Talking the Talk and walking the Walk are two very different things. Whether the United States in the middle east or CCP in null-sec, what is said and what is done are radically different.
We have all heard how CCP Greyscale & Co. want to make null-sec open to small alliances. In dev blog after dev blog, Fanfest presentation after Fanfest presentation, the brass at CCP has made it clear to anyone who will listen that they want null-sec to be full of small alliances, constantly engaged in small-gang warfare. Doesn't this sound beautiful? It does, except CCP, through its game design changes, is actively fighting against it.
How? First, they made Supercarriers, an asset usually available only to large null-sec alliances, totally (in the words of my WoW-playing brother) O-Peed. Then, they made sovereignty super-expensive to hold by requiring huge sums of money to pay for upkeep and iHub upgrades. Next, they reduced the amount of income made by individual pilots (and corporations who collect taxes) with the anomaly nerf. And now they have made it easier to make money in high-security space by greatly simplifying missions. These are terrible crimes that strike at the heart of any small alliance, right? They are, but at the same time, they have increased the money available to large alliances. Nay, not even alliances, the dreaded 0.0 power blocks. CCP nerfed power blocks by making technetium available only in the space of the Northern Coaltion, and then the developer placed numerous low true-sec systems in the botting empire of the Drone Russian Federation. The hate for small alliances is clear.
What is the solution? It is simple. Well, not really, but it may be possible. The first step towards small null-sec alliances is a change in players' attitude. Whenever CCP mentions that it wants to encourage small alliances to enter null-sec, members of 0.0 power blocks cry out in anguish: "Bu... Bu... But it's human nature to want to band together and steamroll small groups of players. You can't fight our instincts!" A smaller, quality group of players is capable of defending its holding from an alliance with a larger amount of players. Have you ever heard of Pandemic Legion? Looked at the sov map of Delve recently? To a certain extent, quality can trump quantity, and it will not require your alliance to play Eve as a full-time job, like the Legio Pandemica.
There are also some things CCP could do. Most notably, they could add more space to null-sec. This step (or "tweak" as they might be prone to call it) would have to be implemented carefully, though. If the space is beyond the current border of the galaxy, CCP will have inadvertently made that space accessible only to alliances with either a jump bridge network (nerfed as it is) or a significant supercapital fleet for bridging. I feel what may be required are some "special" gates that can handle the passage of capital ships. These could also be implemented in parts of the current galaxy, say on the Tenal-Cobalt Edge route or the Paragon Soul-Period Basis gates. Such a change would encourage fighting between the alliances at both ends of these long jumps.
CCP has promised some major changes to null-sec this winter, so we will have to see whether or not they stick with their vision of a 0.0 populated by small alliances or whether they fall prey to the allure of the power block. Or maybe, as the recent agent changes suggest, they set course for a fluffy, loving, PvE Eve Online. Only time will tell if CCP can walk the Walk.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
19 May 2011
17 May 2011
Building Blocs
Inspired by the Blogfather himself, I am going to restart my own posting. I will be switching the focus of my blog from stories about me towards game-level design changes and aspects. My role-models are Mord Fiddle and Ripard Teg, the latter of whom has sadly left Eve for the time being. But as most of us know, you always come back to Eve, so hopefully he will resume posting at some time in the future.
Anyway, I'm here today to talk about the giant 0.0 power blocks, which CCP hates with a burning passion. My corporation, M. Corp, used to reside in the Catch region, specifically the JZV-06 constellation. There, we were renters of Against All Authorities, under the guise of M. Pire alliance, which combined the different arms of M. Corp into one entity. The alliance was made up of 5 main corporations:
Well first, we go to the actual point of this post: the limited options that small alliances have in null-sec. Scanning the sovereignty influence map, our directors found themselves with a dearth of options. We could not stay with Against All authorities, so the South was dead to us. Joining the Drone Russian Forces was not appealing, because we would then be red to the Northern Coalition and we would live in a botter empire. (Keep in mind that this decision was made before the NC appeared as close to failscading as it is now.) In the West, our only option was to make a land-grab in Delve, which would be impossible due to our lack of PvP'ers. Looking north, we saw only the Northern Coalition and the Deklein Coalition. Becoming bros with Goonswarm or TEST was not appealing to anyone, and thus the decision to combine the alliance into M. Corp and to join the Northern Coalition was made.
