Small Frigate Arenas - A beginning to something greater

PvP Gameplay Center Tournament Discussion
1

Hello Eve Community,
As much as I enjoy Eve as it is, I feel like I need more action, especially when it comes to quickly blow of some steam.
As a returning player to Eve mainly for the sandbox part, I find myself in desync when I want some meaningful action in a quick fashion, especially after coming back from other high action packed games.

I’ve tried many things over the last year or so to get entertained, and when I said I’ve tried, it literally means that I have almost every ship for every occasion that this game has to offer. From small ships to titans, from abyssals, ratting, exploring, escalations, incursions, mining, trading, etc. (all pve) to pvp, from small scale solo/gang to huge thousands of player fights.

As for solo/small gang pvp I’ve tried multiple times to roam around FW space/null space, but I find myself most of the time roaming around for hours and not getting that much action. So I was thinking I am doing something wrong and I started watching streamers do it. I found out that they are not getting that much action even tho they stream with no delay and everyone knowing where they are, for the sole purpose of getting more content on their stream and inviting people to fight them.

What I propose Is a lobby/moba type of arena, maybe one like the abyssals are currently, or maybe a wh space, in which you can join/que up for instant fights.
For things to be balanced at start we can try to make only frigates/faction frigates arenas.
Maybe start with 1vs1 at the beginning, after which we can add duos, 3vs3, 5vs5, etc. and why not different classes - up to maybe Battleship level.
For further balance, we can limit those frigates to only T2 modules or at least set a price range for the ship+fit+clone itself. Maybe even make separate lobby’s for brawlers or kitters or join them together if we can get modules only usable in arenas that can counteract a kitter from running away forever.
Suggestions from highly skilled pvp’ers is welcomed and I am 100% sure that a system like this can be implemented and be balanced.

As for the reward part, besides the fame of a ladder system you can get unique modules/skins/etc, there are plenty of rewards that can be motivating enough.
I am only looking a quick way to do pvp that does not require roaming around for a long time to get fights, so even rankings/ladder would be enough for me.
Not to mention that this is available for most of the Alpha community as well, offering them and new players a better way to learn and be attracted easily in to this beautiful game.
I am open to suggestions.

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No.

…

… hm …

…

… hold on …

… maybe I’m going to fast.

Maybe …

… just maybe …

… I should think this through properly.

…

…

…

■■■■ no.

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If you have tried all of the above and still can’t find something to hold your interest/entertain maybe a different game (like a Battle Royal) might be what you’re looking for. Because what you’ve described sounds a lot like PUBG, but with spaceships… and currently I can sit in a PUBG queue for a long time and not get a match, so please don’t make Eve like this too.

Regards,
Cypr3ss.

4

I don’t understand where is the big deal of making a quicker way to get fights, like an instant one?
All the other things remain in place, nothing nowhere is disturbed.
Instead of spinning the ship in station you can go on an instant frigate fight, and not have to roam around. This would help people that want to play more in unpopular time-frames where it literally takes ages and tens of jumps to find someone.
As I said, an option that would engage new people better.
And I am not looking for a PUBG style arena, tried that too, although if you mention it a 50 man last survival frigate arena would be nice.
Big games in industry always adapted from what things came out in the recent years and had extreme success.
There is nothing wrong with diversity, what can a 1vs1 frigate instant join arena do to this game if not offering possibilities?
And please offer arguments instead of simply saying no.

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This is skill queue online, not match queue online. Also if you did this it would pull players away from PvP, you know the type you said you were looking for but couldn’t find.

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The big deal against instant gratification like 1vs1 fights on demand is that it will not only add something to the game, it will also take something away from the game.

When people looking for pvp matches aren’t required to fly through the EVE universe and gather intel in order to find potential enemies to fight, but can get the fight they’re looking for with the press of a button to queue up for a fight, these people will stop looking for potential enemies to fight in the EVE universe.

Our big pvp sandbox would simply become less populated and less fun when people get their pvp fights instantly with the press of a button. And without people in space to create content, space would become dead and empty.

Sure, 1vs1 fights on demand and for no effort sounds nice, but the rest of the game would suffer for it.

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Akiainavas and the other profession systems were this.

It had 120 noobs any time of the day. The drew noob pvp’ers. The noob pvp’ers drew predators. The predators drew bigger badder predators… etc…

I used to log in for 30 min before work and get a couple frigate/small ship fights.

Was great.

