The Majority of Players, Play Elite as a Single-Player Non-PvP Experience?

[NUSQUAM]

I used to play in open until engineers where introduced. I didn't have the time to grind to protect myself and would get my canopy or power plant sniped within 10 seconds of losing my shields. It was not fun. Though it only happened about twice a week, that feeling of powerlessness gave me an awful taste in my mouth. Then I was running an A-Rated Anaconda. I stopped playing in open until I could get engineered to protect myself. Then I just stayed there. Quality of life improved dramatically.

I went back into Open during the first Jupiter Division CG. This time in a wing with an A Rated, 80% Engineered Corvette. My power plant got sniped in my hull tank instantly. I don't think 5 seconds passed.

If I could remove Engineering I would play open again. I may try it in a cheaper ship and just run from any FDLs during this CG. You know there is a problem when it's exclusively FDLs.

 

[Salonica]

This is not surprising at all. Elite breeds contempt for social non PvP interaction. Even EvE has a method to reduce PvP if you don't want it. Every other MMO that is not PvP only has 'carebear' mode. The statistics, from Everquest all the way to modern MMO, show PvP is always in the minority.

Not everyone has time to min/max. And being anything less than max in a PvP contest means you lose.

Frontier, even in their PvE combat breed a min/max regime.

 

[Dagwit]

Unreal are now best known for their Engine, but a couple of decades ago they were better known for Unreal Tournament, a multiplayer arena first person shooter.

Multiplayer it may have been, but there were bots, and when I played it I only ever played against the bots.

I did wonder if I was unusual in doing this, so it stuck in my mind when Unreal admitted that about half the copies sold were only ever played against the bots.

So I'm not in the least surprised that Obsidian's and Exigeous' polls came out the way they did.

I do remember the ED devs stating a while back that a majority of players play in Open, and I'm sure that in some sense that's true.

But there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. I, after all, used to play in Open occasionally - until they got rid of board hopping . And of course now everyone is launched into Open when they first start the game - this happened to me in my alt account and I didn't even realise it until I saw a Dolphin rubber-banding towards me out of a station mailslot.

So I could be counted as an Open player - but oh, I'm so not a multiplayer Elite player.

And neither, apparently, are a lot of other people.

 

[Obsidian Ant]

Like your last poll, this is very flawed and you are insinuating information based on incomplete data.

The reason so many people play it as single player is due to how it is set up, how vast the galaxy is, and how FDev simply refuses to put deep coop and natural+meaningful competetive systems in place to allow a good multiplayer experience. If FDev added those 2 things, many many many of us would play it as multiplayer, and would actually prefer that.

Currently the only method of killing other players is Griefing which most of us are morally unwilling to do, set up pvp matches/tournies which takes too much time, or find the very very very few people RPing directly against you (like actually does PP in open) and hunting on hours for those 2 people is not fun.

No offense, but you either need to think through these posts more or stop posting.

Wut?

I made absolutely no conclusion one way or the other. Sounds like someone is jumping to conclusions based on limited information in a forum post title!

"The Majority of Players, Play Elite as a Single-Player Non-PvP Experience?" That's a title, and an open question - it's not a "conclusion". Also the numbers are the results of three separate polls (two of them not even my own). I haven't implied, suggested or hinted at why we have this results, I've just provided the numbers.

No offence, you probably need to think through your replies before posting, or perhaps just stop posting.

 

[Exeider]

Me I play solo 80-90% of the time. It's mostly because of my playstyle and being an explorer, but when I'm in the Bubble I play in Open though that's not guaranteed to play with others.

I do group up occasionally for things like some Buckyball races, or helping out people with their factions. But I mainly play Elite to escape from things and just enjoy the sights of the galaxy.



On top of, as others have said, the OP is caveated. You should also try reading most of the responses in this thread to see that's not the case here.

But I am curious though how that might change if Fdev fixed multiplayer so it would consistently and cohesively put people together. Would you have things group exploration? and I dont mean, everyone take a star system, I mean, explore AS A GROUP and fly around together.

I would love for things like the wingman-nav lock to work better, where you jump TOGETHER, not sequentially and the wing-leader can move the group around in super cruise. So if I the wingman take my hand of the joystick my ship follows the inputs from my wing-leader. Now THAT would be cool.

 

[CMDR-ss47ply]

I think the only way I would do some multi play would have to come down to a CG style event such as a major thargoid war in Sol where the stakes are high and no friendly fire killing bugs is all I would kill for save earth ect

 

[Gutser]

Play ED just for PvP.

But I don´t vote ...

 

[Red Rocket]

I think it’s important to have open and solo modes to play in.
Fdev has a terrible crime and policy creating a atmosphere where many just don’t want the hassle so they play alone.

You even get a warning when you enter open

 

[galahad2069]

Despite its miserable state, if it weren't for PvP, specifically organized PvP (wingfights), I would have left the game long ago.
Yeah the visuals are nice and the flight model is awesome, but PvE gets boring after a couple of hundred hours as there is very little challenge left in it.

 

[Gutser]

... Much more people would play PvP when FD would make it more interesting. Nothing is more dynamic and unique as challenging player interaction.

 

[stormyuk]

I play mostly alone even though I spend 90% of my time in Open.

It's worth it for the few times you get into a chat with a random player. Just wish the networking was better.

The majority of interactions with other players I find are positive regardless of what you read here.