At the time, this appeared a good choice. Vale of the Silent was still safe, PL had not yet joined the war, and we would be able to rejoin Mostly Harmless, whom we had left some time ago, on account of hostility from a rogue director. The relationship with the rest of Mostly Harmless command was still warm. As the supercapitals neared completion, however, the war in the north took a turn for the worst. Pandemic Legion, Raiden., and White Noise opened a can of whup-ass onto the Northern Coalition, who soon entered full-on panic/retreat mode. Add to that the jump-bridge nerf, and our proposed move to Branch quickly became a logistical nightmare: moving in the middle of a war zone with friendly forces afraid to engage the enemy. We were in a pretty pickle. We could not back out of the deal for fear of losing face, but we had plenty of time to second-guess ourselves and think about what should have been done.
This catastrophe was perpetrated by the lack of options for a small alliance (300-ish toons, probably 100 pilots). We had only four places to go (three if you count NC and DC as one entity). Each was unappealing in at least one respect, but to have any success in 0.0, an alliance needs to join one of these power blocks to ensure its survival. Something should be done, but for the life of me, I don't know what. Read the following example and see how necessary power blocks have become in Eve:
Fly safe!
-Stevie
Anyway, I'm here today to talk about the giant 0.0 power blocks, which CCP hates with a burning passion. My corporation, M. Corp, used to reside in the Catch region, specifically the JZV-06 constellation. There, we were renters of Against All Authorities, under the guise of M. Pire alliance, which combined the different arms of M. Corp into one entity. The alliance was made up of 5 main corporations:
- M. Corp Ascension- The directors' sov-holdin', supercap-buildin' corp.
- M. Corp Engineering- Our miners and industrialists.
- M. Corp Academy- The training corp, which quickly fell by the wayside.
- M. Corp Germany- A subdivision for our German-speaking friends.
- M. Corp- The PvP arm of the alliance.
Well first, we go to the actual point of this post: the limited options that small alliances have in null-sec. Scanning the sovereignty influence map, our directors found themselves with a dearth of options. We could not stay with Against All authorities, so the South was dead to us. Joining the Drone Russian Forces was not appealing, because we would then be red to the Northern Coalition and we would live in a botter empire. (Keep in mind that this decision was made before the NC appeared as close to failscading as it is now.) In the West, our only option was to make a land-grab in Delve, which would be impossible due to our lack of PvP'ers. Looking north, we saw only the Northern Coalition and the Deklein Coalition. Becoming bros with Goonswarm or TEST was not appealing to anyone, and thus the decision to combine the alliance into M. Corp and to join the Northern Coalition was made.
At the time, this appeared a good choice. Vale of the Silent was still safe, PL had not yet joined the war, and we would be able to rejoin Mostly Harmless, whom we had left some time ago, on account of hostility from a rogue director. The relationship with the rest of Mostly Harmless command was still warm. As the supercapitals neared completion, however, the war in the north took a turn for the worst. Pandemic Legion, Raiden., and White Noise opened a can of whup-ass onto the Northern Coalition, who soon entered full-on panic/retreat mode. Add to that the jump-bridge nerf, and our proposed move to Branch quickly became a logistical nightmare: moving in the middle of a war zone with friendly forces afraid to engage the enemy. We were in a pretty pickle. We could not back out of the deal for fear of losing face, but we had plenty of time to second-guess ourselves and think about what should have been done.
