Faylee Freir - CSM 14

Council Of Stellar Management CSM Campaigns
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Citizens of New Eden lend me your ears! I am officially announcing that I intend on running for a seat in the 14th session of the Council of Stellar Management. I believe that I have what it takes to be a productive member of the CSM, and hope to earn your trust and respect in the following months leading up to the election period. I know it’s early for an announcement, but I want to get ahead of the ball here and discuss any questions of topics that you wish to cover.

About Me

I started playing Eve Online in 2012 where I was pushed into mining, salvaging missions, and production. The stories of theft, scamming, and the general harshness of New Eden is what originally drew me in, but sadly found myself feeling the pressure of the great grind. I spent a few months with my first corp in Highsec until we started renting in The Kalevala Expanse under AAA. We ended up being asked to leave after some awoxing incidents and found ourselves living in a C4 wormhole. We did that for a few months and I took a short break from the game, but this time with a different attitude and outlook. I convinced the CEO to give me officer roles and overnight robbed the corp of ~50b in ISK and assets. This was the start of it all for me…

I could write forever about the stories I’ve created in New Eden and the experiences I’ve shared with other players, but the important part in my book is that I’ve been able to experience a wide variety of game play. I’ll quickly highlight the extent of my gameplay and what I enjoy in Eve Online.

  • Suspect baiting mission runners (killing Battleships in T1 frigates)
  • Solo / small group / large alliance wardecs and specialized hunting
  • Scouting / hunting Jump Freighters (Highsec / Lowsec)
  • Solo / group BLOPs (Hunting DED and Ratters in Nullsec)
  • Bumping for Miniluv / CODE gank fleets
  • Dueling freighters (more on this later)
  • Scamming
  • Ganking
  • High Class wormholes
  • Running a solo C5/5 farmhole
  • Large scale fleet fights

Notable Groups I’ve played with / been associated with:

  • Vendetta Mercenary Group
  • PIRAT
  • The Devil’s Warrior Alliance
  • CODE.
  • Miniluv
  • Honorable Third Party
  • Shekelsquad
  • Rabble Alliance

I currently have 9 accounts that I pay for with cash, and another 31 accounts that are either inactive or self-sustained through SP farming. I am also a huge fan and supporter of multi-boxing, using EVE-O Previewer to achieve this.

Interesting Thingy-ma-jigs

I want to be on the CSM because I care about the health of this game and feel like I have enough knowledge, experience, and work ethic to provide proper feedback. I am aware that Highsec is an area of the game that a lot of players are passionate about for one reason or another, and feel that my experience and balanced approach to risk / loss will play a major role in my capabilities as a CSM member. I feel that changes to Highsec are coming “soon” and would like to be involved with that process.

I won’t promise anyone that I will make CCP change something, because it’s simply not the CSM’s job. However I can promise you that I will be an advocate that continues to push the core systems of what makes Eve Online a great game - RISK, LOSS, and STORYTELLING!

In order to best see where I stand on topics, I’ll talk about some here. Keep in mind that I’m not 100% dead-set on any particular view or opinion and am absolutely willing to debate or discuss various topics.

RISK, LOSS, and STORYTELLING!

It’s no secret that Eve Online is a game that produces some of the best stories in the entire gaming industry. These stories are yours, mine, and anyone elses that sets out to carve their path in New Eden. I firmly believe that RISK and LOSS are directly responsible for what makes these stories so great.

I tend to not personally approve of or like changes that make general game play safer as I think that the core elements of risk and loss keep us on our toes. Eve Online is a niche game that doesn’t appeal to everyone for this reason, and I continue to support game development that elevates a players diligence, hard work, knowledge, and skill.

There are many good examples of how the reduction of risk and loss (or the likelyhood of it) directly correlates to the general outlook players hold of the game. The simplest way I can put it is that Eve Online is and should be a harsh game, and when that is taken away or reduced it becomes less fun or interesting. I say this because I don’t really believe that CCP has created content that is genuinely captivating and “fun”, but rather the players and their ability to push limits and find interesting ways to play the game are what make this game “fun”.

