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Suggestion for a new form of hybrid PvE/PvP content: Distress Calls

Author
trader joes Ichinumi
Doomheim
#121 - 2014-01-16 07:09:51 UTC
I think you can offer loot to the attackers even if no defenders show up. Just make the loot lowered. You want to encourage players to show up as much as possible.

I promise, if you have a gang of attackable ships people will come to kill them.
trader joes Ichinumi
Doomheim
#122 - 2014-01-16 07:23:52 UTC
Overall though, I love this idea. This sounds incredibly fun. This sounds like an amazing idea for retaining new players. Right now, most new players only encounter with PvP is meeting a gate camp/suicide ganker. This would give them a taste of real PvP and encourage them to join up with other players.
Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#123 - 2014-01-16 07:58:47 UTC
trader joes Ichinumi wrote:
Overall though, I love this idea. This sounds incredibly fun. This sounds like an amazing idea for retaining new players. Right now, most new players only encounter with PvP is meeting a gate camp/suicide ganker. This would give them a taste of real PvP and encourage them to join up with other players.



New players engage in more PVP than that, they just do not recognise it.

Mining is a PVP activity even if no miner suppression professionals interact with you in space - you are competing with other players (and bots too) for asteroids, then selling your product (either minerals or ore) is very much a PVP activity. If you are selling a billion units of Tritanium, another seller is struggling to offload their 600 million units.

Exploration is also PVP as you race to complete the combat site before anyone else finds it, or to be the first to hack the juiciest container.

I support the New Order and CODE. alliance. www.minerbumping.com

Equinox Ying
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#124 - 2014-02-05 04:30:35 UTC
I must have this, it sounds like so much fun, its not pirating and it give carebears a chance to see if theyve got what it takes.
I would think the prizes would need to be adjusted, sounds like too much to me, but dont take that as a complaint.
I think it would need to be announced in the system 24hrs before it starts, and NPC fleet invite links be posted in local, you can apply to join the fleet and when the timer starts you're accepted into the fleet and you essentially war the opposing fleet, this was you can keep the fleet sizes even (by accepting/rejecting fleet invites). Maybe the Devs could head up the fleets as fleet commanders.
I think there should be an acceleration gate to the site, which only allows certain hull types to warp in (up to BC in high sec, increasing as you get to nullsec) each fleet gets the location to a gate, and you can only go through your fleets gate, once you warp out, you cant come back in.
NPCs should be capable of doing REAL damage and webbing and scramming, and should follow the opposing fleets broadcast/tags.
The defending capital ship should be able to do some real damage too, maybe a few concord (nerfed) ships to help out.
Also there can be different environments, one could be an all out brawl, one could be capturing the flag etc etc, you know what i mean.

This sounds like so much fun and could easily be the biggest thing in the game, if done right, i hope some devs look at this and implement this, just the way it is.
Orion X04
Corus Aerospace
#125 - 2014-02-05 09:27:40 UTC
When the new overlay system came out, this was the first thought I had for a new game mechanic, so +1 from me. My thoughts though were that the distress calls would appear on the overlay as a pulsing beacon you can warp to. Once you click the 'warp to' button, you get a short audio clip (The distress call itself) and music akin to ghost sites.

They would be hard, the AI super-smart, but not too rare. It would give the universe more immersion and the feeling that there were actual human beings flying around doing stuff instead of just capsuleers.

You could have a good range of scenarios, from a group of guristas frigates attacking civilian haulers to a full-on sansha raid on a freighter to snatch all the bodies therein.

Corus Conglomerate

"Building A Better Tomorrow, Today"

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Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#126 - 2014-02-05 22:14:58 UTC
Equinox Ying wrote:
I must have this, it sounds like so much fun, its not pirating and it give carebears a chance to see if theyve got what it takes.
I would think the prizes would need to be adjusted, sounds like too much to me, but dont take that as a complaint.
I think it would need to be announced in the system 24hrs before it starts, and NPC fleet invite links be posted in local, you can apply to join the fleet and when the timer starts you're accepted into the fleet and you essentially war the opposing fleet, this was you can keep the fleet sizes even (by accepting/rejecting fleet invites). Maybe the Devs could head up the fleets as fleet commanders.
I think there should be an acceleration gate to the site, which only allows certain hull types to warp in (up to BC in high sec, increasing as you get to nullsec) each fleet gets the location to a gate, and you can only go through your fleets gate, once you warp out, you cant come back in.
NPCs should be capable of doing REAL damage and webbing and scramming, and should follow the opposing fleets broadcast/tags.
The defending capital ship should be able to do some real damage too, maybe a few concord (nerfed) ships to help out.
Also there can be different environments, one could be an all out brawl, one could be capturing the flag etc etc, you know what i mean.

