we are doing this again? ok, lets look at what we have this time.
A big selling point in Elite is the ability to play in a real dynamic universe with other human players, much of the criticism comes from not enough contact with a vibrant MMO community, and it seems increasing numbers of players are now playing in Solo mode.
there is also a big selling point that you can freely switch between modes. changing that, especially at this point, after release would cause another huge uproar. you may not recall the kind of a mess the dropping of the offline mode caused but I for one can see what kind of an outcry a change would have now in this respect, not to mention the amount of Refund demands it would spawn.
I'm calling on players to play in open play so we can have participation in a dynamic universe, rather than spend most of our time dealing with NPC's, we have a role to play in making the game environment more dynamic and exciting and currently we are not doing it.
I see on average 1-2 players in each system, which pretty much suggests unless there is only a few thousand active players in the populated part of the universe at any one time on Open Play, since most trading takes place in about 2,000 systems.
UPDATE:
I guess the community can become hostile where ideas or posts occasionally conflict with the core experience different people want, and I get that, and it makes sense that those main few experiences are served, I'm sorry for not coming across too well. I get that it has probably been discussed, and very confrontationally in the past.
no kidding there, those kind of threads tend to dissolve into an entrenched snipe-fest until it inevitably gets closed. so, lets see if this one fares any better.
There are a lot of posts on the forums though, its hard to see everything that's been said, and those who were not part of the beta, we probably haven't seen them
no, probably not but this forum does have a search function that's woefully under-used those threads are fairly easy to find actually, primarily look for the closed ones
From the comments so far I get that:
1. Insurance: the insurance needs to be modified for players who have very large ships to reduce risk (Raised by Jockey79)
having a large Ship myself (well above 5.5 mil rebuy) I don't think so. the current system is working and not that hard to figure out, despite a lot of contrary examples of folks who don't keep the rebuy cost and then wonder what happened or just take the risk and then get a bit teary-eyed.
2. Docking denied: the stations need to effectively make the stations "bigger on the inside" to alleviate docking concerns (proportional to load and station size) some docking pressure occasionally should be a factor in choosing trade routes (Issue raised by Matt Hawkins first, Rockspider, Draconus, Yokai, BrewerGeorge)
granted, that is a nuisance, can be avoided with going to other places or the often requested Que. however, when you look at an outpost, particularly the docking module you can see they are one single ship unit, platform with enough space beneath for the hangar. you can't simply make them bigger without some magic handwavium. ( and you don't want to go there as it would take away form the quasi-realism we having) and something like that would cause an uproar with many who love the immersion in this game. one way i could see this without reaching into the before-mentioned reasons would be to "expand" the outposts with a high traffic volume by adding more docking modules to them, which would make sense form the point that the station owner sees the volume of traffic and accommodates to that by ordering and bolting on additional modules to handle the traffic.
3. Solo mode should not impact upon the open dynamic story, but solo play can still pull content from the dynamic story, and modify it on the player solo client (Contributed by Draconus)
this is still all one universe, solo and open, no separation in the actual game server (so to say) or simulation, only difference is you wont meet others in your solo instance. so this won't work because of that, and keep in mind the first thing I mentioned above about the solo/open debate.
4. The open play missions/quests and activities are sparse (I'm taking the view that patience is key here that the game features will expand over a decade or so) - (Contributed by tagos, discussed by Striike)
agreed there, the game has not been out a month yet, more will come and they will affect both open and solo, there is no difference as mentioned above.
5. Groups and PvE possibilities need to be expanded upon possibly so PvE can play a role in open play more clearly (I'm taking the patient view here again on Frontier delivering incrementally over an extended 10 year lifecycle). Players seem to enjoy PvE but it is presented as a different gameplay option when it could probably be integrated (for those who risk it) into a much better open play experience
again, as above, its all the same game, the same universe. this said, (again) the NPCs could use a good buff to make them more challenging, and more noticeable in terms of their rankings.
6. Perhaps it should be easier for players to form factions and groups which have an obligation to support and defend one another to add security, the building blocks are there but this seems to be something that could be added for the PvE and PvP risk element. Perhaps groups with significant influence could be given the option of their own station in a sparsely populated nearby system for example too, with players rising through the ranks to dictate station policy of the faction, and even influence and take over other stations. (Discussed by Yokai)
perhaps we should not try and change the concept of Elite. there are other games that do that, why make this one like them, a carbon copy of it? this been chewed over several times before too.
7. Perhaps Elite should update the conflict zones, and maybe also have something like a matchmaker service at key stations across the galaxy, where a player can compete in what is effectively a sport (where the destruction of the ship is only visual), or with real risks, to satisfy those wanting a multiplayer or team versus experience (or do griefing). With the ability for the same mechanic under a challenge as part of the messaging or transactions screen. (Issue raised by Shads)
Not Sure how well that would fit in with the overall concept. You'd end up with some folks just sitting there doing nothing but those simulators rather then being out and actually play the game and affect the universe. CoH made a simulator available, where players could create their own missions etc (architect) once that gotten in, it seemed like that was where a large portion of the players went neglecting the rest of the game
8. Griefing: fines for griefing must be paid off even after complete player reset (at a 10% rate), but only in secure systems or partially secure systems within a few thousand km of major planets and stations/asteroids. Fines for reckless behaviour in stations should be increased, but not without softening the punishment for accidental infringement to a leeway where you have a period of time to pay off small infractions due to accidents, all to ensure players don't zoom in and out recklessly, but NPC's also need to act with more awareness of other ships in stations. (Issue raised by SvennoJ, Jockey79)
that could be tricky, how's the system to differentiate between a pirate and someone who kills folks just for fun?
9. Damage due to interdictions: this needs to be more proportional with a safe submit perhaps limiting damage to 1% (Contributed by TheWeasel, Yokai)
currently submitting gives you 0 damage. once you fight and loose, you take damage and the current amount seems ok
10. Instancing: instancing needs to be fixed, so players are visible who are in open play
sure, and maybe increase the number of players per instance too
11. Fix the chat/communications: maybe add local chat groups and an open chat group with local chat groups being permission only to avoid crap, and open being broadcast all. Those open groups could be shared by faction or affiliation or system depending on who created it and what they choose. Voice chat would probably need to be limited to PvP still due to load. (Issue raised by Brad Avidro, Driver, Arc, Abomination, SpaceGoblin, Mengy, Ankhorion, Ko Shiji, SoulStain)
this one has been has been addressed often too, yes current chat with friends needs to be looked at, to many get the can't connect issue otherwise, no. local chat faction chat or things like that. unless limited to stations maybe via a Bulletin board chat. this said, it should be only on bigger stations, not outposts due to point #2 above. Wing Chat im sure will come once that gets put in and sounds ok.
12. No fire zone issues: correct punishments and fix issues with players shooting into no fire zone if and when it happens (Contributed by Fozz20 and Matt Hawkins, SpaceGoblin)
sounds reasonable but won't change much in terms of encouraging players to go open as it equally affects solo and groups
13. Different characters for each mode: add different characters for players in open play from those used in solo play (Contributed by Riepah, Daffan, discussed by TheWeasel)
again no. due to the first point i raised.
now, why that big need to change key game features? its not out a month, at least give it time until the first big update (wings) and see how that will affect people to come out to play in open when they can team up.
