Posts tagged “CCP”

The Push Towards “Farm and Fields”

This is an unprecedented time in Eve History for the industrial aspect of the game.  The following events have taken place, or will take place in the space of a single month:

  • Player Event: Ice Interdiction – This was a plan to stop the amount of Gallente ice being mined in Eve Online by taking out anyone who was mining Gallente Ice.  The operation appears to have been a financial success.
  • Player Event: Burn Jita – A Player Event that had one of the most influential null-sec alliances invade high-sec, and for a day, wiping out all transportation going to the central, and biggest, trade hub in the Eve Universe.
  • Player Event: Hulkageddon – Another Player Event, done annually, where pirates focus on taking out industrial mining ships.  Hulks, Mackinaws, Orcas, Rorquals, are on the list.. and are not safe even in high-sec.
  • Security: Bot – CCP Sreegs has been on the forefront of taking down bots of all sorts.  The majority of these bots either mined or ran missions in high-sec or ratted in the Drone Regions.  The materials and modules were then shipped, in mass, to Jita for sale.
  • Escalation: Drones – As of April 24th, Drones no longer drop “Drone Goo”.  Those unique ores dropped only by Drone NPCS, which could in turn be reprocessed into high-grade, null-sec ores, no longer are dropped.. by anything.
  • Escalation: Meta 0 Modules – Also as of April 24th, no NPC in Eve will drop meta 0 items (it turned out not to be entirely true, as some things like Expanded Cargohold Is and Ship Scanner Is still appear to be dropping).  Meta 0 items were used in two particular fashions:  First, they were reprocessed to get to their more valuable minerals, and Second, they were used in Invention.  Removal of these means that more Meta 0 items will have to be player manufactured.  So instead of having a resource pool, we now have a resource sink.
  • Player Intervention: OTEC – Technium is the most valuable substance in Eve currently, and it is produced only from certain rare moons.. all of which happen to be own or managed by the GooNIP (yes, say it like how Stewie says “Cool Whip”).  However, this has been pre-countered by CCP desire to step away from “conflict resources”, by stating possible changes that include Ring mining for what was formerly Moon goo.

Now, let’s think back about who started the concept of “Farm and Fields”.  This was a major platform for the Mittani of Goonswarm when he went into the election of CSM6.  Of course, the “farms and fields” initiative had to take a backburner in order to save Eve Online from the Space Barbie fixation that CCP had gotten itself into.  But the question remains, is the Mittani still trying to push “farms and fields”, even after he has been defunct?

Considering all that he has been able to accomplish in CSM 6 as well as with Goonswarm, it is a sure bet that he just didn’t say, “Whelp, guess that’s not going to happen.”  And the majority of Goonswarm players, after all the success they have had, will likely do whatever he bids.  Add to that the reality that I think he honestly cares about Eve Online as a whole and we have a strong group of focused players, with the resources necessary, to influence change.

Let’s look at the Burn Jita plan, which had been in the planning stages for months, seems from the outset just a plan to mess with people.. just to prove how powerful Goonswarm is.  Here is his quote from his blog, Sins of a Solar Spymaster,

“The truth is that we did it because we could: we wanted to see what would happen to Jita if we hit it with all the organizational might of a nullsec bloc.”

Now, if he was truly just wanting to show off, he wouldn’t have written this statement in this way.  He is a lawyer, after all, so he is going to be very precise in his wording.  It also helps to note that he goes on to talk about how Escalation has made mining viable again.  I think the Gallente Ice Interdiction was a test case, to see if he could organize not only Goonswarm, but also others in the low-sec community.  It also tested Goonswarm’s ability to weather out major events, even those of its own making.  But it also was an introductory course into seeing just how much control large player organizations could exert against smaller organizations, particularly those who have little need to be concerned about game politics.

The Gallente Ice Interdiction turned out to prove to be quite successful on all the deeper issues that were behind the event.  Prices for Gallente Blue Ice raised sharply on news that the POS fuel would be much rarer to get and once relatively cheap at 800isk per fuel unit, now were being sold for upwards of 2200 isk per fuel unit.  This was despite the fact that the actual inventory appeared to be  hardly dented at all.  Goonswarm made isk on that sure.. but the real treasure was seeing just how reactive the Eve Online Industrial populace had become.

The Burn Jita project, now coupled with Hulkageddon, went after another point in the industrial complex.  The Burn Jita project struck at the central hub of the Eve Online universe.. hitting everyone who ever dealt with Jita: Mission Runners, Minor Traders, Major Industrialists, Miners, Haulers, etc.  The targets were picked in such a way as to discourage people from both buying and selling goods in Jita,which is why it was done on the days that Jita has the highest amount of trade.  In other words, Friday going into Saturday.  The constant converage of those systems forced people to more localized places, as well as put into danger trade routes that had existed for years.

Hulkageddon also served a more distinct purpose and with Goonswarm putting up tons of isk for bounties, more pirates are risking sec status losses as well as more expensive fits, to hunt down Tech 2 Exhumers.. most of which fly in high-sec, busily mining away without a care in the world until they were caught.

