Player Features and Ideas Discussion

A couple of observations here. Yes, people can log in look at local, see that bad guy, and wait see that he is not leaving and log off. However, that kind of mindset is not really in line with the spirit of this game. You are not guaranteed any sort of “safe space” anywhere. Game mechanics do offer “safer” space (i.e. HS), but no space is 100% safe.

I have noted before that you can try to find out information about that AFK cloaker. For instance go to the killboards and look them up. Check their corp history as well. Find out some information on that corporation also via killboards—i.e. when are they most active in terms of kills. Go to Dotlan and look up any information there. Sometimes corporations will tell you their location (e.g. “We are primarily a German corp….”). Note, if you can, their TZ. If their TZs are different than yours, well then you can assign a higher probability that they are AFK.

You could try baiting them, not to kill them so much as to get them to try and kill you. For example, try using an epithal and hitting a number of the POCOs in system. Try moving between systems with your epithal. See if you can’t actually get killed. The more he ignores you the more likely he is actually AFK.

Now, none of this will tell you for sure if he is AFK, but it can help.

As for getting people to move to a more PvP mindset…well there is a problem there. If you don’t have that mindset you probably aren’t going to be in NS for long. When you go to NS you should expect PvP. After all, you will have to fight for your space.

As for a cloaked ship at a safe being safe, that is true, but that safety comes with a heavy price. To keep that safety I cannot warp around (warping around runs the risk of being decloaked…no more safety). I cannot engage anything (to do so I’d have to decloak and be within targeting range, which most likely means I am in the targeting range of whatever I’m targeting). So, basically, if I do nothing I can remain very safe. But then…you too are safe. So there is symmetry in the safety.

As for local, sure the cloaked player benefits from local based one primary way: It is what makes cloaky camping effective. That YOU can see HIM in local is what induces you to not undock and lets him effect your game play.

Now the ratters/miners in NS benefit from local in a different way. Local, as an early warning system is awesome. It is never wrong, cannot be attacked or removed, and provides advance warning of a hostile coming into the system you are in. So much so, that if you are paying attention and got caught chances are you did something wrong or had some bad luck.

Throughout the 300 plus pages there are periodic discussions of how to address this. To change local to delayed chat, have the Observatory Array allow people who anchor one to recover to vary degrees aspects of local and one possibility is allowing for the scanning of cloaked ships. My preference is for a long scan time so that a guy who is ATK and cloaked can easily avoid being scanned down, after all the issue is AFK cloaking. At the same time a corporation/alliance’s intel system is now vulnerable to attack. If you refuse to defend it you will end up blind until you rebuild your intel system….which will put you at risk.

If you change local then you take care of the AFK complaints too. Lets face it, people only complain about it because they can see them in local.

The people who complain then refuse to undock because there is a not blue in local chat are not the people we should be catering to. They are demanding a nerf to the only thing that messes with their perfect intel system, something that cannot do anything at all because the pilot isn't even there. That worry over it might be there is the entire point of an AFK cloaker, its only use is to counter local chat.

Get rid of local chat and you get rid of the whines about AFK cloakers because you can no longer see that name in local all day. That is the only way you can nerf AFK cloaking without breaking the rest of the cloaking ships entirely. Cloaking mods are the single most restrictive mods to use in the entire game already. The game is already balanced.

Good lord the stupidity. Putting multi billion ISK blops on field is "zero risk?" If you took the advice you have been given, you could very easily kill them as they try to drop you. There's a lot of risk there.

Conversely, you have zero risk as the PvE-er, since if you are paying attention you can get away literally 100% of the time.

Stop calling for nerfs because you're too lazy to warp out of a site when ratting.

So you're flat out admitting it's not risky because PvE-ers won't pay attention and won't counter a drop? Do you hear yourself?

If you can't pay attention when playing, don't play in expensive ships in null. Super simple.

And again champ, every time you resort to personal insults, you just look silly. Do you know how to have a conversation like an adult?

You literally said "Not everyone is able to play to that level of attention hour after hour"

So you flat out are admitting you want to nerf gameplay to protect people who refuse to pay attention in null. Correct? It's a yes or no question.

I look forward to your response. And thanks again for the insults. You can't seem to hold a conversation above a 16 year old's maturity level.

You are asking to nerf the only counter to local and you are asking to brake all cloaking, just so you can stop a ship that can't move, can't target, can't shoot and has nobody at the controls.

Yes, I would say working as intended. Cloaking ships tend to be light on the firepower and tank for the most part.



Yes, but only if you are already both in system. Local does work as an advanced warning system for those already in system. That is, if you are in system and I jump in, you will see my name pop up in local before I see yours, if fact you’ll see me before I even load grid. So if you are paying attention and don’t have bad luck, my chances of catching you are minimal, a zeroth order approximation of that probability is probably 0. And that part is free to just the person already in system.



And it is a fact that it does not. For the person already in system it provides a small amount of time of advanced warning. You can check it out with an alt and your main. Put your alt in system, and jump your main in (you’ll also probably need two screens). I have tested this numerous times and it is indeed a fact.

An AFK flag will not increase content or conflict.

You calling someone lazy is somewhat ironic when you've admitted you are too lazy to warp out when ratting and a red shows up, and are too lazy to pay attention all the time when doing PvE