[DevBlog] Incursions tweak and Nerfs to Cobalt Edge

[Arrador]

I’m CCP Affinity from Team Five 0 and it’s time for another PvE update!

In 2011, CCP Bettik decided to make it his personal mission to fill in the gaps in deadspace content. In Crucible 1.5, released on 13^th March 2012, he added 3 more deadspace sites, bringing us to a point where we now have all 1/10 to 10/10 pirate deadspace sites in game, bringing this project close to completion. There is a lot of money to be made from Deadspace loot and through this project we’ve introduced a number of previously unavailable modules for you to use or sell.

Incursions have been a hot topic on the forums, so Team Five 0 decided to see what we could do to shake things up a bit. After collecting a lot of valuable feedback from you guys, we decided to give the spawns more variety, without significantly altering the difficulty of any one spawn. This was done by grouping the NPCs into waves, and moving the trigger to spawn the next wave from an individual NPC to the group as a whole. This will mean that you now need to kill the whole wave to trigger the next one, rather than just specific NPCs.

As well as adjusting these triggers, we’ve also randomized the spawns based on feedback that Incursions had become too predictable. Now, when you enter an Incursion you will no longer be able to predict every spawn. Feedback and our internal statistics also confirmed that Vanguard sites had an excessive reward-to-effort-ratio in comparison to other Incursion sites, so we have reduced their reward by 10% to keep them more in line with the compensation expected for this difficulty of site. This should also have the fortunate side-effect of increasing the length of Incursions in high security space.

We‘ve recently spent a lot of time looking at Rogue Drones, and ultimately decided to add bounties to their heads. To keep things balanced, the drones will stop dropping alloys, but instead they will have sizable bounties for any pilot who dares hunt them down. The bounties will keep Rogue Drones as a viable target but will also give the nullsec miners some love, making mining in nullsec a dangerous but valuable profession once more.



As part of this change, we‘re also adjusting the security status of drone region systems. As you can see from the image above, the change is an upward adjustment in truesec across most regions, with the ones closer to empire ending up with a higher truesec than the ones further away. The overall goal of all these changes is to make the drone regions more economically balanced, and to reduce the downward pressure on mineral prices from the drone regions so mining becomes more profitable.

We hope these changes will inject some excitement back into PvE content and make it a more fun filled experience. These changes will be on Singularity very soon and as always, your feedback is very much appreciated.

my opion is, even when trying to do a good thing, ccp fucks it up again

[MpozoY]

Arrador, looks like CE is the only region not (directly) nerfed

While this may change Drone regions from the supercap infirmaries of yore, IIRC drones are stupid easy to rat so moderate-truesec systems upgraded for max anoms are just going to shit isk. Which could be really bad news for IRC, as their greatest defense was living in space absolutely no one else wanted.

[Berdennol]

How is this a nerf to cobalt edge? It's the only drone region who's truesec didn't go up.

[Grim]

All their changes seem reasonable. Arrador must have only posted half of the blog.

[DurrHurrDurr]

With all the rebalancing they're doing to mining, these truesec changes will make mining in other places a bit more viable. The previous concentration of -.8 systems in the drone regions just made it way better for mining than entire swathes of the rest of EVE. The Etherium Reach and Malpais nerfs weren't entirely unexpected either. The drone regions are becoming extremely similar to other regions with the bounty changes and to leave the truesec where it was would result in the entire eastern area of EVE still being a disgustingly effective production powerhouse. These truesec changes look like they'll be brought more in line with other areas of nullsec.

[Arrador]

I posted the Full blog. My understanding of the nerf to Cobalt Edge was based on the last paragraph of the blog.

As you can see from the image above, the change is an upward adjustment in truesec across most regions, with the ones closer to empire ending up with a higher truesec than the ones further away.

CE is miles away from empire.

[Vicar]

Still if I was someone in CVA, I would still be jealous.

[DurrHurrDurr]

I posted the Full blog. My understanding of the nerf to Cobalt Edge (That graph looks fucking weird) was based on the last paragraph of the blog.

Yeah, I think they fucked that up. All of the regions look to be getting pretty aggressive truesec nerfs. I think they just got it backwards in the post.

On the other hand, I just fucking woke up so I might just be retarded.

