Increasing open play incentives

[OVMorat]

An internet connection is not an unreasonable pre-requisite for game that is bought online and downloaded from the store. People playing in hotel rooms on laptops should accept that holding the game back to suit their particular lifestyle and then complaining about being victimised is more than a little selfish.

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A closely guarded secret, unlikely this will get out any time soon.

I imagine the reason its kept so secret is because it contains some alarming numbers.

I would be interested in a comparison between the number of people in Mobiouis's group vs the number of people in Open. Think the stats might surprise FD, if they dont know already ..

I'd also be interested in the stats for the number of players who actually post on the forums.

 

[GrillMonkey]

I generally play solo as the only online features that interest me is the player influenced universe. I get that in solo. I do think you should have seperate saves for open and solo tho.

 

[Calenir Varrik]

quite common in Mobious's group across all areas you identified, with one key component missing - being shot down for no apparent reason

I too agree that there needs to be more risk. More game mechanics with tougher harder NPC opponents, with more complexity to their reactions might achieve this.

@Calenir, your approach is nice, warm and even. You cant be a pvp player by default, none of the character traits for this breed are present. I appreciate you effort to 'make the experience richer', and you will agree there are many ways to do this. But you gotta deal with the elephant in the room. The pvp playerbase has been championed by haters, who hate louder and longer than most 'good' pvp players, and the game mechanics dont allow for much division between them.

Thank you for you kind words.
There are certainly a lot of strong opinions on the matter but I'm pleasantly surprised at the level of maturity on these boards, I hope it stays this way.

I'm also glad to hear that the möbius group had been such a positive experience, one I hope becomes a possibility in open play. (depending on sector and player make-up)

It's funny actually because myself and many like minded friends from my cross-gaming guild are drawn to full-loot full-PvP games for this very reason, the harshness of the environment makes our actions have meaning. Kindness in a potentially hostile game universe always feels much more meaningful.

I agree that it is early days and hope that the Devs take note and continue with their current vision by developing more mechanics that can facilitate all kinds of game styles.

 

[BigFW]

A closely guarded secret, unlikely this will get out any time soon.

I imagine the reason its kept so secret is because it contains some alarming numbers.

I would be interested in a comparison between the number of people in Mobiouis's group vs the number of people in Open. Think the stats might surprise FD, if they dont know already ..

Oooh, I do like a conspiracy theory....gets popcorn

 

[Jeffers]

The answer isn't to increase incentive for open play.

The answer should have been all along that there should be ONLY open play, no solo. Remove the solo option, like every other MMO, and then the focus would be on game balance, risk vs. reward, and you'll have a real sandbox environment where there will be pirate-only guilders, and anti-pirate guilds, etc. (Look a Vendetta-Online and how its social sandbox evolved.)

The game could implement high-sec vs. low-sec systems (sorry for the Eve reference, but it's a really good mechanic), trade routes through riskier space will yield greater profit, etc.

I wouldn't have bought an open play only Elite. That isn't what the original dame was and it's not the sort of game I want to play. Why can't people just leave everyone to play the style of game that they prefer? I've bought the game, it's my choice how I play it and that doesn't affect how anyone else wants to play their game!
I'm getting a bit fed up with people on here who want to force their particular style of play on the rest on us......

 

[Systrom]

+1 increase openplay
let them make more credits !

 

[Varrag]

I don't think that the current system is problematic, but one thing is for sure: granting greater rewards to players in Open is not a solution. It's a can of worms which we should better keep buried.

 

[Lockheart]

I wouldn't have bought an open play only Elite. That isn't what the original dame was and it's not the sort of game I want to play. Why can't people just leave everyone to play the style of game that they prefer? I've bought the game, it's my choice how I play it and that doesn't affect how anyone else wants to play their game!
I'm getting a bit fed up with people on here who want to force their particular style of play on the rest on us......

I don't think what you are describing and what the OP wants will ever happen in Elite, pockets of that type of game-play here and there maybe. Meaning that a more interactive and co-operative feel to Open-play for those who want it will exist and be a reality when they need or want it but that will never interfere with your idea and game-style play either.

