Once again, the banter on someone else's blog has sparked off a diatribe of a comment that I'm turning into a Making The Game post. What can I say, I get wordy at times...
The original post comes from Letrange over at Letrange's Eve Blog, I give him a C- for blog name originality, (who am I to talk, I just translated my name for a blog title) but a solid A for content, including the two guides on Dominion projection weapon changes that I have linked on the right-side bar of my page and will until something changes to put them out of date. If you don't read his blog, start. :)
Basically, the tl;dr version is that he suggested that PvE should be given elements that make it more exciting and realistic, and offer a 'training' opportunity for budding PvP pilots, so that the flight styles aren't so VASTLY different. One or two people commenting on his post stated their disagreement, that missions are supposed to cater to a different clientèle than PvP.
I think a good compromise/workaround the various schools of thought on this sort of thing (and something more in line with CCP's style) would be to add a new agent-type, that offers advanced military missions.
They already did it for the training lines, but if they did so for missions, they could add agents that offer missions that are designed for PvP fit ships. None of this 'waves of badguys, go-go-drake-tank and wait for the money' and instead more along the lines of 'catch that Rifter for a big bounty'. Stuff that gets the blood pumping a bit more, with higher payouts for the individual kill, but the overall reward being based on the time it'll take you.
One of the great things about EVE is it's 'toolkit' nature. Far too often I read cries of 'nerf this' 'change that' 'this is boring, fix it'. While in some cases that can be appropriate, (if 1 ship is out there defeating all comers, regardless of situation or opponent, there's obviously a balance issue) for the most part the 'toolkit' approach suggests addition over subtraction.
In other words, when you find missions grievously boring (I do) and only run them for money, don't suggest changing missions and driving off the folk who enjoy them, suggest ADDING something new that can allow you an outlet of PC vs NPC violence that YOU will enjoy.
Another possibility. What if they introduced PvP missions that could let you pew pew on other players and make money doing it?
Interested?
Here's a sample.
Capsuleer A is hired by Agent A to take a frigate sized hull out to a rendezvous point, carrying a valuable trade commodity. Naturally, they don't trust Capsuleer A, so they make him put some money down and tell him to 'come alone'. He flies out to the mission coordinates and finds a rusted old Minmatar jump-gate leading into the deadspace. He activates the jump-gate and slingshots out into the complex.
Inside, he finds silence, and receives an incoming communication from his agent. "Agent B is trying to horn in on my deal. Kill his Agent when he shows up, then make the deal."
Here comes the tricky part (from CCP's standpoint), the jump-gate 'sorts' people into different 'instances', the first 2 people to enter arrive together, the next two, the next two, and so on. This way, numerous people can be running the mission, and they'll get their chance to complete it as soon as a second mission-runner shows up. Entering the later half of the complex also gives aggression to you and the other party, keeping Concord out of the equation.
After a set amount of time, the contact shows up and drops a can for his swag.
If no-one else is running the mission, you get to drop off an item for an easy, though probably not large, reward. If someone else is running the mission, you get to drop off an item for the small reward, AND get some 1v1 PvP action, complete with the possibility of recouping the very item you had to put money down on when buying it from your agent, which you can then turn around and sell on the market.
Obviously it needs tweaking and goodness knows I don't know squat about the programming that would be required. But in my head it sounds awesome.
What do you think?
Fly straight!
Showing posts with label PvE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PvE. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Time Demands in WH Space
Hey folks,
Over at EVE-Online Wormholes, this post popped up and sparked my conversational side. I started to leave a nice rambling comment, when I realized it was going to be almost as long (or longer) than the original post!
This calls for, BLOGGING MIN! *Plays cheesy super-hero music*
Ok, now that I've got my inner dork out of the way for a bit, let's get down to brass tacks. Many different bloggers and W-Space occupants have recently decided to step back their operations in WH space, citing either the emptiness and inactivity of their bit of space, or the constant demands upon their time that managing W-Space requires.
While Katt and I have run across both of these problems within Our Slice of Heaven, we've come up with several methods of combatting the dread 'W-Space Mania' that has afflicted so many of our fellow capsuleers. And now this information can be yours for the price of just 49.99 ISK plus shipping and handling!
Or, you could just read the blog...
Let's set up some fancy looking (not) headings and break this issue down, shall we?
EEK, MY AGORAPHOBIA:
"So much empty space... Nothing to do in it... Gahhh!!"
