Answers from the devs #2

[Anopheles]

You don't need to hijack this one. You chose to do so.

They have responded it wasn't the answer you wanted to hear. Tough.

And do you really believe bellyaching about it here will accomplish anything? All you're doing is burying genuine questions which this thread is here for.

What if my aim is to sound like a prig?

So what if we're bellyaching over a question that got a two line, insufficiently explained answer? Tough. We aren't. Going to shut up in a non time limited thread were people are still able to ask questions. It's not like the devs are incapable of reading more than x number of posts a day.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

So what if we're bellyaching over a question that got a two line, insufficiently explained answer? Tough. We aren't. Going to shut up in a non time limited thread were people are still able to ask questions. It's not like the devs are incapable of reading more than x number of posts a day.

It is sufficiently explained now and it was sufficiently explained in the past.

For players competing directly against each other is a *choice* in ED, not requirement. This has been claimed since day one.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

So what if we're bellyaching over a question that got a two line, insufficiently explained answer? Tough. We aren't. Going to shut up in a non time limited thread were people are still able to ask questions. It's not like the devs are incapable of reading more than x number of posts a day.

I just noticed your sig, Captain of the Bitter Pill.

 

[Anopheles]

It is sufficiently explained now and it was sufficiently explained in the past.

For players competing directly against each other is a *choice* in ED, not requirement. This has been claimed since day one.

And that would have been fine in a pre pp galaxy and before piracy was supposed to be a valid career choice. Things have changed. Fdev needs to acknowledge and understand that.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

And that would have been fine in a pre pp galaxy and before piracy was supposed to be a valid career choice. Things have changed. Fdev needs to acknowledge and understand that.

Errr what? Nothing really have changed. PP is *specially* designed not requiring pilots busting heads against each other directly. They can choose to do so, but it's clearly not PP intention.

It seems you want FD to acknowledge you have different opinion. However, they don't have to act on that.

 

[Anopheles]

Errr what? Nothing really have changed. PP is *specially* designed not requiring pilots busting heads against each other directly. They can choose to do so, but it's clearly not PP intention.

It seems you want FD to acknowledge you have different opinion. However, they don't have to act on that.

Are you being deliberately obtuse? One of the main concerns of Pp, and before that cg's, was that it was easier to do tasks in pp in solo/groups because you could avoid player vs player interaction without consequence, making one side or the other do more dangerous activity involving other players or easier in groups and solo.

 

[Carro]

...you could avoid player vs player interaction without consequence, making one side or the other do more dangerous activity involving other players or easier in groups and solo.

It's nice to have a choice, isn't it?

 

[ianw]

Are you being deliberately obtuse? One of the main concerns of Pp, and before that cg's, was that it was easier to do tasks in pp in solo/groups because you could avoid player vs player interaction without consequence, making one side or the other do more dangerous activity involving other players or easier in groups and solo.

You mean more dangerous/harder if you come across an opposing player(s) and you're outnumbered/outgunned in open?

Or less dangerous/easier if you're the player/in the wing that's outnumbering/outgunning in open?

FD are aware of the megathreads on the solo v open topic.

They've made their position abundantly clear and maybe they don't go into to huge detail on it because they know that it will be picked apart word by word and it still won't change their stance so why bother?

Obviously anyone who is a dedicated PVPer and/or a group member isn't going to like their PVP/group superiority nullified - or made optional and will consider it a problem. That's understood.

But anyone on the opposite side of the issue will consider it a benefit.

It's just different preferences - whether it's right or wrong or good or bad game design depends on your point of view - nothing more.

ETA - spelling

 

[Robert Maynard]

Perhaps as a question for next time: Given the rather passionate disagreement on the subject lately, could we please have anyone at FDev give a sound bite or two regarding the official stance on in-game guild controls and said groups control of stations and systems?

I'd very much like to hear Frontier's stance on this topic - we have a number of quotes from Q&A and interviews on the topic that state DBOBE's opinions on the topic but a definitive statement would be very much appreciated.

 

[Anopheles]

It's nice to have a choice, isn't it?

Not when it gives some players the option to avoid risk, meaning for example most traders are now in solo, killing any pvp piracy and by extension pvp smuggling and pvp bounty hunting.

 

[Carro]

Not when it gives some players the option to avoid risk, meaning for example most traders are now in solo, killing any pvp piracy and by extension pvp smuggling and pvp bounty hunting.

OK, I'll be more specific:

It's nice to have a choice to avoid risk, isn't it?

(Hint - it's a game)

 

[Anopheles]

I'll be more specific. No; not when it limits and diminishes the simulation.

Edit: The fact that it's a game and nothing real is lost makes all the caution less understandable, if anything.

 

[Carro]

I'll be more specific. No; not when it limits and diminishes the simulation.

