Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The following post is going to be crazy long, but it stems from an interview with Jon Lander (CCP Unifex) who, acting as temporary executive producer for EVE Valkyrie, in my mind had the correct emphasis on getting a product out where the core dogfighting gameplay was excellent, took advantage of the Oculus tech, and released relatively quickly.

However, reading between the lines on the interview leads me to think that to achieve these goals, the idea might mean to eschew integration with EVE Online for the first iteration. I understand this, as the lessons of DUST's extensive development time, combined with the feeling that core FPS gameplay suffered a bit due to the emphasis on creating a complex EVE-like system with integration to Tranquility.

Thinking about it, however, I have a design suggestion on making E:V integrated with EVE Online without necessarily sacrificing the goals stated, and getting a version out the door that does have some real tie, beyond lore, with Tranquility.

This is food for thought and comes from a place of being insanely excited about EVE Valkyrie and wanting it to be the space dogfigther to rule them all. Although a former developer I'm under no illusion that I know more about game design than CCP, nor assume that this game design suggestion is perfect. Nor that they would ever simply adopt it -- or that I'm not simply shouting down a well by posting it here. I am hoping it provides with some ideas, should CCP read this, and that there might be some helpful suggestions. Also hoping this gets ideas for simple integration that is DOABLE into the ether and encourages the debate.

I also feel this approach could be expanded upon later to tie the universes together more tightly.

Challenge 2:
Create a way for E:V pilots to have character progression that makes sense in the larger New Eden universe, but yet doesn't have potential to derail the E:O complex economy. Any system that relies on ISK flow between titles slows development as there is too much potential fallout.

Proposed Solution:



Details and Supporting Points: E:V players start in a basic ship with a base number of "merits". Unlike capsuleers, the conceit isn't that these are their ships. They are more like navy pilots — the ships they have access to isn't a function of their money/ISK, but what they are "Certified" to fly. E:V pilots earn variable amounts of "merits" through participating in missions (both PvE and PvP), winning, not abandoning a mission etc. Also basic stats such as wins, assists, staying on the field (aka not bailing), friendly-fire/awoxing attempts etc. are put on their "service record".

Merits are redeemable for "Certifications" which allows you to fly better/different role ships. Once cashing in these merits, you no longer have them, but your total lifetime merit accumulation is part of your "service record". The conceit of your pilot's cabin isn't a hangar etc. (since you aren't buying ships but certifications) -- but you could still ship spin by accessing either a simulation or looking out onto the "bay" at ships for which you are certified.

PvE encounters, or PvP in which the factions for which you are fighting are NPC corps or Factions (FW) are more straightforward to implement (see the idea of hotzones above), and are basically instant matches.

Player Corps wouldn't need to contract specific E:V corps or have them in their corporations. When corps deploy fighters to the contested system, players are assigned/matched to those "fighter ships" based on their certifications (aka E:V pilots certified in the ships being deployed). Corporations could filter for certain additional requirements, including a whitelist wherein they will only use pilots form a certain alliance/corp, a whitelist of preferred alliances, a blacklist of denied alliance members, service record stats such as attempted awoxing or leaving battles, etc., or even pure lifetime merit points earned.

There would be a (not massive) ISK sink cost to deploying fighters, similar to the system for jump fuel etc., and filtering for service record stats, etc., adds to the cost so that the more particular you are, the more the deployment costs. Also there would be a way to make the filters absolute or preferred (which could control whether, if enough pilots who meet your criteria aren't available, do you just fill the roster with one's who fit 90% of filters, then 80% etc or is the launch simply scrubbed).

E:V pilots would also have the option of filtering their deployments, anywhere from total freelancer (aka fight for anyone), faction (for FW matches), types of battles (all, FW only, corp battles only), whitelist of preferred corporations (wherein those offers are accepted first and/or you don't accept matches fighting against that group), blacklists (aka you won't deploy for that group and fights against that group are preferred) etc.

Likewise, although the system would be meant to make it much simpler than contracts so it is semi-automatic with filters, it still allows corps to stick with specific groups. It also makes both EVE and E:V pilots care about things like certifications and merits. Likewise, a corp can look at the stats, and if they see reports of pilot(s) doing things like idling etc., they can block that specific pilot, alliance or corp.

This system means that resources stay within EVE with simply adding new kinds of modules/units to the market, but there is no currency flow between the games — yet merits have both a tangible effect on E:V player progression (Certifications determining launch ship eligibilities and merits/service record = better deployments) and E:O decision making.

Challenge 4:
Keep the experience quick and arcade like for EVE: Valkyrie players and as little time between startup and being in a dogfight as possible.

Proposed Solution:



Details and Supporting Points: Entirely from E:V perspective, Empire based towers are PvE arenas, much like rooms for EVE Online, with the exception that for E:O players, a "placeholder" for the battleserver would be able to seen as celestials, like a tower etc., but not approached beyond a certain "event horizon".

The system would determine the hotzones, like incursions, as mission sites. The number active at any one time determined by demand, with new hotzones able to pop once existing ones are full. In these, E:V fight Serpentis, Sansha etc. Some hotzones focus on defending a friendly Empire NPC nexus tower, some with taking out pirate nexus towers. These matches are instant in that once a user logs in, they can simply select from available hotzones, or instant deploy. These matches would earn Merits (fewer than PvP), but not items like victory marks on service records, etc.

— perhaps they must do a certain number of PvE missions first before they can get into FW or Corporation battles to ensure they train, and have enough certifications to get beyond the starter ship.

