Category Archives: CCP Hijinx
Shaving it Close
A recent “Feature” of changes discovered by some intrepid explorers and confirmed by numerous POS bashers and gankers is that SMAs, and large containers are simply not dropping big cargo. Fozzie says (and I quote)
I think I can clarify a few things.
When it changed to its current behavior that change was made intentionally for performance reasons. Therefore it is not a “bug”, but that doesn’t mean it will always stay the way it is now either.
When something is considered “working as intended” that doesn’t mean we’re happy with every aspect of the design, but it does mean that there is a reason for the status quo.We are aware of the significant downsides to the current mechanic and we’re not married to the current design for SMA destruction but we can’t promise anything specific about it at this time.
The GMs were not mistaken in their communication on this issue.
So let me take a look to see how this is playing out economically. Traditionally, successful POS bashes could offer a wealth of loot to the victor, ditto for big freighter ganks. Wealth was destroyed, but it was also redistributed. Now I’m not talking about wealth redistribution in a political sense, but in a military sense, that is, to the victors go the spoils. This keeps a large amount of goods in circulation and, while there is upward pressure on prices due to increased demand to replace destroyed goods, it is somewhat counteracted by the spoils of war being collected. Pretty good for players not currently having POS towers blown up.
Now the victors get the parking place on the moon, some loot from the small end of the table, and not a lot else. No shiny ships, no big packages of items, just… siftings of the debris. Not exactly inspiring loot to be honest. So what is happening? Goods are being destroyed. That is: removed from the economy. Permanently. Even as the demand increases a bit because both sides will have expended ships, POS modules, and munitions in the destruction of the towers. This increases prices, and does so at a sharper rate. This means more rewards for people mining, manufacturing, and trading.
Fozzie has said this isn’t the end-state. He sees tweaking happening, but I don’t think we will end up back where we started. I think CCP wants to see how much they can limit the loot drop without completely removing the incentive part of WH clearance for fun and profit. He wants things to be destroyed more. He wants there to be less reward for the shooters, and more for the miners, manufacturers and traders. He wants them to play more, to profit more, and to create more (and, incidentally, to plant more sticks to get blown up.) THIS, however requires people to want to blow the sticks up, so there will be some adjustments made to see just how little candy the piñatas can drop before people stop whacking them with sticks. I suspect loot will drop a little more, and little more, until he sees a better mix of people bashing, and third parties profiting and playing more. I’m not sure how they will measure this, but I clearly see CCPs profit motive in reducing the profitability to the players of bashing POS towers and ganking freighters.
Much Ado About Something
So. CCP Hired Mintchip. It caused a bit of a firestorm. How bad? Well. They had to lock, and then REMOVE the forum thread welcoming her to CCP. I only saw bits and pieces of it I don’t even see it on eve-search. Apparently it got over 52 pages fast. It got ugly, and it got personal.
Minchip is a pretty polarizing figure, and all the more so because she is female. As a Youtube video blogger she has 25,854 subscribers at the time I bothered to look it up. If they all played DUST they’d double the active playerbase. Maybe more than that. This is significant because, despite the 52 page thread on the EvE-O forums, she’s actually a DUST Community Representative. The Dust welcome thread is at 12 pages btw.
So what’s got people all worked up? Well first we’ll pick one of my pet peeves. Her Youtube channel has a wishlist. To me that’s a bit unprofessional. I *really* hope someone at CCP pokes her and has her take that down. She uses the same name and has the same identity as a CCP Member that she does on Youtube. Time to be a pro.
Next, she’s bashed EvE. I have no problem with this. Mostly because a good part of this blog is me bashing EvE, CCP, and while I may not agree with the way she chooses to bash the game/company, I have no problem with a CCP Dev who I disagree with. Especially when it’s in DUST which can frankly use all the publicity it can get at this point.
She’s also a female. This doesn’t make people react positively or negatively necessarily, but it DOES make them react MORE positively or negatively. People just get worked up about women whether they are being outright misogynistic, “White Kniting”, providing well reasoned support, or just trolling. People LOVE Punkturis, people LOATHE Mintchip.
Frankly, it’s a non-issue. For all we know she has years of experience doing CR professionally. Most of us haven’t seen her resume. I’ll wait to see her work before setting her world on fire, thank you very much.
So here’s my fix. Mintchip removes the wish list from her Youtube page. Second she does a video, and a Dev Blog talking frankly and openly about her history with EvE. She talks about CCP’s goals with DUST and how she fits into the picture. Finally CCP needs to make quite clear that the comments thread is very much for responses to the situation going forward, not blasting the past, not exhuming corpses and de-closeting skeletons. We all know the thread will be heavily moderated. It has to go up, and it has to STAY up. Otherwise he value to CCP is blown. If CCP cannot let her interact with the audience she cannot be a community relations rep.
