Missions & Complexes

I imagine that this thread won't last long being torn up by fanboys and mods however I too pay for this game. This gives me the same voice as the rest of you.


WHY THE NEW SITES SUCK

Please pardon the bluntness of the statement but in my experience if i do not lead with a blunt statement no one seems to care. I have lived in null-sec for several years now and have run many exploration and salvage sites. In comparison the new ones suck. There is too much chance in loss as well as lack of good products in these sites. I remember the first time i failed the mini-game twice and having the loot explode on me. At first i felt kind of bad because i thought i lost a lot of good loot. Then i thought well if they explode then there is a chance for a lot of good loot in the other ones. After running 6 sites i have decided it is better just to leave them alone all together. The mini-game is too hard for the quality and amount of loot you can acquire. I don't feel bad about watching the items explode anymore because chances are i didn't lose anything of value anyway.

WHY THIS DOES NOT FIT THE GAME PLAY

Eve is a game where most everything is taken care of by automated systems. There is no mini-game when building items. There is no mini-game when salvaging. There is no mini-game when shooting weapons or using other mods on your ship. So why is there a mini-game when using the analyzer mod? Has my ship lost the ability to crack the simple codes so now it has to bother the pilot? This whole mini-game system is a bad sign. I hope that CCP does not implement more of these for future mods and game play. I would hate to be in a large PVP fleet and not have my missiles launch because i can't seem to find the right circle to click on when playing the missile launching mini-game.

HOW TO FIX IT

When confronted with the statement "If something is not broken then don't fix it" CCP always replies with the same confused tone "Surely you jest". So i think that these fixes fit both CCP's demand to ruin what they had while still letting the game be enjoyable to play.

FIX 1

Remove the mini-game. Just doing this will improve the exploration sites to near enjoyable levels. If the sites needs challenges then add rats. Rats offer the chance for better loot, bounties, and the fact that you either need multiple ships to run a site or larger ships. If you need to make a site harder add stronger rats. If you need to make a site easier then add fewer rats. This fit is easy and has worked for 10 years.

FIX 2

Remove the confetti junk that flies off of the salvage container. I will admit that this process does bring the excitement of reaching for prizes as they fly around you. However, it is extremely annoying after the first time. By removing this and adding a random prize in a stable container players will have greater anticipation of what they will get verses jumping around trying to grab at prizes like a vagrant grabbing at money in the wind.

FIX 3

Reduce the spawn timer. Although players right now enjoy the fact that they can run these sites almost every 30 minutes their novelty will wear off. Players will not be dashing out of the station for something that will re-spawn in 30 minutes like they would for something that may spawn once a week. Especially if the sites only drop junk.

FIX 4 THE FINAL FIX

Increase the loot prize. By doing this you inspire people to want to run these sites. Granted everything in the new Exploration sites are usable in some way or another they are not valuable. I believe that the most valuable thing that i have received from these sites is 1 intact armor plate.


So in conclusion I believe that these new sites detract from the over all game play. I would expect something like this from a "play for free" MMO like world of tanks or Star trek online where they offer the game for free in hopes for some chance of redemption. I would hope that the Devs read this and see what they have done. Eve has never been a game of gimmicks but it is starting to become one.

I agree with the OP wholeheartedly and couldn't have said it any better.

+1.



DMC

Oh by the way i warped to one about an hour ago. It was the one with the monolith in it. The image it had was still the savager instead of the analyzer.

Soooo many of these posts, with soooo many people (granted, often a lot of the same faces) and yet Still not even a glimmer of acknowledgement from CCP that this all-singing all-dancing fuster-cluck of a new exploration expansion has taken some seriously wrong turns .......

Also agree with OP. And what makes his post worth the time to read is that he offers suggestions to fix the problem, rather than just whine and complain about things. Kinda weird, in a good way.

Most poeple I know seem to love it. Its relaxing, fairly easy once you get the hang of it, rewards good skills (my T2 analyzers are finally useful) and still has a bit of chance to it (I've hit 5 restoration nodes + 5 suppressors in a single can once, it was terrible luck). It can also be done in something as simple as a cov ops or a nullified T3, damn near removing any risk at all and making it much more appealing for nerds to head to null sec to test the waters.



Yeah that stuff is dumb as ****. Like anyone else with half a brain I scan the can first to determine what containers to grab but that is still an awful loot mechanic.



Not really sure what you're referring to here.



Hacking sites were never meant to be as appealing isk wise as combat sites, where the real juicy stuff is. You also have to remember that the npc risk is far reduced with these sites (removed for most, sleepers and gas sites are the exceptions), as is pvp risk. You can simply keep the cans at range and cloak up if someone comes in local or whatever. Risk vs. reward, etc.

It should also be noted that both relic and data sites have the potential to drop faction towers and tower modules. These items seem to have a fairly low drop rate and I imagine will continue to sell for decent prices. Something to look forward to for any hacking explorer.

I tried to use my analyzer mod while cloaked and it said that the cloaking interfered with the way the mod worked. Kind of ironic considering that the mod really doesn't do anything.

Well the mini-game does have ALOT of potential to expand and become interesting. And the Devs already have this stuff planned out. Why they didn't implement it in the initial rollout and instead gave us this watered-down brain-dead crapfest, I have no idea. When it was released this on Sisi for testing, we pointed out to CCP in the strongest of terms that the minigame needed some work. They opted to ignore us. Go figure.

Yup. Except somebody in CCP got real attached to the idea for some bizarre reason. So it's gonna take a long while for them to realize that loot bukkake was a shiite idea. It might require the concept being expanded to wreck salvaging/looting in order for there to be enough outrage and negative feedback for them to get a clue. Granted it's not difficult to work around the spew once you figure the gimmick out. But it doesn't really add anything positive to the game. It's not like it can really be expanded on. Only thing that can be done is to add trinkets/goodies to the current "garbage cans" (Equipment & Scrap) so that we have to choose what to go after. But that's not much of an iteration on what we already got.

The problem is that the mini-game does not fit the flow of Eve. It doesn't even resemble any of the past game play experiences. Adding new content is not bad, adding new bad content is bad. The whole mini-game concept is a bad omen all together. Like i had said in my previous posts these mini-games are good for free to play games and cell phone games. Eve is a much better game than that. If they wanted to do something they should have made it skill related not luck related. It may be an elitist view but i think that eve players are better than the other MMORPG players out there. This is by far a harder game to play requiring more intelligence and more skill. The mini-games are a slap in the face saying that the Devs don't believe that statement is true and that they don't believe in the players. They think we are all dumb WoW players or something. We are better than that; we should demand better than that.



Yes, but far less effective. To gripe with out offering solutions to the problem shows that you never really put any thought into the situation and invalidates your claims.

The hacking game is just so much better than the click and wait rubbish you had before. I remember when I first started playing I thought that hacking sounded like it could be fun only to find you literally just click on a can then sit there for 40s, say, waiting for a normal loot window to open. If you want to talk about awful game mechanics then click and wait has got to be top of the list.

Whilst I like the mini-game addition I'm not fond of the loot spew. I'm mostly ambivalent now I carry a cargo scanner but definitely not a fan.

I think my biggest gripe, at the moment, is that data and relic sites are literally identical. They need to roll them into one site type or at least differentiate the sites and mini-games. However I think this will become a moot point since the only item that makes the sites worth running (at least in high sec) are the decryptors which will soon be worthless.