EVE General Discussion

I smiled a little bit when I read that.

I'm actually having a hella good time running them in my Sleipnir on one of my mains... Haven't taken out the Tengu in over a month (considering getting rid of it). Different weps require different tactics, and the "launch and watch" approach of HMLs and HAMs were getting old even before the Tengu nerf (read: HML nerf).

Also just started using a Navy Mega, and picked up a Proteus to play with. Still prefer the Ferox (L5 BC rocks!) over the Proteus, but still...

It is lowsec so any premium is well motivated. And secondly, this mechanic was designed to give PvP focused pilots in FW an income and it seems to do a decent job at that. But as most things it can be abused by farmers (like yourself). However, they also provide a very good PvP opportunity if you rather be at your computer while playing EVE.

Sorry, but I gotta disagree with you on every single point.

There shouldn't be a premium on it because it's low-sec for a number of reasons. For one, this can be done with a brand new character just days old. In fact, most farming alts are exactly that - new characters with frig skills just high enough to take out a single frig/destroyer protecting the novice/small plex.

Secondly, risk vs reward is not maintained. What do you risk? A crap-fit T1 frigate worth 1 mil? And the reward is 2 million ISK/min? That's grossly out of whack. Further, the button was changed, so that the radius from which you can run it down is 30km, so you can conceivably be 50+ km from the warp-in beacon. Which is more than enough time to ditch if you are even remotely awake while plexing. So, what risk is there?

I also contend that the system is not being exploited, but rather is working as intended. After all, this was tested for months on the test server. Surely CCP wouldn't have released something so obviously broken, unless they intended it? They just recently changed plexes so that instead of a bunch of NPCs you had to speedtank, now you just have one NPC that crumbles in seconds. So, if anything, it's even easier to farm now.

Most of this stuff was introduced this past expansion. In other words, CCP wanted it to be done this way. And this is after months of testing on the test server. But in the meantime, they nerf L4s, even though you risk a battleship (usually with good mods), and the amount of NPCs did not increase one iota, and payout is lower (or at least comparable)? Doesn't make sense. If they didn't want people making ISK quickly and easier, they wouldn't have changed FW to quicker and easier farming. Not to mention they left FW missions unchanged (Minmatar ones are still soloable in a stealth bomber), which produces mad LP/hr.

You could argue that there's logistics involved with getting the stuff out of low sec, but even that doesn't apply. For example, Minmatar LP can be redeemed in the TLF station right in Hek (major Minmatar trading hub in high sec). So, where's the risk?

In other words, I'm sorry, but I still don't get all the rage at AFK missioning L4s in high-sec. There's other, newer farming methods that provide just as much (or way more) ISK with a lot less risk (crap fit T1 frigate). Just doesn't make sense to me. Seems more like a direct attack on drone users and high-seccers for no apparent reason.

have had that happen, although years ago, was VERY annoying to have to ask randoms for help against an enemy i could tank with no effort at all, and a couple of tiny frigs i had no hope of hitting, had me warp scrambled

wasted the entire pocket of everything, to the point those scrambler interceptors were the only thing left, and they couldnt get my shields passive regen down.. on an armor tank ship..

and yet i was stuck, no hope of escape..


also i seem to have missed a point, what do cap stable fits have to do with that if i have heavy drones catch aggro and they are not close to me, i will not be getting them all back(9m sp in drones)
it used to be just one or two npcs switching to drones, which made rescue possible, now, i have entire aggro groups switch to one drone suddenly

regular, predictable, unavoidable, drone replacements are annoying.. how would NOT being cap stable fix that problem?

it's easy to be prepared, dont JUST train drones, also train for a missile boat, for missions
ships like the raven have always been good for missions, although imo not that fun..
personally i love drones, but ccp clearly love missiles, so it's a safe bet missiles will never get truly messed up, keep those missile skills up, it's a good backup plan


actually that can be said with all of eve, always have a backup plan.. for everything

Let's put it into another context and see if you can understand.

You love Chevy and have bought nothing but Chevy all your life. But one day they get a new CEO who decides Chey is going to build environmentally friendy cars and to heck with what the customers want! So they switch over and build only electric cars that can do a maximum of 55 mph. You decide to hell with them since they don't make a car you'd be willing to drive!

Same identical thing. You've dwelt with a company, you like their products, but one day they stop listening to customers and decide what the customer needs is more important than what they want. So, you vote with your feet and stop buying their products.

This is a sandbox that you are free to play any way you want - right? Well, someone forgot to tell CCP that detail. They've decided that after giving you a weapon system that works a certain way, you're now to scrap your time investment and go to a different weapon system. Whether that is stationary sentry drones or missiles, makes no difference. CCP knows best as to what you need! So nothing but 55 mph electric cars for you! (Hear the sound of feet marching into the distance?)

Because some day you're going to be just as angry about some decision CCP makes that affects your game style. When that day comes you'll be screaming and someone else will say...

So it's a boost to one drone boat, because it got hit softer than those with smaller drone bays, and sentries getting hit less overall?
As opposed to pre-patch sentries not getting hit at all, unless a new wave spawns?

I suppose that is one way to look at it...

The problem with your "modifying the difficulty" argument is that only a relatively small subset of people is affected. Namely drone boat users. The change didn't really affect solo pilots of non-drone boats much, if at all.

Now, you could argue that drones were overpowered, and this change brings drone boats in line with other boats. But that is demonstrably false as drone boats were never as ISK/hr efficient as other ships. When asked what is the optimal L4 boat, virtually nobody would give you a drone boat as the answer.

So, what does that mean? It means the situation is unbalanced. As drone boats, which were suboptimal to begin with, ended up being further needlessly complicated in their use. And unbalanced is bad. And bad is...well...bad!

See the problem yet?

I also question your belief that this somehow leads to a "better future". Current new AI isn't better in any way, shape or form. Many/most solo pilots are completely unaffected by this change. How is that better? Someone running an L4 in a Tengu will see virtually zero difference. While someone in a drone boat will be pressing considerably more buttons and doing considerably more micromanagement. And these actions are not challenging OR entertaining. It's just busywork. So, how is that better? It's like forcing people to repeatedly mash W when they want to have their character walk forward, instead of allowing them to hold down the W key. Can you see anyone in their right mind calling that better?

Overall, I just don't see it. And for the record, I spend 99% of my time in FW right now, so the AI change doesn't really affect me at all. So I don't have a pony in this race. It was just a dumb thing for CCP to do.