[pinoyzzz]

A 10% nerf to one incursion site for high sec with some changes to way NPC spawn? It doesn't really sound like much of a nerf, unless I'm missing something.

From my understanding, incursions were supposed be a nerf to highsec, with random incursions ruining people's level 4 mission access. Instead, they've have the opposite effect and now are a primary source of income for many people. High sec will remain broken ://////////////

[Securitas]

No, I noticed that too. Maybe they confused the current and new values?

[Propolis]

That blog is retarded.

There is no Guristas 9/10.
Drone rats now have bounties, but no faction/officer spawns - woot?
Graph is retarded.

Glad I don't give a fuck about Drone Regions eh?

[Berdennol]

Since truesec is a negative number, it's supposed to go up (closer to 0) when going closer to empire.

Working as intended.

ie: people who talk about good ratting systems having high truesec, are speaking about absolute numbers. While in reality the lower the systems truesec, the closer it gets the -1, the better the spawns.

[Malcanis]

The tears from this will be incredible. Why won't this stupid bus go faster?

[Dsan]

For me, this blog seems fine.
I like that they aren't doing major changes that could potentially be fuck-ups.

I've never lived in any drone regions, but I guess this will make carebears in highsec happier. And lowsec might see some more industrial action.

To me, Incursions belong in lowsec, and lowsec only. But since they aren't ready to go there yet, this is fine for now.

[Propolis]

Neg rep more. I feed on it. Niggers

P.S. It's spelt mach's (Machariel's) not macks (that would be a Mackinaw)

[Securitas]

In that case I think CCP were a little heavy-handed in their nerf of the dronelands sec status.

[July]

A 10% nerf to one incursion site for high sec with some changes to way NPC spawn? It doesn't really sound like much of a nerf, unless I'm missing something.

From my understanding, incursions were supposed be a nerf to highsec, with random incursions ruining people's level 4 mission access. Instead, they've have the opposite effect and now are a primary source of income for many people. High sec will remain broken ://////////////

The spawn changes are a huge slap in the face to the OTA blitzing fleets. To blitz an OTA you could just kill the Delts. (Each time a Delt dies the next spawn triggers. The death of the 3rd and final Delt would give the payout.) Now they'll have to clear entire rooms instead of just 3 battleship rats to get the payout. A 10% cut in pay coupled with the increased time needed to run vanguards is a decent nerf.

[Arrador]

Since truesec is a negative number, it's supposed to go up (closer to 0) when going closer to empire.

Working as intended.

ie: people who talk about good ratting systems having high truesec, are speaking about absolute numbers. While in reality the lower the systems truesec, the closer it gets the -1, the better the spawns.

Ah, now it makes sense. I'll go ahead and use my hangover as a scapegoat for my lack of reading comprehension.

[Dego]

Good job fucking low and null sec incursions to the same rate as highsec. My isk/hr

[Marivauder]

That blog is retarded.

There is no Guristas 9/10.

Dread Guristas Fleet Staging Point

you're the retard

[Propolis]

Dread Guristas Fleet Staging Point

you're the retard

That drops 22nd tier overseer (9/10 overseer) and Pith A-Type loot (9/10) but isnt a DED rated plex and is in fact an escalation plex. Get the fuck out retard.

Edit: Although the blog doesn't mention DED rating, the comment still stands.

[Dsan]

A potentially intelligent pilot got me thinking, all these changes to drones and drone regions.
Is it also a small "buff" to looting wrecks, refining ?

That'll give the carebears and noobs something to do in providence I guess, run around in small symbiotic ratting groups to get that megacyte and zydrine.

[TheYeti]

The spawn changes are a huge slap in the face to the OTA blitzing fleets. To blitz an OTA you could just kill the Delts. (Each time a Delt dies the next spawn triggers. The death of the 3rd and final Delt would give the payout.) Now they'll have to clear entire rooms instead of just 3 battleship rats to get the payout. A 10% cut in pay coupled with the increased time needed to run vanguards is a decent nerf.

it wont change that much to incursions in highsec. Everyone will switch to legions and blitz nco's nmc's as those can be cleared fast with that setup. Shield fleets are feeling the biggest part of this. As they mainly get there incomme from ota's as nightmares and machs just cant compete against legions in nco's and its a close call for nmc's. Its basicly going back to the early days of incursions when nobody ran ota's cause they were hard and took to long.

