"Last month Ga'len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith "WebMandrill" Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see *removed completely* from EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?"
Two minutes - Molden Heath - Occator-class Transport Carillon
The ship shook as another missile hit.
Without looking away from his tactical display, the Captain barked orders. "Damage control, status!"
"Sir! Armor at 27%, we are overheating resists up, repair unit is offline, repeat, offline."
"Capacitor?"
"Zero, or close to," reported Engineering, "they are neutralizing as fast as we can generate, but I think I can keep the hardeners going."
Competent, he thought, shame she would have signed up right before this hauling mission. The pirates had ambushed them on the last low-sec gate of the return trip, before entering warp. Now the pack of frigates was slowly taking the ship apart... but there was a small window of opportunity and he would jump through it or die trying.
"Helm, keep trying to align to any celestial out there and warp to it."
"We are being bumped, captain, cannot align.""
"Align, damn it! Just keep trying again and again. Engineering, buy us all the time you can get!"
--
One minute - Tash-Murkon - Exploration vessel Voilà
"Nothing on scan, ma'am. Shall I scan again?"
Fire at will!, she thought, and smiled at the prospect of a silvery trail of scan probes abandoned in space. Oh, what was the point... there was nothing in this system... nothing in this region. There was probably nothing left in the entire cluster. She looked at the time in the display. Less than a minute.
"Yes please. Move pattern, then scan once more."
The point was practice. To keep skills sharp.
--
45 seconds - Essence, 25th FDU Defensive Patrol 1000h
(Graveyard Shift)
They had been flying for the entire shift and spotted no targets.
"So I says 'careful, that's not one of ours' just as he realizes he's trying to dock at the wrong station. Sentry guns almost get him good, warped out in half structure, har, har, har..."
The squadron had a clean record. Not impeccable, but clean. No kills, no loses, no action, no nothing. They came out at 1000 hours every day, patrolled until 1100 and handed over to the next shift.
The banter on comms was interrupted by the flight leader's voice "Ladies, cut the chatter. Time's over, dock up and get some sleep. See you guys tomorrow."
One by one, the squadron aligned and docked at a friendly station. All but one.
"Sir, Beaucheff here. What if we overstay shift?"
The militia flight leader started to reply a string of obscenities, then thought better. It was actually amusing. "You know what, Bo? That is the best damn idea I have heard in some time. But we seem to be all docked up so, why don't you do just that, overstay. We meet afterwards and then you tell us all about how it went, mkay? By the way, you keep your clone updated, don't you?"
--
30 seconds - Tash-Murkon - Voilà
"Thank you, that would be enough. Retrieve scan probes."
--
15 seconds - Molden Heath - Carillon
"Sir! Hull integrity 50%, I do not think she will take it!"
"She can, and she will."
The PA system blared "all hands brace for emergency warp, all hands brace for emergency warp."
--
DOWNTIME - Essence - in the dark
Lieutenant Beaucheff saw his flight systems shut down, then everything went dark.
--
DOWNTIME - Tash-Murkon - in the dark
"Latte, as usual?"
"Yes, a small one please."
--
DOWNTIME - Molden Heath - in the dark
The transport hung half-dead in space, far away from gates, celestials, pirate ships or anything else. All alone. Inside it was pitch-black, the incessant hum of a living ship having been interrupted.
But it was not quiet.
There was the cheering sound of a living crew.
--
DOWNTIME - Essence - in the dark
Beaucheff tried again to bring the systems back to life.
"Come on, 600 seconds to cluster restart? You have to be kidding me..."
It would take time.
--
30 seconds - Molden Heath - Carillon
The transport came out of emergency warp and immediately started aligning to the high-sec gate. The hull breaches were not visible anymore as armies of nanites worked furiously to patch the armour up, powered by newly-restored capacitor.
The small pirate gang, returning from their own emergency warp dispersed and disorganized, was too slow to react in time.
Their quarry had escaped.
--
One minute - Tash-Murkon - Voilà
"Ma'am, readings confirm the presence of kernite, jaspet and, whoa, hedbergite? Here? We're rich!"
She smiled. "Please inform base of the find, and make sure they send an Orca with the miners. We are only rich if we can mine all that before anyone else, you know."
"Aye, Ma'am. Woohoo! Will you look at the size of that rock!"
--
Two minutes - Essence - FDU Defensive Patrol
Beaucheff went for a last tour of the constellation. He had crossed paths with the Offensive Alpha Shift as they were heading for their own patrol, and had briefly talked to them. It was almost funny how the voices on the other side sounded worn out, nervous and jumpy in a way that no one from his shift ever did. He did not want to imagine how they would sound by the time the shift ended. Maybe it had to do with all those bunkers open for business now, and the enemy fleets roaming.
Anyway, would have loved to stay and chat but it was time to go home. His autopilot warped him to the last gate.
