I played the original Elite on a Commodore 128 way back when. I have been searching for an Elite like game ever since. I played Freelancer, X BTF, X2, X3 and X Rebirth trying to find a game like it. The X Universe games were probably the closest. I also have been playing Eve Online for about 4 years so I am very familiar with griefers, gankers, and other malcontents.
Within the first hour or two of playing ED I really wanted my money back, but I stuck with it hoping it would get better. I managed to get into a Cobra within 7 days of playing and realized #1 I love this game #2 I could not afford to fly the ship. I learned from Eve Online two lessons: never fly anything you cannot afford to replace and expect to die every time you undock. So I joined this group and started over. I never ran into any trouble with any players in the first seven days, but it is nice to have a group where you don't have to worry about it.
I am looking forward to truly enjoying this game.