Player Features and Ideas Discussion

This is hardly the first time this has been suggested. Hell, it's not even the first time it's been suggested by me (just not this year).

The basic problem with combat PvE in eve is that it's too different from PvP. It's a predictable, mindless grind where your ship is hilariously over-powered compared to the NPCs that you are fighting, so to make it interesting at all, you fight dozens of them.

Not only is this boring and predictable, it requires using ship doctrines that are very different from, and useless in, PvP. As a consequence, there are no interesting ratter vs. roamer fights. Roamer warps in, ratter tries to run, and he either gets caught, or not. What could have been an interesting fight is either a one-sided gank, or a miss.

So, here's what I'd propose:

Content Scaling: Fewer rats, but tougher, and that have more player-like behavior, for instance, have to point them, or they'll warp off if they're losing. Instead of having dozens of rats on the field, have one warp in as one is going down. Vary the rats that warp in to provide changing, challenging scenarios for the player. Have the kinds of ships that you face change depending on the ship that you brought, as opposed to a Sanctum always having the same thing. It should almost have the feel of a PvPer's dojo, where you are training for fights against players. Bounties of course would have to be higher per unit, to adjust for the smaller number of ships.

Get Ready to Rumble: Make combat anoms accessible through ded gates, and have those gates scale to whatever the player inside brought. If he's in a frig, you can only get a frig through, similar to the way FW sites work, only with more player choice. If a hostile player warps in, the rats warp off, leaving the players to fight. If a friendly player warps in, the content scales to match the new players on the field.

I'd imagine it'd be based on the ratter's standings. Neutral or hostile to the ratter is considered "hostile" by the system.

You're right. Eve players are often more interested in the grief than the fight.

As far as warping your neutral alt in to keep you from losing, you could, but if you do it often, it's going to wreck your isk/hr.

For the anom busting troll, maybe put your alt on the ded gate in a cloaky sabre, instead of in the anom with you? If the troll takes the ded gate, you should have a point. Tackle him.

No doubt it's just a rough idea that needs some polish.

Essentially it is a hopeless idea.
Not because it is bad, but because of the complexities of programming an AI that could do these types of things.
To stay at a reasonable lever of complexity AND size for a game like EvE an AI will for the foreseeable future have to rely on a pre-programmed series of actions based on what the player is doing, the burner missions are a perfect example of this.

Besides who says that it would be good for the game to have all PvE content behave like real PvP?
This whole notion centers on the failed idea that if players were exposed to a PvP like setting and had to fly PvP fit ships in their PvE activities they would transition from PvE to actual PvP activities. WHile this MAY lead to a few players making the transition that have not done so already it ignores a fundamental truth of human nature, there are those who will fight other people and those that will not and nothing you can do will ever change that fact.

CCP has done an excellent job of balancing the games activities to attract and hold a wide range of players and play styles, that helps to attract and hold far more players than it would if you changed all the PvE activities.

After all that I have no problems with CCP adding a series of optional more PvP like missions at all levels into the game. pehaps changes to the burner missions would be a good place to start.

Tackle can never be a requirement as it invalidates ALL long range fits.

Bring a tackler, if you want to fly a sniper, and make sure that the AI adapts the NPC fleet comp to what you brought, and that the reward scales appropriately.

If you want to solo, bring a brawler, or a shorter range kiter. It's no different from PvP, where you don't solo in a ship without a point.

Imagine rock-paper-scissors PVE where the fleet comp of what you're facing keeps changing as you kill ships, getting more challenging for you. Would be really cool. Despite my tag, I might even rat again. It would also be awfully cool to warp into an anom wondering what kind of solo or small gang PvP setup you were about to face.

rats stick around until acts of aggression are committed

so if the new player attacks the previous ratter, rats warp off
if the new player attacks the rats, more rats warp in

Eve PvP is boring the living hell out of me, so no, it will be avoided even if I'm going to have to rat in full PvP fitting.

I'd rather go stabs or self-destruct than entertain a roamer.

You entertain one roamer, 25 of them come. Not entertaining a roamer is pretty damn basic ratting policy.

ED: Since most roamers are going to have more SP than me (because I have only 2010 char with 2 years break as my best), I will lose my ship anyway, so self-destructing is obviously better choice - you can't counter lack of SP. And stabs are SOP for ratting in dangerous areas.

won't change people wanting to dock up with neutral in local in 0.0, they may be open to the idea of pvp based on where they are but when ratting its to make isk not to pvp if there is a chance to lose isk then they won't do it.