Test Server Feedback

Not to mention how the true AFK dualboxing is the least affected (as stated a lot of times before in these threads, even by CCP, just saying it again, maybe there will be one less person asking it again).

In fact, I have 3 plans or so ready for these changes.
1) go for non-droneboats - less micro, maybe slightly more targeting, less buttons to press (no/less drone shortcuts, just F1, and I'm using guns/missiles anyways).
more dps, more isk/h for less pain than the way I run them now
2) go for MORE droneboats, and remote rep, making my drones an unlikely target.
Near my current dps (skills improved since I started the current), similar isk/h, requires almost no interaction on my part.
3) Quit.

Now, if you notice, I'm not looking forward to 2), but it is nontheless, a really viable answer.
For this and a bunch of other reasons is why us drone users arent really welcoming this change, being somewhat pushed from an @KB gameplay to AFKing


And that.

And how missions aren't becoming any more rewarding, just more sirens going off.
Or, as in the case of drones, no sirens going off at all, just poor them dying in the empty cold void with no one hearing them scream. That is, if you blink when the whole room (including battleships) swap to an MWDing drone.
Because based on their MWD sig, they are still a better target than a Shield Extended Shield Rigged Rattlesnake (sig over 600m easily) for all frigs, cruisers, and even apparently battleships at that point from what I saw.

And in a 0mbps soloing Tengu, it's not a change at all.

That's why I am slightly less expectant over raging from Dec 4, though nontheless, I'm looking forward to it like some others said before.
Hope I don't forget my popcorn.

Hopefully pulled until we have a better UI and AI for drones.

CCP tend to do this "completely silent" for the past few patches since Incarna, they asked people to check out new/revamped features or blog/announce about new/revamped features and states that they'd completely welcome all sorts of feedbacks (+Hellmar's famous quote: "we like people bullshitting us"). and while discussion sometimes went foul, most concerns raised initially are valid and either constructive or tells the devs the true gut feelings on how players think about the changes.

Yet, CCP always like to fuel the flame themselves either by dismissing concerns or simply go completely silent, happend with Incarna, happened with Unified Inventory and it is still happening now with this AI thing. Not a single word, not a single comment / statement that can at least ease the communities' concerns. Yet, earlier in the thread and in the other thread Foxfour: "this is my thread!" , "We are actively monitoring this thread and every feedback!"

You make players feel more anxious (yeah, Dec 4 is approaching and no word on a major change as this date approaches) and it almost to the point that you make people think that "you don't really care, it's just a job someone handed to you and you show that you've worked on it a bit then off you go!"

A simple sentence/statement that says "We know your concerns, rest assured that we're still tweaking it" every 2~4 days won't hurt would it? even if it's a lie, it's better than current tactic of post a thread and forget that's been employed for the past 2 years no? Bad PR?

Hey guys, I have been a bit silent here and for that I apologize. An update on where we stand with the AI changes:

• As it stands we are still going ahead with pushing the change to TQ.
• While the change did not make it to the current version on Buckingham I have lowered the drone hate of the AI some more.
• While we consider the fact that the AI will only shoot your first flight of drones (this is based on specific criteria such as sig radius) and not a second wave to be a defect, we are not publishing the fix with Retribution.
• After Retribution we will be making a change to the AI so that they only consider damage being dealt to them as something to increase a targets threat. That way when you warp in to kill someone running an anomaly shooting the player does not make the NPC hate you.
• Also after Retribution, and on the same topic as the previous point, we will be making it so that unless you do something like shoot the NPC or repair a player the NPC won't take your signature radius into account when evaluating targets. Even with the above change without this one frigates would still switch targets.

Now as I am sure many of you are wondering why we have been silent in this thread it is because we found a defect with NPC, nothing to do with the AI, that we decided needed to be fixed. After fixing it and realizing exactly how broken things were we decided to remove the fix until a later date when we can properly balance the content to account for this fix. We have spent the last few weeks attempting to fix the defect, figure out the risk of it, and figure out if we should delay it or the AI changes. In the end we decided to go ahead with the AI and delay the defect fix.

So yea, there is the update. I should hopefully have the lowered drone hate tested enough to put on Buckingham with the next update and will let you know when we do.

What is your standing towards the fact that 0.0 will now be a much safer place and much harder for solo pvpers?
The fact that this new ratter safety will be an ISK faucet likely causing a lot more people to PLEX their account bought with ISK, and thus devaluating the ISK currency substantially?

I tested today and gaterats and anomaly rats will instantly switch to anyone using a disruptor or scram on a player, but I can't see how this should be any improvement towards getting rid of botters and afk ratters..
Quite the opposite actually..

I thought that risk = reward in EvE but apparently this has changed?

Care to offer an explanation to why NPC's should act as bodyguards for their current nemesis and engage targets that show no agression towards the NPCs?

What a joke.

Pushing something you know is broken with the promise of a future update; software development at it's finest. Plus, forgive me if I'm wrong but CCP's track record pretty much guarentees once it's live it's not getting fixed for years.

Why are you updating the game with something purely negative, with the intent of fixing it later? Why not just not update the game? I thought you guys were better than this. I guess it's time to realise CCP are just another company that deliberately push patches they know were broken because a deadline arrived. Pretty pathetic.

NOT ACCEPTABLE.

You are pushing a broken product to make a deadline.

Who does this help?

Just hold off on this content until it's correct. How hard is that?

If you could make an unbiased comparison of all the things this improves versus all the things it destroys, can you honestly say it positively affects the game as a whole? If so, I would be very interested in a post from you outlining the positives and the negatives and why you think it's an acceptable update.

It's my opinion that you are too invested in this update to make these decisions. Thanks for the response, but it's not exactly constructive.

Pros:

Makes nullsec pve much much safer
Makes nullsec pvp such as roaming, soloing and catching ratters nigh impossible
Theoretically increases isk generation in nullsec as ratters can afford to ignore hostiles and won't lose ships as often (or at all)

Cons:

NPCs kill drones much more now, costing hard earned pennies for each ratter using them


This is obviously a good thing because in a pvp centric mmo pve comes first and must be risk-free a-la WoW, right guys?