Elite: General talk

27 Nov 2020, 11:40pm
Igneel Prime
ganking is pvp but not all pvp is ganking.


Oh I absolutely agree!
27 Nov 2020, 11:47pm
Sakashiro
M. LehmanPlayers are free to play in the mode that is best suited for them. I don't look down on people for doing so. Not everyone wants to risk PvP, and that's okay.

Still, I would take that magical and much-balleyhooed "40,000 people in Mobius" with a sack of salt. All that number means is that over the game's six years, 40,000 people have been accepted into that particular PG, not that there are that many in it at any given moment. Naturally I don't have accurate figures to go off of, but anecdotes about Mobius being a wasteland are definitely out there, and a year or two back the devs revealed that open was the most popular mode by a significant margin. This suggests to me that gankers do not, in fact, drive people out of open in any significant quantity, despite ongoing claims that they have/do/will.

Also, your experience with flying to a ganker hotspot has been consistent with mine. The ganking "problem" , in my view, is grossly overstated. In a way, this is understandable- a combat-averse person will scream to the heavens about the one time they were pulled from supercruise and attacked while never mentioning the thousand times they weren't.


Please stop conflating ganking with PvP, it's offensive.

As I said (and again, you did not pay attention), the problem I'm talking about involves a tiny minority of players who spend all their in-game time sitting at a few key locations and waiting for soft targets that haven't yet had a chance to climb over the engineering grindwall. I am known to have taken a balanced viewpoint on ganking in the past because the game would be boring without challenges, but even I find it hard to defend the latest "baby seal clubbing" trend, precisely because there is no challenge in it whatsoever. It's boring as fuck, and I do believe that people who take enjoyment out of popping Sidewinders for seven days straight have serious mental issues. (Yes, Tony, I'm looking at you now.)

Of course, the proper PvP response would be to dogpile on the perpetrators and drive them out of the system, but the game's instancing, which seems designed to prevent stalking, makes that pretty much impossible. (Which is ironic because Tony used to be a stream sniper himself, back in the day when he was entertaining.)


Alright. So what do you propose be done about these players with real-life mental issues, Dr. Sakashiro?
27 Nov 2020, 11:56pm
Kari KerenskiGanking is some Players versus another Player.

Seems pretty much PvP to me.

Ah, the pedantic response. I knew it was coming.

Ganking is a small subset of PvP, and seal clubbing is a small subset of ganking. Misrepresenting them as one and the same is an insult to large parts of the PvP community.
28 Nov 2020, 12:00am
Sakashiro
Ah, the pedantic response. I knew it was coming.

Ganking is a small subset of PvP, and seal clubbing is a small subset of ganking. Misrepresenting them as one and the same is an insult to large parts of the PvP community.


Nah, I'm not one for splitting hairs. Too pedantic for me. When you've players fighting players, with blasters, railguns, autocannons, reputation, credits, or propaganda - that's PvP to me.
28 Nov 2020, 12:09am
M. LehmanAlright. So what do you propose be done about these players with real-life mental issues, Dr. Sakashiro?

Any proposals to make parts of the game exclusive to open mode should be rejected by FDev.
28 Nov 2020, 12:13am
Sakashiro
Any proposals to make parts of the game exclusive to open mode should be rejected by FDev.


That'll show 'em!
28 Nov 2020, 12:17am
Sakashiro
M. LehmanAlright. So what do you propose be done about these players with real-life mental issues, Dr. Sakashiro?


Any proposals to make parts of the game exclusive to open mode should be rejected by FDev.


Well, ganking is pretty much exclusive to open, so...
28 Nov 2020, 12:29am
I've heard of Mobius in the past. A PG dedicated to PvE MMO is one of the best ideas for a low-populated, niche game like Elite that takes away the player's choice to not engage in PvP if you want to experience the grand MMO life. In my opinion, the option to experience MMO in a PvE exclusive setting should've been an option Day 1. Especially since the entire game from beginning to endgame can be played without PvP, since PvP serves no real important purpose other than pewpew.
28 Nov 2020, 12:32am
M. LehmanWell, ganking is pretty much exclusive to open...

Indeed, but powerplay is not. Here's a quote from a petition that has been around for a while:

Powerplay is one of the greatest aspects of Elite:Dangerous. Three superpowers, independents, powerplayers within the superpowers, choose the one you support and do what you think is right in 3303. While in theory this is correct, Solo/Private Groups ruin this game mechanic. The preperations/fortifications/undermining keeps rising while we sit in an empty system. Private groups put weaker/less skilled players in an invulnerable position, gives them an edge on top of already problematic combat logging and instancing issues. We, open play exclusive players, would like at least the powerplay to be open play exclusive, so we can at least see our enemy. Doing this will also open up new possibilities and playing styles like escort wings for haulers, ambushing logistic lines, blockading systems etc. It will also require newer defending and escaping strategies for haulers, and break monotonous jumping between systems for them.

This request keeps coming up again and again, on Reddit, in FDev's forum, and elsewhere. FDev should continue to disregard it. Push players into solo, deal with the consequences.
28 Nov 2020, 12:34am
Sakashiro
M. LehmanWell, ganking is pretty much exclusive to open...


Indeed, but powerplay is not. Here's a quote from a petition that has been around for a while:

Powerplay is one of the greatest aspects of Elite:Dangerous. Three superpowers, independents, powerplayers within the superpowers, choose the one you support and do what you think is right in 3303. While in theory this is correct, Solo/Private Groups ruin this game mechanic. The preperations/fortifications/undermining keeps rising while we sit in an empty system. Private groups put weaker/less skilled players in an invulnerable position, gives them an edge on top of already problematic combat logging and instancing issues. We, open play exclusive players, would like at least the powerplay to be open play exclusive, so we can at least see our enemy. Doing this will also open up new possibilities and playing styles like escort wings for haulers, ambushing logistic lines, blockading systems etc. It will also require newer defending and escaping strategies for haulers, and break monotonous jumping between systems for them.


