Saelie
   |
Posted - 2010.12.16 21:25:00 -
[1]
Solo PvP is always on the decline for a few reasons. My opinion:
1) Most people play to win. The people who play to get 'good fights' are vastly outnumbered by the people who don't care how good the fight is as long as the other guy dies. This is an inherent aspect of human nature; nobody likes to lose, especially in a game where losing generally means something. This means that people will naturally gravitate towards strategies that allow them to win more than the other guy. The best way to do this is numbers. It's hard to lose when you outnumber the guy 5 to 1. They win, they accomplish their objectives. This means they're having fun. Perhaps at the expense of the solo roamers, but such it is.
2) EVE has more variety now. This means that it's far less likely that the one ship you have will be able to deal with what the other guy has. You can no longer easily predict what the other guy is going to have, what they're going to be doing, or where they're going to be. You're less likely to be able to handle multiple ships since each additional ship adds so much more risk. T3 ships are especially bad, as you have no idea what you'll be attacking before you decide to go ahead and do it.
3) EVE players are more organized than they used to be. Intel channels, Ventrilo servers, Teamspeak... EVE players communicate better than they used to and they organize faster. Whereas it used to take half an hour for a blob to form up and chase down the lone Vagabond shooting ratters, now it happens in ten minutes or less. Response times are quick among well-organized groups, giving the solo roamer a lot smaller of a window to do their business before they die.
4) Blobs are the natural state. Leave a group of random people in a room long enough and they will eventually form into little groups. This explains why there are so many empty null-sec systems, but the ones that have people in them tend to have 10-20 or more. It explains why blobs form entirely naturally and without prompting - I've witnessed these impromptu fleets develop in both PvP and PvE situations (PvE being the Sansha mini-incursions CCP is doing right now). One man against the world is just not a normal operating condition for the average human; they want to be in a group. Thus, groups form, and groups tend to stay together, leading to blobs.
|