Faustus
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Posted - 2003.09.24 11:05:00 -
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At the simplest level it is a managed supply and demand model, but I think many people forget it is just a game and as such will never be everything to everyone. Bearing this in mind, I think 3 key areas that CCP need to look at are their pendulum approach to new product introduction, supply of materials and PVP
PVP û In my view is the most æfixedÆ element of the game as this has been tweaked to reduce the lazy pirates (gate gankers), but keep the corps that do æadd spiceÆ. If you want the life of a pirate you have to work for it in the way corps like Space Invaders seem to operate. The current system seems to be. 0.0 û free for all, 0.1 û 0.4 no gate ganking, but can kill in open space, .5 - .9 risk from NPC pirates, 1.0 no risk. However, the lag issues around large battles and the defender advantage are the 2 areas that must be resolved soon.
Supply of materials û This is just in an appalling situation, the low level minerals are over supplied, and the only thing that keeps their price relatively stable is the pain in the arse factor of shifting them about (another timesink?). At the other end of the spectrum is the rarity of megacyte caused by a respawn model that will force mega further from stations. Players do not want to get involved in the timesink of hauling it as it is dull; Mobile refineries would solve this, but are a long way off. In effect, the model is right, but the solution is only half implemented.
Finally new product introduction û this is in a bad way and I am not having a go at Techell or EV, but CCP needs to learn from this and ensure that when the next load of Tech II items are released, we donÆt have a situation that benefits a few at the expense of the many. Howà.well allow the original guys who spent time and effort getting the BP to benefit for up to 4 weeks (randomised?), then open the market to all. They make a nice profit for a couple of weeks, then the price falls to become more acceptable (20-30%) margin.
What are your thoughts everyone. CCP hasnÆt a big job to do to improve game mechanics (IÆll ignore bugs here), it just needs to get on and sort it.
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