Blocking in Elite Dangerous

[Morbad]

First, if I'm friends with someone in the same instance shared with someone I have blocked, which wins, the priority to instance with a friend or avoid a blocked player?

Unless they've actually done what they said they have and increased the weight of the block, then one friend will trump one block.

Second, what happens if I'm in an instance with a few non-blocked gankers (or anyone), and then a blocked player tries to enter the system? Do they get sent to empty-instance jail, or do I get kicked out of my current instance?

Unless they are friends or winged with someone in your instance, they get sent to a different instance.

Blocking cannot evict either party from an instance, it can only keep them from joining (or rejoining) it.

'open' is generally assumed to be that participatory space where stuff happens but that's really just an illusion, it's randomly sharded all over anyway, you only slightly affect distribution across shards which is negligible even if it was anyhow relevant, which it is not.

Random instancing, or weights corresponding to things outside player control, are not the same as giving players the ability to influence instancing in Open.

It's also not a negligible thing...if it were, then blocking wouldn't work.

 

[Stigbob]

Let's try this again:

First, if I'm friends with someone in the same instance shared with someone I have blocked, which wins, the priority to instance with a friend or avoid a blocked player? I have friended some of the "guardian" PvPers who defend traders, and I'm happy to jump into an instance with gankers if my guardian buddies are there to protect me. Second, what happens if I'm in an instance with a few non-blocked gankers (or anyone), and then a blocked player tries to enter the system? Do they get sent to empty-instance jail, or do I get kicked out of my current instance? This I suspect, depending on the answer, might be the controversial aspect to blocking.

I'll add a new question to this. If my blocking scheme works, and a friend jumps into a system where I'm in an alternative instance due to my clever use of blocking, will they be preferentially instanced with me instead of in ganker alley? If so, then perhaps that warrants calling me selfish. So if this is a concern to any of my friends, please feel free to defriend me - I won't take offense.

Nobody knows anymore.

It used to be that the friends list overrode block, so in the first instance if you were friends with someone flying with someone you'd blocked you could well end up in that instance. As for the second they could enter your instance as block only effected you not them. It altered the chances of your instancing not theirs and it was never absolute. That's based on Sandro explaining it to us in the blocking thread linked in my signature a couple of years ago.

The most recent info from scanty patch notes was that the friends list no longer overrides block and there should be no more occurrences of you seeing blocked players at all.

 

[Ethaidan]

Kind of falls apart in things like Powerplay when the whole point is killing without provocation in Open.

Well yes, but the underling motivator to OD's point really could use addressing. Not that some people like to blow up ships, or the existence of mode selection, or the ability to block... but the absurdity of the CG gauntlet.

Does it really make sense to anyone that there is massive funding to pay traders during CGs, but absolutely no effort to provide even minor security in SC? Does it make sense that the only route to a CG station is always massively over run by wings of wanted murder hobos?

Especially for this CG, which is all powers throwing in together to stop mass starvation. Would it be too much to ask for a temporary CG-specific security setting - "protected" - that ramps up an ATR+ spawn in SC that interdict any wanted ships, or any Cmdr with notoriety? The way it is now, it is far to easy to linger around in SC shooting the fishes who have no other route to the destination station.

 

[Morbad]

I don't see how this selfish, unless playing in Solo and PG is also considered selfish, in which case anyone thinking that clearly does not understand the game we are all playing.

In Solo you stand no risk of influencing anyone else's instancing. This is not the case in Open.

If you block masses of people and I find myself placed in your instance (as I have actually have, several times), your block keeps them away from me as readily as it keeps them away from you. In my view, I should not have to manually opt-in to meeting people (which is also impossible if I do not already know of them) by friending them so I can avoid a potential block that may not have anything to do with me.

 

[Stigbob]

In Solo you stand no risk of influencing anyone else's instancing. This is not the case in Open.

If you block masses of people and I find myself placed in your instance (as I have actually have, several times), your block keeps them away from me as readily as it keeps them away from you. In my view, I should not have to manually opt-in to meeting people (which is also impossible if I do not already know of them) by friending them so I can avoid a potential block that may not have anything to do with me.

No point worrying about that, its like mode choice or going on a killing spree other players can and will do what they like.

 

[Old Duck]

So ideally for my scenario, the order of preference would be Wing > Blocked > Friend. The one negative with this that I see is that a friend jumping in after me would get pulled into my "safe" instance rather than have a chance to be in the instance that has people on my block list. I believe this is Morbad's concern. However, IIRC, this ability to influence someone else's instancing would only apply to friends, so anyone with this concern could just remove me from their friend list and be exempt from my instance priorities.

ps - A "nice" (not really) ganker decided to volunteer for my experiment, so I'm in the process now of trying all this out for myself.

