complains about n+1 mentality, uses n+1 mentality.

Not sure if you are an idiot just act like one in EvE.

heh noticed you fly around in a Svipul with links and you want to talk about cancer? Also good job losing a bil pod on the Jita undock like a moron. I think I am done here. Later scrub.

The other "counters" to links require greater input and skill on the part of the player. They aren't afk-able, and actually killing the links ship requires more than 1 additional account. So yes, the most efficient solution by far is to bring your own, rather than dedicating multiple players/accounts towards hunting them which usually just results in the link abuser running away.

I think we all need to discuss one specific issue more closely.

Regardless of whether links are a "good" or "bad" mechanic, which is inherently subjective, what can we all agree for certain about links?

I believe there is no question that links disguise the strength of enemy ships. Put another way, they create uncertainty about the enemy strength, and this is true whether there is one enemy or a whole fleet.

So what?

So, one of the big "time investment" barriers to engaging the enemy is determining their strength. This is why we keep an eye on local spikes. This is why we use d-scan. This is why we use TS3. We all know that we need to pick our fights carefully. And we know we need to keep an eye out for changes in the balance of power.

It is not contentious to say that the harder it is to determine enemy strength, the more time is required before deciding whether to engage.

Depending on how busy you are in real life, and how much you like "the hunt" or "the fight" as game play styles, the time invested in order to get a fight is a real problem.

This has been my greatest frustration with links. You log on, you fit a ship, your corp buddies are also online. Great! Now you can go out looking for small gang PVP. Get some fights.

Except, you can't. Not really.

Because of the ridiculous power of off grid boosts, the range of enemy strength that can destroy a small gang goes from a large blob to one ship.

Without links, you can say with certainty whether the ships in system can offer a fair fight. You can look for such a system, and look to get roughly balanced fights.

With links, you just never know for certain whether you are going to pick a fight you can't win.

Obviously this is not true for larger fleets. Once you have 30 ships and they only have 20, links are not an issue because you can use them yourself or otherwise overpower them with numbers.

But for solo and small gang PVP, links make even one enemy ship invulnerable. You cannot know, for certain, if you are picking a fair fight.

That makes Eve a bad investment of time, and it undermines the idea that Eve is even about fighting.

Maybe PVP in Eve is only supposed to be for massive fleets and risk averse gate campers and OGB gimps.

Maybe that is how you attract the sort of people who play Eve (and who pay for alts).

But it isn't how you appeal to people who want to fight in space ships.

Off grid boosters are not just a treacherous mechanic. They are also a statement of how CCP see and value their player base, and indeed how they see the scope and competencies of their own creation.

If links don't get massively reconfigured to address the small gang PVP concerns, nobody at CCP even believes Eve should be about space ship combat.

It is all just meant to be a chat room with space backgrounds, a facebook for chatty start wars fans.

I would've thought the difference would be clear by now.
None of those are done parked, and afk.

[quote=Demerius Xenocratus]
Honorabru 1v1's? The more the merrier. I'm sold. Details can be communicated here or via evemail or ingame chat. I'd personally prefer T1/navy frigs, destroyers (T1) or T1 cruisers.