bentastic wrote:I can understand the issue with further splitting the playerbase for another mode.
But if we look around for solutions that other games have come up with for both of these problems, it could be a viable solution
to implement a pvp flag you can set for yourself. You can only attack other players and be attacked by other players when you set yourself
in pvp mode and your target has flagged himself for pvp. This would include hostile actions like interdiction.
You can debate over the details for the implementation, like the timer between switching modes, and automatic flag when you repeatedly shoot non-pvp players, or damage modificators for weapon damage from players on non-pvp ships etc.
The new mode switch could infact help with an implementation.
This would also enable a complete merge of the splitted player bases.
I think this is a good idea and would be used extensively. I mean, just look how many players the Mobius group itself has - they're all people who want to avoid PVP. Add in all the folks who haven't heard of Mobius or are otherwise unable/unwilling to join and you have quite a huge chunk of players who would unflag themselves for PVP.
Personally I've been playing Solo since the beginning. I've never even gone into Open once. Back when I got the game a few months ago, I did some online research to learn what the differences were between the different modes and Open was always accompanied with things like "full of gankers" "tons of griefers" "now I have to rebuy" etc etc. So I basically just wrote Open off entirely and decided to never touch it. I love Elite and find it very fun but truthfully I think their way of handling PVP in Open is absolutely horrible and does nothing but hurt casual players and newcomers. Several of my friends have also expressed interest in Elite but were very concerned over getting destroyed by experienced players, to the point where they have avoided buying the game.