Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Supported.

This change makes no sense and hurts the quality of an already struggling low-sec environment.

This is making me angry and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry!

....Photoshop will be wielded for GRET JUSTISS FOR ALL TEIM

BRING BACK THE KILLS!!

I can see why CCP would want all the DED on the same page and would want to put more content into exploration. There was a similar consequence when the 0.0 static complexes went away into exploration.

But it is a kick in the pants of lowsec, especially to small ship PVP. That I don't like one bit.

ok then, taking away the plexes seems to be inevitable, so now in my boredom 10 miners will die everyday till this is fixed.

Lets move astroidbelts and stations into exploration content aswell, i hear players make isk in there to.
And ignore all those pirates whining about their center of existence beeing removed. They have no lobby anyway.


*pro nonstatic everything.*

I think Sugar Kyle said it best. For reasons relating to the preservation of a unique element of low-sec PvP, I support the OP's position.

Having formally stated my position, I'll nonetheless concede that this system needs an overhaul. Regarding the hi-sec portion, I acknowledge that this content needs to be removed and/or incorporated into the revamped exploration system.

Regarding the PvE aspect of the low-sec portion, I think that the sites are reasonably high reward relative to almost no effort invested. Sites can be blitzed in as little as 5-10 minutes, and the drops are consistently valued at upwards of 20M on the market. Furthermore, the nature of the demand for the items dropped is relatively inflexible, given that some of the modules routinely dropped are among the best frigate-sized modules available in the game... and 'elite' PvPers in EVE demonstrate an uncanny tolerance for costs provided they are giving themselves the maximum threshold of module performance possible (i.e. 'elite' links, 'elite' faction mods, 'elite' boosters, etc.). In other words, this PvE content 'breaks' the supposed 'risk vs. reward' model that CCP is (was?) shooting for. People who routinely farm these sites for profit will either camp alts in the systems in question (especially the low-traffic station-system ones) and then run the site on a timer, since the respawn timing is well-known and predictable. An alternative and similar method I've seen is for people to low-sec system jump around so that they can run each of the sites as they come out of their respawn timer. This method is obviously more risky, but given the precision of respawn and the access restrictions between rooms (without the appropriate keys) the risk is greatly mitigated (again breaking the supposed model). The other 'farmer' type that I'm aware of is the individual who purges the site of NPCs and then sits in the last room after claiming the reward. Risk is again mitigated by the broken inter-room gate-key restriction access model, and these individuals will either go so far as to sit hundreds of kilometers off of the final room landing beacon or they will remain in the site cloaked.

Overall, the farming of PvE content in these static sites is broken. Whereas the first 'offender' is conceivably possible to catch, the window-of-opportunity is incredibly small (exacerbated by gate access restrictions between rooms). The second 'offender' is also possible to catch... most likely involving gate-camps (since these players are predictable and operate on timers) or maybe simultaneous warp-ins... though, again, the window of opportunity is very small. Ironically, I'd say that the third 'offender' type is the easiest to catch, since these players tend to be the most lazy, incompetent, and complacent farmer of the bunch. Often, these players rest assured in 'knowing' that the gates are locked since they were the ones to grab the inter-room gate-keys... In doing so, many of them will blatantly sit AFK in the final room. The fact that this type of gaming behaviour conceivably represents the 'optimal' method of farming behaviour underscores just how broken this PvE content is.

Having ranted and rambled about the poor implementation of PvE content that the static DED complexes represent, let me finally underscore the reasons why I am in favour of keeping this content in the game (within lowsec). For one thing, I don't think it 'hurts' to allow would-be farmers and/or pirates to farm these sites as described provided that this occurs strictly within lowsec. That is, each farming behaviour I've described represents an 'opportunity for player interaction' in the form of either competing for scarce resources and/or engaging in PvP combat. More importantly, however, the static DED plex beacons and gates represent a 'sandbox battleground' that has emerged (emergent gameplay) in lowsec piracy communities. The combination of a clearly dscannable static beacon that imposes warp-in and tactical-warp restrictions creates a unique environment for PvP combat. Indeed, one of the only places that someone can hope to take on an overwhelming number of opposing players (without strictly outclassing their combat vessels) is through careful flying on the pre-entry gate-grid.

Well, hopefully that provides a comprehensive perspective on this issue. If you've made it this far, then thanks for reading.

Pleased to see the response from 3 CSM members; saddened (but not surprised) by the fact that this change came out of tthe blue (or whatever viking colour inspired it).

Being a positive fellow...this is an opportunity for CCP:

a) to acknowledge that this was a mistake and will be reversed (sooner rather than later)
b) to recognize that much of what happens in game and how game mechanics are used is not obvious and that CCP needs to understand the true impact of any proposed change before announcing/making it, and
c) use the various consultation mechanics available to them for all proposed changes, not just some propsed changes

+1 , just to add one more vote onto the landslide: removing static plexes is stupid beyond comprehension. It about wipes out all the goodwill I can muster for Retribution.

And that is coming from hi-sec carebear industrialist.

Removing the static DED complexes removes yet one more motivation for hi-sec'ers to venture into lo-sec - not to mention the loss of motivation for the Explorers in the player base.

While personally I'd like to be hi-sec :perfectlysafe: (*duh*), I know that the spice of the game comes from the _necessity_ to venture into dangerous areas - in this case: lo-sec.

If anything, New Eden needs more static entities in lo-sec to fight over and take informal(!) ownership of, not fewer.

Ok As a frequent visitor of the plex in Heild i am angry about this, R1ita practiacaly LIVE in that plex and are always a fun fight. CCP you best think real hard about removing these from low sec, we pirates are fewer in number but we get a ton of blog readers and have our amount of sway.

I support this too. Plexes have been a key focal point of solo/small gang PVP. Taking it out of low-sec is detrimental to this.