War Decs

I think there are definitely some things wrong with War Decs, and more specifically Highsec pvp. I am a full supporter of Wardecs as nowhere in New Eden should be “safe”.

I personally don’t believe that War Decs need to be restructured much and that anything that involves CCP putting more mechanics on the limitations of War aren’t right. Contrary to popular belief War Decs aren’t used for “griefing” or even “griefing new players”. I’m not saying that it hasn’t or can’t happen, but it doesn’t deserve that stamp. There are a number of different groups and individuals that use War Decs for various reasons, and while tears are a hot commodity across all of New Eden, I don’t believe that griefing and harassment are primary goals of this slice of players.

I believe that the buzzwords and rhetoric used against War Decs are mainly players that are trying to lobby for a certain degree of safety in an area of space that they could honestly care less about. When discussing or thinking about this topic ask yourself, “Could I fly through a congested area of Nullsec without a scout and expect to live?”.

I mentioned general Highsec pvp as something that I think needs some work, and that’s something I can definitely elaborate on if asked.

Ganking

I feel that a lot of people look at killboards, see the freighters being killed, and think it’s unfair, too easy, and/or too profitable. I highly disagree, but with a few stipulations. This applies to everyone in every area of space, but killing someone is only as easy as they allow it to be. In most cases pilots do very little if anything at all to lessen the chance of them being ganked. The amount of effort put into a hauler or miners gameplay isn’t comparable to that of a ganker. I’m not saying that there aren’t issues with some mechanics that can cause a seemingly “unfair advantage”, but rather that the ability to be gank was determined well before the pilot hit undock.

I’ve seen CCP do their nerfing and balancing, only to find that gankers adapt and roll with the punches far better than those that call for the nerfs and “balancing”. What I firmly believe is that it comes down to a want or need to create some kind of safety net in Highsec. The truth is that this isn’t just a Highsec problem as this ideology of needing the game to be “safer” is an issue all around.

Bumping

I know that CCP’s stance on bumping has allegedly changed according to a Dev post on the old forum’s bumping thread. I am probably one of the games most active bumpers in that it’s something that I do almost daily with my bump Machariel. I use it for scaring / tricking freighters to duel me as well as finding targets for gank fleets. So with that said, I definitely see some areas in which it can be balanced

CCP has mentioned some kind of bump timer, and while it’s not necessarily something that I want to see happen, it’s something that I know will be better for the game. I say this because it doesn’t feel right keeping something bumped just long enough for a group to rage-form from someone pinging. I believe that providing some kind of balance that rewards a gank fleet being active and ready to go is the best way to go here. I personally feel that the parroted 3-minute timer is far too short, but something around 15-20 minutes would be ideal (obviously something that can be examined after the fact and tweaked to liking).

I advocate for this knowing that this will completely kill off a part of the game that I find incredibly entertaining and anyone that knows me or is familiar with what I do probably can’t believe that I’m suggesting this.

This isn’t about rewarding lazy cry-baby pilots that find themselves ganked as much as it’s rewarding those gank fleets that are diligent in being active and ready.

Upwell Structures

Citadel spam is something that has gotten way out of hand, and I would love to see CCP address this issue. Outside of Wormholes there’s very little reason to try and clean up areas of space. This obviously doesn’t include destroying structures that have tactical benefits.

  • Low power mode is a good start but I’d love to see some discussion around changing damage caps, specifically in Highsec (I think Nullsec has found itself in a state where it’s “too far gone” unless my next point is considered.

  • I absolutely love how asset safety works in Wormholes (Psst, it doesn’t exist!). I think that allowing players assets to drop as loot or spoils is the strongest first step towards giving players incentive to see them destroyed. Conquerable stations and outposts exist and have existed before where players could find their un-evacuated assets lost, so I don’t see the issue here.

  • I kept up with the contracts focus group, and found myself in complete support with what CCP has done in reference to being able to complete a courier contract to a citadel that you found your docking rights taken away from.

Specialized Hunting

I am a huge fan of hunting specific targets in all areas of space, or at least I was until the Watch List was removed. I totally get why it was removed, but I wish that it could have been patched or repaired in some way that allowed us to keep it’s functionality without blatantly exploiting it. The removal of the watch list really hurt, and I know plenty of people that find the daunting task of “adapt or die” too much in this case for it to be worth it… so they just don’t hunt anymore.