This catastrophe was perpetrated by the lack of options for a small alliance (300-ish toons, probably 100 pilots). We had only four places to go (three if you count NC and DC as one entity). Each was unappealing in at least one respect, but to have any success in 0.0, an alliance needs to join one of these power blocks to ensure its survival. Something should be done, but for the life of me, I don't know what. Read the following example and see how necessary power blocks have become in Eve:
Imagine the following hypothetical scenario. The Northern Coalition has been conquered by the Russians, so the DRF vacates its eastern holdings to take the tech-rich north. Multiple small alliances soon fill the void, and CCP declares victory for the little guy. But now, imagine that Against All Authorities wants to take the former space of the DRF. The little alliances cannot possibly fight the Drake blob alone, so they band together to repel -A-. After the fight, they reset each other and return to goodfights. But now the DRF invades, hoping to regain its botting empire. The small alliances band together, repel the invaders, and again reset each other. After a few months of this, the alliances will find that it is in their best interests to merely stick together, profiting peacefully in the space they hold and protecting their holdings. What we have now created is the Eastern Coalition. CCP's victory was short lived, and the power block lives on.Is this inevitable? Of course not. But for a group of small alliances to be left alone by power blocks would require that they either hold low-value space or that they are too far away to make an invasion convenient. This is something that needs to be looked at by CCP. Even the supporters of power blocks should realize that a galaxy with only four main 0.0 factions is not good for the game or for the players.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
26 March 2011
Impressions of Fanfest
Hello, immense following of loyal readers! I apologize that content has been hard to come by. I've been entangled with RL events (week-long swim meet in sunny Florida) and other Eve Projects (now writing for Eve Report; expect articles soon).
Before I embark on FanFest coverage, here is the equivalent of a Facebook status update:
Null-sec stuff seemed pretty boring. The only big announcement (which wasn't really a FanFest announcement) was this: the appearance of Havens and Sanctums will now depend on TrueSec. According to Ripard Teg's conspiracy theory, this is an effort by CCP to get the rest of Eve to break up the DRF, who have numerous hi-value systems. He cites the placement of Technetium moons in NC space as precedent. By making NC space more valuable, CCP hoped to give the players reason to break up the NC. As we all can see, this failed terribly.
One interesting tidbit I learned from a YouTube comment is the return of new ships models. I have been obsessed with this dev blog, dealing with the textures used on ships, for ages. I have made post after post in the Eve Forums, scrounging for information, but no one seems to know. Luckily, when I commented on the new turret video, an entrepreneurial commenter informed me that the ship models had been discussed at an art presentation this morning at FanFest. Hooray! Apparently the first ship in the pipe is the Raven. Meh, would have preferred something not Caldari, but progress is progress.
Finally, make sure that you have all watched the Eve: A Future Vision video. While I, a huge console FPS fan, am excited by DUST 514, I don't think any of this will affect Eve too much. Again, we see rendered footage of Incarna, but nothing that couldn't be done from the NeoCom. Also, we learn that the mercenaries have been hired to attack an installation on the planet. Will losing a PI center really be that bad? An interesting point was the capsuleer's death by pistol. Again, what does this do for us? Now, instead of losing your ship and implants, you just lose your implants. Being able to kill people in stations really adds nothing to the game, as far as I can see.
For those of you in Iceland, I hope you've enjoyed your trip. I would like to go next year, depending on how the college situation works out. Speaking of which, I have been accepted to Washington University in St. Louis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Virginia, Carnegie Mellon University, and Centre College. MIT is my first choice, but it remains to be seen if I can scrounge up the 50k.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
Before I embark on FanFest coverage, here is the equivalent of a Facebook status update:
StevieTopSiders is focusing on two areas of skill training. The first are the skills needed for Core Competency Elite; the second are the skills needed for an Amarr BS to do ratting, allowing him to finally make some money. Additionally, he has done some home defense PvP, but without scanning skills, he is pretty much useless. Stevie has lost many ships inattempts to engage bigger ships alone in his Ares.Now that we have that out of the way, what about FanFest? Sadly, I am not in Iceland, so I can't speak from personal experience. What I do know, however, comes from fellow bloggers, EN24 liveblogging, #tweetfleet, and the free streaming.
Null-sec stuff seemed pretty boring. The only big announcement (which wasn't really a FanFest announcement) was this: the appearance of Havens and Sanctums will now depend on TrueSec. According to Ripard Teg's conspiracy theory, this is an effort by CCP to get the rest of Eve to break up the DRF, who have numerous hi-value systems. He cites the placement of Technetium moons in NC space as precedent. By making NC space more valuable, CCP hoped to give the players reason to break up the NC. As we all can see, this failed terribly.