Problem number 1, and by far the most common complaint I hear from the various WH inhabitants that I've spoken with or read the blogs of, is that they're too efficient, and everything is cleared, and now they've got nothing to do.
While indeed this is a painful problem, and one that's difficult to amend, there's a key pair of words up above, 'too efficient'.
That's right, you done shot yourself in the foot, boys!
Wormhole signatures, while not completely reliant upon the number of signatures in system, DO take into account current 'activity' (via readings on how many untouched sites there are) when spawning new sites, particularly wormholes and combat anomalies. What this means is that, when you aren't getting enough sites, you need to do LESS.
Freaky, I know. But when we left 5 combat sites and several signatures as 'seed', we would often have upwards of 5 combat sites and 3 wormholes or other signatures spawning PER DAY in Our Slice of Heaven.
It takes a little coordinating to leave these sites alone amongst the various folk inhabiting your wormhole, but the net result can be a large increase to the profits your corporation can enjoy. Another big issue is defending all these resources from poachers. But really... You went to WH space to avoid PvP?... Seriously??
IM TOO TIRED TO THINK OF A WITTY TITLE:
"Zzzzzzzz... *Snort* Huh, What, yeah, I've got that Sleepless Upholder right where I want him.... Zzzz.."
Sometimes, Real Life (tm, pty, ltd), can be a real pain in the neck. Often it keeps us from playing as much EVE as we want (*gasp*) and even more often, it leaves us with only 'so much' time to spend on our hobby. When our WH's spawn rate is high enough, that can mean we don't have enough time to get all done that we want to.
Also, EVE is a big game, sometimes we want to do something OTHER than pop the 3 wormholes that spawned in our hole this morning, before we go to work.
Actually, I can pretty much guarantee we'd rather be doing almost anything than popping all those wormholes. It's boring as all get out.
Anyhow, for whatever reason, the other main gripe going around at the moment is people getting sick of the amount of time they need to spend EVERY SINGLE DAY to keep their WH under control.
You probably won't be surprised to learn that the solution to this problem is 'DO MORE'.
Ok, maybe a few of you were shocked. But only if you're not paying attention. That's right, if you completely clear (or, just visit every site and let them despawn on their natural cooldown) your wormhole, you will get less site-spawning.
By clearing your wormhole down to the static exit, and then popping that static exit and not scanning down the next one, you have effectively sealed off your wormhole. You're all alone, with no way in, and nothing to do.
Log off at that point, and take a much-needed break. Sure, stuff will spawn, slowly, while you're gone, and there's always the possibility that a wormhole will open into yours, where it will be almost instantly disregarded by 99% of visitors as 'worthless'.
IF by some chance you run into that last 1%, your tower should be online, armed, well defended, and with a fat bay full of Strontium. Odds are, most folk won't bother, and the few that will, would have bothered even if you were logged in.
Using this method, you can log in every other day, or even less frequently. If you're a little worried about leaving it that long, open up http://www.evemaps.dotlan.net/ and run a search for your J-Code, see how things are going. If you see a bunch of jumps, maybe log a character into the WH and peek about lazily to make sure the POS is still untouched.
In closing, these methods have worked for Katt and I. We've been occupying Wormhole Space for over 6 months, and have no intentions of leaving any time soon.
Fly Straight, whether you're agoraphobic or using toothpicks to hold up your eyelids, it's just darned easier than zig-zagging!
Over at EVE-Online Wormholes, this post popped up and sparked my conversational side. I started to leave a nice rambling comment, when I realized it was going to be almost as long (or longer) than the original post!
This calls for, BLOGGING MIN! *Plays cheesy super-hero music*
Ok, now that I've got my inner dork out of the way for a bit, let's get down to brass tacks. Many different bloggers and W-Space occupants have recently decided to step back their operations in WH space, citing either the emptiness and inactivity of their bit of space, or the constant demands upon their time that managing W-Space requires.
While Katt and I have run across both of these problems within Our Slice of Heaven, we've come up with several methods of combatting the dread 'W-Space Mania' that has afflicted so many of our fellow capsuleers. And now this information can be yours for the price of just 49.99 ISK plus shipping and handling!
Or, you could just read the blog...
Let's set up some fancy looking (not) headings and break this issue down, shall we?
EEK, MY AGORAPHOBIA:
"So much empty space... Nothing to do in it... Gahhh!!"
