Originally by: Joe Martin

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Edited by: Joe Martin on 16/01/2009 17:47:11
ECM just makes it that much more thoughtless; I don't even get to press F1 anymore because I can't get a lock on anything.

I have several problems with falcons that have probably been beaten to death, but what the hell. Toss me the bat, I'm going at this horse.

1) The totality of the effect. Every other method of Ewar (which we'll generalize into non-damaging combat abilities) is manageable to a greater or lesser degree through basic game mechanics. ECM removes you from the fight COMPLETELY. Not only is there no active counter for it, but the ONLY counter (ECCM) has no predictable chance to actually work. When jammed there is quite literally NOTHING you can do, aside from watching yourself die while being unable to even attempt to maneuver yourself out of the situation.

1.A) This is not fun. At all. How the idea for a game mechanic that completely and entirely removes people from the fight (other than the ability to die) even got added to the game in the first place is beyond me.

2) ECCM as it stands is NOT an effective counter. ECM is, in and of itself, a benign combat ability (not damaging, as we already went over); a gang of falcons won't be able to do much besides jam targets and then stare at them. The problem is there's no such thing as a gang of falcons. Ships that actually shoot at you are more of a primary concern. People like to suggest, however, that we sacrifice combat effectiveness (and in ships smaller than a battlecruiser hull, a LOT of combat effectiveness via limited slots and lower base sensor strength) on the offchance that an opposing gang may or may not have a falcon. And even then, all that combat effectiveness you gave up doesn't ensure that you won't ever get jammed, and since it is purely a matter of probability, no amount of piloting skill will assist in preventing jams either. What a horrible solution.

3) Risk vs. Reward. Understanding that ECM is too deeply rooted for a lot of people to let go of, I realize that it will probably never be removed from the game in its current incarnation (a shame, really). But EVE at its heart has always been about risk vs reward. Want to fly expensive T2 ships for that extra combat edge? Fine, you'll pay for it AND not get insurance. The problem with the falcon is that there is almost ZERO risk for the monumental impact it has on fights. Again, dead horse here, but they just warp on grid cloaked, uncloak 200km away, align, start jamming. If anything gets too close for comfort, warp off. Even if other ships get a warp in on it he can warp off as soon as they land. Even assuming that someone does get a tackle, they'll just drop all their other targets and jam that guy THEN warp off. Any falcon pilot that's at all paying attention is NOT going to die.

3.A) The low risk we already covered. The reward is also part of the problem. Any given falcon pilot will likely be able effectively remove 3 pilots from the fight. Not only will they be removed from the fight, unable to act or fight back, but they'll get the pleasure of dying along with the rest of their gang. Another problem is that this effect scales massively the less people there are in the gang. The smaller the opposing gang the more effective the falcon is, and a LOT of people have falcons today.

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