Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Disclaimer for Trolls
Now I know there have been more threads about system security than there are people in Jita. Unfortunately most of them don't really get very far due to extremists thinking there either should be no high sec or that there should be no low-sec.

Regardless of this unfortunate statistical anomaly I'm going to try again to invoke a more constructive discussion about the current system.

The Dilemma
The current system as many (if not all of you) know is quite unrefined. Everything with a security status of >=0.5 is considered high sec, where engaging in criminal activity will summon an omnipotent police force to murder you; everything with a security status of higher than 0.0 but lower than 0.5 is considered "low-sec", where the use of certain modules and the placing of certain structures is prohibited, the gates and stations are protected by sentries who will fire the moment you engage in criminal activity, but there is no omnipotent police force.

And then there's null sec, which is anything with a security status of <=0.0, where "anything goes".

Now, regardless of where you are now in EVE (whether you're a carebear, lowbear or nullbear), almost everyone at some point had to deal with the psychological wall of going into low sec. As a relative newbie with little to no experience in the game the words "low-sec" struck fear into most of our poor hearts until one day (when we were either peer-pressured by our friends or just really drunk) made the jump into "WTFOMFGWHATISHAPPENING"-space.

However, there are people whom, for a multitude of reasons, never made this jump, or instantly jumped back. These people we, as a community, refer to as "carebears" (people who are afraid of risks).

Now, as most of us remember, it's really the sudden transistion that scared us. Going from relative safety to a place where most people just really want you dead.

The Concept
So, what is there to do about this? Well, making the risk curve more smooth seems like a good idea. The concept of high-sec and low-sec never really made sense to me anyway. Low-sec is not secure at all anymore.

I think it's psychologically way easier to transistion slowly. Nobody starts off drinking a bottle of scotch a day, you need to slowly get used to it. People can just go a sec status lower, confirm it's not THAT bad, and feel comfortable there, until they, eventually reach 0.1 sec.

Now the problem is, how to go about this? The system needs to make sure that no side (whether pirate or carebear) is really disadvantaged by the new system. I came up with one idea, but I think that the community as a whole, provided a constructive debate, can come up with a much better one. Regardless, here is my base idea.

The (possible and admittedly rough) Implementation
From now on, CONCORD operates everywhere except in null sec. The response time of CONCORD will be equalised across all sectors, to say 10-20 seconds. The STRENGTH of CONCORD however, will vary depending on security status. Ranging from instant-kill CONCORD in 1.0 to "just kinda annoying" in 0.1.

CONCORD would no longer function just as a punishment brigade, but rather as a sort of artificial help to someone who is being attacked. This also means that avoiding CONCORD is no longer punishable (atleast from a certain security status).

I also think that for this to work CONCORD should have a set spawn for each security system that they warp to the agressor. This also means that if there are two attacking parties, two of these spawns will warp in. In addition to this, CONCORD should also now have destructable ships (easier to destroy the lower the security status goes).

Now the problem is that there are a lot of details to be hammered out. Such as:

• How strong should CONCORD be at what security spaces?
• At what security spaces should CONCORD stop warp scrambling people?
• What to do with the security statusses of players?
• Should CONCORD respond more heavily or less heavily depending on how "outmatched" the non-agressor is?
• Is this even remotely a good idea to begin with?!

Let The Debate Begin
So, how do you think the system should change, if at all? Does the blurring of the lines between high and low sec improve the game? If so for whom in what situations? Or should we merely redefine when a system is low-sec or high sec? (for example should 0.5 be considered low sec?)

Or should we just abolish CONCORD as a whole and instead put in a sort of factional warfare mechanic, where players can enlist and protect "the innocent?". Or maybe just have a sort of unlimited-ranged Doomsday Device that, upon law breaking, removes the system security * 100% of the attacker's EHP?

Or should we just have a swarm of Fedoes attacking random people whom they think look suspicious?

Old debate is old. So is the idea.

Bottom line: Until we figure out WHY people stay in highsec (with actual data, not guessing or anecdotal evidence) we don't know how to fix it.

For me, it's usually because I play casually. Log in, do some stuff, log out. Nullsec prevents that; too often, you're required to CTA, or camped into system, and all that nullsec stuff. The result is that I can't log in and do what I feel like that day.

Risk/Reward has nothing to do with it.

What CCP is doing already is the right path- allow easier access to gameplay while in nullsec. Mobile Depots are a big thing for this. So are bubble-immune interceptors and the SOE cruiser. I think they could do more, like restructuring Lowsec (search some of my *very* old posts)**, but they're on the right track finally.

** - edit: like this one

ayem steyin owt ov dis wun

(<-------- risk averce cayrbere)

Like I said, improving this is hard, hence why it probably takes more than one person to come up with something that will work. I don't however think throwing one's hands up in the air and going "this **** is impossible to improve" is the right angle.

With regard to it being the wrong section, not really. It's a discussion about the state of low-sec vs high-sec, my idea was a mere example to start things off. As are the billions of other ideas in the final paragraph (some of which ofcourse absolutely bogus).

I didn't say it was impossible to improve, I said your suggestion won't improve it.

I like this thread.

I am going to counter with.

Why is it a problem if people want to stay in highsec, and how does it impact your game personally.

Oh it's not a problem that people want to stay in highsec. I am there currently aswell. It's a problem that a lot of people do want to go into low sec, but simply are afraid of the giant jump in risk that going there provides. I want to make it easier for people to transition into low-sec, but by no means do I wish to force them into things they do not want.

As for your question on how people staying in high-sec impacts my game personally:

• They provide loads of minerals which people turn into cheap ships and modules for me.
• They also tend to lose less ships, thus creating a lower demand for ships, again resulting in cheaper ships for me.
• They make the space I tend to stay in less lonely.

If you think pirates can't prevent people from doing anything at all in highsec, then you have been misinformed.

Perception is everything.

Lowsec dwellers will tell you that crossing the barrier from highsec to lowsec is easy. "All you have to do is create a second account and use a scout alt!" Yeah, because most highsec dwellers want to pay twice the subscription fee just to enter a more dangerous area of the game, get real.

The people you'll find in highsec are the more casual crowd, the single account holders, the ones who consider making any money in this game (seen by most gamers as extremely complicated) as an achievement.

You won't get those people into low as it is now. If you put all the big ISK ores, missions and other opportunities there, they won't go, even if you put slightly better security there, they still won't go because that isn't what they want out of the game. They don't want PvP, they don't want to lose their precious ships, and they don't want to be told what to do by some e-general, they just want to spend a few hours pretending they're a deep space miner and watch numbers increase.