CSM-CCP Meeting 1-2
From CSMWiki
0101-04-0029 Corporate Email Issues
CCP told the CSM that the evemail system is getting a big overhaul as part of the COSMOS project which will see evemail revamped and made available from the web.
Dierdra Vaal said that he is troubled by the amount of corporation emails, which notify him every time someone applies for admittance to the corporation, and Ankhesentapemkah said that the podkill/new velator notifications were annoying as well.
CCP Zulupark replied that CCP is also looking into reducing the amount of automated email.
0101-01-0030 Wreck Flagging in PVP
Jade Constantine explained that in high-sec wars, it often happen that 3rd parties steal loot from a conflict site. These players then only get flagged to the owner of the wreck, but not the person that killed the ship. Since the owner is not in a position to do anything about the theft. He proposed to set wrecks to dual ownership, so that both the killer and victim have rights to it, and anyone stealing gets flagged to both parties.
CCP Greyscale answered that dual ownership is not easily implemented technically, and that this game mechanic was discussed internally and found working as intended. CCP is also not convinced that changes to these mechanics will benefit gameplay.
Jade Constantine replied that he believed that dual ownership would lead to more opportunity for pvp as well as consequence to action in high-security space, and that he believed it is a bad idea that that loot theft is currently without consequence.
CCP Greyscale said that there is already consequence because the victim is allowed to shoot the thief.
CCP Hammer added that he feels CCP would be opening a can of worms if the system was changed to dual-ownership.
Dierdra Vaal and Tusko Hopkins noted that the owner of the wreck is usually in no position to deal out justice, and thus this constitutes no risk for the thief.
Omber Zombie suggested that instead of dual ownership, either the wreck could be flagged to the owner’s gang, who can then shoot thieves, or that it can be flagged to the killer for a limited time after which it reverts to the owner.
CCP Greyscale closed by saying that this issue needs further discussion within CCP and the CSM but that he currently did not see any compelling reasons that warrants immediate change.
0101-01-0031 Account Security
CCP agrees that the more security, the better. To improve security, the following changes are scheduled:
Login attempts info: will be checked for feasibility and subsequent implementation if deemed feasible. If feasible, expect it in late Q4 2008 or else in Q1 2009
Logins locked to IP address: This is technically possible. CCP thinks however that this could cause significant customer support issues for those cases when customer switch ISPs and forget or can’t change this setting beforehand. There would be some limitations to how extensive this configuration would be if we were to implement this, e.g., only one subnet such as 128.64.* and not an extensive list such as “128.64.0.0 – 128.64.1.0 and 128.63.*”, for optimisation purposes. The possibility and feasibility of this will be explored further.
Password Strength Bar: Already in the pipes for trial users. Will most likely be implemented for other users in Q1 2009.
0101-08-0032 Moon Mining
CCP is looking into the possibility of more complex distributions however would like to address some of the issues with so called ‘alchemy’ reactions first. However, they must allow for empire building and resource conflicts whilst also leaving room for some random ‘strike it rich’ schemes which allow more people to get a piece of the pie.
0101-08-0033 Color Deficiency
Will be considered as part of the ongoing UI revamp.
0101-08-0035 Multiple Monitor
This is possible in the graphics engine but is not supported in the UI code and would require a significant rewrite. Also, we wouldn‘t be able to do this with the map because of the seamless zoom, unless we completely rewrite the map. It should be possible to only render in part of the frame, but things like the ship HUD, messages aligned to the centre of the screen, and the overview, etc, would need to be fixed. All possible, but a lot of work.
0101-08-0036 Small Freighters
Rejoice in winter you shall.
0101-05-0038 Rebalancing Large Autocannons
These issues are being looked into by Fendahl and they do see some good points to investigate mostly centered around the clip size and RoF leading to some imbalance between the variants and with performance against other turret types.
0101-02-0039 Completion of Story Arcs
CCP is actively engaged in clearing up inconsistencies and contradictions right now as part of various internal initiatives, and is working with volunteer teams and harvesting information from the wider community to try and isolate and eradicate all such “storyline bugs”. It’s unlikely though that attempting to revisit old volunteer-run storylines will be practical to do in a consistent manner due to manpower issues and lack of concrete information on everything that was going on, not to mention the fact that “wrap up” articles several years after the relevant events occurred seem to serve little actual purpose. While CCP is not averse to picking up old threads they remember if it’s deemed useful, for the most part the team’s position is that they rather concentrate on improving the story going forward, and as such CCP would very much prefer to treat previous volunteer-run arcs as canonical but inactive
0101-02-0040 Improvements for Roleplaying
CCP Greyscale clarified that there were many separate issues in the submission document, and that the issue relied heavily on the forum thread, which was too broad to address anything in specific. CCP requests the CSM to narrow this down and give clear prioritization to individual issues. The CSM and community must rework and resubmit this issue.
