August Guns
Generic Technologies and Futures Organization
7
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Posted - 2012.06.15 17:03:00 -
[1] - Quote
Here's to hoping that CCP sees this post, but I donGÇÖt have much hope.
In regards to CCPGÇÖs changes to wardec mechanics, the adjusted costs do not scale well, removing any benefit the ally system has. It neuters CCP's stated goal of a merc marketplace. It's just cheaper and easier to use a workaround when attacking corps figure out the loophole.
It stops dog-piles from defenders while letting attackers dog-pile on one defender. Attacker cost does not scale past 500m (not counting other outgoing wardecs ofc), while defender cost scales so badly it's infeasible for small groups.
Example:
10 groups wardec one corp. They will pay, at most, 5 bil total for the wardecs, from the capped cost of 500m per wardec. The defending corp hires 10 alliances to aid it. It costs a total of 9.2b isk for the defenders to join up on just one wardec. To defend against all 10 incoming wardecs requires 92 billion isk. Titans cost that much, and thatGÇÖs just for one wardec cycle.
Whoopsie.
Now, why does this matter? Because most groups in highsec are small, even the bigger griefer/mercs. But if you throw in a big powerhouse, they can't even afford to hire the numbers they'll need. Not when the aggressing corp can maintain the wardec as long as they want for pennies when the defender needs to rehire them.
So it's really just cheaper to forget the ally mechanic entirely and just have mercs wardec the aggressor (e.g.: merc corp pays, at most, 500m per attacking group since they now donGÇÖt worry about that silly scaling nonesense). You know, just like they used to.
With some inginuity, anyone can make it impossible to defend in highsec with the ally mechanics.
Example:
A group can have 10 alt corps that each declare war at the same time on one target. Their ultimate goal is a highsec tower. They have their pvp chars ready to switch to any of the 10 corps. When they see which wardecs are defended against, the pvp chars switch to the ones that don't have allies on it. They can keep their roles off, and instajoin the corp without allies on the wardec, undock, shoot tower.
Now we come to my proposals:
If CCP insists on having some sort of fee, I'd say have cost scale off of the number of people in corp/alliance making the wardec, specifically the number of people at the time the war was declared.
Second, cap the cost for defenders at something more reasonable in case the defender needs to hire more. YouGÇÖre supposed to be encouraging players to use your mechanics, not penalizing them. I donGÇÖt care what the figure is, but it should be comparable to the wardec cost
Third, possibly allow for merging wars together
Forth, allow for diminishing costs when dog-piles or multiple incoming wardecs occurs. Perhaps, for each active wardec the defender has against it, the base cost for hiring allies drops. Perhaps this, too, can scale off of number of people involved. Indeed, I would say this is preferred since it allows multiple smaller groups to defend without being forced to join one group.
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