First of all, I'm not exactly a PvP player. Especially in Elite. I'm playing mainly in Open though (except for times when I just don't have the time to be bothered), so I've had my share of combat encounters. At first I was on the receiving end of the stick, then when I gained some experience and got hold of better equipment (and got bored with being the guy to beat, or switching between modes when I wanted to fly somewhere) I was able to hold my own. Even win sometimes.
But here's the thing: I didn't enjoy it very much. Combat in Elite, especially PvP fought with ships engineered for combat, can be really, really (really) boring . 20 or so minutes of flying around and shooting? Even when it's not very long it's hardly satisfying. At least from a gameplay perspective.
Even in combat aircraft simulators, you have Earth and upper layers of atmosphere, which limits your movements, gravity, which is a consideration, you can have clouds, rain etc. and usually difficulty lies in being able to hit your opponent - when you do, it doesn't take a lot to eliminate him.
In Elite there's usually literally nothing there but 2 ships that shoot at eachother. Sometimes people switch FAOff, but without it it's like WW2 airplanes fighting in vacuum. And they have shields which regenerate, armor, all with engineering that adds a lot of hitpoints. Make that kind of "map" in any FPS shooter, equip players with insane amounts of hitpoints and I wonder how many people would find that exciting.
Of course I understand that this is exactly the thing which allows people not interested in being preyed upon by trigger happy players to easily escape when attacked - it takes so much time to destroy properly engineered ship, that at certain point it's really not a problem anymore.
Now, over the years I've seen some (I would say a lot, but maybe i'm projecting) complaints that engineering is OP - even high tiered NPCs are bullet sponges because of engineering, which can make fights with them long and tiresome.
But once in a while I see someone saying - and recently I've encountered that voice again - that premium ammo is "a 'crutch' that some Cmdrs use to bridge the skill gap".
I've never thought much about it - personally I've never even used premium ammo. Most of the time I just don't even remember that there is something like that. Certainly not in a fight.
But it now downed on me: isn't that the solution to those long, boring fights and part of engineering equation?
I'm really curious what are your thoughts, ladies and gentlemen.
Do you enjoy PvP in Elite? Do you enjoy it with engineering or is it a sad neccesity (I'm not talking about gathering materials, let's forget about that)?
I know people like PvP, but do you like it the way it is, or like it enough, but would prefer something changed?
If you do enjoy PvP in Open, then... why? How?
And what do you guys think about Premium Ammo?
(and how effective it actually is, as I've literally never used it. Can it significantly shorten the fight?)
Any input would be greatly appreciated
But here's the thing: I didn't enjoy it very much. Combat in Elite, especially PvP fought with ships engineered for combat, can be really, really (really) boring . 20 or so minutes of flying around and shooting? Even when it's not very long it's hardly satisfying. At least from a gameplay perspective.
Even in combat aircraft simulators, you have Earth and upper layers of atmosphere, which limits your movements, gravity, which is a consideration, you can have clouds, rain etc. and usually difficulty lies in being able to hit your opponent - when you do, it doesn't take a lot to eliminate him.
In Elite there's usually literally nothing there but 2 ships that shoot at eachother. Sometimes people switch FAOff, but without it it's like WW2 airplanes fighting in vacuum. And they have shields which regenerate, armor, all with engineering that adds a lot of hitpoints. Make that kind of "map" in any FPS shooter, equip players with insane amounts of hitpoints and I wonder how many people would find that exciting.
Of course I understand that this is exactly the thing which allows people not interested in being preyed upon by trigger happy players to easily escape when attacked - it takes so much time to destroy properly engineered ship, that at certain point it's really not a problem anymore.
Now, over the years I've seen some (I would say a lot, but maybe i'm projecting) complaints that engineering is OP - even high tiered NPCs are bullet sponges because of engineering, which can make fights with them long and tiresome.
But once in a while I see someone saying - and recently I've encountered that voice again - that premium ammo is "a 'crutch' that some Cmdrs use to bridge the skill gap".
I've never thought much about it - personally I've never even used premium ammo. Most of the time I just don't even remember that there is something like that. Certainly not in a fight.
But it now downed on me: isn't that the solution to those long, boring fights and part of engineering equation?
I'm really curious what are your thoughts, ladies and gentlemen.
Do you enjoy PvP in Elite? Do you enjoy it with engineering or is it a sad neccesity (I'm not talking about gathering materials, let's forget about that)?
I know people like PvP, but do you like it the way it is, or like it enough, but would prefer something changed?
If you do enjoy PvP in Open, then... why? How?
And what do you guys think about Premium Ammo?
(and how effective it actually is, as I've literally never used it. Can it significantly shorten the fight?)
Any input would be greatly appreciated