One interesting tidbit I learned from a YouTube comment is the return of new ships models. I have been obsessed with this dev blog, dealing with the textures used on ships, for ages. I have made post after post in the Eve Forums, scrounging for information, but no one seems to know. Luckily, when I commented on the new turret video, an entrepreneurial commenter informed me that the ship models had been discussed at an art presentation this morning at FanFest. Hooray! Apparently the first ship in the pipe is the Raven. Meh, would have preferred something not Caldari, but progress is progress.
Finally, make sure that you have all watched the Eve: A Future Vision video. While I, a huge console FPS fan, am excited by DUST 514, I don't think any of this will affect Eve too much. Again, we see rendered footage of Incarna, but nothing that couldn't be done from the NeoCom. Also, we learn that the mercenaries have been hired to attack an installation on the planet. Will losing a PI center really be that bad? An interesting point was the capsuleer's death by pistol. Again, what does this do for us? Now, instead of losing your ship and implants, you just lose your implants. Being able to kill people in stations really adds nothing to the game, as far as I can see.
For those of you in Iceland, I hope you've enjoyed your trip. I would like to go next year, depending on how the college situation works out. Speaking of which, I have been accepted to Washington University in St. Louis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Virginia, Carnegie Mellon University, and Centre College. MIT is my first choice, but it remains to be seen if I can scrounge up the 50k.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
11 March 2011
My First PvP Loss
Hey all!
Lost my first ship today. It was an Ares Interceptor.
I'm of course mad about bringing down my corp's killboard, but I'd also like to say just how exciting it was! A corpmate and I were covering a gate into G-7 (in which an NC. Black Ops fleet had just hot-dropped), me in my 'ceptor, him in his Zealot. We saw Youeh (or something) pop into system. For a brief second, his Arazu appeared on overview, during which I tried to lock, but it was a no-go. He leaves local, so I head to MB, our hub system. I get in there and begin my search. I warp to the WLAR gate (our exit system) from 30km off to avoid the bubbles we have around the gate, though I do get stuck in them a little bit. I align towards the G-7 gate, not bothering to fire up the MWD. I get beyond the bubbles but delay jumping due to the pressing need of finishing off some Graeter's ice cream next to me (+10 if you know where that ice cream can be found).
When I turn back to my computer after like 10 seconds or something, I find that little countdown bar thinggy on my screen, which I thought meant he was locking me. "Oh, crap." I warp to the MB station, but can't! Okay, fire up my MWD II and get rolling at 4km a second. Doesn't work either. I frantically call for help in TS, and a German corpmate readies a rescue effort. I target the Arazu (with difficulty, because the overview keeps moving around due to his Warrior II's) and lay down the point and scram. Ironically, he's pointing and scramming me, which is my job as an Interceptor. I begin to orbit him, fire my small Blasters, and activate an energy transfer array (which is out of range). Damn. I'm into armor, and the oracle of TS tells me to align to station for a quick exit. I do, moving away at 300m/s, spamming my MWD. No such luck, though, I'm moving too slow. Eventually, my Ares dies a sad death, and the German arrives in time to destroy my wreck. I safely make it to station, and my heart begins to slow. I wished my killer a gf, told him it was my first loss, etc. He was nice about it and all, though I set him -10 so I can take revenge on his ass should I ever find it while flying a better ship.
So yeah, losing my first ship was fun. I just wish it had happened in fleet combat rather than stupid accident.
I'd also like to take this time to express my distaste for for cloaky ships. There needs to be a disadvantage to going invisible...
Fly safe!
-Stevie
PS- I voted for Ripard Teg for CSM. You should, too!
Lost my first ship today. It was an Ares Interceptor.
