EVE General Discussion

EVE combat is not balanced with solo players in mind. Choosing to limit yourself by flying solo is e-honor and success wouldn't command nearly as much respect if it were made to be easy and balanced. Solo is all about fighting against the odds (in the process stacking them back in your favour as much as possible) and succeeding where success seems improbable.

Nobody said you had to fly solo, success is certainly not guaranteed, nor do you need to pay for a second account to make friends and fly with them.

That isn't to say that links don't require attention regarding the effortless application of links to a group over an entire solar system which make it very hard for a gang to target the links (not to mention the above par resilience of link-providing ships on top of that). Just that solo is an inherently unbalanced position and thus cannot be balanced for.

I am entirely aware of what it is to fight solo in EVE, but thanks for the beginners tutorial. I'm not saying it should be risk free, I'm saying that in ANY given situation, solo or otherwise, combatants need the ability to quantify the risks they are up against. Because as it is, many fights are going unfought as a result of paranoia from one party or another over what the other party might be hiding. A lot of PVP is going to waste because of it.

And I would also just like to remind anyone that might think otherwise that I'm not arguing in support of the OP for a nerf to links, I just want to see them on grid.

A little while ago, I was trying out a Ferox fit. Having never flown a Ferox before, and being the kind that likes to learn for himself, I dove into lowsec for some solo PVP. None of my corp was around, and there were no active blues in the area to help me. I was completely alone, expecting to die, but determined to try to kill something anyway. I knew the risk I was taking - I could be hotdropped by bait, lured into any number of traps or just simply blobbed by a surprise butsexx gatecamp.

Lo, eventually I grew bored, stopped roaming and started ratting, waiting for a neutral to enter system and either hunt me or go ratting himself, so I could hunt him. It wasn't long before a Cynabal entered system.

I waited, not entirely sure how my fit would fair against a Cynabal, but keen to find out. He landed on grid - he was hunting me, which I love - and we engaged. I actually had him in very low armour when two more neutrals entered local.

Turned out, he was mutliboxing two logi, an exeq and an aug. Was I ******? Sure, no one likes being duped. You would be ****** too. Did I get over it? Of course I did. Do I have a problem with multiboxing or logi? Hell no, he did what he could to win. So what? If I'd had friends available, I would have called them in the moment the neutrals entered local.

I'm not saying that PVP needs to be 'fair'. The 'unfairness' is half the excitement. The potential for it is what makes PVP in EVE so unique. It's why your heart races when you engage.

But what if he'd brought an off-grid booster in and parked it in a safe instead after the fight had begun? It probably would have made no difference to my predicament on that particular occasion, but if I'd had friends around, they could have come help me deal with the logi. The booster? It'd take time to probe, and he could just bounce around the system avoiding the probes and any chance of being stopped. Would I have even known the new neutral in local was a booster? << This last one is the main problem, I'd have no way to quantify the risk and weigh up my opponent.

There would have been other ways my friends could have helped me of course, but the way they are now, links are providing a huge benefit with little risk. I don't want the benefit gone, I want the risk to be balanced.

Because the Velator rocks. Ibis is rubbish.

Not particularly.

Old enough to know the difference between those that will come and whinge in the forum and those that will just get on with adapting to changes in the game.

Well if you try to avoid being scanned by moving around a lot, you won't be running your links much amirite :>

Anyway, seems CCP has set their mind to bringing links on the grid ...

If only you could scan down offgrid boosters...

This is turning into a new-age "Please don't nerf my Falcon Alt" thread. The non-arguments of the people who want the status quo haven't changed in years.

Links are overpowered but countermeasures do exist.

Namely, scan down the boosting ship, blow it up, then send the pilot a trollmail.