I think that Epic Mission Arcs for Trigs/Edencom would spice up the environment somewhat.
You would run the mission of your choice for either the Trigs or Edencom but not both. The missions would be four parts of 25 missions each that would involve security, mining, logistics and manufacturing.
You would get LP for both that could be spent in the DED or Troika LP store. The Troika LP store would appear in Abyssal Space. Kybers would be able to access the LP store via a Tier I filament. Once in the Abyssal Site the Kyber’s standings with the Trigs would determine if the LP store pops up right away or the Kyber has to fight through two or all rooms to make the LP store appear. Not all abyssal sites would have an LP store though. Proving Conduits in an Abyssal would always lead to a Triglavian LP store, however.
Being a Kyber you would eventually be able to travel any Abyssal Tier I or Tier II without being attacked by any Triglavians but you would still be able to be attacked by other NPC’s normally.
You would get ISK, T1 loot and salvage + LP for running the missions for either side.
Each set of 25 missions reduces your your standing with the opposite faction. When you complete the last mission for either faction you would be considered Elite Kyber / EdenCom that would then open the door to PvP with the other faction which would be very similar to Faction War but would be permanent. Meaning, that any time a Kyber or EdenCom Elite came across each other in space, they could engage in combat without asking for a duel that include podding without a penalty.
Alpha’s could run 65 sites before having to upgrade to Omega to finish the remaining 35 sites.
Each of the 25 mission arcs would start at Level Three difficulty and then progress to a Tier III Abyssal difficulty.
if you join say edencom you are part of the faction and can be engaged by the forces of triglavian pilots that joined the other faction… and vise versa… much like FW…
non of this pussy footing around…
as for agents?? agents in space. as long as you are on grid… you can talk to the agent.
if you join eden com triglavian ships drop much like they do already
and you gain standings for the space you are in… amarr… - amarr standings…
gallante space you gain standings to them … and so forth
any gained LP can be swapped out just like concord lp…
if you fight for triglavians… they npcs drop tags and loot.
when you shoot the navies you lose standings for the space you are in… the reverse of the above.
lp if gained should be an agent in space… much like the standings agents for all four factions…
Fighting for EDENCOM in NPC space should, like you stated, increase your standings with NPC faction that holds Sov over the system. The lower the starting security status of the system means a larger increase and vice versus if you fight for the Triglavians and try to help them flip the system to a form of Abyssal space.
I also think that when a pilot achieves a certain standing with EDENCOM or the Triglavians, PvP with the opposite faction would become available and would be set up much like Faction Warfare. The only difference is that the PvP between high standing members would only take place in a system where the Triglavians are invading.
Concord have no agents… so no epic arc agents by default…
Drones do not have agents… so not not really going to work.
if ccp do introduce Triglavian agents… they should be in system they have absolute control over and the missions should put the pilot up against the four main empire as npcs you shoot…
if you wanna side with trigs… and get access to the good ■■■■. you will have to pay a price.
yes i know this will make empire travel hard… alto… you can always hang in ammatar and knanid space and not get shot at… I know for a fact I could recover from -10.0 amarr/caldari standings and eventually get the other two factions back as well, infact I had nearly -10.0 with galante and I pulled it right back till I could run lvl 4 missions again with gallante.
There use to be regular Concord Agents in-game, problem was they were positive to all Empire Factions. They were removed and only a couple Agents were left to give players a one time security status increase, then they were removed as well. There’s a couple of Concord Agents still in the level 1 SoE Epic Arc but they give standing to SoE Corp.
Anyway, the issue is that Concord Assembly controls high sec systems, players can easily lose standing with Concord Assembly but have no ability to gain standing with them.
The Interbus controls high sec systems as well. They have regular Agents but no Storyline Agents. The only way to gain standing with the Interbus is through derived standings gained from completing missions for their allied Factions. They also don’t have an LP Store but their missions give Loyalty Points.
Rogue Drones, actually there’s a couple of Rogue Drone Agents located in the Gallente Cosmos, however they currently give standing for ORE. Just to make sure all Factions are covered, might as well include Rogue Drones too, CCP can easily give them some Agents and LP Store as well.
All the Factions I listed in my previous post should have an Epic Arc as well as some regular Agents and LP Store. Lastly all NPC’s should utilize the current standings mechanic governing the new Diamond NPC’s.
CCP have been working to improve the NPC AI and PVE content for the past several years, through events like the invasions and features like the Abyss. Are they ready to apply these learnings to old PVE content like combat anomalies, combat signatures and agent missions? Are we as players ready for procedural generation, random weather and other effects, more intelligent AI, perhaps NPC personas with different personalities randomly assigned to lead their fleets. This wouldn’t necessarily make the content more difficult but every dungeon would be unique - no more looking up the solution on Eve Survival - you need to maintain situational awareness.
I would like them to start by redoing some of the older existing content - perhaps the COSMOS missions. Make these 90 day recurring - once and done is a terrible waste of the development effort - create multiple paths through the content where players have a choice of accepting greater risk for greater reward. Perhaps some random, optional side quests.
They could then work their way through the Epic Arcs - perhaps adding some new ones, perhaps converting the career missions into an Epic Arc. Maybe even different levels for the Arcs - you advance to a level you’re comfortable with and stay there until you’re ready to move on - similar to anomalies.
Anomalies and combat signatures would be an easy win - these are basically missions without a story line. Make them unique using the same techniques so you never see the same one twice. I’m not sure rewriting the agent missions is worth the effort - make the stuff we currently get from the LP stores loot drops in anomalies / signatures or rewards in the COSMOS / Epic Arc missions.
CCP does need to improve the NPC AI. Such improvements would include NPC’s attacking you with a random number of fleets that warp to you based on your standings with the NPC in the system.
The NPC’s would attack the Capsuleer similar to how the Capsuleer is attacked by mining barge support NPC fleets after you warp to a belt where the Red mining barge is located. But instead of only warping to the belts, the NPC fleets would track you down anywhere in the solar system that you are in.
The EDENCOM/Triglavian missions would basically train the Capsuleer prior to applying to an Invasion Fleet.
25 missions total that would end with the Capsuleer fortifying a simulated system.