I really enjoy the Proving Ground content and have been running pretty much all the events since it started. But the collusion in this event is breath-taking in it’s scale and audacity, and it is ruining an event that was great fun for the first few hours where for a while there was a mass of ships smashing into each other in a frenzy of destruction.
I’m not talking about a couple of people teaming up when they see who is in the arena, instead now almost every arena has a fleet of 3 - 5 ships working together, all identical and easy to spot. I also shot a vexor called “abyssal logi”
I have spoken to multiple people who either no longer do the FFA or are thinking resorting to similar tactics simply to compete.
I would suggest the following changes would go a way towards sorting this out:
- Blur/remove out names, security status and ship names.
- Ban all remote assistance mods.
Also people are going to say the event was impossible to finish in 15mins with out teaming. It was not, but there was a lot of draws in the first hour or so. The problem is that the meta 4 restriction results in max tank fits with low damage. Limiting tank mods might help here, or simply not doing the meta 4 events as the T2 close range ammo does way more damage.
This event could be awesome and for the first 2 hours it was a lot of fun.
Also ban Tractor units please - from every proving ground format.
3 Likes
Using every possible tool to your advantage is how EVE is played. Smart solutions, teamwork, anything to win.
You can add more rules to make it harder for teamwork in abyssal pvp, but as long as EVE is EVE, players will find a way to work together if it is in their advantage.
While I agree with you on much of this, ccp has made an effort to make this event accessible, there is a low skill ceiling, cash reward for entering and it is super easy to get involved.
But a small organised group ruins the experience for everyone. It is meant to be a ffa, not 1v1v1v3v1v… Limiting the ability to work together will improve the event massively. There have been plenty of 2v2 and 3v3 events to engage in if that is your thing.
I don’t have a problem with temporary teaming in the arena, that is inevitable and part of the fun.
The first few hours when people were not organised was great fun, loads of little fights in all directions. Madness.
1 Like
Good. That is how it is supposed to be. You are not safe from EVE in your crappy secluded instanced garbage bubble. But don’t fret, CCP will introduce a special rule for your bubble against this kind of harassment in due time. They hae done it once to protect the innocent, mindless drones from undue EVE harm, they will surely do it again. @CCP_Convict will make sure of it.
I really agree with the OP here, unless something is done to stop collusion then collusion will just become the meta (as it seems to be already).
It’s a shame because the concept was really strong, limiting it to meta 4 was a great idea but calling it a FFA and not separating people from the same corp/alliance or hiding participants info means that it will be an FFA in name only.
2 Likes
Yes, the whole point of an arena is that it has special rules that allow competition between people on a level playing field so that personal/team skill is more important than the size of your wallet or the number of friends you have. If that is how you want to play then there are ~8000 systems in Eve to enjoy, and I do between events.
It’s an arena and with a few tweaks it could be a better arena.
It’s a space for space sissies. For people like you who need special rules to survive when other people are better than you.
Weird take, you know it’s a PvP instance right?
Weird take from the OP indeed. He doesn’t like the PVP when it doesn’t benefit him and other people use the available mechanics and tools to their advantage. Weird, right?
Pointing out that the mechanics need to change in order to meet the stated intent doesn’t seem weird at all. It mostly looks like you’re trying to derail the thread because you don’t like this type of content, which just comes across as churlish.
go back and look at the majority of his posts, all negativity pointed at CCP… every change made, he wines.
Really? If anything it is the opposite - a space where you can’t hide behind your mates or pay for a massive advantage.
Apparently that is what you don’t like about it. Why should people not bring friends to fight your solo adventure? As for the hiding: You want names and ships hidden just so that people can’t cooperate. You just can’t compete with other people and that’s why you want special rules in place so that you don’t have to adapt to metas and other people.
Where did CCP state the intent that people should not cooperate? Where did CCP state that the intent of this FFA is that all people on the field must fight each other from the start. Yes, what you think was stated is weird, too, and so is the idea that special rules should be put in place to prevent cooperation in a big group. That is childish. Why pointing out that the OP just expects special rules so that he can’t be outplayed anymore would be a derailment of the topic is beyond me. He posted a suggestion, I posted counter arguments and pointed out his double standards and refusal to adapt.
You’ve got me wrong on this, I would like names hidden and I would like to make clear here it is not my idea, nor is it just me who wants it, because it would be way better, more fun and difficult. If I simply wanted to win at all costs I would have done the same as the blobs.
A win when you have conspired and smashed your way to victory through weight of numbers is nothing like as good as the experience of fighting on your own through 17 other individuals who want the same thing.
You can get the experience of being a blob and fighting a blob way better without entering the arena, with the ability to run away, find friends change ships and out do each other in all the usual ways. In the arena it is just rubbish as if you match with a bunch of colluders you have no counter play.
Not really. Doing in the arena that is supposedly meant to give people a secure and safe solo place to fight is much more rewarding for these people because people like you give them tears and salt. And that is what these people are after and they can get it as evidenced by this topic.
But with regards to the blurring of names/ships and such. What would that even accomplish? These people are in a fleet. They have themselves on the watch list and are in a chat. They lock their ships from the watch list or chats or they just broadcast targets for their fleet to shoot.
OK so your reply tells me you have not been involved in this content, but you did give me an idea that I tried tonight and following this test I would like to add to my list of proposed changes:
- Stop people swapping fleet in the arena.
Because it turns out although you enter the FFA in a fleet of 1, you can leave and join other peoples fleets and therefore simply blurring names would not work.
So even more special rules. Thank you for confirming. And you know what? You still cannot prevent people from collaborating because they are still in chats and can still link the primary target in chat. 
No matter the amount of rules, as long as people can collaborate they will.
Pilot names blurred, no fleets? Use ship names fo recognise who not to shoot. Ship names disabled? Use ship skins. Ship skins disabled? Use ship types to recognise whoever is not in your group.
Ship types also disabled? Well… that would break the idea of this format.
And even then, when ships are completely unrecognisable, people could recognise friends by their actions, by all following the same orders at the same time (“everyone who flies straight up now is no enemy”).
You can’t take collaboration for advantage out of EVE.
I actually don’t want to take all the collusion out of the arena, but I think it would be a much better experience if it wasn’t possible to get a fleet of Caracals organised to alpha all the other players.
I am now convinced that simply changing the names is going to be futile and the only real chance of solving this issue would be to get more people to engage with the arena, therefore making it impossible to match with your friends.
So I encourage you all to try the ffa. If you spend less than 30mill on your fit, insure your ship, push the right button and cause 5000 damage it won’t cost you anything and if you don’t get blapped by a fleet of Caracals it is great fun.
I love how everyone claims eve is a sandbox yet consistently rag on others as not playing right…or being
If this is what works for them they pay/plex the game helping to keep the lights on, if you are one of those who say it’s a sandbox then let it be so.