The problem with FW as a new player experience is that itâs currently 100% player driven (which is a good thing for established players, not so much for new players) and there are several issues with FW right now, especially when it comes to finding groups and finding fights, the UI needs to be revamped with better intel which is currently provided much better by 3rd party tools, however new players donât have access to those tools, they have to download them, the ingame FW UI needs to be significantly better, currently you can see plexes captured in the last 15 minutes using a 3rd party app which is possible since map data is updated every 15 mins and you just look at the changed contested %. But there is no good way ingame to see this.
New players are not going to have the fitting knowledge, skill, and SP to be able to win fights in FW. Iâve tried several times as one of the most veteran and experienced PVP pilots to PVP in FW with new characters and itâs usually a negative experience for myself. Since youâre going to be dealing with Faction/Pirate frigates on average, piloted by veteran players with near maxed skills, and occasional implant sets which will make them unsurpassable walls even if you outplay them (And genuine new players arenât going to outplay them).
Teaching them to farm in 5 WCS punishers, or defensive plex in ships designed to run away, which is probably the gameplay genuine new players can perform outside of FW fleets. is also horrible gameplay. You need to 100% rely on FW corps picking these characters up if they ask in militia and teaching them the ropes by flying fleets with them and relying entirely on player interactions is the same NPE we have now.
The new resource wars put new players in a structured, group environment where they can interact with players who are at the same level as them, bond together and hopefully socialise and create groups. Veterans can fly alongside them in these sites and recruit them or teach them the ropes. itâs much better suited than FW.
As for Victory Points for the same time, I actually want timer normalisation (Reduce all plexes to 10 minutes) so you spend less time with your dick in your hand in the bigger plexes if you donât get a fight, and youâre more likely to get a good fight if youâre in a site for 10 mins in a ship like a battleship (Where players have to hastily form for you), instead of 20 mins which gives significantly more time for hard counter, racial ECM and carriers to find their way to you. This makes it easier to offensive plex the bigger times because the enemy has less time to form for you.
As for timer rollbacks, currently you trade time 1:1 with stabber farmers, which is what makes them frustrating to fight against, hell, in some cases, a stabber farmer just warps between the medium and large whenever you come in and theres nothing you can do about it, even though you are willing to actively fight and they arenât, you canât win. I personally am someone who prefers a sped up reset for FW players over a timer rollback (I donât want neutrals or pirates to be able to influence or defend a warzone while being outside FW, but I also understand that those guys are angry because they want more incentives for the guys in the plex theyâre invading to fight). I.e. if a stabbed amarr WCS punisher brings a novice down from 10mins to 5 mins, a minmatar player comes in, the timer will reset much faster towards the neutral position (10mins), such as 4x speed. so the minmatar player will have to wait just 1m15s in the plex to reset the WCS punishers progress back to 5m, so you can win a system against stabbed farmers if youâre the only one fighting there.
âŚand thatâs just crazy talk.