I like a bit of both (I guess I'm ... ahemm ... Bi when it comes to gaming), so that way I think we will all be catered for eventually.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

An internet connection is not an unreasonable pre-requisite for game that is bought online and downloaded from the store. People playing in hotel rooms on laptops should accept that holding the game back to suit their particular lifestyle and then complaining about being victimised is more than a little selfish.

And IF the solo online mode had not been a 100% advertised feature of the game, along with the option to swap into and out of it at will, then maybe you would have a point. But it was, and buying the game, either in ignorance, or in the hope that complaining will get it changed to how you want, is no reason to demand changes, when the game is working - albeit with improvements needed - as designed.

Solo offline is a sticking point, but as DB and others have said, that was never a feature they really wanted in there, but was one they tried to add after a large number of people asked for it........ sadly they were unable to make it work, without a huge commitment that would have meant saccrifices in other areas, which they were not prepared to make.... the rights and wrongs of this have already been covered elsewhere, but one of their defences is that for the majority of people who wanted offline, solo online is there and ticks most of the boxes.. Like it or not it is not going anywhere and complaining about it is as likely to work as it would be for me to demand dropping ALL......

Like many here, (whilst I personally would have backed elite if it had been only ALL online), I would not have backed at even close to the levels I did knowing that if ALL did end up toxic like eve (which currently it isnt I will add) I have an escape plan (and to go back to the OP, equally an escape plan without features either cut or trimmed down compared to ALL).

My pledge was a drop in the ocean compared to some of the really big backers who wanted solo however. So like it or not the truth is, Elite only just made its KS goals... and it would not have made them without the solo gamers.

 

[eeps]

wonder if the wingman function that is rumoured for release q1 next year will allow you to take a factional NPC with you ..

some of these nasty-types might re-think their "Yarr's" if one is flanked by a couple of heavily armed Viper factional heavyweights

 

[DocMoriarty]

No amount of "incentives" will lure solo players into open play when they do it mostly to avoid conflicts with psychopaths and rotten kids. The only thing that would make someone come out of the void would be to introduce an "Open PvE Mode" while the current open play will get the "Open PvP Mode". Then everyone can select his favorite mode. Trying to lure solo players into open to have more prey is pretty psychopathic, isn't it? Discussing such a mode here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=69757

 

[Jikahn]

They tried some of these ideas in Ultima Online to make Felucca more attractive about 10 years ago. The general outcome was that a few of us got things much cheaper than everyone else because we knew how to use the PvP area well (having 'grown up' there) and everyone else continued to ignore it because, basically, people don't want to play in 'open pvp' as they want a single player or co-op game where they can chat to people and have fun.

That IS what the majority always want. It has been proven time and time again with studies, surveys and plain old 'what do they spend their money on'.

That's why WoW had 9 Million subscribers and EvE had under 100K.

You are flogging the greasy spot where the dead horse used to be.

Exactly. I have been playing in open, I haven't been popped yet. Hell I haven't even died yet. I came close due to a mishap in a station, but managed to live anyway. My first MMO's were open PvP, no safety net, no insurance, just tough luck. Open pvp is a niche market. And people who want to force open PvP on an entire game's community tend to be of a certain mindset. Just another PvP vs PvE thread now. Enjoy that. There's at least 2 or 3 every week.

 

[Nightdragon]

The answer isn't to increase incentive for open play.

The answer should have been all along that there should be ONLY open play, no solo. Remove the solo option, like every other MMO, and then the focus would be on game balance, risk vs. reward, and you'll have a real sandbox environment where there will be pirate-only guilders, and anti-pirate guilds, etc. (Look a Vendetta-Online and how its social sandbox evolved.)

The game could implement high-sec vs. low-sec systems (sorry for the Eve reference, but it's a really good mechanic), trade routes through riskier space will yield greater profit, etc.

honestly they need to make it so the security forces show up if you have the report crimes on, or maybe a button do to 'call seciurity force' it would make at least that much safer in faction controlled space.

Also in all fare-ness, 2d MMOs where you can teleport to anywhere you need to be, isn't the same as ED, where it can take an hour to get somewhere.

the "only open play" would have required a server be set up somewhere so that the pings and other issues are more ironed out, so far, looking at the other posts, PvP can be dodgy at best. So they need to fix that first LONG before anything else.

 

[Chazzie]

-1

Why are so many people hell bent on getting everyone else to play Elite the way they want you to play.
How about communication tools, wings and the such are improved to encourage open play then let each player play the way they want, without losing out.

