I do not understand where CIG is going with this PvP event. I think it turned into something different than they intended. From my perspective, it looks like it was a Halloween event intended to simulate a “Vanduul Invasion,” and if you successfully played the part of a Vanduul Warrior who achieved 50 unique kills, you were rewarded with a unique Vanduul Mask. As the Vanduul ship they chose has several bugs impacting its ability to be an effective combat ship, CIG had to improvise and add the Gladius to the event and then further all variants of the Gladius. With this simple change, the entire feel of this event changed to what appears to be a murder rampage event.

I personally have been really enjoying the PvP aspect of this game, especially in this patch. I had no idea this event was coming, but the month prior I had been practicing my piloting skills in Arena Commander via the Racing Module as well as Vanduul and Pirate Swarms. Though this has not concluded in me being a top tier PvP’er, it has made me a better pilot which does help a lot when chasing those PiPs. I fully intend to participate in more and more PvP gameplay as my skill improves and the game progresses. Though this does make me wonder the endgame intention of PvP.

As the game development progresses, we have been told there will absolutely be consequences to death in this game. We do not know how severe CIG will end up making these consequences, but we know some of them that are at least planned. These include “Death of a Spaceman,” advanced medical gameplay, additional insurance claim times, and insurance claims only providing the base ship without any upgraded components. Again, I would like to stress that we do not have much information outside of our own theory crafting as to what these penalties will look like.

Furthermore, it can be said that we live in a “civilized society,” where there are agreed upon laws created by representatives voted on by the citizens of the verse. We have a fully functional government consisting of everything from a commerce department to a war department. We also have a variety of security systems in place from the “federal” government all the way down to the “precincts” or local government to include personnel as well as unmanned turrets to protect assets and people.

Given the above, my question is how does an event like this square up with those penalties. Though I really am enjoying this event, I do not see how massive PvP style events like this can exist as the game progresses and penalties are added. As these penalties are added, there will naturally be less and less participation, and there will be more complaints from the “victims” of these events. Should I just consider myself lucky, and will one day talk to people in game about the “old days” where there were no penalties and there were massive PvP events that a vast majority of people could participate without fear of loss or penalties? Will CIG move these type of events to Arena Commander via the Arena Commander pods in game and Theaters of War? Will they effectively be relegated to the outskirts of the universe that have been abandoned by “civilized society?” I do not expect answers to these questions at the moment from CIG as I am unsure they have it fully mapped out yet due to technical limitations they are still struggling to overcome.

As I type this and consider the later of those options, I do not understand how that will effectively work either. We all know resources in the universe will be finite. Many people believe your reputation will be a determining factor in how insurance will work in the game as well. If the outskirts of the universe are so abandoned, one would assume resources such as ships and weapons would be even more limiting. A loss of ones ship and the penalties thereof may limit the ability to just go wild with PvP, even for the top tier PvP’ers. It really depends on how harsh the penalties become in the game.

I am not presenting this as to judge the system one way or the other. I honestly do enjoy PvP as there is no substitute for engaging with another player on the battleground. This event has just brought to surface, in my mind at least, some questions as to the future of how the game will play out.

-TheQue

p.s. Thank you very much to Girl-in-Pigtails for allowing me to post my thoughts on her blog. I may post more topics of discussion in the future if there is positive feedback.