How about this?
Static spawn orange and follow.
Roams red but dont follow.

I'll ask back: is there any real reason to have red NPCs on Alpha2? They are tougher than on Alpha1 either way if you attack them, so pretty much the only effect they caused was sending you around them if you didn't want to fight.

Yes, Alpha2 is supposed to be a more dangerous place than Alpha1, the problem is that players make it more dangerous than intended.

And no, we won't go back to rubberbanding because that was plain stupid and we wanted to solve that since forever.

edit: reasoning with "every other mmo does it like this" is... why the MMO market is where it is.

off: I love it how true you are to your name

Yes, I would accept that argument if there would be anything on Alpha2 that's not macroable on 1s.

I'll answer this from my perspective, others may have a different perspectives. The NPC's here are part of what we all call "content", they are meant to put forward as a reason and challenge to us players. When we all started all mobs were red. We, through loss and adventure learned the ways of the spawns, learned what we could and could not do, understood our limitations. With the introduction of orange spawns the fear and the understanding of mobs just disappeared. Why, because we could just motor through them without a care in the world.. "hey we need a sequer to the mining op, but make sure you go around that spawn here as they demob" they won't care about us, unless we shoot. Ok, so lets go to the 2 bot NPC spawn, because hey that's easy.. new players learn nothing.. hey lets aggro these orange spawns, that is spread right out.. so then we get a single bot at a time aggroing us.. it doesn't make for anything that can panic or concern you. Achieving something that you didn't think you could do, that is what keeps players here.. not mobs that ignore you.

You talk about retaining people, Alpha 1 is a perfect place for orange mobs everywhere. Its a place to further learn and understand game mechanics and to grind away so that you can "progress" in the game. Alpha two, has harder mobs, yes but where is the risk?

The best fun we had on alpha 2 was when we had moving spawns, observers, some nasty spawns, NPCS that would target a sequer who had lost concentration. Call out in the old TOG corp would build a defense group to go remove these away from the miners.. or a call from a member who pulled a bit to much NPC hate and we would go assist, a rescue party to collect the belongings of a fellow player who took on to much.. this is CONTENT. This is what makes the game fun, you seem to forget what happens in a corp even on a Alpha island, we create our own content from what occurs on the island.

So you ask why we need red on Alpha, its to create more content, by going orange, how is this any more challenging than staying on Alpha 1? I can choose who I shoot, i can sit and mine AFK for 6-8 hours.. where is the rush, the planning, the working together?

I'm not saying turn everything red, but you have completely screwed in my mind the balance of Alph1, Alpha 2 and Beta.. they are meant to be stepping blocks, to teach and educate on game mechanics and risk vs reward.

So again my suggestion -

1. Alpha 1 always orange spawns.
2. Alpha 2, orange spawns for missions, red/orange spawns mixed over the island.

Finally, the "the problem is that players make it more dangerous than intended" comment is confusing. Perhaps your entire player base has different understanding of alpha 1, alpha 2 and beta.. if the jump from alpha 2 to beta is so huge ( as it is ), then please educate us to your understanding on how this all works, because frankly a care bear who enjoys PvE will grow bored of Alpha 2 in a month without any "brown pants" moments. I know we did once you oranged the world.. we lost players because it was boring.

IMHO

Duma

Syndic was drunk when he posted it.  Please disregard. 

Forgive him for he knows not what he posts.

btw, we still can pull mobs on people.  Very Easily too.

I don't think you understand the tactical procedures used to have to kite and triangulate the drop off location.  It's almost as much fun as PVP in this game.

Doubt I'm part of the 1%.. we are all arseholes one way or another.. I mean hell this is the internet and robots is serious business(tm). lol I remember dropping a beacon on a enemy mining group some time back when they aggrooed anything near them and letting the fun start..

What you are telling me here is, "red is ok, but our players are using it to annoy other players.." sandbox right? So what you are saying is game mechanics is causing this problem.. not the players. The players will take what ever the game provides and they can to do what ever they want. It has to be considered every changed that is made that it will be exploited or used to grief someone.. Walls.. man.. its covered in walls!!

My Granddad god rest his drunken soul, had a saying, "Son, if I give ya a inch, you will take a mile".

I understand you should turn the orange back on alpha 2, but do not forget this discussion. We want a challenge and we want to be challenged.. not easy mode

Duma

Some of us are PVPers not PVEers.

And the majority of ppl that come from steam will be pve'ers. This is a discussion about NPC's, least it was last I looked, what's your point about pvp ?

I find it amusing that you consider pulling mobs onto players doing pve as "pvp", I consider that griefing, but meh each to his own I guess..