EVE General Discussion

I was thinking about this recently over the last week or so. In terms of pvp gaming, last week I've
-done a nullsec roam in a stealth bomber without actually ever engaging anything
-played CoD:Modern Warfare 3 for a bit and ended up 2nd to last on pretty much every round
-did some random battlegrounds in that other MMO
-played some 1v1 ladder matches in SC2

So I was thinking, how come I happily just into pvp in all these other games, but in 2 years of Eve Online I've never really tried its pvp. And I think its because its the least rewarding if you're not especially good at it or don't have a lot of friends.

All of the other games have some sort of matchmaking system that gets even numbers of somewhat equally capable players and pits them against each other. In Eve this is pretty much the opposite of what most players are trying to achieve, except for RvB. I can only assume this is because of two things
-losing is often very expensive
-the only two tangible rewards from pvp are ISK and killmails, and the losers don't really get much of either.
If there's other reasons besides these, please let me know.

In CoD even the worst player will probably get a few fluke kills and eventually get rankups.
In battlegrounds you get a smaller number of honor points even when you lose.
In SC2 while you don't get anything for losing a ladder match as such, it does usually mean that your next opponent will be weaker. In fact the matchmaker tries to let everyone have a 50% win ratio.

If there was some sort of system where you got rewarded just for showing up for the fight, so to speak, would that be a good thing? A virtual Purple Heart, that sort of thing.
And on a related note, how would you feel about some sort of self-contained space arena action? Hell, slap a hefty entry fee and it'd double as an ISK sink.

I think you are saying it would be nice to have easily available pvp.

I play 2 other mmo's , one's a crafter with no pvp and the other has ponies, elves and very easily available pvp. The pvp battleground is a blast win or lose.

I have heard it said there is easily available pvp here in Eve by fitting a frigate and heading to trade hubs or the known lowsec systems that pvp - when i tried that i got my ass handed to me.

Its probably best to join a corp and lend whatever skills you have to thier existing pvp. most corps will let you be a meat shield or tackler with low skill points. It is pvp for cheap even if you have to follow the fight from your new pod.....it just isn't the fun the battleground is in the unmentionable mmo.

There is no easy pvp in eve. You need to go to where the fight is and assess the situation. Losing means something in eve so you better get it right the first time, because unlike WoW and MW3/BF3, there is no respawn, there is not equal footing. Space is a dark cruel place, and you want to make it fair for the sake of your fun. If you like WoW so much, play it. If you want fair matches there are plenty of corps willing to provide that for you, join RvB and stop trying to kill the sandbox.

The people in lowsec have been pvping for years, they know the common fits for all ships they would encounter, they know the capabilities of there own ships. They have friends, they have experience, they have assets. This is something that is tangable and real in Eve and it should give you the leg up on any encounter. Most pirates and elite pvpers in lowsec fly t1 cruisers and frigates, they win because they understand the game, and they will only rarely engage in a fair fight.

HTFU, pvp in eve is the way it is, it doesn't need to be tweaked to be more like other games.

EVE is a sandbox, not a theme park, so asking them to add rides probably won't achieve much.

PvP in EVE is as much a means to an end as it is a means unto itself. So the point is not to have a series of meaningless but well balanced matches (such as in FPSes), rather it is to have a series of battles which are all biased either for or against you, which will all contribute to some larger goal if you come out on top overall.

tl;dr: in the games you named you fight battles, in EVE you fight wars.

People already pad killboards by killing alts, think how bad it would be with actual rewards.

Rewards for PvP would be easy for anyone with two accounts to farm.

I wonder if a Hulk pilot should get a reward for "showing up" after he get's KO'd.

Heard a rumour that's PvP.

Apparently.

One of the recent devblogs hinted at a virtual arena simulation thing.

I bet it'll have a nice EVE spin on it, too, if implemented.
I can imagine the 4 structures being capturable and taxable for public use.

You're missing out. Almost everything in EVE is against other players. If you've only done missions for 2 years I'd be surprised to stuck at it lol.

While I am instinctively against an EVE arena situation (outside of R vs B which is player created) I will have to admit one thing.

If there were an avenue for your typical High Sec citizen to get their feet wet in combat with other players that didn't make them feel like a dunce, had plenty of potential for making a "name" for themselves, allowed them to gain a bit of confidence, and had a fairly low penalty for failure (various classes of ships allowed starting with cheap T1 frigs on up, and didn't risk their precious implants due to no podding), I think we might just see more people getting organized and getting serious about real PVP. Especially if there were prizes to be won.

To many the tactics and fits necessary for PVP are a mystery. Yes, they know how to outfit for a level 4 mission... but they know down deep they really don't know how to handle a serious combat situation against other players.

When you know you are a novice at something it's normal for most to avoid it (ego's are delicate), and get belligerent with anyone who talks about their skills in that area. An area system "could" break down some of those barriers and many people who would otherwise spend their entire EVE career avoiding combat may find they like (and have a knack) for it.

It would benefit carebear and PVP pilot alike, and I doubt it would irritate too many people IF it were implemented correctly.

While R vs B does a fine job, undoubtedly CCP could come up with a very EVEesque way to implement such a thing, with interesting features and battle area's (frigate asteroid field battle anyone?), clever restrictions on ship types available (Destroyer class only, no web or point, MWD mandatory, etc.).

Heck, entrants could even have access to their own version of a LP store, with access to unique modules, ships, paint jobs, created specifically to have advantages in or be unique to the arena environment.

Would there be interest? I think so, considering the success of R vs B, and how popular the alliance tournament is. I suppose watching the matches could even be a "channel" folks could watch on the vid screens in their CQ's (don't stone me ).

Yeah, I know EVE needs to be a harsh environment... but there is something to be said for encouraging new pilots to taste the PVP lifestyle. And there is certainly something to be said for raising the fun factor for everyone. So yes, if the right balance between brutality and crowd pleasing could be found I think I could be persuaded to give a thumbs up to gladiatorial combats in EVE.

PvP has no reward win or lose. Just that warm feeling watching ships pop.