I am not truly one for MMO games; specifically, because life is truly its own version of PvP as in many tople over others to feel dominant, get what they want, or simply to get ahead. Life in your career is trully a grind. However, my reality is that my career involves dealing with people when they are at their very worst condition... people who are disputing with others, family, friends, or just simply business partners, and when transactions have gone really bad. I am a litigator by day, and gamer by night, thus life during the day is always PvP. Why gaming? It is a safe outlet for an old man like me with a wife and two kids. So my outlet for stress day to day is limited to exercising during my lunch hour and gaming when I come home. Gaming keeps my mind busy to wind down from work because it requires focus to engage, and gives me something to do with my kids before they go to bed, which is about the time I get home each night from the office. Bottom line, the last experience I want is the stress of being "ganked", harassed, cheated by certain players, or just simply become the target of another player with no other intention but impunity.
ED is an incredible game, an open world game like nothing else before, and I direly wanted to try it out and enjoy the experience it had to offer when I first looked into purchasing the game; however, honestly, I would not even have given it a try if it weren't for its Solo mode. It is what opened up my opportunity to play the game without worry or stress of that experience being sullied by unwanted engagement. However, I just don't understand why there are these factions over the issue of Solo and Open World. Life is way to short, and way to serious to form an opinion, negative or disconcerting over another's play choice being that on his/her own or that amongst others. Also, why can I not engage and partake in the world as a whole, and also contribute to the world as a whole simply because I am not contributing in Open amongst others, whether it is PP or just in game play time? Why must I, or any other person who wants to play Solo, be marked as a lessor person simply because I, or others who share my position, do not want to lose what precious time to play by being the target of that one player from time to time that may very well appear in my radar whose only intention is to make my gameplay time miserable. I wholly respect what others want, and that includes those players who want to partake in the Open and chase down other players for their sense of glory, or even superiority in combat, or to role play their "pirate" in them. However, why do I have to conform to that desire to be a potential victim of their desired gameplay and be wrong, or less of a person, for my own desire of not participating in that world? Why shouldn't people who want to play apart from Open also have the opportunity to contribute to the world as a whole, even in Power Play? When you get down to the "brass tax", all PP points are by majority acrued through destroying NPC ships, not other player ships, whether by interdicting or by PP CZ's, and most PP cargo haulers are Interdicting more often by NPCs than player. The ratio of NPC to Player interaction in PP is clearly in favor of the NPC ships that people generally amass the bulk of their points in Power Play?
I do spend the bulk of my time in Solo, and simply so I can avoid what may only the potential for those unpleasant experiences, but what is enough for me to not want to experience a game altogether if alternatives are not offered to preserve my preference of gameplay. And I don't see why my contribution through Solo should be nullified or reduced in the game as a whole simply for that choice. For lack of a PvE mode in game, and to experience the game with other players risk free from otherwise a potential poor experience, I joined Mobius so I can play in a safe world where I have the option to meet and engage another commander and play along side of him or her as a wing for a joint purpose or just for in game companionship. And in that group, I have the choice to engage in PvP by restrictions of that group to certain areas of gameplay. However, what I feel ED misses, which others have touched upon and I reiterated in the aforemtioned sentence, is an Open PvE, whereas players can play with others without the concern of non-concensual PvP.
The final problem with PvP, obviously excepting the unfair competition of hacking by cheating players which is beyond reproach and already has the eyes of Frontier first and foremost, is the imbalance of ship builds to survive PvP engagements making even those arbitrary PvP encounters almost a sure death to any PvE commander. I know how to handle my ship, I have been predominantly playing this game for the purpose of combat and bounty hunting PvE pirates, but ship builds in PvE are completely separate and apart from ship builds in PvP, which afford a PvP player a significant build advantage over the PvE build pirate. Essentially, to engage in PvP your ship must be kitted in a manner more prevelent and supportive of PvP, and PvE different for PvE, and of course as we all know, pure trading ships are easy targets regardless of their bulid.
The point of my post isn't to bash or otherwise categorize PvP players as sharing a joint purpose of malcontent. Obviously, that couldn't be further from the truth. It is just that select few in respect to the whole whose sole intention is to ruin another player's experience for me is best avoided by not partaking and Solo offers that solution. Problem is that with every MMO, those select few are many in numbers when you consider the count of the entire gamer base, and even many more when you consider those who may hack or cheat the system for advantage. For that reason, I primarily stay in Solo, and I do not believe that this discretion on my part should be contemplated anything more than simply as my choice of play in the eyes of others. Most importantly, if it weren't for that option, I would have never purchased Elite Dangerous, and my 9 year old son would not be allowed to play Elite Dangerous with me. So the point of this long winded, verbose post is to express to everyone else on behalf of myself, and any other person who primarily spends their time in Solo, is we are just gaming for a different experience, an experience we enjoy. Our choice not to participate in a world subjecting us to an aspect of gameplay we wish not to experience does not mean that we don't deserve that same experience as those who choose to engage in PvP by discounting, restricting or limiting the scope and contribution of Solo.
Thank you for taking the time to read my contribution.
