Player Features and Ideas Discussion

As it stands none of us has any idea whether interceptors will be a problem in the big picture or not, because none of us has tried it. This system is going to demand a different defensive dynamic in nullsec, which is why everyone is worked up over it. CCP wants that, but in the end, I'm not sure the players will. If the players end up hating it I'm also not sure CCP will care to respond meaningfully, because Iceland has a radical new vision and they're just politely informing us of before they implement it - nullsec is broken, blue donuts, blobbing and force projection blah blah blah.

Suffice it to say that no one will be dropping dreads with an Entosis module fitted just to point a gimmicklaser at the sov beacon - with no structure grinding there's no reason we have to risk anything large and expensive to take sov now, so strategies will generally favor small, lower-risk doctrines whenever the opportunity presents itself.

When 75-man Ishtar gangs with Entosis modules start pouring out of one of the many wormholes that are always active somewhere in sov nullsec, we will see whether any of this theorycrafting matters. I am not looking forward to fleeting up for four hours and standing down every day in 200 man fleets just to prove we "deserve" our space in the face of some gimmicky mechanic, or shipping up and warping around trying to respond to a fleet inside our space before the timer finishes because someone suddenly decided to show up on whatever random day of the week. Burnout mode is a go. Bear in mind the real problem is not that this is what is going to happen to Goons and the CFC - this is what Goons are absolutely ready to do right now to every other nullsec group in the universe. They are going to do this especially if they think the new sov system is a bad idea overall, not just for them but for everyone, just to prove how bad it is.

The CFC is actually concerned about the overall health of the game, even if it seems no one else is. NPC and roleplaying corp pubbies can't wait to celebrate over the smouldering corpse of sov nullsec - but Goons are well organized enough that they could just do what their major rival PL did if the need arises, and not even bother holding sov anymore. This is already being discussed. Are you all willing to do what it takes to defeat nullsec, even if only in the most technical sense - even if it means rigging the game to do it? Even if it means changing nullsec so radically that it no longer resembles its former self, or anything that makes any intuitive sense at all? Are you willing to "win" based on the virtue of being less bored and frustrated with cumbersome game mechanics than your enemy? How is that so substantially different from what we already have? Isn't this just another way of "weaponizing boredom"?

Maybe none of this will matter as much as any of us thinks. Maybe it will all be balanced in the end, but we will still be forced to deal with counter-intuitive and strange faction warfare style mechanics where our reasons for being out here - jump bridges, ratting anomalies - are incrementally or even radically nerfed with every new patch. No other region, no other playstyle in the game is forced to deal with the kind of challenges imposed on nullsec by cloistered game developers in Iceland.


Just like they'll get tired of pointing a laser at a thing for 4 hours a day until a gang shows up, clears them off the field and reinforces their system before the defenders can scramble a response.

The real issue for us nullsec grunts is, if anyone can dock in our stations, there's no local, we're punished for not mining, we can't use more than 1 jump bridge, supers aren't relevant anymore and there's such a small margin between total boredom and significant failure, why should we even bother? Why shouldn't we just pack up and move to NPC space or lowsec? What is the point of sov nullsec at all? What is special about nullsec if it's like faction warfare but with less money? Wormhole space is also looking pretty good right now, what with its gudfites and substantial incentives for actually being there.

Maybe this is the point - just a way for CCP to rig the game to finally get revenge on Goons and the rest of nullsec for having defeated its nullsec alliance Band of Brothers all those years ago. Or they're enamoured of low-skill mercenary roleplaying corps. Or they just hate large alliances for the way we stress their servers and would rather break everyone up into inconsequential roleplaying corps so nothing important happens to aggravate their IT staff (or make breaking news in mainstream journalism publications) ever again.

Revenge is a dish best served with 15,000 pages of patch notes.

I think this is the point of the changes. To set it all on fire. The blue doughnut is killing the game, what can be worse for a war game than no wars. There is no mechanics change that can undo the peace treaties between CFC and PL/N3. So CCP turns to the only "heroes" left: NPC corp trolls, NPC nullsec troublemakers and such.

Yes, a depopulated, unlivable nullsec is bad. But current nullsec where only ratting botters are happy is worse. "every other nullsec group" aren't much better than Goons. No one attacks no one because sitting in peace and getting IRL rich from botted-RMT-ed ISK (and PLEX-affiliate links) is better than playing the game.

You should all be burned and trolled and driven out of the game for EVE to survive.

You're ability to fluctuate between logical conclusions and pure insanity is pretty impressive.

Using module price as a balancing issue to restrict availability is only advantageous to richer entities, and from what I understand the emphasis is to lower the barrier of entry into SOV warfare, not increase it.

Entosis ship size, type, and cost SHOULD be considered for people who want to take sov. Sov is an investment in time, organization and resources to obtain what is really an isk faucet, even if the sov holders are only mining and running anoms.

I would place the entry cost of t2 entosis at some sort of command ship, be it t2 BC's, orca, carrier, supercarrier or titan.
For t1 entosis links, I'm not sure a small hull ship should be able to trolldunk a station, but only on the matter of investment in the opening shots of a conflict for territory.

Followup conflicts should allow for any size hull, goodfights for all, but instigation should require something more than a slosh-op troll-roam.

As for the death to the blue donut, I just have to say this thread is incredibly entertaining. Just watching certain individuals have to use the tissues at their computers to wipe the rabid foaming spittle from their mouths instead of other places is worth reading through the rest of the drivel.

Its just a game.

My argument is that is not steep enough. Try to read before knee-jerking

/me laughs

I know, right?

There is a huge difference between 'heard' and 'listened to' and with text it is damn near impossible to distinguish between them.

But even if you are listened to that doesn't mean that you will get your way. Ask any 5 year old.

What I am saying is that at fanfest there will be a couple of round tables for sov (see the schedule) as well as presentations. There will be a chance for talking TO the devs and for them to present the plans for the future.

Of course there will be a trailer with grande promises of a sunny future and if you consider those 'promises' then their past record is very poor. That is never what I focus on, with fanfest. It is a cool movie connected to my game, nothing more. What I look at is the people, the reports form folks in the roundtables, the talking one on one with devs.

THAT is what I meant about the one week to.

but if you think that CCP never listens to anybody but their own echo chamber then you are welcome to believe that. and I am welcome to believe otherwise.

m

There's always that biomass button, if you don't like the game anymore.

How do you expect to find compromise when you



If YOU will not listen or trust then what is the point of discussing things with you?

m

I tried listening before these threads, and it was CCP who lost my trust. There's only so many times one can say "I'll give you one more try" before giving up.