Battlecruiser stuff

Wrote a post for cz on battleships and their lock range.

http://crossingzebras.com/adjusting-battlecruisers-and-battleships/

read read

On Attributes and Implants

I am going to write a bit about attributes, implants and clones in general here and why I don't really like them.

Attributes

Attributes provide unnecessary complexity and having the optimal way to play being to remap into maxing support skills for 6 months then move on to ships is bad game design in my opinion.

While remaps and attributes and all that shit add complexity to the system I have to ask if its really necessary. The interesting choices you have when training skills is what skill to train not sitting there telling new guys to make a 1 year plan in Evemon and optimize attributes. Trying to get max skillpoints/hour.

The skillpoint system allows people to create their own unique characters I guess but after all who doesn't just max all the necessary skills for whatever you are going to focus in so in the end it's not much choice if you are a focused player and know the few viable ways to train a character to do something. 

Attributes are currently just another hard barrier of entry and while some probably thinks that removing them would be to dumb the game down I have to say that this game needs new people. And we can't go and scare those new guys away by saying this is how you optimally plan your character. 

This might just be me saying stupid shit because the way I play is a bit different then most people. I like to min max and I feel like CCP needs to take min maxing into account when designing stuff (otherwise we will probably get Inferno FW season 2)

Another problem with attributes at the moment is that they are very unintuitive. They actually don't do anything other then to modify your sp/hr for certain skills. Especially when you come from other games where a good perception stat meant that you would hit better for example. 

I feel like the game would win hard on just simply removing attributes and learning implants and giving everyone 2700 sp/hr instead. Those of you who fully maxed your character will still get to keep the sp edge you gained for putting in the research so no tears pls. 

The whole remap system is in my opinion something thats just there because the first version of attributes sucked hard. When I started the game you had to answer a quiz for what type of character you were. There were no remaps. You could fuck up totally by answering a question that asked if you wanted to be a leader and if you said yes, you could end up with a charisma character with some corp management skills. Not very useful really. 

Learning Implants

The first problem here is with jump clones.

The standings barrier should also have been removed ages ago. It currently doesn't stop anyone from making jump clones it can just be annoying. There are multiple ways to get around the standings requirement such as Estel Aradors corp services or docking up in a freeported 0.0 station. Another thing with these is that they currently do not offer any good way to quickly swap between clones. I know that ccp wants to limit force projection with people jump cloning all over the place. But I feel like if you jumpclone to the same station where you have your jump clone it shouldn't give you a cooldown. This would work as a first step for people who want to sit in +5s all day and then jump to a empty clone when they want to pvp. 

Now with attribute implants they are also stupid in my opinion. They promote not actually undocking because you would lose your sp/hr. Now you can go and say hurr durr complexity and risk vs reward. But seriously implants are really expensive for newer people and the difference between a new guy who sits docked not playing the game and one that actually plays the game is that the one who undocks and plays eve is rewarded with being months behind the guy who doesn't play. I don't feel like sp/hr should be affected by isk and not be rewarded by staying docked and safe. 

And for those of us who uses pirate sets who will be sad about the attribute loss. I just have to say "really?". Because I know that when I use a snake set its not the sp I am after at all. The other bonuses are far superior. People who use those implant sets are usually more then enough skilled in eve and has been playing for a long time as well.

In short I want attributes and attribute implants gone because I feel like they promote a game where you don't actually play. I want more people out undocked and playing eve. Not being afraid to lose time on their skill queue.

Clones

Let me tell you that when CCP removed the clone costs I was so happy. The whole cost mechanic was so stupid and it was another system punishing people who did pvp. And it hurt older guys the most almost limiting them from flying smaller ships because they knew that if you died you had to pay a 30m isk fee ontop of your ship.

There is also the fact that it provided no gameplay or choices at all. When you got podded and the med bay icon flashed saying please update your clone, you never choose not to ever. It was just another unnecessary bunch of steps to go through and if you forgot the game would "reward" you by taking away your skillpoints so you can't fly your ships. 

I know that CCP are working on something else here to replace the clone system. Personally I would love a system with different types of pods offering different bonuses. Another thing that would be cool would be to have different types of clones with different slot layouts for implants just like ships. This would open up a ton of customization and depth and actually offer some gameplay choices when paying for a different clone then the default one.

Stuff

I know some people are going to criticize me for this post because they feel like CCP is dumbing the game down. But honestly I only want a game that can attract newer players and get them out there playing the game as fast as possible with no unnecessary and huge barriers of entry that are completely unnecessary. 

Let's end this with a funny quote from a old character creation guide:

Your Charisma score, which you can find under the Attributes tab in your character sheet. If your Charisma is 8 or higher, you should remake your character. Even if your Charisma is 6 or 7, you should consider remaking your character. - eve.wikia.com