This just goes to show, it's not just high sec people who completely lose the plot when it comes to balance.

I live in null, so that "lol you don't live in null" BS is just that, BS. I've used everything, afktars, FoF+drone ships like the rattlesnake, vindicators in serp and guristas space, carriers, and so on. My favorite is my Machariel

[Machariel, Angels Bane]
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer

Gist C-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Dread Guristas Adaptive Invulnerability Field
Pith X-Type Explosive Deflection Field
'Cetus' ECM Shockwave I
Large Micro Jump Drive

800mm Repeating Cannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion L
800mm Repeating Cannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion L
800mm Repeating Cannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion L
800mm Repeating Cannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion L
800mm Repeating Cannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion L
800mm Repeating Cannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion L
800mm Repeating Cannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion L
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Large Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II

Gecko x1
Valkyrie II x4
Hornet EC-300 x5
Valkyrie II x1

I make good isk with it and it can do 10/10s, but I'm also risking something expensive to do it.

That mach costs 8 or 9 times as much as an afktar, but it sure as hell doesn't make 8 or 9 times as much (and i'm not saying it should). But the current anomaly situation is BS, those of us who go out and ACTIVELY rat only make a little more than the people who attach a 100mn AB to a HAC, launch drones and go do something else.

This has the affect of pumping wayyy to much isk into the economy (which s NOT BALANCED by the material sink of exploding ishtars and navy vexors, 3-4 hours of use and that afktar already paid for itself). What's even worse from my point of view is that it makes null sec look way richer than it is, giving ammunition to people in other parts of EVE to defend their unbalanced isk making activities.

Sorry, but if you want to make isk with a space ship in this game it's right that you should have to be somewhere near your keyboard to do it. At least with FoF missiles, if you go afk they run out and you make nothing.

I never let my drones get more than 25km away, and I watch them like a hawk. The first time I see agro shift, and then start seeing red on their shields is when I start pulling them back.


Jenn, I actually agree with you on the active gameplay stance. Which is why I have no problem for those rare hisec missioners who can get over 100mil an hour; because I know they are actively playing the game and putting forth a little effort to get those dividends.

Sorry, but if you want to make isk with a space ship in this game it's right that you should have to be somewhere near your keyboard to do it. At least with FoF missiles, if you go afk they run out and you make nothing.

Stealth nerf to AFKtars online? About time.

couple of things:
1st. Gaming afk means ppl should be off their keyboard - not that you should hide your drones every 5 sec to save them. And then pull them off ( this makes drone game content useless )
2nd. Making it randomly - some characters have this bug some don't - makes it bug!! not planed change!!
3d. CCP wanted ppl to have multiple account's, but now playing with ships like tengu not everyone can aford to menage multiple accounts.
4th. Every plex in game is counted. Even if there are ppl who have them 3000 or more there is limit to plexes. New plexes in game shows when someone buys them. So what if the person who have 3000 plexes buys them all cheeper and sells higher. If and IF only ppl stop playing multiple accounts, then market price of plex wind up much more because less players will buy plexes - much more means lose of players having multi acc, and this will led to circle. Higher plex price, lover players. And even if there will be new player who will buy plex and sell it 10 times higher price as its now ccp will lose ratio ( buying plex by cash - seling for isk ) lower count of ppl playing it's always bad for games like this!! SO CCP STOP MAKING PPL LEVE THIS GAME!! WE LOVE THIS GAME!!
5th. I won't lose much because I can work isk other ways but new players are in deep shi...

I suspect this is a bug rather than an intended fix / nerf to drone ratting.

The reason I think this is because if I rat in one particular system then for the last 3 days, every time I launch drones, I lose aggro and they get shot. However, if I simply move nextdoor and do exactly the same thing, then I keep aggro and my drones are fine.

If I move back to the original system again, drones go back to getting shot.

Therefore I conclude its a bug.

Question, do cruisers and up normally try to attack light drones? I was flinging some acolytes at some cruisers the other day in a serpentis site that I didn't need to scan down and they completely ignored my ship for the drones. From what I've been reading only frigates should be attacking light drones.

I suspect this is a bug rather than an intended fix / nerf to drone ratting.

The reason I think this is because if I rat in one particular system then for the last 3 days, every time I launch drones, I lose aggro and they get shot. However, if I simply move nextdoor and do exactly the same thing, then I keep aggro and my drones are fine.

If I move back to the original system again, drones go back to getting shot.

Therefore I conclude its a bug.

Could I have a high slot EW .....

I just want to play Mothership some more. It's not about being AFK, I just enjoy being the big tanky boss that sends my minions out to do my work. Quite happy giving up turret slots and/or DPS as long as I don't have to play the frustrating drone micro game.

Can't you just RR them?

No, the incoming dps cannot be repped with a single repper.
You would need a dedicated logi ship next to every pve ship dedicated to keeping drones alive.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of setup are you running and what area?

If this is intentional, it would be good to include it in the patch notes or get some information from a dev, so we can plan accordingly (goodbye Ishtar, hello Deimos).

Hey Folks ! Since the recent patch rollout, ratting in a drone ship is simply broken.
The current situation ist unplayable - i suppose it is not an intention that a whole stage aggros one drone at a time and vaporises it in one shot.

Please fix this or at least tell us we should go for tengu ratting now.

This is a very good thing. Now they can see what impact (if any) it will have on the big AFK farms in null and then buff the content into the headroom they created (presumably) so that people can generate wealth in line with their effort instead of the amount of alts they have. Maybe that will stop the poor nullies wingeing.

I however have my doubts if this will change anything because again change out of nowhere.