Problem number 1, and by far the most common complaint I hear from the various WH inhabitants that I've spoken with or read the blogs of, is that they're too efficient, and everything is cleared, and now they've got nothing to do.
While indeed this is a painful problem, and one that's difficult to amend, there's a key pair of words up above, 'too efficient'.
That's right, you done shot yourself in the foot, boys!
Wormhole signatures, while not completely reliant upon the number of signatures in system, DO take into account current 'activity' (via readings on how many untouched sites there are) when spawning new sites, particularly wormholes and combat anomalies. What this means is that, when you aren't getting enough sites, you need to do LESS.
Freaky, I know. But when we left 5 combat sites and several signatures as 'seed', we would often have upwards of 5 combat sites and 3 wormholes or other signatures spawning PER DAY in Our Slice of Heaven.
It takes a little coordinating to leave these sites alone amongst the various folk inhabiting your wormhole, but the net result can be a large increase to the profits your corporation can enjoy. Another big issue is defending all these resources from poachers. But really... You went to WH space to avoid PvP?... Seriously??
IM TOO TIRED TO THINK OF A WITTY TITLE:
"Zzzzzzzz... *Snort* Huh, What, yeah, I've got that Sleepless Upholder right where I want him.... Zzzz.."
Sometimes, Real Life (tm, pty, ltd), can be a real pain in the neck. Often it keeps us from playing as much EVE as we want (*gasp*) and even more often, it leaves us with only 'so much' time to spend on our hobby. When our WH's spawn rate is high enough, that can mean we don't have enough time to get all done that we want to.
Also, EVE is a big game, sometimes we want to do something OTHER than pop the 3 wormholes that spawned in our hole this morning, before we go to work.
Actually, I can pretty much guarantee we'd rather be doing almost anything than popping all those wormholes. It's boring as all get out.
Anyhow, for whatever reason, the other main gripe going around at the moment is people getting sick of the amount of time they need to spend EVERY SINGLE DAY to keep their WH under control.
You probably won't be surprised to learn that the solution to this problem is 'DO MORE'.
Ok, maybe a few of you were shocked. But only if you're not paying attention. That's right, if you completely clear (or, just visit every site and let them despawn on their natural cooldown) your wormhole, you will get less site-spawning.
By clearing your wormhole down to the static exit, and then popping that static exit and not scanning down the next one, you have effectively sealed off your wormhole. You're all alone, with no way in, and nothing to do.
Log off at that point, and take a much-needed break. Sure, stuff will spawn, slowly, while you're gone, and there's always the possibility that a wormhole will open into yours, where it will be almost instantly disregarded by 99% of visitors as 'worthless'.
IF by some chance you run into that last 1%, your tower should be online, armed, well defended, and with a fat bay full of Strontium. Odds are, most folk won't bother, and the few that will, would have bothered even if you were logged in.
Using this method, you can log in every other day, or even less frequently. If you're a little worried about leaving it that long, open up http://www.evemaps.dotlan.net/ and run a search for your J-Code, see how things are going. If you see a bunch of jumps, maybe log a character into the WH and peek about lazily to make sure the POS is still untouched.
In closing, these methods have worked for Katt and I. We've been occupying Wormhole Space for over 6 months, and have no intentions of leaving any time soon.
Fly Straight, whether you're agoraphobic or using toothpicks to hold up your eyelids, it's just darned easier than zig-zagging!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A 'warm' welcome home.
Yesterday was day 1 of freedom. My 'hades week' in the Work Pod was over with, and I was freed from the confinement of my 9x9 office cell, allowed to roam the world, or, more truthfully, fasten my buttocks to the stability ball that I call a chair and let myself roam through New Eden.
Day 1 didn't go so hot.
Katt and I decided to try clearing an entire magnetometric site in Our Slice of Heaven. We've cleared the first two waves and looted the relics on a regular basis for the past months, but we've never been willing to tempt fate and face the 3 Sleepless Upholders that come at the end of a typical C3 Mag site. With some friends helping out, we figured we could give it a go.
Wave 1, cakewalk. Bring in the Analyzer ship to take care of the relics before we push on, take those back, store safely and come on back in combat ships.
Wave 2, cakewalk. Turn on our tanks, smiling happily at our full capacitors as we ready the remote rep.
Wave 3, manageable. 2 Battleships, not really that big a deal, we were handling it fine and starting to get into a groove when it happened. Onyx and Tengu drop out of warp on top of us, and the bubble goes up.
"Oh crap."
