Devblog: Security Update - Q1 2019

I don’t see how exactly this is going to help solve the bot problem. You think that by taking away level 4 combat missions that those particular bots will just disappear? They’ll either bot in some other part of the game or they’ll go omega and continue what they’ve been doing. Its not like bots are a new thing since the inception of the alpha/omega clones; they’ve been a problem for years.

Also how significant is this low hanging fruit? Assuming the objective is to maximize isk, the best missions are SoE lvl 4’s run out of Lanngisi and Osmon. Here you can get 1,250 isk per LP by selling Asteros frigates. The norm everywhere else (not counting incursions) is around 1,000 isk per LP. If botting were truly a problem with alpha combat mission runners then this LP would drop down to the point where its 1,000 isk per LP due to oversupply. But the price of an Asteros in Hek has remained constant between 55 to 58 million over the past year. And I’ve never seen anything remotely resembling a bot fleet (by this I mean similar ships and pilots all with similar names all moving as a group) in Lanngisi before.

So now a new alpha or a formerly omega whose time has lapsed due to real life priorities getting in the way of “next month’s plex” is faced with an isk grind thats not worth the bother. From a new player’s perspective this totally defeats the purpose of relaxing the racial cruiser only restrictions that originally were on alphas, as the only real sources of isk for most are mining and mission running. In effect we’re basically back at the subscription model for all, with the exception of the rare alpha living/exploring in null and the rare alpha incursion runner. Long term this will have a negative effect on new player retention, decrease demand for plex, and make legal plex purchases less attractive as a means of buying isk.

I suspect that a good part of the thinking behind this change is “we have alphas that are content to permanantly stay as alpha”. And granted, that is indeed a problem. If THAT is what you’re trying to correct, restrict alphas from using faction ships instead. That way at least isk can be slowly earned in an inefficient T1 hull and most of those players will be applying the isk to plex as soon as they have enough to buy 30 days of game time. Alphas really don’t NEED their shiny pirate or navy faction boats when they have the means to upgrade to omega with a bit of effort. This is much more preferable I would think than your current solution that will just turn people away from the game.

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Not as long as the gnosis/praxis is still ingame

What do you want now? Those ships are put ingame to attract more alphas into Eve.

I dont mind the ships, I just responded to his claim that taking away navy/faction ships would hurt alphas which it wont since the mentioned ships can still be used.
I dont like the restriction that are in place for alphas as is, I think they should be able to get more sp etc, cause this game needs to attract more new players.

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Time to put my Alphas to good use then.

Sadly, when we do report it; nothing appears to happen.

I had reported an “seem to be automated” fleet of ice mining bots. I say fleet 15 barges, an orca and hauler.

I guessed they must be bots because after I moved onto another site which had no ice; that fleet warped in and just sat there. As if the script expected there to be ice and was stuck.

I do not agree that a blanket ban on alpha’s from level 4 - 5 missions. If this is the only way surely there should be a way to say that you are not a bot. i.e. like a CAPTA test.

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CAPTCHA is awful, we do NOT need it in EVE. The people it harms the most are the non bots, and once you introduce it they will end up using it everywhere.

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Alpha accounts should never have been given access to them in the first place, same as some of the ships and skills.

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rubbish, alpha players would have no reason to play this game at all then, and then they would never bother upgrading to omega either.
This game needs alpha players and they should be able to do more, not less. Its not the alphas fault that CCP are rubbish at letting bots run free in 0,0 for years.
Whats the point of buying those sp injectors for alphas if you cant even use those sp to run level 4 missions, its a rubbish move by CCP, and it will only hurt them in the long run. The only reason they did this in the first place is that they felt like they had to show they “do something”.
@CCP_Falcon You guys really should reconsider this move, cause hurting the “low hanging fruit” is hurting actual players a lot more.
The bots your trying to stop now, will just move on to 0,0, but the players you harm might just leave this game.

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Having played for 10 years and having 6 accounts … paying almost throughout … the skill injector and F2P system killed it for me really… i only pop in now from time to time to see whats happening. Those that moan about having to grind lvl3 missions have no idea, having spent literally years grinding skills (before injectors) and low lvl missions, just to get a decent foothold. Thats how EvE was built and managed to survive for many years that way. All pretty much scuppered over night. Now you can train up in a day ( if u have the cash) and do most things for free and is still not good enough for some. I would be happy to see f2p scrapped and bring back the 14day free trial (never going to happen i know) … so i’ll keep my £60 per month and continue to be an eve tourist and observe the EvE entropy.

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Yeah, the injector system sucks, yet I understand why CCP did it, cause it must be heartbreaking for some new player to hear how much SP someone like me has when he starts training from like 400k sp.
Yes, u can tell a new player all they want that they can spec into a ship and that way we will be equal when we both fly those ships, but its not really true is it.
Cause yes, even tho there are only a limited ammount of skills you can put into a ship itself, there are the massive ammount of support skills, drone spec 5, gunnery specs to 5, and implants etc. So yeah, they can catch up in single ships, but its not nearly as easy as some make it out to be.

Completely banning Alphas from lvl 4 and 5 missions seems excessive, but if thats the only solution possible with the EVE maintenace budget we have no other choice i guess.

I run incursions and there are quite a few alphas in fleets. There are several accepted bs fits for empire hulls. There is srp if ya wanna pay for it. I fly logi and very few ships are lost, and they are disproportionately logi.

Before Alpha you had a 2 week trial… Then you had to sign up if you wanted to continue playing.

I don’t like the fact that Alpha’s pretty much have full access to stuff that should be behind Omega status. Battleships should be behind Omega. If they want to really delve into the game, they should delve into their wallets and pay just like everybody else who’s played for several years.

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Eh, once upon a time, battleships were significant. Now? They’re inferior HACs that align slow and warp slow. And all the T2 ships are still behind the Omega block.

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Three of the major ships used in botting
Rattlesnake, VNI, and Gila are all available for Alpha accounts.
So free accounts can be spammed to create botting farms…
Oh wait, CCP wouldn’t be that short sighted, right?

So nothing larger than Destroyers?

No, I would accept any T1,non Faction Battleship or less. Means it also rules out the VNI and Gila. Stop the botting? Hell no, but it put in a dent in one large aspect of the problem. I don’t mind being in direct competition with people, but I hate having to compete for sites and looted modules with bots. The amount of bots in some constellations is crazy. Letting them do it for free; since CCP appears to be turning their head from most people with Omega accounts using extra er, help, is stupid. If you are going to facilitate game wrecking behavior, charge them for it.

Well, the problem there is: how?

The thing that controls access to the VNI, for example, is… Gallente Cruiser.

Is Gallente Cruiser going to be an Omega-only skill?

BTW, the VNI is better than the Myrmidon, but only marginally so. So without a faction cruiser, you’re still looking at the same effect.

Should have added “vanilla” or plain T1 to my previous post. A Navy model of a ship is supposed to represent an upgrade from basic and a free Alpha account should also represent a basic game play to the player. Plenty of ships for each faction remains and while they may be plain, they still allow fair gameplay options.
CCP needs to quit catering to people with no skin in the game.

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