Any improvements to PP should probably be focused around the PvE mechanics and refinement of the expansion mechanics.
In the proposal there are Vote to withdraw from system, Profitability modifier applied to votes and preparation successes, Guaranteed undermine if 100% more than fortification and a question mark over Overhead removal and slight increase to distance cost modifier which fiddles with the expansion mechanics.
I don't think that's
quite what they're talking about. The main reason why I don't go out of my way to earn merits in Powerplay, and have focused on the BGS side of things (aka "local" policitcs), is the dearth of PvE activities I enjoy. Furthermore, from what I've read, it's that lack of variety that has turned off a
lot of players from PowerPlay in general. Miners, explorers, passenger runners, couriers, and so on have
no role in Powerplay, no way of turning the gameplay they
enjoy into a way of helping out their Power. THAT, in my opinion, is Powerplay's greatest failure. It's a fantastic feature that is underutilized, because the only way of accomplishing anything in Powerplay is gated behind ABA cargo hauling and combat farming, while ignoring everything
else players can
do in the game.
But this is the arguement, the only game in town is the proposal- until we hear otherwise this is it. And Open only does add gameplay as I outlined.
I certainly agree that Open Only does add new gameplay. I just don't think it's the type of gameplay that will
attract very many players, and will instead drive
away a significant part of the PowerPlayerbase while simultaneously
deterring large swaths of the general playerbase. You've talked about how fortification would change under Open Only and Sandro's proposal. I can very much see how that kind of thing may appeal
to you, because there's a part of me that
immediately started thinking about ship configurations, optimal routes, tactics, and so on that would allow me to complete a run in the face of a player-run blockade. There is a part of me that practically salivates at the thought of testing my skills against other players in that way.
This is part is countered by the part of me that was thinking, "That sound's absolutely
exhausting, if I had to put up with that kind of crap on a
daily basis." And this is coming from a player who would like to add "Fight" to my decision matrix, which currently consists of "Flight or 'Wounded Bird Gambit.'" There's a part of me that was reading along and thinking, "Good thing I don't like ABA cargo runs in the first place." And
that part is why I am not a PvPer, even if I seem to lean towards the PvP side of the "PvP vs PvE" spectrum.
And while I cannot say
for certain whether Powerplay will attract more players than it repels should it go Open Only, experience, and the
long list of MMOs that tried for the proverbial grail of Open PvP in a PvE environment that either closed due to lack of players or opted to gate PvP behind a software wall, indicates that this will be the case. The few games like EvE that have successfully accomplished this task were
designed, from the start, with this in mind, and they
don't use a peer-to-peer networking architecture.