I'm of course mad about bringing down my corp's killboard, but I'd also like to say just how exciting it was! A corpmate and I were covering a gate into G-7 (in which an NC. Black Ops fleet had just hot-dropped), me in my 'ceptor, him in his Zealot. We saw Youeh (or something) pop into system. For a brief second, his Arazu appeared on overview, during which I tried to lock, but it was a no-go. He leaves local, so I head to MB, our hub system. I get in there and begin my search. I warp to the WLAR gate (our exit system) from 30km off to avoid the bubbles we have around the gate, though I do get stuck in them a little bit. I align towards the G-7 gate, not bothering to fire up the MWD. I get beyond the bubbles but delay jumping due to the pressing need of finishing off some Graeter's ice cream next to me (+10 if you know where that ice cream can be found).
When I turn back to my computer after like 10 seconds or something, I find that little countdown bar thinggy on my screen, which I thought meant he was locking me. "Oh, crap." I warp to the MB station, but can't! Okay, fire up my MWD II and get rolling at 4km a second. Doesn't work either. I frantically call for help in TS, and a German corpmate readies a rescue effort. I target the Arazu (with difficulty, because the overview keeps moving around due to his Warrior II's) and lay down the point and scram. Ironically, he's pointing and scramming me, which is my job as an Interceptor. I begin to orbit him, fire my small Blasters, and activate an energy transfer array (which is out of range). Damn. I'm into armor, and the oracle of TS tells me to align to station for a quick exit. I do, moving away at 300m/s, spamming my MWD. No such luck, though, I'm moving too slow. Eventually, my Ares dies a sad death, and the German arrives in time to destroy my wreck. I safely make it to station, and my heart begins to slow. I wished my killer a gf, told him it was my first loss, etc. He was nice about it and all, though I set him -10 so I can take revenge on his ass should I ever find it while flying a better ship.
So yeah, losing my first ship was fun. I just wish it had happened in fleet combat rather than stupid accident.
I'd also like to take this time to express my distaste for for cloaky ships. There needs to be a disadvantage to going invisible...
Fly safe!
-Stevie
PS- I voted for Ripard Teg for CSM. You should, too!
28 February 2011
It's the End of the Eve as We Know It
Welcome to the twenty-fifth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week or so to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month's topic comes to us from @Tetraetc - "Tetra's EVE Blog" - who asks:
"Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? Imagine a Null Sec where anyone could build outposts wherever. Would the reduction of the alliance game mechanic, and the removal of the sovereignty game mechanics (or the modifcation of it from Alliance level to Corp level for that matter) force more PVP into Null sec, or would giant power blocs like the NC still form themselves?"
This blog banter asks way too many and way too confusing questions.
- Do alliances and sovereignty limit the PvP potential in null-sec?
- Do alliances and sovereignty limit the role-playing potential in null-sec?
- Would the reduction of the alliance mechanic force more PvP?
- Would the removal of sovereignty force more PvP?
- Would the move of sovereigny from alliances to corps force more PvP?
- If any of the above three changes occurred, would power blocs still exist?
I'm gonna deal with these systematically, because these questions doesn't flow particularly well.
First of all, do alliances and sovereignty limit the PvP potential of null-sec? No. Alliances do not limit the potential of PvP in null-sec. I believe that this actually allows for more PvP, because groups of players are more organized. I will point to my own M.Pire alliance as an example. We have a number of different corporations within our alliance: M.Corp Academy, M.Corp, M.Corp Germany, M.Corp Engineering, and M.Corp Ascension. If we had to perform all of our functions within one corporation, the situation would be rather confusing. With the alliance mechanic, M.Pire can splinter its operations and thus have less confusion result. M.Corp Academy trains the new players; M. Corp handles the PvP; M. Corp Germany allows our German players to speak German with each other; M.Corp Engineering mines and industries (I've now coined that as a verb); and M.Corp Ascension handles the administrative alliance duties such as sov structures and system upgrades. Some could argue that removing the alliance mechanic would cause different corporations to fight one another, but in reality, this would just cause more headaches for diplomats who need to set even more people blue.
