CSM Campaigns

Finding your place and working together

The single most important thing in EVE for a new player is to find a group to play with. One area is of course new player experience where CCP has done lot of good work and is continuing to do so. Huge an important part here would be stumbling into other players when doing the tutorials and following missions.

In many fantasy MMOs you have tasks that require more than one player to complete or some mission takes you to single location on a map to do something (e.g. kill X monsters) or a town. These problems that require multiple players or locations where you stumble on to others are really good ways to meet other players. EVE basically doesn't have similar aspects. You could go to Jita, but you don't really meet others.

So we need to find alternative ways for players to find each others or we need to find ways to create similar behavior into eve mechanic.

Some currently existing aspects that try to be in this direction are wormhole sites and incursions. Both are best done in groups while of course they can be done with single player with alts. I personally would like to see more problems that would be best solved with 3-5 players (requining focus from all). Of course we need things that can be done solo, but we allready have lot of those. For example null sec ratting doesn't really praise working as a group.


Easy to understand, hard to master

When it comes to game mechanics, missions or complexity I prefer this simple rule: Being good shouldn't come just from knowing how things work, but from mastery of applying that knowledge to practice.

For example missions and sites in EVE are known before (and all stats are in wikis/guides), thus they have nothing hard as long as you know how to google. In this area I love the development around mining operations and the AI.

In wormholes there are a lot of known and many not so known small details that when known can help you a lot. Some of these things might be bugs and some are just how this game is implemented. For example one can keep his wormhole system disconnected from rest of the cluster as long as he likes, presuming no incoming connections appear with someone coming in from those. While I benefit a lot of these I don't think hidden things are good for EVE in long run nor are they interesting.

Of course knowledge is required for one to master it and I for sure like that EVE is one of the hardest games I have ever played. Good example of mastering knowledge is good fleet commanding. Best null sec FCs can place their own fleet in correct position against the enemy and force the enemy to make mistakes. That is absolutely beautiful when executed well. Basic knowledge of why these fleets work as they do isn't really complicated, but using that knowledge to predict what the enemy will do is the mastery part.

So I think all game mechanics should be simple to understand and the information should be enough clear from the game, but to apply that knowledge should require skill.


Real problems are rarely simple

After some years working in IT support I have learned that people often come to ask action for a solution they have. Often after delving into the problem it can be seen that the solution the person had wasn't really the good one for his real problem. I think people tend to simplify problems and then choosing the first solution that comes to mind.

Using interesting topic of cloaky campers that comes up in reddit time to time as an example. Commonly the solution presented is to turn off the cloak module in some way e.g. using service in structures, consuming fuel or capacitor. Of course these kind of changes would be huge especially for the wormholes and exploration.

For this solution there are at least two underlying problems it tries to solve. In null you are in huge danger from the cynos. If some cloaked ship can light a cyno next to you, you are most likely dead. Also as far as I know the neutral ships affect the sov indexes in some way (at least indirectly).

So is the real problem the cloak module or combination of cloak and cyno? Or even interceptor with cyno? Or simply the cyno?

The point here is that even if I would best represent wormhole space, I try my best to think all of areas of space when looking for solutions. I also try to think about problems from different perspectives and players points of views. Problems aren't simple and so aren't the solutions.

Hello,

My question - what is your viewpoint regarding Faction standings and as a CSM member, what changes will you propose to CCP pertaining to game mechanics for Faction standings ?

Good luck to you in the upcoming CSM election.


DMC

Thanks for the reply but you didn't really give an answer to my question, other than you think they currently have no meaningful point in-game and are rather restrictive.

This game was founded with the premise of having a balance on 'Risk vs Reward' and 'Actions vs Consequences'. It takes time for players to ruin their Faction standings and as such it should also take time for players to repair those standings. In the past Characters were accountable for their actions in-game, now most everything has been dumbed down and turned into easy mode for the instant gratification crowd.

Now I agree there was a time long ago when having negative Faction standings prohibited players from enjoying all aspects of the game. That myth was due to players just accepting that consequence as fact instead of actually searching for a remedy to correct that situation. Course the process of standings repair should have been implemented to be more intuitive within the game instead of being so obscure.

Unfortunately CCP doesn't like to present things in Black & White. They prefer various shades of Gray and enjoy seeing the player base figure things out on their own. CCP distributes the content throughout the game for players to find and put the pieces together. Players then share that info with the community. That's what makes this game great.

I know because I use to be one of those players who felt victimized by negative Faction standings until I decided to do something about it. After 3 months of research in 2010, I created and shared the 'Faction Standing Repair Plan' ('The Plan') with the Eve Online community. Time and time again it proved itself to the playerbase that it not only easily and quickly repaired negative Faction standings, it also helped boost positive Faction standings as well.

One of the main points for having high Faction standings was the ability to anchor POS in High Security systems. Granted that aspect of Faction standing game mechanic was removed by CCP which in my opinion was a huge mistake. Another point for having high Faction standing is reduced Broker fees as well as reduced Refining fees in NPC stations.

Anyway, I'm sure we can all agree there's a few game mechanics that definitely need to be revised, including the one pertaining to Faction standings. I just wanted to know what your stance is for that topic.

