EVE General Discussion

Same from me, wardecs are one of the things that got me engaged. My first long term corp I joined in Empire when it was committed to building itself then going to null. It was a mix of vets (mostly fleet grunts rather than fcs/small gang specialists) and rookies. We wanted to research as a corp to build funds etc so a lot of us ground out the standings then slapped up towers in .5 systems and found ourselves wardecced by a local pirate alliance 200+. It's still one of the best weeks I've ever had ingame. We fully deployed to our POS system, stocked the towers with ships and smacked like muppets. I podded the alliance leader on the first day and he never came back to system. At the end of it 3 of the wts convoed me and asked us to extend the dec because it was the best one they'd had.

We had six months of wardecs before we went to NPC null. Some were crappy because they used neutral RR and alt spies etc, but they always gave GFs because we did come out and fight. Two of the funniest ones, the first the minute the dec went live we took 30 people to their system and asked for 1v1s etc and the only person online cowered in station smacking like mad, then logged off and dropped the dec. The other was a proper griefer corp who had multiple decs up on soft targets, so we checked the other wars and set up mutual channels, then baited the gobbiest into losing an 8b fit Vindi on station. Funnily enough, he ran off for a week and hid as well. Those were a while ago, and I know mechanics have changed but I've had a lot of decs since then on my alt alliance, which I typically ignored except to send warning mails and occasionally on/offline tower defences. Red Frog have been a massive help in maintaining Indy operations to the point I quit hauling permenantly.

Leading to my point(s) which are largely about communication. Wardecs can be really positive if people have the tools to fight back - and yes they should be motivated to find them - but it's hard work for corps and players unused to interracting outside their normal spheres. There are various system channels ingame, but no combat channel. When wardecs go live there's this panic whilst people flounder about on the forums looking for help, but the forums are typically hostile and they can't engage with other people properly. Constellation channels aren't in use, which in Empire could be improved. If a corp or alliance wardecs various targets why doesn't a mutual dec channel just pop up (like incursions). Yes, it would be subject to risk, but the point is to get people to engage - so who cares. Stick a warning in the MOTD.

Having said that, if people are so genuinely averse to combat. PAY SOMEONE TO COUNTER-DEC. Fgs. What's the point of farming all that ISK if you're not prepared to spend it. On one hand, those types of players are greedy themeparkers much of the time who would rather whine than pay. On the other, the tools for finding defensive allies are not all that strong - think how many use the forums and whether C&P is actually all that effective. Where's the Merc channel ingame, or Merc Finder?

tl;dr decs are fine but the player attitude isn't helped by poor tools ingame
That bug with players showing as neut when they switch corps should be considered an exploit really. Players should just be forced to relog when they switch corps/alliances, it's just as annoying to their new blues.

If a surrender is accepted within the 24-hour warm-up before fighting can occur, the surrender should be processed immediately rather than also waiting for a 24-hour period. It's way too obscure and potentially exploitable that, even after surrendering to you before combat becomes legal, there will still be a window where you can legally attack them.