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Dev blog: Shadow of the Serpent: Signal the Dawn

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Sylvia Kildare
Kinetic Fury
#81 - 2016-06-30 13:24:08 UTC
FT Diomedes wrote:
So, I found what I thought was one of the new sites, a Serpentis Distribution center, but nothing seemed to happen when I killed the two battleships and the two battlecruisers in the site. What's going on with this?

I could not explore further because I had to go drop Dreadnoughts on some hostile Carriers... 1st world problems...


That may have been a local flavor site. Always present in that system... couldn't find the exact name you typed, but this is close:

https://evetravel.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/serpentis-distribution-outpost/
Iowa Banshee
Fenrir Vangard
#82 - 2016-06-30 16:36:18 UTC  |  Edited by: Iowa Banshee
I ran around for about 2 hours running various event sites.

Killing rats in mining belts or using a T1 frigate was different and added interest. The larger sites needed a little more tank with the damps creating some interesting PVE but once a site had been run a few times all seemed very repetitive - Random spawns and/or a check off list for the sites completed may be better - So once done no need to do another of the same type until I have a quest with that type included.

With no actual loot (modules) drops the bounties are not really enough for me to devote too much time to them as I can get more running missions and use the ISk to buy whatever the end game prize is - also - the end goal seems way too far away for me to actually imagine I will get anything good - so do I need to bother?

It would have been better to have most kills or the last kill own the loot box (maybe create some hi-sec PVP)
Having the loot box stolen by a kiting frigate on several occasions was very annoying, so much so that I had to resort to jumping into Hawk and using the same trick on another player just to find out what the box contained - it was some sort of capital chip thing.

Then i was asked to kill a drifter Battleship in a frigate so I gave up and ran a high sec Guristas Den.

The resulting expedition took me to a system 6 jumps away, I sneaked into a low sec system and ran the site with one eye on local. Spamming a 5AU D-Scan when anyone passed though the system. My rewards included a Pithi adaptive invulnerability drop - so - If I need any of the event loot I can afford to buy it
Longdrinks
Zero Fun Allowed
xqtywiznalamywmodxfhhopawzpqyjdwrpeptuaenabjawdzku
#83 - 2016-06-30 18:05:19 UTC
id grind 500 sites for a special serpentis hat(fedora) or something. But this loot is straight up garbage
Hamar Halltyr
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#84 - 2016-06-30 21:38:41 UTC
CCP pls ad something that a player have the chose to ignore one task a day or something like that so a player have not to wait 3 days to make a new task because he can´t solve them
Circumstantial Evidence
#85 - 2016-06-30 22:02:34 UTC
The rewards structure needs work, and can easily be fixed while the event is in progress by adding loot containers or last-ship drops to more of the combat sites. They could have a 75% chance of being empty, and it would still create more interest in running sites than the far-future redeeming rewards system currently in place. That system should have been a BONUS for long-term participation in the event, not a replacement for random loot in previous events, which drives player engagement day by day, moment by moment, in every combat site.
Edward Olmops
Gunboat Commando
#86 - 2016-06-30 23:40:58 UTC  |  Edited by: Edward Olmops
I really like the feature.

-dynamic PvE, some variance
-the idea of loot containers
-many different missions

However...

I found that these things spawn so often that it's easy to find an endless supply.
You can manage to get 10 per hour which gives 1000 reward points. So the golden loot box requires ~50 hours of PvE grinding at least (hope it's worth it).
Now, 50 hours of play time in 40 days are not that much, but still it's 50 hours of grinding.

Plus: It's shipyards all over!
- there is too much killing Shipyards atm. 50.000 reward points break down into 500 Shipyard. I keep getting the same mission over and over again as does everyone else. Basically I don't see much of the sites except for shipyards. This mindless grinding will get boring very soon - and that despite the fact that there is a dozen of different event sites. You just don't get to do them.
-synergy: since everyone does only Shipyards, the chances are very good that you warp into one and complete it after seconds, just because someone else already did the work. -> it's even more necessary to do Shipyards to get the points.
-the missions with the guards: nice, but the bounty on the guards is SO high (3m in HS for killing 5 weak ships!) that shooting them is a no brainer on gates even if you don't have the mission. As a result, it's very hard to find guards if you need them.

