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This is what happened last time CCP tried to 'stimulate conflict' (using the same "nerf things till people fight" thinking as displayed with the current changes).



This is why CCP should always work to provide more tools rather than thinking they can nerf-herd people in a desired direction.

Here's a history lesson for you...GF, Dreddit, and BNI. These entities drive content in the game and rely heavily on newbies. All of them have intense newbie training systems and resources. Would you like to compare retention rates for those guys vs the people who learn eve via the tutorial? I think you'd be surprised. You could be shooting red crosses and running npc courier missions your first week or you could be locking down gates for massive fleet fights with dudes giving you isk showers. I think everyone knows which one of those is actually fun and rewarding.

CCP Grayscale,

Congratulations. You've kept a level head and even a sense of humor amid a tidal wave of feedback/rage. Keep it up.

I won't pretend to have my head really wrapped around how the changes will shake up the sandbox, but I totally agree that drastic measures were in order.

I do wonder, though, if totally nerfing/redefining 4 major areas all at once is a proportionate response to the serious problem of Capital Force Projection.

1) Maximum Jump Distance to 5LY
2) Introducing Jump Fatigue
3) Obliterating Death Cloning (with a generous work around for newbros)
4) Nerfing Jump Bridges/Portals

Taken in isolation, I see the logic behind each. Their cumulative effect, however, is less nerfing of Capital Force Projection but rather full-on castration.

In the debut episode of o7 you posit that the rationale behind these changes are (and this is just my hasty transcription from the YouTube link) that you "want to constrain use of jump drives and jump portals for long range while not ... " (the audio was indistinct, I tried to parse it out 5-6 times) and just previously had you stated that 'We are happy with how Jump Drives work in a small area, but for long-distance travel" it's a problem that you mean to fix - forgive my rough paraphrase.

So if your main motive is to stop long-distance force projection (and the resulting server-killing mega battles and stagnation through fear of hot-dropping that strangles nullsec presently) then I see how point 3 (from my points listed above) closes a loophole. I see how point 4 and 2 really shift a focus toward thinking regionally, making it very difficult or impractical to be responsible for the security of multiple regions. I'm sure I'll grr at Jump Fatigue at one point or another, but I see how it's necessary.

My greatest concern is point 1 - the 5LY max. If you're 'happy with how jump drives work in a small area' (I interpret that as a single region, correct me if I'm wrong) then why is it necessary to nerf jump distances so dramatically; it seems a JDC 5 Dread will have 40% of it's former LY jump capability for a single jump)? What if we only had points 2, 3, and 4? I think your goal of stopping long-distance force projection would still be met, but life within a region or for logistic wings of Alliances would not receive a needless quality-of-life nerf. I have 3-4 capital characters, and I've invested a great deal in them and training because of their utility and versatility, yet I fear in the name of stymying power projection, you'll make capital ships, a major end game goal of many players, too weak.The capacity to jump around a region doesn't seem over powered, if granted in conjunction with points 2, 3 and 4. Rather nerfing/castrating all 4 at once seems disproportional.

The counterbalance offered to the 4-point projection nerfing/castrating is the capability to use gates. Surely you've noted how BS/BC fleet useage has already plummeted owing to just how tedius and slow and mind-numbing they've become with the warp speed changes. Those changes were good, on the whole, but if your alternative to jump range, even for intra-Region local work, is to use gates, please take note how tedius and terrible that would be. I feel BS/BCs have already been severely damaged by the tedium of warping them around, that's not a tenable solution for the mainstay transport of Capitals.

TL:DR Capital Projection is OP and needs balancing, but nerfing it 4 ways at once is disproportional to the problem, which can be solved by implementing 3 of the 4 steps.

This change lays the groundwork for player owned jump gates going in to correct the downsides that this creates. You can't "fix what is broken" if it isn't broken first. So they're taking the step of breaking it now. Sure it will be painful for all of us in the short term, but think bigger picture and it can only be a positive thing. I've seen other games push massive nerfs live that without them many other things they later added simply wouldn't have been possible.

You and Gospadin must be reading a different thread from what I'm reading, because from where I'm standing we asked for a way to get newbies to our space, and we got it. So we're happy.

No political play or no attempt to "not nerf power projection".

Oh... this will be bigger. This is the biggest game changer since I started playing in '06.

Edit: Correction - Forgot about warp to zero... the end of regional g2g bookmarks

Once it hits page 209, then it will also have bypassed the removal of ghost training 208 page threadnaught.

Come to think of it, a lot of people unsubbed over that as well. But CCP didn't back down from it.

Agreed -- this would lock off Fountain extremely well and make it nigh-impregnable. Meanwhile, our logistics routes work without it.

Spies, Scouts, Afk cloaky alts in transit systems... that is all intelligence, and regardless of whether using a gate or a jump drive, people will know when you are moving. You and your group will have to be more conscious of what you are doing when you decide to move. Defense fleets will matter again. Escorting will be a service to a group, and not an afterthought. Hot drops will be more about tactical advantage, for killing an amazing target, or for routing, escaping or bypassing a especially tough corridor.

They are adding content by removing the main way people used to bypass that content. It is work, it is slow. You will have to gaze out into the universe and admire the stars, note your route, scout out ahead, possibly break up a camp, and not worry so much about being hot dropped by every cloaky alt in a system every 20 seconds. Escalations will be tactical, logistic pilots and ewar pilots will be in greater demand, and learning how to fly again will cause some growing pains.

Please can we get this guy off null sec. Put him to work on high sec since they seem to be ok with his work. We actually need someone out here who understands how to place this game. This guy obviously isn't it.