I’ve really enjoyed watching the alliance tournament the last few weekends: the silly commentators, the surge of reactions during various upsets, various alliances trying to surprise people with new or unexpected compositions, and betting a little on matches to make some minor pocket change.
Sometimes, I feel that many people in EVE would like to see combat in EVE become more like alliance tournament combat:
They want to control the size of the engagements, and have fair ‘teams.’ People complain of getting ganked, or blobbed, and many pilots who consider themselves ‘solo’ pvpers often display a sense of entitlement toward getting ‘solo’ fights.
They want to control what people can fit and what advantages people can have. People complain about ECM, about links, and other things they feel are force multipliers or some sort of ‘unfair’ advantage that makes things ‘uneven.’
They want clear cut killmails so that they can make clear cut battlereports that show cleanly defined fights with all factors involved.
However, combat in EVE is messy and complicated. Engagements can have multiple parties and facets, with smaller fights happening side by side, and groups merging in and out of the fight at different times.
Furthermore, the entire scope of the ‘fight’ is rarely restricted to the engagement itself. There is what happens leading up to the fight, and often what happens after. You have different groups trying to bait each other, or a pilot carefully hunting his prey. There is intel being passed, and spies, and complicated loyalties, and political decisions that FCs often have to make subconsciously.
EVE is not the Alliance Tournament. Faction War plexes are not tournament arenas where some specific thing is supposed to happen. Low-sec was not ‘meant’ for small gang pvp, and the low-sec community is not entitled to specific gameplay void of intervention from things we do not deem ‘acceptable.’
Often, when I see people insist that warp core stabs should be removed from plexes (or the game) or that some contrived thing should be put into place in low-sec so PL can't drop supers on destroyers, or that CCP should implement plexes where only battlecruisers and nothing else can enter (or where only some specific gameplay can occur) I think that these are people that do not really understand the game.
Amen, sister.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there are certain people at CCP who happen to disagree. After the failure of space barbie micro-transactions to bring in the big bucks, the financial disappointment that is DUST, and the crash-and-burn of WoD, CCP is desperately looking for ways to "sell" EVE Online to more people. Hence, e-sports - and thoughts of making EVE PvP into more of a tournament style play environment, from which they can get revenue from streaming to audiences, advertising, entrance fees, tournament merchandising, etc.
To which, I personally say "bleh".
You are correct.
ReplyDeleteThe wide and varied combat options are what makes Eve Eve. Do I like getting blobbed or ECM'd to death? No. But, I like that it can be done. As they say, if you're in a fair fight you've done something wrong.
That being said I am all for eSports style PvP and using the AT to lure in new meat. I would like to see game mechanics implemented to allow those kinds of fights arranged without CCP involvement. Arena zones and what not. But that needs to be something you keep in high sec where the lore accounts for controlled safe space.
LowSec is where I make my home and I like it just the way it is. Now if they'd just give back cloaking in FW!!!
All it takes is one match a person who understands e-sports to tell his/her friends that watching Eve is not worth the time. If you dont play this game, you are not going to understand what is going on. Do I think making combat more tourney, not a chance in hell.
ReplyDeleteAs a Solo PVPer, I do not want PVP to be like the Alliance Tournament.
ReplyDeleteBUT, I would like CCP to stop chasing the mega blob F1 Battles like B-5RB. Every time a battle like that happens, EVE dies a little.
Noobs join expecting an unrealistic version of PVP and then drop off out of frustration when they see that fights like that are not just almost impossible, but incredibly boring (even painful).
EVE Online thrives with Solo and Small Gang.
Force Projection is killing EVE. Fewer and Fewer people are willing to fight because half the time there's a cyno for capitals or a titan bridge. As a result fewer fights happen.
I flew a Solo Raven into Low Sec recently and the fleet there refused to engage me because "No one flies a Raven Solo without a Cyno."