Right in front of him, the gate activated. Local spiked.
"Oh, sweet mother..."
DOWNTIME: that time of day, every day, when everything stops in space. No matter how important the battle is, how close you were to docking, how many zillions you have at stake in the market, everything blacks out at 11:00. Ships disperse and warp away, resources appear, conquered areas are to be contested again. A tired universe is made anew, during downtime.
In any case, here is why I think that aspects of downtime are bad: lots of stuff is generated at the same time. Asteroids, bunkers, exploration sites. Opportunities. Not that opportunities are bad, no, no, but having everything generated in one go is sort of unbalancing.
This gives people who fly right after downtime, more opportunities than the people who fly long afterwards.
So what are the chances that downtime is going to go away? Not many, I think. And what can be done about it? Well, downtime is not going to go away by itself overnight. Maybe it needs to be gradual. Maybe some of the stuff that happens at downtime should be replaced by new mechanics. So:
Go visit the other participants of the EVE Blog Banter:
They had been flying for the entire shift and spotted no targets.
"So I says 'careful, that's not one of ours' just as he realizes he's trying to dock at the wrong station. Sentry guns almost get him good, warped out in half structure, har, har, har..."
The squadron had a clean record. Not impeccable, but clean. No kills, no loses, no action, no nothing. They came out at 1000 hours every day, patrolled until 1100 and handed over to the next shift.
The banter on comms was interrupted by the flight leader's voice "Ladies, cut the chatter. Time's over, dock up and get some sleep. See you guys tomorrow."
One by one, the squadron aligned and docked at a friendly station. All but one.
"Sir, Beaucheff here. What if we overstay shift?"
The militia flight leader started to reply a string of obscenities, then thought better. It was actually amusing. "You know what, Bo? That is the best damn idea I have heard in some time. But we seem to be all docked up so, why don't you do just that, overstay. We meet afterwards and then you tell us all about how it went, mkay? By the way, you keep your clone updated, don't you?"
--
30 seconds - Tash-Murkon - Voilà
"Thank you, that would be enough. Retrieve scan probes."
--
15 seconds - Molden Heath - Carillon
"Sir! Hull integrity 50%, I do not think she will take it!"
"She can, and she will."
The PA system blared "all hands brace for emergency warp, all hands brace for emergency warp."
--
DOWNTIME - Essence - in the dark
Lieutenant Beaucheff saw his flight systems shut down, then everything went dark.
--
DOWNTIME - Tash-Murkon - in the dark
"Latte, as usual?"
"Yes, a small one please."
--
DOWNTIME - Molden Heath - in the dark
The transport hung half-dead in space, far away from gates, celestials, pirate ships or anything else. All alone. Inside it was pitch-black, the incessant hum of a living ship having been interrupted.
But it was not quiet.
There was the cheering sound of a living crew.
--
DOWNTIME - Essence - in the dark
Beaucheff tried again to bring the systems back to life.
"Come on, 600 seconds to cluster restart? You have to be kidding me..."
It would take time.
--
30 seconds - Molden Heath - Carillon
The transport came out of emergency warp and immediately started aligning to the high-sec gate. The hull breaches were not visible anymore as armies of nanites worked furiously to patch the armour up, powered by newly-restored capacitor.
The small pirate gang, returning from their own emergency warp dispersed and disorganized, was too slow to react in time.
Their quarry had escaped.
--
One minute - Tash-Murkon - Voilà
"Ma'am, readings confirm the presence of kernite, jaspet and, whoa, hedbergite? Here? We're rich!"
She smiled. "Please inform base of the find, and make sure they send an Orca with the miners. We are only rich if we can mine all that before anyone else, you know."
"Aye, Ma'am. Woohoo! Will you look at the size of that rock!"
--
Two minutes - Essence - FDU Defensive Patrol
Beaucheff went for a last tour of the constellation. He had crossed paths with the Offensive Alpha Shift as they were heading for their own patrol, and had briefly talked to them. It was almost funny how the voices on the other side sounded worn out, nervous and jumpy in a way that no one from his shift ever did. He did not want to imagine how they would sound by the time the shift ended. Maybe it had to do with all those bunkers open for business now, and the enemy fleets roaming.
Anyway, would have loved to stay and chat but it was time to go home. His autopilot warped him to the last gate.
Right in front of him, the gate activated. Local spiked.
"Oh, sweet mother..."
DOWNTIME: that time of day, every day, when everything stops in space. No matter how important the battle is, how close you were to docking, how many zillions you have at stake in the market, everything blacks out at 11:00. Ships disperse and warp away, resources appear, conquered areas are to be contested again. A tired universe is made anew, during downtime.
