What FW really need
1) rewards for ppl who actively fights, defend/attacks iHub's/systems, live at stations in FW area and donate LP's to iHubs -> maybe any kind of discount in LP shop? limit for FW missions per day? bonus for ppl who long time fight for militia?
2) make upgrading systems more useful -> like discount in LP store, FW system V upgrade make wide cyno jammer ....
3) rework items and prices in LP shops (there are many expensive things but nobody use/buy/sell it)
4) solve "Allies problem" -> one side change wz to allies wz due to easy farming there.


but donot forget many players are in FW because PvP with "LP earn bonus" (like waiting for fight inside plex etc...) When you remove rewards, many players will not have enough ISK's for PvP ships....

Making missions require bigger ships or gangs would be difficult because 1. Pirates would be all over those likes bees to honey. And while it may bring fights, it may completely prevent you from finishing the mission resulting in standings loss, or you loose your whole fleet then you spend the next week trying to gain LP just to make up for the ships you lost.

2. Gate camps suck.

3. If LP becomes significantly harder to come by Fights and the size of Fights in FW may GREATLY down scale because no one has the isk to afford those ships or willingness to risk them.

(But the Gals make more isk as their LP is more valuable - Maybe you could ask CCP to nerf Gal LP payouts to balance that? )
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Hey guys,

One of the things on the PVE side of FW that keeps getting brought to my attention is LVL 4 FW missions, and an imbalance between the ones that are run by the Gallente and Amarr vs the Minmatar and Caldari missions. The specific issue that I keep hearing is that Cal and Min missions can be run in Stealth bombers while Gal and Amarr missions need to be run in considerably better ships, often tech 3.

The reasons for the higher end ships that seem to be most common is the missile spam prevalent in the Gallente and Amarr missions. I've got a few other things on my list that were mentioned, but I'd rather hear directly from you guys as to what you think the issues are.

My questions for you in this regard are 3:

1: Do you feel this issue is important to you or people you fly with in FW?
2: What do you think is causing the imbalance between the faction missions where some factions can run their missions with SB while others need to bring a "bigger boat."
3: If some balance were to be brought across lvl4 FW missions, should it be geared towards everyone needing a "bigger boat," or everyone being able to run in stealth bombers?

This issue is one of a few on my plate at the moment. If there is a strong desire for change here it's something I plan to pass on and attempt to press the need to the dev team that handles PVE content. If the desire is not strong, and it appears the people who have brought this to me are a small minority, I plan to move on to other issues.

/discuss

3. bigger ships for sure. It is possible to go out in a keres and go on a rampage of bombers, but I miss the old camping days where pirates would chill on gates and just massacre anything bigger then a shuttle that came through, which could really lead to some great fights. Now in FW it seems that most of the fights happen on an acceleration gate to some plex, which tends to mean its geared alot more towards frigs. Mind you, I don't think alot of that comes from l4 missioners but it would be nice to see people forced into bigger ships to bring some more life back to fw lowsec and the accompanying pirate gatecamps that were so common in the past.

I'm going to disagree with some of the above.

FW's stated goal is to be an introduction to PvP for low-SP pilots. Given that, I think it is entirely reasonable that the missions should be doable solo, and in T2 frigates. It is one of the main charms of FW missions, in fact.

It would make a lot more sense to me to make them all doable in Bombers and/or AssFrigs, solo, and if anything, scale the reward.

They should absolutely NOT require fleeting up, or BC+ ships to run, at least in my opinion. Leave them accessible to solo low SP pilots.

PvP accessibility for low SP pilots does not necessitate access to L4 missions in bombers or assault frigates. Beware Malcanis' Law here.

Low SP pilots can make more than enough to sustain their PvP losses by plexing. Even now, you can run 4x novices per hour easily, making 40k LP at tier 2. That's at least 40m per hour, which is solid income for folks losing ships in the 2-10mil isk range on average.

FW L4 missions should require something on par to regular L4 missions in terms of skill / ship investment. If newbros want to run FW missions, the L1-L3 should be perfectly doable in assault frigates and the like.

What is the actual benefit to anyone for making the missions not doable in T2 frigates, though? I don't think there is really a problem there that needs solving, aside from the racial balancing.

I don't have a problem going either way (easy mode/slightly harder mode) as long as the risk/reward is in line, at the moment the risk/reward is out of wack though.

Comes down to risk / reward. At the moment, you gain far far too much for putting so little on the line.

I don't have a problem going either way (easy mode/slightly harder mode) as long as the risk/reward is in line, at the moment the risk/reward is out of wack though.

I'm going to disagree with some of the above.

FW's stated goal is to be an introduction to PvP for low-SP pilots. Given that, I think it is entirely reasonable that the missions should be doable solo, and in T2 frigates. It is one of the main charms of FW missions, in fact.

It would make a lot more sense to me to make them all doable in Bombers and/or AssFrigs, solo, and if anything, scale the reward.

They should absolutely NOT require fleeting up, or BC+ ships to run, at least in my opinion. Leave them accessible to solo low SP pilots.

it IS accessible to low sp pilots its called lvl1 lvl2 lvl3 missions. being in fw doesnt mean you ONLY do lvl4 missions.

FW already has t2 frigate t2 destroyer accessible missions. the lvl4s are the ones that need to get harder all around.

Why? Why not just scale the rewards better? That's the real problem.

People don't run high sec level four missions in a stealth bomber, they use BS's or HACs or T3s. Why should low sec be any different? .

Because so few hisec lv4 missions are of an assassination type of objective. They are mostly destroy-all-the-npcs, while containing several rooms full, and the acceleration gates don't unlock until the room is cleared. And unless you're under a hisec wardec, you don't need to worry about traveling in your BS since there are no random/neutral gatecamps that'll get you.

But in lowsec, FW, there are pirate+wartarget gatecamps. In addition there is an assassination type of feel and objective to many of the missions, which does makes sense to be all cloak and dagger about it in a SB. Also, exactly how often do you see BSs (solo) going around the WZ for any reason? There are a few, but nothing like all the ravens and apocs you see in hisec for mission running. Anything bigger than cruiser steps into wz territory to die or hub bash. Nothing more.

Some people want a reason to do fleet PvE in FW, it seems. That seems silly to me, but whatever floats your boat. For stuff like that, why not add a FW-specific version of Incursions instead?