User:Cassiel Seraphim/Sandbox5: Difference between revisions

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== April 2012 - The Dead Zone ==

In the '''Escalation''' patch CCP made many changes to Incursions. Perhaps too many, because things didn't turn out quite the way they expected.

While many of the changes were warranted and for the most part, reasonable, too many things were changed at once. The end result turned out to be a classic example of how hard it is to predict the outcome when you're making too many changes at once.

==== Patches & devblogs ====

From the devblog [http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/28587 Carebearing 2.0]:

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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.}}

From the '''Escalation to Inferno Patch Notes''' that has since been removed (April 24th, 2012):

{{quote|

'''Incursions'''

* Vanguard and Assault Sites have been revamped with the following changes:

** NPCs have been grouped into waves and groups have been randomized; this will prevent blitzing and increase the random element within the sites.

** Spawn triggers moved from individual NPCs to the group as a whole.

** Lowered the rewards from Vanguard sites by 10%.}}

==== Changes ====

CCP didn't tell us anywhere near all the things they changed, glossing over many highly relevant details in their devblogs and patch notes. Below is a list of some of the actual changes:

* ISK/hour dropped substantially, practically cut in half due to the combination of lower payout (minor reduction) as well as the padded waves and the fact you had to kill everything (huge reduction, big time-sink).

* Timed spawns and most triggers were removed in favour of the static wave mechanics (except for the [[Override Transfer Array]], see below).

* Completion triggers were changed, forcing you to kill off the entire wave before spawning the next one. On average this change alone doubled the completion times, halving the practical payout.

* The [[Nation Commander Outpost]] sites now spawned '''Romis''' and '''Augas''', in addition to the frigates.

* Assault sites in general had slightly less snipers and more brawlers, increasing the potential alpha of new waves, making them slightly more dangerous.

* The [[Nation Commander Stronghold]] has its spawns moved further out, some spawning 150-200km out.

* The [[Overwhelmed Civilian Facility]] had more ships in some waves, potentially spawning up to five '''Deltoles''', which drastically improved Sansha's alpha on smaller ships like logistics, due to the increased number of target painters.

* The [[Override Transfer Array]] site had several changes, on top of the general ones.

** The '''Logistics Control Arrays''' were moved further out, which made hacking harder and more time-consuming.

** The '''Mara''' (logistics ship) was added to the list of ships spawning.

** Two groups of '''Tamas''' spawned with one group of '''Tamas''' triggering an additional wave of '''Niarjas'''. This could easily lead to having 10+ Tamas and 5+ Niarjas on grid, at the same time if you made even the slightest mistake.

==== Effect on the community ====

@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 == April 2012 - The Dead Zone ==
+In the '''Escalation''' patch CCP made many changes to Incursions. Perhaps too many, because things didn't turn out quite the way they expected.
+While many of the changes were warranted and for the most part, reasonable, too many things were changed at once. The end result turned out to be a classic example of how hard it is to predict the outcome when you're making too many changes at once.
 ==== Patches & devblogs ====
 From the devblog [http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/28587 Carebearing 2.0]:
@@ Line 109: / Line 111: @@
 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.}}
+From the '''Escalation to Inferno Patch Notes''' that has since been removed (April 24th, 2012):
+{{quote|
+'''Incursions'''
+* Vanguard and Assault Sites have been revamped with the following changes:
+** NPCs have been grouped into waves and groups have been randomized; this will prevent blitzing and increase the random element within the sites.
+** Spawn triggers moved from individual NPCs to the group as a whole.
+** Lowered the rewards from Vanguard sites by 10%.}}
 ==== Changes ====
+CCP didn't tell us anywhere near all the things they changed, glossing over many highly relevant details in their devblogs and patch notes. Below is a list of some of the actual changes:
+* ISK/hour dropped substantially, practically cut in half due to the combination of lower payout (minor reduction) as well as the padded waves and the fact you had to kill everything (huge reduction, big time-sink).
+* Timed spawns and most triggers were removed in favour of the static wave mechanics (except for the [[Override Transfer Array]], see below).
+* Completion triggers were changed, forcing you to kill off the entire wave before spawning the next one. On average this change alone doubled the completion times, halving the practical payout.
+* The [[Nation Commander Outpost]] sites now spawned '''Romis''' and '''Augas''', in addition to the frigates.
+* Assault sites in general had slightly less snipers and more brawlers, increasing the potential alpha of new waves, making them slightly more dangerous.
+* The [[Nation Commander Stronghold]] has its spawns moved further out, some spawning 150-200km out.
+* The [[Overwhelmed Civilian Facility]] had more ships in some waves, potentially spawning up to five '''Deltoles''', which drastically improved Sansha's alpha on smaller ships like logistics, due to the increased number of target painters.
+* The [[Override Transfer Array]] site had several changes, on top of the general ones.
+** The '''Logistics Control Arrays''' were moved further out, which made hacking harder and more time-consuming.
+** The '''Mara''' (logistics ship) was added to the list of ships spawning.
+** Two groups of '''Tamas''' spawned with one group of '''Tamas''' triggering an additional wave of '''Niarjas'''. This could easily lead to having 10+ Tamas and 5+ Niarjas on grid, at the same time if you made even the slightest mistake.
 ==== Effect on the community ====