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I wanted to add my own feelings about the new AI here, even though a few people have mentioned it.
I like the new idea of a challenging AI, and from my experience it's been really awesome at times, having to be more coordinated with my friend whom I'm usually running with, broadcasting targets more often and incorporating some fleet tactics and need for communication into PvE.

However things feel way unbalanced to the point where it randomly goes from challenging fun to, "wtf are we supposed to do with this?" levels. Drones being vaporized so quickly, E-War being insane at times, definitely issues. My biggest problem is the way and rate at which enemies switch targets to other ships.

I've never been much about maxing the efficiency of Isk/hour, however I can of enjoyed how before you could use teamwork to still get nice results out of less optimized or a just diverse fits, granted the AI was boring. Now however, it feels like so many builds are just cut out, because anything that enters a combat zone needs to be able to potentially tank everything that could possibly engage you at once. I'm not talking about the full room aggro bug, but certain sites where there is just large groups of BS BCs and other ships, which can collectively melt anything but the tankiest ships with combined firepower.

Usually previously, I'd run a tanky fit with a friend supporting with DPS, now however, even with a more survivable build, because my friend doesn't have an Ultra-Tank, he gets burned up because randomly, every single ship that was engaging me, switches over to him all at once. There's no in-between or incremental uptick in challenge, its just BOOM, alpha strike time.

Try not to take this as a BAAAW post or whatever, because I could care less about max isk per hour, and yes, there are still ways we can adapt, but I just feel there was a lot of potential for fun, the main reason I play eve, that was missed in this switch from one extreme to the other.

What it could of been:
If there was more balance to the way AI switched targets, more intelligence and more rationality, It would open the doors for more advanced tactics and teamwork being the solution that wins the day. For example, if only some smaller portion of NPCs switched targets at a time, it would keep the non tanky player from being forced to immediately leave, instead causing us to have to switch up our methods and deal with those switching targets. Or if it was specific like, dealing damage to a ship gets that specific ship's attention, so we could say, have a tactic of having one player slapping around some of the ships at random to grab and keep their attention, or just keeping us a bit more on our toes about target priorities.

As it currently stands, I was in one site, tanking the room, then joined by my friend who immediately drew the entire aggro of everybody in the room engaged with me, regardless of if I had already destroyed some of their buddies, laid out more damage or was the bigger more threatening target. It turned into deal 5 seconds of damage, warp out, repair, warp in, repeat, because time after time, they would give him no more than 10 seconds of presence before switching to him.

It's just exhausting in the same way it was before, being dull and boring due to the overpredicatability of what they'd do (immediately pick on the weakest ship they could). There's a sweet spot here that lies in between these two extremes that I think could still be hit with the right amount of balance.

****
Not to mention, some of my best memories in this game are of doing tough encounters with mixed groups of people being helped by some tankier more experienced players, with some of the less experienced ones, like myself in the past, still finding ways to contribute. Now that just doesn't seem possible at all, and it's kind of depressing, not because I'm losing money, but because I'm missing out on enjoyable experiences I could be having with other people.

Keyword here is "previously". Don't you think you should also change your tactics when AI changes?

Did CCP take chances to the Faction spawns in Belts,dont see any spawn since Retribution ???

+1, nothing to add.

What makes you think your diaper-changing, AFK playing is the pulse of customers? What if most players actually desire for an engaging and challenging experience for their money? You know, not all the people can afford to spend time on yawn-inducing, boring PVE. We have jobs and families, and when we have time to log on, we want to be entertained. This is why most people prefer to play with others, against others, and enjoy the thrill of PVP.

This is a sandbox MMO, where the majority of content is provided by players, to other players.

However, we also need to make ISK, and not everybody is market- or industry oriented, and these people need PVE to generate income. Do you understand how demotivating the old challenge-free grind is to these people?

Why not cater to audience and turn PVE into entertainment as well. Give the majority something to chew on, work on new tactics and fits, and shape NPC killing into something interesting instead of just F1, sleep, receive bounty.

but then that requires ISK and getting to lvl4 missions takes most of the ISK you can make then you have to grind your ass off in lvl3's to get the isk together to get a half decent ship then once your in lvl4's its scram, web, neut war drop out your drones and everything goes ape pull your drones back in before they one pop them then all the aggro it directed at you and your a smear in space.

suppose you could go down the route of buying plex to fund your ships and then you still lose your ship at some point and all the money you invested but hey got to keep feeding CCP your cash and time.

Now think of all those people that grinded there ass off or spent real money to buy there ship's(lol) and then got booted in the teeth with the new patch.

So, um... I've been playing around more since my last post, and just lately I decided "I'm gonna run a L2 mission for ***** and giggles; it's been a while since I chilled out with my Cruiser, and now that I have 15,000,000 SP, I wanna see how fast I kill ****."

So I'm lucky enough to get the L2 "The Blockade". It was always hard, but hell, I could handle the L3 and 4 versions no problem, let's have some fun... Right?

Okay CCP, I'm not going to mix words with you:

Who in the blue hell thought it was a good idea to make Tracking Disruptors the most ungodly overpowered thing in the world? When I can't hit a cruiser in an L2 mission at 0.001 Transversal with Pulse Lasers and a Tracking Enhancer because of Tracking Disruptors, you've ****** up. Could anyone tell me how a lower SP pilot would have any snowball's chance in hell of completing this mission? I ache for the 2 or 3mil SP pilots who get this mission, or any other mission lucky enough to have Tracking Disruptors in them, because they're going to lose interest real fast, and there's nothing they can do about it.

Of course, I'm not stupid, and I did sick all 5 of my T2 Hobgoblins on the Tracking Disruptors... Nearly lost two of them, because they all decided to shift aggro to one drone and beat the everliving out of it.

I love your game, CCP, but WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I wish I was exaggerating about missing my shots at 0.001 transversal with pulse lasers and a tracking enhancer, but I couldn't make that up! I'm sitting here in awe at my flying-wild blind shots while my drones chip away at the perpetrators. This is evil, man!

As an aside, I have 9mil bounty now, too, because... Well just because, actually. Someone put bounty on me because I was chatting with him in Local. I'm not upset, but I feel I need to ask: Doesn't the new bounty system kind of detract from the whole "bounty hunting" theme? It seems every two pilots I pass have bounty on them now, and 90% of them have security status greater than 1.0. It's kind of... stupid.

I have this awesome idea for a parody of the Retribution Trailer, where "Vic" is actually a newbie mission-runner, or Miner, or something otherwise completely non-threatening, and his heinous crime was looking funny at some guy with a huge chin, so chin-man puts 80 million bounty on Vic's head and he spends the rest of the episode getting destroyed every time he leaves the station. It's pretty funny in my head.

On a lighter note, I actually am really starting to miss my old weapon sounds. All railguns sound identical, all blasters sound identical, I'm sad about my laser sounds, too. :(

And so I don't look like a complete QQing baby (though we've already passed that point I guess), I really am digging the targeting system. I know exactly when my drones are in danger when the giant red circle shrinks or goes away. Oh, also, I don't know if this was during Retribution or prior to it, but the Reactive Armor Hardeners? Best thing ever. I'm carrying one on my BS from now on.

PLEX price still dropping. Bounty system working as intended. I for one am enjoying selling my KR's. It's like drinking my morning coffee - a warm spreading glow of satisfaction in finding LoSec waking up to the fact that KR's may come back to haunt them.

Where ??? Still 580m where i bought Plex one month earlier but was six month earlier just 480m ISK.

Here's a scratch and sniff, here's the pool go jump in and amuse yourself.