Next up, do alliances and sovereignty limit the role-playing potential in null-sec? No. Alliances allow for more organized groups of role-players to band together and fight for a common cause. In fact, I'm sure they get a kick out of dramatized alliance politics when hardliner Amarr slavers and pro-slavery Minmatar have slight disagreements. Also, as we saw with CVA, sov-holding can contribute greatly to the role-playing by allowing fiery supporters of each faction to "gain space" in 0.0 for their respective overlords. The reason this model doesn't work is because there will always be fewer role-players than real-players, so role-playing alliances will constantly face superior numbers while competing for precious 0.0 space.
Moving right along, would the reduction of the alliance mechanic force more PvP? Here, I'm not quite sure what the "reduction of the alliance mechanic" would imply. For the sake of this argument, let us suppose that it means no more alliances. Yes. The elimination of alliances would result in much more PvP. At first, former alliances would try to blue up, but as individual pilots began to identify more and more strongly with their corp rather than "alliance," combat would escalate until there was fighting everywhere. Three cheers for pew!
Down the list more, would the removal of sovereignty force more PvP? If anyone at all considers this a solution, shame on them. Absolutely not. Some would like to think that corporations, freed from having to hold space, would roam the galaxy in search of pew. This is a terrible assumption. Supposing that everyone didn't unsubscribe after this terrible change, PvP would definitely decline, because pilots would have nothing to fight for. An endless stream of "goodfights" will never make up for the loss of motivation that would result from the inability to own space.
Coming up next, would the move of sovereignty from the alliance to the corp force more PvP? An interesting proposition, and I think yes. First of all, this would remove the need for alliances, except for organizational purposes. Then, as I stated above, corporations would soon grow more nationalistic and fight amongst each other. In addition, corporations would want to seek more lebensraum for themselves at the expense of ex-alliance mates. I do not, however, support this mechanic change.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
Participants:
- CrazyKinux's Musing: EVE Blog Banter #25: And by Alliance you mean.....?
- BB25 What sov changes will come? | A Mule In EvE
- Confessions of a Closet Carebear: Alliances and Sovereignty
- Blog Banter 25: Nerfing Nulsec « OMG! You're a Chick?!
- Have Alliances and the sovereignty system limited the amount of PVP and RP potential in Null sec? | Nitpickin's
- Blog Banter #25: Alliance and Sovereignty Limiting PvP in 0.0? | Sarnel Binora's Blog
- Blog Banter #25 - Mad Haberdashers
- Alliances and sovereignty | Eve Online Focus
- ...Shall we not Revenge?: BB 25: What if the Alliance vanished?
- Blog Banter: Alliances and Sov
- EVEOGANDA: BB25: Sov 'n Go!
- » TBG:EBB#25 – Alliances and Sovereignty To Boldly Go
- Freebooted: BB25: Leviathans of the Deep
- Wrong Game Tetra ~ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
- EVE Blog Banter #25 – Human nature what art thou? | Way of the Gun
- Who cares about Sov? - Hands Off, My Loots! ~ well sorta like an entry! :p
- The 25th EVE Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty - The Phoenix Diaries
- Achernar: The space commute
- Wandering the Void…my EvE musings. – Blog Banter: Alliances and sovereignty
- (OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #25: How To Break EvE. « Prano's Journey
- Captain Serenity: Blog Banter #25 - Crappy mechanics
- Helicity Boson » Blog Banter #25 Nullsec and sov.
- BB #25 – “With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?”
- Boom! Hull-Shot?: It's the End of the Eve as We Know It
- sered's lives: EVE Blog Banter #25 - Size does matter
- 25th EVE BB – Medieval Solutions to Spaceship Problems | Inventions of a New Eden Industrialist
- More to come...
23 February 2011
My Big Idea
Less than six months into the game, and I'm thinking about organizing a community-wide project. Silly, I know. But hear me out, because I think this event will help the community solidify its own vision for the game, which we can then communicate to CCP through the CSM.
What I propose is a week-long "New Eden Economic Forum." My inspiration comes from the World Economic Forum, a gathering of world leaders to discuss world issues, and a TED conference, where you go to listen to people talk about a wide variety of topics.
