EVE General Discussion

Indeed, and those of us on flip side of that:

Random-Wardeccer-Corp are trade hub campers, said trade hub is 25-30 jumps away, knowing whether or not said campers are online is a critical factor in deciding whether or not that hub is accessible for trade related activities. Locator agents are useless - by the time you get a response from a locator and you get to the location with a scout to check, unless the target is actually online and in system you can't tell if its offline, or online in another system.

Yes, you can have a scout in the system and re-activate your locator, and confirm a pilot is offline (I think, honestly I've never wasted my time locating an offline player). But knowing which enemy players to get eyes on is important - either by scout or locator or both. This is a valid concern on both the agressing and defending side of a wardec, no watchlist hurts both sides.

Yes, there are other trade hubs - but as anyone who watches the market will see very quickly, not all trade hubs are equal.

So even if a wardeccer doesn't come to you, and trade hub campers generally won't if you live away from the hubs, knowing if they're on or off is important for travelling.



Those of you saying just use locator agents - do you have access to 50+ level 3 and 4 locator agents near you? I suspect most people don't, not without having to go all over the region if not more. It's much more reasonable to only put locates on the online players.


Not saying that no watch list will make it impossible to play, but even adapting to it - its going to be a major pain to not know if the guy you're trying to get eyes on (to either chase or avoid) is even online.

We will adapt, will make for interesting scenarios in low/null of drops and counter drops and counter counter drops of capitals, when we don't truely know what the other side has active, oh wait, neutral eyes..

Not liking this change one bit....Now no one will have the ability to know if a red has logged in system or not, unfair advantage to PVP pilots.........

Why not?

The fact that you think this is a real question that needs to be asked of EVE is why I've lost faith in EVE's ability to deliver the PVP experience it's meant to be anymore, because this is one small part of many changes that I expect will lead to pandering to the 'highsec should be safe' crowd. People that are asking this question are the reason for that, because the question already has an answer.

I live and hunt in highsec because I live and hunt in EVE, and sec status is irrelevant, because it's all EVE.

And that is what people who ask this question can't comprehend, that this game is in some way divided into areas where only certain things are permissable. You treat it like every other game on the market, but it's not every other game on the market, and because you've been unable to accept that, it's going to become every other game on the market.

Frankly, I refuse to allow my money to go towards a development process that will see EVE become not EVE anymore, and I feel like this is just the first small degree increase in a slowly boiling pot, and we're the frogs. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'll come back in a years time and see my concerns were not justified, but I'm pulling out now and I'll watch from the outside to see what happens. In my opinion, though, a lot of the changes that I've been seeing over the past 12 months, maybe more, have been edging towards an experience that is not within the nature of EVE.

And INB4 someone attempts to critique me for just not liking change - I've loved some of the changes. Some of the better changes are the reason why I'm still here despite being in heavy objection to some of the poorer ones. That all changes with this patch. As a hunted individual within EVE online, hunted by a variety of people I've made salty throughout the years, and as a single account holder, how am I supposed to see them coming? Get a second account? If this change makes it impossible for me to operate with just one account, then that in and of itself is reason enough to bail now.

But, after putting some thought into it, I realise that my nemeses will also no longer be able to watchlist me. Well, depending on how much they hate me, they may set up locally with me, which is fine if they really want to do that I suppose, because it's a mutual thing, isn't it? As long as I can or cannot keep tabs on them, they are in the same boat. I get that now, after a few days of thinking about it. But it's still a move in a direction I'm uncomfortable with, amongst many other such moves, that make me wanna pull my sub for now and watch how things develop.

But this question you asked is a non-question. It is redundant. It is the exact same question as "why play EVE at all?" Because highsec, lowsec, nulsec, anoikis, thera, it's all EVE. The whole thing is MEANT to be a player-driven PVP environment. If we do take your question at face value, if we take it seriously as a non-redundant question, then the most honest answer is, "because I want to, and because I can, because that's what EVE is about".

Unfair advantage to those pvp'rs that jump in to system looking for ratter's! book mark wreck's etc............the rest is easy to work out.

No not fair.

Well, I immediately jumped in after down time and tested this.

It's broken.

• Added alt as buddy. Shows to be offline. Working as intended, right?
• Added my main as they alt's buddy. My alt sees my main as online, but I never get a status update on the alt. okay, that's not right.
• Remove the alt as a buddy. My alt continues to get online status, even with a session change.
• Add the alt back as a buddy, still do not get online status for the alt.

Good job, CCP.

edit: okay, after some more experimentation I think I understand what' happening here. I removed my alt from my list and logged, but the alt still shows me as being online. This is a terrible way to implement a buddy list.

When you add someone to your buddy list, it seems to do a check on whether you can know their online status. If they have you on THEIR buddy list, it will immediately give their status. If not, you have to wait for them to log out and back in to know they are online...even if they add you before then. If I then remove you from my buddy list, you will simply stop getting updates and continue to show the last status until you log off.

How it SHOULD have worked: when my alt added me as a buddy and it did the check for the mutual watchlist, my client should have been given a status update as if he had just logged in. Also, when I removed the alt, a status update showing me as logged off should have been sent.

As it stands ours clients actively give us wrong information because this was half-assed.

That's what will happen. Personally, I'm taking a different approach specifically because I abhor the mentality behind sitting on a hub or gate and picking off just the people who blunder into you.



For me, it's a unique challenge. I've lurked in wspace, watching prey until i found the perfect time to hit them so that they couldn't respond in force before I was off the grid or cloaked. i've roamed null in small gangs looking for fights and gone whale hunting with bombers bar. What I find compelling about hunting in highsec is that you don't have to be concerned about random blobs crashing the party or the efforts of completely unrelated parties spoiling your hunt. It's just you and your targets. It's a boxing match rather than a brawl.




Highsec warfare has a slower pace and rewards preparation and patience. It's not just ganking. it always amazes me how many people have such strong opinions on it when they've never been involved in it.

That watchlist is merely a heads up to know who to expect in Local.
Or a suggestion notification.

That's sensitive information given away for free, kinda too easy in a game like EVE...

I expect a lot more supers and titans going down from now on! No watchlist, no more "PL logged on their titans, get safe!"

I personally like the change. I just think (as mentioned before) that locator agents, and how they work should be reworked so that the intel is still available but a clear part of the games mechanics. Not just add someone from eve who and have free intel. Maybe new skills should be introduced to let you train into locating people or something. I think having the location of players and knowing they're online is fine if it's part of the game and has mechanics and even counters maybe? This could be a really cool part of the game if done right. Though I'm not sure what right is... but I'm not a game dev

In a game this deep and where everything is earned and lost - the watch list is just cheap in my opinion.. Just my 2 pence.