Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Holy cow, I'd need a fleet of orcas to mine the salt from Teckos.

Where to begin on my perspective? I've turned to the life of J-space months ago and dealing with and engaging in cloaky activities is just a way of life. You never know who's truly in system because local doesn't exist so you go about your business assuming your every move is being watched. D-scan is a religious practice, and cloaked scout ships are incredibly important to finding content, whether it be pve or pvp.

What makes nullsec players so uppity about an afk player sitting cloaked in system is more of just the fact that they are just there, as a neutral or hostile. They know he's there but there's nothing they can do, and it's that helplessness that frustrates the living daylights out of them. I can relate from my short few months spent in nullsec.

Let me tell you a story. There was a pilot who sat in this single system near low-sec that would be afk for weeks on end before he tries to jump a vulnerable ship. Not the brightest pilot too. He successfully jumped and bubbled my Nereus but then he contracted the infamous Squirrel Syndrome as he shot at the Hobgoblin I spam (doing almost no DPS against him) instead of shooting at the industrial that had a tech 1 shield fit (that he could've killed if he focused on it). He was eventually forced to flee back to the abyss when the relief fleet arrived, and as far as I know he' still there to this day, waiting like the troll under the bridge for his next victim. After living in the wormholes where bait ships and ambushes are an everyday fact of life, I know how I could've fitted that nereus to tackle the little bugger and hold him until backup arrives.

Some people have been mentioning local chat. Local acts as a Godsend and a crutch for Nullsec players. It's a Godsend to very easily see threats inbound (without spamming V) and scram before the threat lands on grid. At the same time they've grown so dependent on it that it stifles their creativity when it comes to baiting a cloaky pirate into a fight.

Afk cloaking adds absolutely nothing interesting to the game. Nobody cares enough to form up all day trying to bait some little **** who just wants to grief. There are enough reds I have to deal with where I'm based anyway because we have every alliance in the game roaming through the space. So while your little theories are great that we can bait him out and kill him with a fleet on standby 24 hours a day, the reality is nobody gives a **** if it's not in the system they live in so it's impossible to stop someone afk cloaking, and that's the problem. NO ******* COUNTERPLAY.

It's totally irrelevant to my point and the suggestion I made doesn't nerf cloaking, it's nerfs being afk and still having the exact same affect on other players as if you were playing. YOU SHOULD BE AT THE KEYBOARD!. It's the dumbest mechanic ever and I can't believe you people don't understand why.

How do you have any affect on players when you're AFK? How can an empty chair in front of a keyboard hurt you?

Unless you don't do PvE unless your system is 100% blue, in which case the real problem is that null is entirely too safe.

Italics, bold and underlining all added. That is the key part.

And I'll add that the typical response is to nerf the playstyle of people who are not the actual problem.

You don't form up all day to bait someone. You form up, get in a fleet with PvP fit ships, if you have some alts maybe bring some logi. Go run anomalies. Make ISK. If they drop on you, then you kill them. If you really have a fleet standing by...you are doing it wrong. Chances are they are AFK. So by being in a fleet with PvP fits you get to make ISK, keep up your indexes, and if they drop on you then you get even more fun, and if not you have successfully countered them if they are hopping to catch you unawares of wear down your index levels.

You can also look at killboards and dotlan. You can get an idea of when people are active relative to your time zone. You can also look at the map and see if any systems within BLOPs range are occupied, if they are send a scout.

Not in the way that you can by afk cloaking, so don't pretend you can, not discussing with you either because its clear you just want to drag this into stupid exceptions just to try and be right.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer are you. What's the point even risking it? I just move next door. You might ask what is the problem, well answer me what is the ******* point in this mechanic other than to grief? It achieves nothing else.

Also if you actually bothered to read my post in an attempt to understand it, you would see my solution doesn't nerf being at the keyboard. If you are at the keyboard you can stop yourself de-cloaking, nothing unfair about that what-so-ever.

AFK cloaking isn't a playstyle. BEING AFK IS NOT A PLAYSTYLE.

The point in the mechanic is they are hunting you. But if it wasn't for local they wouldn't even need to pretend to be afk.

No local, no afk cloaking.

Not a thing wrong with being AFK.

The issue is a situation where being AFK is the optimal choice for your chosen task, unlike anything else where you can afk but it comes at the price of more danger, lost income, etc.