But let us not forget CCP, which up until recently, still had to deal with The Mittani as the CSM6 chairman.  CCP Sreegs campaign against the bots was intensely pushed by the CSM.  This despite many of the null-sec alliances that they hailed from were using bots or had a number of members using bots on a regular basis.  Many of the updates you see coming into Inferno, some via Escalation, are changes directed and influenced by CSM 6.  This includes the removal of Drone Goo and solving the problem of having Meta 0 modules being melted down for the rare minerals they house.

Finally, there is OTEC, a null-sec organization designed to manage the flow of Technetium to the rest of null-sec.  A powerplay move to be sure.. but against who?

Personally.. I think its a powerplay move against CCP, forcing them to bring the concept of “Ring Mining” to Tranquility as soon as possible.  The Mittani mentions it this way,

“Just like with the real world’s OPEC, ‘Everyone’ in this case means ‘us’ and ‘benefit’ means ‘ahahaha f**k you scrubs’. With discussion of ‘ring mining’ being a method of nerfing tech income, most of the organizations in nullsec that have tech moons are interested in jacking the prices as high as the market will bear, with twin benefits: making us (CFC/NCdot/Ev0ke/PL) comically wealthy at the expense of literally everyone else in the game, and making literally everyone else in the game howl in a rage about it.”

Remember, when this was developed, he was still the CSM Chairperson.  I think, by allowing this particular e-mail to be, ahem, “leaked”, he is essentially forcing CCP to make something happen before OTEC becomes a real force in the world of Eve Online.  Why do I say that?  Because this plan goes absolutely against his “farms and fields” initiative that he thinks will save Eve Online.  It also goes against what I think he hoped the lessons would be with the events that he both directly, and indirectly, interacted with.

Here is what I think are the lessons he wanted people to learn, and to work off of:

First – Gallente Ice Interdiction – Since much of the ice for all of Eve was mined in high-sec space, the Mittani had hoped to enforce the idea that, with High-sec no longer being a stable source of this resource, it might be good for alliance to start mining for that resource locally, rather than just jump to Jita, pick up what you need and go back home.  At the corp and individual level in those null-sec alliances, local resources would still be harder (though more valuable) to get and so would increase the number of mining ops, as well as having local PI directed more toward filling local needs rather than just dumping whatever on the market.

Second – Burn Jita – This is the second part of the Ice Interdiction aspect.  By removing the availability of Jita, null-sec alliances would be force to upend their usual logistical trade routes for new ones.  These new routes might not be as useful or as profitable as Jita was and as such, might influence local industrial corps to start mining resources locally as a safeguard.

Third – Hulkageddon – A nice addition to the Burn Jita idea.  Again, much of the low-end resources used for industry is mined in high-sec space, where it is quite safe to mine and ship your minerals to Jita or wherever and gain maximum profit.  Hulkageddon disrupts this with a venegence and makes high-sec mining a less reliable source of resources.  By adding bounties to every ten kills, Goonswarm could possibly force this to continue on even longer.. disrupting the current flow of resources in and out of null-sec and possibly making null-sec mining a more profitable and easier experience.

Fourth – Bot Removal – Bots have been seen in all sectors of Eve Online space, and the neglect of CCP to really cut these guys out has caused the eventual proliferation of supercapital ships all across Eve, and is one that will still be felt for a least a couple more years.  Removing these bots has cut off a large portion of incoming resources to the Eve community as a whole, further increasing the price of all minerals.. and also making it more profitable for young miners to be viable again.. even  in Null-sec.

Fifth – Drones and the Drone Regions – A few years back, in order to give new life to the recently added Drone Regions, CCP removed all drone bounties and added more drone goo to their drops.  This turned out to be a gold mine to what has now become known as the Drone Russians, who using bots, both mined and blasted minerals into their holds and were able to corner the market.  With the Drone Region NPCs changed, Drone goo now gone, and botting accounts being banned by the hundreds, the minerals that once flowed into Jita for all to take with ease are now gone.  This has forced null-sec alliances to see revise the prices of supercapital ships.. and to see if perhaps local mining might not be a better alternative.

Sixth – Meta 0 Module Change – This change removes the ability for mission runners to also influence the mineral market.  Although a minor change in the grand scheme of things, some of these Meta 0 modules could be reprocessed to give out Mercoxit, a null-sec rare ore that requires a special exhumer to mine.  Now that this resource is consistantly available only through mining, there will be more reason to mine out there in the deep dark.

Now, to me, this sums up, not a war against the players of Eve Online, but an ideological battle to save Eve Online by stopping players/corporations/alliances/coalitions who are too reliant on others for support.  The “Farms and Fields” initiative is still active.  It still is being pushed, even as the Mittani is no longer the CSM Chairperson, he still wants null-sec to be a better place to live.  And even if I am a pawn in this scheme (which I am, I don’t delude myself), this still looks like a good plan to me.