Thanks again for the reply.


DMC

Thanks for the reply.

I agree that Faction standings should have a more meaningful purpose in game play. In my opinion CCP made a big mistake when they removed the need to have positive Faction standings to anchor POS in high sec space. Having that requirement made Faction standings mean something more instead of just a way to access Agents or to get lower Broker fees.

Now I would love to see more content pertaining to positive Faction standings be added to the game. However at this time my inquiry is based on the negative effects of Faction standings to the playerbase. Since it takes time for players to ruin their Faction standings then it should also take some time to repair those standings. Unfortunately that info is basically nonexistent in-game when it should actually be readily available and easily understood by players.

Over the past 7 years the 'Faction Standing Repair Plan' has helped countless amount of players in the forums to rectify what seemed like an unsolvable issue. In my opinion players need more options available to repair negative Faction standings then what I've listed in that guide. In fact most of those Event Agents can only be accessed once in the characters life.

There's a lot of players in-game who don't read the forums and don't know that guide exists. They've basically accepted the fact they're cut off from engaging in available content due to negative Faction standings. Repairing negative standings is a big task even for experienced players who are familiar with 'The Plan'. New players who haven't learned the game yet can easily mess up their Faction standings without even knowing it right from the start, resulting in no access to half of Empire space.

Anyway, I think all players should have the option in-game to gain Diplomatic Immunity with the Empire Factions. The fact that the info pertaining to Faction standing repair is hidden from players in-game is the reason for my post. After 7 years of helping players in the forums to repair negative Faction standings, I just wanted to provide some feedback through the CSM for CCP to consider.

I believe these options would definitely help all players in-game.

Faction standing repair process be implemented in-game and be very intuitive, not obscure (tutorial perhaps).
Changes to Faction standings will notify players with on screen pop up message (option to deactivate).
Actions that would cause negative Faction standing trigger on screen pop up warning (option to deactivate).
All Anti-Empire mission briefings have a warning informing players those missions will incur negative Faction standings.
Implement Tags for Empire Standings in-game based on similar game mechanics as Tags for Security.
Add NPC Agents to in-game Agent Finder for Faction standing repair (similar to proposal in my forum signature).

Once again good luck with the upcoming election.


DMC

07 Candidate!

First, thank you for your time and effort (both present and future) in representing the capsuleers of New Eden! They’re much appreciated.

I’m preparing to cast my vote in the CSM12 elections. After reading the information you submitted, though, I still have a question.

By way of background, I started in Eve as a hauler, moving freight in T1 industrials and gradually working my way up in both ships and cargo. However, I repeatedly found my progress impeded by gankers who would destroy my ship and steal my cargo. In low- and null-sec space, that’s to be expected. You place your bet and take your chances. In high-sec space, however, this is very frustrating. Why have high-sec space at all then? This frustration drove me into anti-ganking, and I’ve been a proud member of Thomas en Chasteaux's High-Sec Militia for several months now.

So, my question. Where do you stand on high-sec ganking? I’ll concede that ganking is a legitimate style of game play, as CCP has ruled. But I also feel that it should be difficult and dangerous (for the ganker) in the 30% of New Eden designated as high-sec space. In particular, I’d like to see CCP tweak the game mechanics so that the criminal flag generated by looting a ganked freighter in high-sec space follows all players who handle that loot, and otherwise make looting more realistic. (Thomas en Chasteaux's ideas, not mine.)

As a member of the CSM, would you present such an idea to CCP? Would you push for its adoption? What other game changes might you consider to make high-sec ganking more difficult and less profitable?

Regards,
Cochise Chiricahua.

This is actually really interesting topic. And as usual, there is really strong opinions towards both directions. As basis, I think no place in EVE should be truly safe (docked in station is acceptable). There should always be chance that you are killed in a pod next to Jita to some random guy.

That said, I think the experience in high sec could be enhanced a lot. Looking it from outlaws point of view, I think you should have thrill to work as an outlaw. You would be denied from stations, but you could use outlaw citadels (like pirate npcs have in missions) to trade and do your operations. I would like to find better ways and reasons to smuggle some outlawed goods (maybe using wormholes or pirate gates). And all stuff like that.

On the other side I think there should be interesting and working ways to protect your self from a gank or pirate ships. Were that concord, faction police or other players. For example one thing that was strange to me is that ship can bump you as long as it likes and there is no way to mark him as criminal (and manual marking wouldn't work) so your friends could kill or just web him.

I presume the point of Thomas idea is that you can't loot the wreck with one ship and then move it to another ship so it's safe from suspect timers? For that purpose I think that idea could work and be implementable via assembled item attributes. One would get rid of the suspect flag from the items once they are repackaged in station.

So, for sure I could bring it up when talking about hi sec and/or ganking. Of course keeping in mind how much CSM can affect this. At least, this is area that requires more talking about and I think there is a lot we could do to make hi sec more interesting for both sides.

EDIT:

I also think there is good chance to introduce some changes to hi sec in near future. As far as I know CCP Affinity (at least) is interested of making faction standings to mean more (in good and bad) and thus I think there is other aspects that need to be looked too. Using factions to help you (like in mining operations) is one interesting idea that could help to balance things out.