Warfare & Tactics

meh. this paradigm doesn't change without links because newbs will still need to know how to distinguish between a fight they can take and a fight they can't take. bottom line is links are pretty damn easy to spot, either by the character in local or seeing them on dscan. handicapping links to make the loser feel better for not being able to spot them doesn't improve anything.

It actually doesn't take that long to create a new character and get him into a fleet boosting T1 battlecruiser. So it is not so much that it puts new players at a heavy disadvantage, because new players are already put at a heavy disadvantage by the fact that they are new; their skill points are far from optimized, as is their knowledge of the game's mechanics and meta, and often they do not understand the difference between what looks good aesthetically, on paper, and what actually works well in the game. These factors often lead to new players skill-hopping from one ship to the next, without realizing that it is important to be specialized in what you're flying, in order to increase your success ratio with it. It is not simply a matter of being able to fly more ships, in other words.

I think a suspect timer for an off grid booster is unfair. A logistics ship getting a suspect timer is understandable because they are technically activating modules against the target ship. It's the same as activating a weapon against someone's ship, only the effect is reversed; instead of damaging or disrupting the target ship in some way, the logistics ship is healing or strengthening the target ship in some way.

It's different from a fleet booster in the sense that a fleet booster is strengthening basic attributes of all fleet members, from a remote area in the same system.

Therefore, I think that giving the fleet booster the same penalties as a logistics ship would be quite unfair.

Having said all of that, I am not against the idea of limiting off grid boosters in some way. But I think caution must be exercised in regards to this issue, otherwise we might as well just get rid of fleet bonuses all at once and be done with it.

You understand what a huge chilling effect that has on fights right? As it stands now I won't take fights with a command ship on D-scan or in home systems of known link users, or even with suspicious NPC corp toons hanging out in local. Basically if there's anything on dscan or in local that is a potential booster, I move on. Many players take the same approach.

I have no problem avoiding links by simply adopting an extremely risk averse approach to choosing engagements. The more players that adopt a similar approach, the less solo and small gang content we'll see.

Actually, toss the cuts into mining links as well.

Before I give my thoughts on the idea of adding more limitations to the warfare link boosting pilot, I would like to post an addendum to the above:

There are currently already a few limitations to the warfare link pilot, such as the inability to use links while in warp, the inability to use links unless in the same system and in space with another member of the fleet. The inability to cover distance across solar systems if the warfare link pilot's M.O. is to sit on a station (as is the case a decent amount of the time).

However, these limitations by themselves, do not seem to be enough.

Now, I suppose a suspect timer would not be such a bad idea, as it would discourage pilots from the station-hugging style of warfare link boosting that we see quite often, especially in low- and high-sec, while it would largely leave the open-space, cloaking T3 style of warfare link usage intact.

What I would like to stress, however, is that while warfare links do provide very significant advantages, the most important part of these advantages, I think, is the ability to allow a single player, to create a more even battleground when fighting against superior forces. This is important. I don't think that we want to nerf warfare links for the solo pilot with a link alt, while keeping them largely intact for groups with a dedicated fleet booster player. I think we ought to keep away from making things harder for the lone wolf, the guy who fights outnumbered, that's all.

I would ask CCP to keep this in mind while considering these matters.

Removing them completely would be by far the simplest solution.

Mostly, I am far too lazy to sit around trying to come up with effective ways to fix this issue.

I would rather they just get rid of the whole warfare link system, compensate us all with remaps for training the skills, and then we will be left with an even playing field. Nice and simple.

If you want a temporary POS, why on earth would you buy a large with guns? A small is under 70 mil, online it, give it a few hours of fuel/stront, set your booster next to it. If it's reinforced and camped, just log off with the booster and wait until they get bored and leave. All you lose is 70 mil for that POS for that one battle

Time to dwarf the incarna accident.

It's funny how people asume that it is perfectly fine game mechanics that everyone have to train an alt for boosting just to be competetive in the current meta.

Because it makes sense that you have to buy 2 accounts to progress?