I was reminded yesterday that for a reasonable number of players, Null Sec is not broken.
They are living there, facing its perils, gathering resources, and fighting in fleet battles. They are having fun and enjoy the game.
You can understand why they can get passionate when told by outsiders that it has to change.
This is not just for the pilots within the handful of super powers ruling Null Sec. There was an interesting “leaked” statement from Corebloodbrothers posted on the EveNews24 site. He is the CSM member and head FC for Providence.
You would garner that there are a reasonable number of vocal Provi-block members who are scared about the as yet undetailed changes, and angry at their CSM representative for, well, I’m not entirely sure what. Again from the outside, you would have thought this was one of the groups which would likely benefit from CCP’s changes.
I’m from the outside. I spend most of my time in Empire and I play the game solo. It has been more than 4 years since I have lived in Sov Null Sec, and almost 2 years since I lived in NPC Null Sec. I think it is important for the game to see changes in Null Sec – but when I put it like that, I can certainly understand why people happy in Null Sec are angry at me for even offering up an opinion.
I don’t generally do in depth analysis on this blog. I’ll see some small point or different angle on a topic I find interesting, such as this, and I just mull over my thoughts. I am not here to try and convert the masses to my way of thinking. What I will do is just remark on why it seems obvious to me that Null-Sec needs change.
At the moment, I agree with the view that there are only a small number of people who control Null-Sec. They have agreements between each other to limit any conflicts of consequence that have held for a while now. There is no probable way for new groups to independently take space away from them, and even less chance they could subsequently hold it. This becomes even more unlikely as the ensconced powers build almost unassailable fleets, and treat smaller entities as play things.
I would like to see a situation where the sphere of influence of the current super powers is reduced enough so that there is plausible room for many new groups to make homes for themselves. I’d like this to be possible without having large fleets of Titans and Super Carriers. I’d like there to be more dynamic conflicts of consequence.
I don’t know how that can be achieved, although the concept of limiting force projection makes some sense as a starting point. I don’t believe such changes will necessary change the day to day life in Null-Sec of people who are already enjoying the game there.
Evehermit 
The same people that divided up nullsec between them and signed treaties are complaining about stagnation? All they have to do is undock. They did it before.
It’s a conscious choice not to reset blues, undock and go shoot them in the face. Goons want to rat in safety as well so they don’t.
You may live in empire, but make no mistake, these changes will have a HUGE impact on your gameplay. It is pretty much a given, whether you listen to CCP or the cartels directly, or their mouthpiece the CSM, the new null sec economics will be driven by the null sec line member having to do NPC stuff ratting or mining.
However, given that CCP has totally sold out high sec, in ALL areas of the game now, null sec currently has the potential to be more efficient and richer that high sec. Whether we are talking in ratting anom’s, mining, refining, manufacturing, whatever, null sec is far superior in ISK / hour. And that spread in “potential” is going to widen dramatically as CCP caters to the cartels and their own people and give the average null sec line member even more potential.
When the line members are then forced by their leadership to exploit these resources (and they will be forced to if the cartel leaderships are to maintain their income streams), that means that high sec will be completely isolated economically.
If null sec mining ever takes off, which could happen if JF ranges are heavily nerfed, then null sec will be forced to source minerals locally. There will no longer be a null sec demand for high sec min’s. The same thing goes for manufacturing, and it certainly is starting to look like each null sec system is going to be much richer when it comes to ratting.
All this will drive inflation, while high sec overall income is actually dropping. High sec will be hammered again. Wormholes have been hammered. Low sec is a ghost town, outside of FW.
Null sec will soon be the only game in town.
The thing is, no matter what we are talking about in EVE (or any other MMO), you can find somebody who thinks it is broken and somebody who thinks it is perfect the way it is. (Or that Goons are the problem, regardless of their involvement.) You can find the most horrible, widely hated feature in any MMO and, for somebody it will be their favorite thing about the game.
That somebody likes something cannot be the metric a dev uses when considering change, because nothing would ever get changed. Nothing is universally disliked.
While everybody is enjoying throwing opinions around, it is CCP that needs to step back and ask themselves what the purpose of sov null sec really is and then come up with a plan to move it in that direction. CCP has admitted that N3, PL, and the CFC have essentially “solved” null sec. But they designed the system and, even if unintentionally, the “solved” state. They need to change the system so that huge blocs are not the optimal solution. Blaming the players for moving in the direction that the system pushed them in is a fools errand. Players will always optimize, and if one group didn’t, another would and would in time take their place.
The thing is, Providence is a region that enjoys EVE and is lucky enough to have a high amount of PVP content. When people talk about 0.0 and it’s desert like qualities they are not talking about Providence, they are talking about Paragon Soul, Venal, or some other far flung places.
It’s from these places that the ‘leaders of 0.0’ hail for the most part so their concept of 0.0 is completely different from a Providence dwellers. They do not share the same engagement system, or the same ‘eve-style’ and so do not understand Providence. They paint in broad brush strokes and do not see the details.
Whilst some people speculate that Providence opposes this because it destroys their main defence (Station eHP, Large amounts of timers), the truth of it is that Providence is a densely populated region and stands to gain control of a good amount of the largely deserted Northern Catch under occupancy Sov. The main issue is that if occupancy sov is badly implemented it would mean having JB systems flip to non sov holding entities, which is not desirable for anyone. At present Neutral Entities have the freedom to choose where they live in Providence, under a badly implemented occupancy sov CVA would be forced to play space dictator, and that is counter to the Providence culture. The other point of contention is the disconnection over the ‘NPC 0.0’ clause which would see Providence lose a good amount of systems with no tangible benefit, given Providence is a very easily accessible and raidable region already.
CCP and other 0.0 entities do not show any love for NRDS, given that alliance and corp standings are still incredibly limited and it took years for standing based 0.0 POCOs. It’s fine, and accurate, to say that Providence are not enthusiastic about the 0.0 statement because in reality if CCP does not implement this properly it will have a damaging effect on NRDS in the Providence region. I imagine there is a fierce debate and alot of thought going on in the CVA forums about this anyways, which I hope Corebloodbrothers can use to contribute to CSM and CCP sov discussions.
Thanks for the feedback. I lived in Providence, have always had a soft spot for it, and think of it as one example of Null Sec actually working. I hope with CCP’s announced jump drive changes that the current powers in Null don’t use the next 6 weeks as an opportunity to scorch the earth.
And, as if on cue, CCP has spoken.
[17:22:10] Uriel Walker > wow capital ships can use stargates. nice.
[17:23:33] Uriel Walker > how will jump fatigue this affect blops hotdrops is my first thought.
[17:29:11] Uriel Walker > That noob with to much dollars and buying a character and capital ship can now actually jump through the gate the first time he tries to do so.
[17:29:31] Uriel Walker > supercarrier and titan docking next
Will be interesting to see the nullsec response.
So far I have heard positive noises in the chat channels.
Wow. That is far wider reaching than what I would have expected, and impacts all of EVE. Null Sec Manufacturing now becomes a requirement. Reduced ability to quickly respond to territorial attacks means more careful planning and greater reliance on spy networks. And cyno alts – so many more cyno alts. Lots and lots of titbits – such as they are considering Capitals in Hi-Sec, and the enabling of lowsec doomsdays. It is all going to take a while to digest. It is very interesting though – and, exciting. Been a while since I could use that word in relation to EVE changes.