Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I know why they did it, to make exploration easier for the new players..... but

1) too easy to explore = boring
2) not enough sites = boring


Has no real lasting value as is....... where is

To go where no man has gone before.

I feel the same, but I think that ship has sailed. I do think CCP should add sites, that aren't registered on the ship scanner in any way. Effort needs to be made to even be aware of them in the system or don't even bother. This content is not for everyone. It's for people going around and properly looking for things to find. It is for explorers.

My own desire of enjoying that much more then current pseudo-exploration aside, my reasoning for the need to add things like this can be highlighted with a simple question: Can you find exploration content outside the signals your ship scanner automatically highlights for every player? Answer the intent of that question and not the letter, please. Currently the answer is clearly no and as long as that answer remains no, EVE has no proper exploration as far as I'm concerned. What EVE has is closer to an automatic tourist map and that is not exploration. I'm sure it is more popular then just going out in the city and see what you can find, but again it isn't exploration and it will never scratch that particular itch no matter how many sites or rewards you pile on top of that system.

can we at least put ore belts back to sigs :/

Since the change I have wished of a tier based system along the lines of missions.
We start at a level 1 site that would be scan-able by anyone with the minimum skills and set of probes.
As you go up the sites would get harder to scan ending up with.
Level 4 sites that would require all level 5 skills, a tech 2 ship and sisters probes/launcher as a minimum to be able to scan them.

This way there are easy sites for the new or lower skilled characters and sites that would reward those who choose to take the time and ISK for the needed equipment. As a scanner it is rather dis-heartening to know that anyone with a few hours of training and cheap equipment can find and lock down everything I can.

Why not give ships a probe scanner detection range? Ships more suited would have a larger range. No range would be able to cover an entire solar system (at least not all systems). It could even be based on ship skill level or a role bonus.

Typical combat ships would have say 24 AU range, T2 ships would either have slightly more or slightly less depending on the type of ship. If it is combat focused it would have a similar or smaller range (12-30 AU), if it's support related it would have decently higher (34-45AU range), if it is focused in probing it's range would be much larger (50+ AU)

Equipping a probe launcher on a ship could, based on skills, boost the detection range by 5% per some current or new scanning skill level.

This increases the skill ceiling for explorers while keeping wormholers from having a hissy fit about not seeing a new connection. Further it increases the strength of dedicated probing ships and diversifies those that are currently around further.

Another idea that could work in conjunction with this would be new (or even current) sites that spawn in near interstellar space. These wouldn't show up on the typical scanner (assuming the idea above didn't exist) and would require players probe in the space decently outside the typical orbits of the planets. This could also herald the return of DSP as a mechanic to help hunt down these sites. Perhaps even a module to boost the max scan range of core or even combat probes.

Newer players with lesser skills and experience would stick to probing down local celestial based sites while more experienced players would be able to focus on the more difficult to find sites on the outskits of systems.

Combining the two ideas would apply the best boost to the skill ceiling of exploration.

NOTE: All values are hypothetical and do not reflect practical applications. They merely exist to show the point of how the idea could work and could be subject to any balance to allow the idea to work properly without being over or under powered.