The last guy that interdicted me, did so just to o7 me. Although I try to avoid hostile interdictions if I can.

 

[Ozric]

But I am curious though how that might change if Fdev fixed multiplayer so it would consistently and cohesively put people together. Would you have things group exploration? and I dont mean, everyone take a star system, I mean, explore AS A GROUP and fly around together.

I would love for things like the wingman-nav lock to work better, where you jump TOGETHER, not sequentially and the wing-leader can move the group around in super cruise. So if I the wingman take my hand of the joystick my ship follows the inputs from my wing-leader. Now THAT would be cool.

Me personally, no. I explore to relax, and take things at my own pace. Some people would like it, it would certainly make some things easier. But I don't believe it would make much of an overall difference to people's playstyles.

Also automated jumping and flying when you're in a wing, just makes multi-boxing even easier

 

[lemon407]

Thats not a surprise at all.
Elite offers no beneficial reasons to play in open, so it makes sense most people would play in solo.

 

[zombieapocalypse]

Wut?

I made absolutely no conclusion one way or the other. Sounds like someone is jumping to conclusions based on limited information in a forum post title!

"The Majority of Players, Play Elite as a Single-Player Non-PvP Experience?" That's a title, and an open question - it's not a "conclusion". Also the numbers are the results of three separate polls (two of them not even my own). I haven't implied, suggested or hinted at why we have this results, I've just provided the numbers.

No offence, you probably need to think through your replies before posting, or perhaps just stop posting.

Despite using a question mark as a qualifier, it's still very much a leading/loaded statement because you throw in the word "majority". A more neutral way of phrasing it would be: "What proportion of players play elite as a ... ".

 

[eqinox]

I think the results are exactly what I thought they’d be.

PvP seems rare, I would love to engage in it if there were good chances for it without having to search excessively for it, and without severe consequences from losing through rebuy. Ship balance is whacked due to engineering, it’s as if ED actively discourages PvP.

Coop gameplay is poor due to p2p issues, lack of missions, lack of direction and punishing gameplay. Still, I would love to play the game with my friends, it’s just too much work for them to engage in it.

I wish FDev would take notice, or run their own stats, and fix their game. My opinion, of course.

 

[Exeider]

Wut?

I made absolutely no conclusion one way or the other. Sounds like someone is jumping to conclusions based on limited information in a forum post title!

"The Majority of Players, Play Elite as a Single-Player Non-PvP Experience?" That's a title, and an open question - it's not a "conclusion". Also the numbers are the results of three separate polls (two of them not even my own). I haven't implied, suggested or hinted at why we have this results, I've just provided the numbers.

No offence, you probably need to think through your replies before posting, or perhaps just stop posting.

I think I have a better game for that poster.

https://imgur.com/a/GnXxW

 

[KillaALF]

I've pretty much turned my back on MP gaming a few years ago, but even if that weren't the case, I would still have spent >95% of my time in Elite in solo. I find it much easier to immerse myself in the experience if there are no other humans present.

 

[Exeider]

Also automated jumping and flying when you're in a wing, just makes multi-boxing even easier

that's against the TOS.... Rulebreaker.. and you're a mod too...

 

[lysan]

even though I do play in open yeah it's mostly as a single player game for me, as my FPS tanks heavily when I play with other players.

 

[Misty_Dark]

I am not surprised, because this fits into the current trend we can see in most MMO's, where more and more new content is being targetted towards solo players, and this naturally causes conflict with players that want more social content.

Look at Elite, first Guardian sites, encourage players to meet in huge groups and everyone shared the scanned data, and some more! regardless if you where winged up or not...
Then we got the next Guardian sites, with Guardian blueprints, now these sites, are anti playing together, as only ONE player get the blueprint! So you did not really do it twice as fast being two players, so instead of actually playing together, you are now encouraged to actually play this content alone, and preferably in solo, so you always got your own instance!
We can see the same thing with Odyssey. Doing missions together on foot, yay, no sharing of mission or mission rewards! Have you shared an Apex Taxi?


So if this is the trend, then of course game developers are going to take notice. it is sad if your preferred gamestyle turns out to be the minority playstyle. as in the beginning, why would solo players join an MMO game in the first place? that was a pretty common comment back in the days. but with more and more game, going the MMO route and we get fewer and fewer offline games, then what are all those solo players supposed to play?


Add to this that we have more gamers of all ages now, so players who in their youth could spend LOTS of time, have started families etc, so they can no longer spend an entire weekend playing with their friends. One of my friends who used to be a hard core WoW player, now sits with family, newborn and house, and he cannot keep up some of his old friends that are still single, he cannot spend 40+ hours just farming a required ring... Stuff he used to be able todo.


It is not uncommon that all play Elite, but one is out doing his next engineering project, another one is working on unlocking the engineers, while the next one has spotted some interesting wing missions todo solo, so we can all share the rewards, and one is out shooting stuff, because seeing space pixels go kaboom is never boring! Now, do we play together or do we all play "solo"? we are not really working together, although we play in a wing to share the wing mission. but we are not doing things together... and frankly, the last couple times we have tried doing things together have turned out into a never ending series of instance problems and disconnects.. so this usually ended with us spending more time trying to resolver/overcome these issues than actually playing together and having fun.


So it seems much more common today that you join your friends on discord etc, and you hang out together there, playing games etc, but you are not necessarily playing together or even the same game!