.. then again.. I could be wrong.  They are Goons after all…

May 2, 2012 | Categories: Game Dynamics | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Let the Mittani stay as Chairman

Let me preface this:

  • I voted for Hans.
  • I hate Goons.
  • Not sure if I care too much about The Mittani on a personal level.

However, after reading all the blogs, and his replies and responses, I have to lend my support to the Mittani.  Why?  Three reasons:

  1. His apology was, I think, pretty sincere.  He replaced the isk and then some, he made a public, very personal apology that wasn’t the crappy Rush Limbaugh type of apology we get to see more and more of each day.
  2. Being human myself, I’ve made my share of mistakes.. and I had to eat some serious crow.  I also personally believe that there isn’t a person out there who hasn’t said something of this nature to friends.. especially corp and alliance mates in Eve.
  3. Someone actually took the effort and contacted the guy the Mittani was talking about.  His responses clearly indicate he didn’t think it was that big of a deal.  In point of fact, you can read what Liang discovered here: http://liangnuren.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/the-mittani-hero/. 

After reading quite a bit of all the information, it’s just another day in Eve.  CCP and the rest of the non-Eve gaming community are completely going overboard.  CCP, I can understand since this could become a PR issue.. but the rest of the non-Eve wankers need to settle the **** down, and get back to playing their Happy Kitty MMOs or whatever they’re called.

March 27, 2012 | Categories: Eve Politics | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

06 March 2012 Devblog – Epic Rework in the making

I have about 78 million SP, and if you still play Eve Online, check out this devblog: http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=9129

With my SP I can fly.. well, I can fly a ton of ships.  This devblog clearly has me losing approximately.. 24 ships in total.  24 ships that will instantly no longer be available to me once this change takes effect (edit: see side note).  Normally, this would upset me because it means I have to train for ships I use rarely, and it would add at least a couple months or so to regain my combat ability.  Logically though.. CCP is right in making this change.  It did always strike me as odd that so long as I could get a racial cruiser to III, that my level 5 battlecruiser skill made me instantly proficient in not only their tech 1 battlecruisers, but in their command ships as well.  The same applied to interdictors, but to a much lesser extent.

Old Way:

 

New Way:

I do like the new ship progression in that if you want to train for a specific ship, the way is basically straight.  Let’s say you are a new player and you’ve heard wonderful things about HACs.  Now, you don’t have to train up a bunch of other ships to get there.  Just train up the class, then the specific ship.  Some of the other changes indicate that instead of pre-reqs being at level V, they’ll be at level IV.  I think that is a good idea, though I am concerned that corps and alliances will change their advertisements to say “Cruiser V plus etc., etc.” instead of just stating that “Must fly Tech 2″.  However, I think that for the most part, this will be a welcomed change all around because you can get newer people in better ships to produce better fleets, plus the newer people get to content faster, and the overall downgrade in fleets won’t be that great.  Plus, vets will still maintain a strong edge against newcomers.

Still.. I think there is going to be quite a few unhappy vets.

That wasn’t the only interesting thing that was being said.  Another interesting idea was brought about in the blog by this comment:

That is why we want to remove ship tiers altogether, then refocus our balancing philosophy to be based on role. That means finding common themes, or lines that fit ships with the same purpose, then adjusting slot layout, HP and fittings within each class to support this goal.

So, Tiers will soon be a thing of the past.  Which, according to the blog, means that a good HALF of the ships need to be re-balanced.  Now, as they mentioned they will instead use roles to determine how balanced these ships are.  Likely, since the Tier system sort of had that in mind, there may not be as much difficulty in making the re-balance happen as one might suspect.  Particularly if we look at what roles are being defined as:

  • Combat ships: designed for direct fights, such vessels are usually found spear heading an attack force, or sniping from long range. Have great damage and defense, but poor mobility. A good representation would be 18th century “ships of the line“. EVE examples: Abaddon, Rokh, Hyperion, Maelstrom, Ferox, Maller.
  • Attack vessels: Made for hit and run assault, or flanking opportunities. Have great damage and mobility, but average defense. Similar in role with cavalry. EVE examples: Armageddon, Megathron, Tempest, Oracle, Thorax, Hurricane, Dominix, Myrmidon.
  • Bombardment ships: provide heavy fire support to pin the enemy down with constant barrage of ordnance. Have great damage and range, average defense and mobility. Can be compared to artillery. EVE examples: Raven, Drake, caracal.
  • Support vessels: mainly focused on assisting a friendly force, or disrupting an enemy fleet. Have average damage, poor defense, average mobility. Electronic warfare is the prime illustration of this line. EVE examples: Scorpion, Blackbird, Celestis, Arbitrator.
  • Industrial ships: provide the mining and logistic backbone to replace military losses and cover operating costs. Poor offense, average defense and poor mobility. An Oil platform is a fairly accurate depiction of industrial ships . EVE examples: Covetor, Orca, Rorqual, Iteron V.

