I like the idea but if it were to happen, i think there should still be one high sec link between the four empires, even if that link had significant disadvantages..

It would be cool if FW had some influence over these links, like maybe rival factions could take over the system that connects two empires and that faction could collect a tax from everyone traveling through the gate.

OK, I re-read the initial post. To me it is basically proposing messing with a currently relatively stable market to present more juicy unarmed freighter targets to losec folks. If you want more targets and to make money pirating you can already by ganking in hisec. This idea just means the targets come to you in losec where you won't be concorded afterwards.

If you want to pirate then why not hunt losec/null mission ratters? Surely they will bring more money?, you can even use your fleet to wipe out the rats afterwards and take the loot.

I still think this would mess with a currently balanced economy for no good reason (since I don't see providing easier targets for losec pirates as a good reason).

Last few times I was in Amamake there wasn't even anyone on the gates, much less an actual camp.

The entire, clearly stated, goal of this change is to get people into low sec via market pressure. It seeks to reduce the ability of people to move goods from one empire to another without crossing through low sec systems. It wants to take an ability people have currently, so that they will have no other useful choice but to cross into the cross hairs of gate campers.

In other words it intends to use market forces to get people into low sec. You know... force them. As if with a bulldozer made of reduced profits.

It wants to take away some kid's shovel that he plays in the sandbox with and either leave him just using his hands or begging to use someone else's shovel..

Sure it could be done. Nothing stops them from setting up Cyno ships to get back to their jump gate networks on a moments notice. They don't have to catch every ship to effectively stop trade. It would not take long before you had to arrange transport with them to move goods with a tax, and the more that knuckle under makes anyone not on the list easier to find and stop. CFC have how many thousands of people? The only people that would be able to challenge them would be another huge alliance, and they would probably welcome the distraction.

No. But I'm sure the supporters are guys, who have only benefits for their way to play the game.

Nowhere in this thread there comes up any compromise. Why? If CCP would like to divide the empire space routes, what major concessions for hisec only players are acceptable without killing lowsec gameplay?
Can transit routes between hisec enclaves be handled another way than deepspace routes?

Let me suggest a 3-step compromise:
(1) - PvE becomes more like PvP in order to reduce the need of completely different fittings and teach all players to pay more attention to the things they do.
- Experienced players and developers create "NPC char skills" and usual fittings for T1/navy issued/Concord ships.
- Concord become vincible but challenging. Navy shoud be vincible already.
- Concord patrols "uplink" gates to higher sec space only with small a bit challenging fleets in sec state 0.4 and 0.3.
- Concord does not roam in lowsec.
- Concord patroles no "downlink" gates to lower or equal security space.
- Concord needs a random time to replace a killed spawn. Time frame for replacement depends on sys sec state.
- Concord will auto aggro only outlaws/criminals (<-5.0 players security state)
- Temporary spawns of factional navy will appear like rat spawns in hisec but a bit more challenging.
- Navy fleets will auto aggro factional enemies only.
- "Downlink" gates will be temporary patroled by factional navy spawns (T1 or navy issued frigates/cruisers/bc).
- From time to time a small navy scout spawns at gates, belts or factional NPC stations (within the own territory only).
- A scout spawn stays a predefined time until it will go away. At gates navy scouts or fleets will stay much longer.
- The max spawn count and size will be limited by system security state.
- Borders between hostile races should be patroled more dense, than space between friendly races.

Nobody should be able permacamp a gate without having several smaller fights against NPC which maybe draw off the attention from transitting travellers possibly. Transitting travellers may have a slightly higher chance to escape.

(2) - There should be several routes with nearly the same hop count between the hisec areas.
- Not only one permacamped route should be reasonable and/or possible. This should reduce the sense of permacamps.

(3) - Building player controlled hisec jump gates to charge toll.

All those ideas will push profit upwards to the larger groups away from the players who play trading games lone wolf due to their time commitments. I still hold that the only way to get people into losec is by their own choice and that can only be done by giving them better choices and reasons to do so than currently exist.

As someone who frequently travels into low sec and could care less about gate camps or pirates I would like to describe this idea in two ways.

1: Annoying. You'll just be concentrating the number of high sec players into smaller pockets. Travel through low sec won't increase significantly, we'll just end up with 4 Jitas, and a lot of traders training into Cloaking IV.

2: Counter-productive. The majority of people in low sec right now fall within two categories: People traveling through low sec to get somewhere else, and the pirates trying to catch those people traveling through. This does nothing to solve the problem that there is very little reason for any other type of player to bother with low sec. Making low sec unavoidable just means that this problem will be exacerbated, and the permanent population in low sec will remain largely unchanged, low sec will remain largely undesirable, and it will still be a bunch of gate campers out there playing grab-*** with no real purpose.

The problem isn't that it's easy to avoid low sec, it's that players have no motivation to go there other than niche activities like moon mining and FW. Fix that, and everything else will follow suit.

Fixing that does not mean nerfing high sec, either. For the love of god, stop trying to nerf high sec. The annoying player base there is enough punishment for anyone except equally damaged individuals to want to find a better alternative. Low sec is worse because they generally don't even need passable social skills since you can't pick and choose your bedfellows when you've only got a handful to work with.

People will follow the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance in this scenario already exists for them. Jita, Hek, Rens, Amarr, and Dodixie.