EVE General Discussion

I can see no harm in solo playing. It's MMO sandbox so they contribute to the game anyway, though in their own way.

I started playing in September 2012 and have been solo the whole time. Yes, I am still in an NPC corp. Am I a loser for it? I don't think so though I am sure a lot of you do. It is what it is.

I've played other games with corps and found I did not have the time or inclination to work with the corps, nor did I care for the drama. So, I log in to EvE and do whatever I feel like or have time to do - run missions, mine, explore - whatever. It works for me. If I see a fleet formed and fighting another, I may or may not jump in and help out. If I see a miner in the middle of getting jumped by either PvE or PvP and I think I have a chance, I'll jump in and help out.

However, unlike some I have read on these forums, I begrudge nearly no one for the way they choose to play EvE. Some people like roaming in groups, some don't. Some like PvP, some like PvE. Still others just like to mine or explore in peace and not fire a shot. EvE accommodates all those play styles. I like that.

About the only "play style" I begrudge is gate camping. No matter what game you play, sitting on spawn points surprising players before they can react is just a cheap and easy kill. But, even then, there are those who do the same in real life so I just see it as a hazard to either avoid or try to work around.

I would like to see some changes to the difficulty levels, though. In anything above 0.5 space the NPC "attacks" are little more than annoyances. Any player who chose to put $100 into PLEX can easily deal with anything hisec can throw at you. Having more than 3 or 4 frigates thrown at you every few minutes while mining would make life in hisec much more interesting. But, I think the so-called carebears would SCREAM. I'd see it as an opportunity for PvE players to patrol asteroid belts keeping carebears safe and snug.

I also think, though, that the transition from 0.5 space to 0.4 is too drastic. When I started I figured that being in 1.0 space would be like living in a super-safe part of the city or suburbs while getting down into 0.1 space is more like the most dangerous parts of the inner city. Anything 0.0 or below is just the wild, lawless frontier. I'd like to see CONCORD all the way down to 0.1 but its force size and response time would be such that clever players would easily get away with their "crime". I guess you could look at it as in 1.0 space, it is a 100% certainty you will pay for a crime while in 0.1 you have a 90% chance you'd get away with it. Raise the difficulty in hisec while adjusting it in lowsec would make a more logical progression.

I also like the way they're going to change the mining yields in Odyssey. As it is, there isn't much incentive to venture into lowsec or nullsec space. I like the idea that the best yields and ISK-making potential should exist in lowsec and nullsec. Risk=

With regards to solo vs group play and how things like the new exploration model benefits a group, well, isn't that how it is in real life? Doing something in a group is generally better/easier but you have to divide up the spoils. If I want to stay solo, I'll just figure out how to make the best out of the new loot drop mechanic.

I don't feel penalized by my game play nor do I think that group players necessarily have any unrealistic advantages. Yeah, a group ganking me will pop and pod me easily. But, they have to divide up the loot. Less each in return for an easier kill. If I get jumped by a group, I expect to get popped and podded, but I will take as many of them with me to the clone tanks as I can. It's all part of the game.

+1

I like your post but there are a couple of points I'd like to come back on. The first is the above comment about gate camping. It is a valid tactic for protecting or locking down a system or just getting kills but there are many ways to combat gate camping that calling it 'cheap easy kills' or comparing it to spawn camping in a FPS is not entirely accurate.

• The EVE in game map tells you about jumps/pilots/kills/podding in the last hour, it can help you avoid many camps.
• You can plan routes to avoid common entry points to lawless space. It's often the obvious ones that are camped.
• You can use sites like zkillboard and dotlan for intel
• You can use the cloak+wmd trick to avoid all but the most well put together high-war/low sec camps.
• You can crash the gate and jump back through - though I don't claim this to be a failsafe gate camp exist strategy
• Certain ships (covops, T3+cloak+interdictionnulli) are designed to pass gatecamps more easily
• You can scout yourself in an interceptor to look for camps and return in a different ship, character or account
• You can fit a bunch of warp core stabilisers (high-war/low sec)
• You can bring a bigger force and bait-kill the camp.

