Why destroy a fellow player when there is zero gain?

[Lobstris]

Why? Solo is perfect to reach a level as a n00b to go into open, before that you are just cannonfodder for the bored masses who are
out for a kill for the thrill, because, what else is there to do? Not that Solo is much better, for I have had NPC's kill me for no reason or bounty or gain whatsoever. But the frequency in open play would be far greater because of the boredom factor. And since I hear complaining, I KNOW that there is a boredom factor ;o)

Never felt like 'cannonfodder' - even when in a Sidewinder. It's a big universe, just get out from under other player's feet (OK - possibly tricky if you're stuck on a small island, but...) As for the AI attacking for no reason? See all previous Elites. (They need to up their combat rating on cannon fodder players too)

 

[Roybe]

It will be a real shame if ED (or open ED) will die because of whining and people moving to solo... I wonder how much time it will take them to realize how borig this game will become without that risk. And I hope FD will improve the AI. I'd love to see people crying about killer npcs in solo. Pleas FD... it will be...
View attachment 6831

There was a time when the AI was actually hard. It has been nerfed since release...because of complaints about NPC griefing. A quick google search shows these (and many more threads like it):


https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=91962

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=66871

 

[Remiel]

i will probably play my entire career in this game in solo. nothing i have read here or similar threads elsewhere would persuade me otherwise. i have not and will not fire a shot in anger and all my ships have had their weapons removed. my choice...

Strange choice for a game with a heavy emphasis on combat. It always amuses me when people choose to be defenceless, but that's your prerogative I guess.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

So, you're in the middle of no where wanting to boost a faction standing to benefit yourself, when 3 others turn up and decide your faction plans do not suit them.... what difference is any mode going to make when 3 others start working against you - in open, they will just keep killing you, in private instances / solo mode, they will out mission you 3 to 1.

This whole "no solo for faction rep" argument is as invalid as any other "remove solo" argument.

FD are directing what is done through the Galnet News for the galaxy as a whole and the smaller parts are the hive mind of the gamers - if a majority of people want 1 faction to rule in a system, then the majority will win by doing missions for them (and everything else) - what the minority does will not stop you, no matter where they are. And even if they were in open with you, you'd have to stop doing missions to stop them doing mission - it's a stalemate there, even worse if it takes 2 people to keep 1 from doing missions as you've then lost 2 to 1.

You're assuming superior numbers = instant win. This is a false assumption. I've already fought against players outnumbered twice in this game and come out alive with kills in both instances. At the very least though, at least I get to try to stop them if they're on the same instance as me. I don't get that option, though, when people playing solo are allowed to affect the universe with infallibility.

And what makes you think I don't have any friends?

 

[GrillMonkey]

Usually I'll leave other players alone, unless I'm in a conflict zone. Then I'll make a beeline straight at you, not because I get some perverse pleasure out of blowing you up (not saying I don't, I love it ), but because players are usually more dangerous than the AI.

I think you're overrating so of us. Me at least I am practising tho

 

[Toxic_Waster]

OP, you're hunting in his backyard and surprised he killed you.

 

[Slugsie]

A kill is a kill. It all counts towards getting an Elite status.

 

[Astronaut Teemo]

I just lost a good 400.000cr (a lot for me) for no reason whatsoever. I was bounty hunting in Duwaredari when I noticed another player. I scanned him and he had no bounty and it looked like he was bounty hunting as well. I left him a federal dropship he was obviously targeting and went after another smaller craft. Both destroyed I started looking for other ships. I find another one (with the other player behind me) and start to engage when I get blown up by the other player. I had no bounty on me, no cargo and once he started shooting I was clearly running and trying to get into SC. Did he let up? No, he just had to blow me up.

Why? I would have gotten it if I had cargo, or a bounty or if I had been going after his kills, but I did nothing. Hope you enjoyed you pointless kill. I guess it's Solo mode for me after all... The money grind right now is bad enough as it is without having to worry to get blown to pieces for kicks and giggles by other players.

You really need to size up other players around you in this game. Open comms and say hi, start conversing with him, even if he doesn't answer it will humanize you and make it less likely he will attack you.

I was pirating last night at a nav bacon in a cobra, and a viper bounty hunter jumps in. So I started talking to him, we chatted for a while, I helped him kill some ships for bounties, all while pirating ships and stealing cargo. It was fun, and now he's on my friends list.

But yea, most important, talk and be friendly, if he seems to become aggressive just play it safe and leave right away.

 

[madfish]

Nope, I didn't make an assumption, I suggested alternative motives. I have no idea what his motives were, but I can think of a fair few. You, on the other hand, seem determined to blanket label every PVP'er as a bad person.