Now, lets stop here for a second so that I can make a prediction.. it’s a safe one to be sure, but I think it will still be accurate.  Here is how I think the Tier 1 to Roles conversion will play out:

Frigates:

  • Combat Ships: Rifter, Punisher, Incursus, Merlin
  • Attack Vessels: Slasher, Executioner, Atron, Condor
  • Bombardment Ships: Breacher, Inquistor, Tristan, Kestrel
  • Support Ships (2 each race): Vigil and Probe, Crucifer and Magnate, Maulus and Imicus, Griffin and Heron
  • Industrial Ships: Burst, Tormentor, Navitas, Bantam

Cruisers:

  • Combat Ships: Rupture, Maller, Vexor, Moa
  • Attack Vessels: Stabber, Omen, Thorax
  • Bombardment Ships: Caracal
  • Support Ships: Bellicose, Arbitrator, Augoror, Celestis, Blackbird
  • Industrial Ships: Scythe, Arbitrator, Osprey, Exequror

Battlecruisers:

  • Combat Ships: Ferox
  • Attack Vessels: Tornado, Oracle, Talos, Naga
  • Bombardment Ships: Drake
  • Support Ships: ?
  • Industrial Ships: All ORE Mining Barges and Noctis

Battleships:

  • Combat Ships: Maelstrom, Abaddon, Hyperion, Rokh, Apocolypse
  • Attack Vessels: Tempest, Armageddon, Megathron, Dominix
  • Bombardment Ships: Raven, Typhoon
  • Supports Ships: Scorpion
  • Industrial Ships: Orca

As you can see, initially the small class ships are balanced.. at least one that fits into each ship role.  However, after that, things get a bit more.. dynamic or hazy, depending on your point of view.  I think that CCP will have their hands full for two particular reasons:

  1. How are they going to change various ship balances without disrupting, or worse, generalizing all the races?
  2. How does the issue of “Active” versus “Passive” tanking get solved now?

The first problem is clearly going to be on the minds of many pilots.  Are Caldari now going to be known as the “Bombardment” race?  How about the Minmatar?  The Amarr?  Are the Gallente going to be regulated to being the “Support” skilled race?  Will ECM be changed because it is so powerful in comparision that technically Caldari could be both the top Bombardment AND top Support race..  Even if the flavor of each race is kept, how is the balance going to work between four different races.. or will only a couple races have multiple ships for each class.. and if that happens, how will balance be achieved if only a couple values affect how well it does its intended role?

And then with all those other questions comes in a more subtle problem.  The issue of active tanking, which are feature predominantely in Gallente and Minmatar hulls.. how can that be balanced over the proven benefits that passive tanking has in most combat situations?  That I think will be a much harder question to solve.

Yet, despite these problems the overall concept that every hull serves a purpose is near and dear to my heart.  I will be watching with much excitement.. and a bit of trepidation.

(Side Note:  Apparently, even as I was in the process of writing this blog, some of these points came up and are in the process of being addressed.  See comments here: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=77673, I am disappointed that most just freaked out and their fingers went faster than their brain and eyes could go.  But, on one positive note.. I am not the only one who noticed the problem that this could have with Active/Passive tanking: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=77673&p=37, Force Colonel’s comment)

March 6, 2012 | Categories: Game Dynamics | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Resource Versus Social Versus “Religous/Nationalistic” Conflict

In the Beginning..

The current state of Eve null-sec conflict is largely based around the conflict for resources.. most particularly Tech moons.  Prior to the tech moons it was R64 Moons.  Prior to that.. well, it was something else.  This is true even to the individual level.  Most people go into null-sec initially because they hear of how rich one can get either by ratting, or by exploration, or by anomalies.

The case is an easy one to extrapolate into how it affects not only null-sec.. but it trickles down into other aspects as well.  T3 production for example is exclusively a Wormhole resource/product.  Raw minerals and Ice from High-sec has become the centerpiece for all production in the game.  Even the bastard child of low-sec nibbles in all of these.  You can go back from the beginnings of this game, and find the resource conflict has been the most predominant aspect of null-sec life.  In other words, isk became the end not the means.

Now, it has been promoted by the CSM (generally speaking) that wars are based mainly on the social interaction of ”hate”, and certainly some of the Coalition versus Coalition as well as Alliance versus Alliance null-sec conflicts can be traced to some bad social interactions, but that is by far not the norm.  Usually Social conflicts happen internally first.. and when they do happen,  it is almost has been exclusively because of how resources (i.e. mooon profits, supercaps, etc.) were distributed.  External social conflicts usually are just the public face of another resource grab or resource denial campaign.

A New Way?

Now, CCP has started toying with the idea that it needs to move away from resource conflicts and develop more “social” conflicts.  As I mentioned before, true social conflicts are rare at the coalition and alliance levels.. they tend to be far more common at the individual or corporate level.  The reason is pretty obvious.. in larger organizations there are more stopgaps where a social conflict can be prevented by cooler, more calculating heads.  Another big reason is that while an alliance or coalition leader may get personally upset at another alliance or coalition, that leader is stuck trying to “sell” it to the other members.. and if things don’t go well.. then morale plummets and more serious internal strife begins.