-I really like the idea of DED missions that request something else than just killing the event sites.... but! 2000 reward points for killing 10 Drifters?!? Nice challenge, but I'll never try this. Would need research, completely different ships possibly a whole fleet and from what I hear they'll kill you anyway with a superweapon. And then I even need to repeat that 10 times in 3 days??? Complete waste, just blocks the slot. MAYBE I'd be inclined to take on a single drifter for 2000 points. Otherwise the ramp up and preparation time for this one greatly exceeds the point value.
Then I got "find 5 DED sites". I really like scanning. I went to get my scanning ship (doing ~10 shipyards on the way). Then I tried scanning a few systems, but no DED site. I could have done lots of shipyards instead! And I don't want to do more!
I am not sure whether I will have enough time for the shipyards so again... I can't afford to do this. Maybe 1 DED site for 500 reward points would be a nice challenge just to do something else.

Don't get me wrong. I know that the reward points come on top of the regular payout for any of the extra activities.
But I am trying to maximize the reward points here, so unfortunately I just cannot do anything that is much worse than endless grinding of shipyards.

Could at least the shipyard mission change during the course of the event or with number of accumulated reward points?


And don't get me wrong, this is not a complaint!
Great feature, thumbs up - please more of those events!
Daichi Yamato
Jabbersnarks and Wonderglass
#87 - 2016-07-01 01:32:39 UTC  |  Edited by: Daichi Yamato
I'm also liking these new events. I haven't ran enough to unlock a reward yet so i reserve my judgement for them until later.
edit - i realise my feedback looks mostly negative, but honestly these new sites are a great improvement and the reward system is much better than the old dailies.


The sites:
I like the way everyone involved with a site gets the reward. Even if i am exploiting it by putting alts on grid and whoring on other peoples sites. It is still a good incentive to run the sites as a group so i feel the benefits outweigh the alt problem. I also like that the sites are un-gated, but i wish fleet mates could warp in without defaulting to the sites entrance.

What really disappointed me about the sites reward however was that it was not dropped by a rat and therefore had no 'owner'. The previous serpentis events sometimes lead to PvP because a competing player would go suspect trying to take the loot. On sisi i have had high grade implants drop in these new sites, so its sad to see i can just wait by the container in a tanky ship and spam the open cargo button whilst someone else puts in all the work. And i still get a reward for doing the site as well.

The other thing that disappointed me was the large amount of rats in the larger serpentis sites. I was hoping for beefier rats but smaller gangs (something like the roaming NPC gangs). This is particularly tedious when i get damped by eleven different ships. Not really a problem for running the site as i see you completely watered down their damp strength...But what would be so wrong with having a few damping cruisers with stronger E-war, but can be primaried by the players? This would be something groups of players can mitigate better than solo players.

Final criticism, no scrams? or webs? i can just kite all day?

I also noticed the new angel rats are quite a bit tougher than the serpentis rats. The angel frigates in particular have way more hp than the serpentis frigs and the angel cruisers have webs (which was refreshing). Is there a reason they are this much tougher?


The Guards:
The roaming NPC's themselves are cool. Good bonus to accidentally come across and i was happy to see the angel battleship guard can actually haul ass. It out run my wasps (omg i need a web?)

Can they also get a loot drop? again, it lead to PvP with the sleepers.


Hamar Halltyr wrote:
CCP pls ad something that a player have the chose to ignore one task a day or something like that so a player have not to wait 3 days to make a new task because he can´t solve them


This would be nice. One of my chars was given the task of killing 5 drifters Shocked

EVE FAQ "7.2 CAN I AVOID PVP COMPLETELY? No; there are no systems or locations in New Eden where PvP may be completely avoided"

Daichi Yamato's version of structure based decs
Ben Ishikela
#88 - 2016-07-01 08:05:40 UTC
I posted an idea on Suggestion Forums.
Its about the serpentis side of things.
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=6549536#post6549536
Have fun.

Ideas are like Seeds. I'd chop fullgrown trees to start a fire.
Edward Olmops
Gunboat Commando
#89 - 2016-07-01 09:08:10 UTC
Absolutely great work!
Really makes me want to play more despite the grinding. No idea why, must be the mystery boxes. :-D

Some more suggestions:
A special reward for the top 5 contributors is fine, but can we have an online highscore screen in the Scope Network? Just to see how good the best are and to increase competition.

Bonus: show the pilot names with the highscores for extra dynamics - or how CCP Rise puts it: to promote "funny situations (read: kills)"

Also, how about special sites that contain Acceleration gates that will flag everyone using them suspect? (only accessible with appropriate security settings ofc).
Would add a litte (optional) PvP component.
Joseph Lucen
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#90 - 2016-07-01 17:46:17 UTC
First event I've done, and I like the feature, how is presented, the visibility...

Only some things that could be better:

- Maybe exploration like missions? Or an agent on space that points you to do something?
- As Daichi Yamato said, no owner on the vault. You can kill yourself doing the site and then someone loots it, like it happened at first to me, or then you do the same, get into a tanky ship warp next to the box loot it and get out. Maybe make the container only unlockable by the person that most kills got or got the last kill? This so far has been a point that I think needs more thought for next events or maybe a quick fix for the remaining of the event?