Gate camping itself is actually a very risky business. If you sit still agressing every solo ship that comes through a gate at will thenyou open yourself up for getting hot-dropped by a larger entity. Even PL with their mass of low-sec smartbombing Titans actually lost one because people saw it as an opportunity. (http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12761765).

Gate camping is by no means an easy-win option.



I don't agree with CONCORD to 0.1 but you have raised an interesting point. There is somewhat of a hard line between 0.5 and 0.4. Part of this is by design to help players clearly see where they can be attacked without concord intervention. Of course there are other factors like the response time of CONCORD dropping from 1.0>0.5 and the reduction of sentry guns from 0.4>0.1.

Making 0.4 'safer' would disaffect one group of people whereas making 0.5 more 'dangerous' would disaffect another. I'm not sure what could realistically be done. Lower CONCORD response time in 0.5 even further and increase sentry guns in 0.4 more? I dunno, you'd really have too look very carefully at the map and how systems are used before making that kind of change.

Play the way you want to.

Just always bear in mind that in this MMO, basically anything goes.

Anything else said about solo play is just smoke and mirrors. Play the way you want to in this game, just remember there are many people in the game who do not think the way you do and will go out of their way to convince you that you are "doing it wrong".

All I can share with you is that from my experience, solo play is nowhere near as enjoyable as being in a group of like-minded players. The game becomes so much better, so much more interactive and exciting.

My 2c worth o/

I know there are tactical reasons for gate camping, but for the most part no matter what game you play it is usually players farming PvP. They're carebearing in their own, violent way. But, it is what it is. :)

I have figured out ways around the gate camps, whether it be avoiding some gates at some times altogether or finding ways to sneak past the campers and have a FOB behind the camped systems. Once through the gateway systems from hisec to lowsec, there isn't too much to worry about when it comes to gate camps.



I am not sure I got what was in my head up on the screen quite the way I wanted. If you look at how it would work in real life (ugh), a police force in a bad area would have protection zones - their own offices, businesses and entry/exit points. Around stations would be pretty safe as should stargates but if you want to go to the asteroid fields and mine the best you should hope for is that the guy who just popped you will have a repair bill courtesy of CONCORD.

It is definitely a hard line between 0.5 and 0.4. Its practically a different game to newer players like myself. It wasn't until I figured out the benefits of a Covert Ops ship that I was able to learn how to avoid gate campers. Thanks to that nifty little cloak I figured out a lot.

I haven't explored everywhere nor have I been playing long enough to have the full understanding that most players have, but that hard line at 0.4 doesn't make much sense considering that security levels go well below 0.0. Maybe its my OCD talking, but that hard line should be between 0.0 and -0.1, shouldn't it? I mean, you see lowsec/nullsec folks sometimes complain about those areas being deserted. Maybe the increased value of the ores in those areas will encourage players into low and null space. But, I can tell you, that up until the point where I could start to use a Covert Ops cloak, I figured that, as a solo player, space below 0.5 would be a place I'd never see. I am sure that sentiment is shared by a lot of newer players. I am sure some are dissuaded by this and never get to the point I reached to figure out how to enjoy all of New Eden.

Again, the game is what it is. If CCP wants to make the security progression smoother and more logical, great. Especially if it works. But, if the game stays as is, no problem there either. I'll adapt and figure it out.

None of that was what I said lol.

Yeah, hisec corps are generally one of those elements that don't make sense. A lot of cost or potential cost with little or often no benefit.

Without a gameplay benefit to membership, the state of hisec corps are not a surprise, nor are people's generally negative responses to them.

Something we can actually agree on. Hi-sec corps as a means to get players to interact is quite useless.

The only good thing that comes out of hi-sec corps is usually corp theft and awoxing.

A descent way to play this game solo is to join a large corporation/alliance with your own agenda in mind. Play it out well so they lose they whole sovereignty space over night and in the mess that comes you goes out as rich as a bee.

So what's wrong with playing this game solo?