This suggestion is for the addition of a toggle that disables pvp. I know PvP is a "big part" of this game, but from the way the game has been going so far, it has far more PvE potential than PvP.

There are dozens of terminally online [players] constantly masquerading as pirates in this game, hunting and killing easy targets with no real reason aside from having a laugh. This may be fun for them, but it isn't fun for people like myself, who have to deal with the grueling pain of constantly losing wares and ships when trying to complete missions.

The simple fact that their atrocious activities are unavoidable by people who just want to play the game, is horrible. I used to be a pirate hunter in a game like this. It was horrid. The pirates were everywhere, market prices were skyrocketing, and no one could do anything without a pirate showing up to ruin the day. My team, and many others like it, hunted down every pirate in the game over and over, and forced them to quit playing. After piracy died down, the game became more fun, people could go mining, do missions, and hunt down have bots in peace. Market prices even went down! We could afford ships again! The game became more active and fun AFTER pirate activities had died down.

This game is far more elaborate than the other, and has less players. It also has less players who have enough time on their hands to hunt down the pirate scum that plays this game, making it worse for everyone over all. I get it, Grey space should be dangerous, but if you're trying to haul a huge load of goods to UIT from Serco or Itani, having a PVP toggle that disables PVP and Friendly Fire is extremely necessary.

And I get it, you guys think this game is all about PVP. But get this, there can never be new players, if the old players are constantly murdering them in cold blood. Add a freaking PVP toggle so players with low licenses and few achievements can finally play the game without having to constantly look over our shoulders everywhere we go. If we are constantly looking over our shoulders, making sure there are no pirates following us, then we won't be as focused on the game as we can be. I can't be as focused on the game as I can be. I want to hunt the Hive, I want to Mine Resources, I want to do Escorts, and I want to do Hauling missions. This game isn't all about PVP, the community is. This is a failure on the side of the community, not the game or its developers.

So devs, are you going to make the hard decision to do what's right for VO, or are you going to cave into the wants and demands of [others in the community]?

I have edited your suggestion to better comply with the rules for this forum, which you can find at the top of the Suggestions forum: https://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/37508

. I get it, Grey space should be dangerous, but if you're trying to haul a huge load of goods to UIT from Serco or Itani, having a PVP toggle that disables PVP and Friendly Fire is extremely necessary.

If this ever became a thing, i would expect that enabling a PVE mode any time in your session would mark any items acquired (any way you got them) as PVE items, and the profits would be 1/20th what they would have been in the full game(even if you sell them in the full game). Also there would be a decreased chance of a drop from a NPC.

Id like to start off by saying I dont speak much in these forums, unless its a generally good idea to support a needed change, so apologies for any rule breaks or terrible spelling/grammar.

Id like to start off by saying that over the years, Incarnate and Raybondo have both expressed that Vendetta Online is a primarily PVP oriented game. Having (for the most part) unrestricted pvp is what makes the game what it is, and follows along with the "Nowhere is truly safe" ascpect the devs strive for. While I agree that PVP can get obnoxious sometimes, id like to point out that there was a recent change over the last few years that disabled friendly fire (blue-on-blue, red-on-red, yellow-on-yellow) specifically at the request of newer players being griefed by veteran players and vereran players themselves.

While I myself am not a pirate and understand the frustration of fighting pirates, pirates are also a necessary part of the dynamics of VO. Citing other games where risk is minimal in most situations (EVE High Security Space, StarScape, Ark: Survival Evolved, etc.) the game quickly becomes boring and generally bland to play for extended periods of time due to the lack of engaging factors. Pirates in VO, whether player or NPC, are essential to prevent unhindered activities to bring the game into the same state as many others with no risk.

Next time you wish to place a suggestion, it would also be appreciated if you provided more constructive criticism for the Devs, instead of allowing emotion to take hold and guide your words.

- Elder Futhark

The game is all about player interaction. You are asking for pve which makes it single player type. Not fun.

I can understand your frustration but everyone who's here has experienced the same. You can play in peace if you properly seek peace. There's many players who do so & are in peace.

Also you want to do escorts? Guess what you committed to pvp. Escort is a combat mission.

