Game loses something by not forcing Open play

[Sawyer]

Given that Open play does not seem to be rich with CMDR meetings, it would be a shame if when an encounter did finally arise, all that happened was that the other CMDR came up to you, destroyed you and then just flew off without saying anything. Would a non-PvP Open mode make it more likely for some form of interaction?

I wonder if we can be optimistic and assume that Beta/Gamma has a limited population and that upon release, the Open galaxy will be be brimming with CMDRs

 

[Zenicetus]

I'm not naive enough to think that this "debate" about limiting mode switching will stop after the 16th, but it will sure be easier to point out that this game doesn't work that way.

I would have thought this was obvious by now, but I guess wishful thinking is an inevitable byproduct of an extended Alpha/Beta/Gamma process.

 

[Zenicetus]

Given that Open play does not seem to be rich with CMDR meetings, it would be a shame if when an encounter did finally arise, all that happened was that the other CMDR came up to you, destroyed you and then just flew off without saying anything. Would a non-PvP Open mode make it more likely for some form of interaction?

That option is already available in Private Online groups, including a rather large PvE group (Mobius).

I wonder if we can be optimistic and assume that Beta/Gamma has a limited population and that upon release, the Open galaxy will be be brimming with CMDRs

The size of the Galaxy still guarantees player dispersion, so this will never be a game with other Commanders filling your screen. Then there's that pesky P2P limited instance size. However, there will be hot spots where Commanders will gather. Some by prior arrangement between friends, and others drawn to events injected by FD. There's something like that happening on the 16th, apparently... some kind of dust-up involving the Imperial succession to the Throne.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

That's exactly how...you force them to play together...

Carebears + Griefers = Balanced well rounded game ;D

Or its a way to totally lose the carebear players. The ones who want coop or solo play. Making this game like EVE. I'll hazard a guess that is the last things Braben want's to see. Also, the carebears are probably the hardcore fans. The ones who will still be playing and making purchases for years to come. The griefers are the ones who will jump ship to the next shiny PvP game that comes along... possibly Star Citizen if it is ever released.

I don't know, I just have this fear that being a really good Pirate will just help Open play die off into bascially solo mode anyway.

The only good pirate is a dead pirate

I'd prefear to have super deep emergent gameplay with Traders/Explorers verses Pirates and Bounty hunters to save the day.

So, Traders and Explorers should play the sheep while the PvPers (Bounty Hunters and Pirates) play the wolves. Wow, that sounds sooo tempting. I'll pass thanks. Ill stick to NPC annoyances.

I don't what to see all the Pirates to scare away all the prey, and Open play is just left with Pirates fighting each other.

Isn't that great though? PvPers know the people they are attacking want to fight! And it will be a challenging fight! None of this self-destructing, or running away that the non-PvPers do. Of course, its strange that all the PvPers will play pirates. What, none of you guys want to play Traders? Fly around in a heavy cargo ship and get attacked by someone in a nimbler craft more deadly craft? Why-ever not? Oh yeah.... of course, silly me.

 

[gazzareth]

As it is, I am disappointed that FDev did not make ED just one Open mode for everyone. The options are still all there in one mode. If you want to play alone you have 400 Billion stars to hide in, if you want to play pew pew you can congregate in wherever the action is. None of this Solo, Group, Open now splitting the player base.

Yeah that would have been a great idea, they wouldn't even have got the kickstarter off the ground.

 

[Clifford]

I'm not naive enough to think that this "debate" about limiting mode switching will stop after the 16th, but it will sure be easier to point out that this game doesn't work that way.

Actually I think it will be alot worse after/on release day.
There will be a flood of new players, they all come from playing Call of Duty and EVE online and they get here and ask "where's the pew-pew action?! I want to smash for LoLz".
They will have no concept of the original Elite game, and won't give a flip about the kickstarter or DDA or all the alpha/beta/gamma testing that came before. I predict a flood of questions "why isn't this game just like WoW/EVE/ call of duty in space?!?'".

 

[philux]

How would it force things to balance? Truckers are gonna truck, griefers are gonna grief and potatoes are gonna potate!

If one cannot switch back to solo those griefers also have to effectively earn CR and upgrade their equipment, i.e., trading and mining, while staying in open. Hence, they can become easy victims of others and most likely tend to play more conservatively over time.
As it is now the griefers can do all that upgrading and money earning in solo mode, and only come back to open group to attack other people that genuinely want to experience all different aspects of player interaction in open group.

 

[Hermit]

I predict a flood of questions "why isn't this game just like WoW/EVE/ call of duty in space?!?'".

It's when that flood stops that FD should start worrying.

 

[Toxic_Waster]

Yeah that would have been a great idea, they wouldn't even have got the kickstarter off the ground.

Or perhaps they would have collected more money. We can only guess at this point.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

If one cannot switch back to solo those griefers also have to effectively earn CR and upgrade their equipment, i.e., trading and mining, while staying in open. Hence, they can become easy victims of others and most likely tend to play more conservatively over time.
As it is now the griefers can do all that upgrading and money earning in solo mode, and only come back to open group to attack other people that genuinely want to experience all different aspects of player interaction in open group.

And thus, we would get EVE: Elite Dangerous Edition.

 

[FX2K]

If one cannot switch back to solo those griefers also have to efficiently earn CR and upgrade their equipment, i.e., trading and mining, while staying in open. Hence, they can become easy victims of others and most likely tend to play more conservatively over time.
As it is now the griefers can do all that upgrading and money earning in solo mode, and only come back to open group to attack other people that actually want to experience all different aspects of the game in open group.