FW would be hotzones in lowsec systems, deployments on behalf of NPC empire factions, but in which you are PvPing against other players. For these, you must choose a faction (not necessarily your starting faction), with perhaps a cooldown period to change factions, as well as reputation. People would be matchmade in FW hotzones with others in similar certification level ships.

For both Empire ratting Hotzones and FW, while their outcome could have minor system effects for EVE Players (simply to make E:V have an impact on EVE) these would not be game-breakingly severe, nor as onerous as Sansha system effects.

Corp warfare is described above. Again, this would have a matchmaking system and its system effects more important for fleet engagements.

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Items like friendly fire can be easily disabled to assist in making the experience more straightforward through the simple premise that a locking computer won't fire on your allies. However, the system could record attempts at friendly locks and/or AWOXing attempts would be logged by the system on the service record, and perpetrators able to be filtered out of calls by non-NPC corps creating disincentive. This is in response to the fact that E:V matches would theoretically have the same issues as DUST since E:V battles would have caps similar to the way DUST matches do -- and unlike EVE Online does in a practical sense.

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Certifications were proposed to be used as ways to qualify to fly certain ships when deployed (aka assigned a ship that the E:O player obtains and initiates engagement with -- or in the case of an NPC battle, where you are assumed to die and be reanimated and the ship lost with you only being eligible for a specific number of ships per battle.) This system makes it a bit more acrade-like (the goal) but yet makes sense in the context of the premise that you are a "contract pilot". In the case of corp, they pay for the equipment and your clone assigned pilot (assuming sufficiently certified), and in the case of NPC battles, it creates a system a bit more forgiving/like most more casual games while maintaining this conceit.

Certification could be as general or granular as deemed fitting -- with my suggestion being that it starts with a more straightforward system at launch for casual fun: certain certifications = eligibility for certain ship types with those ship types having specific capabilities, ammo-types, etc. It keeps the progression tree simple.

Later, E:V could begin getting into certifications for specific modules and components, which then are fitted to certain ships they are qualified to fly. However, I wouldn't launch with this, and instead make that the equivalent of a T1/T2 idea. T1 ships at launch, and which stay throughout the game, are fixed-spec ships. Later T2 type fighters are modular, with the pilot being able to determine his/her configuration based on certificates. When the E:O pilots initiate a Hotzone engagement, they are specifying the ship type, but the module combination is up to the pilot if they were using T2 fighters.

Adding a T2 later would mean that even after introduction, the T1 still provides fast-in and flying action for beginners, while expanding the possibilities for vetrans looking for a deeper experience. But that, I suggest, is a E:V 2.0 thing. The good thing about this T1/T2 idea is that it makes integrating these fighters as EVE assets (like existing drones or fighters) simple in that its maintaining the same T1/T2 distinction. At first, on the EVE side, E:O players would only see T1 jumpfighters on the market.

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Jumpfighters could be a distinct item on the EVE Online side, versus drones or fighters with different deployment mechanics etc., allowing existing fighters to stay in the game on carriers as what they are now, which is glorified drones. Thus no existing systems are broken, but rather a new kind of Sov asset with its own mechanics that integrates with Valkyrie is created. NPC/Empire wise, functionally this system simply introduces a new kind of "incursion" type that integrates with E:V rather than using Sansha AI.

TL:DR pls

CCP needs a way to integrate Valkyrie into EVE that can be done quickly and without much actual coding. The way I see it, EVE Valkyrie should be a CONCORD-sponsored, elite VR sport that only very select people can practice, be them capsuleers or augmented humans who have undergone the same surgical procedures that allow capsuleers to integrate with ships.

Mechanics-wise, this would allow EVE players to use their characters in EVE Valkyrie and benefit from whatever CCP considers would make sense, without giving them much of an edge over non-EVE players (augmented humans). Lore-wise, there already are simulation tanks in EVE where the different factions test their ships in controlled environments.

A number of things could be done inside both games to make their connection more notorious and relevant, without the need to make major changes:

- Make jump gate screens better looking and larger, so EVE Valkyrie information can be fancily displayed in them for people to see.
- Games are basically sets of rules that limit the players, so this is the perfect excuse to make Valkyrie less sandboxy. Or not at all.
- Interactions could be one-way ISK transfers, trained skills affecting Valkyrie, medals/trophies that display in EVE your achievements in Valkyrie, contacts accesible from both games etc. and any limits CCP wants to impose on them.
- Sports tend to develop their own culture, and there are usually groups that form around specific teams or players. This is the perfect chance for CCP to plant the seeds of a very competitive meta, where stars rise and fall constantly. Think Roman chariot racing in the Circus Maximus.
- Probably the most difficult thing to do would be to integrate Twitch into EVE (client-side), so EVE players could watch CCP-sposored tournaments in the comfort of their CQs (make them relevant).
- Most importantly to really make Valkyrie feel like a fancy sport, allow it to be shiny, over-the-top, fashionable and any other similar adjective you can think of. It has to look pretentious and dirty, like Dennis Rodman.

Edit: Oh, and allow us to buy EVE Valkyrie with PLEX!

I appreciate the response to the post, especially considering it was long and you obviously did read it despite being tl;dr. I appreciate it. Although I did mean conceit in this definition:


Conceit:

-an organizing theme or concept
"He found the conceit for his film early"

- a result of mental activity : thought (2)

- Mirriam-Webster Dictionary.


I looked it up because you were the second person to mention it and I second guessed whether, to quote Inigo Montoya, "that word means what I think it means".