Hectaire Glade
Forum Jockey
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Posted - 2007.05.18 14:33:00 -
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I've posted in a few other forums on this already, there are a few problems with assumption that low sec is the right place for level 5s.
a) Right now its incredibly easy to find a ship doing missions in space, especially if that player happens to be using drones, which for some reason are easier to scan for than planets.
b) NPCs doe not switch targets once engaged, now the level 5 missions we have seen so far all consist of full stage agro.
c) Tanking these things takes a PvE fit, you can not spare slots for stabs, damps, ECM etc that might save your butt in PvP, its just not practical
Add the above together, a) you are very easy to find, b) you will be under intense fire for at least 30 minutes from the time you warp into a level 5 until you clear down the majority of the big hitters, add in c) that you have a very specific tank and no PvP defence modules, and what do you have?
Mission runners in low sec are sitting ducks for pirates, its like shooting fish in a barrel, honestly there is nothing easier than ganking a guy who is under fire from 10+ NPC BS, multiple cruisers and scamming frigs, even the slightest interference will tip the balance. And where there are easy targets, more pirates will be attracted to these locations.
Now, lets run through the normal mantra of counters:
1) Bring more people - Gotcha, this has 2 side effects though, it lowers your reward (unless the level 5s are _seriously_ worth doing), and it also increases the time it takes to get ready for a mission, forming gang, waiting corpmates to appear, fit up, get ready ect etc. A Level 5 then becomes a 3-4 hour activity, not a 1-2 hour level 4.
2) Secure the system - Gotcha, but you actually need to secure not only the agent system, but all surrounding jump+1 systems where you might get sent to run the mission, its not just about keeping 1 system safe, that's doable with a decent corp/group of friends, keeping 5-7 systems 'safe' in low sec is impossible due to lack of choke points.
3) Don't run missions when you get hostiles in system - Okay, again though, time becomes a factor of money, your average mission runner is not the player who plays all day each day, the majority of mission runners in empire today play in 1-2 hour blocks.
There are many more factors at play here, but it boils down simply, level 5s in low sec will be under-utilized until additional tools can be put into the game to allow the mission runners to increase the safety factor significantly to bring the reward above the risk. Right now the mechanics of the game favor the griefer in low sec, thus people don't on the whole run mission there. Think NPCs who jump on non-ganged players, lockable acceleration gates, mine-able warp in points etc etc.
Now, do i support level 5s in high sec? Maybe, i think its silly not to give the empire PvE player additional and interesting content. Making mission running in empire so repetitive that its becomes stale will force people to leave the game over time, not force them to move into low sec or 0.0. Look closely at the demographics of the empire mission runner and you'll find quite a lot of them are 30 something players with family who can only commit small chunks of consecutive time and who need to be able to afk occasionally in relative safety. Making these players bored with the game is not the right answer.
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