Daichi Yamato wrote:


What really disappointed me about the sites reward however was that it was not dropped by a rat and therefore had no 'owner'. The previous serpentis events sometimes lead to PvP because a competing player would go suspect trying to take the loot. On sisi i have had high grade implants drop in these new sites, so its sad to see i can just wait by the container in a tanky ship and spam the open cargo button whilst someone else puts in all the work. And i still get a reward for doing the site as well.



I'll post later more feedback, for now this are my 2 cents.

Overall I like the direction this is going. The visibility it has to me were I log in and can decide to do something else besides Agents, mining, WH exploration or Complexes. I think it just needs to be adjusted a bit more.
FT Diomedes
The Graduates
#91 - 2016-07-03 16:03:48 UTC
My thoughts on this event thus far:

I love the "go kill a Serpentis rat in a rookie ship" mission. That was fun. I actually fitted out a rookie ship for the first time in forever. Not sure I would be very excited about doing it repeatedly, but it was fun.

I also liked the kill five Serpentis ships in a Frigate. As a veteran who mostly flies bigger, more expensive ships, this was fun and fresh.

I appreciate the "go kill 10 drifters." That sounds like a fun challenge. Not sure I will have time or inclination to do it, but it's at least something new and different to me.

Same goes for the mining missions.

What I don't like: the timers. For the ones I don't want to do, or simply cannot do, waiting 48 hours for a better challenge is annoying. For the ones I have started, sometimes 48 hours is not enough time. I think that each time you do part of a challenge, the 48-hour clock should roll from that point. For example, one of my current missions is to find and run 10 DED sites in 48 hours. Perhaps if I lived somewhere else and had unlimited time to play Eve, I could complete this one. But out in Syndicate, there's a lot of competition for DED sites.

The offers should also evolve along what you are actually doing. For example, if I complete the mine 50000 Veldspar challenge, I should get another mining challenge. If I complete the DED site challenge, I should get a new offer in this vein. And so on, and so forth. The point of the new events was to give an extra incentive for people to keep doing what they are doing already, right?

I would also love to see a challenge for killing another player inside one of the sites. It would be even better if the rats did not aggress you unless you aggressed them. Then people could actually turn the sites into PVP beacons and fight for the Serpentis.

As far as the sites go in comparison to previous events, the Blood Raiders one remains the best. Why? Not just because of the rewards, but also because the NPC's were not much of a challenge. There were only a few rats and they did not seem to do much damage. The challenge came from other players looking to kill you. The number of rats in these sites is much higher and they seem to actually do some damage. That makes them less than ideal for getting into one-on-one or small gang fights.

CCP should add more NPC 0.0 space to open it up and liven things up: the Stepping Stones project.

Drago Shouna
Doomheim
#92 - 2016-07-05 09:52:25 UTC  |  Edited by: Drago Shouna
Does anyone know if fleeting up helps the mining challenges?

The one I have atm asks for 500k of Plagio. Would the whole fleet contribute, or is this purely solo?


NVM, solo it is then :(

Solecist Project...." They refuse to play by the rules and laws of the game and use it as excuse ..." " They don't care about how you play as long as they get to play how they want."

Welcome to EVE.
March rabbit
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#93 - 2016-07-05 11:54:29 UTC
I find it rather funny when you can get mission counted by just being there (made more than 2500 points for last evening by just putting my 2 alts in capsules into high-sec serpentis yards while doing RL stuff in the same time) and at the same time each character on account has its own event point counter Lol

The Mittani: "the inappropriate drunked joke"
Rek Seven
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#94 - 2016-07-06 11:56:27 UTC
I think the event is utter garbage. The content is boring, un-challenging and the fact that i'm forced to grind them until i get a reward makes me not want to do them.

The wishlist is pretty much complete...
Ageanal Olerie
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#95 - 2016-07-06 16:12:28 UTC

The event is enjoyable enough.

It just could use some more backstory and integrated lore in the event, so that players can have better context for the activities they are engaging in.

Lets see a progressing story-line and something that shows our actions are important and having an impact.
Sgt Ocker
What Corp is it
#96 - 2016-07-06 19:25:40 UTC
Ageanal Olerie wrote:

The event is enjoyable enough.

It just could use some more backstory and integrated lore in the event, so that players can have better context for the activities they are engaging in.

Lets see a progressing story-line and something that shows our actions are important and having an impact.
You don't get out much do you..
The only enjoyable thing about this event is - It will be over soon.

