Pirates finally upgraded from fireworks and strobe lights to missiles and lasers. They realized they could not sustain a multi million Battleship pirate empire if every mission had a 100% casualty rate and no victories.

A pirate spokesman when asked what was next for modern piracy stated that they were going to explore the possibility of drones, damage mods, logistics, neuts, damage controls, different ammo types and warp interdiction on every ship. There is also talk of letting their captains warp out in hull if they aren't scrammed.

These strategies stem from a new plan the pirates have been trying out in which they recruit new people who are not mentally ret@rded. An advantage they have never had before now. Only time will tell if it is effective.

How was your Raven equipped? Many things have changed.

Knowing how long you have been goons would help pinpoint specific changes.

It was a drone mission and there where a ton of drones but that was never a problem before in my drake maybe having to warp out once or twice but with my domi just aggroing everything and unleashing the drones was how i lived in level 4s for a while and this has never happened.

Last i really played was 2011.

How was your Raven equipped? Many things have changed.

There are some very nasty L4s. I lost a Domi in a drone mission (I wish I could remember the name), and when I came back the drones I'd left behind had shot all the triggers. There were probably a dozen battleships on field, and plenty of smaller support. I wound up getting through it in a Megathron cap-buddied with a friend's Nightmare, and even then we had to warp out twice.

Also, I'm not sure when the cruise missile nerf landed, but they're not able to hit anything small. The Raven is no longer the premiere mission boat, nor the premiere battleship. If anything it was nerfed so hard that hardly anyone flies them. if you fly Caldari, look at the Scorpion Navy Issue or the Tengu. The Domi is still a good mission boat, and a good all-around ship, but it's as skill-intensive as ever.

With some L4s, you want to have more than one ship. With some of them, you really want to be careful with triggers. EVE Survival is your friend.

"My Raven was equipped with the following..."

Hmm the whole reason i skilled up for the raven was because of how boring missioning is in the domi.

Hmm the whole reason i skilled up for the raven was because of how boring missioning is in the domi.

Since you are just back, try out the new Micro Jump Dive. Makes level 4s easy for a missile/sentry boat. Warp away, shoot, repeat.

Highsec carebears: repurposing PVP modules for completely inane reasons since Inferno!

Highsec carebears: repurposing PVP modules for completely inane reasons since Inferno!

Sleeper AI on mission rats.

Highsec carebears: repurposing PVP modules for completely inane reasons since Inferno!

Mission rats do not have sleeper AI you utter utter moron.

can someone explain what the micro jump does?

Mission rats do not have sleeper AI you utter utter moron.

why don't you do LVL4-s in 900DPS HAM tengu?

Pirates finally upgraded from fireworks and strobe lights to missiles and lasers. They realized they could not sustain a multi million Battleship pirate empire if every mission had a 100% casualty rate and no victories.

A pirate spokesman when asked what was next for modern piracy stated that they were going to explore the possibility of drones, damage mods, logistics, neuts, damage controls, different ammo types and warp interdiction on every ship. There is also talk of letting their captains warp out in hull if they aren't scrammed.

These strategies stem from a new plan the pirates have been trying out in which they recruit new people who are not mentally ret@rded. An advantage they have never had before now. Only time will tell if it is effective.

Have not played in a good long while, logged in hopped in my raven and grabbed a level 4 mission. Went to the mission and was blown to hell and back a few minutes in... Had my hardeners and shield booster going and was just ripped to shreds.

So i pulled out my trusty domi, not much better. Had enough time to loot my wreck and scoot out before losing that ship too.

What exactly did i miss? Both of these are very straightforward ships to pilot with good tanks that have always handled level 4 missions fine now all of a sudden im getting eaten alive.

can someone explain what the micro jump does?

Hmm the whole reason i skilled up for the raven was because of how boring missioning is in the domi.

Changes:

1) All NPC frigates in missions now carry some form of special attack, and most often that means warp scramblers. Regardless of what your flying or what weapons you are using, enemy frigates are now your priority one targets, otherwise you'll end up scrambled and unable to escape when things go wrong. This is true in all level 4 missions and even a few level 3 missions as well.

2) All NPCs have been reprogrammed to attack your drones as priority one. Don't believe the lies CCP spooned about "rats only attack drones by size" because it's just that - lies. Every NPC, from the lowliest frigate to the largest battleship, will mass alpha any drone you put out there, from an integrated sentry to a tech 1 hobgoblin, the second you launch them.

This means that the only viable drone strategy left is to use sentry drones at long range and either:
2a) Use target painters/ECM to pull aggro back to your overtanked ship.
2b) Use micro-jump drives and omnilinks to constantly snipe them from over 60km away and micro-jump to a new hunting blind whenever they get closer than 20km.

3) Heavy drones no longer exist in the game. Their graphics are still there, and some residual traces of their presence still lingering in the market, but they are dead. Extinct. Irrelevant to anything. Swept into the dustbin of irrelevance.

4) Luckily for you the Dominix is ideal for this. Dominix + sentries is now the only viable drone boat strategy.
4a) CCP made these changes to the NPC AI in order to stop people from beating all the missions using a Dominix & sentries.
4b) The Fail was Strong with that patch.