Player Features and Ideas Discussion

A couple of nice ideas from my AFk cloaking collection thread:

Andy Landen: Various structures (gates, stations, POS, IHUBs, etc.) are designated as intel structures, if a cloaky (or any ship) shows up on grid with them they are listed in local. Avoid showing on grid with said structures you do not show in local. Also, a mobile intel structure (much like a mobile depot) if a cloaked ship (or any ship) shows on grid (i.e. is not cloaked) with said structure it is reported in local. How could one bypass this mechanic? Covert or regular cynos would suffice.

Lucas Kell: A ship jumping into a new system does not show in local until it drops the gate cloak.

Two ideas I liked from that thread (sadly now locked).

Thought I'd toss them out here as well.

Comment on them in any way you like.

Edit: I hope that by linking other people's ideas I find good/interesting puts to rest the notion that I'm just trolling people....

The problem I see with hacking to gain intel is that id say its honestly too much risk vs the reward you get. Hacking gates, hacking a specific beacon in a system, all of these are or would be high volume areas of traffic in a system, easy pickings to kill someone who is in the middle of hacking. And whats the reward? From what I've seen suggested, basically information that you get in the star map view now, or local?

Its not good enough honestly, intel shouldn't come at no cost, but it shouldn't be only for scouts either. This would just turn most non-scout pilots into d-scan spamming maniacs like WH pilots. I don't think any local intel change introduced should make this practice more prevalent, as spamming a button constantly is not a good game mechanic. With local changes we need a personal mechanic to gather basic intelligence that isn't just plain button spam. Active and passive scanning would fix the issue of d-scan spamming, the issue of free local intel, any kind of AFK problem, and be a more immersive and active activity. I honestly think this is a slam dunk, and fits perfectly with EVE's system of risk vs. reward without being overly complex and logistically hellish.

Here's what happens when I hit JUMP on a gate into a system with a ratter in a belt:

1. I disappear off grid. There is a roughly five-second period of time during which my ship is still visible on the overview, but I cannot be targeted. Meanwhile, my name appears in the local channel of the neighboring system.

2. The vigilant ratter, having seen my name pop up in local, has plenty of time to pull drones and align to a safe spot or station. From the time that I hit JUMP to the time that I load grid on the ratter's side of the gate, I have been in local for ten seconds.

3. Having finally loaded grid, I see my prey in local channel. But they have already hit warp, and if they haven't, they're aligning to warp, and even in the rare instance that they haven't, they still have time to align and warp before I can figure out exactly where the ratter is.

This is what happens in literally 99% of all instances in which I enter a new system and see a lonely neutral in local. Watching local isn't hard; in fact, with 1.2, it's even easier to see when somebody enters local because IT FLASHES BRIGHT WHITE. Thanks, CCP, for making my already near-impossible job even harder. The only way I can catch a ratter now is if their screen is minimized so they can watch that Firefly episode with Christina Hendricks for the millionth time.

If local, as has been demonstrated, has such a significant impact on gameplay, why isn't it affected by gameplay?

Specifically, why can't pilots target and attack this gameplay element?

Why isn't local, actually in the game?

Here we go, from the May 2012 CSM Meeting Minutes:



TL;DR--Carriers are putting too much isk into the game. It needs a nerf. Either prevent people from ratting in carriers or increase the risk of ratting in a carrier. In short, more ratting carriers need to die given the level of rewards they currently earn.

The problem is that too much isk was flowing into the economy.

And you are missing t he point here Lucas, which is that CCP realizes it has two ways to respond to an imbalance:

1. Increase risk,
2. Decrease rewards.

Nothing is static or beyond being changed, in CCP's view. Even if they change local and it has a deleterious effect on other types of PvE, that PvE could get a boost to rewards to off set the increased risk.

Why is any game mechanic there? Why don;t I have to manually rotate my guns? Why don't I have to just look in space to see what's on grid with me? Why do I have a quick menu to select celestials in system?

Because it's a game and mechanics are good for that. Not every single little piece of the entire game needs to be player driven. At some point you get to a situation like now, where any change is going to cause most people to simply have less fun.

Also, something that is not being brought up at all is the risk the ganker faces is already nil, even though people are advocating for ways to make it easier for gankers to get their reward.

Can we please stop talking about Gankers? It's such a marginal gameplay style!

This is not a ganking thread, or one intended to be.

Yes it is, because anyone who has played this game for any amount of time knows that all the hand wringing over local and 'free intel' and immersion is really just looking for a buff to ganking soft targets.