EVERYTHING I Learned from the CSM 19 Candidates

@Gustav_Mannfred

  1. Botting mainly, there are a lot of bots around, be it in homefronts, low tier abyssals or FW. There must be something done.

  2. Just check FW and see a lot of Algoses that warp off when you enter the site. Check characters doing homefronts, some of them are new toons with similar character names.

  3. Possibly more limitations to Alpha clones, such as limiting the amount of normal skill injectors they can use, as well as some changes to the 1m skillpoints for accounts created using a referral link. That when you are alpha you get like 100k sp, but once you upgrade to omega you get the remaining 900k SP. A lot of these bots in Homefronts and FW are alpha clones

  4. There are a few others that have botting mentioned in their campaign posts.

  5. Most likely at the meetings we have, but as I am not yet on CSM and have never been, I don’t know how exactly that works yet.

@Kshal_Aideron CSM

Interesting set of questions this year. Honestly, this one is pretty easy.

  1. CCP’s communication to the player base. I think the release of Equinox speaks for itself on why this needs CCP’s attention.

  2. If you can’t feel the rage from the player community about how Equinox was released and the decisions made about the Skyhooks, I can’t really can’t help you.

  3. This has to be a decision within CCP to become more communicative and transparent with the player base. Or, allowing the CSM to explain more to the player base on how and why we got here.

I honestly think a lot of the rage is being left in the dark, which is pretty understandable. The other part is being given a new playstyle that gives you a reason to log in only for it to be yanked away without any in depth reasoning on why this is happening.

These types of player reactions are really a bitter sweet “I told you so.”

  1. I think the candidates that are serving or have served will agree. I believe that other candidates will agree that lack of communication is a problem (because it is) but until you get to experience it one can never truly understand.

  2. Player reactions to the expansion and patches are talked about a lot in our weekly meetings. So really it goes back to point 3 with the bitter sweet “I told you so.” Though, we’re usually a little more diplomatic than that.

And, of course depending what reaction we’re bringing to CCP, there can be screen shots, video, spread sheets (because we’re Eve players) and other supporting evidence.

@Phantomite

Thank you for the questions.

  1. There are many consequences that require CCP’s attention, but to pick one out, it would be the massively parallel nature of so much of Eve’s PvE. Simplistic PvE is boring to run for players, and hugely easy to bot. Huge progress can be made on both fronts with a strong focus on cooperative, multi-role PvE content available all over the game.

  2. Provable evidence that simplistic, soloable PvE is infested with bots? I undock. Most of us undock, and we see it in Null anomalies and in FW complexes. In our own home system, we have a resident bot that runs and docks and undocks like clockwork, to the second, for the majority of the day.

  3. The game already has full diamond AI fleets consisting of DPS, tackle, Ewar and logi. Right now, there’s very little content for gangs of players to be incentivised to go out and fight - well designed sets of rats in fleets, requiring that you bring a mixed variety of ships to fill various roles, would transform casual socialisation in Eve from “limited to voice while all doing seperate PvE” to full in game activity to bond over, and be more engaged by.

  4. I have voiced this in several live shows to great approval. I also, along with any of my other important subjects, talk about this to individuals and groups.

  5. Exactly the same way I’ve presented it to you today.

Thank you for the interesting questions, I look forward to futher discussion.

@Mcopiate

well, like ive already said, i dont like seeing entire regions becoming passive isk farms for the null blocks

would try to change that, i think by allowing us to raid the new drills would go a long ways to making that approach unfeasible

Our next candidate needs no introduction (The Infamous) @MILINT_ARC_Trooper

A collection of goblets is very hard to chose between.

But I chose the carpenters cup.

  1. Mining definitively needs a rework or reconsideration. We have been having major problems for production and industry since the changes. And CCP didn’t factor in many ores need to be “uncompressed” to used for usage in mission payments. So this has created some issues with movement and usage of those ores. Besides obvious wastage problems and large preference on ORE/ factional/ T1 modules due to lack of wastage with those modules. And due to these changes production has been relatively difficult.

  2. The market information on which mining modules and materials, and the types of ores that are or not compressed.

  3. A Practical Change should include some sort of upgrade and newer crystals. [Also on the Reddit post I made mention of a Triglavian Mining Laser concept.] The depth of the resources as well as ways to collect it should be enhanced.

  4. Support for such changes will probably not be coming from PVP oriented/specialized players; but if the argument is made that better mining = more PVP ships to be used in content. There could be some compromises and concept changes to enhance that interaction.

  5. Information will have to be collected and BPC/BPO information as well as ore information needs to be presented to show the problems in game.

Hopefully I don’t roll a D1.

