Low Fear

 


Space so scary it comes with a warning. Low Security space is the lawless domain of Pirates and evil players without morals, degenerates, thieves, and elite pilots you can't hope to compete with until you have a bazillion skill points and the latest bling on your ship. Low Sec is the most mis-understood section of New Eden and always has been, which is one of the reasons the players who live there love it so much. Why we often feel neglected by CCP, the media, and others who talk about Eve Online. And why we are so passionate about our evil little sliver of space. We are a unique breed and we're extremely proud of that fact. Low Sec residents are special and we know it.

All of that changed a few weeks ago when CCP Aurora spoke those magical words - "Faction Warfare" on stage at Fanfest. For the first time since I've been playing Eve everyone else learned what it feels like to have the focus be on something you personally don't care much about. Finally it was our turn. Finally the ever-sweeping gaze of CCP has landed on our shores and will be fundamentally changing things in the coming years. Low Sec is finally getting some love.

Or at least we hope. There is a tremendous amount of nervousness out there in our community right now. I hear it from Pirates, from FW players, from everyone who calls Low Sec home. Despite the news from Fanfest not a lot of specifics are known right now. Big changes are coming, big changes are long overdue, but what exactly will those changes be? And how soon will we start to see the impact of these plans?

The truth is these changes have the potential to redefine huge sections of New Eden, and not just Low Sec. The tendrils of these upcoming FW changes could leak into HS/WH and even NS if they are as expansive as we've been told they could be. Looking at FW changes as a Low Sec only problem is short-sighted and once again relegates a section of space to the back-burner. I've been making this argument for years now, but Low Sec itself and FW specifically often are, and more often should be, the engine that runs Eve Online - especially from an economic, combat, player retention perspective.

I talked about this a lot at Fanfest. In one of those conversations the link between the New Player Experience/Tutorial was made, a link that I've long advocated exists. New players exiting the NPE need a place to move into and, let's be honest here, few are going to make the leap into NS from that beginning. Most are going to need challenging and rewarding game play that doesn't yet involve Null Sec. Sure, there are always exceptions (I moved to NS two weeks after starting Eve for example) but those are the exceptions and not the rule. FW can be that next step. A permanent home for some, but also a stepping stone for others. FW was designed with this in mind when it was launched all those years ago. That promise was just never realized.

There is a lot of potential here. And I honestly do believe that Aurora and the team working on this understand that potential. I really do. But I also understand the fear. The worry. And the experiences we've all shared over the last decade, waiting patiently for our turn on the changes wagon.

Hopefully we'll get more information and more guidance in the coming months to help us better understand what is coming. That will take some of the fear away and help us all communicate that better to our players, our Corps and our Alliances.

Until then all we can do is keep being the moral degenerates that everyone loves.