Player Features and Ideas Discussion

So you want to SOLO, but with Links..... Hmmmm OK.

Despite the discussion about ion/off grid links, your OP really smacks of "Waaaa other peoples play styles are different than mine. Change the game!!!"


Also nobody is stopping you bringing your link friend On-Grid... I wouldn't advise it, but nobody is stopping you.

On-grid boosting would be useless in large fleet fights as they would get alpha'd instantly. Also gridfu is still a problem.

Problem is the game really can't cater to solo. Make solo uber somehow and people will still group up and be even more uber.

CCP's MMO focus has to be in place. They know a larger part of the player base will group up. And not jsut for "We win" fleet/roam setups. Many group up to be you know....social. The whole

hey john, remember that little trip we took through catch a few weeks ago?

Yeah, yeah....some good times there man.

Eve kind of like rl...you can go the bar solo and drink alone. Or you can call up your friend and say its bar hopping time. latter tends to be more fun.

Or others approach to this game is specialization. OP and others like him seem to like generic eve action to be the all in one lone ship. Which is all good, sandbox game. Then you have peeps like me who at some point like specialties and odd ball fits.

One of my fun wolf fits is fleet support required. I to resolve the dilemma of how to tank and gank a wolf at the same time run MSE fit and gyro/te the lows. YOu might be asking wheres the point? Is none. I rely on others to tackle and a shield linker to boost tank is never kicked out of bed as it were. Lots of caveats to thiis build granted. But.....it hits pretty damn hard lol. I find it a nice break from the more common wolf fits.

While I agree about your general sentiment about links, those Malediction stats can be achieved by merely overheating. Shouldn't blame links for everything.

Praise the Lord! A man with some sense! All too rare around these parts.

All valid points; I understand solo is an uphill battle, that's what makes it exhilarating. It's plenty steep without adding the stupidity of off grid boosters though. I can deal with almost any conventional threat by just flying intelligently with the scanner, knowing my engagement profile, etc.

It is, however, much more difficult to manage a stupidly fast interceptor with stupidly long points, or a frigate that tanks stupidly well, (the list goes on) without knowing that my target is even linked until I'm on grid with them.


To another poster, I like the T2 booster Destroyer idea; I think it's a great one. Again, needs to require links to function only on grid.

I typically can't overheat my MWD for 2-3 minutes straight, or my points.

If you know how, hook it up with that secret.

OGB is a problem because it's easier for "elite solo pvp" players to pass off as actually solo players when they are anything but. I have no problem with boosts themselves, what I do have a problem with is them being difficult to pin down and out of reach. If you are soloing you will not find them, you need near maxed probing skills, plus a bonused ship at the very least. You need minimum two accounts as to find and kill the off-grid booster just because he isn't off-grid. If you are using two accounts in the first place, why not just use a booster?

To nip the implant argument in the bud, snakes (etc) are fine because the only thing keeping other players away from it is in game cost. They do not require a second account, they do not require additional micromanagement and they certainly don't slow down the game waiting for "elite solo pvpers" to get their OGBs safed up before they engage.

Another solution that I would accept is the warfare link subsystem should be in the same group as the covert subsystem. This would allow for much easier capture of boosting T3s on gates. There needs to be risk somewhere, and risking that someone with perfect probe skills, implants and a bonused ship is going to probe you down, get a warp in on you for someone else who can actually hold you down and they are going to tackle you before you hit warp to your next aligned safespot or celestial is remote. Not to mention that most OGB users would likely ***** out as soon as they saw probes and getting a single scan warp in on a boosting T3? Hilarious. Being able to be caught on gates by interceptors is much better. OGBs would not move without scout and/or fleet support, and gatecamped systems would amusingly be the best systems to solo in.

I actually like the above solution best I think, it doesn't hurt small-medium gang pvp too much, outside of not being able to scout with said OGB anymore. For small groups of people (3-5?) it would hurt, and probably significantly, but it's difficult to cater to every group and there are plenty of other dirty tricks you can use in a small gang as force multipliers like ECM or using ships that cater more to guerilla play. The people who this would hurt the most, intentionally, are the "elite solo pvpers". No one deserves more disdain (of the people who break things) than these people. They use OGBs and then claim they are solo pvpers. Yet using a falcon alt is much riskier than OGBs but is met with rage. These people call you risk adverse, and yet they only risk a very small portion of their effective strength.

LG snakes = ~500 million
OGB T3 = http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=21375191 (alt)
Fitted Slasher = http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=21379717 (main)
Actual isk at risk: Only the Slasher. Cheap as chips in comparison to the total value.

Note that I do not know if Transmaritanus uses implants but it's a pretty safe bet but that is definitely his booster alt so the overall example is fairly valid.

Note that not every person who plays with a booster alt assisting his single combat ship claims they are elite solo pvp, not every booster user deserves disdain for their playstyle. The fact remains, however, that a percentage of their isk that is part of the fight is for all intents and purposes inaccessible to the people participating in the fight unless you bring a very specialized ship to counter it. This argument also applies for snakes and other direct combat implants too, but you don't need a second account for them first of all, and I don't want to touch the uncatchable pod in low sec argument with a 10 foot pole.

tl;dr : OGB prevents me from breaking your more expensive stuff and it's too safe for what it provides

Making links work on-grid only is a smokescreen, it obscures the real issue that links are simply overpowered wherever they are. Relative to the stats of the relevant modules such as overdrives or SDAs, bonuses of 30% to speed and tackle range or 20-30% to ewar strength are vastly excessive even if the modules only affected the host ship, let alone the entire fleet.

The magnitudes of these bonuses puts anyone too new or stupid to be flying without links at such a disadvantage that links are commonly seen as "essential". That's bad game design.

Links are actually the biggest newbie and gamekiller in general.
I knew whole corporations of 80+ that stoppend playing mostly because the opponents had links 24/7.
So people stopped playing when they had not their own links and it happened that people stopped playing in general.
The corp of 80+ btw doesn´t exist any more. Mostly because of lacking 2 links^^

Actually I am in an alliance where a part of us recruits newbies and runs training courses almost daily. Now explain a two week old player: Well a 2 month old toon can kill a 2 year old toon, yes. But a 2 month old toon can´t kill a 2week old toon with links^^.
It begins again that people are scared when they can´t counter links with links and stop playing.
CCP is digging his own grave here.
They may have the 6000 veterans logging in almost daily with 30k subscriptions in total. But most of the new players run away like hell. Links are ruining the game completely and I only wait until a "but without links I can´t do 4vs1" idiot trolls me.
Then stop doing 4vs1^^. and grow some balls.

I love it when people without links are logging because they can´t do anything because there is a fleet in system with links^^.
Yeah CCP dig deeper....
There are even experienced fcs who ran away from the other fleet after at first loki and legion booster jumped in to sys and cloaked. Okay, they have 2 links, we have only one, sowe gonna dock^^. Okay players dock up and stop playing for today.

Ah and not to mention that total **** with linked interceptors now. If anyone know how to kill them apart from smartbombing please send me a mail. I fitted caracals with range rigs and fofs. Dead cara. We had lonely interceptor fighting 6 arty thrashers.... dead arty thrashers. We tried nados, vex navy with sentries.... gratz CCP. You have "linked interceptors" online soon.

FYI 7km malediction has nothing to do with links, I can pump out a 10km malediction without even using links just default t2 equipment +imps and a lil over heating. considering your a character from 2007 I would of thought you would at least do some background work off of your own back to work out fits and how potentially fast certain ships go, especially after patch changes to those ship types.