Is the Elite rank in combat really that special?

Random Player

Random Player
metatheurgist said:
1 of the elite ranks means you played a lot, the other 2 suggest you might have played for a day or two. 😏
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Hahaha! True. Trade was the easiest. VO's got me there in no time and didn't even know I was there until I heard the announcement. Exploration I set out on, and you only need to make about $400,000,000 in data, so that was pretty easy. Combat is a grind! 54% Deadly, and must have killed 1,000,000,000,000,000 NPCs thus far, along with Thargoids / Scouts. I just stopped looking at it. It's like watching water get to a boil, never does! o_O
 

aRJay

aRJay
here_it_comes said:
And it means nothing now, as it will only be seen through the lens of what the rank currently means. You remember those hundreds of hours of trading when you see your Elite Trader decal, others see it and believe you sold a hot chip. 😕 Trading/Exploration ranks will never recover. I can't see FD increasing the requirements to redeem their prestige, and that is really is the only option at this point.

I really hope Combat rank doesn't get degraded too.
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Seeing as the balance pass reduced the progress earned from Thargoid Scouts combat rank has effectively been upgraded.
 

smiths121

S
I normally use ship loudout as a measure of how much threat someone is,. and combat rank as its only one I can see easily, a secondary or verifying indicator, as engineering is hidden.

I think the OPs question is a tad loaded. Excluding some PvE invalidates the question. Might as well ask will someone who has grinded to Elite in Combat avoiding Elite end game combat conent be as good as someone who did not? Or will an Elite PvP "Ganker only" player be as good or better than as a PvE player who has avoided Thargoids, or a PvP player of htr same rank who has battled througth tournaments, turned out for his side in multi-wing BGS engagements?

What about a trader that only uses in-game tools will thet be better or the same as one that uses 3rd party tools?

My obvious answer is, it does not matter as thank to a subset of PvP players, all the commanders where the questiond merits serious thought are not in open. Boom Boom - your welcome! I generally thought PvP was dying as a reader of these here forums, horribly broken etc. My in game experience is there are not as many gankers or griefers around these days.

If an Elite avoiding Thargoids avoiding PvE player met an Elite PvP player, in my view the Elite PvE players has more than an evens chance of winning by completing there objectives. As their objectives do not often involve destroying the Elite PvP player. Most ships at this level should be able to survive long enough to wake.

IIf we are asking will a PvE only, Thargoid avoiding commander be as good as a PvP player at achieving the PvP player's objectives (Ii.e. PvPl). Given the PvE player is not a religious fanantic about (well actually some of the are, but they are not in open), will not have a ship geared up for it, I think I am going to have to go with, the PvP player has a better chance.

If you break it down seem a daft question though.

Simon
 

Marbat

Marbat
Been playing for 4 or 5 years now, slowly working on my final Elite status which is combat. I only combat now and then but am at Deadly now so on the home stretch for triple elite.
 

Marbat

Marbat
Maybe we should pick a system where players can meet for a challenge against one another to test their ships and skills, sort of a gladiator ring.
 

Random Player

Random Player
Marbat said:
Maybe we should pick a system where players can meet for a challenge against one another to test their ships and skills, sort of a gladiator ring.
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I am not sure why they don't have something like this, where you can play with your own ship, without the gank types? I've never played the CQC thing, but I assume this is close, but I think you have to use a provided ship. There should be a, safe from jerks, place to battle. A system called Octagon, maybe? Where combat is agreed on, some sort of in ship to ship, or ships to ships, combat selector, kind of like when you jump into a conflict and pick sides, type thing. I don't know, just thinking. Otherwise, it would just be full of guys with nothing better to do than random kill ya, Professional Killers.
 

Maximillian Forrest

Maximillian Forrest
OHMSS said:
A pilot can make Elite in combat doing PVE only. It’s a grind and involves keeping NPC ships roughly on screen firing gimballed weapons over and over again until they do it enough to get the rank.
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The combat rank is not about skill, it’s about how many ships you have destroyed.
 

