Personally I think the mechanics of wars are fine just over used. I have no good suggestions on how to stop the overuse but expense isn’t one of them (it’s the most common suggestion I see). That said I would personally like to see more reasons to pit players against each other in wars and not less.
If we had some very solid PvE reasons to do horrible PvP things to people I think we would begin to see the development of new groups of players who would go after these PvE goals via the use of PvP. Once they are learning and engaging in PvP as a group to protect or take the PvE stuff they would naturally be better equipped to deal with the people who specialize in the kind of PvP and while they wouldn’t necessarily have the resources or know how to deal with today’s wardeccers they would be a bunch of steps ahead of the vast majority of the groups I see out there today.
As for an example of the PvE based goals to fight over I refer to a recurring idea that has been thrown around (by myself included back in 2014/2015). In my example of it it would be a structure that claimed ‘ownership/guardianship’ of a constellation and gave your corp or alliance either a boost to current PvE activities or access to new PvE based opportunities such as better missions and/or faster cycle time on rocks. Limit it to one per constellation and you have your conflict
I agree with this somewhat, perhaps there could be more NPC’s trying to enforce justice by killing the mercs and pirates. On the other hand this is a sandbox game so one could argue that it should be up to the players to organise themselves so they are in a position to fight blanket war deccers.
We have to start accepting the game for what it is. Maybe CCP want the players to solve this blanket war dec issue. I would have thought by now players would have worked together and crushed the blanket wardeccers into oblivion.
I’m very surprised that no one seems to see that there is some EPIC pvp sitting right there, the blanket war deccers are right there at gates and vulnerable.
I want to come to hi-sec and see where I can help out. Maybe my perspective on the game could help willing pilots fight against this. Yes, it’s safe to say I am all about the players solving this themselves.
Sit in recruitment chat for an hour and for every post by a recruiter check out their corp/alliance numbers.
99% of the time the corp will have ~5-25 players (maybe 15-20 unique accounts, maybe 5-10 actually active within the last 3 months). For the alliance level say 3-5 of the same corps making up an alliance.
Everyone wants to have control and has dreams of being the next big thing in New Eden. Which is foolish. This era has come and gone. This is like someone today saying “I’m going to start a store that sells everything from groceries to clothes to electronics”. Sorry kid, Walmart will put you out of business simply by existing within a 100 mi radius of your store full of hopes and dreams.
Your only chance is to consolidate all of the efforts of the thousands of other stores and become Amazon.
If there isn’t 23/7 presence, concentrated and centralized force then it just simply isn’t possible.
If hi-sec players don’t understand this and adapt then they can keep failing in their un-united, fractured little personal corps. All they have to do is give up a little pride.
What is the result of a massive his-sec entity? Would love to see how many WTs Marmite would have just sitting off station at Jita 4/4.
Would love to see a member of CODE. simply make it to an asteroid field in a hi-sec defended zone, much less get to one and not have a dozen WTs land on the same field just as they do.
Um…I quit playing for about four years and it had little or nothing to do with that AMAZING WALL OF TEXT that you have displayed such passion in presenting…so…the game pop doesn’t really decrease, it has been the same since 2008, it was way under 20k back then, I saw it crest at about 40k on a weekend, then I met schmoopy…ffs guys, she was literally worth leaving the game for, but after she was gone I came back here.
Don’t expect wow style attendance, you either play this game or you don’t, it becomes a way of life for people…I had this one mate that got into a car wreck, he took off running…when the cops caught him and asked him why he ran…he said “so I don’t get pod killed”
It’s not about control. No one is dreaming here, the only goal is good pvp. At no point did I say I had to lead this…I’d be just as happy supporting a leader as best I can. FYI a good leader needs people like myself to help move the whole group forward.
Well it could be coming again. Today’s play styles promote the little guy teaming up with others and doing what it takes to defend themselves. I’m not saying you are wrong, I just feel you have a pessimistic view, wheres the harm in trying something and prompting people to work together ?
Perhaps the real reason why player population is declining is due to how pessimistic many of us are.
I believe there are logical points as to why the games population was/is declining. They likely have to do with dev changes, gaming culture, and perhaps something else I’m not thinking about atm (perhaps technical limitations?). In your post you think the population is declining just because people are mean. I seriously doubt that is the case with EVE. I wouldn’t doubt people leave because they want a game where they feel a bit safer and less intimidated. I find the intimidation, challenge, and intensity of what EVE is to be an intriguing factor though.
Mainly people stop playing due to the few major factors which game facing for the last 5 years.
The player base shifting constantly and those who had been pioneers and joined in early days left due to real life influence or either saw how dramatically game changed vs. early romantic days.
CCP has been changing constantly and not into the good way. For me its obvious that they picked up the Dark side.
The changes we facing with for those years are in common not been fixing the original issues but multiplying old ones and bringing lots of discussions and protests from players.
The gaming industry been progressing very fast and we get now a lot of interesting mobile contents which attracts younger players much more than 14 yo PC game where the meta kills content. Cause “adapt or die” philosophy and “pay not to grind” model is ok for mobile content but not for such a long term project where your progression meant a lot but now you just pick up “light” alpha mode instead.
The whole idea to build huge space empire is very attractive and CCP made nice ads and promo videos how nice and cool space battles are but in reality it is completely different. And that’s is why the number of “fukc it I’m leaving” threads are not decreased over the years. CCP got over excited its own success and started investing into doubtful projects vs. keep focusing on #1 project.
So having all those paid a negative income to CCP in return and turned this game into “big blue alts ”.
The original creator of this game (his name is Peck) played David Braben’s Elite as a child along with his older brother. Eve is based on this original game from 1982.