[Manfred Hideous]

A potentially intelligent pilot got me thinking, all these changes to drones and drone regions.
Is it also a small "buff" to looting wrecks, refining ?

That'll give the carebears and noobs something to do in providence I guess, run around in small symbiotic ratting groups to get that megacyte and zydrine.

You do get that Megacyte can be obtained mining the hidden belts, right? That shit is being mined every night by our local industrialists.

[Grim]

You do get that Megacyte can be obtained mining the hidden belts, right? That shit is being mined every night by our local industrialists.

Yeah, good carebears upgrade their systems to get grav sites that have loads of mega, zyd, and the other valuable minerals.

[Marivauder]

That drops 22nd tier overseer (9/10 overseer) and Pith A-Type loot (9/10) but isnt a DED rated plex and is in fact an escalation plex. Get the fuck out retard.

Edit: Although the blog doesn't mention DED rating, the comment still stands.

it drops a 22nd overseer and ptih a type loot - it's 9/10 enough

[Propolis]

bringing us to a point where we now have all 1/10 to 10/10 pirate deadspace sites in game

It also requires you to generally travel 3 regions and run 3 separate plexs, the last of which is not gated or deadspace (specifically mentioned in the devblog), THUS - Not a deadspace, DED (1/10-10/10) complex.

GG Sir.

[Letters]

In celebration IRC just lost an entire fleet to VOLTA/AQUILA on a station, but managed to save an archon in structure. Supposedly even a super was tackled for a moment.

BR: http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=13021613

[Rutger Centemus]

it wont change that much to incursions in highsec. Everyone will switch to legions and blitz nco's nmc's as those can be cleared fast with that setup. Shield fleets are feeling the biggest part of this. As they mainly get there incomme from ota's as nightmares and machs just cant compete against legions in nco's and its a close call for nmc's. Its basicly going back to the early days of incursions when nobody ran ota's cause they were hard and took to long.

Competent shield fleets should clear NMCs faster than armor (legion-)fleets.

[Securitas]

In celebration IRC just lost an entire fleet to VOLTA/AQUILA on a station, but managed to save an archon in structure. Supposedly even a super was tackled for a moment.

BR: http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=13021613

Are those armor Tengus? Because if not that would be an interesting fleet comp...

[Iratus]

I dont' see anything wrong with this nerfs, really. Who cares if suddenly drone regions have shit truesec? it'll help shake things up, and that's always good.

Also, the better systems being closer to empire means that the most effective bots will be more exposed to people wandering in, and that's nice.

[Securitas]

I dont' see anything wrong with this nerfs, really. Who cares if suddenly drone regions have shit truesec? it'll help shake things up, and that's always good.

Also, the better systems being closer to empire means that the most effective bots will be more exposed to people wandering in, and that's nice.

Considering how contentless people have always considered the drone regions(yes I know there was a war recently but that is a very rare exception), I don't think nerfing them further will help matters much.

[Frabba]

Are people just screwing up the math here? -0.2 is higher then -0.9, therefore the closer to empire you get, the worse the truesec. Higher != better.

[Grim]

Are people just screwing up the math here? -0.2 is higher then -0.9, therefore the closer to empire you get, the worse the truesec. Higher != better.

Yes, -1.0 is the best, -.01 is complete shit. Math tells us that -.1 is greater than -1.0, hence higher security status systems closer to empire means the super jews need to move to Omist or some other far as fuck place to make good isk.

[DurrHurrDurr]

Are people just screwing up the math here? -0.2 is higher then -0.9, therefore the closer to empire you get, the worse the truesec. Higher != better.

Yeah, words are hard. It's just weird wording when you considering lower a lower number as a better value.

[Iratus]

Ah, makes sense now. in my defense, I'm really bad at numbers.

I actually think a nerf is a good thing. I'd say that having shitty space nobody of importance wants is a good content-generator (providence, for example... yes, the content is shit, but it's content nonetheless).

[cutchyacokov]

Yeah, words are hard. It's just weird wording when you considering lower a lower number as a better value.

DND flashback. THAC0 is hard guys.