This sounds like so much fun and could easily be the biggest thing in the game, if done right, i hope some devs look at this and implement this, just the way it is.



The reason that I didn't intend to have a massive announcement in advance of the event was because if there is time to scramble reinforcements from across the entire universe, these would be dominated by those entities with the most capacity to project force quickly (probably Pandemic Legion and Goonswarm outside highsec, and RvB in highsec).

Reinforcements from across the region, but not the universe, would drive more ad-hoc conflicts.

I support the New Order and CODE. alliance. www.minerbumping.com

DSpite Culhach
#127 - 2014-02-19 01:11:48 UTC
Under this conditions, is it possible to do this:

* A carrier broadcasts the initial becon.
* A large corp/alliance like Goonswarm tell its member to jump into combat ships, and pick different sides as needed to keep a balance.
* After joining a fight, they shoot opposing ships BUT NOT their own members ships.
* Slowly, the only ships remaining on either side belong to Goons.
* All wrecks are salvaged.
* A coin is flipped, and one entire side warps off, making the other side win.

I apparently have no idea what I'm doing.

Corraidhin Farsaidh
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#128 - 2014-02-19 03:02:32 UTC
This sounds like a nice idea so +1 for the concept...I think it would need to be more transient as the ghost sites are but in a different way i.e. the defending fleet will be swamped by the NPC aggressors within a set time if no help comes, or gets to warp out if they are lucky. If the fleet is following a preset route then multiple distress calls could be raised as it goes. The defenders may not even need to kill all the enemy ships to succeed, simply kill the tacklers and keep the freighters/haulers/transports alive through defence, logistics or whatever until they warp out.

you could even provide escort all the way if you choose to join the fleet for the full trip.
Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#129 - 2014-02-19 03:24:53 UTC
DSpite Culhach wrote:
Under this conditions, is it possible to do this:

* A carrier broadcasts the initial becon.
* A large corp/alliance like Goonswarm tell its member to jump into combat ships, and pick different sides as needed to keep a balance.
* After joining a fight, they shoot opposing ships BUT NOT their own members ships.
* Slowly, the only ships remaining on either side belong to Goons.
* All wrecks are salvaged.
* A coin is flipped, and one entire side warps off, making the other side win.



In highsec: I don't think there's any entity capable of projecting that level of force into highsec that quickly. Cyno jammers really slow down highsec force projection.

In lowsec/non-sov nullsec: If any entity tries that, sometimes they will manage to just win, other times, someone will counter-escalate and war is on.

In sovereign nullsec: Probably somewhere between the two extremes. A distress call could appear in a cyno jammed system, which will pretty much be won by any determined fleet of locals, or it could appear in a non-jammed system, in which case it might sometimes be hotdropped.

I support the New Order and CODE. alliance. www.minerbumping.com

ASadOldGit
Doomheim
#130 - 2014-02-19 05:09:23 UTC  |  Edited by: ASadOldGit
+1 Like this idea (only just noticed it, too - don't know how I managed to miss it)

Some questions from a "curious carebear", though:

  1. Is it your intent that players fleet up first, or can anyone just drive by and attack or defend it? (I realise that fleeting would be more ideal, from a coordination point of view, but if you have a flag, would you still need to be in fleet to get the rewards?)

  2. There have been a few comments comparing to incursions (which I've never done), and a concern I have about that (which could just be my perception), is that players get in to the mindset of forming up "hours" in advance, and comparing fits to see who is more perfect for the job, or that they are perfectly doctrine-fitted. Then they die 30 seconds after landing on grid. What a waste of time.
  3. As you mentioned in post #126, I would prefer this to be a more random, ad-hoc event. Personally, I think the more organised and finely-tuned a fleet is, the less fun you have - too many people are trying to remove the human factor from fights. We make mistakes - deal with it. P (In fact, I imagine a lot of fights start with mistakes.)

  4. What happens when all the NPC's die? Is the event over, or should the fight keep going until one side is destroyed or leaves? (i.e. everyone keeps their Attacker/Defender flags until they leave.)