Nobody should be forced to, or feel obliged to play in open mode if they don't want to - period.

 

[ronin516]

Please stay solo if you plan on keeping that key bound.

I switched to open in Gamma, and haven't had a single problem since. The only time I've ever been attacked by another player was way back in open beta and that was in a warzone, so it was totally legit.

They fixed this way back in beta I thought. If you do that it keeps your ship in space to be blown up. Not to mention it didn't go to save. Which is part of the reason it keeps the ship there. In beta though early gamma this was considered grieving because pirates (human) would attack the wrong target. Or a trader would get attacked by npc or some human player then C,A,D right out or kill the game before they could kill them. So they stopped this by locking your ship into a battle on the server and when you try to exit during combat you basically kill yourself. Best thing to do is boost out and jump systems. But honestly I have been playing for months early beta and I have only been attacked by a player once. And he actually let me live as he did beat me (new cobra no upgrades against a highly kitted viper). And I had one attempt while flying a hauler and I took him almost halfway down on hull with missiles and boosted and jumped out. He was in a viper. Then an attempted interdiction a week or so ago. That's it. It gets the blood pumping and livens the game.

 

[Zvanya]

I created this thread as a chance for the community to discuss the issue and come up with ideas that would encourage more players to play and stay playing in open play.

My first suggestions would be that

1) rare commodities' initial sell value be increased substantially but only be available in open play (or otherwise keeping them as is in solo but greatly increasing their initial sell value in open play)

2) increased faction reputation gains in open play.

3) adding a few more "rare" financially rewarding bulletin board delivery missions (only available in open play)

Those are the simplest ones I came up with initially but hopefully with your help we can expand this list further.

The idea of offering "incentives" to encourage open play is nothing new in these forums and has been debated quite extensively in previous months, with many many ideas besides the few you have offered. The problem is that if you reward people for playing in open it is the same thing as punishing those in solo. Don't hold your breath - people will play in open or they won't, but I don't think FD will be on board to browbeat people into open play.



EDIT:

A closely guarded secret, unlikely this will get out any time soon.

I imagine the reason its kept so secret is because it contains some alarming numbers.

Just curious why do you think the breakdown of open/solo numbers would be alarming, and who would it alarm? Personally I wouldn't be "alarmed" either way.

I'd be very interested in those numbers because I made a prediction months ago: Early in the game solo would be the most populous, but as the game continued more and more would move into open play and the numbers would get steadily higher.

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

Nothing to be gained from forcing people into open, the majority of people who play solo rarely come into open anyway and from previous threads of the exact same nature have indicated that these chaps would rather not play than be forced into open.

Secondly any Solo players that do venture into open are guess what?..........Playing in open some of the time, you get the benefit of these players anyway.

Thirdly and probably the most important thing, game scale! I've been in open since launch and seen the sum total of about 5 people and that was when I returned to the core systems. Where I reside there is no one at all, if you want to encourage human interaction then first the instance and network stuff needs resolving and then you need a focus for the people who are already in open to take part in.

Forcing people who dont want to play open, in to open is completely counter productive and futile.

 

[Bambi]

An internet connection is not an unreasonable pre-requisite for game that is bought online and downloaded from the store. People playing in hotel rooms on laptops should accept that holding the game back to suit their particular lifestyle and then complaining about being victimised is more than a little selfish.

Being able to buy and download a game online is very different from being able to maintain a constant unbroken internet connection at all times. And that's before we take server issues on Frontier's end into account.

If you live in a place with good internet, good for you. Not everyone does. And of course even if you do, as soon as there is a slight hiccup with the server your game is bust. Even the best ISP's have downtime. Downtime that you might decide to use playing video games. Multiplayer is not a prerequisite for this game to function. So why is solo play restricted to only work when Frontier decides it should?

It is absolutely an unreasonable requirement.

 

[Bikky]

I really don't get this fear of open play. I traded my way up to a Type 6 without being attacked once by another player.

I agree, I'm out for combat, pve and pvp, and I don't get that much pvp. Typically only warzone areas, which are extremely high risk anyway.

 

[ciger]

I really don't get this fear of open play. I traded my way up to a Type 6 without being attacked once by another player.

Carebears would not agree with you.