EVE, as it happens, is one of the most successful games on earth. It's existed longer than WoW, has the largest single-shard player driven environment in the history of gaming, and has made more news headlines than any other game that aren't associated with controversial lawsuits filed against the game because it made someone go on a shooting spree or something. I don't think you get to decide what other players gain or don't gain from attacking other players because you aren't a mind reader. What you do get to do is play the game whatever way you like, just as everyone else does, and if you don't like someone else's playstyle, then be honest about it. Don't invent fables about their mental state and/or motives that you couldn't possibly know or understand yourself.

I'm actually not sure what you're trying to defend here. My comment was a response to the griefing the OP described - not a debate about PvP in general.
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Also I'm not against what you appear to call "PvP". Maybe I'm spoiled from playing real competitive games and not just the excuse we have in most of todays games where your average PvPer differentiates himself by level, gear etc. and the mechanics are there to drive sales and emulate "endgame".
A real competitive player doesn't hone his skill on the average guy out there hunting NPCs. Usually we played against each other because normal players were no challenge at all (Q3A, UT etc.)
The fact that he was jumped by the CMDR just after attacking another fighter already shows that this event isn't about competitive PvP anyways. It's just one guy being trigger happy.
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And yes, it's nice that there are nobles out there who kill CMDRs involved in an NPC fight for a tiny wee bit of rep while suffering a bounty and a wanted from it (if not in anarchy space). Or kill CMDRs for 200 CR bounty they got from a misfire. Yes, nobles like this exist and most certainly enrich the game by a lot. But that was obviously not the case here and mind reading has nothing to do with it.
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I still suggest playing solo if not willing to be killed for nothing but giggles.
And please don't try to tell me what I can't possibly understand. That would be very kind of you.

 

[Zhang]

OP scanned the guy. To many CMDRs that's an act of hostility.

 

[Protoplasmic traveler]

Someone probably lost a ship and could not afford the insurance so... time to find a random player and spank them across the star system until the urge to pull wings of flies has been satisfied?

Any reason will do, welcome to online game - carry a big stick

 

[Kero]

Psychological issues.
For example low esteem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteem

• Floating hostility and general defensiveness and irritability without any proximate cause.^{[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteem#cite_note-Bonet-15"][15][/URL]}
• Pessimism and a general negative outlook.^{[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteem#cite_note-Bonet-15"][15][/URL]}
• Envy, invidiousness, or general resentment.^{[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteem#cite_note-Bonet-15"][15][/URL]}

So wrong it isn't even funny. It's mostly because we're bored with the terrible AI, are rich, own multiple ships and have nothing else left to do. I even quit attacking players because all they do is run or disconnect.

 

[Undisputed]

I just lost a good 400.000cr (a lot for me) for no reason whatsoever. I was bounty hunting in Duwaredari when I noticed another player. I scanned him and he had no bounty and it looked like he was bounty hunting as well. I left him a federal dropship he was obviously targeting and went after another smaller craft. Both destroyed I started looking for other ships. I find another one (with the other player behind me) and start to engage when I get blown up by the other player. I had no bounty on me, no cargo and once he started shooting I was clearly running and trying to get into SC. Did he let up? No, he just had to blow me up.

Why? I would have gotten it if I had cargo, or a bounty or if I had been going after his kills, but I did nothing. Hope you enjoyed you pointless kill. I guess it's Solo mode for me after all... The money grind right now is bad enough as it is without having to worry to get blown to pieces for kicks and giggles by other players.

why, simply because this game allows for it, if you decide to go open, pay the consequences. i dont like it personally, but ...

 

[madfish]

So wrong it isn't even funny. It's mostly because we're bored with the terrible AI, are rich, own multiple ships and have nothing else left to do. I even quit attacking players because all they do is run or disconnect.

