As promised, I am now dropping the subject of High-Sec and getting my focus on Faction Warfare. We can agree and disagree on the several things I have proposed for High-Sec, but I will leave the discussion to which one of them is worthwhile to other parties that are willing to discuss them on their own.
Now let’s talk Faction Warfare:
The gist of the article is talking about the history of FW and what led it to the mess it currently is. I tried my best to recall and document the numerous events I have seen and make sense of them. Many of you have been around in the Warzone long enough to remember some of the things I discuss.
So for this one, the point is to understand Faction Warfare, propose solutions, before discussing proper implementations of those solutions in a later article.
As always, have at it!
N.B: The point of this thread is not to discuss High-Sec, this has already been done in a previous thread, focus on Faction Warfare. Thanks.
This has been a very good read, thank you for writing it up! I am a relatively (2 months) new player myself, and decided to start in the Faction War, and it took about that long for me to grow weary of it. This article helps me understand years and years of decline in about ten minutes.
I never understood why the faction war is the way it is. People explain it in pieces but never more then that. But I can certainly see what they are talking about because I feel it too. The huge dominance of farmers and the general attitude of both CCP and the players themselves give the faction war a huge sense of futility that make me feel like I am effectively wasting my time. I’m not going to conquer systems with my contribution. And even if I do, what exactly is the gain for my “side”?
Even my militia doesn’t really conquer the systems, or so it feels like: The farmers do. Farmers and, supposedly, bots push the systems, so what am I there for? Yes, there’s explosions, I get that, but I gues I like my explosions with a purpose.
This would be bearable if the general community was not so negative nancy about it. I struggle to find anyone who will say that there is a point to the faction war and doesn’t respond with bittervet derision when I say I am involved in it, which is a big deal, because community enthusiasm can make the most tedious content enjoyable, and the most enjoyable content tedious. FW, unfortunately, is both tedious by nature and has a community that renders it even more tedious. Nobody cares, even when the tide suddenly turns against us and systems start dropping like flies. “Oh that’s just the farmers, wait half a year and it’l be in our favor again” Yeah thanks bro, really getting me psyched up to fly out there.
Many players have told me that the faction war should only really be seen as a way to make money. But ISK maximization is only enjoyable if there is some kind of endgame to maximizing it, a purpose you can spend that ISK on to feel like you’re doing something worthwhile. The Faction War as it is now doesn’t offer that. If it wern’t for my Alliance being just the best guys ever I probably wouldn’t have lasted two weeks.
This is a very good point, and ultimately this is what has led to the decline of Faction Warfare.
I have seen numerous people be afraid to totally control the warzone, because doing so would kill their content (by annihilating the opposition, aka the people they can shoot at). Another obvious reason is because doing so kill the cash cow as more and more people farm the LP on the winner side, diluting it.
If the primary goal of your system is something people want to avoid, you have a clear problem with your system.
Now, I think Faction Warfare has a purpose, as the factions actually don’t like each other and they actually compete with one another. However, making sure those reasons are less monetary and more meaningful is crucial.
Capping plexes is not big money, but it’s easily worth it if you are doing it for a cause.
Anyway, I have a solution to this in mind, but this is something I will cover in the next article.
FW can be interesting if you become a loyalist to your faction, and try to help your side defend/attack the WZ. In MinMil we have at least one invitation-only chat room for long-term or at least proven loyalists. One guy in our chat kind of leads, and calls the systems to focus on for defending/attacking. It gives us some purpose for our plexing and solo explosions. And when the nullsec alts come in, set up shop and fly around in shineys, and systems start falling fast-- it gets a little tense.
The LP farmers come and go, we just ignore them. Who would want to spend their free time playing a game, just to grind isk?
to discuss High-Sec, this has already been done in a previous thread, focus on Faction Warfare. Thanks.
good luck with this thread lol. I’ll read it proper when I get home