So, both of those conflict sources have their place in a sandbox game like Eve.  But the problem really is, those conflict drivers aren’t enough and on top of that, they aren’t very fair or balanced.  Current Wardec mechanics are so easy to manipulate on both sides that it removes the ability for “social” conflict completely.  Tech moons are so profitable and so valued that they are often more of a source of internal conflict and alliance/coalition disruption than for external invasion.  Supercapital proliferation has become so absolute that it is impossible to invade any nullsec space without having a fleet of them for your own.  Faction Warfare, CCP’s attempt at social conflict, has become a little more than an afterthought.. with most players pretty much doing missions to gain isk, rather than actual PVP combat.

However, it is wrong to think that the “rare” true social conflicts involving alliances or coalitions aren’t spectacular.  In fact, they often infusing most of Eve will new life or sustaining Eve during long, dull periods.  But, really, they weren’t so much “social” conflicts, as they were a more “Religous/Nationalistic”-style conflict.  Since both touch on social aspects in real life, one can hardly be faulted in thinking they are one in the same.  There is, though, a difference.  A significant, game altering, life altering difference.

In a typical social conflict, say for example, “I hate you.”, the justification for that hate is started and rationalized by the one, single person.  “I hate you.”, or “I hate Goons.”, or “I hate ice cream.” sentiments, since they are personal, will constantly be assailed by the actions of others and it takes a lot of work to keep rationalizing them, to keep proving that social conflict to yourself.  Saying to yourself, “I hate Goons because I’m better than they are.”, is a hard line to maintain as you are running missions or eeking out a living mining, while Goons get more and more media coverage and glory.

A Second Perspective

Now, when you switch that into a religous or nationalistic – style conflict, that rationalization, that justification of the conflict gets reinforced by others, and perpetuated.  So, instead of “I hate Goons because they blew up my Mackinaw.”, it becomes a more powerful, “I hate Goons because they blew up my friends Mackinaw, and WE are going to fight back.”  That hatred may last even after the war or war(s) are long over.  And that hatred will come back time and time again when the opportunities present themselves over and over.  In fact, it becomes easier because as human, we do better in groups naturally than we do alone, and let’s say that ice mining corp starts to make profits, or starts getting into PVP, they can count those achievements as victories against whoever their adversary is.

In essence, you begin to have both a justified hatred for your enemy, and more importantly, a justified love for those you consider your brothers.

The two best examples of this revolve around two conflicts:  The Goonswarm/Band of Brothers Wars and the CVA/Ursha’khan Wars.  The Goonswarm / Band of Brothers conflict is an excellent example of a “nationalistic” – style conflict.  In the beginning, they were simply a bunch of ass-hats who pissed off the most powerful alliance ever to grace Eve.  Yet, they were able to foster, both from defeat and from ongoing victories, a very strong comrodere.  But it worked both ways for many years.  Band of Brothers reformed itself twice just to go up against Goonswarm.  And there was a time in Eve Online when you could (and would) ask, “Who are you going for?”  And they would say either BoB or Goons.  The Eve Universe revolved around that conflict.. far more so than it does today.  The conflict DEFINED Goonswarm.  It could be rightly said that if BoB had just ignored the Goons way back then.. Goonswarm would have never gotten the notoriety, or fame, or its large piece of Eve history.

The second example, is the best example of “Religous”-style conflict.. the Roleplay war between Ursha’khan and Curatores Veritatis Alliance.  While it did not achieve the same widespread fame as the Goonswarm/Band of Brothers conflict did.. it was longer lasting.  And it had a certain uniqueness in that it was a “serious” RP alliance during the vast majority of its life.  You had to swear alligence to the Emperess, you had to follow NRDS (not a complicated system to individual members, but having it successfully operate required a huge amount of dedication and time on back end), you had to fight against ”Minmatar Terrorists”, a mantle that Ursha’khan decided to take up fully (and quite personally).  The idea, along with a bit of fortune and good circumstance,  flourished enough that eventually all of Providence was under the control of CVA. Oddly enough it became a haven for both Pirates and self-described Pirate hunters, as well as those who like to be “police”.  It was null-sec for everyone, fought over by Amarr Loyalists who believed in the divinity and rightness of the Amarrian cause against Minmatar Rebels fighting to free others from Tyranny and devot in their belief that justice was on their side.  That strange conflict has allowed both Ursha’Khan and CVA to survive experience, falling outs, complete devastations that would have erased other alliances.  And yes, they are still at each others’ throats.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Eve Online exists because of its ability to use conflict.  But it is also just as true that conflict in Eve is not as fun, nor is it very useful, or even important as it used to be.  And whether you are a low-sec pirate, a high-sec miner, a null-sec soldier, or a wormhole producer.. above all your concerns, how conflict is handled and changed is going to be your upmost issue.