This request keeps coming up again and again, on Reddit, in FDev's forum, and elsewhere. FDev should continue to disregard it. Push players into solo, deal with the consequences.


I don't suppose that it would be worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of the PP community was in favor of that proposal, would it? And I promise that PP is about the last activity in which gankers would ever indulge.

Besides, how does keeping PP mode-agnostic protect new players from being attacked?


Last edit: 28 Nov 2020, 12:46am
28 Nov 2020, 12:48am
M. Lehman
Sakashiro
M. LehmanWell, ganking is pretty much exclusive to open...



Indeed, but powerplay is not. Here's a quote from a petition that has been around for a while:

Powerplay is one of the greatest aspects of Elite:Dangerous. Three superpowers, independents, powerplayers within the superpowers, choose the one you support and do what you think is right in 3303. While in theory this is correct, Solo/Private Groups ruin this game mechanic. The preperations/fortifications/undermining keeps rising while we sit in an empty system. Private groups put weaker/less skilled players in an invulnerable position, gives them an edge on top of already problematic combat logging and instancing issues. We, open play exclusive players, would like at least the powerplay to be open play exclusive, so we can at least see our enemy. Doing this will also open up new possibilities and playing styles like escort wings for haulers, ambushing logistic lines, blockading systems etc. It will also require newer defending and escaping strategies for haulers, and break monotonous jumping between systems for them.



This request keeps coming up again and again, on Reddit, in FDev's forum, and elsewhere. FDev should continue to disregard it. Push players into solo, deal with the consequences.



I don't suppose that it would be worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of the PP community was in favor of that proposal, would it? And I promise that PP is about the last activity in which gankers would ever indulge.

Besides, how does keeping PP mode-agnostic protect new players from being attacked?


If you make power play open only you create a steeper curve because people wanting to get stuff necessary for PvP will get PvP'd by already equipped ships. Gankers got their prismatics, pack hounds and pacifiers. Now prevent others from getting those things or at least slow the process down so they remain more powerful
28 Nov 2020, 12:52am
M. Lehman

I don't suppose that it would be worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of the PP community was in favor of that proposal, would it?

Besides, how does keeping PP mode-agnostic protect new players from being attacked?


Maybe you should explain that.  If the overwhelming PP community is in favor of all Open operations, then why aren't the overwhelming majority of all PP players already in Open? If they all want it to work that way, they could all simply be doing it that way.  There is nothing stopping them from doing it freely by choice.  I am not sure I understand the part where someone wants to do something they can freely do, but they won't do it until someone else forces them to do it.

The answer to the last one is, the point is not to protect new players.  The point is that the constant refrain is that if a player doesn't like someone's behavior in Open, they can go to Solo/PG.  What happened to that response again?  Does that only count until the same person decides that if enough people decide to exercise that option to go to Solo/PG, that they have to be denied that choice?

Maybe the patent response needs to be changed to, if you don't like it go to PG/Solo unless you actually want to go to PG/Solo, and then FDev won't let you.
28 Nov 2020, 12:54am
Igneel Prime
M. Lehman
Sakashiro


Indeed, but powerplay is not. Here's a quote from a petition that has been around for a while:




This request keeps coming up again and again, on Reddit, in FDev's forum, and elsewhere. FDev should continue to disregard it. Push players into solo, deal with the consequences.




I don't suppose that it would be worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of the PP community was in favor of that proposal, would it? And I promise that PP is about the last activity in which gankers would ever indulge.

Besides, how does keeping PP mode-agnostic protect new players from being attacked?



If you make power play open only you create a steeper curve because people wanting to get stuff necessary for PvP will get PvP'd by already equipped ships. Gankers got their prismatics, pack hounds and pacifiers. Now prevent others from getting those things or at least slow the process down so they remain more powerful


That's... quite a stretch.
28 Nov 2020, 1:01am
M. LehmanI don't suppose that it would be worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of the PP community was in favor of that proposal, would it?

Prepare for the game you have, not the one you want. I believe that's what you said. You didn't suddenly change your mind, did you?

M. LehmanBesides, how does keeping PP mode-agnostic protect new players from being attacked?

By allowing them to participate in PP without leaving the mode that protects them from being attacked, duh!
28 Nov 2020, 1:03am
Igneel Prime

If you make power play open only you create a steeper curve because people wanting to get stuff necessary for PvP will get PvP'd by already equipped ships. Gankers got their prismatics, pack hounds and pacifiers. Now prevent others from getting those things or at least slow the process down so they remain more powerful


The reality is that this won't matter. Just like you can't force an end to undesirable behavior, you also can't force players that don't want to be exposed to that behavior to put up with it. Two things happen, the PP community gets even smaller than it already is, and block lists start to get expanded, which will cascade over to other areas of the game due to the instancing mechanic.

Ultimately, I actually think it would be more problematic for the PvP community than if they simply left Solo/PG the way it currently is. As it stands now, players can freely switch from PG to Open for PvP purposes and back again. Block lists are going to get created and not removed, which will become a semi-permanent mechanism to accomplish the same end. However, that will take even more players out of the PvP pool, again due to the blockage in instancing.

It will essentially make the PvP pool even smaller since those choosing to run block lists won't be able to be connected in any way to anyone that wants to do PvP. So, that group will have to be even more dedicated to just that play style.

What do you think the net effect is on PP play when I am running propaganda mats and my block lists are so extensive that I instance with no one? It essentially makes me a solo player even in Open. It certainly won't accomplish the stated goal.

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