[Ricky]

needed to be done really. i don't know allot about moons in drone regions. But looking at True sec as it is now, those regions would be killer regions

[Securitas]

needed to be done really. i don't know allot about moons in drone regions. But looking at True sec as it is now, those regions would be killer regions

Moons are terrible.

[Opti]

eternium reach got pretty raped

[andwhatisthis]

Correct use of English seems to be pretty hard for a large of part of kugu posters. Who would've guessed?

[MpozoY]

A potentially intelligent pilot got me thinking, all these changes to drones and drone regions.
Is it also a small "buff" to looting wrecks, refining ?

That'll give the carebears and noobs something to do in providence I guess, run around in small symbiotic ratting groups to get that megacyte and zydrine.

Ratloot refining is also getting a (separate) nerf, and for that matter I've no clue what mods drones would drop

[Yue]

It seems as if CCP didn't think this nerf through. Almost like they've made this mistake before and should have probably considered all the angles. The drone change and the meta 0 drop change is going to make the economy go even more insane than it already is. That they didn't bother to even add officer spawns or discuss new drone loot drops is fairly indicative of the fact that they don't know what they're doing, as if the past 8 years could lead us to any other conclusion.

[jimmychrist]

It seems as if CCP didn't think this nerf through. Almost like they've made this mistake before and should have probably considered all the angles. The drone change and the meta 0 drop change is going to make the economy go even more insane than it already is. That they didn't bother to even add officer spawns or discuss new drone loot drops is fairly indicative of the fact that they don't know what they're doing, as if the past 8 years could lead us to any other conclusion.

I would offer my two acidic cents but tgr called me a cynic today so I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut

[Grim]

It seems as if CCP didn't think this nerf through. Almost like they've made this mistake before and should have probably considered all the angles. The drone change and the meta 0 drop change is going to make the economy go even more insane than it already is. That they didn't bother to even add officer spawns or discuss new drone loot drops is fairly indicative of the fact that they don't know what they're doing, as if the past 8 years could lead us to any other conclusion.

They should just do away with drones all together, and have the various pirate factions move in. It seems stupid and wasteful to add new officers, new complexes, sites, and faction items when there is actual content they could be working on.

[Chadbrochill17]

The spawn changes are a huge slap in the face to the OTA blitzing fleets. To blitz an OTA you could just kill the Delts. (Each time a Delt dies the next spawn triggers. The death of the 3rd and final Delt would give the payout.) Now they'll have to clear entire rooms instead of just 3 battleship rats to get the payout. A 10% cut in pay coupled with the increased time needed to run vanguards is a decent nerf.

Yeah, this definitely puts a damper on the faction BS fleets blitzing OTAs. However, it as the other 2 VG sites already required that the fleet kill almost all of the rats, it doesn't put much of a damper on making ISK from them. I would speculate you will see more fleets transitioning towards cruiser hulls and going after the commander and mining sites.

[Player of no importance]

These changes probably are a step in the right direction, though I bet the actual nerf to incursions will be less than expected. It will probably just emphasize T3 fleets now instead, like Legions and Lokis, who can apply high damage to all ship-types. They definitely needed to do something. Also mining is becoming profitable again. Even tritanium has doubled in price in the last year.

[Manfred Hideous]

These changes probably are a step in the right direction, though I bet the actual nerf to incursions will be less than expected. It will probably just emphasize T3 fleets now instead, like Legions and Lokis, who can apply high damage to all ship-types. They definitely needed to do something. Also mining is becoming profitable again. Even tritanium has doubled in price in the last year.

We still talking about CCP? They'll find a way to fuck the incursions over and have to come back to fix it six months later.

[Grim]

We still talking about CCP? They'll find a way to fuck the incursions over and have to come back to fix it six months later.

It all depends on your point of view. I would advocate moving all highsec incursions to lowsec, and removing local in incursion systems. Others would see that as the end of the world.

[Don Peyote]

It all depends on your point of view. I would advocate moving all highsec incursions to lowsec, and removing local in incursion systems. Others would see that as the end of the world.

I'd advocate the removal of CONCORD and leaving security to the Faction Navies but again that is anathema to many

A pan-galactic police force in a world where the four factions are constantly at war doesn't make a shred of sense, nor does the fact that no-one is taking CONCORD tech and giving it to the navies :iiam: