Warfare & Tactics

I think that removing E-War from NPCs is a good first step to equalize the differences between Factions a bit. However, to make it not too easy the following things should be changed too:

1. NPC AI should be enhanced to sleeper AI.
2. NPC should use MWD, at least the frigates should hit 2000m/s to catch enemy frigates.
3. NPC spawns should adapt to what is in the plex. If you come in frigs only than more frigate NPC should spawn too. If you come with BS then less frigate but more BS NPC should appear. So for example if currently one BS NPC is planned to spawn and there is only a frigate pilot inside then instead of the BS a number of 6 Frigates should appear. Maybe you can add some randomness here to make it more interesting.

I pretty sure that this changes would make it impossible to solo-AFK a large plex in a frigate, however if you are on your toes and fighting the NPC you might be able to make it. Which sounds fair to me.

restocking is not cost effective at current lp store prices, your better off doing lvl5 or hi sec lvl 4 with no/low risk.

when the dust settles, and amarr/minmatar get to where gall/caldari are now, factions will have T1 benefit, maybe sometimes T2, and prices will go up accordingly, because allot of navy faction ships/modules come from FW - and not lvl 5 mission running.

plex went from 350 to 500, and everyone that finances their operation from plex deals was happy, now materials went up and everything went up a bit, but when cheap navy faction ships and modules come close to pirate faction ships/modules what are you gonna buy a navy mega for 800-900 mil or a vindi for 1000-1100??

navy ships/modules are not gonna be cost effective or popular as much i guess.

Removing Ewar is a good step.

But the real problem is that the plexes themselves are far from ideal. Even after taking Ewar into account the rats are still far from equal.

Balance the rats, provide adequate AI, or remove the rats all together.

Thanks for the update.

It's the lack of missile spam that makes the afk alts work Caldari/Minmatar work for afk alt plexing. "Alt" means very low skill speed tankers. It appears the new incursus with its insane, err, "finely balanced", repping bonus is the cheapest option for Gallente to afk plex, and these ships only cost 5 million each. I don't know if "afk repping incursus" will work in Minmatar space for Amarr.

Edit: For "minimum cost" I mean closing larger plexes and not just minor plexes. Minor plexes can be capped with any crap fit T1 frigate with a repper - no matter which side you are on.

The E-war is a pvp issue, and IMO not a big deal other than it needs to be balanced between the races - which you guys should test on your own to get a good perspective on them.

This is how I see the issue: Where/when there is lots of activity, these issues don't really matter since players will rule the day.

The army of alts "battling" each other matters only in areas of no activity - backwater systems or systems where one side has no TZ presence. No players likes using his main to chase down "afk alts" that simply warp away and go to the next system, or quickly reship (if you catch them) and continue on. Boring stuff.

So right now, afk defensive plexing alts endlessly battle afk offensive alts in Gallente owned backwater systems. Since Caldari are running plexes at such a high rate, we (Gallente FW players) have to "online" more afk plexing alts to clean up the backwater systems. Not great game play, IMO.

However, thanks for looking at the issues. You've hit homeruns on the last two big expansions - let's go for three!

Thanks for everything!

Removing EW helps PVP out quite a bit. However, the missile spam vs non-missile spam still allows the side not facing missiles to pretty much afk run plexes with very very low skill alts, EW was never an issue there because those characters are not intended to engage in pvp.

But every little bit helps!

I wrote this forum post in response to a problem that has come up due to the new expansion. My only position with this post was not to bash but to get this problem known to CCP. NPC's have been imbalanced for a long time but have become a serious problem not just for the LP market. I see the problem that gallente will not hold thier systems thus we will be very limited in our ability to base our ships and fight good fleet fights. Now in saying that we are plexing hard and trying to fight this but there is only so much we can do against alt plexers period.

For CCP again i will say I love the expansion and what you guys have done. I don't think that this issue was seen as a big problem when designing the expansion. But unfortunitly it has become one IMO. Again my intentions where to inform not bash and if any of my comments came across as such I sincerely apologies for doing so.

Lets get this CLEAR gents for those who do bash. This expansion revived FW PVP. Before the patch I can say on comms and chats that people COMPLAINED to no end how bad pvp was,that there was not much. Funny thing was we still had very high kill rates at the time but people wanted more. Some left for 0.0 hoping to find this BUT ALMOST ALL CAME BACK because they realized that FW was still one of the best places for pvp. This expansion has given us exactly what we wanted more PVP. and for this THANK YOU CCP. CCP should be told they solved this problem perfectly.

On a personal note just saying that you are aware of the problem but that you are trying to fix this during the winter when you get your manpower back is awesome. This lets me know for one that you see it and acknowledge it and second you have given us a time frame that i will not post on my calander but about a time in which we can maybe see changes and yes i know it will be next year but that is better then nothing. I plan on playing this game till they shut it down. I guess being in the dark not knowing what CCP thinks or is planning makes people think nothing is happening.

Maybe for a short term solution. Add missile spaming npc's to all FW plexes. To the level that the caldari have in thier plexes. This would solve the problem in the short term until you guys address it in the long run. In all honesty EW NPC's are doing good. What makes it hard is the missile spams. This would solve the afk plexing problems of new alts. Just my two cents.

I'm sure the devs are smarter than me, but I see two potential short term solutions.
1. Yours: Add missile spaming npc's to all FW plexes.
2. Require all NPCs in a plex be killed.

I have to 100% disagree,

As a player that have ran both caldari and gallente missions I do know a thing or two about the npcs.

1) Yes you can solo majors (caldari and gallente) in a frigate (not nessacarly t1). The issue is that you will not be able to fight and you will be simply farming (which is the point of the farmer)

2) Farmers are a VERY IMPORTANT part of this new patch. For example the amarrians have tons of plexe avalaible. They need plexers to go out and hit systems that are empty if plays an important part in the contestation of systems. If you change the game mechanic that all npcs must be killed the losing faction will not be able to fight back as easily.

Again the afk plexers are very very very important for a losing faction. It maintains balance.

3) I run majors when im going for LP in a malediction. Even going 5k a sec I still take dings. I know you can do the same in caldari plexes as well. The missions for gallente are always speed tanked with an inty. I haven't seen afk condors running around speed tanking majors. They do speed tank minors and mediums but the gallente can do that as well.

I see zero problems with the current NPC mechanics. Each faction has different effects and each faction is smart enough to figure out how to counter it. We have to put sensor damps on our ships when we run missions, gallente usually use drones, etc

I think it can only be bugged if there is both factions are near the timer at the same time - which doesn't happen with afk plexing. Damar or Val Erian will know more about the specifics of the plexing bug.

Edit: If you were saying that layering another requirement on top of the plex bug may end up being a disaster, then... yes you may be right!

Here I strongly disagree. AFK plexers are a problem, not a solution. I don't think the design mission of FW is "lets allow plexes to be taken AFK, cause we want a gameplay mechanic that requires alts and AFK play because plexing is boring".