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CSMX - Post #18

Tuesday was patch day with the first half of the July release. How do you like the NPC/Player/Friendly NPC changes? The issues thread is up. It was a bit bumpy for a bit with skillbooks not populating and the new blueprints not showing up. Now, we have another release this Tuesday that will be the second half of the release and it will also bring us Sov.

CCP Fozzie released two development blogs this weekend. One is a general discussion of transition and deployment. The second is an update on PvE and upgrade changes for sovereign null. The entire null sec deployment has been a strange mix of whirlwind activity and hurry up and wait. I have no idea what to make of it. I hear a lot of fear and worry in the words of players who engage in this part of the game. There have been a lot of last minute tweaks to address various problems. Some have caused unhappiness and some conflict of opinion on what the change even means. Things feel tense and unhappy to me from the null sec CSMs. They had another meeting over null sec this week. I was unable to attend because it was on a work day.

And then somewhere in the middle of all of this, Corebloodbrothers stepped down and decided that he could not balance the CSM in his life any longer. Gorski Car stepped back up. This year he has his knowledge from last year to let him get up to gear quickly. I wish him good luck. He is already gnawing on the missile changes. Gorski and I do not see eye to eye on much in Eve nor do our personalities mesh well. Yet, I will freely admit he is damn good at what he does and I am happy to see him working with the developers about balance again. He brings a valuable skill set to the table.

Let's talk low sec.

CCP Affinity opened some discussion doors in the Faction Warfare Chatroom on Tweetfleet Slack on Friday. Now, I can discuss a little bit of what I've been up to while null sec's changed have taken center stage, front stage, back stage, and most of the side stages. But after Fanfest she came to me and told me that some revamps would be coming at the end of the year. I've been sitting on that and trying not to be mildly insane with excitement over the possibilities.

CCP Affinity said at Fanfest that she wanted to do some work on Faction Warfare this year. She has confirmed a few of the plans in the design right now. This is not the final design the team is building off of but it will give a general idea of the direction planned for December's changed to low security space. We are working together to bring what she would like to do, what the players pain points can be addressed in the development time. We will work out the outline at the Summit in September into a cascading list of importance. Before then, I'm collecting all of the bits and pieces and wrapping them up into defined points. Proposal writing is more work then it seems but its worth it for the potential outcome.

Two currently released plans are:
A 4 way warzone. No more allies. Everyone is an enemy and the entire warzone is a battlefield. I like this idea a lot and I've received a lot of good feedback from it. During this, I hope to look at, such as warzone access (gates and connections). I'm not fond of bottlenecks and I've already had a few brought to my attention.

Suspect flagged for all players entering a faction warfare complex. This request is one that I first saw before I ran for the CSM while reading Susan Black's blog. Over the years and since joining the CSM I've discussed this general idea for people from the role players to those who do not wish to tank their security status. It was pointed out to me that it will affect the group of neutrals that keeps their neutral status and who will lose advantages that gains while carrying around a flag. I will ask about the viability of decreasing the duration of the flag from fifteen minutes. That has come up a few times.

What about non-faction warfare low sec? Last term I was able to get small changes introduced that improved the viability of low sec life in general. But none of those were big sweeping changes. I'm still hoping to find some of those and sell them to a team before CSMX is done. I'm also hoping to get smuggling addressed somewhere in this. I don't want non-faction warfare low sec to become faction warfare low sec. Nor will I support pirate faction warfare in non-empire faction warfare low sec. I'd like to see something focused on smuggling and piracy and the pirate factions using things like the Drifter menace to claw their way deeper into empire space.

And yes, T3 Destroyers need to get out of small complexes.

There has been a lot of discussion about Citadels in the FW chat room. What they will mean. What the docking rights should be or should not be. Cost, abilities, and locations of these structures are also discussed and I've dragged it all before CCP Nullarbor.

And when it comes to Eve in the outside world...
Eve Vegas is going strong but there has been a hiccup with the pub crawl venue. Tickets are being refunded by eventbrite I have heard and it seems that CCP is working on alternate plans. It is quite disappointing. I was just about to buy a ticket myself the day before the closing.

I made it to one of the two meetings this week. I'll probably host an open Q and A in two weeks. I'm going to rustle up one of the Null Sec reps to answer the null sec questions Corbexx and I have been getting. I don't mind saying I don't know but I'd prefer to have someone there who does know.

Comments

  1. If they can have an intern to spare for half a sprint, have them look at Ammatar and Khanid LP stores (this is L5-related, so lowsec, in non-FW space) and throw us a bone by comparing those against the Ammar faction ones (Imperial Navy, Carthum, etc) Change these LP stores from the sad dollar-store thing they are into something attractive, or at the least, something useful (hint: no one buys Ammatar Navy heat sinks or Khanid Navy Co-procs)

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    Replies
    1. I'm hoping that module Tiericide will take care of some of these issues with various LP stores. *fingers crossed*

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  2. ..and the elephant still was NOT visible to anyone in the room.

    Yay, more PvE for nullsec. This way the richer will be richer an the poorer will be less poorer. Nothing is enough for Our Boys.

    Yay, lowsec gets some love too. Hasn't get for two years so it's about time.

    And highsec?

    What highsec? No sir, there are no elephants in this room...

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    Replies
    1. Who says the elephant isn't getting any attention? As primarily a highsec resident I'm seeing lots of attention. The most recent color UI update is directed almost exclusively at highsec. Teal friendly/neutrals barely exist out of highsec while in highsec being able to differentiate them from the busy backdrop (highsec being a busy place) is a real boon. Being able to toggle corp friendly fire on and off is a huge change to highsec where Concord is around to enforce the expanded law. Burner missions are not only accessible in highsec but very probably usually undertaken there and a not insignificant number of players are quite enjoying them. Drifters are lurking about. Jove Observatories have appeared. Just because CCP isn't handing you the type of highsec you desire doesn't mean nothing new is happening there.

