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EvE has what you're looking for. Get a Steam Rubicon starter pack (if they still have it), log into the game and hit Alt-Y to bring up the claim option and put the PLEX in your inventory. Then merrily make your way to the nearest trade hub. I gurantee you'll have as much PvP as you could hope for before you make it through a few gates.
You'll be happy to know that your impact on the game is providing someone a free 30 day sub, at your expense. Likely someone's bot alt no less.
I think that was aimed at me. A simple route check on the cluster map will help you avoid all hostile encounters. EvE is a thinking man's game.
That's the point. You have a chance to interact with other players, even if the interaction is in not seeing them at all. A big difference to just ducking into solo and avoiding players that way.
Usual rubbish, for your info I've been playing since Dec 16th in Solo and Open and have been interdicted plenty of times by both NPC's and real players and managed to avoid them. If you read my post carefully, you will see that I never tried to compare NPC's to Players, I just said that since the Wings update the NPC AI seems to be improved.
To be honest I've been reading your posts for the last couple of days and they are starting to sound like one of those old Vinyl records that has a bad scratch on it and keeps jumping back to the start!
Anybody who disagrees with you is either:
1: Scared to play Open
2: A rubbish pilot
3: Some sort of Newbie who has never played computer games before!
Solo mode is here to stay, So suck it up!
JtL has little to do with what I'm talking about. It was a poorly executed expansion that was tacked on the core game and not very interesting. PvP was not very good either, but PvP was never the stable of that game to begin with (you had to flag yourself to be attackable). Bottom line, the game had a relatively small but stable audience. Then they literally nuked it in a way that I've never seen before, or after.
Developer opinions are not automatically correct.
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Pah, NPC AI is as dumb as ever. And in the context of this discussion, even mentioning NPCs is comparing them to players.
Solo mode is easy mode. I don't care ordinarily, but I do care if a bunch of easy mode players interfere with our Open gameplay goals.
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And nor are yours, or mine. But given the choice of who to go with I think I'll stick with the devs employed by the company owned by the guy who not only created Elite and all its iterations, but also basically created 3D space gaming. His opinion I trust.
SWG had the most intense space pvp I've ever seen in an online game. One hit (sometimes two) and you were toast. If you didn't know how the ins and outs of your ship, convergance, corner speed and how to evade and fire while evading, you didn't last more than a few seconds. Not to mention a far more involved learning curve in how to properly outfit and build your ship. ED PvP is pretty tame. Shield Cell Banks, Shield Boosters and the ability to run away any time you want. It's almost like the CoD version of space combat.
SWG had the most intense space pvp I've ever seen in an online game. One hit (sometimes two) and you were toast. If you didn't know how the ins and outs of your ship, convergance, corner speed and how to evade and fire while evading, you didn't last more than a few seconds. Not to mention a far more involved learning curve in how to properly outfit and build your ship. ED PvP is pretty tame. Shield Cell Banks, Shield Boosters and the ability to run away any time you want. It's almost like the CoD version of space combat.
I'll have to take your word for it, I never really played space PvP since it was so inaccessible (it was something to do at the end of progression, lower tier ships would be hopelessly outmatched from what I heard).
I agree that ED is going too far with defenses right now. But the game is young, they need time to balance stuff, and are doing that so that doesn't worry me.
He does have very little - actually no experience in MMO games. FD as a studio have very little experience in that area, and if you notice my chief complaint is that the multiplayer design hasn't taken the kind of audiences they attract into account.
But you know, I do have a pretty high opinion of FD. As a studio they have great rapport going with the player base, update regularly and are fairly transparent as to the process. We even have AI programmers discussing NPC behavior with players. ED itself, even if at times shallow due to a rushed release, is a superb concept and very well executed overall. Multiplayer part was rubbish at release, is a little less so now with the Wings, and hopefully it'll improve.
I wouldn't be so sure though, that they won't go slowly in the direction that favors Open, and that Open ends up vastly better than Solo in a few years. It makes sense both from the design and business perspective.
This I have to agree with this.
I misunderstood the patch notes when they brought out Shield Boosters - I actually thought (don't know why) they were removing cell banks and replacing them with boosters.
After trying a ship out with 2 "A" boosters, "A" shield and "A" cell banks, I honestly think my misread might not be a bad idea, a ship just with boosters and 4 pips to systems can tank like crazy and I've not tested the
extra hull reinforcement packages yet (and by tested I mean, no one has punched through my shields to hit my hull)
At the end of the day, it does not matter how much people shout. FD will have to go down the route which puts most backsides in cockpits if it is to survive. A year from now, the only thing that will decide if Elite is an Eve like PvP gankfest in Open, or a Co-operative very PvP limited game, will all depend on what FD's accountants say will bring in the most real money.
And to be honest, I would hate to try and call that one right now.
Sorry, but who plays an online game, when he/she/it has a crappy connection ?
Remember my post.
Play angry birds!
I typically have a fairly good connection, but I've had a server disconnection about three times or so now - and you know what? It wasn't even my connection at fault. I could still use the Internet. I had no trouble with anything else. It was ED's servers which, for whatever reason, decided not to function.
Please don't blame the user for something which isn't necessarily their fault.
Also, I'm curious as to how you assume everyone will magically know when their ISP might have issues... If we could all do that, the world would be a happier place.
