Jita Park Speakers Corner

I think you are probably right that this will bring more people into low sec looking for pvp. This in turn might mean that pvers will have more people looking to kill them per system. That would likely mean somewhat fewer pvers. I tend to think it would be a net increase for low sec though.

However if this happens ccp could do at least 2 different things to offset this. 1) they could make more low sec systems like they did with black rise. This would mean there are no longer more people per system and pvers could still find a quieter system for pve. 2) They could give some increases in the rewards pvers get in low sec.

The end result would mean more people are in low sec doing what they want to do.

Excellent question. Low sec should provide both, in the end, I don’t see them as mutually exclusive. Many of my corpmates do not earn their income through PvP, they earn it from the many PvE activities there are to do in the region.

Pirates are the main group of players that earn their isk through PvP, though there are some individuals in the militia who loot enough to get by. The vast majority of us in the low sec casual PvP crowd are usually engaged in other activities, such as FW missions, exploration sites, static plexes, and generalized ratting, mining, and industry.

All of these activities not only need to be protected, they need to be enhanced. Low sec doesn't suffer a total lack of content, its just that the reward doesn't scale up enough to properly entice high sec players to take the "risk" and play in low sec.

The reason I say “risk“ in quotes is because I like to be real specific about which activities I consider to carry a chance-based negative outcome. Risk to me is flying a large ship blindly through a gate, with no scout, and no defensive modules such as a warp core stabilizer or cloaking device. Most low sec pilots don’t do these things, and those that do deserve to lose their ship.

The fact is, most ratting, missioning, exploration, mining, and hauling can all be done relatively risk free, if done in the proper ship, using the proper fitting, and the proper piloting techniques. Defensive scanning and working with friends goes a long way towards making low sec a lot less scary. You really have a choice 95% of the time whether to engage in PvP, or whether to avoid it if you so desire.

None of the low sec proposals I endorse really change that reality. When I talk about low sec being fight club, or a battle arena, I’m specifically referring to supporting those of us that PvP against each other for sport. The Jack Dant proposal, for example, removes the GCC flag from two pilots of negative security status engaging each other on a gate, GCC and sentry fire would still apply to a pirate attacking a mission boat or hauler.

I believe its possible to simultaneously increase the rewards for the non-PvP activities in the region, and still make it easier for those that want to PvP against each other without the legal restrictions of high sec or the alliance politics of null sec interfering. The pilots who simply want to run PvE or harvest resources in low sec would retain all the same tools for protection that they have today.

The real danger, as you pointed out, is in low sec becoming like null. I do NOT support measures like allowing bubbles in lowsec that would hamper the ability to move and operate freely, provided the pilot is in the proper ship or properly scouts the way. In null, interdiction ability dramatically changes both the tangible risk of jumping through a gate and the risk of warping to an object. There needs to be a hard line drawn between the two regions, because the impact on casual play (both PvE and PvP) is immense.

well to be more specific, blocking SS loss to -2 as long as your not podkilling is my problem, this kind of allow piracy without drawbacks. On the other hand, allowing someone to shoot at negative status without drawback when in low sec is fine with me.

Cearain made the excellent point that sentry fire itself is only a roadbump to piracy and doesn’t really “protect“ the mission runner or miner wandering through low sec. Pirates can use logistics to overcome this barrier quite easily, so you still have to use measures like cloaks, stabs, scouting, and safety in numbers to minimize losses.

If players with any negative security status became fair game to fire upon, that to me is a far greater penalty to breaking the law than simply being shot by a low sec sentry gun. Gate guns only restrict the type of ships pirates can use, they don’t stop them from doing their job.

High sec players wanting to move to low sec and PvE or mine successfully have to learn basic self-defense techniques anyways, and none my proposed changes to low sec affect the usefulness of those techniques. Once a pilot learns to scout, cloaky travel, and scan for danger, gate guns become negligible in terms of their impact on true “risk“. They’re tinfoil protection at best, so I’m fine with lifting them under the right circumstances.

I hope I didn't miss these elsewhere in the thread, but I have three questions for you:

1) How do you feel about time dilation and the potential impact it has on CCP in regards to demotivating them in upgrading server hardware?

2) PLEX/GTC prices are too damn high. How will you leverage your influence on the CSM to bring down the price of game time paid with isk?

3) How should CCP reward veterans for their longevity in playing this game instead of punishing them via "end-game" nerfs?

Thanks for answering and good luck in your campaign!

Allow me to answer, using my own style of drunken shitpost-fu

1) Wow, Timmy, that's a really bad question. Like, you should feel bad for how bad that question was. TiDi is something that probably won't touch us lowsec warriors, and it's apparently making the game a whole shitload more playable out in null

2) While you're at it Hans, could you use GM market fuckery to drop the prices on Gyrostabilisers? You can do that, right? Just make **** on the market cheaper? That's a thing

3) You know what I have in rewards for longevity? A whole fuckload of SP. Like my ships are 10-20% better, just because it's my dumb ass in front of the wheel. That's pretty nifty.

In conclusion, your questions are really bad and you should feel bad for them. Kill yourself and give me your stuff

Agreed, and lets be realistic here about the role of the CSM. CSM are not game designers. I am skeptical of the candidates proposing grand and sweeping changes to gameplay and mechanics, such as Kelduum's war-deck scheme, which will never see the light of day, and hopefully will not be left to linger and burn up scarce CSM and CCP time. The advantage of Hans' proposals, even if you don't like them, is that they are small and iterative, aren't heavy-handed, ham-fisted attempts to bully players into a given playstyle, and many can probably be implemented in a few hours and thrown up on the CCP internal test servers.

Small changes that give players more options = good. Massive changes that dictate and restrict gameplay = bad.

Time dilation is a difficult issue for me to chime in on at this point in time, mainly because I've avoided the kind of fights where lag is bad enough that it would kick in. They're not my cup of tea. I can't in good conscience argue that CCP needs to be upgrading their server hardware, because I haven't seen enough evidence of this in my day-to-day game play. If the rest of the CSM7 agreed it was a major issue, I'd trust their judgement and support them in seeing it resolved.

Regarding PLEX prices, I can understand that you feel they are too high, but I also believe that EvE's player driven market should remain precisely that - player driven. We have to remember that EvE is fundamentally a $15.00 a month subscription model, not play-for-free. It is a convenience that CCP allows two players to exchange RL time for in-game time, but I'm dubious giving CCP the authority to place a value on what a player's own time means to them. It's a personal decision.

For your third question, I'd to have ask you which specific "end-game" nerfs you're referring too. Supercaps? Anomolies? Incursions? "End-game" is a highly controversial term to use in a game like EvE, where players set their own goals. If you could let me know what exactly you're talking about, I'll happily share my opinion.

Everyone here realizes that Hans is going to be on the CSM, right? Just checking. Carry on.

ONLY if you guys all get your corpmates to vote for me, and your friends, and their corpmates too. Including all your other accounts!

We've only just begun folks, there's still a lot of hard work to do to spread the message further in the weeks ahead. This is no time for complacency!

Seleene I appreciate the love but no more making this sound like I've got it in the bag, alright!