their ship, SRV, fighter or Holo-Me
Players can purchase ARX from in-game links that direct either to an external Frontier Store or site
Any outstanding Frontier Points will be converted to ARX the first time the player logs into the game after the update
Rewarding ARX
Players can earn ARX through standard gameplay (up to a 400 weekly cap) based on in-game activities within Combat, Trade and Exploration and more!
Players are notified of their previous session earnings on the main menu
Livery Update
Refreshed livery layout
Icons denote the different categories (general, decals, cockpit decorations, etc.)
Updated vessel selection screen
Separate UI for ship name and ID
Preview mode that reduces the amount of on-screen UI, giving a clearer view of the chosen item
Players now purchase items, with ARX, directly from livery, without being redirected to an external store
Players can now access livery from the main menu
Holo-Me
Players can now purchase items, with ARX directly from the Holo-Me section, without being redirected to an external store
New Store
Added a new customisation store
Players can browse the entire catalog of customisation items for any available ship
Preview Mode allows players to see any cosmetic items on a vanilla version of any ship, as well as use camera controls to view it from different angles
The store is accessible from either the main menu or major starports in-game
Players purchase cosmetic items directly from the store, without being redirected to an external site
Bug Fixes
Codex
Fixed being unable to scroll through Tourist Beacon text in the archive section if it was longer than one page
Fixed an issue where HOTAS users couldn't scroll through the right hand side of the archive section
Crashes/Stability
Fixed a crash that could occur when logging into the game
Fixed an issue where players were getting stuck on the loading screen, due to being close to an asteroid ring
Fixed a crash that could occur when looking at the Powerplay screen during a hyperspace jump
Decals
Fixed some issues with incorrectly reversed decals
Diamond Explorer
Fixed an issue where the outfitting camera was clipping into the hangar floor
Exploration
Fixed an issue where body data wouldn't show up first time when using the Full Spectrum Scanner (FSS)
Fixed an issue where the blue scan visual effect can appear on a nearby planet that you're not trying to scan
Fixed an issue where players couldn't scroll through the right-hand side panel when selling Exploration Data
Fixed an issue where the word 'next' was partially cut off in the Navigation Tab of the External Panel
Fighters
Added a cooldown when using hotkeys to give fighters orders, and prevented allowing players to repeat an order that has already been given to the fighter (multiple orders were creating network lag, resulting in an exploit during combat)
General
The correct Elite rank will now show when targeting your own ship from your SRV
Fixed an issue where a player's ship name/ID plates was being incorrectly censored when on the main menu
Fixed a restock issue for vessels when the player has multiple bays fitted
Interdiction
Fixed an issue that could cause the AI ship not to appear after they interdicted a player
Krait Phantom
Fixed holes in one of the Ship Kit pieces
Localisation
Fixed missing Cyrillic letters in Squadron Creation and Rank Names
Corrected spelling of 'nonhuman' in the Knowledge Base
Mamba
Fixed landing gear still appearing to be deployed even after the player had retracted it
Mines
Decreased mine rearm time from 5 seconds to 2 seconds. The increase in time was an attempt to fix an issue where long ships were being hit by their own mines. However, the updated arming time was too long, making them ineffective. This new arming time should balance it.
Missions
Fixed missing 'mission target' tags from certain ships, meaning Massacre and Assassination missions should now have appropriate target ships for the players to attack
Fixed missing text in some VIP Passenger missions
Narrative
Corrected the date of Atticus Obellan Duval's ascension to the throne in its Tourist Beacon
Network
Correctly display which network adapter is being used by the game in the network options, as well as preferring a wired network connection over a wireless one if both are found
Fixed edge cases where players were being placed in the same instance as players they had blocked
Added unique error codes to disconnections, for players to use when reporting issues
Player Journal
Updates
New SAASignalsFound event with bio/geo signals on planets and hotspots in rings
Fixed bug that caused blank system names when selling exploration data
In the CrimeVictim event, the Offender field should now have added localisation, if relevant
Fixed description of FactionEffects in MissionCompleted event
Server
Fixed Companion API authentication for players with linked Steam accounts
Sidewinder
Fixed some level of detail issues with its Ship Kit
SRV
Fixed an issue where the SRVs weapon were firing slightly offset when used from the driver's seat
Trading
Fixed an issue with the demand icon overlapping when demand is high
Fixed an issue with the displayed price at a Black Market for contraband goods
When a player is comparing market to buy/sell at, changes have been made to ensure that a selected marker is included in the "consumed by" list (if applicable), even if another market in the same system offers a better price
Training Simulations
Fixed an issue with the Mining Simulation where players could fire the Mining Laser at nothing and the tutorial would play incorrect voiceover
Fixed an issue with the Advanced Combat Training Simulation, where players could cycle fire groups too early in the flow of the simulation
Unidentified Signal Sources (USS)
Increased the spawn rate of High Grade Emissions
Increased the spawn rate for Non-Human Signal Sources
Viper MkIII
Fixed some level of detail issues with its Ship Kit
????
You guys might as well unban every single combat logger and scriptkiddy that you have never banned, because now people don't even need to play in solo or private group to undermine player factions and faction BGS as well as Powerplay since they can actively avoid & BLOCK PvP combat.
What are you guys doing in the office all day?
Added a cooldown when using hotkeys to give fighters orders, and prevented allowing players to repeat an order that has already been given to the fighter (multiple orders were creating network lag, resulting in an exploit during combat)
Mines
Decreased mine rearm time from 5 seconds to 2 seconds. The increase in time was an attempt to fix an issue where long ships were being hit by their own mines. However, the updated arming time was too long, making them ineffective. This new arming time should balance it.
Fighters: Does this fix the regular lag too when just launching a fighter? Fighters are causing increasing lag the longer they persist in some situations.
Mines: This is a step into the right direction but that won't make them viable in PvP. Please, for the love of god, mines even collide with some ship's hitboxes like the Lance's horizontal mounted hardpoints when flying straight forward and arming time is the least of the concerns. For them to be viable, 1 second arming time is the maximum they can have before they are getting unviable. Also mines don't trigger when clsoe to their "mothership" and can only explode and deal damage to their "mothership" when directly colliding with it. All other ships will trigger the mine's explosion by being in their explosion radius but I am certain you know that already. With that knowledge it can be concluded that not the arming time is the issue but the firing ship's hitbox and a too slow ship only flying straight forward.
Again, please refrain from giving mines any arming time above 1 second. As with every other patch in the past, please consider getting it back down to 1 second or even 0.5 in the following hotfixes and clean ups following the next couple of weeks.
Having one module that can shoot all types of limpets, so you dont need to bring piles of modules to access basic gameplay scenarios. Was proposed at some point, but like shield-rebalancing, OO PP and countless other great and seemingly trivially easy changes we never heard from it again. Its the kind of stuff that would add a lot for veteran players but it seems that FD made a conscious decision to completely ignore them until Carriers, which is likely aimed at the non-beginners.
This is unfortunate that blocking players prevents instancing at all. Sure, block from chat, but this will just make the Galaxy more empty, and make instancing harder which is already a problem.
Having one module that can shoot all types of limpets, so you dont need to bring piles of modules to access basic gameplay scenarios. Was proposed at some point, but like shield-rebalancing, OO PP and countless other great and seemingly trivially easy changes we never heard from it again. Its the kind of stuff that would add a lot for veteran players but it seems that FD made a conscious decision to completely ignore them until Carriers, which is likely aimed at the non-beginners.
Is that a sort-of-fix for the geological signals taking far too long to resolve? (This issue, currently the second most voted.) Log them in the journal, so that third-party tools can alert the player once the scan is finished in the background?