You want to haul in a safer environment? There's routes that are sorta pirate free. But always carry shield turrets just in case. They are there for a reason... That should give you somewhat of safety

You want to hunt hive in peace? Nation space exists. It's rather safe.

You want to mine in peace? Nobody can shoot you because they can't find you. If you get spotted by a pirate at a station while unloading you should know not to exit station in a mining vessel.

Hauling huge loads of goods to serco & Itani safely? You cross greyspace. Don't expect it to be safe. Hire a skilled player for escort if you want to be sure about your survival. There's also specific areas in space that are less than likely to have a pirate.

You can do almost everything rather safely if you know the proper methods. Pve mode isn't necessary imo.

And if you seriously want pirates to not kill you, get good at pvp or running away. Both are very viable options. Getting good at pvp also makes you feel safer everywhere.

I don't mind pve toggle for those who want it but it's really not needed when all is possible just by knowing proper ways.

Explore & learn o/

I am all for toggling off PvE for a purely PvP mode!

I don’t think there’s a constructive way for me to laugh at this, but here’s my attempt: allowing a PVE toggle would entirely destroy the fabric of the game. If it were a temporary option, people would toggle it before doing anything with any risk, allowing them to profit and then apply the benefits to PVP later. If it were a more permanent option it would just fragment the player base to the point there’d be no point in even being online.

In short, lol, -1.

The whole basis for this game is confrontation otherwise it wouldn't be named Vendetta. There are simple ways to accomplish what you want without issue if you take the time to figure it out and learn the gameplay. You want an easy-mode button from the devs but they aren't going to give it to you. Everyone else has put in the work to figure it out. Fun fact: I freaking hate PVP, but like others have found ways to avoid it when I need to.

Some suggestions:
1. Almost every type of ore can be mined in nationspace, in peaceful sectors where no one knows where you are. You just need to put the time in to find and scan all the non-bot sectors.

2. If you want to haul goods from Serco/Itani space to UIT, then load up and travel to the edge of greyspace, park your Moth in Jallik or Initrios stations, switch to a fast scout ship and make sure no rats on waiting for you in grey. Go back and finish your haul.

3. As TJ said escorts are a combat mission, but you can still take escorts deeper within nationspace without risking total exposure.

4. When in nationspace you can do things like raise your standing with all the factions to Pillar of Society, and if they actually kill you in nationspace the penalties and response from the Security Forces will be much higher (and don't forgive them). This would buy you time to enjoy your activities.

5. Hive hunting can be done in nationspace also with an endless supply of hive queens and escorts. You can get all the drops you could get in grey with the exception of Milinar Leviathan drops, but you wouldn't be able to get those unless you invited to a group anyway.

Just offering up suggestions to help you enjoy the game how you want. Not gonna bash you but the fact is you pissed off everyone last night because you attacked the style of gameplay we enjoy with no regard for others who have been here awhile. A good bit of advice that may help you in the future. When you blow up 100 and pick fights you are going to draw in all the people that want to shoot you. If you chill and keep a cool head you can make your presence minimal and enjoy your activities in peace. If you get mad, it just makes your enemies happy because they got a response from you that they wanted.

Just food for thought. I hope you find your way and learn to enjoy the game.

The simple fact that their atrocious activities are unavoidable by people who just want to play the game, is horrible.

Roughly two-thirds of the universe is "Nation" space with a much higher margin of safety. Only eight total systems make up what we call "grayspace". This was intentional, to allow players to choose to play in relative safety and obscurity if they so desired. After all, a person may be in risk-taking mood one night, and on another might be into more of a "relaxed" game experience. The idea is to provide both options, as long as the player is willing to make some reasonable, judicious choices.

And I get it, you guys think this game is all about PVP. But get this, there can never be new players, if the old players are constantly murdering them in cold blood.

Generally, the problem isn't that pirates exist and grayspace is dangerous, the problem is that new players go to grayspace far too early. This is something we're likely to remedy, by forcing newer players to remain in Nation space until certain Combat levels are hit, and giving them a different track of tutorials to better inform them about the dangerous of the universe (as they tend to ignore the current warnings).

There are actually a lot of players who don't get into PvP. For instance, we've had long-term players on geostationary satellite links (over 1 second latency), who are mostly into mining and trading within Nation space. They like the social component, but just don't chase after the parts of the game that mandate PvP. It's their choice.