  5. If you're in a fleet, does the first person to attack or defend the NPC flag the entire fleet, or does everyone have to get flagged individually?

  6. I'm curious as to why you think new flags (Attacker/Defender) are needed (as opposed to everyone going Suspect)? As a carebear, I like the idea of everyone having to choose a side, and reduces the chance of outsiders interfering, but it's not really the EVE way, is it, where anyone can ruin your day. They still have suicide ganking, of course. Straight

  7. Someone above mentioned fleets where everyone was blue to each other - if players aren't shooting, can I assume the NPCs dish out a fair amount of firepower to make sure that no-one is safe while holding hands?

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Lucien Marbot
#131 - 2014-02-19 05:53:04 UTC
This is a really interesting idea. I support it. The ability to get involved with large fleet type fights in highsec will be transformative. It will encourage team play which CCP loves and it will enable more players to experience the diversity of ship roles in fleet combat.

Death is nothing more then the searing pain of rebirth.

Esmanpir
Raccoon's with LightSabers
#132 - 2014-03-03 18:33:45 UTC
"- To qualify for rewards, you need to remain on-grid, uncloaked, with active modules that do not affect your own ship and an 'Attacker' or 'Defender' flag for at least 5 minutes or 10% of the duration of the fight, whichever is longer. If you lose a ship while it has targetted modules (guns, RR, EWAR, ReSeBo, Remote ECCM etc) active, the 5 min/10% requirement is waived."

What would stop someone from just jumping in a cheap ship, getting blown up then flying off to await his portion of the rewards.
DSpite Culhach
#133 - 2014-03-04 01:13:16 UTC
The only issues with this class of ideas is that players will not play for fun, they will try to farm the event. I still remember the 4v2 agent missions in Global Agenda pre-nerf. One large group from the same region would arrange to flood the queue and make sure only they were in the 6 man queue and if not, they jumped out and re-queued, forcing remaining players to abort, and when all 6 were from the same group, they raced the level without being shot at by the opposing team for an easy win.

If you have an event where players get to pick sides they might as well stack on one side and unbalance the fight. If the game forces a side, most people won't kill ships of people they are good friends with.

You will never have a balanced or fair system under this type of scenario when you are dealing with a game with real, permanent losses, and people will always try to minimize such losses and will choose the mechanic or least resistance.

I really like the idea, I simply think some players will totally frak it up for everyone else.

The only scenario under which you _might_ have a chance to get players to stop being dicks, is usually a fully co-op scenario that has real rewards for players that carry out the most things and get the most points, as you can always have someone sneak in and take a top score from under you.

I apparently have no idea what I'm doing.

Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#134 - 2014-03-04 01:20:01 UTC
DSpite Culhach wrote:
The only issues with this class of ideas is that players will not play for fun, they will try to farm the event. I still remember the 4v2 agent missions in Global Agenda pre-nerf. One large group from the same region would arrange to flood the queue and make sure only they were in the 6 man queue and if not, they jumped out and re-queued, forcing remaining players to abort, and when all 6 were from the same group, they raced the level without being shot at by the opposing team for an easy win.

If you have an event where players get to pick sides they might as well stack on one side and unbalance the fight. If the game forces a side, most people won't kill ships of people they are good friends with.

You will never have a balanced or fair system under this type of scenario when you are dealing with a game with real, permanent losses, and people will always try to minimize such losses and will choose the mechanic or least resistance.

I really like the idea, I simply think some players will totally frak it up for everyone else.

The only scenario under which you _might_ have a chance to get players to stop being dicks, is usually a fully co-op scenario that has real rewards for players that carry out the most things and get the most points, as you can always have someone sneak in and take a top score from under you.



The difference here is that this idea isn't run on-demand, but at a random, unpredictable timeframe.

I don't believe there's going to be time to seriously game an event. Let's say RvB (the entity most able to project force in highsec) tried to game one in highsec, and got 70 pilots to turn up within 15 minutes.

Could they stop Goonswarm or TEST or Brave Newbies or an incursion network forming up 50 ships and arriving? Lets say that BNI decided to rock up. With the rewards structure I've proposed, it will probably make economic sense for BNI to go on the other side of the fight to RvB.

Sometimes RvB will just rock up with 70 pilots and win outright, but that will not always happen and I think this is somewhat less game-able than incursions currently are.

