Are You Not Entertained?!

I live in low sec. There are a lot of people who need to die out here, and it just so happens that CONCORD does not agree with me a lot of the time. I won't be going to high sec anytime soon, so for my main at least, the dueling feature coming up on the 19th holds little value.

For DJ FunkyBacon and other folks at Eve Radio, this feature could not come soon enough.

One of the staples on our show for many years now have been our many tournaments. With the old can-flip mechanic we were able to get pretty creative. From 1v1 tourneys, to small group battles, king of the hill, you name it, we would just come up with new ways to format fights and go to town with it. People would fight, they'd lose ships. People would bet on the fights, and win (or lose) ISK. It was a grand time.

Dozens would show up to watch the fights live, hundreds would tune in for the live radio broadcast. In later years, once Eve Radio added video streaming capability, we'd have a bunch watching live video as well.

We could never really hold these things out in low or null sec. Given the public nature of Eve Radio, someone's always listening from the bigger power blocs. When we'd take a suicide, all comers roam into null, whoever's space we went to, they were waiting. Once or twice, when we tried to hold a tourney in low sec to better accommodate our low security friends, someone would always show up to spoil the party.

In October, Crimewatch changes were announced, and THIS exchange happened on twitter. Turns out CCP Masterplan is a big fan of player run tournaments too, and with his recent Dev Blog Post he officially became my favorite CCP dev. Dueling will go live in the Feb 19th patch.

As it turns out, the new feature is better than the old one ever was by a long shot.

First of all, under the old system, there was always at least one guy (and often more) who could never figure out how to flip a can. In 2v2 or bigger fights, things could get nearly impossible if just one guy was derping on instructions. FIXED!

Another thing that was difficult to sort out, was keeping the field level without off grid boosters and the like. Looting a can from a fleet member wouldn't flag you for combat, so people would have to be either solo or in seperate fleets, and not in the same alliance with each other. Now we can have everyone in the same fleet, knowing there are no off grid boosts giving one side a decided advantage outside of regular squad boosts, or none at all.

Remote reps were also an issue from time to time under the old system. With the new system giving a global suspect flag to anyone tossing a RR on a duel, and the number of spectators in combat ships we usually have showing up to these fights, things could get relatively interesting if neutral interference becomes a thing.

So an old mechanic originally designed to stop can thieves in high sec, that became used for something not originally intended, was nerfed, and then brought back as a great new feature.

I for one, am VERY entertained.

CCP Masterplan will be joining us on Eve Radio for a special 4 hour broadcast on Feb 22nd from 2200-0200 Eve Time, where we will celebrate the return of the player run tournament. I'll be releasing the full details of what's happening, the format, and the rules in a future post I hope to make in another couple days.

Naturally, not everyone is pleased about high sec duels taking place. Some people feel it's a little to care bear oriented, that people should brave low or null sec for their taste of PVP. For my part, I disagree in that I think this is a great way for some people in high sec to dip their toes in the water of PVP without having to jump into the deep end before they learn how to swim. It's a way to put your ship at real risk, learn some tactics, and learn that getting blown up is not the end of the world.

Eventually, anyone doing a lot of high sec duels should become confident enough to bring their game into the more dangerous parts of space. For those that don't, maybe a new career path in the sandbox will be to become an Eve Famous Gladiator, or a bookie taking the bets on various fighting competitions. The possibilities are many, and while this is all going on, more ships and fittings will need to be built and replaced, and war as they say, is good for business.