In any case, here is why I think that aspects of downtime are bad: lots of stuff is generated at the same time. Asteroids, bunkers, exploration sites. Opportunities. Not that opportunities are bad, no, no, but having everything generated in one go is sort of unbalancing.
This gives people who fly right after downtime, more opportunities than the people who fly long afterwards.
So what are the chances that downtime is going to go away? Not many, I think. And what can be done about it? Well, downtime is not going to go away by itself overnight. Maybe it needs to be gradual. Maybe some of the stuff that happens at downtime should be replaced by new mechanics. So:
- Stop doing all of it in one go.
- Re-spawn some stuff spontaneously during the day.
- Eventually, re-spawn everything spontaneously during the day.
- Do away with the need for daily downtime.
Go visit the other participants of the EVE Blog Banter:
- Diary of a Space Jockey, Blog Banter: BE GONE!
- EVE Newb, (EVE) Remove You
- Miner With Fangs, Blog Banter - It's the Scotch
- The Eden Explorer, Blog Banter: The Map! The Map!
- The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, "Beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, mushroom, MUSHROOM!!!"
- Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Kill the Rats
- Mercspector @ EVE, Scotty
- EVE's Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #9
- A Merry Life and a Short One, Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won't You Die?
- Into the unknown with gun and camera, Blog Banter – The Hokey Cokey
- The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #9: Remove a Game Mechanic
- Sweet Little Bad Girl, Blog Banter 9: Who is Nibbling at My House?
- One Man and His Spaceship, Blog Banter 9: What could you do without?
- Life in Low Sec, EVE Blog Banter #9: Stop Tarnishing My Halo
- Cle Demaari: Citizen, Blog Banter #9: Training for all my men!
- A Mule in EVE, He who giveth, also taketh away?
- Dense Veldspar, Blog Banter 9
- Morphisat’s Blog, Blog Banter #9 – Randomness Be Gone !
- Facepalm's Blog, EVE Blog Banter #9: What a new pilot could do without
- Memoires of New Eden, You're Fired
- Kyle Langdon's Journeys in EVE, EVE Blog Banter #9 Titans? What's a Titan?
- Achernar, The gates! The gates are down!
- Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #9: Down with Downtime!
- I am Keith Neilson, EVE Blog Banter #9-F**K Da Police
- Ripe Lacunae, The UI… Where do I begin… (Eve Blog Banter #9)
- Clown Punchers, EvE Blogs: What game mechanic would you get rid of?
- Estel Arador Corp Services, You've got mail
- Epic Slant, Let Mom and Pop Play: EVE Blog Banter #9
- Deaf Plasma's EVE Musings, Blog Banter #9 - Removal of Anchoring Delay of POS modules
- Podded Once Again, Blog Banter #9 - Do we really need to go AFK?
- Postcards from EVE, 2009.07.02.00.29.06
- Harbinger Zero, Blog Banter #9 – War Declarations & Sec Status
- Warp Scrammed, Blog Banter 9 – Never Too Fast
- Ecaf Ersa (EVE Mag), Can a Tractor Tractor a Can?
- Thoughts from an Accidental Minmatar Revolutionary, EVE Blog Banter #9 - Aggression timers, WTs and Stargates
- Mike Azariah, I don't put much stock in it...
- Rettic's Log, Blog Banter: Overview Overload
- A Sebiestor Scholar, [OOC] EVE Blog Banter #9: Slaves
- Diary of a pod pilot, [OOC] EVE blog banter #9: Because of Falcon
- Roc's Ramblings, Blog Banter #9 – Taking Things Slow
- The Gaming-Griefer, EVE Sucks, But I Love It: The Memoir of a Masochist
- Letrange's EVE Blog, Blog Banter #9: Bye Bye Learning Skills
- Lyietfinvar, Remove that monopoly
- Sceadugenga, Blog Banter #9
- Industrialist with Teeth, EVE Blog Banter #9
Posts
I think you have combined two issues into one here. But I strongly agree that no system respawns should happen at a predictable time. They got this right with wormhole space, not just to apply these lessons to known space.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear both the cries of joy and of hate/fear when CCP starts applying W-space stuff to regular New Eden. :)
ReplyDeleteThis should have happened years ago, apply W-space mechanics (adjusted as needed) to the rest of the universe and be done with it.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately respawns aren't the only problem with the current downtime mechanic (faction war plexes anyone?). Just get rid of it or put it on a rotating schedule.
/signed, good post
Umm if there was no downtime Eve would be messed up. I know the experience with messed up games.
ReplyDeleteSecond Life game has no downtime what so ever and they do rolling restarts and the likes, and the game is so messed up that databases keep getting corrupted and more.
Downtime is essential to keep a prime game like EVE going. They need to keep it, or they'll wind up as messed up as Second Life and that would be very very bad. It will run people off fast if there kept being database issues and more. People will not like it cause you can lose things even more so then you can with the downtime.