0102-01-0041 Alliance Corps in Factional Warfare
CCP is looking into the possibility of allowing corps which are part of an alliance to join FW based on high standings requirements. The restrictions are aimed to ensure that only the most devote of corporations would be eligible for dual allegiance to two different entities. With Jade Constantine asking for a schedule, CCP Zulupark told the CSM that these changes are hopefully implemented in early 2009. Ankhesentapemkah observed that standing could only reliably be obtained through missions, and not all roleplaying corporations might be interested in grinding missions.
0102-01-0042 Fix Precision Heavy missiles
CCP Hammer informed the CSM that missions as a whole are going to be looked into due to the speed changes. They are aware of the issues with these specific missiles and will take a look at tech 2 and faction ammo. They will also look into getting heavy assault missiles to drop, as they currently do not. Any changes to missiles will be rolled out to the test server as soon as possible.
0102-01-0043 POS Standing Fixes
CCP has no objections to this from a Game Design view however there is likely technical issues with using alliance standings for starbases which would need to be considered. The technical issues are currently not known, but CCP will get back to the CSM with a final answer on this matter.
0102-01-0044 Gate Aggression Timer
CCP would ideally like the aggression flag to persist across nodes when exiting systems however there is again technical issues with this occurring which might not make this likely.
0102-04-0045 Buff Minmatar Capital Ships
This will be part of the capital ships review. If CCP identifies issues with the Minmatar ships then these will be addressed at that time.
0102-04-0046 Crane needs powergrid increase
CCP mostly agrees that some PG boost is OK and this will be part of the industrial ships review for the winter expansion.
0102-01-0047 Nighthawk needs powergrid increase
While the Nighthawk may have some performance issues, due to the lack of power output, compared to the other field command ships, the ship is not designed to fit Heavy Assault Missile launchers and Micro Warp Drives. CCP plans on reviewing the command ships as a whole in the future. CCP Zulupark stated that there will be several balance changes early 2009, and that this will likely be part of it, with the Nighthawk getting a good look.
0102-01-0048 Rigged Ships and Cargo issues
The issue of transporting rigged ships around space has become more widespread and CCP recognizes this is becoming an issue. CCP is looking into numerous options for transporting rigged ships around such as a new ship transport or configuration mode. Repackaging the ships is whilst it would allow the transport from a technical standpoint really just a hax and CCP prefers a more sensible approach to this issue and its wider implications of cargo capacities.
0102-06-0049 Dynamic Agent Qualities
CCP plans to address the issue of agents and missions with a more complete long term overhaul to address many of the issues with agents, not just their qualities. CCP Hammer elaborated that in the short term, CCP will spread out existing agents and add more agents, to deal with the agent hubs and spreading out the population. In the long run, there will be improvements to agents and missions alike. There is no final decision on the table if and how dynamic qualities are going to be worked out.
0102-01-0050 Factional Warfare Storyline Impact
CCP got a feature design ready to go to fulfil this exact goal and have already done a test storyline which resulted in the retaking of the Huola system by Amarrian forces. Will be implemented once the design is greenlighted.
0102-01-0051 Unnerf the Bio length
The current limit of 1000 characters is put in place for technical reasons to prevent possible exploits, and even though CCP would love to increase the length, it is currently not feasible. CCP will look at workarounds but unfortunately there are no solid ideas to change this issue.
CCP Hammer added to this that CCP currently has a lot of cool stuff in the pipeline that improves the social network side of Eve and this may make the bio somewhat obsolete in the future.
0102-06-0052 Buff Gallente Ewar
CCP agrees that the Remote Sensor Dampeners are not quite as effective as they would like them to be when fitted on Gallente electronic warfare ships, so CCP is considering increasing the bonuses slightly.
0102-04-0053 Musical Instruments in Ambulation
CCP cannot go into detail as to what features are planned, but can comment that this idea has been passed on to the developers.
0102-02-0054 Rigs need some attention
There is a current project to review rigs and amongst other issues introduce more size variants to rigs to allow more ships to fit them and do some rebalancing of some of the bonuses and side effects to make some of the least popular rigs a little more useful.
0102-01-0055 Covert ops and cynojammers
We would like to see covert cynos allowed in cyno jammed systems as well and are looking into the feasibility of any solution. CCP hopes to have changes implemented somewhere along the first quarter of 2009.