Hunting someone right now consists of chain-running locator agents and sending a scout there to confirm. I used the watch list before the change to hunt war targets and often made 100+ jumps a night in order to stalk and kill specific targets and I was COMPLETELY content with this. I can make 100+ jumps today while running locator agents only to find out when I get to their system that they aren’t even online. It’s total trash, and I would love to see some sort of change to this.

  • I think a perfect way to add value to upwell structures would be to have some kind of service module or secondary structure that served to provide some form of watch list. I don’t even care about getting a notification ping when a target logs on, and would even settle with some kind of delay.

Other Tidbits!

  • Allow Command Destroyers Micro Jump Field Generator work on players with limited / legal aggression with you (will increase the risk for those attempting to play station games and increases the chance of an actual kill for those that prepare to counter station gamers)

  • I would love to have a real and actual discussion with a CCP dev on their opinions on the state of ganking and wars. I want to know what their stance is on “pulling concord” as it’s currently a grey area.

  • I’m in favor of players having access to “social corps” that are immune to wardecs, but come with the following stipulations:

  • Unable to anchor structures
  • Unable to use any services at an upwell structure
  • 100% corp tax that goes to CONCORD instead of the corp wallet (this is to effectly pay for your safety)

  • There are a lot of mechanic loopholes I would like to see closed surrounding War Decs and Highsec pvp

  • I would love it if PI didn’t reduce the life of my mouse by 1/2

  • I want to see the attribute system removed / revamped (Training skills is already a huge time-gate to be able to fly what you want, and feeling unoptimized just because of an allocation I chose less than a year ago seems silly)

  • It’s 2019 and we need to have a user-friendly way of sharing window positions and sizes across accounts.

  • Server stability / long black screen upon login

To close out this massive post I’d like to say that this doesn’t include all of what I do in Eve Online and what I’m knowledgeable of. If you have questions concerning other areas of space and game play, please let them rip!

I’m eager to respond here, and hope that everyone is able to see that I promote a more dangerous and healthier Eve Online.

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I endorse product and/or CSM Campaign

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+1 vote from each of my accounts.

Good luck with the campaign.

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Easy choice if you want a reasonable, experienced player not cut from the same cloth most of the CSM usually are. Faylee would be a very useful asset for CCP as a specialist of highsec PvP and CrimeWatch, something usually lacking from the CSM, in addition to her extensive experience as a multi-year passionate player. More importantly though, she is a level-headed, straight-shooter with the right temperament to be part of a team, and whose goal seems to make a better game for everyone.

Guaranteed to be on my ballot, and very likely to be the number one pick.

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Endorsed, but with the caveat that your position on bumping is wrong and I hate you.

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Exactly what we need. More fake changes for the sake of changing something. With that suggestion you fit right into the CSM and CCP.

15 minutes bump timer is a useless waste of developer time as it does not change a single thing with bumping. 10 minutes are more than enough to bump a target out of gate gun range and travel a gank fleet over from Uedama to another system. In other words: Yes, I can completely believe that you suggest this … because it is useless. :slight_smile:

Moreover, with this change you keep the mechanics in place to reward lazy ganking groups who rely on bumping to gank instead of proper preparation.

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Do you see any value to wardecs?

How do you respond to the claim ‘outside removing structures wars have no relevance to the vast majority of the player base and are just an annoyance’?

What would you say 3 important factors are for player retention?

Are you comfortable with ‘random’ members of the community adding Santa hats and swimsuits to your character? If no what will you do when I do they do it anyway?

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All sensible policies for a happier New Eden.

However, what are your feelings on the OctBal paper?

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I disagree with you, because I’m an abuser of the bumping mechanic. Let me share with you how.

The longest I’ve ever bumped a freighter was 4 hours. I used 2 alts to keep a timer on him. Why did I bump him for 4 hours? Well because he was a target whose Wardec was going to go live for us in 4 hours, so I kept him bumped for that duration. When the war finally went live he was offline and in a “safe”, so I killed him in a Rookie Ship.

