CSM Campaigns

Hi, most of you know me not at all, or simply as 'that guy that posts badly on reddit (sometimes).' Believe it or not, every now and then something happens or comes along that warrants me sitting down, breaking out the typewriter, and attempting to crank out an actual Good Post instead of the usual memey one-liner drivel. I've been playing EVE for about five years now; which still makes me a baby compared to some, certainly, but EVE is my passion. The community, the politics, the underdog stories, the hours of patience and dedication leading up to a few minutes of an adrenaline-pumping fight. I think every now and then we as players forget that we have a game here that is quite unlike any other, where some player you've perhaps never heard of can have a profound impact on your game, be it positive or negative. Where friendships and indeed grudges can last well over a decade, where your past can haunt you and yes, your decisions matter immensely. No other game is quite like EVE, and I think we all ought to be doing our best to preserve this gem that we share.

It's no secret to anybody that has been following the overarching EVE 'story' that age is starting to take it's toll on our favorite pastime; the number of logged in players are down from their peak, new player retention is still poor despite many attempts to encourage newbies into the game, and there are no more large-scale conflicts or wars that drive the EVE narrative, giving players a sense of purpose. I've made no secret of the fact that I'm not a fan of the jump range/fatigue changes from the Phoebe expansion, and even less so of the new 'Aegis Sov' system which promotes harassment and 'sov-trolling' over meaningful and satisfying conflict. I've always been a lowsec player at heart, but sovereign nullsec is, has been, and always will be the beating heart of the EVE story. As things stand currently, sov space is in dire need of some Tender Loving Care if we want to see EVE live to the end of it's second decade.

In the olden days, as a smaller independent lowsec player I could never hope to capture and hold sovereign space without bending the knee to a larger coalition force. This was a result of the broken nature of power projection, or rather the fact that a well organized alliance could be anywhere at the map it wanted to be within minutes notice, making it a trivial thing for a small but powerful alliance or group of alliances to hold vast amounts of space. The Phoebe expansion fixed that by and large, restricting travel and imposing consequences on those who tried to grasp beyond their reach. This resulted in the shrinking of empires, meaning a little alliance like my own could capture and hold sov if I wanted to, and had the military might to conquer it from the locals. The fatigue changes had several side effects however; move ops were now a multi-hour affair with near guaranteed frustration for all involved. Missing an alliance move op more than likely meant suicide for your super or titan. It also meant several days worth of moving one jump, one hour at a time to your new staging system, and so on. It fixed the problem CCP set out to fix, but it came with a lot of baggage in the form of simply un-fun gameplay (being 'unable to play' while you have fatigue, waking up at downtime to move your super one jump at a time, taking everybody and putting them on small, separated 'content islands' so to speak).

Even with this, EVE adapted and trudged on. Power blocs dissolved or otherwise diminished, war still happened, narrative was generated. People logged in and did Things in Space.

Then Aegis Sov rolled out on patch day, and it all ground to a halt. Entire regions, rich with good truesec and abundant R64 moons were abandoned by organizations that didn't want them anymore. Sov war was no longer about who had the military might, but who had the most endurance to resist sov trolling. Sov can now be attacked by a single T1 frig at the same rate that it would be if attacked by a thousand dreadnoughts. Vast capital armadas, already crippled by the jump drive changes, were now all but worthless. Attackers could now maliciously attack your space with literally anything they had in their hangars, forcing you to travel perhaps across the entire region through bubbles and all sorts of unpleasantries, only to have the single T1 frigate warp off as soon as you entire local, and then return again after you'd left. With fatigue, jump bridges are no longer a viable option for defending your own sov either. Attackers could troll your sov all day long with nothing more than the intent to cause you to want to quit, without risking anything more than a frigate. Bad game design, and un-fun gameplay. With the scales so skewered, many people simply abandoned their sov and went to pick up the nomadic lifestyle, already made painful by fatigue. For the first time in EVE's history we've seen a mass exodus of players and organizations leaving nullsec because of the gameplay involved. And no matter how good of an idea CCP may have thought it was, the players are the paying subscribers, and they have made their opinions apparent.

cont.

+1

helo

lex arson is the fc of my dreams

he is without a doubt the only person to tell me that a shemale had a cute ****

that sort of thing just sticks with you, you know?

+1 for this good man

u have the power of tishu and reddit and autism at ur hands. dont squander this opportunity lex

im gay by the way

You troll around and **** on forums but when it comes down to it you understand the game and give serious topics measured and critical thought.

+1 from JOHN BLATHOS and many more from strong IAGO CORP.

+1

what a time to be alive

Known lex for a long time, and is someone who truly understands the mechanics and driving forces behind eve online and what makes for a healthy game. +1

As someone with a vast knowledge of in game mechanics and a passion for driving and delivering content, +1 to you CSM thread. You've got my votes

Finally, +1, not a truer word said. It changed the game and so many have left since. And now wait for it. a super can now be tackled by a bunch of frigs. Are capitals not slow enough already are they not already trampled down by jump fatigue loss of cap on jumping, and the fact that they are possible the easiest target to hold down. Im sure that CCP are now feeling the cash fatigue caused by this hence the new reduction of space aids. I personally have moved away from eve since this and I have started to spend my hard earned cash on other games. Eve was my go to game every time i stared my PC, now i really dont care for it. It was great whilst it was a sand box but it seems CCP forgot about that bit.......

Seems that CCP need to hold yearly meetings so that they can re-inject cash into the game in other ways. how long is it going to be before the real EVE junkies say no to the high prices......... ?

+1 Lex finally made a good post.

You can quote me on this the next time I say "make a good post" Lex.