And thus, it will be THE crucial issue that CSM 7 will have to tackle with CCP.

February 8, 2012 | Categories: Eve Politics, Game Dynamics | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Random Ponderings and Thoughts

Sometimes there are just too many things to talk about, and think about, so your mind goes into “Clift Notes”  mode.  With a lot of possibilities in Eve starting to show themselves, my mind drifts from point to point to point.. especially when those possibilities really don’t have much information out there to pull from.

So, this post is a bit of a reflection on that:

Thought #1:  CSM 7 Elections

It seems pretty clear to me that there is quite a bit of backlash against CSM 6 as being too “null-sec” focused.  Personally, while I am a HUGE fan of low-sec upgrades, calling CSM 6 out on that was pretty lame.  Null-sec game play was badly, BADLY broken with the Dominion release and needed a fix.. in fact, it needed that fix years ago.  Supercap ignorance (which still need to be continued), bad game and sov mechanics, and CCP’s disconnect with Eve, the spaceship game, made null-sec (CCP’s cash cow) unfun.. in a game.  CSM 6 did a good job getting CCP back on task, and YES, dealing with null-sec right away was crucial.

Now, CSM 7 seems to be, at least from the outset, starting to refocus its view more game wide.  The low-sec push seems to be the most outstanding.. and even seems to be gathering more steam than null-sec pushes.  It seems that both the high-sec and low-sec communities are starting to understand the inherit advantage null-sec alliances have, and are beginning to make efforts to counteract that.  But, Ripard Teg makes a good point regarding this situation on his blog: http://jestertrek.blogspot.com/2012/01/herd-ducks.html.  I suspect that Ripard is correct in that Mittens is definately going to try to dilute the field.. and probably be successful enough with it that he will retain the chairmanship.

However, I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing.  Mittens has proven himself to be quite.. adapt at forcing CCP’s hand, and even he is subject to popular control.  The more serious issue will be controlling the other seats in the CSM.  Now, you already have Seleene and Trebor who are just strong advocates of the game in general and will likely be good to keep around no matter what the ebb and flow is.. so the real problem for High-sec, Low-sec, and WH voting blocs will be organizing themselves in such a way that they are able to strategically spread their votes across their best 3 or 4 candidates, while not wasting votes on ones that never will get picked or on ones that already have plenty to get in.  Oddly enough, I don’t think it is as much of an uphill battle as it seems to be.  Even if they get only one or two more HS/LS/WH candidates added to the CSM, it should be enough to see real changes start to happen.  CCP has already acknowledged how broken Low-sec is.. and really the difficulty is determining if low-sec should be a Learning bed for jumping into Null-sec, or if it should be something unique and wholly different from the null-sec experiece.. both ideas have good points.  In regards to one Eve University candidate, you might want to check out Poetic’s blog here: http://poeticstanziel.blogspot.com/2012/01/counting-sheep.html

Thought #2:  Supercap Balance

Are they balanced?  In my opinion.. no.  In fact, they still have a long way to go.  The problem with supercaps has always been two-fold.  The first problem is production related, which I will discuss, and the second is power-projection, which has partially been tempered with the Crucible expansion.  As far as the production problem goes, note how many Titans and Supercarriers were produced in the last few months:

August, 2011: http://www.eveonline.com/news.asp?a=single&nid=4878&tid=4
September, 2011: http://www.eveonline.com/news.asp?a=single&nid=4884&tid=4
October, 2011:  http://www.eveonline.com/news.asp?a=single&nid=4885&tid=4
November, 2011: http://www.eveonline.com/news.asp?a=single&nid=4886&tid=4

You’ll notice that production way, WAY outstrips losses.  While this now doesn’t have as much of a bearing on sub-cap fleets.. it still has a major impact on Sov control.  Sure, you can assault a system with sub-caps now with out much worry about Supercarriers coming down and swatting your fleet and let’s pretend that Titans’ XL weapons get nerfed so that they cannot be influenced by tracking links or computers, what happens next? Well, first.. your sub-cap fleet is going to take a few hours/days just trying to get sov in just one system.  And the MOMENT you drop any SBUs, a Supercap fleet is going to wait til you are gone.. and reinforce your SBU in just a few minutes.

Not a good situation if you are one of those new, small alliances trying to get a foothold into null-sec, is it?

The simple reality is that CCP waited far too long to deal with this issue and now Supercapitals have, in a sense, broken the game mechanics.  How so?  Because now they are so many and they’re proliferation is so absolute, that there is no hope for new alliances to gain a foothold into null-sec by any traditional means.  The only way for a new alliance to get into null-sec is to recruit Pandemic Legion, or to steal a big Supercap wield corp out from another alliance.  Both of those options are likely to involve the loss of at least a few metric tonnes of isk.. something new alliances are very unlikely to have.. as well as probably losing a considerable amount of self-control too.