0102-04-0056 Turning Titans into mobile stations
CCP is considering this idea however it will be extremely difficult to implement and they are investigating suitable solutions which provide the most benefit for time needed to accomplish the goals for titans and supercaps which is also part of the ongoing cap ship review.
0102-01-0057 Remote Repair issues
CCP is investigating with software department on the feasibility and issues of setting the remote repair effect to be aggressive so that you cannot dock/jump like other aggression types.
0102-01-0059 Covert Ops Jumpbridge Range
Yes, this should and will be extended barring any technical issues.
0102-01-0060 Third Bloodline Background
While the lack of extensive data on these specific bloodlines isn’t disputed, CCP is not sure that there’s much less actual info on the Achura than there is on the Deteis, for example. CCP hopes to fill out the various imperial subdivisions in the next arc which will involve fleshing out various bloodlines, as well as doing various behind-the-scenes things which should help us to quantify where we’re comparatively light on solid information. Assuming that the goal is to bring up the level of public information on the new bloodlines to the same level as that enjoyed by older bloodlines, this is something the Storyline team should be able to work on in the near future. That said though, chronicle publishing in particular is a very tight schedule and chronicles detailing background info are likely going to need to take a back seat to story-centric chronicles for the next few months as CCP has a lot of ground to cover
0102-01-0061 MOTD for fleets and gangs
In addition, corp and alliance chat channels as well from a GD point of view however the reason is mostly technical as to why this is not done so far though CCP will look into the possibility of allowing this.
0102-06-0062 Bountyhunting Improvements
CCP Greyscale explained that CCP has had bounty hunting and mercenaries on the to-do list for quite some time, but that there was always a bigger project that higher priority. Implementing this properly would consume a large amount of resources and development time, and CCP wants to know from the CSM and the players how important they deem bountyhunting/mercenaries compared to other features such as a change to the sovereignty system.
Jade Constantine believes that bounty hunting and improvements to high-sec warfare in general are extremely important for a large amount of players and he supports it fully.
Arithron and Omber Zombie think the current bounty system is not very sound and that changes to these mechanics add a new profession to Eve and improve empire PVP significantly, as well as encouraging players to pursue targets into low-sec.
Darius JOHNSON believes that compared to bounty hunting, the sovereignty mechanics are more in need of change, and improvements to this system would benefit a great number of players as well.
Dierdra Vaal observed that CCP has requested big picture ideas from the CSM, and that his bounty hunting / mercenary documents constitute a big picture idea, and wondered what CCP had in mind when they made this request.
CCP Greyscale explained that CCP is helped most by general directions the CSM and the players wish to see improvements, and the avenues they deem worth exploring. They also want to know how important the CSM thinks this issue is, and a prioritization of it. The CSM does not have to go into extreme detail, as this can be filled in by the development team.
0102-06-0063 Mercenary Improvements
See above.
0102-09-0064 Ship Maintenance Bays Revisited
CCP clarifies that this change was made because they wanted to stop people hauling stuff in carriers and they still hold this position.
0102-03-0065 Missions under review
CCP Hammer agrees that missions in general could use improvements. There are some concrete plans for this, which will be revealed during Fanfest. He then proceeded to ask what the CSM would love to see in regards to missions.
Dierdra Vaal replied that most missions are boring and that it would be nice to see missions become more varied and interesting.
Ankhesentapemkah answered that in an ideal situation, she would like to see completely modular and dynamic missions, parametricly generated based on ingame events, which have an effect on the game world, such as the quest system in the computer game Dwarf Fortress.
CCP Hammer and CCP Greyscale wanted to know if the CSM thought the problem with missions was in predictable content, or boring/too easy combat mechanics.
Jade Constantine’s answer was that if missions would both be more unpredictable and challenging instead of canned content, they would be more interesting to try. Unexpected challenges should appear which also provide unexpected rewards, if players want static and predictable income they should turn towards mining instead.
Ankhesentapemkah believed that missions do not necessarily have to become more difficult by themselves, but that there should be optional bonus objectives which can have a higher difficulty than the main mission, which provide special loot. These bonus goals would be randomly attached to some missions, so the player does not know what to expect when the mission is accepted.
Dierdra Vaal would like CCP to focus on making missions interesting, which he notes does not necessarily mean they have to be dynamic. Under the current combat mechanics, even difficult missions become boring when a proper tank is set up. Harder and challenging missions should be optional, so the difficulty increase would not put off a lot of players.
Tusko Hopkins said that since all mission solutions are currently available on various websites, there is a problem with predictability, and missions should be more dynamic.
LaVista Vista suggested that missions could include some of the randomness of exploration to make them more interesting, both spawn and lootwise.
