EVE General Discussion

Actually I have. Once. When the patch first hit. I had to dump my Gila and go back... (holds nose) for a Drake... in order to actually finish the mission. It sucked big hairy donkey balls. After that I just stopped bothering. All my mission skills have been made invalid. Don't feel like spending another year just to train all new skills - because who's to say what they nerf next?

Oh yes, you smug little non-drone people laughing in the back. Don't think you'll escape the nerfbat forever. After all, there isn't anything left to nerf now but you.

A few points:

1: You being personally unaware of AFK lvl 4 mission running with drones is a reflection on you, since just about everyone else is fully aware of it and has been for years. Bots doing the same thing falls loosely under that category as well although bots tend to use missiles.

2: Upgrading the NPC AI to fight more realistically and provide a higher level of challenge has been high on the list of things players want since EvE went gold. It was also pointed out that some player would object to the disruption of the near mindless ease of completing most lvl 4 missions, possibly spawning as a reply the very first in game use of the term "adapt or die".

3: There has been a fair amount of feedback from the dev's on the new NPC AI (especially concerning whole site aggro). They have stated from the start that they will be monitoring closely to see if fine tuning of aggression to drones, EW, Tackle, etc. will be necessary. So yes, constructive feedback on how to tweak the parameters is good... however mindlessly complaining about the whole system is just mental masturbati0n on your part.

4: Personally I prefer a single, segmented circle to reflect damage... but somehow that confused people. So now you have the current (still easy to comprehend) system we have now. As for damage starting on the left in each bar being disruptive to the eye, perhaps you need to be reminded that when you had 3 parallel bars to show damage you also had to track your eye back and forth, so saying that it is counter intuitive or disruptive is somewhat silly.

Same experience here, and I'm still struggling to understand why all the level 4 mission runners haven't read and understood the part in the dev blogs about how the AI will prefer targets of similar size. If you're solo in a BS, against frigs, and deploy drones, then the frigs will prefer to go after the drones. Me and a mate worked out that having a BS or BC and a fast active-tanked frig (like an Incursus) solves the drone-aggro problem almost outright - the NPC frigs will go after the guy in the frig instead of drones, frig pilot leads them on a merry chase, BS pilot deploys drones to go after NPC frigs and blaps the NPC mediums and larges with his [insert big guns of choice here]

Whoa. WHOA!!! Hold on there big guy.

All that stuff you mentioned requires actual thought.

It's not cool to expect other players to be able to do that (apparently).

Wait a minute, you mean that circle at the bottom of my screen that rapidly turns red is my own damage indicator?

I always figured it was a stop watch counting down the seconds until I inevitably die.

No nerf required. Now, drone boating is more on par with non-drone boating. I'm sure it did suck for you, having to actually work for your income that time around. The rest of us actually enjoy going at it without drones from time to time, some of us more than others.

All it means now is that you won't be using drones just because it makes the mission easier. You'll use what you use because that's what you enjoy using. I personally enjoy using a wide range of tactics, and change it up frequently. All combat ships are just as capable of completing missions as any other if you know what you're doing with them.

I think im out of troll juice for these dronewhine threads, imma run to the store for more. Yall want anything while im out?

ROFL where have you been, afk lvl 4's with drones is a well known issue. Thanks CCP for addressing it.

Sounds like whining to me.

There's a problem with the new NPC AI? Really? When I went ratting (in null) with my two characters, I found the regular Forsaken Hub grind a little tiny bit more interesting with these new changes. It didn't make the ISK making harder for me, anyhow, but I'm feeling a warm inner joy that the people who do missions in the safety of highsec are having troubles. It sounds like a small balance to that risk vs. reward thing!

Funny thing enough, my drones have been attacked much less if at all with the new AI changes. It has been a breeze not needing to recall one or two of them when a new wave spawns and starts shooting them. I use Garde II's.