Warfare & Tactics

I have come to a conclusion, over time, on my experience in Faction War. No, this is not another whine "OMG MORE PVP IN FW" thread, but an idea I have been wondering about.

I have spent a total of at least 1 1/2 year in FW, out of a 3+ year Eve career. My first FW fights were as a newbie in late 2009 through early 2010, then took some time off, came back in 2011, finally returning in 2012 immediately before Inferno, and I have been in FW since. Obviously a lot has changed in that time, both in and out of FW.

One driving force, in my opinion, to the changes to FW, is extrinsic to FW. The stagnation of null sec, real or perceived, has lead to a lack of "new blood" corporations and alliances willing and able to take and hold 0.0 sov, at least with out coalition backing. Much of this lack of new power is due to the huge gulf between High Sec and Null play. It is nearly impossible for an alliance that is succeeding in High Sec to translate that success to Null. There was no middle ground, and Low Sec didn't have enough of a conflict driver to generate new alliances with the ability to project the kind of power needed to hold Sov space.

I think CCP saw this gap, and saw in FW a possible solution. In the original Inferno FW dev-blog, CCP Yitterbium hints at this. Renaming FW "Occupancy" to the Null Sec standard "Sovereignty", the station lock outs, raising the stakes of holding space, all lend themselves to FW being a smaller scale Null-style struggle. The difference is accessibility, FW is easily accessible to High Sec players who are willing to take the plunge.

Immediately after the dev-blog announcing these changes, the forums exploded with people saying CCP were making FW into "null sec lite," and people claiming this would ruin FW.

However, we should consider that this may have been exactly what CCP wanted. Perhaps FW is supposed to be the proving grounds for new Null alliances, and was not intended to be an end-game alternative to Null.

Further evidence for this can be seen in plex ship caps. Essentially, baring the very rare Large plexes, FW fighting is done in Cruiser-down ships. While this makes for interesting tactical play at times, for large alliances of high SP veteran players, it can be limiting, which may be intentional. Essentially, CCP is telling these alliances "your BS and Cap fleets don't fit in here." This may be a calculated effort to funnel the heavy ship combat away from Low Sec and into Null.

I think this can also be seen in the FW pendulum, the tendency for factions to rise and fall with time. While the first few swings of the pendulum feel important, and like you are involved in a vast struggle, with time they will stagnate for players. This, I believe, is the time CCP will be hoping that these now battle hardened veterans will push out into Null space. Maybe the next CFC is growing in Militia chat as I type this.

When you think about it, the skills that make an organization highly successful in FW are the same skills that would make you successful in Null, but without the high barrier to entry. Organization, cooperation, proficiency following and giving orders are all things that the best FW alliances have, and that most alliances/corps new to FW lack initially.

I am not the first to theorize that FW was originally intended as a stepping stone to Null, but I think with the current form of FW, CCP is finally getting closer to providing both the tools and the incentive for alliances to take that step.

No increase in Large Plexes so you move to Null for BC and BS? Crap upgrade options and sov consequences for the same reason? CCP is too bad to be that Machiavelli.

I think you are right about this. There was also a youtube video where some upper management refered to the stepping stone idea.

The reason the fw players exploded is because, the skill required of individual players in small scale pvp is higher than the skill required of individual players in null sec blob pvp.

If you are afk in a null sec battle it probably wont make a difference in a battle with 500 on each side. But if you miss in a 3v5 pvp battle you will likely cost your whole gang.


IMO If anything new players should go to null sec first. Have someone tell them how to fit a ship and exactly what to do. All the hand holding that happens in null is good for new players. Then when they get good they should come to low sec and try some small gang pvp. If you want proof of this look at nulli secunda's record against qcats.

But really I'm not going to suggest the above hierarchy either in a sand box game. Some people will gravitate toward large scale fights other will gravitate to small scale pvp. We don't need to say one is a higher level than the other.

BTW: I think since that time due to the success of inferno and retribution, ccp started to understand that all there eggs don't rest in getting people into null. They have a bit more faith in the sandbox.