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Random Player
Maximillian Forrest said:
The combat rank is not about skill, it’s about how many ships you have destroyed.
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It's a bit of both I would think, as I believe the "ships", NPCs, that you kill scale with your Rank. So, and I not totally sure about his, someone that's Harmless is not going to meet up with the same NPC ships in a RES, as someone that's Elite. At least, I think that's how the game works. When I was grinding Admiral in SOTHIS/CEOS..., at "Dangerous" in Combat, the game tossed Deadly Anacondas at me, for the Deadly and Elite level, data delivery missions, sometimes as many as 4 of them at one time! I think the game might actually stay slightly above you, tossing a challenge at you. I don't think someone at Mostly Harmless doing those data runs would have encountered the same level ships, but I could be totally wrong about that, but I have noticed, that as I have gained in Rank, so have the ships I've encountered, even in Low RES or just NAVs. Could be totally wrong though :unsure:
 
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Bigmaec

Bigmaec
OHMSS said:
Here’s a thought. How would that Elite ranked PVE pilot fare in combat with someone who is ranked master or dangerous for example but who only does PVP or Heavy AX, both of which require a step up in tactics, knowledge, situational awareness and the ship they built specifically honed for combat.

Depending on your conclusion, this might cast some doubt over the prestige associated with that combat rank. Trade Elite means nothing these days either as money is easy to get in game. It makes me wonder if a new measure of in game competence is required. Even saying that makes me sad because the Elite rank in game has been iconic since the 80’s.
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Bad. Combat rank just means you can stand a lot of grind. I did my Elite combat in a wing of 4 "Big3" in Mobius, where the only question was if people get bored after 2 or 3 hours, and if you lose a shade of a ring of shields before your friends notice and healbeam you up to full strength.
Paul Smith the 3rd said:
Dead in no time, especially against PvP pilots. The skill gap is what makes the difference and you can't get that with PvE combat. This is why people are so surprised that their "unbeatable" Vette explodes before they could get their bearings on what's going on.
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While very true, as znôrt below writes (and you yourself too), the equipment matters a lot, too.
My unbeatable PvE Vette had less shields then my PvP FdL, and yet it was an unyielding tool of NPC-destruction.
The fight against the mentioned PvP FdL would've gone veeery bad.
znôrt said:
very true but ...



.... no, that specifically is not skill, that's having unlocked the meta. it's the opposite of skill, but i guess it feels good.
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It's not the meta that is needed, but a PvE build for HazRes usually goes with a completely different build then a PvP optimized one.
For example, you generally only see beams in PvP to apply special effects like cooling (or healbeam abuse). In PvE they are the meta.
(And don't get me started on talking about AX optimized builds. At least they are survivable compared to a multipurpose skipped-hullday-PvE Corvette)

About the only thing the combat elite gives you is access to the triple elite decal. Explorer and trade are a joke nowadays, only combat means any grind.
 

Maximillian Forrest

Maximillian Forrest
Random Player said:
It's a bit of both I would think, as I believe the "ships", NPCs, that you kill scale with your Rank. So, and I not totally sure about his, someone that's Harmless is not going to meet up with the same NPC ships in a RES, as someone that's Elite. At least, I think that's how the game works. When I was grinding Admiral in SOTHIS/CEOS..., at "Dangerous" in Combat, the game tossed Deadly Anacondas at me, for the Deadly and Elite level, data delivery missions, sometimes as many as 4 of them at one time! I think the game might actually stay slightly above you, tossing a challenge at you. I don't think someone at Mostly Harmless doing those data runs would have encountered the same level ships, but I could be totally wrong about that, but I have noticed, that as I have gained in Rank, so have the ships I've encountered, even in Low RES or just NAVs. Could be totally wrong though :unsure:
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Part of what you are saying is correct as you mostly get adversaries who are close to your rank, but remember you don’t get any kind of combat bonus for destroying any type of ship any quicker, which would happen if it was based on skill. Points are awarded depending on the combat rank of the ship you destroy, with of course Elite giving the most.
 

wenkman

wenkman
here_it_comes said:
Signifying experience and authority in the relevant field is literally the point of displaying rank.



You are talking about earning respect, which has nothing to do with respecting rank. Not even in RL military life.



