Assembly Hall

So, for those who don't know, THIS happened during the assault on Akidagi. Dust514 mercs had an effect on the overall conquer percentage and managed to invul the iHub mid fight.

Now, I'm personally tickled pink that we Dust mercs had an effect on the EVE world that was totally tangible. However, /u/AnurenDark from Reddit and others voiced some valid complaints about the system in general.

They mentioned that such effects feel like "RNG" due to the nature of how Dust514 FW works. We can't decide on where we want to fight, we just get sent places. However, where we get sent depends on system activity, so we normally end up in that system if enough is going on. The big problem is that we CAN'T CONTROL IT. It's all a matter of whim.

I have posted something similar to the Dust514 CPM as well. From what I gathered in the reddit thread, everyone was happy that Dust514 got involved with the fight, albeit in a rather frustrating way.

I would like to ask the CSM to work with CCP on making FW easier to co-ordinate with both sides.

We want to be able to choose to attack or defend where the militia needs help. We want to work together with the militias to be able to systematically push our influence farther.

To couple that, /u/SpikeinLocal, a member of PFR, also had something to say on the matter. Summed up, he wanted a tab or menu so that both sides could see Dust514 district activity so that they knew where to go for bonuses or LP, opening up more room for content as both sides race to grab these benefits.

In Summary; For a game that is all about player content and freedom, we can't believe that such an important choice is left out of the players control. We want to be able to co-ordinate with capsuleers and fight with them. Capsuleers also want to make finding and helping dust mercenaries easier as well.

We want to help you guys out in space, all we need are the tools to do so.

Thanks for your time.

+1

In Akidagi we had a hint of how good Dust-Eve interaction could be while we had a Dust player on our comms with us. He was so excited with every OB that came in, and was really calling for them, saying things about how they were getting torn up "down there". It made you feel bad when we couldn't keep the system secure enough to allow our OB guys to fire down to help. Plus, because he was playing on console every time he spoke up we could hear the sounds of fighting in the background which added some pretty cool immersion.

At the same time, we also experienced the most frustrating side of the relationship. Whilst in Eve we poured over 50 dudes into the system to help capture it, holding control of both the iHub and the plexes, our Dust bros didn't have the same choice. Without any firm control over where their matches take place, they were unable to bring the fight as well as we would have liked them to in Akidagi. This, combined with the fact that Eve players cannot see the results and locations of ongoing Dust matches , makes the Dust modifier feel more like a random swing than something that can be consciously altered by the efforts of players.

There really ought to be some form of mechanic by which a system can be prioritised for a "push", forcing the other side to respond in Dust or lose system percentage. Whether it's by EVE players creating mercenary contracts that pay out for every victory in a certain system, or Dust players voting/highlighting the system is not important. The important thing is that the option exists in order to create a more meaningful link between Dust and Eve in Faction Warfare. Increased visibility of ongoing Dust matches in EVE would also be good.

+1

It would mean I don't have to jump around so much just to drop OBs

there is actually a fairly simple fix to mitigate the "RNG" issue which would avoid to make your 50 man fleet wait at the ihub because some random dust match changed the system vulnerability. (even if you have a dust team matches are still fairly random from eve perspective since a matchmaker is generating them, your team might not get picked for example)


currently, dust influence changes the total VP needed to make the system vulnerable. The proposed fix would keep the total VP needed fixed, but change how much each plex contributes to the VP pool based on dust influence. Once a system is vulnerable it would stay vulnerable until someone flips it or deplexes - no surprises at the ihub. The overall dust influence would be still identical to the current implementation and would influence how fast you can flip a system, just like it does now.

Dust side at least got a response.

Hopefully we can see some progress towards this in the future!

The beacon in space for a district should become visible when a battle is taking place, not only when someone warps there.

I talked with Rattati today in the skype chat. Apparently they are both discussing changes to FW.

Not sure what changes, but he definitely looked at the thread when I asked him too. I hope they consider these changes.

As for the underlined, that is the point of these threads. If EVE and Dust want a better link, we need to let them know about it.

Hence why this thread was made.

CCP listens to the CSM more than the Dust department.

<3

It's probably made that way so you can't "lose grind" your way to a victory by using "alts" in the opposing militia ground force.