CCP Gargant wrote:I can't make promises for game designers or the people that make content for EVE Online. Please try to remember that. What I can do is assure you that your voices have been heard, the opinion of the CSM has been heard, and the concerns raised in this thread have been heard.
Respectfully, CCP Gargant, therein lies the problem. I certainly still have an enormous amount of respect for CCP and the job its Devs do every day, but if you're just writing to say "hold on guys, we hear you," but you can't actually comment on what's coming, then that doesn't really help us at all.
POSes are in a desperate state at the moment. And I think many people would agree--players and CCP--that something needs to be done to improve POS mechanics and, as a result, quality of life. Let me point out a few quotes of my own that I have found that give many of us posting here concern that "POSes had been shelved:"
Page 37 (after UAxDEATH brought up "broken promises" on a POS revamp):
"Unifex stated that
what CCP did was spend effort and prototype what would make a good POS system. It would, however, only affect the group of people who manage POSes. Focusing that amount of time and effort on some small singular aspect of the game and delivering only that GÇ£is what will kill the businessGÇ¥. (emphasis added)
Then back on Page 21:
"Unifex: We can't do everything in our long-term plan in the next 6 months. And
when we actually do the prototyping and figure out how tough something is to actually do, our plans may change." (emphasis added)
Jumping ahead to Page 38:
"[F]rom a game design perspective, implementing changes to null-sec and the sov system in general would be easier than revamping the POS system. On top of that, Soundwave added, the POS system by itself would only affect a small portion of the community."
It seems evident from the quotes above that CCP had, in fact, analyzed whether a POS revamp would be worth it but then decided that the developer cost-to-player benefit could not be justified due to POSes "affect[ing] a small portion of the community."
Certainly, we could look all over the EVE Universe and find points where problems exist, from high sec to low to null to wormhole space. And of course each player from those respective areas is going to want to lobby for their area being fixed. The thing about
POSes, though, is that they
affect players in all areas of the game, and this doesn't even speak of what POSes
could do if given a proper once-over. They could make massive quality of life improvements, from refitting T3s in wormhole space to rethinking how refining and manufacturing fit in high sec space.
Granted there is merit in focusing developer talent and financial resources on individual areas, and there are many systems that need overhaul. But given the fact that POSes affect players in all areas, the answer seems obvious.
Whether its a new player or veteran, there's tremendous gameplay opportunity a POS revamp would afford. It could easily attract newer players to POSes if they weren't so daunting or hard to manage, and it would give veterans quality of life improvements that are long overdue.
I'm signing this thread, because I believe that our concerns weren't misplaced. And I feel that POSes are in need of change.