An open complaint to CCP from a small alliance

[Lamp_Shadius]

Hello.

I don’t have a direct line to any developers so hopefully whoever reads this forwards it.

The changes recently have largely been to nerf the sov null megacoalitions. This is good intent. However, the small alliances in NPC null have been disastrously affected through collateral damage despite a very simple discriminatory approach being possible to have done none of this.

In particular, mining and ratting have been heavily affected. The ability for us to generate income previously weighed heavily upon a consistent daily ice belt (which is now largely gone, we’ve had it come back 3x in the past TWO MONTHS), asteroid belts (NOT ANOMALIES) that would have evaporated instantly for Rorq miners in blocs and thus were not broken (which now have lost their value almost completely despite being completely harmless), and the few green sites we get and cosmic signature DEDs can no longer be ran as reliably, using drone boats.

This is incredibly frustrating. Alliances of my size have posed ZERO threat to the Eve economy nor are we of any concern to the balance of the game. We subsisted on the land we held, and while it wasn’t much, it was ours, and it sustained us just enough to survive. Yet we have been consistently decimated via nerfs that didn’t even target us. This is all blatantly, infuriatingly, disgustingly obvious if you were to exist in our shoes for even a few moments.

Changes made to sov null should not have applied to NPC Null. You did this for ESSes, you were clearly willing to discriminate for those. You should have done the same for the rest. Sov null was the problem. Not NPC Null. If nerfing NPC was an accident, then fixing it should be a priority. If it was intentional, then cruel maliciousness (and not the good kind that Eve provides) is a huge understatement.

This is not the real world, where blanket solutions have trouble discriminating on how they apply their benefits. This is a video game. We pay to be a part of it. You have the tools to address these problems.

I am seriously considering unsubbing over this, and I lead an entire alliance. Not a very big one, but enough that I imagine this sentiment trends with most of them and other groups like mine.

You need to fix this, and you need to do it soon.

[Shipwreck_Jones]

Okay, I do empathize with you, but I don’t think it’s possible for CCP to act address unsustainable economic activity with such surgical precision. For example, a lot of sov null players have already started exploring other career options and areas of space (such as blitzing missions and mining in HS), and if they didn’t address the amount of money that could be made in npc null, I guarantee you it that it would have been quickly overrun with guys from the null blocs looking for low effort options.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there are any easy solutions, and everyone is going to be affected by these changes to varying extents. If you’re getting ■■■■■■ over particularly hard, you can try making your case. But, the ESS recently got a buff, CCP stated that they will be reversing the drone assist nerf (I don’t think this applies to drone aggression versus NPC’s), and some players have apparently been finding ways to make even more money with the ESS. For example, one guy said they got their multiplier up to 160% by gatecamping in the same system that they rat in. Thus, I would suggest trying to explore new strats and opportunities, before insisting that you should be exempt from something that we all have to deal with.

Also, I don’t think CCP has been behaving all that incompetently here, but…

[Hamoud_Hibra]

@Lamp_Shadius

not the real world, where blanket solutions have trouble discriminating on how they apply their benefits. This is a video game. We pay to be a part of it. You hav

The system i used to mine in in high sec, and generally mine out regularly because it was only a few belts, has been invaded by 2 other corps who used to be in Null. i rarely even get ore in that system anymore, i have had to move because of it, but nearly every system is now like this.

[Lamp_Shadius]

Lol. No. NPC Null was never competitive with Sov, and even if NPC had avoided the nerfs Sov still would have been more profitable by numerous orders of magnitude.

This isn’t about making NPC null better than Sov, it’s about making NPC null - hell, even lowsec and hisec, even moderately habitable by small alliances that don’t overcrowd the systems. Sov alliances are way too large to make use of the limited resources NPC null had even before the nerfs.

[Neo_Bladedrifter]

CCP jus insert an economic recession in this game. If your thinking of unsubbing means you play this game legally than those Sov alliance that I suspect uses bots to fund their alliance. Please contact the CSM players.

[Joe_Edelstein]

Lamp Shadius is absolutely right. I second every word he wrote. The changes are devastating to us too.