Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Tech2 hurricane! Personally, like the car so much better than the toilet brushes!

Woooohoo!

Does anyone know if the devs said anything about the command ship model changes at EVE Vegas? I tuned into the stream late and missed most of the balancing and changes stuff.

On second thoughts, forget the high slots and just swap the Prophecy and Harbinger hulls, then match the Damnation with the new Prophecy.

CCP, you are not touching the nighthawk model. The ferox hull needs as much love as it can get. Besides the ferox + kaal paintjob is a match made in paridise. Compare the current model to the proposed one and I dare you to tell me which looks better. Also, taking 5 launcher ship and throwing it on an 8 hardpoint hull is just plain awful. Some ships you could get away with it, but not the damn plain drake hull. Give me T2 ferox models, not just a striped drake.

I'll take that dare, the drake looks better.

So i had some time to let the changes sink in. I tried every of the new command ship models on the testserver. I tried to get accustomed to them and tried not to be biased. I tried to find reasons for and against these changes. And these are my final thoughts on the subject:

Consitency:
Yes, these changes will "enhance" consistency within these shipclasses. This was one of the main arguments for this change...and at the same time it´s one of the most stunning arguments against it. Fact is: There is no consistency between T1 and T2 or faction ships. There never was and there never will be (unless you guys want to drown in a shitstorm of massive proportions when you change the ships that really a lot of people fly. I´m already looking forward to the Hawk getting the Kestrel model.). Just a few examples:

Punisher - Vengeance
Cormorant - Flycatcher
Catalyst - New Eris (introducing new inconsistencies with Rubicon)
Merlin - Hawk
Armageddon - NavyGeddon/Redeemer
Phoon - Panther
Bellicose - Rapier
Executioner - Malediction
Incursus - Ishkur
Coercer - Heretic
etc. etc. etc. - I could go on forever here, but i think you get the point.

So the consistency argument is null and void. This can´t be a major reason for this change.


What should a comandship look like?

I don´t know about you, but i think a commandship should look like projection of overwhelming power and durability when it enters the battlefield. The tier 1 battlecruiser hulls all fit this image extremely well. They are bulky, scary bricks that look overwhelmingly fearsome. None of the tier 2 hulls matches this image as well as the tier 1 hulls do. I actually like the tier 2 hulls as well, especially the Myrmidon. I always looked forward to an upgraded version. But when a perfectly fine looking Eos needs to go because of it: Hell No!. Most people who are positive with these changes mention the T2 Myrmidon as a reason. And the Myrm deserves an upgraded version, why not as a faction battlecruiser for example? Oh, wait....because against all consistency (see? there it is again) you decided to make the Brutix the gallentean faction BC.


Lore

Since their introduction these ships were able to build a reputation. They are iconic figures, well present in ingame lore. When somebody mentions a Sleipnir, every player older than 1 year immediately imagines a lead spewing, beastly looking (yeah beastly...maybe like that 8 legged horse from mythology it is named after?), bulky ship coming at you while tanking everything you throw at it. Many people have fond memories of these ships. Especially since they are not your everyday throwaway spacemobile, but something rather special. Why break these images when the in game lore is the one major thing that makes eve special for so many people?


Diversity

The tier 1 BC hulls were always less used than their tier 2 counterparts which are basically omnipresent. So it was nice to see them being used in their T2 commandship outfit. Do we really need more Drakes, Hurricanes, Harbingers and Myrmidons? They are everywhere. Yeah, the statistics changed a bit after recent rebalancing, but still: They are used much more often then the tier 1 hulls.


Design

Yeah, the tier one hulls look rather edgy in some cases. They are not everyones taste. The tier 2 hulls are much more streamlined and...more bland. Unique looking ships are a plus if the overall concept is fine, which it is for the tier 1 hulls. Hull changes aside: the new paintjobs look rather uninspired, if you have to do this, do it better.


Public Reception

I don´t actually think that there is a huge community acceptance for these changes. Many people commenting positively on here give no reasons at all why these changes are needed or supported by them. Other than that they like a particular model better after the change. I think you might have gotten sidetracked a little bit after that Eos thread a while back. Sure everyone wanted a new Myrmidon model, people were disappointed they didn´t get the faction Myrm. And on the other hand people who were not in favor of these changes didn´t even read that thread, because it did not had any relevance to them. Also it was rather unrelated to actual upcoming expansions. People are usually using these sites of the forum when changes are announced in dev blogs. And the feedback you got here is rather obvious and much more representative. The feedback posted at third party sites was rather devastating as well.


Change

Yes, people want new commandship models. And you have announced that the models will be reworked in the future. But then why change them into completely different hulls first? And here comes the only thing i can think of why it would be a good idea to change these models (but it is a thing in favor of the Art Department and not of the actual customer): The tier 2 hulls are easier to work with! Their smooth looks make it easier to come up with upgraded designs. Hell, maybe you even got an upgraded Drake model from back when you revamped it the other day? If that really is the case (i am just speculating here), than this would be a sorry excuse to leave a sour taste with many of your customers. And this is not some unpopular change that needs to be implemented for the greater good, for balancing or gameplay reasons. It is just a design change that has no actual solid reasoning while annoying the greater part of your customers.

Summary

I couldn´t come up with any valid arguments why this would be a desirable change. If you have these arguments, then please let us know. I think the reception for this change would be much greater if people understood why they are necessary. Until then i can say nothing more but: Keep the old models until you develop new versions of these exact models. This is not about nostalgia. Change is welcome, sensible change that is!

im tired of this game getting darker and darker. i want the freaking GOLD paint back on the abso, not this crap color shiney brown. and i really want the BRIGHT red back on the abso, AS WELL as the guardian. the guardian litterly looks like a flying turd

My guess they hired a couple artists about a year ago who liked darker colours.
To be honest, it makes sense for ships to be dark.

Though I don't think camouflage is a big deal in deep space, dark would seem better.

That being said, the absolution was a fantastic looking ship.

No, not my Sleipnir! I fly the Hurricane all of the time, and the distinct visual difference between that and my Sleipnir is huge to me. Lets not forget as well, the Sleipnir really gained a huge popularity boost during AT IX when utilized with ASBs. While the ships in Eve don't always fit the descriptions of their names, the current Sleipnir hull looks a lot closer to an "Eight legged mythical horse" than the Hurricane. If anything, I'd take the Claymore and make that a Hurricane hull it's hull is more swordlike and edged.

Personally, I think changing the hulls of any of the command ships is only going to cause more confusion and is generally a "bad" idea, but take into consideration the ship's popularity as it currently stands and also the name and shape association. People have over the years developed an emotional connection to not only how their ship operates, but how it looks.

Its because CCP art department is bland and has no ideas of there own. So they would reskin old ships and call it new..
Im sure its the same art department that would cry if they removed the dust clouds in space, cause they worked hard on it..