The Majority of Players, Play Elite as a Single-Player Non-PvP Experience?

[Darth Ender]

whether you play alone or not doesn't impact the compromises you would be making to the game because you would still have this connected galaxy that you have to exist in.

So really, caring about whether you are playing alone or together doesn't really matter. You can't achieve any kind of realization of the pro's of single player gaming until you allow for independent non-connected galaxies (and thus, characters and profiles).

Without that, you'll still have all of the downsides of the current situation - whether you ever see another human player or not. It's a massively single player shared online role playing game. I'll coin it as, MSSORPG (or just MSSO if you prefer not linking it to true rpg games). There are spats of multi-player ...but that's really inconsequential.


(the single player pro's being replaying content at your own pace (or restarting at will to revisit events), balancing the game to your own personal preferences, modding the game in ways the developers haven't provided, having complex narratives that put the player in a position of importance, not having the activity of others impact your game state. Pausing the game state so it doesn't continue when you leave it. etc.)

 

[bm01]

I used to be a mostly PvP player. I played DAoC which has mostly separated PvE and PvP, Eve Online were everything gets mixed together and non-consensual PvP is a thing, and many other games. But in Elite I don't feel the fun in attacking other players nor the thrill of trying to survive and escape encounters. It's just a hassle, something that gets in the way of what I'm trying to achieve. Honestly I can't really explain why, but I feel like the game wasn't really designed with multi-player and PvP in mind to begin with. Or maybe I just got tired of it after 10+ years, who knows.

Because of that I mostly play in solo, though I often miss seeing player ships flying around.

 

[ratava]

I have a life. I have no interest in having a virtual one as well. It also annoys the heck out of me that I cannot push the pause button due to the minority of players that want multiplayer. It's one of the main reasons I don't fire up ED very often these days: I can only play it if I'm sure :

• The dog won't want to walk in the middle of combat
• I have enough time to complete a minute mission before it's children's bedtime
• I don't have to cook dinner
• People drop by unexpectedly (less so these days due to Covid-19)
• Etc.

My biggest wish for ED (apart from fixing a few Odyssey bugs): Give me a pause button and make multiplayer optional.
PS: I've played multiplayer it's great, but not for me day to day.

 

[Darth Ender]

I have a life. I have no interest in having a virtual one as well. It also annoys the heck out of me that I cannot push the pause button due to the minority of players that want multiplayer. It's one of the main reasons I don't fire up ED very often these days: I can only play it if I'm sure :

• The dog won't want to walk in the middle of combat
• I have enough time to complete a minute mission before it's children's bedtime
• I don't have to cook dinner
• People drop by unexpectedly (less so these days due to Covid-19)
• Etc.

My biggest wish for ED (apart from fixing a few Odyssey bugs): Give me a pause button and make multiplayer optional.
PS: I've played multiplayer it's great, but not for me day to day.

it's bigger than just multiplayer that you want. to do what you want, you need your own independent galaxy...disconnected from everyone else's. And that account wouldn't be able to reconnect... you'd have to have one for the shared galaxy and one for the independent one.

That's the only way you can do things like pause. Because otherwise, you dont own your simulation - the public does.

 

[Murfelton]

I play solo exclusively. From my perspective, what I wanted is an updated Elite II.

About the only reason I’d consider multiplayer would be to do coop Odyssey missions, since calling in air support would be kind of cool.

 

[CmdMarty]

No surprise and the multi-player experience is lack luster with tons of down time especially for new players that make mistakes.

 

[Shir]

I have a few thousand hours in the game, always play in open, except when doing community goals. No pvp although my stats show I killed 4 commanders, have no idea how that happened (probably tagged them when attacked, or in community goals areas and police finished them off?).

You hardly meet anyone in the game unless in really popular systems, and I usually either play towards the edges of the bubble, or explore. I'm at Colonia atm..

So for me elite has been a completely solo game so far. Ah, also stats say i have logged about half an hour of multiplay in someone's ship or the other way around.. also have no idea or recollection how this happened, probably I was searching the menus..

Even messaging another player is difficult, half the time I get trapped in menus and can't resume flying

I like pvp in other games, but to do it in elite you have to fly a ship especially made for that, so you can't do anything else with it.. Unless in a pvp squadron I don't see it working..

 

[Gleitfrosch]

Prefer multiplayer over single-player and pve over directv pvp.

Like to interact with other human but can't stand gankers

 

[Jazzy]

I still remember the Official Design Document stating an offline mode, which in true FD fashion was revoked after KS was over, and Alpha etc was under way. I still remember the calls for refunds (which some took due to this). I do as well wish there was an option for offline play where I can pause the game etc (I have a family etc so having to AFK if an often need), and if I want to join the online version I can choose that log in option. I do not see how adding in the system of a single player offline Cmdr file and an online Cmdr file which are not transferable.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

While im all for solo play..