Dat Geddon
So CCP announced some changes to ships. ‘Dat Geddon.
Amarr Battleship Skill Bonuses:
+10% to Drone damage and Hit Points (replaced large energy turret rate of fire)
+10% Energy Neutralizer and Energy Vampire range (replaced large energy turret cap use)Slot layout: 7H(-1), 4M(+1), 7L(-1); 5 turrets(-2) , 5 launchers(+5)
Fittings: 14500 PWG(-2000), 550 CPU(+65)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 6800(+1331) / 8500(+1859) / 8000(+1789)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / cap per second) : 6200(+887.5) / 1087s / 5.7
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 100(-5) / .13(+.002) / 105200000 / 18.96s (+.29)
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 125 / 375(+250)
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 65km / 110 / 7
Sensor strength: 21 Radar Sensor Strength (+4)
Signature radius: 450 (+80)
HELLO NURSE! Welcome to the new age of dead caps. Seriously this thing is a beast. It looks like you can fit a plate, a full rack of neuts, two heavy cap boosters, an MWD, and hardeners / DCU with an RCU II and then just rig for buffer and make caps cry a LONG way away. Almost 38km away in fact. Oh and 125m of heavy drones for flavor. Throw in a DDA II instead of one of the hardeners and you can get a quite respectable 550+ DPS. The changes in slots make the ships a bit more interesting, and the lost PG will absolutely be missed, but this is still a monstrous ship. The Geddon has long been my favorite Amarr battleship, now it might be my favorite battleship period. That much neuting turns this into the swiss army Dominix on crack. Depending on the changes to the Dominix the new ‘Geddon might be my favorite ship. Depending on how expensive they are, and I do expect the price to go up; although probably not as high as the current Abaddon prices, it should be quite economical to bring in dozens of them to hammer the cap of capfleets if you have the time to get them in place.
One of the safe assumptions is that all the soon-to-be-former-tier 1 Battleships will become EWAR ships. Not much will change for the Scorp. It might even get a nerf. The Domi will be interesting. Massive buffer + sensor damps should be real interesting. The ‘Phoon is the one that might be real real interesting. Target painters on a frigate are kind of a waste. Target painters on a BS are potentially less so. If it manages to acquire a web bonus it might become a monstrously popular ship.
Gallente must have done something to CCP. The Mega still looks like a lot of fun (even more fun actually) but the Hype is still a hot mess, and the Domi isn’t looking nearly as standout as before. Not because it got worse, because it didn’t, but because a lot of other ships got better. I suppose this isn’t a bad thing as Domi’s can be pretty OP in small fights, but reading the forum thread feels like watching your favorite athlete walking into the locker room at the end of the season and realizing he didn’t have it this year and he’ll be older next year.
Winmatar seems to be adding a but of luster to the rust fleet. Pests will get that much nastier (and I can’t WAIT to see the navy ones) with more PG, HP and cap. Phoons get some love too. They trade some drones for torp bonuses, and add some toughness as well. Torps may not be the best weapon ever, but they certainly have some uses. Especially backed up by plenty of webs and a TP or two.
The Caldari Rokh gets a nerf. No more no-effort 140k ehp Rokhs. We’ll have to settle for 130k now. Ravens lose a high, gain a mid, some fitting space, lose some hitpoints and gain speed. I don’t think it will bring cavalry ravens back just yet, but it should be interesting to see them as something other than cast iron tubs filled with lead spraying missiles. Scorps get a bit tougher, a bit more cap and that’s about all.
I can’t wait for the Geddon. I can’t wait for the fun of seeing it murdering cap on ships. I can’t wait to see capfleet panic from a handful of geddons on D-scan. I can’t wait for Odyssey. I can’t wait to hear what the Gallente did to CCP Rise to make him so angry.
The 4th Estate
Next year could be a very interesting year in the blog community. Ripard Teg seems to be almost a lock to earn a seat, and maybe a ticket as a CSM. Mike Azariah is also running, so is Roc Wieler. Riverini has also thrown in his hat.
I don’t get it. I really don’t. Any one of these guys has the ears of New Eden to a greater or lesser extent. They can influence both the activity and thinking of the game sitting at home in their boxers and bathrobes. What’s more they offer a check on both the players and CCP by having the ability to raise the bullshit flag when things go crazy. Ripard Teg us a fantastic example. His clear, well written analysis is obviously brilliant, communicative and almost always spot-on. He’s volunteering to wear a muzzle for a year to serve on the CSM. If he wants CCP to hear what he has to say he can do it. He can post a blog and watch for the hits from Iceland. If he wants to influence and communicate to the players he can post a blog or send it to The Mittani Inc. Ditto for Mike. Ditto for Roc. Even more so for Riverini.
