Oh, definitely agreed there. I'm not saying Frontier needs to replicate the features of a full high-end dedicated comms tool inside the game ... but it does I think need to make it easier to find in-game where those out-of-game conversations are going on.
If you want more people in Open, the best way to accomplish it are QOL features to make Open more desirable.
- Thread starter DemiserofD
- Start date
This is were having a super version of local commanders would help I think- for me the problem is knowing who is around (including those who might not be in your instance or mode). Having the ability to reach out and send a targeted message would be that missing starting seed (since ED comms is built on coming across people).
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Which rather depends on the viewer's preference, or lack thereof, for PvP - and we all bought a game where PvP is optional.
Which presupposes that those disinterested in PvP should be forced to face a challenge equivalent to PvP to satisfy a subset of the player-base, unless that extra challenge remained optional.
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Is there a link to source data from which this conclusion is drawn?
No hard data, just anecdotally from personal experiences (I'm not a great combat pilot, but anything not meant for wings I find to be pretty trivial in my Corvette in terms of combat) and from basically any of the endless forum threads about people complaining about any lack of challenge in the game which typically posit the wing missions as a general catch-all solution to lack of difficulty.
Although if FD were to ever publish figures about how many people have ever completed Elite-ranked wing missions in solo, that would be good too and would help provide additional evidence for these kind of balance discussions.
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Presumably the Corvette is Engineered?
.... and "endless forum threads" don't comprise a large proportion of the player-base (up to 12M copies now). It may be that a number of players find the challenge lacking - however Frontier seemed to chose not to pull the ladder up on those without Horizons (before it was folded down into the base game) in terms of game difficulty. Given the complaints about grind, I doubt they'll increase commonly encountered PvE challenge to a level requiring significant engineering.
They choose not to - not just on this topic but on any of their gameplay analytics..
Obviously the Corvette is engineered. Best of what's possible in the Bubble except for the Thrusters which aren't quite maxed out. That's basically the norm nowadays after they have gone on a massive crusade to make engineering easier to do, it's not like trying to get a full set of god-rolled modules used to be. However, it's probably not even at the peak of its potential power yet, as I still need to do some tech broker stuff and powerplay to experiment with; I've not visited the Colonia engineers yet for further optimisations; I also don't use premium synthesis to boost my damage output either and my SLF pilot is not fully leveled yet. There's potential for even more performance out of my ship (to say nothing of me improving as a player).
Complaining about difficulty on the hardest difficulty in the game seems a bit counterproductive too. Attempting an Elite ranked mission is attempting the Impossible, the Ultra-Nightmare, the LASO, the Master Ninja, whatever you want to call it. Elite-ranked stuff is not meant for the "average" player by any sense of the imagination, average players would be much better suited for missions around the competent / dealer / surveyor ranks; y'know - the "average" ranks. High ranked missions should be something to aspire to in the long term, not a given once you have put a weekend into the game. The highest difficulties should be pitched to the top players, the middle difficulties should be pitched to the average ones and the lower difficulties to the beginners; not pitching the highest difficulties to the average player. The only time to complain about the highest difficulties being too hard is if they are hard to the point where literally nobody can legitimately complete them.
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Tut, I knew someone would catch on the wording but hoped I wouldn't have to edit. The "control" I mention can surely be assumed (since FDev are in complete control) to stretch to completely changing the character of the encounter compared to PvP, including tuning it to the CMDR and ship they fly.
The "equivalence" can be as broad as you like, and I mean for it to have an increased but more evenly spread chance of happening, linked to in-universe factors and CMDR choices, while being less likely to be punishingly asymmetric (partly due to the link to in-universe factors).
EDIT: one thing that could certainly be helped by selective enhancements to NPC potency would be the problem of botting.
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Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Each of the three in-game Elite ranks is the equivalent of a long-service award rather than a measure of skill.
What they should be is whatever Frontier want them to be, in relation to the player-base as a whole.
As long as these uprated NPCs are only available in the highest level missions or high threat USS then I have no issues with them as I don’t bother with either of them.
But I got the impression they were being suggested as also being a random NPC to spring on those like myself who are not slaves of the mission board which as my builds are set up to be fun for me to fly not optimised like a meta ship I would object about as the random Elite level encounters I get now are quite tough enough to be interesting.
Well I did engineer my Cutter just for that reason. I wanted combat to be trivial challenge for me. I got what I wanted.
GW2 Is definitely not the only MMO with elaborate communication tools. I could have just as easily posted SWOTOR, LOTRO, WOW, BDO, ESO, etc. etc. etc. and they all would have significantly greater communication tool access than ED. It is fair to say these are MMOs. Do you see any kind of pattern here? ED is not even a shadow of these games with respect to socialization tools. If you want to say ED is an MMO because thousands of people own it, and there is an "open" mode that can tolerate small numbers of players connected by p2p, it is sort of like calling a sardine a tuna. ED is not an MMO by industry standards for many many reasons, - it doesn't make ED bad - it's just silly to put in the same class as those games and pretend it is an MMO.
I think a lot of players would move to OPEN if FDev simply doubled or tripled mission payouts in OPEN mode.
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Some of them might - however I expect that the block lists of some players seeking the bonus with no interest in PvP would increase dramatically.
Some of them won't - as they have no interest in playing with other players.
Some of them can't - as console players require premium platform access to play in either of the multi-player game modes (but don't require it to play in Solo).
Regardless of the mode tripling mission payouts is unlikely to get me to do them except for unlocks or ranks.
I still say trying to bribe people to play in a way they don't wish to is wrong.
The simple reason for players fleeing to Solo is non-detection based on distrust of players with better weapons.
Killing a Commander could provoke an overriding "hardpoint lock" making it impossible to deploy hardpoints on any ship associated with the offending Commander's Pilot's Federation Licence for a determined length of time (say 6 hours) on top of a hefty bounty and hefty fine. A clear message to gankers is sent, actions have consequences improving C&P, the victim is satisfied and the offender isn't barred from non-combat roles so they can easily continue playing doing something else.
The only problem is it takes the fun out of it.
Killing a Commander could provoke an overriding "hardpoint lock" making it impossible to deploy hardpoints on any ship associated with the offending Commander's Pilot's Federation Licence for a determined length of time (say 6 hours) on top of a hefty bounty and hefty fine. A clear message to gankers is sent, actions have consequences improving C&P, the victim is satisfied and the offender isn't barred from non-combat roles so they can easily continue playing doing something else.
The only problem is it takes the fun out of it.
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Anyone can put on a plasma accelerator. Anyone can engineer to G5. The maximum amount of firepower for every player is the same for each ship. That's not really a valid point.
Soooooooooo more Permit-lock like handwavium? The PF doesn't have control over CMDR's ships, and is honestly more like a mafia than a trade union, as in lore, their only way of slowing/reducing infighting is by placing bounties. Also, this completely destroys whatever remaining piracy gameplay is left around since now the pirate can't make good on a threat of "your cargo or your life" without impinging on their ability to have more successful heists in the future. This is a bad idea on so many levels.
Right....accept if im just mining doing my thing aint no way a type 9 is going to hold up against a vette no matter how hard you try.
No one wants to deal with that.
That's the problem, you can't invoke any harsher penalties than the inconsequential C&P they currently have, unless you sacrifice fun and freedom.