The first time you try it it doesn't really inspire you to do it again. If it worked really well and was seamless maybe the answer would be different? If you ate something that tasted bad would you go for another mouthful?

 

[metatheurgist]

Unsurprising. This is why the first 2 years of MP focused dev was such a major waste of resources, resulting in the least well received (and dead) features. We could've been complaining about Odyssey years ago. And be complaining about how crappy ship interiors are now.

 

[Katkon]

I play almost exclusively "multiplayer" games simply for the experience of being surrounded by real players vs purely AI/NPCs. And while I'm in a Squadron in Elite, I rarely play WITH others. Prefer to do my own thing. That said, I don't play in Solo mode (just Open) and if Solo was the only game mode I wouldn't play ED. Fellow humans add an element of uncertainty, danger etc. that I find appealing. I will occasionally PVP, but don't actively seek it out with any consistency.

 

[Darth Ender]

Unsurprising. This is why the first 2 years of MP focused dev was such a major waste of resources, resulting in the least well received (and dead) features. We could've been complaining about Odyssey years ago. And be complaining about how crappy ship interiors are now.

if they could have gotten the Kickstarter funding and viable business model without multiplayer they probably would have.

without that, which promised something nobody else was providing, it would be competing against other privateer games and would have had to invest in actual creative content from the getgo instead of providing an empty sand box and piecemeal content.

it is odd they didn't properly develop the game to give players both.... one connected canonical version similar to current game and one offline that can be whatever you want it to be.

 

[metatheurgist]

if they could have gotten the Kickstarter funding and viable business model without multiplayer they probably would have.

without that, which promised something nobody else was providing, it would be competing against other privateer games and would have had to invest in actual creative content from the getgo instead of providing an empty sand box and piecemeal content.

it is odd they didn't properly develop the game to give players both.... one connected canonical version similar to current game and one offline that can be whatever you want it to be.

Don't get me wrong. I backed the KS because I wanted to be able to play Elite with other people (not necessarily in a clan), this is not about offline for me. What I didn't want was pointless clan features when the rest of the game table was bare. What's the point in having a guild hall, a guild structure, guild assets, guild messaging system when there's nothing to do? When you have a good SP game, with solid features it naturally lends itself to working with other people. Building all that MP crap when the game was still lacking was the problem for me.

 

[J Michaelson]

First up this isn't about solo vs open, so don't even go there. This is about how people play regardless of mode.

I have a friend I would like to be able to play more with, but I am doubtful anything will ever make that possible beyond conflict zones or very occasional wing missions. It usually takes several attempts to even see each other in game despite being in a private group. I have no interest in joining larger groups of people I don't know. There's nothing in the game that would make that appealing or necessary beyond just chit-chatting and that's not my thing.

 

[Rhaged]

I'd play more open if I could toggle pvp off.

 

[physical0]

I primarily play in a private group with my son playing at the desk to my left. We almost never see each other in game. The only thing we seem to ever hang out and do together is hunting pirates at a RES. It's pretty low effort gameplay. We often do the same thing, go exploring, truck the route, hunt pirates, sometimes we do wing missions, but we never see each other, because it's not very easy to be sitting in normal space at the same place at the same time. I've spent a lot of effort trying to make the game multiplayer fun for him, but the game just doesn't do it well. The game rewards multiboxers more than it rewards actual co-op multiplayer with two players.

 

[Darth Ender]

Don't get me wrong. I backed the KS because I wanted to be able to play Elite with other people (not necessarily in a clan), this is not about offline for me. What I didn't want was pointless clan features when the rest of the game table was bare. What's the point in having a guild hall, a guild structure, guild assets, guild messaging system when there's nothing to do? When you have a good SP game, with solid features it naturally lends itself to working with other people. Building all that MP crap when the game was still lacking was the problem for me.

I'm assuming you're talking about squadrons. In which case there are no squadron assets , no real messaging system for it and a couple menus that report some basic stats and member management.

They dont have squadron missions or events. No squadron trade of items. No squadron only things.

It's basically a tack on set of menus a profile variable or two. Not really a lot of development effort. If that was a lot of development effort, then i'm afraid no amount of avoiding things you dont like would have improved the game situation.

 

[BL1P]

Erm ...
Cool Info I guess thanks OA.

 

[Red Martian]

Yes, I much prefer to play alone. I have limited time to play so I maximize it to do what I want to do, and getting together in groups isn't my cup of tea.