Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The ability to add any player in EVE to your contacts watch list is a terribly broken intel tool. It has been used and abused over the years (way back when, it was used for tracking baddies before standings were a thing). Currently larger groups have entire alliances' supers watchlisted; others use evewho.com to watchlist entire corps they are at war with. It is a broken tool.

Despite this, I think some form of a notification system should remain for being alerted to friends and corpmates signing in.

Adding non watchlist contacts and standings should remain without change, but adding a contact to your watch list should require approval from the other party and you would then appear on their watch list as well unless they chose to delete you, similar to how Steam handles its Friend List.

This would allow actual in game friends to know when one another signs on, and would allow for corporations and alliances to add directors, diplos and other people to watch lists for convenience but it would stop the ability to check the sign-on status of any other player in the game.

Existing watch lists should be pruned to only include those mutually watchlisted and non-mutual contacts could be moved to a separate contacts folder to facilitate sending requests post-change, easing players through the transition.

Clearly, it failed me. I tried to narrow by title rather than sift through the hundreds of discussions regarding the gang watchlist (which is frustratingly called by the same name.

Also, the other thread didn't really have any suggestions other than it should be removed. Additionally, it didn't really seem to be discussed in any real depth.

The watchlist isn't a function that favors either the aggressors or defenders. It favors people who you don't know in EVE--at 0 cost to them.

Unlike local-which is very limited in scope. "Buddy lists" are active across the entire universe of EVE. They provide you with ingame information that normally requires being in system with a character or the service of locator agents for 0 risk and 0 cost.

The watchlist should be a social tool, for knowing when friends or associates are online, but not a tool for tracking targets that have suddenly come online or knowing when attackers are most likely to strike. This should require active scouting or some type of cost to receive that kind of intel.

What the OP has proposed is a balanced suggestion: allow buddies to keep in touch, but remove the 'free' intel functionality.

[as a note: suggesting someone use the search function to add comments to permanently locked threads is not the most constructive suggestion.]

How, exactly, does EVE already favor the aggressor?

With Local? ... that spreadsheet list that instantly shows you all players in the same system as you? Yes very favoring to attackers...

With warp mechanics? Where pretty much only huge, slow aligning ships can be caught? Where basically PVP is easily avoidable if you try even a little?

You must be referring to how there's almost no way to escape tackle, right? Like no such thing as speed, neuts, or warp core stabs... oh wait?

I'd support requiring buddy lists to be a mutual thing. Right now people I dislike get to convo me for free, and I'd rather not have that happen. Watchlists aren't an agressor favoring tool, nor is their removal. It is a system that gets used for something unintended, because it is effective and has no barriers to entry.

As to tracking when targets or "evil agressors who are messing with my carebear time" come online, add something to the already extant locator system. Just have them send a message when the person you are looking for comes online. The fee system and the limit of 1 at a time locating process becomes a barrier to abuse, but can also provide niche game play by offering specialized locator services to hunters and defenders.

Letting people stalk me in game for free is something that I think ought to be discouraged. I'd rather have hunters that know what they are doing, than some randoms who can just watchlist pilots from a list on evewho. If CCP wants to encourage professional gameplay, this would be a step in the right direction.

Always struck me a little bizarre you can opt out of the notification.

Wouldn't be super surprising if it did become a mutual-only thing depending on how the new structures play, like everything else it's kinda wait and see atm.

Bump!
CCP plz pay ur attention on Contact Watch List.

Online indicator should work only if mutual like in all other MMO.