I think some consequence-free PvP would go a long way. Some people avoid PvP because their only experience of it is being ganked or being attacked by a small group when they’re solo, and the irrecoverable loss is a deterrent. Maybe some abyssal proving ground or arena type deal could simply give you the ship you use so you don’t have to risk your own.
And later we can discuss Eve partnering with zkillboard so you can use plex to erase a lossmail so the record of your failure doesn’t follow your character forever, but that’s a more long term plan.
It’s not a financial issue, it’s a brain wiring issue. Some people have extremely beta personalities, to the extent that they effectively have a phobia of anything remotely competitive. Sure, some people are greedy/hoarders and just don’t want to lose money, but at least they’re sometimes willing to go after targets of opportunity if they think the payout will be big enough. But some will refuse to compete under any circumstance. You can experiment to see for yourself; just find someone who feels like they fit the description, and offer to give them ships for the sole purpose of PvP. They won’t follow through even if offered full compensation for any losses.
Your loss is someone else’s kill. Any kill board that does this will lose its integrity, and will quickly get replaced by a competing service.
CCP is making a event on SISI (the test server) and even offering 1000 plex as a prize
consequence-free PvP, free ships , check it out
i logged one day and got bored
its like playing poker with peanuts
but its your chance
GOGO
Apparently an upcoming part of the “simple changes” planned by CCP includes removing red safeties from Alpha players. So one thing they won’t be doing is learning how the criminal system in EVE works.
CCP is leaning the other way it seems - if you block PvP, you’ve got no consequences to worry about.
Poker in EVE is being replaced with “Go Fish”. At least for Alphas. Looks to be some changes in docking/tethering for Omega criminals as well. Still sorting that one out.
It’s a balance of something to work towards “goal’s” which means new content has to come out so we have more things to work towards + re-balancing which removes the solved state of a lot of things in eve so we can do a bunch of math and testing and exploring (The fun stuff to a lot of people). Some people like to only copy and not test so they miss out on this experience.
Core mechanic changes would be really refreshing for Eve in my opinion we are so used to all the core mechanics that we have no new thing to train in/practice and master.
An example:
Tracking is something unique to Eve where output isn’t always 100% like in other mmo’s but we still have system’s that offer 100% efficiency such as E-war and logi (within optimal range) If E-war and logi had tracking type mechanic’s it would change the game a lot.
Imagine range not being the only factor and flying poorly could lower out going reps from a logi ship.
Another thing could be intel mechanic’s.
New D-scan Mechanic’s
New Local Mechanic’s
The heraldry is a pretty smart move by CCP as it gives people goal’s and something to work towards and so on.
Would freshen up the game a ton.
I don’t think lowering subs is something we could ever hope for, so content seems to be the way imo.
Either reduce the cost of omega or buff alphas options of what they can do (for example maybe let them fly triglav/edencom hulls at least the frigate/destroyer).
Other than that, I don’t think any single simple change can have this effect on playerbase.
I do have a long list of the changes I would do and I will eventually post this, but neither that will bring any players back. Although it might make current players more likely to stay.
You killed Station Trading with Broker Fees.
You killed Industry with Scarcity.
You killed Mining with Residue.
You robbed the players of all the isk they had with Hypernet.
How about being able to make money in the game?
This game used to be about having fun.
Now its about how much money you can make.
Go back to being fun and you will make more money.
Simple.
Nobody who is worth talking to, knowing, or playing with in this game gives a crap about your killboard. The best pvp corps I’ve ever been around think it’s hilarious when you lose a 3b Mach doing something stupid. Having someone tell you there is a bad loss on your KB is the absolute best way to filter out losers you don’t want to associate with.
I figure if they are out there clicking on other ships, I’m happy. I’ll give them advice and fitting tips and all that, but some people just find pvp hard. It’s just hard for some people to keep track of everything going on in a fight, so they lose, a lot. I had one guy in a corp who couldn’t get it figured out to literally save his life. Forgot cap boosters, never pointed anyone, couldn’t understand transversal for anything. Died CONSTANTLY. But you know what, he was out there every single time. Anyone needed help, boom there he was, probably dying alongside you. Everyone loved him. It’s the spirit that counts. I’ll take a corp full of that dude over someone who is just terrified to lose their procurer any day.
Is it? I didn’t mean it to be harsh. It just reminded me of these null sec groups who were kicking people as their ships were exploding to stop them from showing on corp kill boards. People like that are the worst.
So would I. We took a fight while counting on someone to show up as well. Got intel he went jackrabbit and we lost. Hunted our own corp m8 for 2 yrs! I finally caught him, but safety had just been introduced and I forgot to go red. He got away but at least all was forgiven.