In a perfect world, the NEEF (need a better acronym) would run for one week in June. Scattered throughout the week, there would be numerous panels and discussions where Eve leaders would discuss solutions to the game's problems and a vision for its future. Some discussions I have in mind are these:
So I have some example topics, what would I need to make this happen?
Fly safe!
-Stevie
What I propose is a week-long "New Eden Economic Forum." My inspiration comes from the World Economic Forum, a gathering of world leaders to discuss world issues, and a TED conference, where you go to listen to people talk about a wide variety of topics.
In a perfect world, the NEEF (need a better acronym) would run for one week in June. Scattered throughout the week, there would be numerous panels and discussions where Eve leaders would discuss solutions to the game's problems and a vision for its future. Some discussions I have in mind are these:
- Small-Fleet Combat: In this panel, our experts will discuss the problems surrounding small-fleet combat today. Once an understanding of the topic is reached, the experts will float ideas about how best to end the blob and make small-fleet PvP a viable option for small pirate gangs and large alliances alike.
- The New Sov: The current sov-holding situation encourages mega-alliances with numerous renters. What are some ways that CCP could make the entry into 0.0 a possibility for small corporations and alliances?
- Factional Warfare 2.0: Critics of CCP often point to FW as a case study of CCP's inability to iterate. Veterans of FW will offer their opinions on how the system can be made fun and workable again.
- The Regional Trade Hub: As CCP openly admitted in a QEN, Jita has become the end-all and be-all of Eve's capitalist market. Some have blamed the ease of logistics, others have blamed the low prices of production in Empire space. The panel will examine the problems and propose fixes.
- Super-Duper Capitals: As many a null-sec blog laments, supercaps are the "I Win" button of fleet combat. What can be done to make supercapitals balanced with respect to regular capitals and sub capitals?
So I have some example topics, what would I need to make this happen?
- Forums: A gathering place is needed for the panel to hammer out discussion points as well as for the community to discuss the panels.
- Chat Program: The event will require a TS/Vent/Mumble server. We don't need a whole server to our selves, of course, so I am sure that a willing corporation or alliance would be more than willing to give us a chat room or two.
- Website: The website should list the event's schedule and provide links to downloadable discussions for future listening. While this could be done on a forum, I think a dedicated website would add a whole new layer of legitimacy and cleanliness to the conference.
- Participation: To make this event a success, it will require participation from all parts of the Eve community. We'll need industrialists, PvP'ers, pirates, alliance leaders, and WH dwellers. Moreover, the panelists should come from beyond the blogoshpere and tweetfleet; we need to reach into the game and find participants who wouldn't normally look to the community for guidance.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
20 February 2011
A Redo of Remaps
A few months ago, CCP proposed the idea of allowing players to purchase neural remaps for PLEX. This would be their first implementation of micro-transactions. The playerbase response was, not surprisingly, negative. "I r pay $15 a munth for Eve! Why I pay more?" Under attack from the CSM and the players, CCP was forced to back down.
Which made me a little mad. I have the money to afford a neural remap every couple of months, why shouldn't I be allowed to have it? Critics argued that it would give me, a "rich" player, an unfair advantage over the "poor" players. This argument is flawed on multiple accounts. First of all, anyone that has an internet connection and can afford a computer is not "poor." Poor is when your house is made of salvaged scrap metal and your toilet is a hole in the ground. Secondly, the "advantage" that would be given to me is rather small. At most, I might cut a few weeks off of my training, but as all Eve players know, skillpoints aren't the end all and be all.
However, since CCP has been cowed and has now assured us that paid remaps are off the table, we need a new model. Being forced to play the "long game" alienates new players and reduces the flexibility of current players, so in the interest of New Eden's continued growth, I propose a new model. Instead of making remaps a yearly affair, they should be available 23/7. I said it, capsuleers should be able to remap whenever they feel like it.
"But wait!" says the bittervet, "We might as well get rid of remaps entirely, and that would make Eve less hardcore. Heresy!" To a certain extent, the bittervet has a point. If each and every skill is trained at the maximum SP/hr, then there is no reason to even have attributes. But what if by 23/7, I didn't mean 23/7? Cryptic, I know. Before you start spouting flames, here is my idea:
curve cliff. They would still be encouraged to plan long-term to make up for the cool-down time, but the newbies would not have to worry about locking themselves into a particular play style for the duration of the year.