Serenity Steele wondered if it would be possible to have tools available for players to script their own missions, and provide payment in exchange for kills or information. CCP Hammer replied that this is somewhat unlikely to be incorporated as CCP rather creates the content themselves instead of vetting player created content.
CCP Chronotis said CCP is still considering what the best approach is to mission income and T1 production as well as mining. In addition, while CCP could make mining missions pay more, Chronotis believes that the problem lies with boring mining mechanics rather than the mission itself.
Omber Zombie said that all missions are the same and can be completed with the same setup as long as hardeners are swapped, which also constitutes to a lack of risk, and there are complaints arising due to the fact that a lot of income is generated through these risk-free avenues.
Ankhesentapemkah replied to this that she believes the average Eve player does not generate obscene amounts of income through missions, and that she thinks level 4 missions are difficult and not at all that profitable unless attempted by experienced players with very expensive ships.
Dierdra Vaal believes that players need to know a lot of things to successfully accomplish things in Eve, but that the execution is often rather boring and the challenge lies in the preparation only.
CCP is currently working on general mission improvements, some of which will be revealed at the fanfest, but also asks of the CSM to poll player interests and gather as much feedback as possible so they can take it into consideration when making design decisions.
0102-09-0066 UI Combat Notifications
Inanna Zuni explained that the current combat notifications and logs are not useful enough and it is too complicted to view the full log.
CCP Chronotis replied that it would be reasonable to be able to move the notification window around as well as display more information at one time.
0102-09-0067 UI Distance Status Change
This issue can be resolved but is technically very complex.
0102-09-0068 UI Hotkeys
CCP loves hotkeys as well and aim to add more in the future as part of the UI revamp (scheduled over 2009).
0102-09-0069 UI Visibility Status of Modules
This is something CCP very much wants and will be part of the ongoing UI revamp.
0102-06-0070 UI Slash Commands
The basic functionality initially seems attractive but the combination of assumed small user uptake and the can of worms it opens with regards to feature creep and player escalation demands makes it something of an unappealing prospect on reflection. CCP would rather focus on more hotkeys and usability enhancements with more general scope than adding this sort of functionality.
0102-03-0071 Small Anchorable Structures
CCP Greyscale said that Game Design is currently looking into the feasibility of small anchorables, and several ideas are currently on the drawing board. Possible ideas include player housing and sub-starbase logistical structures which operate on a smaller and less efficient scale, as well as tactical anchorables. In addition, CCP explores anchorables by which players can invest in space security in low-sec areas. Small anchorables do not necessarily have to be moon-centric like current starbases are.
Serenity said that CCP might want to consider making small anchorables modular as described in the “fancy-POS alterations” thread.
Dierdra Vaal voiced concern and wanted to make sure that CCP allowed all these anchorables to be destructible, unlike outposts, and got agreement from Serenity Steele and Darius JOHNSON.
Ankhesentapemkah agreed with the destructibility of economic/tactical structures but wanted some sort of protection for housing structures.
CCP Greyscale said that outposts are not destructible for technical reasons related to docking, and this would be unlikely to be the case with small anchorables. Furthermore, he welcomed any further feedback and player interests gathered by the CSM.
0102-03-0072 Remote Jumpclone Destruction
CCP has no objections to adding this subject to further review and will add it to their backlog.
0102-03-0073 Drone Quirky Behavior
CCP Chronotis said that CCP is currently looking into this issue and it is under investigation by their QA department.
0102-03-0074 More Crossfaction Ships
CCP Greyscale agreed that the current distribution of ships is somewhat inconsistent, but that faction ships are considered a luxury good which few players use and thus have a minimal impact on the game. To add more ships to fill the holes would require significant effort from the art and balancing department and thus will not receive a high prioritization.
Jade Constantine and Ankhesentapemkah said that content like this gives players a goal to work towards, even if a lot of players will not own these ships.
CCP Greyscale replied that recently a few new ships have been added and that he believes there currently is enough wow-factor content in the game.
0102-08-0075 Forum Reworking
This will be discussed in more detail at the fanfest.
0102-07-0076 Kill Rights should be transferable
The idea of trading killrights has been knocked around internally for a long time. The two things that have held it up are the aforementioned issues with bountyhunting which tie into this and the fact that a simple killright market lets you buy your own killrights, rendering the feature largely counterproductive.
Discussed as part of the bounty hunter / merc system.
0102-07-0077 Funky POS Recommendation
CCP thinks this is a cool idea but requires a total rewrite of the starbase system and complete art asset replacement so unlikely to happen as a result.
Ankhesentapemkah and Serenity Steele said it would be nice if CCP incorporated these ideas into the small anchorable structures they may have planned for the future.
