Player Features and Ideas Discussion

And regarding using some sort of covert cloaking ship packed with an electronics suit and staying on station for longer periods of time that is simply bad game design because it is very boring gameplay.

And the notion of coking fuel let alone food and water is also bad because most of the ships I can fit a covert cloak are not very robust. You should then somehow buff such ships to account for this direct nerf.

So...kinda off topic.

Oh sure, you can do it, but I think you'll find you keep ending up in a pod in a station somewhere in the not too distant future. Hopefully, local will also go and thus the primary reason why people AFK cloak. With it hopefully there will be ways to disrupt people's PvE in active ways that maintains the current game balance (i.e. I don't want ISK or resources flooding into the New Eden economy) and I'd like to see people engaging each other and having fun. Of course the Devil is in the details, as the saying goes.

Perhaps you missed the Fanfest presentation where they discussed the Observation Array and how it may very well contain an AFK cloaking counter...or more actually a cloak counter. Like I said, if it is just that, then it is a direct nerf to cloaks and is Bad™. If however, it also means local goes and intel is "clawed back" via other Observation Array (OA) features then that might be fine.



I agree, which is why I don't favor nerfing just cloaks. If cloaks are to be nerfed, then local needs to go, and the OA can be the mechanism for that. It can get back to the same or similar level of intel, maybe in some instances even better...but unlike local it will be vulnerable to attack and hopefully subversion. Hopefully instead of docking up we can get opposing groups of players to interact and have fun. Docking up is boring...for those docked and those not docked. My guess is that people will still dock up but will hopefully undock again. And if they don't the hostiles can do Bad Things™ to things like the OA and possibly other structures.



I totally agree. But given the current sov and structure mechanics docking up is a dominant strategy. Unless you have lots of people online and can get a comparable fleet together to take on the hostiles. Hopefully with the sov changes, the changes to null sec ores, and the observation array and even the changes to structures this will result in docking up no longer being a dominant strategy.

But still, I'm pretty sure AFK cloaking will go away.

Gates in wormholes is an Absolute NO. Unless they are in-system gates.
Defenders in larger systems could use them to get ahead of enemy fleets.
But maybe add a counter: bubbles placed between the start and endpoint can distrupt that .
Acceleration gates to deadspace pockets would also be good, but might be overpowered in terms of safety.

Altering wormhole spawning behaviors only adding number of spawns not changing where to. So adding more connections to the system, going where ever.
The randomness of wormholes needs to be kept!

Changing system atributes like the wormhole effects might be good, though a time limit(fuel and or max timer) should be kept or people will keep that up all day long .
And by that forcing use of some doctrines in systems.
Maybe also limit the range of it if possible.In any case we need the effect to be shown in game , not like in wormholes that you need to look it up on a webpage.
Maybe a system like the info you get in incursions?
In null or low extra gate to other null/low systems is ok. Though maybe do a limiting thingy like fuel or maximum mass maximum gates per system, to avoid breaking down the mobility solution the jump fatique was.
Or maybe no caps trough it.
Modifing system move and warp behaviours might be interesting especialy if you make it class depended like make battleships slingshots, or capital swingshots.
Though maybe also with warm up timers to prevent abuse. It will be very hard to balance since it can be used to increase safety.
And ABSOLUTLY NO wormhole stabilisers or closers, that would be to easy to game and impossible to balance. It would just destroy w-spaces main atraction , the randomness.
Besides it is only wanted by null sec dudes who are to lazy to scan properly and make things a lot safer for them.
Any structure that automates that without player interaction is bad.

Also no local module in w-space, absolutly not. That would be the worst idea ever.It would kill one of the main features of wormholes!
What would be good is remove local from null sec and bring it back with a structure that dies fairly quick and is not easyly replaced so that null ratters can't just replace them right after the people who destroyed it left.
Because that would remove the purpose of it.
The easy passive intell called local should disapear in my opinion!
Other observation arrays would be good in null, only they ,need to have player interaction.
Example, a camera obeservation array on a gate. You need to have someone connected at a other structure(preferably same system) to have it active.
It can replace cloaky scouts on the gates. Downside, you can't warp to that and someone need to "man" it. Upside, maybe the scout can cycle through some number of those in a system.
Would be to overpowered if that is not in the same system.Also the person manning the camera should be attackable.

Structure to close down gates, make em one direction or jump limitation(size of ships, how much time between jups,class of ships,... ) and countermeasures would be some ideas.But i have no idea how to make those balanced so that people do not get more security.
Watch list jamming might also be a good idea, only mutual contact would always need to see each other(keeping the social aspects).

It would be fun to make all null sec gates destroyable, and in case all gates are destroyed, people should be able to get back in by wormhole and need to rebuild the gate system.
Getting locked out would also make it safer from other null sec entities as a trade off .
Or maybe npc's rebuild the gates when left fallow.

Cyno jammers, cyno dampers(needing to get closer to be able to jump), cyno focuser (jump a little bit further but with bigger fatigue) are also some ideas.

I don't like that one either. I did think the idea of having cloaked ships be probable after a given time interval in system would be good.

The decloaking pluse? Not a fan at all.



How about we put a gate on that worm-hole and then see how you do...and no you can't close it. And make it so everyone entering system can see that gate, warp to zero and jump on through. And it stays functional so long as the server is running? Then we'll see how you like the hole you live in with people able to come in at will in cloaked ships.

Oh...and how about letting covert cynos work too? We'll let the regular cyno slide.

You want even more sensor strength? I hope this doesn't happen, probing is already easy enough.

Not only that, but you do, in part, defend by spending isk. Currently TCUs and IHUBs are the primary first line of defense. Those get hit, then you form up for defense...or not. They are also the initial targets as well.

I appreciate this is how YOU see the issue. Truth be told, it is something we get to hear often enough.
Almost always from someone, who through no fault of their own, is using incomplete information to draw conclusions from.

First, the cloak is a vital method allowing players to go AFK, most specifically in otherwise hostile space.
Logging out is not always the best answer, as anyone sitting in a POS or outpost can also confirm.
Should this method of being AFK have less impact on gameplay for others? Perhaps, but cutting it off from allowing AFK options is probably not a good aspect.

Actual covert cloaks, these are intended for more direct play, and have more abilities as such.
I would suggest they perhaps have a mode to allow them to operate in AFK safe mode, as well as active play.
The active play aspect allowing more function, as well as opening up options to interact with these arrays.

This makes more sense to me.

Although I am still looking forward to local being more directly affected by items in the game, as it in turn clearly affects player behavior.

When you have an entire pipe of industrial systems unable to be used because a group of people have been told to sit and camp them out you quickly learn to hate them.
I am a miner, Industrialist but also a logistics and bomber pilot (on occation)
I know that cloaks have a use but i also know when they are being abused.



And a "building" detection system shouldn't effect players who are going to bio or need to answer a door. But spending hours cloaked in one system? Maybe you should have planned your roam better.



If your going AFK for that long you should just use your safe log off timer and log out.



Including a "passive" mode to this game would be a better boon to the people who are for this measure than against.

I don't see why this game gets a pass from idle timers where most other mmo's don't. I know some operate them to server stress but i don't think any reason is strong enough to allow a mechanic like this to exist.

And i think the Dev's might have gotten the balls to realize that too.

Whatever happens, I am one for creating content and not restricting it. Provi is constantly full of content and i enjoy the battles we fight on a nightly basis. With the choices the Devs are potentially making on Local, D-scan and even cloakys i feel that this game is moving to a better state and not a worse one.