Well, Squadrons are up and running. Not doing much for the game, yet, (from my standpoint) but it has potential. It is that potential that I would like to address. I think it very well can be leveraged for the better good of the community and even open up new revenue streams for Frontier. In other words, win-win.
First of all, this thread discusses the problems with PvP, mostly centered around "ganking" and "bunny bashing" the newer players. Some people enjoy that, unfortunately. However, the recipients of that behavior generally do not. Now, one theme that comes up again and again is using Mobius, or playing Solo in order to avoid that. Unfortunately, neither is a comprehensive solution. Both are limiting in the style of play. It is either all or nothing. There is no in between.
Mobius seems to work as advertised. Join up, wait a couple of days and then play in a semi-open PvE only environment. How good they are at enforcing their own rules is something that is hard to determine. I don't feel like testing it, but they do want specific proof that may be hard to get. If you can't video record your play, you may have a hard time proving that someone attacked you when they should not have. Their rules allow no PvP combat, ever. At least that is their official line. They have an ethos that Frontier does not have the headache of trying to enforce, and that is a good thing. But, if you want a slightly different mode of play, then you are not going to be able to play in their sandbox.
Lets say you do want to play in a limited way PvP, but not as hairy and open as in normal open play. What are you to do? Setting up your own Private Group may work if you have a lot of trusted friends, but the setup is tedious, and the Private Groups tend to dissolve, leaving you to start over and go through that tedium again for very little expected reward for your efforts. And if you don't have a group of friends already playing ED, what are you going to do? Frankly, it would be a hard sell to get your friends to join if they got whiff of why you needed them to join so badly...
You can, if you have friends online, play in Open with a wing. I have done that, and I personally did not have anyone trying to take on a Triple Elite Federal Corvette running with a newbie in an Anaconda. (he was not really a newbie, just starting over again -- I got him cash by dropping expensive cargo like Meta Alloy over 10K outside a station and allowing him to scoop it up and sell it.) But again, not everyone is going to have such an opportunity.
It is here that Squadrons can be very useful. If there is automatically a Private Group created for each Squadron, then the modes of play available is only limited by what the Squadron Leaders want. Find the Squadron that matches your style of play, and play in that Private Group. This can be leveraged even further. Allow Squadrons to associate to each other, where their Squadron Private Groups all share the same instance, and you can set up co-operative and competitive play at the same time. It may be only one on one. It may be virtually unlimited associations allowed, (but not truly unlimited -- let Frontier figure out just how to limit this) and you can see potential for much more immersive play. It could be based upon Powerplay. It could be just head to head competition. It could be taking sides in a civil war and some duking it out in combat zones.
One Squadron could pretty much be the same as Mobius. Ho Hum. Big Yawn. However, another variation is that in Combat Zones players are Free to Attack any other player. Maybe Haz RES zones are open instead or as well. Maybe limited Pirating is allowed -- you can take the goods but not kill the Merchant Ship. The point is: The Squadron sets and administers the rules. Some will have crappy rules. Some will have bad enforcement. I may have one idea of what crappy rules are, while you could have another. Great! We will probably like different Squadrons for that reason. And if a Squadron is not very good at enforcing their rules, you can expect that members will leave and find what they think might be a better Squadron. This requires NO administration headaches on the part of Frontier. It sorts itself out dynamically, even if messily. No need for a Kill On Sight lists, (although a Squadron might institute such a thing themselves) No need to make players be subject to harsh repercussions instituted by Frontier in order to pacify them, (although such extreme cases could still exist) and make themselves out to be the "bad guys" in such a scenario.
That is the core of this idea. I have more ideas on how to leverage Squadron Play into something more worthwhile all around, and will post them on this thread...
;'{P~~~
First of all, this thread discusses the problems with PvP, mostly centered around "ganking" and "bunny bashing" the newer players. Some people enjoy that, unfortunately. However, the recipients of that behavior generally do not. Now, one theme that comes up again and again is using Mobius, or playing Solo in order to avoid that. Unfortunately, neither is a comprehensive solution. Both are limiting in the style of play. It is either all or nothing. There is no in between.
Mobius seems to work as advertised. Join up, wait a couple of days and then play in a semi-open PvE only environment. How good they are at enforcing their own rules is something that is hard to determine. I don't feel like testing it, but they do want specific proof that may be hard to get. If you can't video record your play, you may have a hard time proving that someone attacked you when they should not have. Their rules allow no PvP combat, ever. At least that is their official line. They have an ethos that Frontier does not have the headache of trying to enforce, and that is a good thing. But, if you want a slightly different mode of play, then you are not going to be able to play in their sandbox.
Lets say you do want to play in a limited way PvP, but not as hairy and open as in normal open play. What are you to do? Setting up your own Private Group may work if you have a lot of trusted friends, but the setup is tedious, and the Private Groups tend to dissolve, leaving you to start over and go through that tedium again for very little expected reward for your efforts. And if you don't have a group of friends already playing ED, what are you going to do? Frankly, it would be a hard sell to get your friends to join if they got whiff of why you needed them to join so badly...
You can, if you have friends online, play in Open with a wing. I have done that, and I personally did not have anyone trying to take on a Triple Elite Federal Corvette running with a newbie in an Anaconda. (he was not really a newbie, just starting over again -- I got him cash by dropping expensive cargo like Meta Alloy over 10K outside a station and allowing him to scoop it up and sell it.) But again, not everyone is going to have such an opportunity.
It is here that Squadrons can be very useful. If there is automatically a Private Group created for each Squadron, then the modes of play available is only limited by what the Squadron Leaders want. Find the Squadron that matches your style of play, and play in that Private Group. This can be leveraged even further. Allow Squadrons to associate to each other, where their Squadron Private Groups all share the same instance, and you can set up co-operative and competitive play at the same time. It may be only one on one. It may be virtually unlimited associations allowed, (but not truly unlimited -- let Frontier figure out just how to limit this) and you can see potential for much more immersive play. It could be based upon Powerplay. It could be just head to head competition. It could be taking sides in a civil war and some duking it out in combat zones.
One Squadron could pretty much be the same as Mobius. Ho Hum. Big Yawn. However, another variation is that in Combat Zones players are Free to Attack any other player. Maybe Haz RES zones are open instead or as well. Maybe limited Pirating is allowed -- you can take the goods but not kill the Merchant Ship. The point is: The Squadron sets and administers the rules. Some will have crappy rules. Some will have bad enforcement. I may have one idea of what crappy rules are, while you could have another. Great! We will probably like different Squadrons for that reason. And if a Squadron is not very good at enforcing their rules, you can expect that members will leave and find what they think might be a better Squadron. This requires NO administration headaches on the part of Frontier. It sorts itself out dynamically, even if messily. No need for a Kill On Sight lists, (although a Squadron might institute such a thing themselves) No need to make players be subject to harsh repercussions instituted by Frontier in order to pacify them, (although such extreme cases could still exist) and make themselves out to be the "bad guys" in such a scenario.
That is the core of this idea. I have more ideas on how to leverage Squadron Play into something more worthwhile all around, and will post them on this thread...
;'{P~~~