I need to work to benefit you and others in order to display that I am well-versed in the art of destroying others?

You aren't even talking about rank, you are talking about rapport.




Combat rank is fine. No matter how cheaply you game your combat rank, it will still signify that you have spent a significant amount of time in combat.
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yes, as per the original question "this might cast some doubt over the prestige associated with that combat rank."

the elite ranks show was you did grind wise.

for "prestige" and "earning respect" i dont think ingame rank is the correct way.

no decal, paintjob, rank, ship or name another cmdr shows me will make a difference to be, bc i dont judge people that way.
 

Random Player

Random Player
Bigmaec said:
About the only thing the combat elite gives you is access to the triple elite decal. Explorer and trade are a joke nowadays, only combat means any grind.
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That's a tad unfair to people that have reached "Elite", such as yourself. Would you say that your "Elite", all three of them (congrats by the way) mean nothing more than a grind? The entire game is a grind. Someone that has Billions in the bank, does that mean nothing other than they "grinded" mining? Or someone that has a fleet of well ENG ships... well they just spent weeks collecting MATS, anyone can do it? Ha! Or a FC owner just has that because he's thrifty and saved his pennies up? All these things are just part of the game, and the game is THE MOST grinding game I have ever played, ever, period. I've been to every corner of Skyrim, done a bazillion quests, and it never felt as grinding as ED. I've never had to re-log a hundred times to fill up on something in The Witcher. Anyway, I digress :rolleyes: Elite means you made, umm, Elite, and everyone grinded for that, for probably thousands of hours.
 

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
Random Player said:
That's a tad unfair to people that have reached "Elite", such as yourself. Would you say that your "Elite", all three of them (congrats by the way) mean nothing more than a grind? The entire game is a grind. Someone that has Billions in the bank, does that mean nothing other than they "grinded" mining? Or someone that has a fleet of well ENG ships... well they just spent weeks collecting MATS, anyone can do it? Ha! Or a FC owner just has that because he's thrifty and saved his pennies up? All these things are just part of the game, and the game is THE MOST grinding game I have ever played, ever, period. I've been to every corner of Skyrim, done a bazillion quests, and it never felt as grinding as ED. I've never had to re-log a hundred times to fill up on something in The Witcher. Anyway, I digress :rolleyes: Elite means you made, umm, Elite, and everyone grinded for that, for probably thousands of hours.
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Well, perhaps it was a bit harsh. It means a lot of grind, but the only one that has any meaningful grind left, is combat.

And generally I stand to what I said. Elite combat means nothing. It means you blew up thousands of brainless NPCs.
Neither Elite CNB eagles nor thargoid scouts mean any meaningful opposition, especially not in a wing of PvE murdervettes or AX turretboats.
It is in no way reflective of your combat ability. I was triple elite and ran away screaming arms flailing in a G5'd gunship from a FdL ganker at The Oracle.

If it has any value, it's for yourself. I like being triple Elite, occasionally I am tempted to make quad Elite out of that.
I love the decal.

But that's intrinsic value. Triple Elite means neither you're good in combat, nor good in trade or good in exploration.
It does mean you're a good grinder though.
 

gooddoc

gooddoc
Marklar_ said:
Elite rank has nothing to do with combat ability and never has.

It's basically just a badge showing that you've been playing for a long time.
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I don't think I would agree with that.
My ranking in Combat is only Harmless (that's almost entirely through shooting rocks on Planet surfaces), so by your statement, I'm basically a Noob, who's not played for very long.........yet I've been playing ED since day 1 & have 10.5k+ hours on the game clock.
Yes, I'm Elite in Trading & Exploration, though these days you can probably attain these ranks in a weekend! probably the same for Combat too - though I'll never know;).

The Rankings used to mean something back in the early days, when the rewards weren't as generous as they have become.
Now if a player comes along & thinks becoming Triple Elite is the 'Endgame', they'll have finished the game & moved on within a month!

Edit:
See, such is my involvement in pewpew, I'v actually got my Rank wrong, I'm Novice & not Harmless..............& I don't even know if that's better or worse🤷‍♂️
 
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