EVE General Discussion

When gate-camping (or spawn-point camping) is effective, that's a good indicator of bad game design. That's true in every game, not just EVE.

Many people say that combat in EVE happens around bottlenecks, and that's true...but it's also why fights in EVE are far rarer than they should be. Gate-camping in any game gives rise to unbalanced gameplay because the gate-campers are always advantaged over the gate-runners. There's rarely an incentive to run a gate in EVE because the reward isn't worth the risk nine times out of ten (or 90 times out of a hundred, more like). The only time I'll run a gate into lowsec any more is just to be able to transit to null on those rare occasions when I need to.

Mission-running is a good example of why gate-camping hurts the game. Mission runners have to PVE-fit their ships, but will get killed at the gates because they need a PVP-fit to survive the gate-camp. It's inefficient to carry both sets of gear and re-fit. Also, mission-runners are almost always running solo or with an alt; they can't withstand a superior force, which is almost always what they'll be facing at hisec-lowsec border gates. So: it's just not worth it to go into lowsec.

Even on the pirate side, there are better ways to get into good fights. Bubble the warp-channels between gates. Put a cloaked ship at a celestial and combat-scan the area for miners or mission-runners. This whole idea that gates are the only place to find opponents is nonsense.

Here's the question I would ask the gate-campers: if your intent were to prevent people from traveling from hisec out to lowsec/null, how would your behavior be any different? Gate-camps restrict travel. Hence, the population of lowsec falls. Hence, fewer opportunities for pew. If you want more pew, open up the gates. Plenty of hisec industrialists would travel to low if the rewards were much greater or the risk less, but there's no way a industrialist with minimal combat training would go to lowsec. Null is way safer, and has better resources anyhow.

If you want more combat in lowsec, stop camping the gates. If you're going to keep camping the gates, stop complaining.

Also: yes, I think the gate-gun changes are useless since they won't really do much to change player behavior.

Ah, the tears of a gate-camper.

Ah, good. Greyscales Failwatch is a monstrous pile of stupid, and any small victories against aspects of it are very welcome.

Get a clue on actual game mechanics.

Hi, this issue has already been resolved, but if you had been reading the posts from people who actually live in low-sec you would have known that this will do nothing to deter gate campers and would instead hurt people who are engaging in small-gang fights, almost all of which happen on gates because that is where people are.

No, see, that's the part you aren't getting. People are at gates because gates are the most likely places where people are likely to be. If I am doing a small gang roam, I'm not hopping from planet to planet hoping to find people, I'm going to gate to gate hoping to run into another small gang.

glad that this is just an idea and not in development. As a pirate I wouldn't want it to be standard practice to have frigs on gates tackling everything.

The sentries as they are now are fine. If I can catch everything on gate no one will ever come to losec for PI and other non-pvp sutff, and those camps everyone is afraid of are easily avoidable and quite rare (in my region at least).

I think unique losec resources are the way to make losec more interesting.

So then, just thinking outside the box here but where do real life gangs fight one another? Well, not at bridges and tunnel entrances necessarily, they fight at the contested areas of their turf. Therefore it stands to reason that if they want fights off gates then they need to implement a turf mechanic for pirate gangs. Yes, I know CCP wants to rid the game of pirates and they have done so much to try, but I don't think it's possible because the mindset of a pirate player is to rebel against anything that smacks of conformity and rules. That being said ... CCP, if you can't beat us JOIN US. Yes, join us in our pirate mindset and see that we are here to stay and will continue to play our way to spite you if we must- remember this is a sandbox after all and not a litterbox. We've come here to play just like the next person and our style of play- though unwelcome by some (possibly many) is still a style - so it is a valid play style by virtue of existing, hence it must be allowed inclusion in a game that claims to allow the players to do as they please.

My point is that if you give the pirates the same amount of sand, proverbial same amount of sand (you get what i mean right?), as you give to every other play style you will more than likely see an upturn in subbing and re-subbing former players who might otherwise feel the game is too restrictive of their goal to do whatever the hell they want to because they are an immortal space capsuleer with access to awesome starships and big gunz. I'm not gonna say anything more than this:

If you get inside the head of a pirate, and conceive of better ways to allow them to do their thing (some piratey things dammit) in the space they have claimed as their own turf you will have happier players, more 'goodfights' , and a scarier game that will encourage more people to join in and try to slice off their jagged chunk of the fortune and glory. Isn't that the idea of EvE Online? Don't we all agree that what we dream this game is when we are not actually playing it is far better that what is becomes when we log on? It's not our fault that is the best thing we've got on the planet Earth to play, but it ain't quite there yet- It's gonna take CCP widening their eyes to look at what is needed where and make it happen (so do that CCP- we deserve at least that much, don't we?)

TL;DR - empassioned plea for some sexy Pirate lovin

Nice news Hans and thankyou CCP Greyscale for listening to community feedback

I to would like to know about these low sec warp bubbles we have not been using because we are lazy.

Thank you Hans for hearing the yarr.