I was pondering a couple ways to deal with the production issue.  The first idea has been mentioned before, and I think it is probably the easier idea to impliment of the two, and it involves adding a monthly “maintenance” fee to each supercapital.. either in the form of a monthly isk charge (the least effective), to a resource requirement to keep them active.. like having them burn through so much Zydrine or other precious metal per month.. irregardless if it is sitting in the hanger or in combat.

The other idea is based off of the original flaw in the supercapital ship concept.  The original supercapitals ships meant to be used by very large alliances.. a rare weapon or tool to bring out either in the most dire of circumstances or at critical junctures in battle.  Unfortunately, the problem was that it still only required a single pilot.. a single person to skill up and operate it.  That also means that a single person can own it, move it, etc.  Hardly an “alliance-only” asset especially since it operates EXACTLY like any other ship.

My thought was that you can make it so that the ship does not work unless you have several pilots operating it.  Now, this is much more difficult to do, both from a logistics standpoint.. but also in a coding standpoint.  However.. what if, a Titan for example, could not move from system to system as one whole unit.  But instead, had to be moved.. somewhat “Voltron-ishly” as several components to the target system THEN after it is put together will it operate as a Titan.  The individual components still would require the same Titan skill, and each of the components would fly under their own power (though effectively defenseless) and once in system could then be set up in such a way where only one pilot operates it, and the other three or four or so.. just watch.  Now THAT would be a true “alliance-only” asset.

Whatever configuration the nerf to production is, the goal should be to keep the desire and need at a high level, but to reduce the availability to near zero.

Well, that was pretty much all I was pondering Eve-wise.  Have a good one.

January 31, 2012 | Categories: Eve Politics, Game Dynamics | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

CCP/CSM Gold Standard: 10-Man Gangs

Good Fights

Any Eve Online player whose done any PVP knows these two words.  They also know how truly elusive they are.

What are “Good Fights”?  The kneejerk reaction usually starts in the extremes of “Any fight you win.” and “My Blob is bigger than your Blob”.  But you really ask anyone who truly enjoys Eve, and they will all say the same thing: a fight where the odds are fair, or even, a little against you.  Whether you have won or lost isn’t often viewed as that important.  A true “Good Fight”, often leaves everyone who participated on the edge of their seat, out of breathe, maybe even sweating a little.  Even if you’ve lost, the experience is profound and you can’t help but smile at just being a part of such an event. 

So, one usually asks at this point, “Why don’t we have more of these good fights?”

The answer is multifold:

  1. “n+1″ Problem:  The current game and Soverignty mechanics support the essentially reality that more is better.  In general, if you have five cruisers in your fleet, then going after a six cruiser fleet might be harder, and going after a ten cruiser fleet would be tantamount to suicide.  Certain tactics and skills can change this dynamic at smaller levels, but when the fleets start to reach in the fifties-plus range, then even the best tactics often take a back seat to more numbers.
  2. Supercaps:  Prior to Crucible, Supercapital ships ruled both null-sec and low-sec with impunity.  If you had one, it was often used as an “I win” button because you could easily drop one anywhere you were operating, had a tremendous amount of EHP, and if you got in trouble, you could log off and there would be a 90 to 95% chance you would be safe because your targets likely didn’t have another supercap available to counter yours.  Crucible made some significant headway against this, but the stigma will still be around for a little while.
  3. Fleet Logistics:  There is no reason NOT to have more ships in a fleet.  There is no difficulty in doing so, especially since the skills needed are relatively easy to acquire.  In addition, unlike reality, where you have to worry about fuel and food for every single one.. a huge fleet can move along at whatever pace they can wander.. so long as the people behind the screens are up for it.  In addition, things like Cyno fields, jump bridges, and titan bridges allow large numbers of ships to be transported instantly across distances.  Even warp speeds have an effect because the major body of sub-cap ships (Cruisers to Battleships) fly at 3.0 AU or close to it making it just as difficult to wield cruisers as it is to wield battleships in extended and distanced engagements.
  4. Sov Mechanics:  With the current mechanics on getting Sovereignty, it requires an enemy to field a large fleet, especially capitals and supercaps, to take down important structures in a timely manner.  No skill, all DPS.

So, the next question usually persued is: “How can we get back to “good fights”?  But that isn’t the hard question.  The hard question is “How and where do “good fights” exist?  You see, “good fights” still happen every day in Eve Online.. it is too vast for it not to happen.  But usually it is on a very small scale, and rarely happens, and almost always requires that both sides make a trusted agreement about what to bring and what not to bring.. like the popular NIPs or Non-Invasion Pacts.  The only place in the history of Eve Online where there were more consistant “good fights”, was in Providence 1.0, which had a sort of non-official, and often denied, NIP with -A- for quite some time.  And the size of fleets that had the most fun?  Well, those were usually somewhere around the 10 ship mark.. sometimes a bit larger, sometimes a bit smaller.  No worries about having a capital ship dropped on your head.  Just good, clean fun.

