rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
This has come up in other threads, but I think it warrants its own. I suspect it'll lead to some heated discussion, but I'm genuinely curious and willing to hear arguments from both sides.
Up to this point, I've not blocked anyone, even if they have killed me multiple times. I have been reserving the block for station rammers (which I sincerely believe is an exploit) or anyone who is creepy or abusive in the comms panel. So far I've not had this problem. However, today I thought of a new use for the block - as a tool to "fine-tune" one's experiences in Open in places like a CG. Allow me to explain.
At the current CG, there are often instances full of multiple wings of gankers. Trying to run this gauntlet in a trading ship is "tedious" to say the least. Nor do I find this immersive, seeing that the story of the CG is to save the galaxy from blight that would cause all of us (gankers included) to starve. It's just "blow people up for the fun of it" mayhem, and I'd like to opt-out of this silliness. However, I like the "community" aspect of a Community Goal, so seeing other traders and even an occasional ganker is enjoyable to me. So while switching to Solo removes "gank alley", it also removes everyone else.
Enter the block. My thinking is that I strategically block a couple of the aggressive, zero-roleplay "for the lulz" gankers who are habitually living in supercruise at the CG. Since most of these gankers all end up in the same instance, blocking just a few of them should put me in a separate instance when I enter the system, thus removing this grossly unbalanced "ganker gauntlet" from my gameplay. Once I arrive at the station, however, I should be instancing up with other traders, assuming none of the gankers on my block list are at the station at that time.
I would only be adding a small subset of gankers to my blocklist, as I actually find many of the gankers to be friendly, but it's their overwhelming numbers at times that I find game-breaking for me. This means I may still end up in an instance with a small number of "noble" gankers, depending on time of day, etc., so the game still will offer the risk of Open, but no the impossibility of Open at a CG where dozens of gankers are pouncing on single T9s.
In other words, by using strategic blocking, I can have the best of both worlds, or in this case, both "modes".
Now I recognize thismay beis highly controversial. But it's not cheating, and it's better than playing in Solo where I would have zero risk from other players, it's just a mechanism to try to balance out the current imbalance of wings of G5 FDLs vs. single T9s. And, this actually happens all on its own on occasion, since "ganker alley" instance sometimes is so full that I end up in a separate, lonely instance anyway.
Now I do have some questions. 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.
Blocking as a feature is new to me, since it didn't work this way on PS4. Feel free to educate me on the finer details and correct any misconceptions I may have.
Took you a while
I've been using this function that way for ages! It's a great tool to filter out players you'd rather not play with
Gg fdev, please don't ever change it!