Test Server Feedback

tl;dr:

"Go shoot a f&%$ing statue, pubbies." - CCP

After some testing today and after a bunch of trips down the electrified intestines of doom (the new jump scene)

1. I'm at a gate and dropped pinpoint probes. I can see my probes in space around me but on the map they are already centered at the sun. I don't want them centered there, if I had I would have dropped them there. Sometimes for PvP sake I need to drop probes where I'm at and quickly be ready to scan where I am (getting ready for incoming punt for a hostile fleet in warp to me but likely to land at a tac.) Now I have to move the probes back to me on the map. Bottom line the probes in the solar system map should show up where you deployed them from.

2. The whole scan thing replacing the DSP:
A) needs to populate the system scanner. Swinging the camera around to find where the various sigs and anoms is annoying, particularly as often you'll be having to avoid a camp or what not. The list the DSP provided was much more user friendly than these big diamonds in the sky. And I still have to hit the other scanner to get the list of anoms so I can do my dscan thing to find which one the null bear is in. So the windshield wiper provided me with little that was helpful. (particularly when dscan-ing using range reduction to narrow target location.

B) Ok, since I don't have a list I need to leave the thing running but having that big pixel windshield wiper thing running is distracting as hell, particularly while having to do other things in space. Fine have the windshield wiper run once but if you select to leave the overlay on just have the sigs show up in space without any further windshield wiper effects.

C) It doesn't show ships or structures! So this scanner is less useful than my DSP. A whole flight of Combat probes are too slow and likely to scare off the prey. I want to drop the DSP well away from 14 AU and get a good picture. DSP did the trick. Can't sort by distance for quick D-scan trick combined with DSP to get on a target quickly. Very sad.

3. I can't figure out how to put multiples of 4 probes out now. I can't launch 8 or singles? So I used to be able to have 4 combats out at very large covering most of system or DSPs(usually DSP's). But off grid/scan of most things. But I also had a set of 4 combats ready in tight formation that I could drop in close (turning off one set and switching to the others.) Can't do that now well since I have a 3-4 thing going that is very awkward. Moving and adjusting sets is really awkward now. Not sure if I'm just fat fingering this as I'm used to shift to size probes strength and alt for tighten/loosen the pack.

4. Once the windshield wiper shows me the sig, and I've scanned it down with probes at 100%, maybe the bracket in space should turn green too?

Overall, really don't see the scanner as a good replacement for the DSP, its distracting and the information if provides is not as consumable as the spread sheet.

I tested this yesterday (Probes still do expire), but it appears that the current scanner interface simply lacks the probe lifetime readout.



I feel like we just got "upgraded" to OSX from unix. I can't wait for the spinning colorwheel of doom.

I hate the fact that Havens/Hubs no longer show in the system scanner under scan results it makes bookmarking them or even just clicking them to warp to very very tedious, please change this back so they show up there again.

So i logged on again today to have a better look at the scanning.... things

Anomalies no longer appear on probe or on board scanner. Only way to access them is via this fancy new scanner. Furthermore, we only see the sig number (ABC-123) visually and we have to mouseover in order to know what kind of anomaly it is.

So... let me get this straight.. I am jumping into a wormhole with 20+ anomalies and... i am supposed to start looking around like a 10yr old with goggles to bookmark them? Then mouseover to tell the combat sites from the grav ladar... then look again to make sure i didn't miss any? Get serious ffs. Whoever designed this thing clearly doesn't play the same game as us

the current scanning system is better then the one on the test server i would gladly keep the current system of probing i really hope they do not force this on us like they did with the inventory system

probing now sucks big time with the new changes change it back pls

It has been said a thousand times, and I will say it again "The only thing we wanted was probe formations"

remove colors from background from site info in system scaner window, it is annoying for longer time, or make it custom

1)

From reading this thread and the other related threads, one of the main goals of odyssey's changes to exploration seems to be to make exploration more accessible. Considering how many explorers there are in hisec already, why is this a concern? Exploration is already quite accessible, so much so that players are competing and racing each other in sites. The only concern, really, is the disparate proportion of explorers active in certain areas compared to other areas. ie Guristas vs Sansha, or hisec vs lowsec. Or anything drone. DSP filtering is also a concern for many. Accessibility to the profession as a whole though is not.

Assuming this patch succeeds and actually makes exploration more accessible, I have doubts that increased accessibility will end up being a desirable outcome for anyone.

2)

There should be some learning curve associated with exploration, just as there is with any other profession in Eve. This is both a character learning curve, and a RL learning curve. Previous posters have mentioned this often referring to these changes as "dumbing exploration down" etc. Some dismiss this point, but it is actually an important consideration. Many of us have spent years exploring, and the idea that the changes are going to remove much of the need for our hard won knowledge and skill is insulting to many explorers. I think this has been made clear in other posts. However, its also important to new and would-be explorers, as EVE is a game about self accomplishment. Most of the player base takes satisfaction from learning what has historically been one of the most difficult MMORPGs to learn and succeed in. So while we appreciate your efforts to save our wrists by adding the option to launch 8 probes at once, or to use preset formations we also resent being forced to use game defined formations, and giving the uneducated instant access to those formations. I have horrible wrists and exploration is bad for them, but I do it anyway because it is fun and I enjoy the fact that I am good at it. I also remember long ago when it was hard and I was not good at it, and this furthers my satisfaction. I have seen so many games that don't understand that in order for something to be enjoyable, it must first be difficult. It is a point that EVE seemed to grasp so please don't lose sight of it now.

3)

As an explorer I don't remember the last time I actually looked at space. I am not in a car, looking out my windshield. Why would I do such a silly thing, when I have a z axis to contend with? Spaceship instrumentation's most basic function is to make complicated information presentable and usable. While there is nothing wrong with having sites show up in space if i happen to be looking at space, there is a very large problem with equating the new discovery scanner with the old list. There is a very large problem with forcing me to look at space. The two systems are not equal, and replacing the list with the new system would be a very negative change that fundamentally affects exploration.


In closing...

I think it's extremely important to remember current explorers and be careful the new system does not alienate them. Not only because I am one, but because it is an important way to approach design changes. Suddenly altering our shortcuts is just a silly move that will **** a lot of people off every time their muscle memory tells them to do what they've been doing for the last (3? 4?) years. The intent of these changes seems to display a bit of a lack of understanding about what much of the player base enjoys about eve. There are a lot of really good ideas and tools that will help explorers and add new life to exploration, but removing DSPs, removing the scanning list, inverting shortcut keys and invalidating everything about a system many have spent years perfecting is a better way to alienate existing explorers than it is a way to create new ones.

-Kyo