10) POS warfare ----- Now you need a small RL army to kill enough pos's to challenge sov. Before you used to be able to play ping pong with stations. Yes it sucked for large alliances but small gangs could come in and begin to shoot enemy stations, the enemy couldnt just dock and say they'll leave casue they cant kill our pos's, they actually had to defend their stations, and several fights were made this way.

Why is solo and small gang PvP important? Empire building is about numbers and fleets and resources and strategy. Small time thugs mugging each other isn't important in the big picture.

EVE pvp can be traced back to many nerfs and buffs. EVE went from a game where solo, and small gang PVP actually used to be very abundant but we'll take a look at why it has become so hard to do anything without a blob behind you.

In no particular order -

1) Nano nerf, used to be that a smart pilot could engage a larger force and have a chance to escape if he needed to. Now unless you fly minmatar exclusively or angel ships (which are the FOTM, no coincidence there) you are unable to control your fights.

2) Resulting Web nerf that came with nano nerf, Also with this is the oversized afterburner means that you need about 6 nerfed webs to even hope to slow down these ships. Also solo with 60% webs means that close range ships will have a very hard time holding anything still long enough to hit them properly.

3) HP Buff - long ago almost every ship got a double hp buff which made active tanking a relic compared to passive tanking. More HP means longer time on the field, which means more time for the blob to come.

4) Jump bridges / covert cynos / capital ships period. The "HOT DROP" ruining solo and small gang PVP for years 8). Cant kill a capital alone lol!

5) Nos nerf / Neut Buff. Nos used to be used to help keep your tank and cap running. Now neuts are king and I dont recommend undocking any Ship without 2 cap boosters..... Neuts are out of control.

6) ECM drones - most overpowered module in the game, anyone can fit them and they seem to be just as strong as a maxed skilled falcon. Yes smartbombs kill them, but if they jam you and you kill them they still hold the jam for 20 seconds, which is huge in PVP. Also ECCM modules do not work!

7) Local - The most used intel tool in game, Once someone sees you in local, the ts, and intel channels go nuts and everyone docks.

8) Tracking Enhancers - Helps everyone but when you can now shoot short range guns outwards of near 80-100km, it becomes difficult to tackle anything. Time to reduce the range of all short range weapons to that of tackle mods. You want heavy firepower then you gotta brawl!

9) Logi ships - Lets face it, almost every gang these days has at least 2 logis, heck even if they only had 1 a solo guy cant break through the reps. With two of them, a small gang will have a VERY hard time killing them since repping does give you aggro. Make them rep less and give repping aggro so they cant just jump or dock!

10) POS warfare ----- Now you need a small RL army to kill enough pos's to challenge sov. Before you used to be able to play ping pong with stations. Yes it sucked for large alliances but small gangs could come in and begin to shoot enemy stations, the enemy couldnt just dock and say they'll leave casue they cant kill our pos's, they actually had to defend their stations, and several fights were made this way.



Anyways there used to be a time before any of this, and it was wonderful. But if you can overcome all these things and more, then you are in the 5%. So GL to everyone, and remembering all these changes just makes me sad 8(.

lol

Wild

Some of you newer players seem to think this is a whine thread. Please dont assume that, thank you. It is truely a remembrance thread of what the game used to be and where it has gone over the years.

1) Nano nerf, used to be that a smart pilot could engage a larger force and have a chance to escape if he needed to. Now unless you fly minmatar exclusively or angel ships (which are the FOTM, no coincidence there) you are unable to control your fights.

2) Resulting Web nerf that came with nano nerf, Also with this is the oversized afterburner means that you need about 6 nerfed webs to even hope to slow down these ships. Also solo with 60% webs means that close range ships will have a very hard time holding anything still long enough to hit them properly.

3) HP Buff - long ago almost every ship got a double hp buff which made active tanking a relic compared to passive tanking. More HP means longer time on the field, which means more time for the blob to come.

6) ECM drones - most overpowered module in the game, anyone can fit them and they seem to be just as strong as a maxed skilled falcon. Yes smartbombs kill them, but if they jam you and you kill them they still hold the jam for 20 seconds, which is huge in PVP. Also ECCM modules do not work!

8) Tracking Enhancers - Helps everyone but when you can now shoot short range guns outwards of near 80-100km, it becomes difficult to tackle anything. Time to reduce the range of all short range weapons to that of tackle mods. You want heavy firepower then you gotta brawl!

9) Logi ships - Lets face it, almost every gang these days has at least 2 logis, heck even if they only had 1 a solo guy cant break through the reps. With two of them, a small gang will have a VERY hard time killing them since repping does give you aggro. Make them rep less and give repping aggro so they cant just jump or dock!

10) POS warfare ----- Now you need a small RL army to kill enough pos's to challenge sov. Before you used to be able to play ping pong with stations. Yes it sucked for large alliances but small gangs could come in and begin to shoot enemy stations, the enemy couldnt just dock and say they'll leave casue they cant kill our pos's, they actually had to defend their stations, and several fights were made this way.

Some people don't want to be part of an empire. Some people prefer to wander alone or with a few small friends. It's a little narrow minded to suggest that the two styles of play cannot co-exist.

confirming ecm drones are not chance based and work flawlessly every time they cycle no matter how much eccm the victim has

However, stoicfaux is right about one thing: Whilst eve offers great catalysts to fight over for large empires such as moons etc..., small gang or solo warfare is completely aimless in this game, which is a pity and a huge missed opportunity.

I often wonder why all the many, many people who complain about "the death of solo and small gang PvP" never seem to encounter each other and enjoy some solo and small gang PvP.

Then I run into a guy in his own when I have 1 friend with me and get called a "blobber", which reminds me why.

This is most certainly not true.

* Griefing null sec carebears, killing pimped ratting ships can be very profitable not to mention the satisfaction of ruining someone else's day

* The many forms of suicide ganking that render a net profit

I could go on, you get the idea.

Small gang v Small gang : Maybe you win
Small gang v Large gang : You lose
Large gang v Small gang : You win
Large gang v Large gang : Maybe you win

If the matrix looks like this :



I don't see how twiddling with stats on hulls and modules would come up with anything different. The tactics look inflexible, but maybe there's wiggle room in strategy? What sort of changes would it take to get several small groups engaging in several small fights a more optimal doctrine than zerg vs zerg?

Why is solo and small gang PvP important? Empire building is about numbers and fleets and resources and strategy. Small time thugs mugging each other isn't important in the big picture.