@NeoShocker

  1. The game mechanics regarding the FW/incursions. In particular AWOX’ing and multi boxers. It requires immediate attention, especially in regards to new players to participate PvP.

  2. Post 1 , Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, and also personal experience, voices of other fellow corp members in Insurgency, and other sources.

  3. Several solutions. But so far the best I have gotten to is using the “tether” system on the first max number of pilots in a complex and only those gets LP. In addition if awoxing on “tethered” pilots, the aggressor will get very heavy penalty. Or adding to that effect (disregarding LP and awox penalty), if the threshold is over 50% of the max count, say 5 medium navy site. If there is more than 7, those additional pilots will get a warning to warp off within a time frame (say 10-30 seconds) or will get automatic limited engagement timer.

  4. There are few other CSM candidates that also voices concern for AWOX’ing and multi-boxers. FW/incursion is one of the most fun and ideal game play for new and veteran players to get into PvP. Lack of polishment and adjustment in that game play will discourage players of participating such activity.

  5. By having polls, links to sources, providing solutions. Gather all of the findings and present to CCP.

@AtheistOfFail

As a solo player, I find myself having a lot of issue with the fact that finding content is difficult. Years ago, you could warp one system away and find people mining, ratting and doing other activities, and the game seems deader than ever. I want to change things and give a reason to put certain assets like capital ships on the field and at risk.

@SeriesPro

[Aug 2023] Rhett Schouten

Awesome, yeah they’re a special kind of therapeutic question designed to do exactly that.

Don’t use my page to promote another candidates please…

@DutchGunner

What ONE identifiable consequence requires CCP’s attention?
I will answer this question from my area of expertise and say that iterations on and balancing content is something the game is in dire need of.

What PROVABLE evidence can you supply to support your belief in this situation?
I can provide multiple examples. When the seagulling in Pochven was adressed, it only applied to the sites in Pochven. Seagulling can still be done to the observatory flashpoints within Empire space. And instead of leaving room for play and counter play by forcing players to be within a certain range like 100km from the objective, it was made a zero-sum gain that resulted in the current stale meta.

Another great and recent example is the change to the Skyhook where the balance was massively tipped in favor of the owner. Just going for 50-50 but be raidable 23/7 or every day within a 1 hour timeframe would have been fair. But not the current state.

Finally I want to point out the balance in PVPVE. You have the World Ark Assault Vector in Pochven and the Horizon Siege Points near Zarzakh where the PVE in the site is very challenging for people to run and it only takes a little effort with ECM ships to break the fleet that is running the site or when you enter the site to attack the people running the site the odds are disproportionately in favor of the attackers.

What practical, and balanced change can be made to support a solution if any?
When making changes, make sure they are applied across the game and if you want to keep introducing PVPVE mechanics, make sure that those who want to run the content or disrupt or attack those who run the content are in a comparable position with regard to risk, effort and reward.

What support do your observations have from other CSM candidates?
The World Ark Assault Vectors rarely get run and with the Horizon Siege Points and this is something that the Pochven candidates can confirm and CCP will have statistics on.
As for the Horizon Siege Points, a few big groups could monopolize the sites by pushing others out of the sites by killing them or make sure they could never complete the sites. That too will be confirmed by data that CCP has access too and what others who have interacted with this content can confirm.

How will you present your findings to CCP?
By collecting and combining feedback from other players, collect and analyze data and statistics to strenghten the findings and present it calmly and clearly to CCP to explain and pinpoint the issues in order for it to get iterated on or taken into account with future content.

A good example of the latter is that with the Horizon Siege Points, only people within 100km of the objectives would qualify for sharing in the rewards for running/clearing the site. This limited the options for seagulling and adressed one inbalance for that content.

@Colby_Bosh_tet

  1. The state of wormhole space and its stagnation due to powers pushing people out of wormholes and dictating how other people and groups need to act and play the game.

  2. The recent wormhole war which videos can be found through youtube, stories on reddit, demonstrates this exact issue of dictating to others how they should play. The aftermath of the TDSIN eviction also demonstrates this.

  3. Make the current wealth generation, particularly being C6 space more fought over and harder to hold, giving others opportunities to compete. There are an array of possible solutions i.e adding a null static to C6 space. If nothing is changed then how can this issue be expected to have any changes?

  4. I am not in any large block, I have no bias and no narrative to hide behind. I tell it how it is and want the best for wormholes and the game overall. I want everyone to be able to compete and have some chance at creating their own story, not having it dictated to them by others.

  5. All I can do is present the facts as CCP will do what they see best. But I will make sure ALL who bring their points to be are heard and any changes made to the game are measured against the effects on wormhole space.