Player Features and Ideas Discussion

In recently released CSM+CCP meeting minutes transcript, there is a mention of EVE veterans/loyalty points.. Although it seems very vague as to what would the actual implementation exactly look like?

Here is sketchy a proposal… to make those vets stand out in game (as a reward for time spent here).

As it stands now, vet players have lots of skills (SP and experience) and can fly almost any ship type in game, but…

1) They have less and less incentives to aim for something in game - “skill wise”, since they know much of it already and it seems like a “game over” after some point…

2) They are not too different from regular players if compared to lets say a 1.5 year racial battlecruiser pilot...

It’s a good game mechanic that newer players can relatively easy play a catch up game to vets, even if it means specialization on one race or ship/weapon type. However, such approach can push older players out of the game, since basically there is nothing left for them to aim for!

Here is a quick solution…

New ship types and skills that would be available only to those who’ve spent a lot of time in game and have quite a lot of Omni racial skills to 5. Those don’t need to be uber (WIN ALL) ships, but have to offer some tactical advantages over racial ships even for a small group of players. To make an example:

Veteran Ships (Jovian/Sleeper tech)

Vet Frigates(all racial frigs to V, Vet ship frig 1)
Could use decoy tactics, with false ships appearing in an overview… making it harder for enemy to target the right one in time. Fake blobs! :)

Vet Interceptors(all racial frigs to V, Interceptors 5, Vet ship Interceptor 1)
Could use directional scanner to find other ships in space without combat probes, but with a somewhat limited range.

Vet Assault frigates(all racial frigs to V, AF5, Vet ship AF 1)
Could lower the resist of a targeted ship depending on its own ammo type.

Vet Destroyers(all racial frigs and cruisers to V, Destroyer 5, Fleet defender 1, Vet destroyer 1)
Could use defender missiles to make an “area of effect” defender sphere where it will auto target and destroy incoming missiles no matter who they were supposed to hit… or lower incoming damage from any type of turrets… while it would temporary reduce its own defenses.

Vet Cruisers(all racial frigs and cruisers to V, RECON 5, Vet cruiser 1)
Could provide a small gang with a temporary Cloak in some radius.

Vet HACs(all racial frigs and cruisers and HACs to V, Fleet defender 1, Vet HAC 1)
Could scan for cloaked ships and launch “targeted smartbombs”. They would travel to its targeted area in space like missiles and explode upon arrival with a radius of effect – making it an anti frig, anti drone, anti stealth platform.

Vet BCs(all racial frigs and cruisers and HACs to V, BC5, Vet HAC 5)
Those ships could be used to give additional bonuses to the gang even if a vet bc in gang isn’t an assigned booster. Better ROF for example.

Vet Command Ships(all racial frigs and cruisers and HACs to V, BC5, CS5, Vet HAC 5, Vet CS 1)
Those ships could be used to give additional bonuses to the gang, wing and fleet, even if a vet CS isn’t an assigned booster. Could be fitted with an “anti-scramble targeted lock breaker” (to get “points” off the gang members).

Just a few basic examples…

Those ships would be hard to train for, so they are only viable option for real veterans, but could allow for some tactical advantages even in small gangs… so vets would be a welcome addition to any gang or fleet. One on one, such ships, should not be too overpowered and as a drawback cost/sp prohibitive and might also take a hit on SP if destroyed (same as with T3)…

Didn't go too far (capitals, poses, etc), but the idea could be expanded further if needed...

It could become a golden rule to use vets in a fleet, would it be a bad idea of how to reward those who've spent years training? You would spend 3-4-5 years to get there in the first place... additionally bonuses that such ship would give to a gang/fleet, could be offset by the fact that those ships cost a fortune to buy and if lost take some of the SP out of its pilots...

Those stats, in the descriptions, if "overpowered", could be balanced to death, before making it into the game. They are there to get the basic idea across.

You guys are missing the obvious.

Veterans, as you have defined them, are pilots with a lot of skill points who would like to fly something special, apparently in recognition of this.

Fine, no problem.

Do it like the faction ships, but with bonuses based on skill synchronicity.

Can you fly every T1 destroyer? (Level 5 on all needed prerequisite skills) Then you get bonuses in a T1 destroyer that effectively makes it into a whole new ship.
Why? Because you are so good with everything that relates to this class of ship, that you see opportunities to fly them in new ways. You can mount weapons on them that others can't, because you know how to get more out of their powergrids and capacitors.

Any ship type where you can fly every racial variant to the maximum skill, should give you new 'Insights' into the ships design and capabilities.

Like a hollywood stunt driver, who can do stunts with cars that other people simply lack the experience and abilities to perform, you know that class of ship so well, you can take it to a whole new level at the controls.

The bonus would be a very basic one.

Now, each races destroyer would likely have a different bonus, sometimes based on the strength, sometimes the weakness of the ship. The veteran see's this potential, and is able to build on it.

The minmatar destroyer could be made faster, with the equivalent of making it's base stock speed increase from 268 MS to something more like 350 MS

The gallente destroyer would pick up 20 more space and bandwidth, already having enough for one drone, now would field possibly 5 small drones

The caldari destroyer would go from having just 1 launcher, to having 7 launcher hardpoints.

The amarr destroyer would jump from 75 to 150 powergrid.

In each case, these changes put the destroyer effectively on a higher level, but each time in a unique way that respects these destroyers are not identical to each other, so each offers one best path to useful improvement.

(The gallente one also got free holovids somehow, but that doesn't affect gameplay that much)