Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Wardecs are a weak mans way of waging war.

But this is really more of a problem with highsec itself being too safe, too accessible and too easy. I've lived almost non-stop in lowsec and null for 3 years as parts of big alliances and 1-man corps. I feel nothing but scorn for those vets with 6 years under their belt doing nothing but killing newbies and also nothing but scorn for people running L4's in 2bil pirate BS's for they are equally exploiting a broken and unfair part of the game.

War decs and their fees are upside down from what they were a few years back. Personally I think they are upside period at this time. I think the mechanic should be as follows:

1. It should be relatively cheap for a small group to war dec a large group (larger group more capable of defending itself)
2. It should be relatively expensive for a large group to dec a small group (minimize the bully aspect - it's not really fun for either side)
3. Get rid of the assist thing in its current form. Limit it to 1-3 allowed to assist. The group getting assistance then has to choose wisely as to the assistance they aquire. Again, if you want a large group to assist against a small group, then it should cost a large amount.
4. Go back to the ramp up of successive decs. Nothing personal to the marmites, but being able to carry 100 decs and shoot barrel fish on the Jita undock doesn't really add anything to the game. The ramp made war decs strategic and something to think about.

Here's the thing. Current Marmites (and others) aren't really mercs. They just buy in or have folks buy them into every dec that gets put in the game. It's too easy and takes a lot of the meaning out of the game. These large groups mostly agree to not mix it up w/ each other. Then it's a turkey shoot and choke systems and hub undocks.

The current mechanics have sucked the fun out of merc work. The current mechanics have taken a lot of the personal out of war decs. The whole thing is a mess.

It got made a mess by the big sov null alliances crying to CCP because their empire dwellers tended to get pounded by empire mercs. The mechanics got reworked and now you have massive alliances full of alts blowing stuff up at 3 hubs and 3 choke points. The ships destroyed in these 6 places is totally lopsided, just like the mechanic. Large groups can now dec small groups for cheap and most small groups couldn't bankroll deccing a large alliance if the eve lives depended on it.

To be clear. I'm not against merc corps (Repo industries used to be one). I don't dislike Marmites (they are just using the current crap mechanics to their advantage - they aren't the bad guys in this). I don't agree with the OP reasoning on this, but I do think the current mechanics are all wrong.

yeah it's a thing

also known as griefing, coz that 1 person ain't really interested in a war
he just wants easy, risk-free, concorde free, industrial kills

in the event that the 'soft target' undocks in something that can actually shoot back ... he's gone

wardecs are fine
station games need to go

6 months?

Heh. Such adorable optimism.

The answer to this "problem" is to prmote the idea that those "20 noob miners" shouldn't be setting up on their own, but joining forces with a group that's willing and able to defend them.

Oh and also the idea that those noob miners in turn support this group.

And approximately how many wars have you declared?

I personally think CCP want war declarations to be any particular way at all.

All of the inferno war changes were implemented with individual reasons behind them, but with no overall direction in mind whatsoever.

If you take the end results to indicate CCPs intent then CCP were very clearly trying to incentivize the creation of very large, very powerful dedicated wardec groups while making the mechanic practically useless to everyone but them.

Somehow I don't think that is what they were going for.

That mechanic already exists. It's called a surrender.

If you can get the aggressor to surrender the war ends and they can't declare war on you again for two weeks.

Adding meaningless structure tickling mechanics to wars wouldn't make them better, it would make them more convoluted and confusing while undermining the fact that the objectives in wars are totally player-defined.

MY SOLUTION TO WARDECS

1: Recruit newbies into corps. Explain the basics of EVE to the newbies. What the meaning is behind security levels on systems, the basic nature of combat in each area.

2: Work with newbies to figure out how they want to accumulate isk in the game. Market trading? Mission-running? Mining? Whatever. Help them set up appropriate systems and/or alts.

3: Once they have a basic understanding of how EVE works and how they want to make a bit of money, get them on a basic skill plan that puts them into a decent frigate with weapons and/or utility on day 1.

The above steps, I'm imagining these discussions should take maybe an hour, perhaps less. Everything should be kept basic.

4: Once those conversations have taken place, have them ship up some sort of frigate with weapons, get them into a group, and roam into lowsec with the express purpose of pewpew and losing everything.

5: Once everyone has flown/podded home, congratulate them on their battle, go over the battle and debrief them. Remind them to accumulate isk to buy ships and equipment.

6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 on a daily basis.

Learning how to combat in EVE is a monumental task, but getting newbies over the fear of losing their ship (just one letter off from having a tantrum, how convenient) has to happen from day 1. Then wardecs come along, and instead of lowsec roams, you do highsec roams. Whether or not you kill stuff is irrelevant, because you're engaging in combat and learning. The nuances of EVE combat can be taught before and after each roam, a little more learned each day so it is not as overwhelming.

You don't have to win the war to win EVE. If those guys have a lot of fun, maybe they'll get recruited INTO those highsec war groups and have a blast! That's what EVE is about.