DUST Search - [QUESTION] Is vehicle piloting meant to be a self sustaining role?

Mobius Wyvern wrote:

Daedric Lothar wrote:

thinking about my post some more, having the server calculate how much time you spend in a drop ship would be kinda lame, and limiting, what about that Pilot Dropsuit Idea, if you get the WP and lose your ride while wearing the Pilot Dropsuit (Which only has a Sidearm Slot and can only fit vehicle enhancing/interfacing mods) Then you get the BPC.

I don't know about increasing the ISK rewards to allow people to drive this stuff all the time. Because then you will just have people in HAVs at super long range bombing people to ISK farm, basically just like having sniper fights (Which are lame if its the whole conflict). Or you have a troll drop a uplink and then get in his HAV and just farm points from people spawning at his uplink. With my idea the balance is you have to lose the vehicle and you only get back what you lose so I didn't see a way to "farm" massive ISk with it that would break the standard ISK generation of other careers.

[Edit:] Or a troll in his DS parked in a safe high spot letting people spawn on him for free WP for massive ISK payouts.

The Dropship one is easy: don't let the uplink work unless the vehicle is active, so it stays on the radar. Also, with new attack oriented aircraft coming in, there won't be any such thing as a high safe spot anymore.


Author	Thread Statistics \| Show CCP posts - 0 post(s)
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1157	Posted - 2013.04.08 16:33:00 - [1] - Quote With the coming separation of the infantry and vehicle skill trees comes the question: Is this pilot/driver role meant to be a distinct and playable alternative to infantry combat, or is it supposed to be a sideline that is only occasionally indulged in? You owe it to the player base to make your philosophy clear before the respec lures some folks into going all in to a piloting role only to discover that it is unsustainable. I realize this may be a more nuanced question than a simple yes/no, perhaps "Yes with a minimum of 6m SP investment". With no Starter Vehicle fit to fall back on it is difficult to see how someone could skip the rep of creating a competitive infantry fit before going or a vehicl, yet I can only imagine the uproar over such a fit.
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1159	Posted - 2013.04.08 20:04:00 - [2] - Quote I asked about their philosophy and intent because it affects a players expectations. It's a huge deal if piloting is seen as a a distinct role apart from infantry or not, and my feedback will be adjusted to take that into account. Is the new seperation meant to bolster piloting as a distinct role, or just make it a more expensive hobby? Does CCP view everyone as infantry with various specialties, or is there a place for full time pilots?
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1159	Posted - 2013.04.08 20:11:00 - [3] - Quote Daedric Lothar wrote: Alright, I'll give you the DEV perspective, the answer is no. Because if it was then you would easily be making enough cash to be able to keep doing those things, since you can't and really haven't ever been able to and you know you can't you know it isn't viable. Dropship, LAV and HAVs really are just this, alt character slots for your corp battles. If you are maining one of these then you are gimping yourself on skills that would be useful elsewhere. PS There are always exceptions to the rule, I am sure there is one guy who flies a DS all day and never loses it and makes millions of isk being awesome. And as always, that guy can go 2#R@#$!@ I'm not asking about the current viability, that I am quite painfully aware of. I would like to hear CCP's nuanced view on piloting as a role. The skill tree seperation hints at a view that a vehicle isn't just another piece if equipment like an AR, but it isn't conclusive as each of the weapons are also getting deeper trees. There will always be a superstar who can make a living at whatever they choose, but that's not really relevant.
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1159	Posted - 2013.04.08 21:02:00 - [4] - Quote Roger Pdaktir wrote: If the answer is no, I think you will see a whole lot of isk farming type suits ie. snipers/ militia assault. The thing is, people who like to fly are still going to do so. If they have to sit in a two or three matches sniping in order do accomplish this, they will. If such is the case, I think it really takes away from the game in a big way. In other words: Game with Self Sufficient Pilots >>> Game with Pilots who must be constantly farming isk. I've got a complete Logi SEVER BPO suit that is named "Logi - ISK Farming", and I'm using it exclusively to farm Ambush until the next build. It's boring grind as I can't play with my EXO-5 MD (too expensive), but it pays the bills. I hope to have 30m+ to kickstart my Uprising pilot career.
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1160	Posted - 2013.04.09 02:05:00 - [5] - Quote Alan-Ibn-Xuan Al-Alasabe wrote: I knew this sounded familiar... CCP Nothin wrote: You should definitely be able to e.g. fly pilot your dropship and earn a good living doing it, provided that you're useful to your team. From here. Edit: And there's me in the next post, claiming I achieved a semi-erect state from the idea of dropship viability. I'd forgotten that thread. That's certainly encouraging.
