Player Features and Ideas Discussion

This is the first idea I have attempted to post in here. I have thought about it for a while (2-3 months) and think it has some merit. Please be gentle, it could be a game breaker or game balancer.

Dynamic Player to Player Standings.

Standings between a player and any NPC entity are dynamic, e.g. Jita Alt666 does a level 2 mission for Haftildar Honledok - a Brutor Tribe agent in Rens. At the completion of the mission Jita Alt666's standings to Haftildar Honledok, Brutor Tribe and Minmatar Republic are all modified.

Standings between a player and any other player entity are static, e.g. Jita Alt666 decides he despises Scrapyard Bob more than anything in the universe and sets his personal standings to -10. That standing is now static at -10 until Jita Alt666 either deliberately modifies it or is biomassed by his owner.

The same situation occurs if Jita Alt666's corporation decides that the behaviour of Scrapyard Bob's corporation is despicable – once a standing is set it is set until the player decides it needs to be modified. Again the same situation is replicated if Jita Alt666's alliance decides that Scrapyard Bob's alliance is equally despicable.

Once established Player to Player, Corporation to Corporation and Alliance to Alliance standings are the domain of the players involved and function on a level that is essentially removed from the game of Eve Online - essentially this is a game mechanic that is ruled by the meta game. It is my view that the static formation of standings and the relative ease with which these can be maintained (or modified as the situation permits) has been a significant reason in the preponderance of major 0.0 player blocs which have a detrimental effect on the game play options and styles open to Eve Online players.

My proposal is that the standings between players should be a “mixture” of dynamic and static state.

1. Re-delineate Player-Player standings. Standings should not jump from 0 → 1 → 5 → 10 but but have the same range of detail as Player-NPC standings. These may still be displayed in multi bracket bands in game.
2. Tag in game actions onto Player-Player standing. If Jita Alt666 has a current standing of 10.0 to Scrapyard Bob and then decides to initiate aggression against Srcapyard Bob, there should be an instant modification to that standing – exactly in the same manner security status operates - which is just the standing a player has to a particular Corporation.
3. Scale these standing modifications through to Corporation level and then Alliance level.
4. Allow all players, corporations and alliances to actively (click button) modify their current standings by a limited amount (I propose +/-2.0) on daily basis – to be applied at downtime.
5. Maintain the current hierarchy of standings Alliance/Corporation/Individual option.

I believe the effects of this proposed change will be largely player controlled – not by player discussion at Alliance leadership level – but by player in game actions. The implications however will result in much increased effort on the behalf of alliance directors to maintain extensive “Blue Lists”

Examples:
1. Setting an Alliance Blue for a specific battle/conflict will now take time. With my proposed +/-2.0 change it would take 5 downtime changes by the relevant Alliance directorates to move from 0.0 → 10.0. If a group of pilots in alliance A initiate aggression against members of Alliance B during that time frame there will be a small negative effect on the standings that will extend the period of time for the Alliances to gain the standings they desire.
2. Now Alliance A and Alliance B may decide to just lift standings from 0.0 → 2.0 resulting in a 1 downtime change over. The lower the bar however the easier it will be for individual pilots to alter the end change. A dictor pilot bubbling a fleet just before fleet engages warp may result in a significant change to the standings between that player and the relevant “allied” alliance, that player's corporation and the relevant “allied” alliance, and that players alliance and the relevant “allied” alliance. This would in effect punish ill-disciplined blobs of multiple alliances at the benefit of tight organised and composed fleets.
3. Such mechanics will require more selective and structured corporation and alliance structures. A rogue corporation could conceivably awox members of blue alliances to over ride the alliance directorates set standings and “neutralize” unwanted or dislike corporations and alliances.
4. Pilots who are fly poorly in fleets - accidentally target allies/corporation mates, drop badly positioned bombs, bubble at incorrect times, instantly target after gate activations and shoot with out thinking – will show up via their standings. Said pilots will also run the risk of resetting strategic allies.
5. Super Capital blobs utilising remote ECCM bursts without strategic foresight will be simultaneously limiting the targeting ability on grid as well as the standing of the pilots in their fleet.

The overall desired effect of this change is the nerfing of the mega/blob by making standings dynamic and constantly shifting outside of the complete control of alliance directors. There are other implications of this dynamic approach – yes I know, its complicated but I'm about to hit the character limit and think others might be able to critique better than I can rant.

That is what currently happens.

My idea is to limit that ability by:
1. Introducing in game standing consequences for behaviour by pilots.
2. Increasing gradients of change.
3. Slowing down the ability to make drastic changes.

once in an alliance that color overrides all. well unless your OV settings are jacked but then when there are 20 flashy reds in system and your fleet of 200 is not killing them you eventually realize oh shi....my OV is jacked and outlaw status is higher for some odd reason.

once in fleet...that overrides all as well. except for jacked ov settings again here too lol. Pick up mercs or whoever (alts, trial applicants you want to see what they got before actualluy joining corp) for an op, fleet em and they could be any color of the rainbow....now they are fleet color till dropped.


Waiting period for a corp? In game already. Its not like you if a ceo can login tonight, talk to a goon diplo and be a goon corp in 10 minutes or less. Its gonna be a few days of negotiation there dude. API/background checks, what can you bring to goons chats with thier peeps, what is goons going give us to work out their end of the deal, your talks with your peeps to get them all onboard etc.