Sorry but the ease with which players don't actually do the sites but are still collecting rewards - Devs might want to come up with something else, or just remove events like this from highsec.

Devs outdid themselves catering for the thieves of New Eden with this event.
Risk vs Reward is there alright - You risk losing your reward to some random who warps in and just takes it.

CCP as a business needs to take a step back and have a good look at what they are doing to a once great game.

My opinions are mine.

  If you don't like them or disagree with me that's OK.- - - - - - Just don't bother Hating - I don't care

It really is getting harder and harder to justify $23 a month for each sub.
FT Diomedes
The Graduates
#97 - 2016-07-07 12:30:50 UTC
I am very curious why you are putting so much effort into temporary events. In the past, you have added new missions or other new forms of PVE, without phasing them out (e.g. Epic Arc missions or Incursions). Why is it that Incursions, which seemed like they should be a temporary thing, have been persistent, while these are going the way of the dodo?

Also, I feel like I have been grinding these for days with relatively little to show for it. Nearly all my play time has been consumed by the quest for these sites and I'm not even at 10k yet.

Additionally, some of the timers seem really wonky. Sometimes I'll get a challenge to mine 100,000 veldspar in an hour. Is that even possible? I have no idea since I have only mined once in all my time in Eve. Other times the challenges seem to hang around for a very long time.

CCP should add more NPC 0.0 space to open it up and liven things up: the Stepping Stones project.

Sam Spock
The Arnold Connection
#98 - 2016-07-08 20:14:46 UTC
The main thing this event is missing is the chance for valuable loot in all the sites. The shipyards have it so are fine as is but the other sites are just a boring grind.

What should have happened is that the individual sites had a chance for a faction spawn at the end, similar to anomalies. They could even be the same Shadow Serpentis or Domination ones from anoms with the same type of loot. The size of the site would determine if it would be frigate, destroyer or cruiser.

Add to that a chance for the guard spawns to have a faction BS. Make it a tough bastard too!

Doing this would give potential instant rewards across the board and create possible pvp opportunities in high sec that the other events had and this one lacks.

Giving you Inconsistent grammar, speilling and Punct-uation since 1974!
Steve Atreides
Phoenix Interstellar Enterprises
#99 - 2016-07-09 15:34:29 UTC  |  Edited by: Steve Atreides
I'm beginning to think this is fixed so that certain individuals reach the big target first.

Currently I have two toons running sites, I have reached the copper cask for both, now i have objectives for both toons to help complete serpentis mobilization sites, for my toon i have an objective for 5 and 10. Break their will (3 sites in over 3 days) and shatter their resolve. in three days I have found three sites and i must have jumped between 200 systems.

I also have Shatter the operation (1 site in 48 hours) and Break their will (1 site in 48 hours) for my other toon. So few serpentis mobilization that the timer has come up for both toons.

This means I am only currently earning points through grining keep up the pressure objectives.

Also when I am runni9ng these Keep up the pressure sites and i am first on site it waits until the very last rat is killed before i can loot the site.....whether or not someone else arrives at the site. However, when I arrive at a site with other pilots already the research can becomes lootable well in advance. I have seen up to 20 rats still alive and the other player has looted the can on MULTIPLE occasions, pretty much everytime someone else is already running the site.

Also was chatting to a guy that I was competing for a site and I got the can, he didnt even bother trying and was 50k away, I got 2 modified capital processors. I pm'd the guy to ask him why he didnt try fior the loot telling him abou the rare implant drops and he tells me he looted the can after I left and got double the processors I got, although for me whenever I loot after someone has popped a site (usually early) and never get anything.

So CCP - My Question is this. What are you playing at......Mittanni up to his old tricks again and have something in hand with the devs so that only his affoliates end up getting the Gold cans as everyone else has dodgy spawns. I am not happy with how these mechanics are working out. IMO after playing this Shadow of the Serpentis since release that it is FIXED FIXED FIXED.

How very disappointing!
DrysonBennington
Eagle's Talon's
#100 - 2016-07-18 15:06:45 UTC
When one plays in a sandbox the King would know to build a castle with the sand. The Peasant would only know that the sand gets in his slit.


There should be Opportunity Sites available that would have a reduced security classification that would allow PVP as well as PVE.

When such a site is encountered in High Sec (Green Space) or Med Sec (Yellow Space) the security for an encounter would be a the same for a .4 to .2 system with reduction in security status being the same for an actual .4 to .2 system. For Low Sec (Red) systems an encounter site would be considered 0.0 without any security status loss at all.

Justification for the pockets of reduced security would be a result of the Drifters and Sleepers breaching High, Medium and Low security and creating a bubble around the site that reduces the ability of Concord to monitor what is taking place within the bubble.