 

[Morbad]

anyone with this concern could just remove me from their friend list and be exempt from my instance priorities.

Anyone in your instance, friend or not, is going to be subject to your instance priorities and vice versa.

 

[Old Duck]

Anyone in your instance, friend or not, is going to be subject to your instance priorities and vice versa.

Yeah, I was thinking about this (though not from that perspective). What if I made friends with every trader I met and then blocked every griefer I met and then just sat in SC at the CG. Could I single-handedly make this CG a friendly, griefer-free place?

I'm not saying that I WILL do this, as it seems like a whole lot of power in the hands of one individual. Which is why I raise the question in the first place.

 

[Erasmus Boone]

I have no idea why Solo play and Private group weren't enough for most people.

"Block" should block comms only. Open is and should be a dangerous place. Now FDEV allows everyone to make open play their own personal private group. No. Stop it already what are you doing.

I believe some find that dangerous is not the same as tiresome, there can be times when CGs in open just become the later, Old Duck seems to be suggesting a way he can keep the element of danger with some sense of balance.
CGs can get so overcrowded with gankers that no fun is to be had for a trader, it can become litteraly impossible to make a drop off even if you are 'gud' due to overgankersaturation.
He might be on to something.
How it works though? I dunno I've blocked a total of 1 commander since the original beta and only 'cos they were just a pointless irritant offering nothing of value to my game experience. Up to now when encountering the frankly daft wall of gankers situation I've just gone solo or done something else.
If people really want to encourage open then keep it at least playable.

EDIT: Look I've made a shed load of edits to correct my spelling and grammer and it is still a mess, I give up, blame beer.

 

[Hossi]

After ~4000h ingame, there are about 500 cmdrs on my friendlist, and exactly 11 on my blocklist.
Most of them are station-rammers. I block them even before they hit me going 95m/s. Idiots.
The others are Cmdrs who attacked me, and whos names I found on the contribiutors list of distant ganks which was posted here on this forum. Very handy, if anyone is interested, I have a copy.

And yes, the beautifull thing about blocking someone is, that it also blocks anyone who is currently instanced with him. I see this as an absolute win.

Edit for Clarity: I do PP, yes honestly I'm one of those. I never block Cmdr who are serious about PP. There are three Cmdr from said Distant Ganks list that I've never blocked even though they interdicted my several times, simply because I honestly think they are Fed. Thats ok for me.Not That it makes much of a difference, they never get my anyway....

 

[jasonbarron]

After ~4000h ingame, there are about 500 cmdrs on my friendlist, and exactly 11 on my blocklist.
Most of them are station-rammers. I block them even before they hit me going 95m/s. Idiots.
The others are Cmdrs who attacked me, and whos names I found on the contribiutors list of distant ganks which was posted here on this forum. Very handy, if anyone is interested, I have a copy.

And yes, the beautifull thing about blocking someone is, that it also blocks anyone who is currently instanced with him. I see this as an absolute win.

If all you have from Distant Ganks (the greatest expedition ever undertaken in the ED universe) is around 11 people on your block list then your intel was pretty terrible

Personally I think this attitude, enabled by Frontier's dreadful design decision concerning the block feature, is the epitome of lame.

 

[Hossi]

If all you have from Distant Ganks (the greatest expedition ever undertaken in the ED universe) is around 11 people on your block list then your intel was pretty terrible

Personally I think this attitude, enabled by Frontier's dreadful design decision concerning the block feature, is the epitome of lame.

No, I have the whole list. But I don't just block anyone, just the ones that annoy me. And only if I'm convinced that they are just gankers, instead of honest enemies of the Emperor. The latter are free to interdict me as often as they like, not that anyone of them has ever succeded.

 

[jasonbarron]

No, I have the whole list. But I don't just block anyone, just the ones that annoy me. And only if I'm convinced that they are just gankers, instead of honest enemies of the Emperor. The latter are free to interdict me as often as they like, not that anyone of them has ever succeded.

That doesn't really add up. If you say that some of the people on your block list are derived simply from being on that Distant Ganks list, why did only a handful of us actually make the cut whilst others get a pass? It seems kind of inconsistent to me.

 

[Stigbob]

If all you have from Distant Ganks (the greatest expedition ever undertaken in the ED universe) is around 11 people on your block list then your intel was pretty terrible

Personally I think this attitude, enabled by Frontier's dreadful design decision concerning the block feature, is the epitome of lame.

