Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I live in a country where running my own business means I spend 4-5 hours a month doing mindless record keeping for the tax department. I did that today. While I did that I had eve running on my secondary monitor. I had an alt docked in a pipe system entering a well populated 0.0 region. When ever a gap appeared in my list of green stars, blue stars and blue crosses I linked the name beside the gap into a regional intel channel that I know was being monitored over 28 jumps away.

I watched as players next door did the same, and the players next door to them, and the players next door to them...

It may not be instant, but any decent 0.0 sov holder has this system organised to the point where an average pilot like me can travel the same pipe that 2-3 separate groups of hostiles are using, only caring about the hostiles if they are in system at either end of a jump bridge I want to use.

When I haz ratz and shooz ze with my Marauderz in baztion mode, I haz to readz localz in nullz, or elze yourz zeptorz might tackle uz 8-{

So what ?

AFK is as AFK does. Local doesn't tell you who's away from their keyboard or not, and neither would the amendment I propose. ;)

You, me and the next guy -- we're either paying attention to our screen or not. It cuts both ways.

This is why null local should remain exactly like it is. So what if we can see who you are when you only have to send one pilot in to find a target for 20+ other pilots?

Besides, OP's complaint is that his targets know what he flies, not just who he is. This is his own fault, not local channel's. If you didn't continously hunt the same areas over and over and over and over and over again, you'd probably get more targets. Ask any RL hunter.

Actually, that was not full disclosure of significant details.

Would 20+ pilots have ANY realistic chance of finding targets, with local present in it's current form?
Only consensual ones. Kind of like an arena game throwing out invitations, anyone not interested can easily avoid such an obvious presence.

The population spike, which is absurdly obvious and easy to notice, makes direct presence play an awful idea.
BECAUSE of local, we need the cyno, not the other way around. This cyno approach exists because local makes it necessary.

PvP is not supposed to require consent.
Good luck catching anyone except by choice, with local.

I would be, if wormhole space was not effectively such a fringe aspect of the game as a whole.

Unfortunately, WH living is an extreme play style, which also excludes all of this:

Live and stable gate connections to other sections of space, and between internal systems.
Outposts, NPC and player built both. This includes the sub category of med clones and jump clones as an additional difference.
The Market. Present in all it's glory, even if only stocked by player activity and some minor NPC items.
Cyno capability, both covert and regular.

Local not being present is simply not the defining element of a WH. It is simply one among many differences.

CCP This must become a Sticky!!!

Null Sec is a very safe place to be. Intel channels run by alliances and across coalitions of alliances provide incredible intel on the movement of neutrals from single players right through to large gangs.

You can safely semi afk in null sec and never have to worry about being dropped on by anyone travelling by stargate. The only real danger is WH guys dropping through and cyno's. But if anyone is normally within a couple of jumps of you, or a potential cyno is in system, most players just safe up or dock up.

Local is the source of information for the intel channels and needs to be addressed if null sec is to represent the third tier of EVE security levels, and I would agree with other posts that null sec is a lot safer than high sec and low sec.

Null Sec

Remove local in its current form and replace with a system that requires deployables which are easily destroyed. This enables players to remove these deployables before major operations if they believe this provides a strategic advantage. This should be able to be accomplished by a small gang in cruiser sized ships.

Provide a short radius for reporting neutrals perhaps 350km. Cloaked ships wouldn't appear in this radar range.

Don't allow these to be instant reports on neutrals but allow it to scale with the number of neutrals which jump into system at the same time. 1 - 5 neutrals might take 5 minutes to report activity, 20+ might be 10 sec.

Once the report has occurred the system wouldn't report exits from a system. Once the initial report has been produced remove the report after 1 min. It shouldn't be a permanent report for the system just a quick notification requiring players to stay alert.

High Sec
Would have the current local system as Concord wants to keep tabs on all players in the system and wants to know at all times where they are located, including if a player has attacked another player.

Low Sec
Might have Concord monitoring activity constantly at gates and stations which they regularly patrol but away from these protected areas Low Sec would operate the same as Null Sec. There may be longer report periods and people exiting systems would be reported by Concord.

+1

With the Devs doing quicker updates/cyc/es/whatevers, is it really beyond them to say, "Fine! We've had 3 billion threads asking for a removal of local (altogether/just in nullsec/take your pick). So, since we're on six-week cycles, we'll give each idea a six-week window to prove itself through experimentation rather than conjecture on the forums"?

I'm not going to argue for or against the idea itself, but since the mechanics are already encoded in the game (thanks to wormhole space), they can just alter which areas of space are effected. Let's just settle the damn arguments already. The worst that can happen is some groups are mildly inconvenienced for a short period of time. The best that can happen is that one of the ideas becomes really popular and becomes implemented, or none of the ideas pan out and we can just drop the subject already.

Devs! Time to make it so.

The intel channels run by alliances and coalitions are quick and easy for players to report, simply by dragging and dropping the player name, system etc. It takes two secs and you can have half of EVE aware of a neutral player or group moving through a system.

With larger groups the intel becomes very regular and detailed. This is not a bad thing and is developed by alliances and creates great content.

The issue is the local window broadcasting everyone in a system, their details, when they enter and when they leave. This is totally overpowered and eliminates content from EVE.

As soon as a neutral player enters a system occupied by an alliance member, the intel report goes up to the whole alliance and everyone within X jumps will move immediately to a safe or a station.

You can roam through null sec for hours not finding anyone unless they are AFK, a newbie or someone who wants a fight and brought 10 players with them.

Why is null sec stagnate = The Local Window is a big part of the issue.

Remove the Local Window and replace with deployables which provide limited range and time notification to the players in the system.

Have the system pull down reports on players after 1 min (or some other timeframe) instead of the current instant and cotinuous reporting process Local provides.