So, that is why I think CCP and the CSM need to officially sit down and say to the player community, “Okay, we want the game to be fun, and we know that the vast majority of PVP’ers out there really like the small gang action over large fleets.  So, we are going to say that the “10-man gang” is the gold standard for what we plan to work towards.  We aren’t going to destroy major thousand man fleets, but we will be gearing general PVP life in Eve to have the 10-man gang be the foundation and the staple of both null-sec and low-sec politics and engagements.”  I think that once everyone gets on that same page, because I don’t think they are.. even though they actually do want to be there, then you will start to see some well focused Sov, faction, and even mining changes.

Here’s to hoping..

January 5, 2012 | Categories: Eve Politics, Game Dynamics | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment »

19 Oct 2011 CCP Announcement – Tough Choices

Yesterday, CCP made a very difficult announcement: http://www.eveonline.com/news.asp?a=single&nid=4769&tid=1

And so far, thanks to the work of Keith Nelson (his post here: http://keithneilson.co.uk/10/eve-online-ccp-lay-offs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Keithneilsoncouk+%28keithneilson.co.uk%29), we have an initial list of those leaving CCP:

  • CCP Fallout
  • CCP Zymurgist
  • CCP Pann
  • Mike Read
  • CCP Wrangler
  • CCP Hammer
  • CCP Valar
  • CCP MaidenSteel
  • CCP Finnz
  • CCP Gnauton
  • Pall Ivarsson
  • Hilmir Þór Einarsson
  • GM Horse

Overall, 20% of the staff at CCP was laid off.. mostly from the Community Team.  Quite a few bloggers are upset, and some think of it as a conspiracy against the CSM and Eve Community as a whole.

To me, this has become a “Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t.” problem.

First off, my concerns go out to those who just lost their jobs.. particularly those in Atlanta, Georgia.  The unemployment system there doesn’t seem to be very people friendly and I hope you all (everywhere from CCP) get back on your feet very soon.

Second, I think I need to be a bit of a level head in this scenario, because some bloggers have gone after the CEO as if he was the spawn of Satan.  Others have essentially said, “Whelp, that’s what the community gets for being so difficult!”

So, let’s get back to reality here, and back a few years.  What Hilmar did is what every decent CEO should have done, he looks for opportunities to make CCP more money AND to keep CCP relevant.  THAT IS HIS JOB!  Now, I’m not saying we have to like what he did, but many of you have seen far worse CEOs in other popular MMOs and in Real Life (clearly no one seems to remember that the “Working as intended” meme originally came from the fail efforts at Sony Entertainment).  So, he gets World of Darkness and Dust 514 started.  Do I think they were bad ideas?  Yep.. but I ain’t clairvoyent.. and neither is anyone else.  These projects could have/possibly will make CCP a very dominant player in the world MMO market.  And that success means he can hire more people and make more money for both the company and its investors.  He took a risk.  He took a risk and it didn’t pan out like most risks don’t.  We should be glad they figured this out before the company went belly up or worse, bought out by someone with less scruples than an American politican.

On the flipside, that risk that Hilmar took did take away from Eve.  Problems that hounded the game for years, known to GMs, Developers, etc. and projects were only half released in Eve, then promptly forgotten about when the next new idea came along. The community was RIGHT to be outraged.  We are the customer, and here we see our favorite game being cannibalized on projects that the vast majority of us saw as either too grand or too fleeting.  We saw our efforts minimized by botting, our PVP hampered by hot dropping Supercaps, and Supercarriers that have been produced in such numbers and in the hands of so few groups that they have become an “I win” button, precluding any sort of combat.

We, the Eve community, were finally listened to and Hilmar, being the good CEO, aware of both a downturn in the economy and the need to focus more on balancing Eve Online, had to reduce his staff.  And where could he reduce his staff?  Getting rid of developers would have been a foolish move.  Reducing the pay of the CEO and staff would have been a nice gesture.. but it wouldn’t have made an impact financially.  Should you get rid of the janitors, the receptionist?  Would any of you really want to risk what another CEO might do? 

In a situation that CCP finds itself, there really aren’t many options.  Putting off DUST 514 and World of Darkness indefinately might have scared off investors because CCP would then be back to being a one-trick pony, having too much tied up into one product and not having the risk diversified.  Also you have contracts and agreements that cannot be set aside “just because”.  Plus, there is talent you need to keep for those other projects that you can’t just move over to Eve.  And in many respects, the CSM has some of the functions of The Community Team, bringing out major problems and working with CCP Developers to solve them.  What other group do you think you would get rid of and not impact the game poorly?  Again, while I may not like all that Hilmar has done.. he absolutely wants the game to succeed and CCP has absolutely changed their direction from what they were doing before to make sure it does.

Hopefully, CCP has inferred to each of those they laid off that they will be given first option to be picked up again when things smooth out.  I have some confidence that what CCP is doing right now will make the company stronger as a whole, and will give them a much better ability to add more people down the road.. which I hope will be very soon.

October 20, 2011 | Categories: Game Dynamics | Tags: | Leave A Comment »