That is the most extreme use of that mechanic in my situation but it’s not uncommon for me to do it for anywhere between 30m - 2h regularly.

Contrary to what you believe I think 15-20m is fair because the average formup for Miniluv is often times around 20-30 minutes. I am happy to note though that recently CODE. and Miniluv have been doing quite a bit of ganking where the target is ganked right on the gate immediately.

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Absolutely I do. I know that it’s a sore subject with a lot of people but there’s a lot of interesting content and experiences to be had through wars. The whole key is that wars are what you make of them.

In today’s meta we have people with strategic agendas or personal grudges against other players and use that motivation to pay people to war dec them. Wars can be as personal or impersonal as you want them to be, and I’m a perfect example. I can tell plenty of stories about my personal interactions with other players that are either funny, amusing, or straight up unbelievable. Player interactions are what drives this game.

I would say that those people only say that because they have no interest in wars. Loss and destruction are often times something that players rally against in order to give them an experience that they prefer, even if it goes against what this game advertises.

I hear a lot of Nullsec players complaining about wars because they just want to be able to shop at a market hub or run some missions and then go back out to their staging. In most of these cases these players die near trade hubs, being intercepted in a way that I would compare to a pirate in real life patrolling international trade waters.

  • Mechanics that support the potential for interesting player interaction
  • A griefing and harassment policy that CCP actively enforces
  • Long term goals. Everyone should always have the next thing they are trying to achieve or train into.

This game is very different than others in that you get much more out of the game, the more you put in. If all you do is log on and run some missions you will probably find yourself bored after some time. I assume that most players hear of the incredible stories that this game has created and that’s what draws them in… So I think it’s important for players to be apart of stories like that.

I’ve seen what you done to Steve lol. I’m fine with anyone defacing my character portrait as long as I can keep my monocle!

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I fully endorse and support this candidate.

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I fully endorse this candidate, expect to be on the top spot of my ballot (unless Toxic runs :grin: )

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ECM

I feel that this change to ECM is a bit odd. Sure, I get the complains around ECM but I’m not entirely sure they are valid enough to warrent a change like this. I’ve heard many pvp’ers complain that they HATE feeling like they have to fit their ships in order to prepare for ECM. That is completely backwards in my opinion because the ship and the fit you use should all factor into one big game of rock, paper, scissors.

The dev blog goes to say that they wanted to make changes on both sides of the fence and they directly refer to the feeling of missing random jams, but the only buff they talk about is considering increasing ECM ships EHP in some way. I think a change like this puts ships like the Widow into a weird spot because of how we’ve used it in the past.

With that said, I’m fine with changes like this as long as it really is BALANCED and provides players with a way in which they have to adapt. Sure it hurts a lot of players to read this while others are elated, but it’s part of eve. I can assume that the players that support this the most are your solo / nano gang pvpers and your Super pilots looking to rat with more of an advantage.

Interdiction Nullification

I feel that with something like this it should come with fairly hefty tradeoffs. I personally have a love / hate relationship with it because while it’s incredibly useful as a tool for travel, it’s completely infuriating to not be able to catch.

To be honest I feel like having interdiction nullification dumbs down the game in a lot of cases where players don’t have to properly scout and move around Nullsec systems. I get that it’s annoying and adds time to your roam or travel having to bounce off celestials and pings in order to ensure there aren’t bubbles at a gate, so in that sense I feel some balance to it is needed.

If I’m being honest I feel that the changes in this oct balance pass are heavily influenced by nullsec groups that are lobbying for a safer position for their members. I would almost say that with how out of hand the game has gotten with ISK generated and capital proliferation, that any amount of danger or risk of loss that can be added and maintained should be done so.

500mn HIC

I have never personally seen a 500mn HIC in action for anything other than rolling wormholes. I hear they are nasty though. I think that the way CCP went about this change originally was a huge slap in the face to an incredible group of players, promising them that they wouldn’t make any changes to HICs without providing them with proper ways of rolling Frigate and crit holes. Having a C5 farm that I run by myself I sometimes have to use a HIC to close any remaining connections, so I feel the need to have it or some kind of resemblance of it.