The original Elite game is a tough and harsh game, my gameplay within Elite involved waiting for haulers to come along, I would destroy the hauler and scoop and sell their cargo which made my status lower and ensured police were pursuing me. I also did assassinations on Elite 1, and used a similar tactic in Elite 2 in the 90s.
My point is Eve was always destined to be a Dark and unforgiving game which is an inescapable fact.
CCP have had their problems, the original creator (Peck) left CCP due to him being difficult to work with. The remaining CCP staff have done the best they can.
If any changes are to be made I’d say CCP need to employ human NPC ceo’s and agents, I think people would like this sort of thing and it would contribute to new players having a rich experience and remaining in the game.
Agree with OP, after yesterday’s first meeting with NPC Mining Corp ganker fleet (lost Mackinaw), asked about it on English Help, got laughed at, git gud, you know what I’m sayin’. Part of community is way too much cynical and thus repulsive.
I’m “returning” player after long time of absence, and I really dont like the idea of making NPC kill players in High-sec, and not only killing - but killing slowly and denying any chance to fend off or escape. I like mining in high-sec because its relaxing and meditative activity, and I have plenty of stress in real life to get even more of it here. We high-sec miners already are poorest of the poor to be put in even more harsh conditions. It will take weeks to mine for a new Mackinaw for what, to lose it again someday. It was first Exhumer I bought long years ago and it managed to survive until last day, when CCP decided it will add more fun if they arrange an ensured kill on unsuspecting peaceful player who logged in to relax and brush off hardships of real life, because F U, high-sec miners, thats why.
Eve is not for everyone, I see it now. My money and time are not for everyone, too. Coin always has two sides.
Saddest part is that I no longer can trust CCP, who knows what ideas will they get at next expansion, NPC titans at belts in high-sec maybe, one-shoting every miner on sight, why not, its fun to ruin somebody else’s day, right CCP?
Why I am not allowed to fly Mackinaw because of fear of destruction, I paid for game time, I am not a freeloader.
The main issue here is CCP wants to kick older characters out of highsec so they can create content either being generating conflict or becoming someone elses targets.
Because player conflict doesn;t seem to be enough their new npcs which by the way are suposed to replace all curent more docile npcs one day are used as a tool to make highsec less safe.
All this is a problem and altho I am for the HTFU aproach sometimes everyone likes to just chill,relax and treat the game more casualy if even for a short time.
I have no idea how they can ever push people out of highsec as it seems the more they push the less players are left coupled with the fact that our game is downright boring as hell,replacing the casuals(yes there is alot of them aparently) may be impossible.
You can fly a Mackinaw. The presence of a pirate FOB can been seen in the Agency tab. You will only be attacked by the roaming NPCs in a system with an active FOB. Just look to see if one is in your system before you undock, turn on your mining lasers, and walk away from your keyboard.
You should remember though that destruction is a key feature of this game and if not one of these NPCs, a player could also come alongside and explode you, especially if you are not paying attention. Just because you pay for game time does not mean you get some guarantee of safety.
You were probably locked down and killed by FOB NPC’s. Just fly a tanked Procurer or Skiff and pay attention and you’ll be fine. You can also look at the Agency tab and see if there is a FOB in your area and avoid it.
I can say only for myself, pressing to drive me from high to low/null sec will result in driving me off the game at all. I just dont like being paranoid all the time. I never participated in PvP, not a single fight, I’m not a masochist and will not present myself to wheoever out there is seeking for conflicts, I just dont like it, science and industry is my style, to create things instead of destroying, because PvP is awlays a “zero sum game”, if someone wins - other always lose, and I dont like to contribute to increasing of sad feelings because there is plenty of it without me. Eve is not for everyone now including me, but it was “for me too” just fine all these years.
And yes, I was relaxing for 1633 days until yesterday. Yes, that is my ship anywhere, I bougth it, its my property. Yes I was vigilant all the time until yesterday, but there were no means for me to know that ganker npcs warp-scram and too thick to fend off with drones; is there any other way to learn, not by losing valuables and then mine for weeks?
PS. While wehaving a conversation, someone put a bounty on me for reasons unknown, maybe they just dont agree with my opinion and they trying to tell me something; that only proves OP is right, I see it was a bad idea to even start expressing any opinions, justice is swift
Vigilantism is not paranoia. One is being able to watch your surroundings, the other is constant fear of dangers. These are not the same.
Do you not ever remove other people’s pieces in a game of chess? Do you never take money from others in monopoly? EVE is a game, not life.
If one incident causes such apparently tremendous issues, leaving (and maybe checking with a professional) seems to be a healthy course of actions. Please do not misunderstand me, but how you describe yourself here makes it sound like you have problems. Whati mean is:
You had 1633 days without incident, and ONE makes you react like this. Instead of shrugging it off you create your own drama because of it. That is weird.
No. What is… problematic … is your way of dealing with the situation. You are writing in a way that makes it look like it affects your real life, as if that truly was a possibility outside of your own mind. It is not, though. You take this way too seriously.
EVE is not a game for escapists. It is not a game for people who wish to “immerse” themselves in an alternative reality and that is an unhealthy thing to do in the first place.
You died to NPCs in a game that has NPCs in it. Welcome to gaming?
I mean, I would understand if it was players, because then there’s the whole ‘I don’t want to fight players / be content for players / don’t like PvP’ thing which, while misguided, is something I understand a certain kind of person believes they should be able to opt out of.
However, you basically died to a dragon in a game that has dragons in it because you went to a place where there were dragons.
And you can’t handle that?
Really?
Also it sounds like this is your first loss in 1633 days and despite all that time safely earning ISK the loss of a Mackinaw somehow cause you a huge problem.
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