That one system had more chaos than all of Eve has today (opinion).

They killed it to save the noobs. Meanest thing ever done to a noob, IMO.

Mo

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Mo that literally added nothing to the discussion and sounded more like a please pity me post.

9

Oh?

I’ve long advocated for the return of criminal mechanics. It’s part of what I do.

I hold dear the standard of what the profession systems were: Empire’s capitols of violence.

They were tremendous in engagement and strife.

I’m not feeling especially sorry for myself… i simply continue to advocate for the best features the game used to have.

The question is, is my plea strumming your heartstrings because I’m emotional, or because you are?

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Well you didn’t say if you were for or against the OPs idea…

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You didn’t say if you’re emotional or not…

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No I’ve been told I have no heart

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I would have described you as more “scarecrow” than “tin man”…

I don’t want instanced combat. I want criminal activity mechanics and population centers… lots of good PvP available there and it’s got a good community vibe.

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There’s tons of threads out there, on the older forums and findable via google, where people endlessly try to explain to the respective OPs why this is a bad idea. Ghost did the same as well. There’s no point in repeating everything over and over again. Someone who proposes an idea should absolutely be putting some effort into making sure the idea hasn’t been rejected a hundred times already.

People assuming their ideas are new, or original, just show that they don’t actually care about what others are thinking.

15

Well, you can offer something much more rewarding in Factional Warfare space so it doesn’t suffer from this. And most of null sec roamers are looking for trouble and other kind of satisfaction.

I’ve seen and read some of those posts but most of them are old or they go too far.

Small frigate combat arenas would not take the player base that already does regular pvp, only offering diversity and a great tool especially for new players to learn and be attracted to this game by offering a taste of what Eve is at larger scales. So I would see it more as an introduction/perfection part for anyone that wants to pvp.
All you veterans and hardened pvp’ers see this as a possible diminishing of those who already frigate roam in lowsec, but think of how many new people you can get by offering them the ONLY thing that every other game has and Eve doesn’t, a quick game, a quick meaningful interaction between players.
Unfortunately this game comes from a time (15 years ago) when people were content with the slow pace of games (like supergrinding in Vanilla WoW). Since then games and gamers evolved and need some kind pvp interaction in quicker ways and keeping it frigate only would not disturb the overall flow of the game.

16

Yes. We’ll get people who do nothing all day but sitting around waiting for an opponent in their arena. That adds literally nothing to the game as a whole and only helps even further creating the impression of EVE being a collection of mini-games.

I understand your desire for this, but you really are underestimating the downsides on the game. Every single person, that stops roaming, acts as a multiplyer. Everyone who can’t be found is not being found, discouraging someone else from roaming as well.

It’s a really, really bad idea.

17

I think FW was intended to give you the arena for both ‘meaningful’ content and Frigate only PvP (novice complexes).

Why doesn’t anyone use it? When they did, why did they go?

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I propose the same thing I’ve been proposing for years.

There is nothing so good for the game as for new players to see fights and interactions on a regular basis. It makes the game feel alive.

What if, instead of an arena place, there was a limited engagement mechanic where you could pick fights against other people.

Add to that a location where the noobs can see fighting and join it… against other noobs.

And… you have Akiainavas from 2011… a fight filled location full of frigate battlers squaring off individuals and in small teams around the Corp based aggro mechanics of jet cans.

Most fun I’ve ever had in a video game. (And don’t fall for that “save the children” nonsense… it was the introduction to cheap, casual, limited, and social PvP that you’re asking for).

Noobs loved it

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It would end up with “everyone” making Alphas regularly so he counts as “noob”, allowing him to participate while at the same time neglecting all the other space. I understand what you want, but that’s not how you steer a population without disrupting its functioning.

What you want you need to do yourself. Make a corp, find those newbros, teach them how to fight among themselves. The greatest selling point for that is that they’re all equal. Cheaters, who inject, would easily be found.

If you want to be really smart about it, you have a friend who does the same. Then you create “organic” reasons for why the two groups fight. You and your friend have full control over what’s going on, while your newbros believe it’s awesome, amazing and organic.

20

I’ve long found that so few people understand maneuver and damage mechanics in this game…

That piloting skill and an understanding of mechanics trumps all in most roughly fair fights (especially in frigates).

The slower the ship goes the less maneuver matters.

A smart noob who flies wisely in small boats will beat even the most senior frigate pilots who fly poorly and don’t manage their maneuvering for a relative advantage.

1 Like