One of the funniest things about distant ganks (2 I think) was the gankers uploading their score sheet of ganks made by pilots, which was then used as a mass blocklist.

Something of an own goal in a game with a now searchable block function.

 

[Hossi]

That doesn't really add up. If you say that some of the people on your block list are derived simply from being on that Distant Ganks list, why did only a handful of us actually make the cut whilst others get a pass? It seems kind of inconsistent to me.

Well first of all, I only block people who attack me personaly. If I have your name on the DG list, I will have an eye one you, but I will give you a chance, so to say. I don't block people simply because on that list.
And appart from that, I don't block PP enemies, never. To identify them I rely on my PP group. We know the people hanging around our headquarter. We can tell gankers from enemies.

 

[Reggit]

I can completely understand your position Old Duck - it seems to make alot of sense! I think most of us have been frustrated by a Gank™ or two
That being said, my Blocklist is empty, and it will remain empty...forever! (I'm afraid i can't help with the how it works )
Gankers, and yes - even station rammers - generally just mean an excuse to get a combat ship down there (for me), and try and have some fun! (And hopefully help some lawful cmdrs!) If i'm doing some super lucrative Trading in a high traffic area, i'm probably already not in open. Why not park a Trader and a PvP ship at the CG? Its only credits right - best of both worlds?
If a cmdr has a particularly long blocklist, i would seriously question if Open mode was truly the best mode for that cmdr - but in moderation, i totally understand.
I saw you (briefly) at the CG a day or two ago - i look forwards to seeing more of you! Don't go too mental with the block and i'm sure there's some fun to be had!

 

[jasonbarron]

Well first of all, I only block people who attack me personaly. If I have your name on the DG list, I will have an eye one you, but I will give you a chance, so to say. I don't block people simply because on that list.
And appart from that, I don't block PP enemies, never. To identify them I rely on my PP group. We know the people hanging around our headquarter. We can tell gankers from enemies.

My point is, then, that the DG list had nothing to do with your own personal blocking protocol, so I didn't (and still don't) know why you even brought it up. I think blocking for anything other than abusive comms is bull excrement, but I am encouraged that you do seem to have a set of guidelines you employ as opposed to just willy nilly blocking people because you read their name somewhere.

 

[Stigbob]

I believe the devs still know how it's meant to work, but until they unveil the underlying mechanics there's no way for us to verify if it's actually working as intended - for us and for them as well. On top of all these thinkable scenarios there's the usually suppressed but crucial element of port forwarding. Meanwhile I'm pretty sure there's an unknown dark figure of players who have not correctly forwarded their ports (it's by far not as trivial as FD's support pages suggest and requires same serious 'fiddling' with your router including some thorough testing - or UPnP which is easy but considered suspicious against hacker attacks by some), with the result that they heavily depend on others, at least one with correctly forwarded ports in any given instance. Put this additional unknown into your equations and enjoy the extended headache.

Bottom line: Open is just a playful nonsense - light years away from any means of reliability. Nice if it works, but really no wonder if not. If you start to understand all this you'll also understand why I don't get all the fuss about wild and unorganized PvP in Open. If you don't take it seriously, good for you. If not, welcome in gaga-land.

I only meant us players when I said nobody, the devs have to keep mechanics mysterious or people learn how to bypass/exploit them.

The current version of block (I think) is much much more robust than it used to be. At least that's the way its been heading since launch and would fit the patch notes of no more instancing with the blocked at all.

None of its serious which is why I'll happily block anyone who isn't fun.

 

[Old Duck]

Well, my experiments are of mixed and surprising results. Apparently I do NOT have any control over somebody else's instancing (except probably those I have blocked). I winged up with a trader, waited for him in supercruise to return, and when he did, he ended up in a difference instance. I suspect he defaulted to "instance prime", but I was in an a secondary instance due to my block list. Same thing happened at the station. It said he was there, but I was there all alone, nobody else around.

That's not exactly what I had hoped for. Personally I think wings and even friends should override blocks when we're all in the same system. At the very least, a wing mate should join my instance instead of the prime instance...

Well, much to think on!

EDIT - it may have been just a weird wing glitch that coincidentally coincided with my testing... Hmmm! Frontier, you're bugs are getting in the way of SCIENCE!

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

I’m not totally sure how it all works, really. I’m more into talking trash in local, then waking out.

I’ll totally report salty Xbox messages when they use harsh language though— you think they’re upset now, wait till they gotta go in time out for two weeks lol.