Protection for newer players from veteran players?

[Mr.Chicken]

In the future with EA of SB, what kind of balancing will there be (if any), in terms of protecting newbie players from veterans? Like for example, someone has just started out and played for a few hours, then they adventure outside the safe-zone and get immediately killed by a fighter ship from a player that grinded the game to death. I imagine there will be some players that just like killing others, even if they don't have much too loot so they just patrol areas to hunt newbies.

I'm not exactly against the idea that there will be no balancing, that simply joining a company and playing with them will be the safest and pretty much only viable alternative (safety in numbers).

 

[Threeshotgamer]

I feel like once someone makes the decision to venture out of the safe-zone they are open game and no balancing needed personally.

 

[[QS] Combustible]

Most veterans will probably have expanded out, and newer players will be at the starting stations and areas. Something that can help is joining a faction, which mixes you with veterans.

 

[XenoCow]

Hopefully there will also be veterans who enjoy hunting down the thugs who lurk in wait of fresh meat.

 

[Venombrew]

the game is already balanced in the since of pvp. what makes a game unbalanced is a difference in classes and professions(mmos for example) where abilities and skills are different with different functions and abilities. Some times those abilities can be more dangerous towards players with different sets of gear, or sometimes more dangerous towards other players unable to break CC based on their class abilities.

Starbase however is not based on those same functions of classes. My pistol and your pistol shoot the same, difference is skill. My explosives and your explosives are the same, difference is skill. Two exact copies of a prebought warship going at it with same exact plating and guns, the difference will be skill and teammates. Fighting teams of other players will depend on skill amongst your teammates(which includes working together, move as one, flowing system of teamwork) as well as properly being prepared(which falls in with experience and skill). This is also for players who are just more creative and smarter than other players and can build unique things. And that comes with knowledge and experience.

This game like many others is designed for community base play, you can be a nomad rogue drifting through space doing your own thing, but to get attacked and murdered by teams of players is not imbalanced its you getting caught off guard. A designed battleground instance that favors one team over the other in any way is imbalanced, coming across large forces than yourself or the company you keep is just unlucky.

So if your a new player and by the time you are ready to venture out of the safe zone you should already be aware of the possibilities of being hit. If your alone and you get taken out by another lone player, dude thats on you. If you get attacked by many players and get taken out while your alone that again if just the dice you rolled.

Make friends, join a community, this shit happens to new players and veterans alike in games like this.

 

[Recatek]

It's possible to "live" in the starting safe zone for some time. The zone is quite large and includes a good number of asteroids for mining. That's plenty of room for a player to prepare themselves before leaving the safe zone and exposing them to the dangers of the game world beyond. Keep in mind also that the size of the game world means that random encounters between players won't be terribly frequent outside of the safe zones and stations.

 

[Caldrin]

From what I understand there is already a safe zone so not real need to bring in any more artificial restrictions.

 

[Tagarik]

I assume there is gonna be a big wipe anyways, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal

 

[Accad]

What about noob killers stalking their prey from the moment they spawn their ship in? If I were one, that's what I would do. Automatically makes me think that noobs should gather in 'schools' just to survive.

 

[Verbatos]

Automatically makes me think that noobs should gather in 'schools' just to survive.

"And here we see a wild pack of young endos, taking their first step outside the safety of their protective zones."
I can imagine it now.

 

[Mutleyx]

It was quite common in Elite Dangerous for some players to activity hunt and kill new players in the starter zones. It's a sad fact that some players just like to be jerks.

Having said that, SB safe zone is pretty generous in size, so I'm not sure it will be a problem. There are plenty of rocks and ores within to harvest.

 

[Cavilier210]

Good luck accidentally being found outside the safe zone. Its enormous.

 

[Kodey]

Good luck accidentally being found outside the safe zone. Its enormous.

Adding to this, I've heard that there's also a message that says if you are out of safe zone

 

[Venombrew]

even with 1000s of players people are not going to get noticed quite so often, since there will be a player vision cap, not sure what it is, could be 200 could be less. But they said that early on with an increase as time goes by. Also its space! 360 degree direction, i think a lot of people still have a flat mmo world concept. To be honest when your about to leave the safe zone and it announces it to you, who doesn't look behind them to make sure they are not being followed before heading into dangerous waters in a game like this?