Sure they get to strut on the stage. Fly overseas a couple times, enjoy the limelight, but they trade off a lot. They get access to CCP directly, both formally and informally. They get to hear CCP’s plans and have some influence on where they go. Sometimes that even works. They have to sign an NDA too. They are limited in what they say by their agreement with CCP. Some of the most outspoken and capable critics of CCP, the communities, the structure of the game, and even other bloggers are going to be strictly limited. It’s one thing for an alliance leader like The Mittani to bear the muzzle, or even a middle manager like many of the current crop. Their responsibility is to their alliance. The muzzle sits lighter and they just have to avoid “insider trading” type moves. Their conflict of interest is in putting the profit of the alliance over the knowledge they gain. Bloggers are the whistle-blowers. When they get inside information that they disagree with their need is to trumpet it. When they get inside information that something amazing is coming out, they want to trumpet it. Their goal is to be a seamless conduit. Information spread openly and completely.
I know the CSM is supposed to communicate, but it’s far from seamless. Minutes take forever to release. They are heavily edited. CSM members are strictly limited in what they can say on their own. Sometimes they may not take full advantage of everything they can say, but other times they are very limited and suffer for it. The responsibility of the 4th Estate, the price for the pleasure we take in blogging is a responsibility to share. To take ourselves seriously (because internet spaceships ARE serious business) we have to hunt down stories, break them, follow up, and find out what we think EvE players need to know, and make sure they know it. A CSM might know things players need to know. They also might not be able to do a damn thing about them. Hopefully the muzzle rests lightly on the mouths of the bloggers. Hopefully those that serve on the CSM are able to maintain their level of service to the community. Their voices are valuable, make no mistake and if CCP wants to know what they think, you know they have the blogs bookmarked.
Sometimes the Easy Thing is the Correct Thing
So CCP said “Fuck No” to Fon Revedhort. Good on them. I’m a defender of free speech. You have the right to say any damn thing you want. You also have to deal with the consequences. Fon has made his statement. He truly believes he is blessed to be a member of the ultimate race and that he has the right and responsibility to defend it at the expense of everyone who is not pure. Fan-Fucking-Tastic. He has spoken publicly about his beliefs, and expressed a degree of extremism that casts doubt on his ability to work on a multi-national group, that will be required to communicate well with multiple groups of people, of multiple ethnicities and genders to be effective.
CCP finally got off the fence (they are uncomfortable) and decided that the Stellar Advisory Board aspect, which requires communication and teamwork, is more important than the “Stellar Management” aspect that requires votes and is subject to the tyranny of democracy at times. CCP has decided not to hold themselves hostage to the voters and simply say “no” to Fon.
Frankly it’s an easy call. It’s also the correct call. It might not be the “right” thing to do from a “Freedom of Speech” standpoint, but CCP has a bigger responsibility to ensure that they provide their paying customers with the best experience possible, and the feedback and communication provided by the CSM is a key to that service. CCP decided, with the help of feedback from the players, that Fon did not offer enough upside to offset the considerable downsides of: Bad Publicity, Communication Difficulties, Outright Hostility, and possibly full blow PR Disasters. CCP attaches its brand to the CSM. They’ve already had a nightmare with The Mittani a year ago and they decided to pull the plug BEFORE the potential issue could become a real issue.
Poetic Stan talked at length about why he should have been allowed to run. He makes good arguments, and I can’t say deconstruct them or destroy them. I can simply say that the responsibility that CCP has to provide services to its players, and the utility of the CSM in that role, is too important to risk on the chance of having a bomb in the room whenever the CSM meets.
I do wholeheartedly support Poetic’s call against hate-speech. I think it has no part in the game. Casual hate speech, whether towards Jews, Gays, Women, people of any ethnicity, has no place in recreation. If you wouldn’t say it to your mother, you better be careful saying it in a public forum. You are probably offending someone, and you never know who. Fon spoke out publicly. This is his right. Today he faced the consequences. This is CCP’s responsibility.
SREEGS HAS SPOKEN
Some interesting new facts:
Kelduum has spoken to Sreegs about this directly. Hmmmmm somehow missed that. Somehow Sreegs has gathered conclusive proof that John was botting. At least proof to him. Sreegs admitted one mistake, and he ran down the list of people that look at their petitions.
What looks like it may have happened is a petition from a CSM member went straight to the senior security guy, and was reviewed (likely by Sreegs) and the IA folks to make sure I’s were crossed, Ts dotted and niceties ignored. Which is how I assume the GM team operates as while I tend to have some success there are times when it’s like pulling teeth from an angry T-Rex.
Kelduum’s allegations are basically struck down by Sreegs, but partisans will believe who they will as there is not and, under the current rules, cannot be a third party involved. A third party is just as likely to cause this sort of ruckus, but then there can at least be a degree of collusion between the other parties to say the essential “Shut the fuck up” and draw a clear line between the reasonable concern and blatant tinfoil hattery.