Overall I agree with the changes to 500mn as long as a suitable solution is honored by CCP to wormholers.

I can’t comment on the Triglavian ships as I have yet to train into and use them. They look like incredible ships though. I imagine that the Leshak is going to be a sound armor doctrine for a home defense fleet for most wormhole groups. Will be very scary for C5/5 pvp groups that find themselves only being able to fit 3 caps and their subcap fleet through a hole and are looking down the barrel of a Leshak fleet.

Overall I’m happy to see balance and tuning as it’s showing that CCP is at least home with the lights on. It’s up to us as players to adapt or die.

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Thank you for answering my question :slight_smile:
Now I just need to find out what I need to do to properly scout as I assumed it was always nullified.

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The past 5 years has shown a decrease in the number of players in EVE with the largest percentage decrease being shown by dotlan and CCP’s own numbers as from HS. The other areas (NS/LS) show a much lower decrease, so it appears that the players are being lost (left game). Since HS can be considered the creche of EVE, how do you plan to revitalize the HS experience to encourage old players to return to and new players to begin EVE? CCP’s previous attempts of adding RW,FOBs,NPC mining fleets, and AS have been less than effective ( see dotlan numbers). While your expertise and skill are readily apparent in regards to PvP, what are your ideas (if any) in regards to PvE? Are you even open to the concept of improving PvE? By the way, the vast majority of HS understand the idea of Risk/Reward and that no place is safe, we are just looking for more updated content that isn’t along the lines of what NS alts want to do. It’s obvious by your post that you are knowledgeable and experienced, what other ideas are you interested in that may sway the HS voter?

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I give this campaign 11/7 potatoes.

What is your stance on focus groups?

Also what would your stance be on a 1-2$ micro transaction that kept you out of local for a month?

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I’ve always kinda frowned on excessive multiboxing, however your general PvP / Piracy platform is quite refreshing. I might vote for ya :slight_smile:

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I’m sure CCP doesn’t openly share this information, and might not even share it under NDA with CSM members, but I would love to know why older players leave and why new players aren’t being retained. I can make assumptions, but I think it all comes down to what their expectations are and if CCP is able to reasonably fulfill that.

I agree that most structured content that CCP implements to the game is likely to not be very engaging. When you read or heard about Eve Online for the first time, was it about that you can sit in a mission pocket and run the same mission over and over? Was it that you can sit in a field of asteroids and harvest them to your hearts content? I would wager against it… What drives Eve Online and makes it rewarding and worth playing is our experiences between players - both negative and positive. I can provide you with the framework along which I think Highsec can benefit from engaging content, but I think hammering out concrete ideas and numbers is futile and that a concept is much more productive… So I’ll give you a concept and we can build from there if you wish.

Revitalizing Highsec Content for its residents

I stated previously that I firmly believe that most of CCP’s “content” is devoid of any meaning or meaningful interaction aside from what the players put into it and get from it. I’m not sure if CCP can create PVE content that is actually fun and engaging, but that is up to the individual to determine. I personally don’t find any of it fun, and have heard the opinions and cries of others saying the same thing.

Just as I was sucked into the feeling of needing to grind for ISK as I waited for my skills to train, I think that there are a MANY players that end up feeling the same way. I believe that if these players were to be able to satisfy their feeling of needing ISK with the ability to have real influence on themselves and others is the best way to go.

I would love to see a dynamic system that works in a way similar to ADM’s in Nullsec where the system / constellation / region is buffed and nerfed in accordance to how much of an activity is being done.

Example: Lets say you are the CEO of a small / mid sized industrial corp and you have a few structures setup in a system. You have members that love to mine in order to build various things, and the more they mine the better yield they get. This can result in more bountiful ores or a chance at rare spawning belts. Now imagine that you have this local threat that has made his way inside and he’s using your corp members hard work to mine these fields while you’re away. All your hard work is gone and given to someone else. You have options here that turn a simple mining and industrial operation into something that your corp members could tell stories of for a long time.

