Random Posts from Auga

Today marks the beginning of the 15 day Vherokior new year’s celebration, a custom that is said to date back to the Terra itself. THis year is the Year of the Dragon, the most auspicious of all years (a sign I also happen to be born under).  How will I celebrate?  Besides dusting off the ancestral altar, I will be planetside working with clan and servants in the kitchens making Vherokior dumplings.

Since HUANG is named after the fabled Golden Dragon of Victory, I sense this will be a great year for the corp.  I’d also like to announce our plans to form a TLF-based alliance—though we are still debating the name and terms of this organization.  It will stand for all the principals of the xia and of Huang Yinglong.

A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons’ Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships, there were calls for an “opt out of PvP” option.

Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?

Why does feel Eve real? One key contributor is that adrenaline rush created by the ‘real’ danger of combat that can occur at any time, even in hi sec.  You are never 100% safe, and it both keeps you on your toes and provides a thrill that no other game can match.  Without that omnipresent danger presented by other ‘real’ pilots, Eve would not be the game that it is.

I can still recall my great anxiety the very first time I had to travel through the dreaded ‘low sec.’  That warning made my gut wrench, I expected to ambushed the moment I jumped through.  What a relief when nothing happened.

Then there was the time I saw my first pilot that was yellow, and then the first time I saw a blinky.  My corp mates (ironically, now mostly hard-bitten PvPer) all clamored for me to dock.  That flashy dude was SCARY.

Then there was my first PvP loss—ratting innocently in my Stabber in Bosboger, I was chased around the belts by a guy in a Ferox.  I still have him set to red.  I let him chase me around, but then at one point I spent too much time trying to get info on him and got scrammed.  I couldn’t believe how fast that guy wiped me out, and how ineffective my own damage was.  I keep hoping we’ll meet again now that I’ve got thousands of kills of my own under my belt now.

Then there was null sec.  I was so nervous the first time I jumped through—it was Great Wildlands, I was in a ratting cyclone fitted with a cloak.  The gate was camped and bubbled.  I cloaked up, then actually slow boated my way back, barely dodging clouds of drones and guys buzzing around in orbit trying to decloak me.  Moving at about 30 m/s, I actually made it… it was awesome.

All these happened before I became a confident PvPer, but I still get that rush of excitement each time I jump into Amamake or the war zone, with or without backup.  I get that rush when I’m just hauling stuff around and running gate camps.  Without the possibility of this danger, I might as well mine all day. 

Even hi-sec mining is full of danger nowadays—does that bother me?  Not one bit—just makes me fit a better tank and pay more attention to my overview.  Sure, I lose a mining ship now and then.  But hell, my alt miner also gets the occasional kill mail…

For other blogger’s thoughts, see Seismic Stan’s blog.

The first CSM6 meeting notes have been released, and here’s an excerpt with the discussion on Faction War:

CCP has begun some concept work on how they want FW to evolve in the medium-to-long term. Some iterations to FW may be possible as soon as summer 2012. They would like to merge the FW and 0.0 sov system capture mechanics somewhat, but are not happy with either of the current mechanics.

CCP would like to inject some of the drama that surrounds the CSM election system into FW, by having some sort of in-game election of militia leaders/admirals. This would help move some of the 0.0 style
politics/revenge/spying into FW. Another important addition to this system would be some real power/consequences for system ownership, such as the elected leaders being able to set things like tax rates in
lowsec stations that they control (and having some of this tax ISK flow to the faction). The leadership would be able to set strategic goals as well as adjust settings for the new FW benefits.

Some of the CSM members expressed some concern that FW issues would greatly impact pirate organizations that live in the area, and wanted to make sure that non-FW entities would be able to neutralize FW control in some way (by blowing stuff up, preferably). CCP agreed to take that into account when designing the system, but that the important thing was to make FW meaningful and fun.

CCP mentioned that letting alliances join FW was supposed to be a Crucible feature, but was not completed in time. It will be released in the very near future, so that groups that want to participate in FW don’t need to break up their existing social structures in order to join. Some CSM members noted that this, in addition to the election mechanics, would allow nullsec entities to co-opt FW groups.

On the question of where FW revenues would go, CCP suggested that they would be able to be used for system upgrades; an example was to increase LP payouts or something similar.

The CSM suggested that one of the major issues with lowsec was the large increase in risk with a much smaller increase in rewards. It was suggested that allowing FW upgrades to decrease risk, such as making probes less effective in a system, would help draw people into lowsec. This brought up a side conversation about how the current probing mechanics has negatively impacted tactics like sniping, which is an issue CCP is aware of.

CCP suggested that in the long term, they would like to see the possibility of FW folks taking over nearby high and nullsec systems, and turning them into FW-controlled systems. Some CSMs suggested that FW could be used as a testbed for new capture mechanics, since FW would be smaller scale than nullsec.

The CSM presented a list of smaller issues that were raised by the FW community. CCP promised to look at the list, but pointed out that issues that had to do with Crimewatch (the system that manages aggression timers, security status hits, criminal flags and other lowsec mechanics) were unlikely to be addressed without the Crimewatch rewrite that CCP is planning.

The forum discussion on the minutes can be found here.

Taking ideas for the alliance composed of the main Late Nite and also affiliated corps.  This should be acceptable to both RPers and non-RPers alike, ideally resolve to a clever acronym for the alliance ticker, and sound cool rather than derpy.

Examples:

Liberation Alliance of Tribal Elders [LATE]

is OK but not perfect;

Tribal Revolutionary Latenite Legends [TROLL]

is in the spirit but probably too tongue in cheek;

Matari Soldiers of Freedom [FRMTR]

is too campy and too RP; and

Tribal Alliance of Revolutionary Defenders [TARD]

is just too silly.  Oh noes, there are TARDs in local.  Yikes.

Please answer or comment with ideas.

I was sitting around the HQ hangers poking though corp files when I noticed a music file tagged with Dohl’s name and the note:

Go ahead, have a little dance party where ever you are.

I popped it into my audio implant and listened to this.

Who knew Dohl was into Minmatar funk?

So, it’s been announced that Alliances will be allowed to participate in Faction Warfare.  Reaction can, at best, be called mixed.  A large number of senior and vocal factional warfare pilots consider this the end of faction warfare.  Others seem to think it will be OK.

I’m mixed about it—I think there will be the occasional null-sec behemoth who dabbles and therefore will create some havoc, but at the moment I think the ability for existing faction warfare corps to join up into alliances within FW will outweigh the negative.  Of course, I could also be totally smoking.

Go here to register your own opinion.

Some reactions from the twitterverse:

Shalee Lianne:
Alliances in Factional Warfare? Boooo. Please CCP, why you trying to kill FW? Why?! WTB a dev who really understands what FW is about.

Susan Black:
Alliances in Faction War….please tell me it’s a joke… Alliances in FW will kill it…  *Rages*  …You might as well just get rid of Faction War and give Alliances free wardeccing instead of going thru the trouble.