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    2. No Onions. Not today. There is no Elephant here other then the one you are trying to drag into the room.

      I will not let your anger on the side lines diminish the work I've put into the parts of the game I want to improve. The CSM is composed of players Onions. Players who work to get elected and to bring changes to Eve. If I was not here and fighting for the last two years to bring changes to the things I care about I do not think we'd be sitting here. Instead, another CSM member would announce work they had convinced CCP to do for an area of the game that needed attention.

      Hate CCP all you want Onions but it is a blind, senseless hate. You do not want to sub and try for the opportunity and do the work of getting your thoughts and ideas in front of them and change for the directions you insist are so glaringly in need. That is your choice but I stood up and I put myself out there and I have been fighting for what I believe in as have other members.

      I have said that I'd love for that perfect player to step forward who is charismatic and knowledgeable and loves everything that I do and believes in things in the same way that I do who has perfect ideas. But, I can't wait for that to happen.

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    3. Well, let's see. Last I looked, highsec was doing pretty well. One can mine, there's loads of missions for almost all the factions (and those missions are much safer than doing them in low or null), Incursions are run almost exclusively in highsec (and there are groups out there who do not require blingy ships), industry is still very much a going concern, there's the circadian sleepers, the drifters, drifter wormholes...

      Highsec is in pretty good shape. It is perhaps the least broken of all the regions in EVE.

      Delete
    4. Nice response, but don't forget burner missions, Mordus, SOE Ships, and Ghost Sites!

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    5. Is it an Indian or African elephant? Not to encourage this, but rather to point out the lack of specifics. So far the usual crowd of forum warriors have failed in their efforts for nerfs to L4 or Incursions. I cheer the changes to Null-Incursions and the Sov changes for more PvE. Greater income to Null does not impact high-sec at all.

      Improved mining in Null? I have finally heard that there has been a 20% increase in harvest in ores. (although I would like some graphs!). Personally I acknowledged and accepted that it would reduce a reliance on high-sec - i.e. lower miner income. And so what? Still mining after 5 years. My only issue with Fozzie's post for the minerals buff and responses from several goons is that it was primarily aimed improving the income of existing null-sec industrialists. When I believe it would have been better to act in a method to attract more players into Null. (I did post in the thread at the time). The powers of null-sec will continue to treat mining/industry in terms of segregation.

      Where is the Drifter Lore going, I am excited. And its all from the sofa comfort of high-sec. I am on-board with Chribba - can I earn positive standing with them?

      Yes, several nerfs to industry - but these are across the board (except for refining yields). These are traded off against a better UI and a re-balance of Invention. If is Before vs After, then I vote with After.

      Perhaps the elephant is pink with polka-dots.

      Delete
  3. "Suspect flagged for all players entering a faction warfare complex"

    As a player that doesn't want to lose sec status to the pirate level nor grind/buy it back i'm concerned.

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    1. And because of that you should be pleased with the suspect flag. A suspect flag is a 'free to shoot' flag. This means all of those neutrals who warp in will no longer give standings hits.

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  4. \o/ YES!!! \o/

    Also, Standings issues? (sorry, had to do it).

    - Than

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    1. I am very passionate about the faction standings issues in faction warfare but I do not have anything to share at this time about that direction.

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  5. I'm a little concerned about all this nullsec CSM concern.

    What, exactly, are they concerned about? That null is somehow "not worth it", in which case they've pulled a fast one on everyone.

    If what they're feeling is uncertainty over how the changes will affect their game, welcome to the club. Us wormhole denizens have been quietly pulling our hair out over the new structure changes and CCP's inability to give straight answers to straight questions. But since our concerns are pretty much drowned out, we've more or less resigned ourselves to dealing with it when the changes drop.

    Maybe the null folk need to embrace that attitude :) They'll feel better, I swear.

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    Replies
    1. Null sec get the rules changed instead of adapting to the changes.

      Delete
  6. Ok, silly question, but wasn't clear above. What about docking rights? Will minmatar still be able to dock in gallente stations, amarr in caldari for example, or are we looking at lockouts for ALL factions except the sov holder?

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    Replies
    1. It is not clear above because I didn't give fine details. What do you think it should be?

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    2. Working under the assumption that WTs stay the same and the present allied militias will just be neutral, then as a neutral they should be allowed to dock (if no more allies means minmatar and gallente would be neutral to each other while amarr/caldari would be at war). At least, I'm really hoping every faction isn't a WT to each other, since it's bad enough you can't freely enter the space of 2 empires if you join FW, never mind if joining would put you at risk in 3 of 4.

      Also, does this mean this will put the kersplosh on diagonal plexing? I know that came up once or twice last year.

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  7. All good stuff. As a -10 the suspect entering plex isn't an issue for me (I'll shoot regardless) but I know many who like their sec status and when neutrals come looking for a fight they are at the disadvantage.

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  8. The WH nerf hits a bit hard. I just got into using them from High-sec/low-sec to null to do daytripping and have really enjoyed it. It can take quite a while to find a good connection, and now unfortunately it will take even longer.

    I understand they want to limit the power projection again, it's unfortunate that it's hitting other play-styles besides the one they are targeting.

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  9. Yeah, either the T3-destroyers get out, or the Assault Frigates get a series buff. Otherwise small complexes will be a bit silly.

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