Player Features and Ideas Discussion

EDIT: Yeah, probably the 1000th thread on the subject.

So the new AI is cool and everything, but i feel that PVE is still a sub-par activity in EVE in terms of entertainment.

Yes, nothing compares to pvp, yes EVE is a PVP game but yes, there is still a place for PVE in this game, and i feel that missions just don't cut it anymore.

I've been playing this game for the better part of 5 years and i've done hundreds, maybe even thousands of missions, and for any reasonable player after the first 10 minutes of the first mission it gets extremely repetitive, easy and boring. Plus, the rewards are probably bigger than they should be, but i'm not the one to complain.

I feel that when lvl 4s were originally design there was a purpose to make them group missions, however a serious mission runner runs them alone without the need of logi support extra dps, etc. The sole purpose of doing level 4s with someone else is merelly to make things a bit less boring by having someone to talk to.

Also i feel that the PVE in this game pays based on the time it takes to kill an enemy, other than how hard it really is. If i stand there half afk shooting at a battleship for a couple of minutes (intended exageration) i'll get more isk if i was to push my small frigate to it's limits to kill a few npc cruisers. It just doesn't feel right.

The AI update did help a bit, but it's still not what pve should be in my opinion. We need more strategy and more than that, we need group activities that force people to work together in HighSec, which doesn't really happen at this point.

Now my sugestion:

- Increase the number of high Plexes and have them spawn a heck of a lot of battleships, in a way that only an half decent fleet with logi and dps can do them successfully;

- Make it so that the average isk/hr is only a bit higher than lvl 4 missions (after all you have to go through the trouble of putting a fleet together);

- Make them avaiable through exploration only;

- For added fun make different sites with hull size restrictions while having the payout be the same as the above;

- Make it so that it isn't as hard and elitist as incursions (i.e. characters with only a few weeks old can have a relevant role in the fleet);

- Make a clear objective in each complex (i.e. kill the big NPC carrier that spawns at the end).

You might say:

"But you stupid troll if you want that go to 0.0 and play the real EVE, jesus, only retards in the EVE forums, omg"

Yeah, but newer players most times don't have the SP/tools to be successfull in 0.0, plus this would open whole new options for player interactions in HighSec as whole new options for high sec wars.

It's my suggestion on the matter.

Meh.

A bit different than incursions aint it?

I'm talking about sites that can spawn in any system and are explorable, they would also be a lot easier than incursions and, as a consequence, pay a lot less.

True, but the key factor is that if a big chunk of the player base wants to remain in highsec until they feel confortable enough to move to low/null, why deny them the opportunity?

I think the right way to address this is to improve the null/low sec gameplay in order to make it more attractive than high sec for said players.

But not in high-sec with this dimension, or with the flavour i'm proposing.

Basically i'm proposing an alternative to missions, that closely resembles the ones in null-sec.

If it is in hisec then not really no.



People, who stay in the confines of hisec for too long will never really leave it and they will always use this 'comfortability' b/s as an excuse.
The sooner they will leave it the better for them ( much more content available for them ) and for the game itself ( more active players in low/null ).
It's not about leaving hisec for good. It's about experiencing other areas than hisec. You can actively operate in low/null/wh experiencing and providing content and still live in hisec.



Then go and do nullsec ones.





As a matter of fact this kind of content already exists.
Use wormholes to get from hi to null and run complexes there. I do it from time to time if I find links to Serpentis/Guristas null ( I need to limit myself here because of the ships I can effectively fly ). Instead of scanning for sites in hisec you will be scanning for wormholes leading to null.


The last thing hisec needs is another reason to stay there.

anyone notice these threads always seem to be made by fools who have never been to null?

You pretty much described high-sec incursions...

I understand, you want it to be more casual than incursions, and maybe less difficult..

A few things to understand:

You can make good isk running LvL 4 missions... You can make good isk running Highsec Incursions... and you can easily build up plenty of isk reserves to move to nullsec doing either of these activities... We don't need a "new" major income stream in highsec that further nullifies the risk vs reward paradigm.

In short, PvE in highsec is generally too low risk.. Not only are there few Players that attack you, but missions lack the random spawns that really screw you over... That's all that needs to change... Make LvL 4 mission triggers more random, and a bit more potent, to give that "oh ****" feeling back to the risk-adverse Highsec Carebear!

Lets revamp null first...

I understand where your coming from, and I would ha e probably agreed with you 6 months ago. But that was before I saw a bit more of what there is in EvE.

Increasing the level of rats in exploration sites in highsec would mean two things:
1 - Newer players would get their qsses handed to them by the battleships they are suddenly facing in their Herons and Magnates.
2 - The increased generation of isk will further inflate the current value.

Highsec exploration generates plenty of income already. I made well over 900m two weeks ago selling deadspace boosters and implants. (Admittedly I made less than 200m in the last two weeks, but that's the luck of the draw.)

If you want a level 4 mission income in highsec, then do level 4 missions. If they are unavailable to you now, then grind some standing. By that time, newer players will be able to fly and fit ships suitable for the role. Throwing new guys into sites full of battleships with a fail fit destroyer is cruel, even for EvE standards.
(And those standards are pretty low to start with...)

By increasing the level of rats in exploration, you would be increasing the amount of oak generated by it. The main income of exploration in high and lowsec is loot, not raw isk. Introducing level 4 mission amounts and types of rats means that balance would be changed.

If what you want is fun with a group, there's plenty of opportunities. Why should you be given level 4 mission payoffs without doing the work to earn the ability to do them? Also, try doing a level 4 mission as a group, but with Assault Frigates and T1 frigates. You may be surprised how fun that can be. I've done a few as part of a squadron.of Hawks, Rifters and Kestrels. Given the latest introduction of support frigs, this may be quite a laugh. And if it all goes wrong, well, its just a bunch of T1 frigates...

I think though all could be satisfied.
Introducing new exploration sites where a cosmos style agent can be scanned down and a one off mission can be accepted could give you what your looking for without upsetting the balance.