General buff for Open to encourage players to use it ?

CMDR GRAEME COWELL

CMDR GRAEME COWELL
Me I love open, 3000+ hours across two accounts the only time I've used anything other than open is when I'm learning how to do something and don't want to hog a Pad, or a Guardian site or whatever, or more usually when I'm doing something stupid. like jump my SRV over an antenna array and don't want to mess someone else's day around.
I know that Open is not everyone's cup of Fujian Tea. I don't want to start a OPEN vs PG screaming match we have enough of those, nor is this a one way only type thread although I have a personal preference there also.
But I got to thinking what if.. there was a risk / reward reason to play in open ? what if you got a buff 10% (or whatever) for every action positive and negative when playing in open.
The mission boards look the same the bounties REP and INF rewards etc, all look the same... but when it is calculated it is worth 10% more if you did it in open. Maybe not even the monetary side of things, no extra credit value on any activity but a BGS buff for all the activities conducted in open.
I realise there would need to be some coding behind it to stop @rseheads from taking a mission in open changing to scared-y-cat solo mode flying to dangerous-destination-station then changing back to hand it in.

Nothing fancy just a tangible bonus (not even maybe for the commander themselves) for facing the 'danger' of open mode, change the risk reward landscape of the game a little, and maybe encourage the 'one time I was attacked on the way to BGS in someone else's system, and now I only play in solo mode' types ?

Dunno just a thought
Comments ?, criticisms ? discussion ?
 

Zieman

Zieman
Cutest-Beating-Dead-Horse-GIF.gif
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
It's not surprising that proposals are made by those seeking a bonus for their preferred way of playing, which may otherwise be viewed on as a penalty for those who don't play that way.

If actual risk was rewarded then there would be those who would receive no extra reward - even in Open - as they have reduced the risk to themselves to a minimum through ship choice, loadout and engineering. Optimised combat ships face little risk from optimised combat ships, much less from ships optimised for different roles.

Then there's the unfortunate parallel between reducing the effect on the game from players in modes other than Open and one of the punishments that Frontier impose on those who break the rules, i.e. removing their effect on the galaxy completely.

We all bought a game where all players affect the galaxy, regardless of game mode, and where playing among other players is an optional extra.
 
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Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
CMDR COWBELLS said:
I realise there would need to be some coding behind it to stop @rseheads from taking a mission in open changing to scared-y-cat solo mode flying to dangerous-destination-station then changing back to hand it in.
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Huge amounts, once you consider all the mission types. If someone earns money in solo, then logs into open to take credit donation missions, how should that be tracked? (Similarly source cargo missions where the taking and completion of the mission itself can be done entirely in open with zero risk). Closing off all the potential exploits would be impossible ... and the BGS is sufficiently black-box that you'd never be able to tell for certain if there were exploits or not, just rumours of them.

The other problem is that it wouldn't help.
1) There are plenty of players already who play Open most of the time, but will switch to Solo/PG in high-risk situations. A mere 10% bonus doesn't encourage them to go Open for the high-risk situations (because they're still down if they get blown up even one time in ten) ... and is just free money for the "they're the only person online in the system so it doesn't matter what mode they're in" ones but doesn't solve your problem of not being able to meet people because they're not in the same system you are.
2) Over half the players already play in Open, so at the absolute best - and it'd be nowhere near this in practice, of course - it might give +50% to the number of active players online at once. Other things which do that compared with a baseline include "releasing the game on Epic" and "the weekends" and neither of those ended these types of threads appearing regularly. (In other words, even if everyone played in Open, Open would still be empty in almost all systems, because the real problem is that the bubble is far too big for people meeting up randomly to be the expectation)
 

CMDR GRAEME COWELL

CMDR GRAEME COWELL
How do you all see it changing with the introduction of legs will it bring more to open or "drive out" more players ... as stated in the OP I love it the way it is but I'm just curious whether boots on the ground game play will make open more or less populated ?
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
CMDR COWBELLS said:
How do you all see it changing with the introduction of legs will it bring more to open or "drive out" more players ... as stated in the OP I love it the way it is but I'm just curious whether boots on the ground game play will make open more or less populated ?
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I expect that it will depend on the "inconvenience factor" relating to destruction by another player and the likelihood of that destruction. If there's no inconvenience then it may encourage some to play in Open. Too much inconvenience or too many who choose to "let's wait in this well traveled spot and snipe the unwary" then that may encourage players to play in Private Groups when engaged in multi-player missions.

I also expect there to be quite a gulf in survivability between CMDRs in combat suits and those in other suits - much the same as combat ships vs. ships optimised for other roles - which would likely result in a recurrence of the "little risk to the attacker" situations often experienced in Open.
 

Aeorath

Aeorath
Ethaidan said:
There doesn't need to be a bonus for Open... just lock certain activities to Open only... like PP, the BGS, CGs, mining, trade, and exploration. That should sort things just fine, and no reasonable person could possibly disagree.
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To lock certain activities in a game we all paid for... and then force us to play a "certain" way to have access to those activities? You didn't really think this through, sorry to say.
 
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