So without going into specifics and whatnot, what I’m talking about is making resources limited in nature and valuable in such ways where the people that put in the effort to make them valuable will feel slighted if they feel they are getting less than they deserve. I can’t honestly tell you that there’s a new and interesting way that CCP can design shooting red crosses, because as I’ve stated: I don’t find CCP’s content fun. I find the experiences and stories that come out of me basically turning lemons into lemonade the most pleasurable and memorable.

So I would like to know, do you actually find PVE content fun? Is it challenging? I know there’s lots of losses in the new Triglavian sites, but that’s because I don’t think people have exactly min-maxed the best way to farm them.

I would love to see a systems security rating be something that is dynamic and influenced by a players direct input. So areas that have a lot of players mining or running missions can find themselves boosting the security of the syste. Possibly something that is also directly influenced by the amount of ganking that is occurring.

My big pitch here is that I’m not a game designer. I can’t design some intricate and exciting PVE system in which everyone will find fun. I’m much more concerned with making sure that every player has the chance to have a story to tell and a unique experience to have so that they can use that to rope their friends into playing. If a player wants to or needs to run missions or mine or whatever, I would prefer it if CCP supports systems that allow players to better interact with each other.

I will admit that a lot of my experience comes from the other side of the fence as someone that doesn’t have a TON of experience with PVE content. The extent of my PVE content was running L3 missions to gain access to locator agents, and then from there I jumped directly into running and owning my own solo C5 farmhole in which I’m multiboxing 4 Rattlesnakes and farming drifters. I want you to know that I want everyone to have fun in Highsec because it’s the first stepping stone into Eve Online for a LOT of players. I have fun shooting players and for that to continue to be fun, we need bodies.

I hope this addresses some of your concerns sufficiently.

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I think focus groups are great! I wasn’t apart of it, but I read the logs from the contracts focus group where they were responsible for the changes to being able to complete contracts to citadels where access was revoked - a change I supported (and you know much I enjoyed hearing about a scam).

So to my knowledge focus groups haven’t been under NDA, and I’m not quite sure there’s much of a vetting process when it comes to who is participating. I would consider the Wardec Project discord server that you and I are both in to be a kind of focus group. You’ve seen the heated back and forth debates that go back and forth, and to be honest I’m not quite sure it’s been very productive at all.

I’ve read some of what you’ve said recently about the CSM and I’m sure you’re leading me with that question into why doesn’t CCP just use focus groups instead of CSM, and well if CCP hosted a Highsec Content (PVE, PVP, and such) focus group I would be all over it. I just know that in the past infamous gankers such as Warr Akini has solicited CCP Rise and offered a clear channel about ganking mechanics and issues, and CCP Rise declined.

I mean, take a look at most of your average CSM members in the past years. I don’t think very many of them are quite as qualified as I might be to give pertinent and accurate information on what is needed for Highsec. The typical response you get from most of them is that it should either be erased or that it should have all mechanics of risk and loss eradicated. It’s just an area of space that they don’t care about because they are largely from Nullsec blocks.

Absolutely against this. I think that isn’t just going down a slippery slope, but that it basically puts us at full speed on a collision course. If CCP wants to remove local then they should make it baseline or have some kind of player-centered mechanic around it.

I felt the same way when I first started out. I quickly learned that with my work schedule and the schedule of those I played with I was going to get ahead if I invested in more accounts so that I can try and be more self-sufficient.

I am not some God-tier multiboxer, but I’m sure some of them exist out there. I find that I make plenty of mistakes, especially when mentally prioritizing what needs to happen on which characters. I commonly find myself piloting 2 DPS and 2 Logi, and that’s pretty extreme in my opinion. I would definitely prefer to play a single account and have 1 role to worry about, and I do that when critical mass is reached and there’s no real reason for me to multibox as much.

That said, I’m actively supporting CCP every month in the form of 9 subscriptions, so I’m sure they are happy about it.

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Currently caps are overpowered and under priced due to the capital proliferation brought on my rorquals and changes to their respective weapon systems. Even if we got rid of rorquals right now it would likely take years before we got back to seeing a normal amount of caps in space.

What would you do to fix capital proliferation in a timely manner?