Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I would like to propose a change to npc enemy groups who hang out on low / null sec gates.

Currently, gate camp teams are able to sit on a gate (with a citadel just off the gate) and camp the gate for hours at a time. This behavior in places such as Tama / Nour block traffic (mostly new eve subscribers) to Faction Warfare low sec systems. Gate camping is all fine and dandy, however, the gate guns (and mechanics) are a joke.

Missions are there for those who enjoy the grinding aspect of the game. Gate camping should not be a permanent grinding mechanic where the grind is on new eve subscribers / players. This pushes new frustrated players out of the game, lowering income for CCP.

I propose that npc enemy gate groups grow in ship number, ship size, and ship strength - determined by how much time they spend interacting with real player targets.

The idea is that while an npc group is engaged with real players, its difficulty level timer increases. While an npc group is disengaged, its difficulty level timer decreases. The timer starts at 10min. If the timer increases to 20min, the npc group grows (by reinforcement warp in) to the next level of difficulty - and the timer restarts at 10min. If the timer decreases to zero, the npc group shrinks (by partial ship warp off) to the previous level difficulty.

If an npc enemy is killed, +30 sec is added to the difficulty timer's current count.
If all npc enemies are killed, the difficulty timer can only increase until 20min is reached and the next difficulty level warps in when 20min is reached.

Note: The next level difficulty reinforcements group that warps in contains the number of ships that maxes out the number of ships on the gate for the current difficulty level. Example: If difficulty level 1 includes 5 ships, 4 are killed, and then 1 is ignored and damage done by it repaired until the timer runs to 20min, then reinforcements will warp in with 6 ships for a total of 7 ships on the gate. *This assumes diffficulty level 2 is set at 7 ships.

With this setup, the first reinforcements will likely not warp in for at least 20min because the initial gate difficulty level timer will have fallen to zero and have to count back up to 20min. After that, each level of reinforcement will take 10min if constantly aggroed.

This dynamic gate camp mechanic will force gate camp teams to move around to different gates instead of continually camping only one popular gate. They can come back to their popular gate camp spot once the difficulty level timers have cooled back down. If a gate is camped for an hour, it will take about in hour for the reinforcements to cool back down to initial state.

Not if the npc enemy group keeps growing in size, ship/size, and strength. Eventually, the npc group will become to much for any camp team to handle. It will become a matter of how long a team is able to camp a gate.

The amount of time it takes to build an npc enemy gate group up is equivalent to the amount of time it takes for that npc enemy gate group to die back down. And the team building the npc enemy group up will likely lose ships in the process if not careful.

Also, this is not a defensive measure to secure a system. It is meant to limit the amount of time a camp team can camp a gate to get free kills on new players in popular areas.

I feel like you did not read the full post and are just commenting based on the title.

Please feel free to tell me how it will not work. I think your mindset is all Null sec, but there is a constant camp on tama / nour. People can not just keep throwing more ships at a gate to support the camp. Eventually the camp team will be pushed / destroyed off the gate.

As far as abusing goes, I have no problems warping through a gate with any number of npc enemies on it. No matter how big the npc group got, a solo ship would still have no problem getting through the gate. The only threat here is to people who sit on the gate instead of just jumping through it and moving on.

It doesnt prevent camping, just puts a limit on camping time for any one gate.

This would not fit thematically with EvE's core tenet of being completely player driven.
NPCs that can break a gatecamp are npcs that break the game.
The camp, being player made, must be defeated by players and not some arbitrary mechanic.

CONCORD is the only npc of this nature that we should tolerate.
/glares at faction police

Its not fun for players who like to solo pvp is it? Fun is determined differently by everyone. One shouldn't have to go around (ten jumps longer) to do some solo faction warfare because "snuffed out" constantly sits on tama / nour. They even call it #TeamTama, where they are mostly just wiping out noobs who don't know any better.

Not an option for new players. Especially when state clones come out.

Ok, so there is a problem with a team gate camping tama / nour 24/7, mainly camping new players for their isk. Since my solution is so bad, I challenge you to provide a solution instead of just whining about how bad my solution is and how much it wont work.

If you want to get rid of gate camps, then organise some players and go do it.

Get ****** with the NPC's should do it ****. Stop being a carebear scrub and take responsibility for it yourself.


Bullshit.

The 'think of the children' argument is weak when it comes to lowsec gate camps. If children don't want to get hit, stay in highsec. Also there is no discrimination on the nourv gate. Everyone is treated equally.

And neither should the efforts of players be completely overpowered by npc mechanics because you think you're entitled to go somewhere you're not. Eve is a game where the players are the content.

You want to get through a camp? Earn it. Put in the effort, the time and the skill to either slip by or force your way through. Get 100 noobs and roflstomp the camp in dessies and t1 cruisers. Do that and you'll understand what makes eve the amazing game it is.