TL:DR- I get annoyed when people say incursions are too easy. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The truth of the matter is that incursions are extremely dangerous, it’s just that some of the best players in the game carry all the newbros, casuals, and knuckleheads who would otherwise be losing ships. After hearing this a billion and one times, and seeing the sentiment echoed in the CSM minutes, I needed to rant.
First off, I’m not saying that incursions payouts do or do not need to be nerfed with this post. They pour a lot of isk into the economy, and they may very well need further tweaks to their reward structure and/or risk to reward ratio. Before jumping the gun, however, I would like to point out that due to recent changes and real life events, isk efficiency is currently way down for WTM (the game’s largest and most active incursion community). So, might want to see how things pan out before making further changes. But, I digress.
Now, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that Incursions have an out of balance risk to reward ratio. However, l want to make it perfectly clear as to what is actually going on. The truth of the matter is that incursions are actually extremely difficult and extremely dangerous. They only appear to be risk free because highly knowledgeable and hardworking players are carrying the newbros, casuals, and knuckleheads.
Let me explain. In solo PvE activities, everyone would lose more ships, but this is especially true for all the lower tier players. However, in group PvE content:
- There are no ships lost due to bad fits- You don’t even need to research fits. The community will tell you exactly what tank you need to fly in order to be able to participate safely. And, if you don’t meet their fitting requirements, then they won’t let you int.
- There is a decrease in ships lost due to a lack of knowledge- no need to research, or learn by trial and error. The FC will tell you exactly where to go, where to anchor, and who to shoot. And if you start doing something stupid, he’ll call you out.
- There is a decrease in ships lost due to mistakes- The FC and Logi masters are constantly looking for mistakes that might get someone killed. They will call them out on it, and try to save their asses if they do start to die.
- There is a decrease in ships lost due to DC’s- Suspected DC’s will get preemptively locked by logi and seen safely off grid.
- There is a decrease in ships lost to PvP- Logi support provides a lot of reps that need to be chewed through, 40 people provide a lot of eyeballs, and the FC will take special precautions to help keep the fleet safe. Thus, the group hardens what would otherwise be soft targets.
In other words, the hardcore and knowledgeable players use their knowledge and energy to not only to help them make isk safely, but to also help others make isk safely. In fact, I think nothing illustrates this point better than this. One of the guys who sometimes flies with WTM clearly has dementia. This guy is a f*cking train wreck (and if you’ve flown with him, you already know who I’m talking about). Yet somehow, through the skill of command core (and the grace of god), he still hasn’t lost a ship in a WTM fleet.
So, the next time you propose that the risk to reward balance be changed for incursions, say it right. Don’t say, “incursion are too easy.” Instead say, “Incursions are actually really hard and dangerous, the problem is that some of the best players in the game have made it idiot proof.”
And, as a bonus, here’s footage of me saving a mach who failed to broadcast for shields on time. No one broadcast for shields with the new wave, so I followed the lasers in space to see who was being shot at. I then broadcasted him so that the other logi could lock him and start getting him reps.