Test Server Feedback

Hey everyone. Team Five-0 has been working hard since Retribution to get changes for these two issues ready to go.

The good news is that we've got some changes implemented and they just need some more testing before release. We're opening the Duality test server up with both of these changes live and ready to go so that you all can take a look over the weekend and let us know if anything breaks for you.

Information on how to set up Duality can be found at: http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Duality

You can use this thread for feedback and I'll collect it and get it to the rest of the team.

Can you confirm the exact nature of the drone changes (the safety one is obvious) Im assuming you've worked so they no longer get hammered on launch, and the bug where if we dock them up, and launch them again they seem to get less aggression?

I assume the way Sleepers act against drones - preferring to hit player ships but going after drones too if there's o

They should be on there now. Duality may have other bugs here and there, we asked for it to be opened up with somewhat late notice.

Diff with full list of affected NPC ships (and one poor Dual Giga Modal Laser): http://pastebin.com/hRzpMKWe

Attributes description:
AI_TankingModifierDrone - "Tanking modifier applied to drones. 1.0 is no modifier"
AI_IgnoreDronesBelowSignatureRadius - "NPC'S with this attribute wont shoot drones with signature radius less than this value"

So, if I understand new changes correctly, NPC frigates now will attack only small drones, [battle]cruisers only medium and small, battleships only heavies, sentries and fighters.
"Tank modifier" thing needs to be explained though. Drones will deal less damage NPC will tank better against damage incoming from drones?

Here is a concept.

You had 30 some odd pages of people screaming this was a disaster weeks before you rolled it out.
I was one of them screaming the loudest and longest.

Weeks before Retribution went live You even warped into my of missions while I was on Duality.
You opened up a private convo with me and I gave you both barrels about this incredibly bad decision to implement this.

Yet, you chose to listen to all the people that said "oh, this new game mechanic is awesome, it is just bad players".
Those people have been proven to either be be very very wrong, or they were simply lying to you.

So who about this:

ROKLBACK THE CHANGES COMPLETELY, SPEND SEVERAL WEEKS HAVING MULTIPLE PEOPLE WITHIN CCP TEST THIS OVER MANY WEEKS, MANY MISSIONS, MANY PLEXES, AND IGNORE ANY COMMENTS FROM PLAYERS, AS MANY CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

Otherwise, we will repeat the same cycle repeat.
People who hate mission runners will simply post "I tested it, and the changes are awesome. Running drones is too easy now." without even having logged onto Duality, and you will blithely roll out these modifications, regardless of if they solve anything or not.

And as for the canard "CCP does not have the resources to run hundreds of missions and plexes", when you are implementing a mechanic that has such far reaching implications for the game, you damn well should find the resources.
You would NEVER roll something out that affected moon goo like ring mining with such a cavalier attitude, but it is OK to wipe out high sec mission runners.

But this suggestion will fall on deaf ears.
It is human nature to discount facts that run counter to one's belief system, while giving credence to propaganda that reinforces those beliefs. You just have to follow any political race to witness that.

You seriously believe CCP will answer?
It took them 10 days to announce changes to this mess, and they have yet to acknowledge there was a problem in the first place.

The best part of this tanking modifier, if it is implemented as you described, is it is yet another major nerf to mission income.
Imagine someone saying, "I used to take out a Serp cruiser in 10 seconds with my Ogre II's, but now it takes 20 seconds, and I am making maybe 60% per tick compared to what I did pre-Retribution". That is so easy for the null sec zealots to simply say "you are lying, my income is untouched", and there is no way for the mission runner to prove otherwise.

Instead of questioning CCP's motives and such about the change, why not test it out first? When i logged on, there were 3 people online. It's great to cry and whine about CCP not doing anything, but then when they ask for help, you just go "oh, they're not going to listen anyways ..." then if nothing is changed, you'll gloat about being right.

If CCP actually wanted to leave things as they were, they wouldn't have pushed this to Duality to have people test it.

Since this is a patch to address drones being wiped out by NPCs, it's just as likely that it is some sort of factor that nerfs NPC damage when shooting any target that is a drone.

Right...sure, no nerf to mission income.
Yes, all those people that were screaming on the GD forums before CCP shut down the threads, they were imagining the hit to income.

I have to stop replying to troll posts. It is killing me.