Assembly Hall

Currently the state of Faction Warfare from what I have noticed is largely one mad offensive dash with little to no defense being played. The reason for this is simple, offensive plexes reward LP, defensive plexes give no direct benefit.

It's quite understandable that defensive plexes give no benefit, for farming purposes, but I have two ideas about how to perhaps combat the mad offensive dash that I perceive Faction Warfare to be.

1. Reward Defensive plexing a fraction of the amount that an offensive plex would give based on the percentage contested.

For example, assume a small plex rewards 15k LP if run offensively. Running a small plex defensively in a system that is 0% contested would award 0 LP. Running a small plex defensively in a system that is 50% contested would award 7.5k LP. This would promote defense in more popular systems and would likely lead to more PvP.

2. Break up Faction Warfare in general into pieces. As is the entire set of contested systems are open for attacking and defending. Perhaps if only a set amount of systems were available for attack/defense at any given time based on the progress of either side. So the warfare would progress a bit more logically, albeit in a much more controlled way, and I would personally prefer solution 1.

Visual reference for 2.

http://i.imgur.com/o85Et.png

Point 1 would go some way to encouraging defensive plexing. There have been a number of good ideas to encourage defensive plexing, some of which included the idea of paying a % of LP directly to infrastructure of the system the plex is in. Some combination of that and what you suggest would seem ideal to me.

Could you clarify point 2 a little? Do you mean you would only be allowed to contest x amount of systems at once? or contest systems adjacent to a system you already control? Based on progress meaning you can contest more when winning or when losing?

I have drawn an INCREDIBLY crude picture designed to represent the idea.

http://i.imgur.com/o85Et.png

So each section would only be available for conquest/defense once the previous section had been completely conquered.

I giggled when I read "INCREDIBLY" but the picture works very well in accordion to your explanation. This makes a lot more sense now that we have a visual on how it would work.

Yea, I definitely prefer solution 1, having that sort of rigid control inside a game as free as EVE would feel weird.

With Mechanism 1, you would be more likely to be defensively plexing in a highly contested system, meaning a MUCH greater chance of having some PvP going on.

Your proposal doesn't make capturing mechanisms any more interesting, we're still orbiting a thing.

Maybe means more fights. Maybe.

Or maybe it means smart players find some other ways plex, that still avoid fights. For example, maybe they'd farm two systems in a frigate and bound back and forth leading an opposing fleet on a merry chase (more likely the fleet wouldn't bother, really because a single frigate is a tedious target to hunt). Maybe they just log on when it's not the other team's peak and plex in peace for extra LP.

The problem with capturing systems isn't a lack of LP. And so far we don't lack for PvP. The problem is that orbiting a thing is tedious as all hell and you need to do it for like 35 hours to make a difference.

First point good, of course.

Second point, interesting. I see you've chopped it into "zones" of fighting, but that seems slightly rigid. What if to flip a system, it had to have a stargate to a system already controlled. This would give much more strategic importance to a few choke systems, and introduce the idea of making a push behind enemy lines.

Anything in FW, now or later, will be abuse-able by the 'X-factor' thing as I think it is called. Basically a person on Amarr and another on Minmatar can coordinate and make massive amounts of LP. This is possible now and it'll be possible later unless some serious restrictions are put in.

I somewhat agree with Option 1, though I believe that it should be based off of how contested the PLEX is, not the system.

The reason I say this is because I have come across several Plexes in uncontested systems that have a WT in them, I go in, the WT flees and then I get to orbit a button to close the plex which yields NO reward. If a Minor gets run down to 10s left on the button and then the WT leaves it, I still need to close that plex to lessen the chance that that system will become contested.

Now I am not saying that the reward for orbiting defensively should be the same as offensively. However, I do believe that there should be some form of reward, perhaps 1/4 the value of Offensive plexing.

If the plex was opened by a member of the non-sov holding militia, then that plex should pay out a reward if closed either way, whether the attacker finishes it or a defender comes along and closes it.