CCP Tallest wrote:Permanent war decs will be fixed in Retribution.
We have made it so that in a mutual war, the original aggressor has the option of retracting the war.
And by "we have made it so", I mean Punkturis has made it so.
While from the standpoint of someone is damn near always the aggressor in wars, this change greatly helps me, I cannot say that this is the proper way to fix mutual decs.
The problem with your 'fix' is that you're going back on the whole concept of "consequences for aggressors" that you touted so much in inferno. As it stands, I will have just as much (if not more) control over the dec if my target makes it mutual. In fact, you've made it so that there is literally no point to ever set a war mutual unless you are RvB.
Here's how you should actually fix mutual wars, so that they're still worth using as a defender, but aren't completely broken as they are now:
Step 1: The first step is to make mutual wars a cost burden that the defender must carry (ie someone has to pay CONCORD for the dec). This should be implemented such that when a war is declared mutual by the defender, it is stuck that way for 7 days, without charge. The defender will receive a bill (much like a run-of-the-mill aggressive dec) to continue the mutual war into a second week, etc. The 'mutual fee' will use the same cost mechanics current dec fees use. As with current mutual mechanics, the two sides must agree to a surrender offer in order to end the mutual war prior to the end of any given 7-day mutual war period. (Obviously one of the two sides can completely disband as they can now).
Step 2: The second step is to make it so that mutual wars count as "aggressive decs" for the original defenders. If the defender is a single corp, this means they cannot spread the war to others via an alliance as they cannot join it. If the defenders are originally an alliance, and the alliance declares the war mutual, the war will be considered mutual for corps that leave the alliance for 7-days.
Step 3: In order to maintain groups such as RvB that want a permanent forever war with each other, implement an option for the aggressor, once the defender has made the war mutual, to confirm the war being mutual. This can be made with a similar flagging system as current surrender offers. If the aggressor confirms the war to be mutual, it is free for both sides and requires a surrender offer to end.
Obviously, there is still room to spread wars around as long as the war is not declared mutual (and could be still used to keep an aggressor at war for a very long period of time). This process of dropping corps in and out of an alliance with proper timing is rather tedious (but can obviously be done). While it may be exploited, I doubt it will be to the extent (both in terms of time and the number of involved parties) that it is currently.
I apologize for the wall of text, but would greatly appreciate both player and dev feedback.
Thanks.
Adriel