Veryez
Pator Tech School
Minmatar Republic
11
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Posted - 2012.01.24 15:32:00 -
[1] - Quote
I am not a 'hard core' incursion runner, at best I have run them once a week, but as a social event. I have run all types of sites except the largest headquarters.
1) Scouts are fine, wouldn't change them in any way.
2) Vanguards are too easy, cookie cutter setups allow easy completion. Payouts are a bit high atm, but I wouldn't adjust them because they are getting people to play the game and band together, which should always be a goal of CCP. Instead what I would do is add a variable where depending on the mass brought it, there is possibility of escallation (much like class 5 & 6 wh's). However the escalation must be random and require different tactics to complete.
For example, most setups in vanguards emphasize close range DPS setups, so the spawn could be long range DPS ships, or logictics, or a combo. In another case Close range ECM and Neut ships w/logistic support. In the final case, close range Very Heavy DPS ships with logistic support. In each case, the spawn would be based on a random number, so you never know which spawn you would get (equal probability of each). Finally vary the mass amount that causes the spawn, make it like X +- a random amount, so that setting up the 'ideal fleet' becomes much harder. The goal should be that a balanced fleet is the most efficient, this will slow down the speed of completing the sites and lower the isk/hr but in a fun way.
3) Assaults need better payouts, as people require far more coordination and effort to complete them. Also Nation Consolidation Network sites need to be reworked. They require a different fleet setup than NCS or OCF. People simply don't run them as nobody bothers bringing multiple types of ships. I like the concept and the idea, but in reality you either run only them, or only NCS and OCF. Changing the one gate to allow BC's and below through would help significantly, (i.e. BC's could go through either side). Also as above I would add a random trigger based on mass. But it's not as crucial in Assaults, as these require a balanced fleet (especially the NCN sites), and far more coordination than Vanguard sites. Perhaps the mass should be limited to capital ships like class 5 & 6 wh's, though I'm not sure if these are even allowed through the gates. Bottom line, overpowering assaults like vanguards doesn't happen.
4) Headquarters need much better payouts, as the amount of coordination involved very significant, adding the variable spawns here would be fun, but the incentive to run them would need to be even higher.
Other thoughts:
Incursions in High Sec need to go back to the original incursion influence rate (Low Sec and Null are fine - don't change them). When incursions first came out, reducing influence, even in High Sec was hard. Perhaps I'm not using the correct term, but the difficulity in reducing influence that High Sec originally had - That rate needs to come back as soon as possible.
I would change the influence penalities across the board in all incursions. They should be more severe, as it currently stands their impact is minimal. I would start by doubling them.
With these two changes, I would agree with making the sites stop once the mothership is sighted. However I would ensure there are a minimum of 2 incursion sites in every type of space after each DT, i.e. 2 in High Sec, 2 in Lo Sec, and 2 in Null (obviously there could be more based on the 7 day timer, but 2 would be minimum) . Why? Because it gets people playing the game - which should be the #1 goal of CCP.
Bottom line, incursions are fun. We use them as a way to bring younger members of the corp into fleets (and be useful) and socializing. It has brought us quite a few members and brought our corp together as a whole. We've even used the same people and the skills they've developed to enter and complete wh sites. From what I've seen, incursions are an extremely valuable tool in bringing the corp/alliance closer together as well as helping develope new player skills. |