Moreover, unlimited remaps would help current players, who have achieved their goals in one skill area and now wish to move on. What's so wrong about that?
The one thing I have not been able to decide myself is the length of the cool-down period. It should be long enough that remapping warrants some thought, but it should not take a whole year to make up the difference. In the example of Stevie, I planned the following skills to Level V (Spaceship Command, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battlecruiser, Battleship, Missile Launcher Operation, Standard Missiles, Heavy Missiles). From base stats, the remapping made a month's difference. I'm in favor of a shorter cool-down to facilitate skill training, but I understand a longer one make these decisions more serious.
Do you have thoughts on my system? Drop me a line in the comments section, and your feedback will be taken into consideration before I post this in the Assembly Hall.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
Which made me a little mad. I have the money to afford a neural remap every couple of months, why shouldn't I be allowed to have it? Critics argued that it would give me, a "rich" player, an unfair advantage over the "poor" players. This argument is flawed on multiple accounts. First of all, anyone that has an internet connection and can afford a computer is not "poor." Poor is when your house is made of salvaged scrap metal and your toilet is a hole in the ground. Secondly, the "advantage" that would be given to me is rather small. At most, I might cut a few weeks off of my training, but as all Eve players know, skillpoints aren't the end all and be all.
However, since CCP has been cowed and has now assured us that paid remaps are off the table, we need a new model. Being forced to play the "long game" alienates new players and reduces the flexibility of current players, so in the interest of New Eden's continued growth, I propose a new model. Instead of making remaps a yearly affair, they should be available 23/7. I said it, capsuleers should be able to remap whenever they feel like it.
"But wait!" says the bittervet, "We might as well get rid of remaps entirely, and that would make Eve less hardcore. Heresy!" To a certain extent, the bittervet has a point. If each and every skill is trained at the maximum SP/hr, then there is no reason to even have attributes. But what if by 23/7, I didn't mean 23/7? Cryptic, I know. Before you start spouting flames, here is my idea:
- Capsuleers can remap whenever they wish.
- Each remap, however, results in a 3-5 day "cool-down" period, during which no skills can be trained.
- Capsuleers are thus encouraged to remap only when the time saved is greater than the cool-down period.
- From a role-playing perspective, capsuleers need to rest their minds after the dangerous neural remapping surgery and can thus not train skills.
Stevie really wanted to start his own mega-corp. To do that faster, he remapped to favor Charisma. Two months into the corp's lifetime, however, there was a heist, in which his 300 Titan BPO's were stolen. Furious, Stevie vowed to become an elite PVPer and hunt down the thief. But wait! With no extra attributes in Perception, to progress to Caldari Battleship V, it will take 178 days! If only he could remap and lower the training time to 148 days. Now, he is stuck with ten more months low SP/hr for Spaceship Command. Poor Stevie.With remaps coming only once a year, players are discouraged from changing professions or even focusing in different areas, such as training ECM when you've remapped for Spaceship Command. By allowing players to remap whenever, CCP would increase the scope of the sandbox, as players could quickly switch between careers to find the one they truly enjoy. This strategy would also have the benefit of helping new players surmount the learning
Moreover, unlimited remaps would help current players, who have achieved their goals in one skill area and now wish to move on. What's so wrong about that?
The one thing I have not been able to decide myself is the length of the cool-down period. It should be long enough that remapping warrants some thought, but it should not take a whole year to make up the difference. In the example of Stevie, I planned the following skills to Level V (Spaceship Command, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battlecruiser, Battleship, Missile Launcher Operation, Standard Missiles, Heavy Missiles). From base stats, the remapping made a month's difference. I'm in favor of a shorter cool-down to facilitate skill training, but I understand a longer one make these decisions more serious.
Do you have thoughts on my system? Drop me a line in the comments section, and your feedback will be taken into consideration before I post this in the Assembly Hall.
Fly safe!
-Stevie
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