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1160	Posted - 2013.04.09 15:44:00 - [6] - Quote For all aspiring pilots who don't want to stand on the street corner with a tin cup: Not everyone has a rich uncle who can fund their flying hobby, so what can you do? I will offer this advice that comes from the real world of flight training. The biggest mistake students make is beginning training without enough funds to finish. This means they don't fly often enough and end up losing a lot of what they learned between lessons. This drags out training and makes everything far more expensive than it has to be. That translates directly to DUST. Hit the pubs with a cheap suit and build up your bank account right now. Try and have 30m ISK or more at the start. That way you don't have to fly scared and can sustain losses as you learn what the new ships can do and what dangers the new AV poses. You don't want to be grinding ISK 4-5 matches between each flight or you risk never getting good enough to sustain your career. The other thing you can do is share expenses with other pilots. Start a flying club with other pilots in your corp or go looking for them in the public channels. I'm not sure if the old 0K0D channel is still operational, but if so it's a great place to look. Practice in groups of three. One flies while the other two gun and keep watch. That does three things: 1) Splits the cost. You buy one third the ships you would otherwise. 2) Teaches you what sort of flying your gunners need from you. There's no better way to learn the many ways you can frustrate your gunners than to do it yourself. 3) Provide feedback. Debrief after the match and offer constructive criticism to each pilot. We could probably devote a whole thread to how to get the most out of this.
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1173	Posted - 2013.04.11 18:56:00 - [7] - Quote That would prevent gankers from obtaining a BPC reward. Though I'd rather see sufficient ISK payouts for risking high value vehicles such that you could make a living in a standard or advanced model like you can in the same level dropsuit. Tie it to WPs so that you have to be useful to your team, and that would ensure the vehicle would be in harms way a good deal of the time. That way a reasonably capable pilot can be self sustaining running moderate level gear (ie not full proto) just like infantry. Just like infantry you can still go broke if you die lot and don't earn enough WPs to get a nice slice of the ISK payout.
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1174	Posted - 2013.04.11 21:29:00 - [8] - Quote Mobius Wyvern wrote: Daedric Lothar wrote: thinking about my post some more, having the server calculate how much time you spend in a drop ship would be kinda lame, and limiting, what about that Pilot Dropsuit Idea, if you get the WP and lose your ride while wearing the Pilot Dropsuit (Which only has a Sidearm Slot and can only fit vehicle enhancing/interfacing mods) Then you get the BPC. I don't know about increasing the ISK rewards to allow people to drive this stuff all the time. Because then you will just have people in HAVs at super long range bombing people to ISK farm, basically just like having sniper fights (Which are lame if its the whole conflict). Or you have a troll drop a uplink and then get in his HAV and just farm points from people spawning at his uplink. With my idea the balance is you have to lose the vehicle and you only get back what you lose so I didn't see a way to "farm" massive ISk with it that would break the standard ISK generation of other careers. [Edit:] Or a troll in his DS parked in a safe high spot letting people spawn on him for free WP for massive ISK payouts. The Dropship one is easy: don't let the uplink work unless the vehicle is active, so it stays on the radar. Also, with new attack oriented aircraft coming in, there won't be any such thing as a high safe spot anymore. The pilot has to be in the ship or the MCRU isn't active.
Skihids The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 1174	Posted - 2013.04.11 21:34:00 - [9] - Quote Daedric Lothar wrote: thinking about my post some more, having the server calculate how much time you spend in a drop ship would be kinda lame, and limiting, what about that Pilot Dropsuit Idea, if you get the WP and lose your ride while wearing the Pilot Dropsuit (Which only has a Sidearm Slot and can only fit vehicle enhancing/interfacing mods) Then you get the BPC. I don't know about increasing the ISK rewards to allow people to drive this stuff all the time. Because then you will just have people in HAVs at super long range bombing people to ISK farm, basically just like having sniper fights (Which are lame if its the whole conflict). Or you have a troll drop a uplink and then get in his HAV and just farm points from people spawning at his uplink. With my idea the balance is you have to lose the vehicle and you only get back what you lose so I didn't see a way to "farm" massive ISk with it that would break the standard ISK generation of other careers. [Edit:] Or a troll in his DS parked in a safe high spot letting people spawn on him for free WP for massive ISK payouts. The problems you cite can and should be solved in other ways than trying to limit ISK rewards. It hasn't stopped redline sniping, so it isn't likely to stop vehicular farming either.