Ten years ago my friend Mat Westhorpe wrote an excellent introductory article about something new to Eve Online called Factional Warfare. You can read the article yourself here. Originally published in September 2012, almost ten years ago. A decade ago. I'm just going to let that sink in for a minute.
I'm also not going to fart around today with an introductory paragraph or two about the history, or the CSM campaigns, or the presentations, roadmaps, in-person dev talks, the annual Low Sec Roundtable at Fanfest (once annual, I can't wait for this year's version), or the countless plans, schemes, or pointless podcasts, streams, or blog posts about this subject. Instead, I just want to get right down to it. Factional Warfare needs help. Helping FW is easy. And here's how we do it.
First Step: Novice plex are for young players. Only T1/Meta and Fully-Fitted non-WCS Frigates are allowed into Novice plexes. No exceptions. No empty hulls. No brain candy enhanced Worms slaughtering rookie players. You want in? Bring the basics and give young players a chance to compete and earn. This is easy. It should happen.
Second Step: The inside of FW plex should look like Abyssal space. Heck, re-use the assets if that helps make this happen faster. They should be dynamic, amazing spaces. They could even have empire specific effects that change based on who owns the system currently. Bonus points for the defenders. In plain English - bonus to shields for Caldari kinda stuff. No-brainer. This should happen.
Good grief, FW is already ten times better and we barely did anything!
For more I refer you to my Factional Warfare Roadmap. Or my recent post when I expand on AI NPC Fleets and how players can get involved in a more active and engaging system. Not to mention the idea of Open Plex becoming Battle Royale sites spawned near iHubs. The point being that concepts and ideas are plenty. And not just from me, but the Eve community is full of them.
A more dynamic and engaging Factional Warfare experience is good for Eve Online. It is good for everyone. Even us Pirates who live in Low Sec. Even for you Null Sec players who are reading this and thinking it doesn't apply to you. It applies to everyone. All areas of space deserve to be dynamic and engaging, especially those that are more often than not the starting place for young players - y'know, like Factional Warfare. Those players go on to become Null Sec pilots, Wormhole denizens, dedicated Pirates, and leaders in our community.
Something needs to happen. We've waited long enough.