Then the Rokh, Drake and Drake arrive inside the edge of the warp bubble.
"Double crap."
In what must have been a relatively swift and skilled use of combat scanner probes, our ships were reduced from 'hey, we got this!' to imminent death. I scattered for one edge, trying to draw them off while Katt and our corpmates headed the other direction. They seemed intent on destroying her Typhoon, but given that, even at 20km out, my Scimitar's 4 Medium Shield Transporter's were well within range, they weren't having a great time with that.
Their own tanks held up under massed drone-fire without much of a scratch, our ships being outfit for the long-haul of PvE combat, not for burst dps.
They switched targets and came after my Scimitar, but once they had a standard point on me, their Onyx paced the battleships to destroy any hopes of escape. As it was, webbing kept me from getting to the edge before my shields finally (after more than a minute of fire) crumbled. As expected, my pod was sure to follow.
This process was repeated, minus my shield transporting, upon all 3 of the others. I don't have KB links, as P2AS doesn't have a Killboard at this time.
So, what to do when 4 of you are stuck out in Empire? Run for the entrance!
It was closed.
Fortunately, we had other corpmates who had not been deployed and destroyed in the battle of Magnetometric pass. New entrance found.
11 Jumps of low-sec.
Sigh.
Noob-ship fleet action! We made it back without incident, hopped in new ships and converged upon the Wormhole that had permitted the Brotherhood of Starbridge to invade our territory. While we were gone, they had gone to work running every last one of our unfinished sites. Part-way through the wormhole collapsing process, they converged on the wormhole themselves, collapsing it with Leilani on the wrong side, less than 2km from another of their ships.
You guessed it, second BS loss of the day for the alt.
Got the pod 'out' and warped around their system for a while, chatting at their english-speaking comrades, giving them props for their very well executed gank. Eventually I self-destructed and ran my way back into the hole through the previously scanned entrance.
Meanwhile, we had the Tengu (Cov-ops fit), Rokh, and a Heron sitting inside our wormhole. Katt started collapsing the entrance to at least limit their stay, and they camped her outside. She managed to just narrowly escape their clutches and cloak-up in the low-sec system and we outwaited them, Minuit sitting off the gate in a Stealth Bomber, eating popcorn while I watched them hope she would be dumb enough to jump back into their grasp.
We proved to be the more patient group, and when they left, with a parting shot of 'bu))' that I'm not sure I understand, but took to be a sign of great frustration and sadness, we finished collapsing the wormhole and replacing our losses.
All in all, a very expensive day for Katt and I, and P2AS, but, we later went out on a loot-selling run, and recouped pretty much the entire cost of the days adventure, and a months fuel.
Could be worse.
Fly straight,
Day 1 didn't go so hot.
Katt and I decided to try clearing an entire magnetometric site in Our Slice of Heaven. We've cleared the first two waves and looted the relics on a regular basis for the past months, but we've never been willing to tempt fate and face the 3 Sleepless Upholders that come at the end of a typical C3 Mag site. With some friends helping out, we figured we could give it a go.
Wave 1, cakewalk. Bring in the Analyzer ship to take care of the relics before we push on, take those back, store safely and come on back in combat ships.
Wave 2, cakewalk. Turn on our tanks, smiling happily at our full capacitors as we ready the remote rep.
Wave 3, manageable. 2 Battleships, not really that big a deal, we were handling it fine and starting to get into a groove when it happened. Onyx and Tengu drop out of warp on top of us, and the bubble goes up.
"Oh crap."
Then the Rokh, Drake and Drake arrive inside the edge of the warp bubble.
"Double crap."
In what must have been a relatively swift and skilled use of combat scanner probes, our ships were reduced from 'hey, we got this!' to imminent death. I scattered for one edge, trying to draw them off while Katt and our corpmates headed the other direction. They seemed intent on destroying her Typhoon, but given that, even at 20km out, my Scimitar's 4 Medium Shield Transporter's were well within range, they weren't having a great time with that.
Their own tanks held up under massed drone-fire without much of a scratch, our ships being outfit for the long-haul of PvE combat, not for burst dps.
They switched targets and came after my Scimitar, but once they had a standard point on me, their Onyx paced the battleships to destroy any hopes of escape. As it was, webbing kept me from getting to the edge before my shields finally (after more than a minute of fire) crumbled. As expected, my pod was sure to follow.
This process was repeated, minus my shield transporting, upon all 3 of the others. I don't have KB links, as P2AS doesn't have a Killboard at this time.
