Modes Restrict or remove PvE from the game, making Open a nicer place

When I played C64 I never looked into magazine. Same goes for the early PC games. I remember being stuck in Monkey Island for weeks because I wasn't aware of the English term: "Monkey wrench". So I didn't know I needed to use a monkey on a bolt. And it's not something you'd try on a hunch.

Plus, if you're a player who occasionally dies from an NPC attack, you might not see that as a problem which makes you look for solutions because you don't know all the tricks. It might be you feel the occasional death is the right balance. Then all of a sudden the NPCs are dialed up and you're constantly dying from NPCs. Of course you're going to figure something went wrong in the balancing.

You're right.

It also points to the need of in-game information on Comms, intrusive audio critical news, etc.
Best way would be a gradual escalation in NPC aggro and hardness, all stages announced in Comms, GalNet etc with the respective needed lore. IMHO
 
You're right.

It also points to the need of in-game information on Comms, intrusive audio critical news, etc.
Like fer sher.

Hope that the Beyond looks into this, or makes a start with it. They talked about trade information being available and useable in game. If implemented correctly and it gets the ball rolling towards other areas.
Best way would be a gradual escalation in NPC aggro and hardness, all stages announced in Comms, GalNet etc with the respective needed lore. IMHO
For a combat player, sure, since his combat rank will increase, so should to a certain extend the encounter be scaled. But I'd rather have scary areas in the galaxy where rookie pilots better stay out of, but have enemies with higher bounties, more valuable hauls. Then that could regulate itself. But we all know how likely it is that that will be implemented.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
No, they catered for the average, not the lowest. Important difference.

Probably not related to the average - as that does not indicate how many players are above or below it.

Probably more likely related to the median - as fully half of players are either above or below median skill.
 
Not sure you understand variable notation N being the variable in the N%.

He put it forward with colloquial connotations that I am certain you didn't miss :)


Every NPC destroyed increments combat rank. It's a "time served" metric to a great extent - not really about skill at all.

I did profess it's a rudimentary system, but within a few words you managed to contradict yourself ;) It's an "NPCs destroyed" metric, which has only an implied correlation to time.

That still doesn't equate to skill, but a) you'd still think that after a few hundred NPC kills a player has learned basic escape techniques and b) it still doesn't explain why NPC difficulty cannot be optionally higher. Who does it hurt to have, as an arbitrary example, a new difficulty of RES featuring aggressive and potent NPC wings?

Interdictions aside, NPC difficulty baffles me. I cannot see any problems caused by having a wider range of NPC ability.

Probably not related to the average - as that does not indicate how many players are above or below it.

Probably more likely related to the median - as fully half of players are either above or below median skill.

*cough* median is a type of average.

And given changes were made based on feedback on the forum, I suspect NPCs were developed in accordance to a rough estimation of mode, not median.
 
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Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
I did profess it's a rudimentary system, but within a few words you managed to contradict yourself ;) It's an "NPCs destroyed" metric, which has only an implied correlation to time.

That still doesn't equate to skill, but a) you'd still think that after a few hundred NPC kills a player has learned basic escape techniques and b) it still doesn't explain why NPC difficulty cannot be optionally higher.

Some players will reach their skill plateau at a lower level than others - remembering that combat is only one of three paths to Elite - the other two don't require the player to fire a shot.

Who does it hurt to have, as an arbitrary example, a new difficulty of RES featuring aggressive and potent NPC wings?

Only those that choose not to pass up the opportunity to avoid them if they lack the skill / ship / outfit / Engineering / other Wing members to overcome the challenge posed by it.


*cough* median is a type of average.

:D

Is it?

I thought it was the middle value (for an odd number of datapoints) or the average of the two middle values (for an even number of datapoints) when the datapoints are ordered by size.
 
Some players will reach their skill plateau at a lower level than others - remembering that combat is only one of three paths to Elite - the other two don't require the player to fire a shot.

Unless I am mistaken only combat rank is relevant here, hence players requesting their combat rank be reset.


Is it?

I thought it was the middle value (for an odd number of datapoints) or the average of the two middle values (for an even number of datapoints) when the datapoints are ordered by size.

Yeah, "average" covers a vast quantity of measures. The average you are thinking of is the "mean" average; median and mode are both two other types.

Saying "they probably used median instead of average" is like saying "that blue vehicle is a Ford Focus, not a car".

When you have done statistics and realised the number of ways an "average" can be presented, you very, very quickly lose faith in any kind of marketing/sale figure. I could make almost any set of results with a reasonable level of variation look catastrophic or incredible at a whim.
 
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Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Not sure you understand variable notation N being the variable in the N%. Some one would need a certain percentage of skill/ability to know the hight wake skill and how to properly outfit a ship for survival is not something a new player someone at say at a low N% rate, but killing new players seems to be the preferred method for SOME (not all thats a given) PVP Bros

The top N% are those that are not the lower (100-N)% in this context. It's not a personal "N" - the upper part of the skill distribution curve.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Yeah, "average" covers a vast quantity of measures. The average you are thinking of is the "mean" average; median and mode are both two other types.

Saying "they probably used median instead of average" is like saying "that blue vehicle is a Ford Focus, not a car".

When you have done statistics and realised the number of ways an "average" can be presented, you very, very quickly lose faith in any kind of marketing/sale figure. I could make almost any set of results with a reasonable level of variation look catastrophic or incredible at a whim.

No, actually - I did mean the median as, by definition, half of datapoints are above and half are below the median. The same cannot necessarily be said of the mean nor the mode.

Fair enough - I should have referred to the mean rather than the average (although the average is the mean in common usage in the UK).

This image demonstrates what I was getting at:

Mode_Median_Mean.png
 
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Deleted member 115407

D
Solo lets you avoid ganking.

Cheers, Phos.

Why is it that some Solo players feel the need to blast that argument every time someone else starts talking about the suitability of open encounters? It's dismissive, and smacks of "neener neener". And then they wonder why some Open players look down upon them...
 
Why is it that some Solo players feel the need to blast that argument every time someone else starts talking about the suitability of open encounters? It's dismissive, and smacks of "neener neener". And then they wonder why some Open players look down upon them...

I like to remind people that Open is not compulsory.

Cheers, Phos.
 
Why is it that some Solo players feel the need to blast that argument every time someone else starts talking about the suitability of open encounters? It's dismissive, and smacks of "neener neener". And then they wonder why some Open players look down upon them...

I'm hearing stereo neenering. Does that mean I get to look down on Open players? :)

Present company excluded of course. Been flying in Open last few days myself, and it's a perspectivial impossibility to look down upon myself. Except for in the mirrors in the bedroom. Big champagne on ice. Prisoners own device.

Edit: :D
Well, misconceptions and stereotypes abound on this subject, from both sides of the aisle.
Disco!
 
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I'm hearing stereo neenering. Does that mean I get to look down on Open players? :)

Present company excluded of course. Been flying in Open last few days myself, and it's a perspectivial impossibility to look down upon myself. Except for in the mirrors in the bedroom. Big champagne on ice. Prisoners own device.

Edit: :D

Disco!

Then you're a CheersPhos, evolved!
I'm happy.
 
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