EVE General Discussion

Session: Nullsec, Page 61

"CCP Fozzie - We have said in the past that we want there to be more interesting game play there. AFK
cloaking, however, is an entirely social form of power. To me, it is the equivalent of posting on the
forums until someone stops ratting. It has the same physical impact in many ways. ..."


CAREBEAR BUFF #238 of 2014

When they finally make this game like WoW... peeps just gonna go play WoW instead

I would buuuut... youd just auto warp to safe/log til your BLOP support comes. You really think a nullbear rater miner wants to fight? Lul

NULLBEAR buuuuuffjob

Well, it's a bit out of context since the further discussion went about covert cynos, which are only in one version of AFK cloaking. AFK cloaking per se doesn't look to be going anywhere in the near future. However, they have discussed (and only in a couple of sentences, so no real or serious feature discussion was involved) the potential hypothetical possibility of maybe taking a look at covert cynos and their use in combination of covert cloaks.

He didnt say they are removing it.

what does that mean? should someone be able to outsit me in station or POS when I'm cloaked?
I demand autoeject from dock or pos ff after a certain time to prevent afk hiding.

inb4 come siege pos argument: you know its bull****.

Sorry but anybody who says being AFK is valid gameplay is an idiot. If you are AFK you are not playing so where's gameplay?

To be honest I'm sure there are means that could be implemented to check if you really are at your keyboard. Usually if you are actively stalking somebody or you gather intel or set trap or anything else that is done under safety of cloak you chat or click d-scan or fly at some direction or warp around or check possible targets info (for ship and/or pilot), etc. There's no need to introduce fuel for cloak or anything like that, that would just make genuine cloaked hunters life more hassle. "Simple" set of UI interaction checks would probably get rid of 99% of AFK "activities" including miners, links, cloakies, ratters you left unattended. Wanna have a longer break? Dock or log off or your ship will deactivate all modules and recall drones to drone bay.

Also AFK cloaking is not the same as AFK ratting or mining or autopiloted hauling. Those ships are exposed out in space and can be probed down, warped to, tackled and killed. You cannot do any of those things to AFK cloaky.

THE SINGLE WORST OFFENSE (even bannable) IN ALL OF NEW EDEN....

LIMIT BEARS ISK SCORE!

Nullbears cant rat in null..... major probs yo.

Funny thing is: cloakies have impact only in null or in very isolated lowsec systems. Nobody cares about cloaky in hisec.

I guess root of the "problem" is you don't know if he's AFK or not but you know his character is there because local shows him. And I generally don't like the idea of not playing a game being valid way of playing a game. You know, it's hard to play football while shopping or waiting at dentists waiting room.

Personally I don't have problems with cloakies AFK or not because in null I simply don't undock my ratting or mining ships and in lowsec I don't care about anything in local with me except of "can I gank it or not". But I have problem with calling anything done AFK a valid gameplay. And no, training and market don't count, those systems are designed for being AFK.

Game design 101. Everything needs a counter. The moment some tactic or mechanic can not be countered, you've broken something.

This has nothing to do with 'get a fleet together and protect yourselves' or 'if 1 cloaker can shut down your system you don't deserve to be there'. Both of those points hold truth in a game like EVE.

But the fact of the matter is that a cloaker can not be engaged until the cloaker himself decides to engage. In other words, a cloaked ship can not be countered in any way. That's bad game design at its core and does need to be fixed in some way.

I say someone who doesnt understand how being afk is part of the gameplay is an idiot.
When I enter local all bears hide in station. Now I have 2 options, leaving system and going afk or semi-afk (reading forums). While I am watching TV or bang my gf the bears seeing me in local are forced either to come out ratting with me in local or stop playing (leaving system is too much for many as it involves using a gate), which possibly puts me into comfortable position of finding a bear in belt 2h later which I can pewpew I couldnt before thanks to local. You see how being afk is part of gameplay now?

local works fine both ways, for bears safety and for the attacker too (stalking, psychological warfare).