Instancing fragments the game world, limits player choice, and inhibits emergence. Therefore, no instancing plox.

Underground areas would be cool though. Gotta deal with more complex walkmeshes and pathfinding or whatever, but you could add bot height to terrain limitations. Camera work could be a ***, too.

Something I've been thinking would be for AC to commit to not growing Alpha beyond what already exists. But keep adding Beta islands, of course. Then you get a sort of "stagnant homeland, but opportunity in the colonies" dynamic. Crowding will stifle Alpha, but higher populations will make it a major economic centre. Beta will be where you can build a better life despite the dangers: find untapped ore veins, uncontested spawns. The player movement will feel less artificial than that from boosting drop rates or something (IMO). And it's not an Alpha nerf, just a refusal to boost it ever again.

It just seems like you would need to gain a hell of a lot, bonus-wise, to solo even a smallish gang. But if all you want is to avoid them, that's already easy enough.

As I see it, your options are:

• Massive bonus (+/- depending) to some combo of: DPS, HP, target size, masking, resists, bot bonuses, EW. This only in return for every trial restriction (see Line's comment). Though you'd need to have NPC orders added for non-trial gear.

• Don't bother with any of this and try to go it alone within the existing rules. You can always put the restrictions on yourself. It's not like you get superpowers in RL for shunning community, and I'm not sure what the storyline justification would be for it in PO.

Edit: I don't think this will get you what you're hoping for. Every time someone sees you, they'll know you don't have help (because you can't). You'll get hunted down and pounded into dirt whenever you poke your head into Beta. The end result? Lone wolves become Alpha PvE superfarmer alts and little else.

It's an interesting idea, and would certainly be much more dynamic than the current model of either taking or not taking an outpost. But it seems to award defence and discourage offence (if I understood right). If I invade (entering their region) I get less benefit for a kill than my enemy does. If I defend, I get more for a kill than my enemy does. So the best approach is to camp your front line MSRBs and hope the enemy invades?

This is the best part. And the core of what should drive any future change to PO. People need something to fight for.

PO needs a thatched roof and raider approach. Everything should be buildable and destructable. If I "invade" an outpost now, what happens? I stand around and stare at a building until maybe someone decides "Sure. What the hell, I'll fight you". But if I can start razing nearby buildings or steal stuff from them, my enemy has a strong incentive to gang up and drive me off. Maybe you'd rather be peaceful and defensive? Fine. But someone will love the idea of burning your little village to the ground, for loot or lulz. You gotta be ready.

Truth. Even anti-combat Alpha-dwellers will have to admit that without constant PvP happening somewhere, nothing else in this game will be worthwhile.

Player-built structures (all destructable), terraforming (all reversible), and another dozen islands. There's you population boom. Make it buildable, they will come.

Walking in terminals? :trollface:

Srsly though devs, scheduled blog updates (2 weeks, maybe?) would be awesome, even if they have nothing in them but: "Heyo. Thanks for playing! The last big blog is still the relevant one, but I'm poking my head out to let you know we're on schedule and still working! Bye!"

These would be great fun. Proper shock gankers. Total glass with a solid alpha punch. Full commitment.

>.<

Hydroelectric dams could be fun. "It seemed a day like any other for the peaceful townsfolk of River Valley..."

God yes! AC need to mine the crap out of every RTS they can find for ideas like this. Someone give me Total Annihilation in MMO form and I'll never do anything else ever, taking only occasional breaks to hump their leg furiously!

I think there's a way to send waypoints to people on your friends list, possibly your squad. Is that what you're looking for? R-click on a waypoint from the list in the map sidebar.

More scribble options (longer lasting lines, different location ping types, etc.) will start to require a much more complex interface, eventually turning the radar into a mini paint program. Could be really useful for coordinating terraform projects, perhaps. Not worth the complexity in the meantime, I think.

Dude, take everyone's advice and read the damn blog already:
http://blog.perpetuum-online.com/posts/ … er-part-1/
http://blog.perpetuum-online.com/posts/ … er-part-2/
http://blog.perpetuum-online.com/posts/ … perpetuum/

Adapt. Maybe don't do the can+sequer thing, maybe use a detector, maybe bring a newb buddy to scout. Just 'cause it's not the same as on Alpha doesn't mean it won't work at all.

It wouldn't be the only draw. It just mitigates a possible deterrent (perception that there's nothing a newb can do on their own). To make it an actual incentive, you could reduce Alpha to only sub-mech or lvl0-1 spawns.

My main complaint (which I've either mentioned here or elsewhere) is that what PvE-only types consider to be an improvement to PvE is inevitably something that moves it closer to the feel of PvP but without it actually being PvP.

stEVE examples would be Sleepers and incursions: PvEers were begging CCP for rats that acted with more tactical intelligence, appeared in less-static and less-predictable forms, appeared to have motivations beyond standing around waiting to be killed, were occasionally overpowering, dropped better loot, represented a greater risk, etc. etc.

Every single one of those things is already and automatically there in PvP. There is just (among certain people) some massive psychological wall such that getting all this from an AI is heaven, and getting it from other players is total hell. In the meantime, devs end up spending countless person-hours recreating something the game already has. Then I have to wait yet another year for devs to get around to sprucing up graphics, expanding the world, and improving on the actual gameplay.

@Johnny/Arga: I've no problem at all with there being safe spots. But they shouldn't be places you can spend your whole game life without being bored to tears.