That's not always practical advice. I'm a decent pilot, having played military combat simulators since around the late eighties to the present day. Nine times out of ten? Sure, I can get out of an interdiction - but I'm finding that isn't always the case. The artificial (and, frankly, annoying) 'mini-game' you play to get out of an interdiction sometimes has the blue circle swing wildly out of view - and stay there, no matter how much you twist and turn to regain it. It's not frequent, but it does occur.
No amount of skill or practice will save you in those situations. You're forced into a successful interdiction, regardless of your intentions. Blaming the pilot for something they can't influence feels like, with respect, a lazy excuse.
And it only takes one lucky NPC to ruin your day...
Remember, the game doesn't necessarily scale your opposition to your experience, either. I've mentioned before that I have a friend who's encountered destruction a horrific number of times, because, even though he had yet to ever even open fire on someone, the game was constantly interdicting his starter Sidewinder with NPCs of 'Dangerous' rank and higher. It took them very little time to rip through his craft and he kept getting put back to square one. Not in anarchy systems. Systems which are actually meant to have very good security.
So, please remember that even if you personally have an easy time of it with NPCs, for some people it can be a really nightmarish experience, regardless of their skill.
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All I know is that multiplayer games have a huge financial and advertising advantage over singleplayer games, and they should focus on making multiplayer nice and healthy in this game. This includes making sure that your game is conductive to multiplayer audience. And those hate it when there are easy available exploits that aren't addressed. From combat logging to ghosting. That stuff kills multiplayer.
That may be, but it only means such players would find other players chasing them even worse. So they have a choice between having to deal with nightmarish NPC encounters AND comparatively absolutely hellish difficulty of other players trying to blow them up, or just NPCs.
Remember, this whole discussion is how unfair the game is for Open players when they are trying to win competing Community goals, and while they have to deal with other players (you get killed, all your progress is erased, you get scanned by a player at a station while smuggling and get fined, singled out and interdicted because you fly a cargo ship etc.), solo players have to deal with much easier NPCs. NPCs which are ultimately predictable, not persistent, and thus easy to deal with.
Actually, this whole discussion is about much more than just that. That being said though you have yet to present anything other than simple opinion. Everything you have said so far has been refuted. However, you keep ignoring this and continue to plough on with your baseless claims. Please supply some evidence to back up your assertions.
...in your opinion. My opinion is that they should focus on making this a good game for all, including people who prefer playing solo, not just for those who like PvPing in open.
You are basing your 'NPCs are easier' thing because your experience seems to be that of only ever encountering pushover NPCs. Other people have different experiences. Every time someone talks about encountering a pushover NPC, someone else can talk about encountering a pushover player. So NPCs are not automatically easier, and players are not automatically harder.
Tell you what. Joe, you too. Why don't you guys come to Lugh in Open, play a few hours like that, then go to solo and play like that.
Then let's see if you can come here and say that it's all the same with a straight face.
Uh... They already do.
Like me, they generally play in open. I was refuting the assertion that AI opponents are no problem.Remember, AI difficulty depends on the NPC rank - and some people are getting slaughtered with alarming frequency by very high-ranking and aggressive NPCs. I'm not, you're not - but some people are. People who, especially, don't really have much hope of surviving the encounter, because they're often still in their basic starter ship.
And now that Wings is allowing groups of NPCs (apparently in numbers of five or greater, according to reports) to interdict players, even if you were to encounter a low-ranking NPC, there is a very real danger of potentially being swarmed.
Therefore, NPCs very much are a threat. Potentially even more so than encountering a single, lone human pilot. Any arguments which are based on the 'NPCs-are-easy-to-beat' fallacy are invalid.
Of course, if the AI is improved to a point where system security patrols are just as aggressive in searching out criminals in large groups of their own, it'll be both a relief and much more immersive/fun in general. Criminals should be getting primarily destroyed by security vessels dedicated to the task, not random freelancers.
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You didn't get my point. Let me explain.
Let us say that NPCs are equally dangerous as players. I could argue against this, but let us dispense with that and focus on the following:
Solo players need to deal with NPCs only.
Open players need to deal with NPCs and players.
Therefore, the difficulty is greater in Open.
No need to argue as to the comparative difficulty of NPCs and players. My argument stands.
How's about no. I know what I've said because I've encountered tough, hard to beat NPCs (and such NPCs in wings) which nailed me in no time flat, also encountered NPCs I nailed in no time flat, plus encountered players that were tough, and nailed me in no time flat, and encountered players I nailed in no time flat, including in high-traffic areas like Freeport during Beta. I don't need to prove what I said is true because I already know it is from my own personal experience.
Here's a question for you - you are looking at two potential targets to engage. Target 1 is a 'Harmless' player in a Sidewinder. Target 2 is an NPC wing of an 'Elite' Anaconda with two 'Elite' Pythons. Which would be an easier target?
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Erm, what? Let's say you're a trader, running back and forth over the same trade route multiple times. On run 273, you encounter a total of five pirates, three of which are players. On run 274, just by chance, you also encounter five pirates, all of which are NPC. On run 275, by an astonishing coincidence, you, yet gain, encounter five pirates, all of which are players. If players are as difficult as NPCs, how's any of those runs more difficult than any other?
In Solo, all that happens is that you're guaranteed all those pirates are NPCs. Nothing more.
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