So take away switching between solo / all and that solves it? I don't think it does.
What about the fact that they can just jump to a quiet system and do exactly the same thing in online all, where yes they may come across one or two players eventually, but most of the PKers are going to stick around the busy areas rather than spend hours hunting the lonely trader.

Blocking the switch just prevents solo players who lack confidence of playing in online from giving it a try, ever, well without starting a new game anyway.

 

[Zenicetus]

It's when that flood stops that FD should start worrying.

They would only start worrying if they were trying to please everyone, and gain the largest possible audience. If you haven't noticed, that isn't exactly the plan here.


Games can survive and prosper as niche products. If the DCS series can do it for air combat, then ED can do it for space games, with at least two other alternatives on the horizon for those who don't like the way it works.

 

[Anopheles]

We could have lived in one big multi player universe if there were large secure places like, say Corporate systems where the police turned up in less than a minute to dogfights and hunted down any murderers they found. If these were separated by small/medium/large areas of varyingly dangerous space and both suns were patrolled (to stop camping) by the corporate police then people may be willing to take the risk of dashing through for big profits. I know that makes it sound a bit EVEy, but it isn't really, considering that most systems have a lot more exits than EVE's do.

What we have at the moment is the worst of both worlds. PVE players feel they have to go solo or small group and PVP's think the game is too focussed on avoiding 'griefing' that a little something has been lost and legitimate PVPing (group warfare, pirating, even bounty hunting) is not what it could be.

Try to please all and nobody is happy.

 

[philux]

So take away switching between solo / all and that solves it? I don't think it does.
What about the fact that they can just jump to a quiet system and do exactly the same thing in online all, where yes they may come across one or two players eventually, but most of the PKers are going to stick around the busy areas rather than spend hours hunting the lonely trader.

Blocking the switch just prevents solo players who lack confidence of playing in online from giving it a try, ever, well without starting a new game anyway.

But if those infamous griefers cannot switch back to solo mode, the lucrative trade routes will be off-limits for their trade runs, since they have a target on their back and every player bounty hunter or trader with escort will kill them on sight. Hence, the difficulty to be a blatant griefer becomes much much higher, because you cannot farm the lucrative spots and trading routes in solo mode anymore.

 

[Hermit]

And thus, we would get EVE: Elite Dangerous Edition.

Or Valkyrie, as it'll be called.

 

[FX2K]

But if those infamous griefers cannot switch back to solo mode, the lucrative trade routes will be off-limits for their trade runs, since they have a target on their back and every player bounty hunter or trader with escort will kill them on sight. Hence, the difficulty to be a blatant griefer becomes much much higher, because you cannot farm the lucrative spots and trading routes in solo mode anymore.

That surely depends where the lucrative spots are, since they are not all in the systems where people spawn, nor are they all at places like sol.
It also relies on people being in the same instances, not just online all. As it is, I don't see any reason to change what we have already.

 

[Kharax]

The Real problem is, there not enought Real Multiplayer Features online at the moment, its more like randomly playing singleplayers together,
theres is atm nothing you can archive while playing Multiplayer for longer therms like:

- Multiplayer Base building
- player-created missions like:
we need 100 tons of different minerals/machines to build up our station/or manufactoring rewarding you with 1 million credits or such. (not able to be done in solo mode)
Ill reward you with 200k for killing CMDR XXX for ganking me in my hauler.
and so on...
- Production
- conquest

And I Realy hope that such Features are Planed and comming ingame, because when not: it realy makes whole the Multiplayer mode Pointless.
When those Multiplayer Features are comming you just have the choice stay solo/switch mode and just take a look at this multiplayer features:
but when you want want do take a part of those features youre not able to switch back to solo mode.

Dont blame me about going back to EVE for wanting those features because it is a complete different, played and liked it a while but its more like a strategy click adventure
with no real piloting skill needed, (its more like you need to know who to do it, and click the right button at the right time)

 

[mugendo]

It's when that flood stops that FD should start worrying.

That flood always stops when the next 'shiny' new game attracts their attention....The question is, Will FD stay true and keep the game to it's design philosophy, or crumble under the constant demand to add a 'win' button.

 

[Zhang]

We could have lived in one big multi player universe if there were large secure places like, say Corporate systems where the police turned up in less than a minute to dogfights and hunted down any murderers they found. If these were separated by small/medium/large areas of varyingly dangerous space and both suns were patrolled (to stop camping) by the corporate police then people may be willing to take the risk of dashing through for big profits. I know that makes it sound a bit EVEy, but it isn't really, considering that most systems have a lot more exits than EVE's do.

What we have at the moment is the worst of both worlds. PVE players feel they have to go solo or small group and PVP's think the game is too focussed on avoiding 'griefing' that a little something has been lost and legitimate PVPing (group warfare, pirating, even bounty hunting) is not what it could be.

Try to please all and nobody is happy.

Well said man.

 

[Marak]

Actually I think it will be alot worse after/on release day.
There will be a flood of new players, they all come from playing Call of Duty and EVE online and they get here and ask "where's the pew-pew action?! I want to smash for LoLz".
They will have no concept of the original Elite game, and won't give a flip about the kickstarter or DDA or all the alpha/beta/gamma testing that came before. I predict a flood of questions "why isn't this game just like WoW/EVE/ call of duty in space?!?'".

If we get that flood of people playing in open & wanting PvP... Then what's the problem? Loads of people to PvP with - after all - an instance only holds 32 players...