Missions & Complexes

I was on a mission that contained 3 different pockets and while I was in the 2nd pocket, invited another player to Fleet. That player warped straight to me instead of being sent to the gate leading into the first pocket.

I didn't notice it due to being occupied with NPC's. After killing the NPC's, I bookmarked a can in that pocket and we then went into the 3rd pocket, cleared that and before leaving area to complete mission, I bookmarked one of the wrecks.

The Fleet member stayed in the last pocket and after I left the station, I selected 'Warp to can', expecting to end up at the Acceleration Gate leading into the first pocket. That never happened.

I ended up warping straight to the can in the 2nd pocket. I mentioned this to the Fleet member who was still sitting in the 3rd pocket. He decided to test it and again warped straight to me in the 2nd pocket. After I collected up the can, I then selected 'Warp to wreck' in the 3rd pocket. Instead of having to use the Acceleration Gate leading to the 3rd pocket, I was able to just warp straight to the wreck.

I don't know if this same situation pertains to exploration combat sites. It sure sounds like a bug to me.

If it's not a bug, then there's no reason to even have the gates. If this is a new Fleet feature, that would mean no more ship restrictions in mission areas. A Cruiser could access a cruiser class gate and then have Fleeted Battleships warp straight to him.

Gates that require a 'Key' would only work once, after that you could just warp in and out to a bookmark or Fleet member and bypass the locked gate.

Most importantly, Ninja's, Ganker's and WarDec's could scan and 'Hot Drop' right on top of you in that 3rd pocket without having to deal with ship class gate restrictions or traveling through the other pockets.

Anyone else notice this new development?

Would be nice to get a GM or Dev response too.

This happens in the level 4 mission, Dread Pirate Scarlet. You can zip in and out of pockets at will once you pass any gate.

Happened to me in the Dread Pirate mission I can confirm. Warped out from the third room, and then warped right back in with no gates.

well, this happened to me during an Epic Arc mission. So it seems this issue is more widespread than what most players think.

Whether the mission area allows use of MWD or not, that shouldn't matter.

The fact is if this is indeed a new feature, this makes the gates useless and in my opinion makes the game unbalanced and could be exploited. The whole idea of gates in NPC combat areas is to enforce ship class and or restrict amount of access.

Before they allowed mwd in deadspace, sites where you could warp directly are also the same ones where mwd work. Nowdays you couldn't tell.

Well, obviously it's an issue that many players don't know about. Maybe it's due to most players working missions solo which would explain the reason for lack of knowledge about this issue. I'll definitely be checking this on each and every area with Acceleration Gates.

As for MWD and Deadspace, I already know the game mechanics pertaining to it and that situation doesn't pertain to this matter. Just exactly when was it that you 'tested' this situation? I highly doubt it was done recently or even on a majority of combat areas with acceleration gates.

If you don't mind, I'll wait for other players to comment on this. I'm not going to accept your 'Word' that this is 'Working as intended'. Nor am I going to 'Bug Report' specific missions since this issue pertains to Acceleration Gates, not Deadspace, MWD's or certain mission areas.

The fact that mission specifics concerning ship class allowed and locked or restricted gate's can be bypassed is definitely an exploit. You may like the idea of players being able to bypass Acceleration Gates with a scan and 'Hot Drop' right on top of you but I'll bet the majority of the player base doesn't feel the same.

Again, I have no idea if this is working as intended, but you're ignoring the fact that this behavior HAS been seen before as a result of missions with acceleration gates NOT being deadspace areas. (deadspace being a term for w/e checkbox mission designers put in that produces the conditions I've described before, including the fixed warpin point)

It's not the accel gates that are bugged, it's the fact that the mission isn't in deadspace, which is why that is what you should be petitioning.

Of course I don't actually know the code, but this is based on prior experience with identical conditions I'd be 99% sure this is the case. If you would like to check every single gated mission you do, feel free - but I'd wager that you won't ever be able to reproduce this behavior on any mission that has deadspace characteristics (can't do on grid warps while in it, fixed warpin point), and that it's thus a problem with the mission not being deadspace rather than an issue with acceleration gates in general.

I'm not taking a stand on whether it's a bug or a feature - though if pressed I'd probably say it's a bug.

All I'm trying to tell you is that you *most likely* do not have to panic about this, as it's not an issue with acceleration gates in general but with certain missions not having the proper flagging. In either case, it's easy to test - once you use the accel gate try to warp back to the mission start from the first pocket, if the game lets you start warp, then it's bugged, if it doesn't, you're fine.

Let us know when you hear back from CCP.

This is not a bug. There are two different types of mission space, deadspace and normal.

Different missions are in different types of space. And when you accept the mission you can see what type of space it will be in in the mission bookmarks. It has a (deadspace) after the name.

Missions in deadspace always warp back to the entrance no matter if you add bookmarks inside the pockets. Normal space you only get the mission bookmark to the entrance but you can add new bookmarks to anywhere further in. As far as I know it has always been like this, and you still can't warp to anywhere but the entrance of a deadspace pocket.

Originally 'Deadspace' was an area that needed an Acceleration Gate leading into it due to warp inability. 'Normal space' was an open area location which allowed warp access and didn't have any Acceleration Gates leading into it. I understand the reason for having multiple 'Normal space' pockets being equipped with an Acceleration Gate, mainly to insure that the pocket is completed before advancing to the next stage of the mission.

Since MWD's can now be used in almost all mission areas, I guess they are now considered 'Normal space' even if it has an Acceleration Gate leading into it.

My main point is that the first ship in the area has to travel through each pocket via those Acceleration Gates while somebody else who has never been in that area can simply bypass those pockets, either by being fleeted or by scanning,.

I only just recently noticed that the Acceleration Gates could be bypassed which I explained in the OP. Since it was on a level 4 Epic Arc, obviously the mission allowed Battleships. I don't know if it's the same situation on lower level mission areas but I will check it.