This is exactly the point I mentioned above though. If it's just for challenge no competitive player even bothers with your usual lowly equipped noobwinder or trading vessels. It's not even a challenge. The people who jump at such ships, especially when they engaged an NPC, are not doing it to fight someone who's better than an AI - they do it because they know he's most likely at a disadvantage.
Heck, if the guy starts running and isn't fighting back or only has a mining laser to shoot back with why go through with the kill? We all know the answer.
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There is no reason to kill a 200 CR CMDR.
There is no reason to farm CMDRs for rep like you would with NPCs.
There is no reason to pretend fighting low equipped and inexperienced players is better than going after high level AI that at least shoots back or even better: duel with experienced and geared up friends.
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The reason why it's done is because it's more excitement knowing someone who emotionally feels the impact was killed and most likely set back by a lot in whatever his progress was.
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ED is currently not in the state yet to provide a semi balanced MP setting. Allowing for wars against groups etc. And certainly the OP wasn't part of such thing to begin with.
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I played a LOT of competetive games for a long time. Rough ones too like Q3A and UT. And I most certainly hope there will be mechanics that allow that kind of combat within ED. But currently all ED provides is oportunities for ganks. So why even bother?
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As to the point of making solo and open seperate realms - why? If there is enough incentive for players to play open without the only difference being ending up as the target of those aiming at ganking you in specifically decked out vessels then players WILL play open. Give them benefits for playing as a group.
It's not a matter of seperating Solo and Open - it's a matter of actually making it worthwhile to play open. That includes balancing, better social / group systems, introductions of co-op missions etc. and generally things that make it useful - things we will hopefully see as the game develops.
Also I'd like to see a seperation in system security and better AI. E.g. have safer system where a pirate attack will result in 10 authority vessels jumping to your help and squashing the pirates - but also have outlaw systems where even just entering will most likely end you up killed.

 

[Slachenhoff]

Honing ones combat skills requires competition vs players. NPCs will never provide the equivalent behaviour and/or challenge that players provide.
The fact that not all encountered players in Open want PvP or compete directly doesn't take away from this.

The OP's description of events doesn't seem to indicate there was any "honing of skills" involved here. Zero tactics were employed, shots fired from behind against a trusting "opponent." So the question remains...why?

 

[Azamo]

Add them to your block list. You will never see them again.

 

[Remiel]

A real competitive player doesn't hone his skill on the average guy out there hunting NPCs.

Who says PVP has to be competitive, or have anything to do with 'gear' or elite status? Some people just wanna pick fights for the sake of having a fight. Is that so hard to believe or understand?

 

[Eagle Eye]

I just lost a good 400.000cr (a lot for me) for no reason whatsoever. I was bounty hunting in Duwaredari when I noticed another player. I scanned him and he had no bounty and it looked like he was bounty hunting as well. I left him a federal dropship he was obviously targeting and went after another smaller craft. Both destroyed I started looking for other ships. I find another one (with the other player behind me) and start to engage when I get blown up by the other player. I had no bounty on me, no cargo and once he started shooting I was clearly running and trying to get into SC. Did he let up? No, he just had to blow me up.

Why? I would have gotten it if I had cargo, or a bounty or if I had been going after his kills, but I did nothing. Hope you enjoyed you pointless kill. I guess it's Solo mode for me after all... The money grind right now is bad enough as it is without having to worry to get blown to pieces for kicks and giggles by other players.

The guy blowing you up gain satisfaction...

 

[CMDR_Erdmax]

I hope you're qualified and have spent the allotted time required with each person you're talking about to make this diagnosis, otherwise you're perpetuating a stigma around mental illness that insinuates a sociopath is something bad by virtue of you associating a sociopath with nothing more than a playstyle that gets your knickers twisted.

This. +1

I've heard the, "oh I saw a sidewinder/eagle with an accidental 400cr bounty and I chose not to kill him" story so much it's starting to become an analogy for self-proclaimed virtue, exclusively within Elite: Dangerous.

There has been many justifications for the behavior of the OP's attacker, and also, many criticisms. This person has defined their role within the game; and we're not in the position to understand that role.

I've killed the odd player with a 400cr bounty, some have fought and I reckon they've enjoyed the challenge. I interdicted a guy the other day with a 1000cr bounty, I have a fully upgraded viper (and I mean fully upgraded) - he was in a cobra, I turned FA off and went for a boost with some strafe; I didn't get my vector right and literally boosted straight into him and died (yes, I was the idiot) - But that is the risk.

 

[simon terlecki]

I had a similar experience two days ago, went to an anarchy Nav, saw that there was another player there, decided to give him a wide berth as he seemed to be bounty hunting as I was planning to do and didn't want to steal his kills.

I work on an irritating target get the nice bounty, my shields are low but not down. I'm about to move out to wait for the next respawn, get attacked by the cmdr , and the rammed, boom. 750k in aliance and empire credits gone because I was 60 LY away from either space.

Respawn, kind of angry, get back to the nav, he's still there, shooting some NPC that according to my scans has no bounty and no cargo. I shoot the cmdr a few times to shoo him off, and he promptly jumps away.
A little while later, two other players arrived in the nav point and we cooperated in bringing down some bounties, and left each other alone on the smaller ones and had a blast. If only all players would act in a civilized way.

 

[CMDR_Erdmax]

Also, hello to CMDR Dreadths in his Annaconda from the Atlantis system - I hope you found a nice trade route, I'm currently in Summerland trying to find something to do.