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
I love PvP, and it's pretty much the only reason I play anymore. I've traded, explored, mined, reached Professional rank in CQC, killed more NPCs than I can count-- aside from AX combat, there isn't anything left for me to do that doesn't bore me out of my mind. Nothing excites me more than the challenge of taking on another player, and with help from a great group of friends, we've built a pretty solid PvP community on the Xbox side of things. There is rarely an issue finding someone experienced that's willing to scrap, and there's a steady trickle of rookies who turn up from time to time. It's a good time to be into PvP right now.
With or without engineering, its the unpredictability of a human player that is a big draw. Whether we're doing an un-engineered event, or the usual modified ships, I have a great time. Granted, it's a chill atmosphere, and I'm usually pretty drunk, so it would be difficult for me to not have fun.
Engineering is certainly necessary to be competitive at the highest level, as Pilot skill can only make up for so much (Someone having triple the defenses + 2x or more damage output and speed will certainly have an advantage against someone without).That said, anyone can engineer a ship to its maximum, but not everyone can use it to its full potential. Since 3.0, all ships have a definite maximum level they can be engineered to, so everyone has access to the same thing, provided they put the time in. There are very few legacy modules, if any, that will give anyone a significant advantage over another player.
I personally enjoy the performance upgrades that engineers offer, the increased speed and frequency of boosting is very welcome. If there's any complaint I have, it's the excessive inflation of hitpoints over the years. Ships now are so hilariously durable compared the vanilla versions, its not uncommon for people to run out of ammo while fighting each other. NPCs are total pushovers in comparison.
I'd say buff weapons more, but that would just lengthen the gap between non-engineered and engineered vessels. If anything, defenses need to be brought down a notch. It doesn't take much to make a ship sturdy enough to survive an encounter with another player, but 3000+ shields on an FDL is just ridiculous. Fdev considered nerfing shields a bit in the past, but ended up buffing them lol.
It's too late to go back now, but I feel like allowing us to modify core internals only from the start may have been a better route.
On the topic of premium:
It's another layer of grind that I'm personally not willing to deal with(I often use beam lasers anyway, so it's not like I could even use premium in the first place). Some are willing, and may even need it to remain competitive against other players 30% extra damage on top of engineered weapons is nothing to scoff at. I can't speak for PC, but I know for a fact the best on Xbox get by just fine without farming materials for premium. It's certainly seen as a crutch among many top players.
I don't use it, and I feel that it should be kept out of duels, or organized competition. Some people declare it, others don't. Some deal with accusations of premium, because they're that much better than the average player.
At the end of the day, in organic PvP, I can't exactly be upset if someone uses it. Even if its frowned upon, it's well within the parameters of the game to use it.
