CSM Campaigns

As I said in an earlier post, I like Mike, but I do have an issue with one specific highsec activity, Incursions. Mike, do you feel that the rewards for Incursions match the risk as well as the effort required? Do you feel Incursion income is properly balanced with even other highsec activities like missions or mining?

What about the balance between highsec and lowsec incursions, do you feel the balance is in the right place there?

Hi Mike,

what are your thoughts about risk-free looting of yellow wrecks in highsec by "laundering" the loot using a fleet hangar? Are you okay with this and if so, why? If not, would you try to push for a change?

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, it works like this: gankers gank a hauler/freighter and the resulting wreck is of course yellow. To loot the wreck risk-free they use 2 characters: the first one sits in a ship with a fleet hangar (Deep Space Transport or Orca), the second one can be an alt without any skills in a noobship. Both warp to the yellow wreck and the char in the noobship loots the stuff from the yellow wreck by putting it directly into the fleet hangar. The result is that the noobship goes suspect, the DST/Orca however does NOT and can warp off safely carrying the loot. Given the size of the fleet hangar of a DST, even ships up to BS size can be looted without any additional risk (compared to a blue wreck).

Thanks,

Sarah

My issue is not too much ISK for too little effort, but more for too little risk. Especially with the complete lack of randomness in Incursion spawns, the only real risk to a player in a good Incursion group is the slight risk of ganking and probably the more real risk of falling asleep.

I do think the reward is far too high, and especially because unlike just about any other high reward activity (wormholes, exploration, whatever), Incursions don't suffer from any scarcity. If one wants to, they could pretty much run Incursions 23.5/7 (unless the Incursion folks are having an argument again and prematurely finishing the Incursions). They are also very one-dimensional, unlike in w-space where one has to scan, pvp, fuel POSes, people can really specialize in Incursion running, and just do that. They don't even need to haul loot out, just stop over in a hub for ammo every now and then.

And yeah, any other source of income that is high reward and low risk should be looked at very closely. If that hits w-space, fine. I don't think you can really make the argument that it is low risk though.

Mike Azariah will be on my ballot this year. I do not always agree with him, but I think he's a great asset to the CSM.

Nice to see you running again for CSM, thanks for your time and effort for the past year representing.

It's good to know someone is out there fighting the good fight for the hi-sec part of the community

As a personal favor could you please keep both eyes on CCP's greed is good view concerning neural remapping

Regards, a Freelancer

+1

Keep Mike on the job improving the game.

Let there be no doubt that unless I am comatose or dead, Mike will be #1 on my ballot. Nobody in memory since I've been playing has been so in touch with the community, has the thickest skin, and is as open to reasonable player feedback to take to the table as he is.

Mike, you're clearly what this game needs and what the community deserves. As long as you're running, I'll keep voting.

(Just not like 20 years of something. I don't wanna fit the bill for your CCP retirement)

Mike Azariah for CSMX because YES!

#Endorsed

Is Mrs. Azariah trusting you with sharp objects again?

I was drawn to Eve because it was described by a gamer colleague as a rich virtual universe where you had a lot of options as a player. If someone had described it as a PvP spaceship game I would not have bothered to even download the client and just kept trying to get better at Counter-Strike.

Regarding the social aspect of the game , I'm wondering if something more can be done to encourage players while they are still going through the tutorial phase (and maybe as part of the tutorial) to engage with other players in their faction by fleeting up and running a mission together or doing PvP in destroyers against a similar fleet from another faction (Amarr vs Minmitar , Caldari vs Gallente) . Don't torch me for bringing up WoW, but something like those Capture-the-Flag missions where you join a room with other random players to form a team could work quite well.

The other problem I gather new players in highsec face is how to deal with wardecs. Well meaning corp or alliance heads will often direct their members to avoid the enemy in order to not provide kills. While this is a rational approach , in effect the message going out to new players is "Don't fight. Don't mission. Don't Mine. Don't Haul. Get Killed and I'll kick you out." So basically you've spent some money to play a game and you're being told to not play. Even mid-sized corps and alliances are not averse to giving out these directives.

Now of course , some will say the player should just join a big alliance capable of defending itself, but is that where we want players ending up by default? These large entities also have their own rules and requirements and are not for everyone. Some players will figure out the best way to keep playing and avoid wardecs is to go back into the NPC corp, but that offers up a socially sterile experience at best unless you have other contacts in-game.

Maybe limiting the number of wardecs a small corp can be subjected to in a 30 day period combined with making it more costly to wardec might allow small corps to survive and grow. It is sometimes not the actual wardec itself but the fear it will be extended or that another wardec will come along immediately after that is the problem for the small corp and its members.

Sending a vote your way, Mike. Solid choice.