CCP Fozzie
C C P
C C P Alliance
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Posted - 2015.03.11 15:53:30 -
[1] - Quote
Hey everyone. Alongside our Fanfest prep, our team here in Iceland has been hard at work collecting initial feedback on the Sovereignty Update Dev Blog we released last week. We want to express a huge thanks to everyone who has provided constructive feedback so far.
One of the feedback areas that we would like to focus on at this early point is Sovereignty time zone mechanics and how we can build the best possible time zone safe system. So we've created a survey to help organize your feedback and let us get some new insights into your needs.
Time zone mechanics are a vital, and challenging, part of building game systems in a single shard worldwide universe like EVE.
Time zone safe game systems are those that allow players to determine the rough time period in which events can occur and their assets are in danger. They play two crucial roles in a game like EVE:
- They prevent players from losing their stuff while they are unavoidably away from the game (work, sleep, etc). Nobody should feel the need to play the game 24/7 in order to compete.
- They encourage players to show up at the same place at the same time, facilitating multiplayer gameplay. Playing with and outplaying other human beings is the core of EVE, and putting players in contact with each other is a big part of that. If people can fight over an asset without ever coming into contact with each other, we've lost something very valuable.
There have been a few methods used by EVE's game systems to provide this service:
- Starbase strontium fueling and reinforcement mode was developed to allow players to build and maintain structures in space with reasonable levels of risk. When the starbase is attacked while fueled with Strontium Clathrates it enters a reinforced mode and becomes invulnerable for a period of time determined by the amount of Stront it is loaded with. This system had the downside of some fairly significant complexity, and was less predictable (and therefore higher risk for the structure owner) than the later systems, but led to some interesting gameplay around attacking starbases in unusual time zones and using careful application of damage to "kite" the timer.
- Simpler reinforcement mechanics were introduced for dominion sovereignty and also used for player owned customs offices. In this system players set a target time for the reinforcement exit and the system would automatically choose a time within a random period around that choice when the structure is attacked. This system reduced complexity and was much easier to manage than fuel. These first two systems also allow the initial attack on a structure to happen at any time, but that is only viable in those systems because the initial attacks have a very significant cost in time and hitpoint grinding.
- In our current proposal for Summer 2015 Sov Changes, we attempt to build upon the earlier designs and reduce the amount of player vs structure grinding gameplay. The initial stage of killing and dropping SBUs is removed, and instead alliances choose a prime time that doubles as the reinforcement exit period and the point of initial vulnerability. See the dev blog for more details.
We are very interested to hear from all of you to find out what kind of timezone system best fits your needs and desires. That's why we've put together this survey.
The initial questions in this survey are just to provide context, but the real meat comes at the end with the long form answers. We strongly encourage players to provide as much detail as possible. If you don't think the new proposal meets your needs, is it because of the inability to set each structure individually, or because of the removal of the SBU stage of attack and defense, or the 4 hour window for reinforcement exit being smaller than the current 6 hour one? If you expect less content, are you more worried about losing content on offense or defense? The more detail you can provide, the better we'll be able to address your concerns.
You can find the survey at:
timezones.questionpro.com
Please share with your EVE friends and spread the word. The more people get involved, the more we'll be able to do to help improve the system.
Thanks!
Game Designer | Team Five-0
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