I tend to believe Sreegs, because he has a professional reputation at stake, because he’s established himself as someone who takes stock THEN acts decisively, and because I dislike Kelduum’s general beliefs about EvE, nothing personal against the guy, he is clearly an EXTREMELY effective leader, I just don’t like his style of the game and that colors me against him in matters like this.
Which is the last point I’ll make today. Odds are there are one or two GMs that I myself have rubbed the wrong way. I don’t know if any of you have noticed but occasionally I am a bit…. aggressive with my language and I can land on people. I know I’ve blasted a GM or two, and while I have on occasion gone back and apologized on the survey, I’ve also used a survey or two to fire a missile at the GM when I felt things were mishandled. If a GM who had dealt with that in the past saw my name again he might not have much ability to say “Ok he’s a jerk but he makes a point” and it might help to have a third party say “Ok look, we both know he’s a jerk, but here’s MY point.”
I think it would be interesting to see more information from the GMs in response to petitions as well as more transparency, for example have the GM’s submit a “redacted” report with information on some petitions for release if it has to do with a particularly public event, like this one.
TL;DR GM TEAM: BLOGGERS WANT GM TEARS!
The Great POS Lie
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
– Inigo Montoya The Princess Bride
So for years we’ve been calling them POS towers. Player Owned Stations. The problem is they aren’t really owned by any given player. They belong to corporations. The CEO can access anything in them. So can Directors. This presents a massive problem for people trying to use them. Granularity to allow Players to own and operate their own towers simply doesn’t exist. Recently I put a Archon in to research. Well. I didn’t. I only have access to the hangars available to everyone. So I have to trust it to one of the higher ups to put it in. Which means that only 4 or 5 people can access it at any time and potentially rip me off. Do I think any of them would do it? Of course not. Well. No more than anyone else in EvE would.
The real core of the problem is that I can’t have my OWN station. I can’t build my own facility belonging to Corelin, unless I go back to Fancy Hats and start stripping roles. It’s a trade off that doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose. I think CCP needs to once again call a spade a spade and admit that it’s a Corporation Owned Station (COS) and follow up by re-introducing the POS as a small structure that can fill some portion of the functions served by a modern Corporation Owned Station, CCP can offer players the opportunity to do their own research, their own light industry, maybe even their own reactions, CCP offers a stepping stone even the lone miner can use to find something he likes more, and maybe a stepping stone to the more powerful functions of a full-up Corporation Owned Station.
I would make the core module of the new POS a fairly cheap component. Modules would also be fairly inexpensive, except for reactor and computing modules. Those would allow you to use more reactors, labs, what have you, and would cost exponentially more for the utility. Each player and only anchor one, and they have to be anchored near something warpable in the system. Could be a planet. Could be a moon. Could be an asteroid belt. Might allow more than one at certain beacons. Planets might allow as many as a dozen. Defenses would cripple the utility of even a fully upgraded POS, with enough guns to disturb even a small battlecruiser gang rendering the POS nearly useless to anyone else. It can only have two ships docked at it at a time (bonus points for them to show up mated to docking collars rather than hidden in a hangar) and the bubble would be tiny. Forget hiding your Titan in one, your Mach is gonna be showing it’s ass outside the bubble.
The goal here is not to completely replace the current COS system. They serve a purpose, and should be kept in some form. Certainly alliances wouldn’t want to be utterly dependent on one person being around to keep up its cynojammers, its bridges, let alone the wealth of its moon miners. POS structures will allow players their own base for a secure, safe operation divorced from the godawful Corporate Interface. It reduces the strain on the corporate interface by making POS towers less of a necessity for the individual. This won’t actually make players too much more independent though. Readers of my blog already know I hate people who try to never interact with their fellows. Instead I suggest having no more than a 24 hour timer for reinforcement. Notifications will be sent to the entire corp letting them know that they have a friend in need.
This system creates a new choice. Do I accept a penalty to research time and cost to secure my own resources, or do I put them at risk in a communal structure in order to save time and resources. It creates opportunities. It allows players to dabble in something they might not have access to otherwise, and provides new conflict drivers. Imagine finding your rival running a POS in a lowsec cull-de-sac. Think you wouldn’t be drooling over the chance to set a trap for him? As a conflict driver they offer a real target for small gangs. I think a decent BC gang, or even Tier 1 Cruiser gang should be able to smash up a cluster of these things to drive fights without the horrible monotony of a 2 hour POS bash.
Finally I don’t want them in highsec. I want them in null. I want them in Wormholes, and I really want them in lowsec. The thought of hundreds of alts in NPC corps clogging up highsec beacons with stations is horrendous. NPC Corp? No POS. Highsec system? No POS. These are conflict drivers. These are enablers for individuals. These are not traffic obstructions. The last thing we need is more clutter at the Jita 4-4 undock.