I support the New Order and CODE. alliance. www.minerbumping.com

DSpite Culhach
#135 - 2014-03-04 02:24:28 UTC
Sabriz Adoudel wrote:
DSpite Culhach wrote:
The only issues with this class of ideas is that players will not play for fun, they will try to farm the event. I still remember the 4v2 agent missions in Global Agenda pre-nerf. One large group from the same region would arrange to flood the queue and make sure only they were in the 6 man queue and if not, they jumped out and re-queued, forcing remaining players to abort, and when all 6 were from the same group, they raced the level without being shot at by the opposing team for an easy win.

If you have an event where players get to pick sides they might as well stack on one side and unbalance the fight. If the game forces a side, most people won't kill ships of people they are good friends with.

You will never have a balanced or fair system under this type of scenario when you are dealing with a game with real, permanent losses, and people will always try to minimize such losses and will choose the mechanic or least resistance.

I really like the idea, I simply think some players will totally frak it up for everyone else.

The only scenario under which you _might_ have a chance to get players to stop being dicks, is usually a fully co-op scenario that has real rewards for players that carry out the most things and get the most points, as you can always have someone sneak in and take a top score from under you.



The difference here is that this idea isn't run on-demand, but at a random, unpredictable timeframe.

I don't believe there's going to be time to seriously game an event. Let's say RvB (the entity most able to project force in highsec) tried to game one in highsec, and got 70 pilots to turn up within 15 minutes.

Could they stop Goonswarm or TEST or Brave Newbies or an incursion network forming up 50 ships and arriving? Lets say that BNI decided to rock up. With the rewards structure I've proposed, it will probably make economic sense for BNI to go on the other side of the fight to RvB.

Sometimes RvB will just rock up with 70 pilots and win outright, but that will not always happen and I think this is somewhat less game-able than incursions currently are.


Every time you come up with an idea that "connot be farmed" you will be proven wrong. It's either worth enough effort to be farmed and people will create entire toons around this concept, or it's not worth enough to be farmed and no one will really risk assets, let alone the fact that it will probably attract all the "griefer" players nearby on cheap catalysts just to score some easy kills that have nothing to do with playing along for the event.

Players go to a LOT of effort to only deploy ships when they have good intel on where they are going, and here you are asking people to send a ship into a zone that will make it almost certain that it will be shot at, with no knowledge about who will be there for support - if any - or what the opposition will be, or even if it will be remotely balanced.

I just don't see it.

I apparently have no idea what I'm doing.

epicurus ataraxia
Illusion of Solitude.
Illusion of Solitude
#136 - 2014-03-04 23:20:29 UTC
I like the concept of this in HS, not too sure about other regions quite how it will work, so i'll withhold judgement on that.
This is one where i think you would need concord otherwise "neutrals" will change it into a different event and act like putting chum or blood into the water.
I would suggest limiting it to the same class of ship, each site or event only allowing cruisers or frigates. Then it would allow new and old players alike to be on a more level footing,
I would also suggest that you are assigned red or blue fleet according to numbers on grid already, but a group of up to 4 for example could "register" as a group to stay together, but could be assigned as defender or attacker by the system.
There are a lot of ways for those of that inclination, to turn this into a simple gank trap, that would need to be considered or it will be avoided, and not achieve it's potential.
So tl;dr
+1 for excellent idea if it can be prevented from becoming a gank magnet. Because gankers just love to gank.What?

There is one EvE. Many people. Many lifestyles. WE are EvE

Louis Robichaud
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#137 - 2014-03-06 05:37:02 UTC
It definitely has potential, but I think it would almost have to be tested to see if the emergent gameplay is worth it or not.

I blog a bit http://hspew.blogspot.ca

Jane Shapperd
Quafe Commandos
Commonwealth Vanguard
#138 - 2014-03-06 11:19:55 UTC
+1
Foxstar Damaskeenus
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#139 - 2014-03-06 14:18:21 UTC
+1

CCP please consider this!

Something quick and spontaneous and this would also give new players a way to kind of mix in with the older crowd. Like a 10-20 minute incursion and always a little different, no specific ship set ups.

Incursions are starting to remind me of Warcraft dungeons, you have people calling for certain numbers of specific ships, to hell with that.

"[this thread] is a cesspit of trolling and flaming" ISD Buldath

Dennis Vlahos
Anchorage Sanctum Naval Shipyards
#140 - 2014-03-11 00:12:10 UTC
+1000 Would buy