 

[Durtle02]

As a new player I doubt I'd leave the safe zone before doing research and feeling ready. Plus I'm gonna do my best to just avoid. Like others say, I doubt I'll run into anyone

 

[Lotek]

I tend to think open pvp servers, in any game, are about risk, reward, and exhilaration. If a developer has chosen to create open-world pvp servers, I'm of the mind that player-driven solutions to these dynamics are always better for the long-term health of that particular flavor of player experience than arbitrary exceptions or exemptions. For every player that enjoys the role of ganker, I've found theres a player that enjoys the role of vigilante. For every clan of raiders to avoid there's a posse of bounty hunters to befriend.

From what I've read, new players can advance well beyond their "new" status in relative or complete safety. By the time economic considerations and other gameplay elements incline them to venture into the riskier corners of space for a greater payoff, they're likely to have a reasonable sense of how the game works and a contact or two they can group with if they don't prefer to solo. At least that seems to be the design intention.

I'd only ask the developers for solid communication tools and some good equipment options for ships to detect other ships and perhaps broadcast a target's location to those who might show up to assist. Maybe even some stealth gameplay eventually. Empower the playerbase to respond to and mitigate the risks of pvp using gameplay elements and organic social interaction.

My 2c.

 

[Cavilier210]

even with 1000s of players people are not going to get noticed quite so often, since there will be a player vision cap, not sure what it is, could be 200 could be less. But they said that early on with an increase as time goes by. Also its space! 360 degree direction, i think a lot of people still have a flat mmo world concept. To be honest when your about to leave the safe zone and it announces it to you, who doesn't look behind them to make sure they are not being followed before heading into dangerous waters in a game like this?

Its 5 km for view distance.

 

[Meetbolio]

Its 5 km for view distance.

afaik also a 100p cap on top of that, but don't quote me on this one

 

[Quinc]

I can't help but think of EVE Online where the developers complained for years about new player retention, which as a subscription based game hurt their profits. Generally people assumed that bad new player retention was inherent to the game, though eventually the developers created some heavy duty metrics features to pin point where exactly a typical new player would decide to quit. Of course a big part of the problem was veteran players deliberately targeting new players, specifically large groups of veteran PVPers using WarDec to target small groups of mostly new players. That company got sold out to another MMO developer.

There are some Veteran players who come to resent new players, the fact that they are more skilled and have played longer supposedly means they have a greater right to play the game. This can warp the discussion around this particular issue. Even though there are no veterans yet, there are some who think the game should always prioritize the veterans over the newbies. It is a cliche of gaming forums that when somebody points out a problem with the game others try to think of things players could do rather than acknowledge that the game isn't perfect. Of course it will be possible for a newbie to survive the onslaught posed by veterans, but "possible" isn't enough.

Of course it is more than possible to survive if you stick to the starting safe zone, but it should be possible to leave the safe zone without fully catching up to the veterans out there. Obviously a new player should stick to the safe zone for a while, but how long exactly? The idea that a player is going to reach the same level of power as the veterans while still living in the starting safe zone is simply incorrect. There needs to be more than two steps for player progression. There needs to be something in between a newbie who never leaves the safe zone, and a top tier group of veterans who can dominate a whole region. Two of those steps: Players who live in the safe zone but visit the outside should be able to retrieve more in ore than they lose to piracy, and sometimes win when they go pirate hunting. Small groups that lack the power to dominate in deep space should still be able to survive in deep space. It would be a good thing if Fronzenbyte announced new features that support the in between steps.

To be clear: A feature that slightly hinders veterans is completely worth it if it significantly helps newer players.

 

[Durtle02]

there are some who think the game should always prioritize the veterans over the newbies

I personally think Frozenbyte understands this isn't a healthy way for a game to run and I'm sure some, but not all, of the verteran entitlement in EVE came from the subscription based model. I'm sure there will be people and factions who seek out newbies but I think there will be a combative amount who provide services for newbies to get them into deep space safely such as escorts or factions they can join to get help.