20 January 2013

BB44 - Transponders, Nerfing Local, Etc.

This discussion about removing/nerfing local seems to happen fairly often. Being a wormhole dweller, I personally see no issue with at they very least, making local non-immediate.

Just as quick recap, in case you don't pay attention: It's happening again, and this time it's become a Blog Banter!
"The local chat channel provides EVE players with an instant source of intel of who is in the system. With a quick glance you can tell who is in system and what your standings are to them. War targets, hated enemies, friends and corp mates all stand out clearly. Is this right? Should we have access to this intel for free with no work or effort? Should the Local chat channel even exist? Should normal space be more like wormhole space where the Local channel appears empty until someone speaks?"
 Personally, I like EmergentPatroller's idea the best - it changes local to make sense and to be more player-controllable (in nullsec), though the author says that AggressiveLogistics has a better implementation of the same basic idea.

Which, as a plus, doesn't affect wormholes negatively! Though it would be interesting to be able to anchor a transponder array in your POS so that your alliance/corp can see who is in system, but they can't see you.

Aside from this, I don't have a whole let else to say, except that local as it is helps defuse some of the mystery and danger of EVE, and I'd like to see local change so that people feel that wonder and danger of their first time undocking more often.

Naturally, the majority of the people who partake in any metagame activity and who play EVE with the expectation seem to be in support of local getting ye olde nerf bat, so that the same information is available but requires work to obtain. I'm sure there's plenty of people who disagree - strenuously. These, unfortunately, tend to be the same people to whom a single red in system means hiding in their holes and waiting for the bad man to go away.

I call that cowardice. Maybe I'm biased, since after all, I live in a wormhole but then again, every minute of my time spent in w-space is a minute in which I could be dropped on by a hostile gang.

And I love every minute of it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Maybe that's what null needs - the ability for a gang to pass through a system, hunt down targets, and strike out of the blue. Right now, all a safety-minded nullsec dweller has to do to avoid a fight is watch for local to spike and dock up when it does.

Then again, what do I know? I just regularly hunt down people with d-scan and probes.

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