Irn Bruce
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Posted - 2008.04.06 03:02:00 -
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The problem with this is that for many people (myself included) missions are a method of generating income to fund their PvP operations. It's sometimes nice to just be able to hop in your ship that you know can tank all the rats in a mission, and just grind it out for some cash. Just as high sec mining doesn't have any real dangers, and is used as a means of income to fund other parts of the game. It's also the only real place you can use a lot of ships, such as marauders. More than all of that though, there are a lot of people who simply are not attracted to PvP, whether it's because they don't want to run the higher risk of losing their ship, or just because they like the feeling of being able to kill hundreds of rats all on their own. By turning PvE into automated PvP, you'll just drive those people away, not to mention make the game even harder to get into than it is already.
However, I agree that PvE as it stands is quite boring, and it needs to be changed. However, I think it would be enough to add more of a story to the missions, or perhaps to have another tier of missions which were more like PvP on top of what we already have. I just think the current mission system is an important part of the game, and it can't just be taken away and replaced with something a lot more difficult.
Another idea to make PvE more interesting could be to have the galaxy perpetually at war, where the border systems between the races changing hands, with ownership of the systems being decided by the performance of players running missions for the navy of the respective races in the relevant regions. Of course some sort of system would have to be worked out to account for the fact that not all the races have the same number of players, and therefore mission runners. When a particular faction owns a system, there could be special missions unlocked in that system for people with high enough standings with that navy. For example if the Caldari hold one system, a special mission could be unlocked where the mission runners have to assault and destroy a Gallente Titan, for example. Or a Minmatar example could be an assault on a huge Amarr slave convoy, where the escorting fleet have to be destroyed, but the transports cannot be destroyed, because that would kill the slaves. The mission would be failed if the transports escaped, so they would have to be warp scrambled. These missions would be designed to run over an extended period, maybe a week, and they would require a group of a certain size to enter. The rewards for the mission would be huge, and sovereignty of the system would be protected for a number of days, during which it could not change hands. However, if a special mission has not been completed and a change of hands occurs, the other race can jump into the mission to reinforce the besieged titan/slave convoy/whatever. This could be an example of a more interesting, more challenging PvE system, which could change to PvP at any moment. It could also be a good way of letting empire dwelling players experience the sort of combat they would never come across without venturing to 0.0
So basically, I think PvE needs revamped, but the current setup needs to stay. Anything different should be in addition to it, and should be a different experience to the PvP experience as well.
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