So, what to do when 4 of you are stuck out in Empire? Run for the entrance!
It was closed.
Fortunately, we had other corpmates who had not been deployed and destroyed in the battle of Magnetometric pass. New entrance found.
11 Jumps of low-sec.
Sigh.
Noob-ship fleet action! We made it back without incident, hopped in new ships and converged upon the Wormhole that had permitted the Brotherhood of Starbridge to invade our territory. While we were gone, they had gone to work running every last one of our unfinished sites. Part-way through the wormhole collapsing process, they converged on the wormhole themselves, collapsing it with Leilani on the wrong side, less than 2km from another of their ships.
You guessed it, second BS loss of the day for the alt.
Got the pod 'out' and warped around their system for a while, chatting at their english-speaking comrades, giving them props for their very well executed gank. Eventually I self-destructed and ran my way back into the hole through the previously scanned entrance.
Meanwhile, we had the Tengu (Cov-ops fit), Rokh, and a Heron sitting inside our wormhole. Katt started collapsing the entrance to at least limit their stay, and they camped her outside. She managed to just narrowly escape their clutches and cloak-up in the low-sec system and we outwaited them, Minuit sitting off the gate in a Stealth Bomber, eating popcorn while I watched them hope she would be dumb enough to jump back into their grasp.
We proved to be the more patient group, and when they left, with a parting shot of 'bu))' that I'm not sure I understand, but took to be a sign of great frustration and sadness, we finished collapsing the wormhole and replacing our losses.
All in all, a very expensive day for Katt and I, and P2AS, but, we later went out on a loot-selling run, and recouped pretty much the entire cost of the days adventure, and a months fuel.
Could be worse.
Fly straight,
Thursday, January 14, 2010
IC: Pondering the Sleepers
Communication-Drone ID#0114-2
"Another probe loaded down with my not-so-deep thoughts. Hooray for you.
Sleepers. It's a pretty utilitarian term out here in Wormhole Space. My nav-com can't work out how many jumps away from the Empire we are, but wherever it is, there was obviously a sprawling civilization if their dregs are anything to go by.
The A.I. on the drones they leave behind is a lot better than the not-so-artificial 'intelligence' of a number of Amarrian slavers I've fought in the past, for one thing. For another, they seem to be as thick as flies.
We get a lot of reports, during our brief fuel-runs into K-Space, that others, like us, are discovering cells of these sleepers in broken down Talocan ruins and outposts. It seems to me like these Talocans had their own Empire, and maybe the Sleepers overran them. Can you imagine, being able to create an endless supply of drones, all capable of piloting themselves without relying upon a commanding ship or capsuleer? That's what these Sleepers are.
For now, they don't seem to be able to utilize the wormholes that have brought OUR Empire space to their doorstep. But they're obviously programmed to destroy anything they come in contact with. All it would take is one idiot warping out with a sleeper too close on his signature trail and...
Maybe the end of OUR Empire.
Heavy thought. All I know is that I don't leave any of them still functioning when I'm done.
You shouldn't either.
Fly straight, pilots, they'll never expect it."
End Transmission.
"Another probe loaded down with my not-so-deep thoughts. Hooray for you.
Sleepers. It's a pretty utilitarian term out here in Wormhole Space. My nav-com can't work out how many jumps away from the Empire we are, but wherever it is, there was obviously a sprawling civilization if their dregs are anything to go by.
The A.I. on the drones they leave behind is a lot better than the not-so-artificial 'intelligence' of a number of Amarrian slavers I've fought in the past, for one thing. For another, they seem to be as thick as flies.
We get a lot of reports, during our brief fuel-runs into K-Space, that others, like us, are discovering cells of these sleepers in broken down Talocan ruins and outposts. It seems to me like these Talocans had their own Empire, and maybe the Sleepers overran them. Can you imagine, being able to create an endless supply of drones, all capable of piloting themselves without relying upon a commanding ship or capsuleer? That's what these Sleepers are.
For now, they don't seem to be able to utilize the wormholes that have brought OUR Empire space to their doorstep. But they're obviously programmed to destroy anything they come in contact with. All it would take is one idiot warping out with a sleeper too close on his signature trail and...
Maybe the end of OUR Empire.
Heavy thought. All I know is that I don't leave any of them still functioning when I'm done.
You shouldn't either.
Fly straight, pilots, they'll never expect it."
End Transmission.
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