LOL. OK, if you say say. ;-)

 

[Robert Maynard]

Not when it gives some players the option to avoid risk, meaning for example most traders are now in solo, killing any pvp piracy and by extension pvp smuggling and pvp bounty hunting.

The game has never been intended to force players into PvP - from the outset we have been told that we can play alone, with friends or with other players (i.e. the three game modes) and can switch between modes on a session-by-session basis. This means that any players in Open have chosen to be there - if players choose not to play in Open then that is also their choice.

While PvP piracy may suffer from players choosing not to play the part of relatively defenceless content for player pirates, how would this be improved? Frontier are not, in my opinion, going to force any player to play the game they way they don't want to - that would be contrary to DBOBE's quoted opinion that there is no "right" way to play the game.

 

[Anopheles]

The game has never been intended to force players into PvP - from the outset we have been told that we can play alone, with friends or with other players (i.e. the three game modes) and can switch between modes on a session-by-session basis. This means that any players in Open have chosen to be there - if players choose not to play in Open then that is also their choice.

While PvP piracy may suffer from players choosing not to play the part of relatively defenceless content for player pirates, how would this be improved? Frontier are not, in my opinion, going to force any player to play the game they way they don't want to - that would be contrary to DBOBE's quoted opinion that there is no "right" way to play the game.

I will think about this before replying with ideas or acceptance.

 

[Carro]

The game has never been intended to force players into PvP - from the outset we have been told that we can play alone, with friends or with other players (i.e. the three game modes) and can switch between modes on a session-by-session basis. This means that any players in Open have chosen to be there - if players choose not to play in Open then that is also their choice.

While PvP piracy may suffer from players choosing not to play the part of relatively defenceless content for player pirates, how would this be improved? Frontier are not, in my opinion, going to force any player to play the game they way they don't want to - that would be contrary to DBOBE's quoted opinion that there is no "right" way to play the game.

Nail on the head. And given this is the situation, is there any point in people arguing fruitlessly ad nauseum about it?

 

[CMDR Malkov]

It's just different preferences - whether it's right or wrong or good or bad game design depends on your point of view - nothing more.

Open is largely empty save for a handful of spots where those who still live in hope tend to congregate.
People tell me they have NEVER seen another player in Mobius.

To be fair I think it's more than preferences and points of view.
It's an area where ED has enormous potential to shine and the statement by FD seems (to many people) to casually dismiss that potential.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Open is largely empty save for a handful of spots where those who still live in hope tend to congregate.
People tell me they have NEVER seen another player in Mobius.

To be fair I think it's more than preferences and points of view.
It's an area where ED has enormous potential to shine and the statement by FD seems (to many people) to casually dismiss that potential.

Given the sheer size of Open, is it really a surprise that it is largely empty? That was predicted to be the case very early on in the game's development. Even with 600,000+ copies sold, not all will still play the game, not all play at the same time and not all have mutual ping times to be able to be instanced together.

What is the "enormous potential to shine" that you are referring to, it's not obvious from your post?

 

[ianw]

The game has never been intended to force players into PvP - from the outset we have been told that we can play alone, with friends or with other players (i.e. the three game modes) and can switch between modes on a session-by-session basis. This means that any players in Open have chosen to be there - if players choose not to play in Open then that is also their choice.

While PvP piracy may suffer from players choosing not to play the part of relatively defenceless content for player pirates, how would this be improved? Frontier are not, in my opinion, going to force any player to play the game they way they don't want to - that would be contrary to DBOBE's quoted opinion that there is no "right" way to play the game.

This is what it really comes down to.

If you want a PVP pirate v trader encounter (or any other PVP encounter) then you just have hope you find someone that is prepared to engage along the same lines as you.

Frankly if you're a pirate that's going to be quite difficult finding such a trader. Ships setup for trade don't do well against ships setup for combat.

Traders by and large probably aren't playing the game in the hope that they get robbed or destroyed by a player pirate and as we are repeatedly told (with apologies to SJA who is doing a great job with the AI) players are potentially much more dangerous and tenacious than AI.

I think the whole player pirate v trader thing is virtually a non-starter from the trader enjoyment point of view as it is mostly totally unbalanced - even more so when you wings into the equation.

 

[ianw]

Open is largely empty save for a handful of spots where those who still live in hope tend to congregate.
People tell me they have NEVER seen another player in Mobius.

To be fair I think it's more than preferences and points of view.
It's an area where ED has enormous potential to shine and the statement by FD seems (to many people) to casually dismiss that potential.

My trade route is within 100 ly more or less of Founders World and I rarely see any players there since PP came into being - I flew back to Founders the other night and started seeing players as I got very close.

It's the sheer size of the game if nothing else surely that tells you it's going to be sparsely populated - by design? There's only so much they can do to offer players the chance to get together - but it's entirely optional from a player point of view.