EVE General Discussion

For PvE, who cares.

For PvP; Solo should be the exception not the rule, mechanics should have options that focus on small-gang (duo+) combat with tools to limit escalations by either party (ex: cyno displacers/jammers). Done right that would allow the actually good players, as opposed to just rich, to solo against similar or slightly greater numbers.
Rest should be full on LagVille with no holds barred blobbing et al.

PS: Solo was mortally wounded when alts (logi/eWar) became the norm and received its coup de grace when T3s alts matured and nigh-impossible to probe link platforms flooded space .. just sayin'

I try very hard to be supportive of solo players, I really do.

It's difficult sometimes though... as a parent I'm very much in the habit of emphasizing the importance of "playing well with others".

When you get right down to it, I have no real issue with the development of more content that would work to entertain solo players.... as long as they don't complain when it becomes apparent that you can achieve a great deal more by working with others. I like the fact that it reflects real life in this particular area, and that you can't simply do everything yourself as you can in many games.

Asking for any "love" for solo players from CCP is like asking for world peace.

But that's what makes things interesting for solo players.

In fact, bucking the game system is the goal of many a griefer and metagamer, and so to play solo in this game is probably the most benign way to stick your thumb in the eye of this game. The former is always saying "this is a sandbox" but the goal never changes: hit the other kids over the head with the pale and shovel and then point and laugh, until "mommy" (CCP) ends up having to take the pale and shovel away (nerfs, buffs, etc).

But the solo player is truly trying to buck this game system and laugh at all of those people singing "this is an MMO".

Yes, it's an MMO. But to play with others just because it's an MMO is the same logic that has everybody stuck in the same traffic in the same place almost every day at the same time. Backroads? Side streets? Nope. It's "rush hour" and you are supposed to be stuck in traffic.

Crap logic. Yeah it's an MMO and I like that too, but play solo, because server-driver NPCs and AI are only a little bit dumber than most of the other players - but I don't try to interact with NPCs except to blow them up or run away from them. With other players, it's the same thing, only a little more challenging.

"A Little" is key here. My drones have more creativity than an average gate camper.

As for giving some lovin' to solo players, if CCP had been visited by three ghosts this Christmas and are inclined to change their ways, they could start by creating a ship that is intended for the most popular form of solo play: an exploration ship. Gankers have ships, miners have ships, haulers have ships. Even salvagers got ships. But explorers? Nothing. We still have to outfit a BC or at best a covops or SB for exploration.

Funny thing is, EVERYBODY likes exploration. There are miners who will never gank. There are gankers who will never mine. There are mission runners who never PVP, and PVP'ers who will never (again) run missions. But across the board, everybody will throw on a probe launcher and roll the dice and see what space has to offer. The PVP crowd has their slow days, and find themselves alone - they go exploring. Same for mission runners and those who belong to mining/industrial corps.

So you would think that CCP would figure that an exploration ship would be a good idea.

In the meantime, Nova Fox has pitched some very good ideas for factions Exploration Ships, the faction being Sisters of Eve. I recommend that everybody find them and support those concepts at every chance in the hope that we get exploration ships someday.

I for one would enjoy some sort of remote controled drone, to do some recon. Multi account is the single thing that can burn me out of an online game.

Ok, let's put this another way:

If the solo way of life is in EVE what a fat ugly chemistry set owner has for a love-life, then corporate/alliance life is marriage: full of stable commitments, maybe some schedules to keep and people who may have the same general direction as you, but not always. Some people find someone special, fall in love, get married and all is well. Some don't, and ostracizing them for that is kinda wrong.

What would be nice to have is something in-between, your one-night stand at a club, your summer fling, call it what you will. Tools/situations what forge temporary relations between players that who knows? maybe they will evolve into more permanent engagements later, but for now it's just a fun night.

Faction warfare is the only thing that came even close to this: jump in, join a fleet and maybe go and blow stuff up. But it was flawed from the get-go, filled with tedious PvE and lack of long-term significance.

What i would love to see is a revisit of that mechanic, adding meaning and removing the PvE layers between the fun and the players. What i'd love to see is a working bounty hunting system, with bounty hunters forming temporary alliances to take down a particular target.

Just saying "This is an MMO, find some dudes" doesn't really cut it if you think about it a bit. Eve can be a blast, but lacks the tools for players who cannot associate themselves on a permanent basis for various reasons. It would do wonders for the long-term health of the game if we could find some ways to have a few types of "jump in and play" activities.

Not in MMOs in general, no. But in an integrated and interconnected game such as EVE, it pretty much is — without other players, none of the things you do serve any purpose.


Anyway, the real question here is: what is it solo players can't do now, and is there any reason they should be able to do those things on their own?

…so… what is it solo players can't do now?
…and that's nice and all, but doesn't really have anything to do with solo players. Adding gameplay is nice and all, but the question still comes back to the above: what is it they can't do? Adding more gameplay just increases the list of things that we have to pose that question to.

Adding more things to do doesn't solve anything if there's nothing to solve, and that's the question here: what is the problem? What is it solo players can't do?

While I concede that I prefer playing in a corp , an alliance, or even just a bunch of new friends to achieve the optimal experience in EVE, sometimes circumstance, or even just my mood, leads me to roam EVE solo. I don't have a problem with the enhancement of the solo experience in general. What I would fear is that many people apparently feel that IMPROVING something means making it EASIER.

The very essence of the sandbox is taking the tools you have to work with and doing something in your own unique way. Fitting a ship for a job that it clearly wasn't intended for, finding "interesting" ways of doing things, and "getting away with" stuff under the noses of pirates and big corps can be immensely satisfying pursuits.

A big, new, shiny exploration ship would be cool, but would it really improve the solo experience, or just make it easier?

Who just had more fun? the guy in the T1 rifter that just killed a T2 interceptor, or the Dramiel pilot that just killed a badger?

I'm just sayin' ........easier often = boring.

Be careful what you wish for. .

Hold Sov...

... oh wait, no, Chribba is solo and was holding Sov for about a year in 9UY until TEST decided to take it away.

…and at that point, we have to start discussing what qualifies as “solo”, since, not only does he have an army of alts, but another army (or four) of friendly factions who come to help whenever things are looking bad.