This game isn't all about PVP, the community is. This is a failure on the side of the community, not the game or its developers.

So devs, are you going to make the hard decision to do what's right for VO, or are you going to cave into the wants and demands of [others in the community]?

While I appreciate the intent of trying to make me less responsible for this.. to be clear: I was the person who set out to make a persistent-world MMORPG where PvP was aways a possibility. I knew full well this would be a challenge. I had seen Ultimate Online and other early contemporaries also try it, while we were in development, and then abandon it due to the inherent design complexities and mass-market challenges.

I'm not claiming every result is exactly as I intended or desired (that's part of the MMORPG design process), like repeated station-camping and other behaviours that get pretty silly and griefy. This is why we now have protected No Fire Zones and other changes, which will likely continue to evolve over time. We'll likely also improve options for players to escape from regions using other transit systems and the like.

But, while I'm always willing to tweak "the mechanics of the universe" periodically, to make things a little less conducive to those who are playing "meta-games" of "making people angry over the Internet", that's a far cry from fundamentally abandoning one of the design principles that gives VO a unique character.

It should be understood that we have people who have been playing for literal decades. This game has been publicly live on the present fundamental design since May of 2002. Similarly, please understand that in choosing to go after one of the fundamental tenets of our game's design, it is likely to be construed a bit like saying Pepsi should "give up on making cola" because you personally happen to prefer Coke.

While I don't think any of us (on here) believe the game is perfect, or even agree on what "perfect" would be, many players would still note (as they have above) that the willingness to maintain full-time-PvP is a fundamental part of the character of the game, and something that brings people back, year after year. Vendetta Online is always a work in progress, but it also has a vibe that is unlike anything else out there.

So, I guess the summation I have here is a few points:

1) We're always trying to improve the game and make it more accessible for new people, with smoother onboarding and better overall new-user experiences. We have a lot of plans around how this will continue to evolve over the coming year.

2) There is already a significant diversity to the levels of "safety" in the game, and potential for people to have a pretty chill experience if that's what they prefer. But, I believe in tradeoffs, and risk-vs-reward balance; I don't think everyone should expect to go everywhere with safety and impunity. This can always keep evolving and improving (per #1), but we don't necessarily have to "gut the game" in order to do that.

3) Building a full-time-PvP persistent-world game is quite complex, from a design standpoint, which is why most developers abandon that. But, I don't think that everything that is difficult should necessarily be a reason to give up. Especially when (at its best) it brings something uniquely beneficial to the game, as much as it also presents challenges.

4) Not every game has to be the same, just like not every ice cream shop should have to specialize in chocolate and vanilla. It should be okay for us to make something different, and for that thing to have its own audience. Some people might like a spicy ice-cream? Not every filmmaker has to make big-budget action spectaculars; it's okay for Wes Anderson to make quirky comedies with unusual framing.

I'm not Wes Anderson, of course, but the point here is that part of what keeps me evolving the game is that we're willing to do weird and interesting things, or (of late) build technology for even crazier things that no one ever really tried before in a persistent world.

Anyway, I hope that sheds some light, I definitely hear you that you had a bad experience, and definitely illustrates that we (as always) have more work to do and things to improve, even if it's as simple as better-communicating the nature of the game to people who are unfamiliar with this unique "flavor".

There is always a third way to get rid of a pirate which requires almost no skill except typing. And good news you are already good at it:
Pay them!

Solution make all VO space nation guarded.
-1

DeathSpores is correct... although FAMY protects grey we not on 24/7. Please feel free to report all pirate activity to me in game (any kennyb toon) and I will deal with it. It's always best to let the ONE that owns vo space assist in making it safe. Suggestions is not the place for this.

although FAMY protects grey we not on 24/7. Please feel free to report all pirate activity to me in game (any kennyb toon) and I will deal with it. It's always best to let the ONE that owns vo space assist in making it safe.

I've warned you before to stop posting guild-specific RP and related commentary on Suggestions. This game is much older than your guild, and no aspect of the game's design is influenced by the existence or participation of any specific guild or player. You're also getting similar warnings from others, elsewhere.

I've muted you on this thread, but if you persist in this kind of nonsense, there will be other administrative ramifications.