Missions & Complexes

I know quite a few pilots who will be doing backflips over this news.

I love the mini-game, it's awesome (loot-spew not).

Anyone that hates on the mini-games is either a botter, AFKer, or a nutcase who "plays" EvE for work, rather than fun

Great news about the spew!

I too love the mini-game as the pilots playing don't see me creeping up.

LOL statement of the month. The loot was already a joke since this new hacking / loot feature was implemented. So you are going to make them eve more worthless ? awesome.

What about all the sites lefted spawned in space where someone has gone in with cargo scanner, emptied the only can worth looting, leaving a worthless site in space ?

I think you need to revise the despawning of these sites too and revert to the old mechanic where if you hack a can and warp out, the site despawns.

In the thread of crazy one-lined ideas it was my suggestion that the entire ship-wreck mechanic be also replaced by loot spew.

So sad. So sad.

Christ. Credit where credit's due, Affinity, and this is the right move. But seriously, why has it taken so long? And what about the stuff that's been broken in the meantime? What exactly is the overall path you guys envision for PvE in general and how does this -- or anything else, really -- fit in?

Thank God.

Ps if you wonder, or if you are not sure, that you have gauged the player reaction correctly, the clue is in it's name.

(Vomit or spew is generally not desired or appreciated)


.......though i'm pretty sure there's people out there who are wierd enough to enjoy it.

My 2 cents: If there are too many minigames, then let the hacking game go rather than the loot spew. The hacking game at present is mainly luck, the loot spew actually needs you to make quick choices and be deft, real time. The hacking game is a bit out of style with the rest of the game and a bit silly-clickery - at least it is quick, though, but it is just another mindless grind. If that would be the only thing left in exploration, it would become as boring as mining, and as easy to do semi-AFK.

But I realize I'm probably in the minority here. So this would be the next best solution, in my opinion:

This, this. Eminent idea, best so far, completely meaningful lore-wise. Add perhaps an AOE explosion effect with damage depandent on distance from can, and/or the arrival of an NPC patrol, within, say, 40 seconds, just to emphasize that you blew it (literally!).


+1.

I agree with the first, but not with the third. I too prefer focusing on space rather than on the Overview, and actually it is quite challenging to have to do both - since you have to watch out for gankers (or rat patrols, at least in ghost sites) still. So, you have to make room (I play on a small screen), you have to prepare, you can't just mindlessly continue. I like that. It's a space game, you should relate to space.

The second point ... I find that hard to believe, but even if that is actually the case, I would consider it an argument for KEEPING the challenge. Really, guys, then you need to train. But maybe the real reason is that it takes people out of spreadsheet mode, you may actually miss some interesting pieces of loot - but hey, there should be no such thing as certain success, imho.

As for those who ask for more variety in the loot tables, less NPC junk and more distinction between data and relic sites I am in complete agreement, no matter if loot comes from normal or spewed cans. Low-value player-demanded stuff would be ever so much better than stuff that can only be sold to an NPC 10 jumps away, so do away with the Carbon, the Data Sheets and the rest of the useless "trade" goods. OR better still - make them useful to players. But that is for another thread.

So I came back to EVE recently purely because I heard about the new hacking minigame, and the lack of "requirement" (will come back to that) for a combat-fit ship for it. I don't know much about hacking in high/low sec, because I've been exclusively sneaking in to nullsec alone to do my hacking, with the rewards being pretty decent so far. I definitely don't disagree the system could do with a few changes, but there's a few things that work, and are good.

1. Keep it soloable in a covops ship.
Again, main reason I came on was to do just this,, sneak into other people's nullsec where the rewards are (hopefully) the best, get that stuff back in to hisec. If it feels like a chore probably if you're a resident or surrounded by blues, in which case it feels just like doing it in hisec, only more profitable. If anti-social whelps like myself can get out and do it, it offers a fat target to pirates trying to get back and forth from nullsec to highsec, and that's a good thing to me. Yeah, having teammates helps a lot here, but hey, if there's reward to be had, a lot will take the risk I reckon.
PS W-Space hacking is an exception here, but I guess that's fair? I don't know, I don't do w-space.

2. But just coz it is soloable, doesn't mean it has to stay soloable
One of the biggest problems is that there's no real consequence of failure, and no cumulative risk vs reward. Your hack is either successful or not. Two strikes and a pretty boom. Meh. A couple things could help here.

- If you *fail* a hack i.e you run out of coherence, it spawns NPCs, making the whole site now unusable to a solo covops frig. That may also encourage people to use bigger ships (Tech 2/3 cruisers) so they actually stand a chance of fighting off some NPC pirates.

- This means the idea of clicking and "maybe" winning needs to be a thing. So instead of the static amounts of damage hack defences do, make it variable, so if you're feeling lucky, you click through, and you might win, or you might lose. But now you need a reason for people to want to keep clicking despite the risk.

- Make the longer you play the hacking game relate directly to the loot you get out. Rather than just "Find the core", have the loot be stored in data-cache-like objects, or even *in* defences. The more of the puzzle board you clear out, the more loot you get out. Then this introduces 'aborting' the hack, and 'jetting' the hack.

- Without a core, the hack has "no end" except player-initiated termination. If the player *aborts* the hack, then it'll simply reset just like now. Do it twice and it blows up as usual. If you "jet" the hack, it spits out a *normal* (not a loot spew) can with whatever you successfully hacked in it, but that's it for that node.

3. Keep the loot known, but randomish.
Although it's pretty implicit, I do like that you can cargo scan to see what loot there is, but there is still a chance you might not get it. Loot spew mechanic *is* a bit naff, but it does achieve this randomisation of the known, possible loot a little. But as mentioned, tying it back to the minigame may help. And yes, keep the goddamn minigame. Mining needs something like this too, because AFK gaming is balls.

Oh, and I read this somewhere else, but totally agree the interfaces for invention should blow up, since these are primarily sourced via hacking.

EDIT: Oh, I just realised, the only ships with hacking/arch bonuses are the frigs+covops variant, and T3 w the right subsystem. Would've thought a cruiser type would've had that too...

When looking at loot tables, any chance some BPCs could have Productivity Level and Material level other than 0? That could be a way to improve the value of the haul without simply flooding the market with more items. It could also add a bit of complexity to determining how much a BPC is worth.