Vincent Athena wrote:When I was doing my test missions, in one L1 mission the NPCs did switch to my drones more than once. It was a drone mission, maybe they are not bugged?
In W-space the rats do switch to drones over and over. The method I use:
Launch drones. Keep them close.
Wait for drone aggro, pull them in.
Wait just a few seconds, just enough for aggro to switch to you. Then re-launch
You now got about 2 minutes before you got to worry about drone aggro again.
It seems like the NPCs (at least once the bug is fixed) are on a 2 minute cycle. Every 2 minutes they re-evaluate if they want to change targets. If there is no other target to swap to, they remain primed, ready to swap. If a new target shows up at that point, they swap right away. (New ship warping in, drones that just got deployed). This means if you pull in your drones then wait 2 minutes and re-deploy, they will catch aggro right away. So dont wait.
In W space we have noticed that if you got 3 ships in the fleet, drones rarely get aggro. But with one ship when the NPCs want to swap the only thing available is your drones. Be prepared to pull them in and re-deploy on that 2 minute cycle.
If this is correct, stop and ask yourself, "Does this improve the gameplay?"
For me, personally, it does not. All it does it make me buy a kitchen timer set to 2 mins, and reset it after I launch drones. How does this actually IMPROVE the gameplay, compared to the way things are now? Is it challenging? Is it a challenge to set a timer, or count one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi to 120? Hardly. So WHY do it?!
This is the main objection so many people have. Incidentally, the same objection people had with Incarna expansion. Simple question: does this make the game better, more fun, more challenging? And really, it doesn't. It just adds one extra chore for drone boat pilots. Considering that CCP Ytterbium already admitted that drones are terribly outdated as they are now, is this something drone pilots even need? It's already a hassle, even with current mechanics.
And depending on what size drones you use, losing drones is all too easy, even with current system. All it takes is for a new wave to come in while you still have slow drones (like Ogres) in space. If they get aggro, you'll likely lose one or two. And if they get aggro AND get webbed? You definitely will lose one or two. And this will improve the fun factor how? EVE is not the kind of game where you want to keep kicking the player in the groin stuff like that. Other players do that already.