Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Mining in EVE online is the epitome of grinding, which arguably finds itself being among the most hated of all gaming aspects. EVE Online; however, is not a game for many people, and with that being said, why should it be plagued by such a "game-y" grinding concept such as staring at an action-less activity for hours. Mining should be an activity, a thing that people participating in should value, be entertained by, and focused on when they are doing it. This would make the game better as a whole because because when non-combat related elements of a game are of a standing caliber to its combat equivalents, it only makes the combat aspects more satisfying and more pertinent. Imagine players who are seasoned PVP'ers who would actually sit back and wind down from the stress of EVE's PVP & politics to enjoy another part of the game instead of simply logging of and doing something else like DOTA 2 or one of EVE's upcoming competitors like Elite: Dangerous. Making other parts of the game enjoyable, tactile, challenging, and not just necessary is vital if CCP ever truly wants to make a game that is, "More meaningful than real life"; because without a comprehensively enjoyable experience in the game, it never exceed being just what it is, a game, and not a very good one at that. (I love EVE, but lets be realistic).

PVP for EVE as it stands, is a crutch, it is EVE Online's sole redeeming feature, it's player controlled market is an interesting gimmick, but it isn't why people come to this. PVP in EVE is very complex, it takes time, tactics and strategy, focus, planning, and a whole lot of determination; with its nearing infinite variety, scale, and the fact that everywhere you can go it can, and in often times will, be forced. Nothing about it is passive, it is engaging whether you are the hunter, the hunted, a bystander, or even an indirect participant who is sneakily robbing the field as hostilities commence. It is not without flaw, but it is amazing. Why not focus more on making PVE and Mining, which often enough are not engaging in the slightest, more like their savior, and ultimate purpose; PVP.

This is obviously not the easiest thing to do, changing a thing that has been the way that it has been for so long, but can it really be so unbearable as watching it stagnate? This is the first of my many propositions toward altering this concept so here it goes.


NPC Miners
This is exactly what it sounds like. Mining NPCs that sit in belts and shoot at rocks. They can be in any variant of mining vessel, solo or in a fleet, or even be in re-purposed combat vessels like the days of old, but the main point is that they mine, fill their holds, drop it of in a station, and repeat until they have stripped the belt. This concept is to provide Capsuleer miners what they hate most. Challenge and competition; because what is more annoying to miners than some guy shooting at the same rocks as you are. There are two variants of these miners.

1. Empire Citizens - These NPC are the most common and the most numerous, with high sec being littered with them in every system, low sec scarcely, and virtually non existent in null. They are citizens of the empires that they live in, they can mine in fleets with their own industrial vessels and Orcas supporting them. They are virtual defenseless, drop minor or major minerals (depending on the area), and if attacked the attacker receives suspect status and a drop in standings with that Empire, with no drops in security status. If left alone, they will mine belts dry, and the more celestial belts or anomaly belts there are in a system, the more likely that a large fleet of them will be present, large Capsuleer mining fleets will need to be vigilant and aggressive if they want their share of their minerals and high sec, and compete to gather minerals before them, destroy them (while risk being destroyed by players or losing standings) or travel into low security space where they are easier to get around.

2. Pirate Faction Mining Vessels - These NPC vessels are not as numerous, but make up for it by being more deadly. They too can be solo, or in fleets; with any mining vessels variant, or even. . . their own Pirate faction mining vessels blessed with tank and weapons. These will often be escorted by fleets of dangerous combat vessels, and are always hostile. They can appear in any security space, and have the same objective as the empire equivalents. Destroy all belts. However these increase in likeliness (and difficulty) of appearing the less the security of the system. These are perceived as any other rat and be destroyed without penalty. Perhaps they can even have a possibility of dropping BLUEPRINTS for their blessed mining vessels further providing incentive for engaging with them.

Hopefully this provides some idea of the things that can be done for EVE and proceed to make it more meaningful than real life, it is a long shot, but I have faith in CCP. Please feel free to comment, and offer opinions. I am eager to hear them. Maybe this will be heard if people like it enough.

your first two paragraphs show that you know nothing about this game...

Just because you dont find a particular part of the game enjoyable doesnt mean it is wrong.

Making all aspects of the game the same is a way to kill the game not make it better.

Also, all aspects of the game are currently PvP, mining and manufacturing included.

learn to accept other forms of play that you may lack the patience for instead of suggesting that all parts of the game become something you can understand.

I think his point is twofold:

1) Many people actually enjoy mining, just because we as players don't like some areas of the game doesn't necessarily mean those areas need to be changed.

2) Whilst all elements of the game are PvP they are so in very different ways. Trading is PvP against anyone else using the market, exploration is a race against others to get there first (and mey devolve into PvP combat of course but also can be a very sociable affair), mining involves being as efficient as possible to gain the most yield from a belt/anom before it depletes, manufacture is all about efficiencies but leads into market PvP ultimately (and starts there with sourcing raw materials). Trying to simplify any of these areas diminishes the game as a whole by removing some of the complexity and available choices that are what make Eve the game it is.

Oh I understand wanting to make mining more engaging, but adding PvP to it (more than the existing CODE issues for miners) wouldn't help. People mine usually because they do not enjoy PvP so adding in more PvP like elements would very much detract from their enjoyment. If they wanted PvP whilst mining they would go into losec or null.

I much prefer the comet mining idea as a means to introduce active miining for those miners who want it, but I know that many existing miners enjoy it as it is.

And I did not suggest adding pvp to it. I suggested making it more like pvp by introducing more reasons to be social, work together, be aware, risk and be rewarded.

There are many people who enjoy mining as it is, your idea would radically change parts of this activity and most likely not in a positive way.

Where does all of the minerals go that these NPC miners take out of the belts, and how would that affect the markets and the game as a whole?

If these NPC have combat capability who protects the miners, because the only thing in this game that is more boring than mining is flying in a mining defense fleet. Countless hours of flying in circles doing absolutely nothing.

Solo miners, who are numerouos in this game would be affected the most by these ideas while the larger corps/fleets would hardly be affected at all.

There are a few parts of this that may be worth further discussion but overall I have to give it a -1

I suppose that is true, but I don't understand your relevancy, please explain.

I do not see only PVP in eve, I see industrialist groups that would do just as well in lower security areas of space, if not better, but instead choosing to remain in hisec, learning nothing about the game itself and crucial elements like how to survive and how to do so while still making a profit.

I do not think that it is necessary to force anyone to 0.0; that was never stated in the argument. I do; however find it necessary to encourage people to experience more of the game than simply high sec or null. Which is approximately 74% of the carebear population. (Troll statistic for humorous purposes only)

Should get GCC for shooting empire citizens. But all of the mining NPCs should drop minerals and should occasionally have hauler support which drops even more minerals.