EVE General Discussion

Removing off grid boosting functionality is a stupid idea to begin with. The proposed changes to Command Ships and T3 boosters are more than adequate to address the "problem".

Off grid boosts are a "thing" because currently the best possible boosts come from Tech 3's with a warfare subsystem. The problem is that in order to run 3 links on one of those ships you have to give up anything remotely resembling a tank by fitting multiple CPU and Grid hungry command processors the result of which being that only a fool would put those expensive and highly squishy ships where they can be easily identified and primaried by opposing Fleet Commanders.

By changing things so that Command ships (which can tank their asses off) provide superior boosts combined with removing the requirement to fit command processors on Tech 3 boosting ships CCP will eliminate the bulk of the incentive for using off grid boosters .

Off grid boosting is not without it's own disadvantages after all. They have to be put into position in advance or else the fleet will have to live without their boosts while they find themselves a safe spot to fire up their links (people do realize they don't work while in warp right?) while on grid boosters provide their benefits as soon as they come out of warp/gate cloak. They are poorly suited to fast roaming gangs which rely on mobility and surprise (which jumping in in advance of ones fleet to set up to provide boosts ruins).

I suspect that the once those changes go live that we'll see a serious reduction in the number of off grid boosters and that most boosts in the future will be provided by ships that are on grid with larger less maneuverable fleets favoring command ships and the more mobile favoring Tech 3s

I'd argue that changes that make certain features of a ship unuseable are quite bad.
If such change is to hit, I'd like to see drastical reduction of Indy core cycle time and equal reduction of fuel consumed.

Also if boosters are to be moved on the grid, my firm belief is that booster pilot should have something to do there besides sitting in place looking fancy and maybe introduce some tweaks in order for those ships becoming valuable assets on the field besides links.