[UPDATE] The recent presentation at EVE Vegas briefly discussed some future iterations on Planetary Conquest. Although no timeline was given, it seems development teams have already started map out some of these changes and how their implementation might effect game play.

The core element seems to be enhancing the War Barge to be player controlled. Meaning basically, EVE side players would be responsible for transporting clones designated for PC Battles to the necessary planet instead of the forces being deployed via NPC transport. Additional elements such as district based defense cannons (to attack War Barges in orbit) and a more developed industry system that would provide EVE players with raw materials were all discussed.

Of course the biggest changes that player controlled War Barged introduce are increased costs and increased risk for battling corporations and alliances. Player controlled War Barges will have to be purchased and the ships (and their cargo) will be vulnerable to attack by enemy forces and third parties alike. This means that ground based logistics will rely entirely on whether or not the clones can get to their destination.

This a great addition to the meta element of both Dust and EVE and will increase the connectivity of the two games significantly. But obviously based on my original post here, I have reservations. I have nothing against making the game bigger for those that can sustain those systems. Bigger scale is good but smaller scale is necessary for the game to grow and thrive.

Immediately after they started taking questions, one of the first comments from the audience was a request not to remove NPC War Barges from the game altogether. My thoughts exactly....add but don't subtract. To do so means less seats at the table, not more. And we need more seats if we are going to keep players engaged and grow the player base.

So based on this new direction I propose that eventually PC be split into two separate game modes. The first one being similar to what we now have that utilizes NCP War Barges and introduces the smaller PC matches I describe below. Obviously they could work in variations of planetary defense assets and industry into the mix. The second one can be a larger meta experiment utilizing more player controlled assets, incorporating more risk (and reward), and providing greater incentives to a more complex game play that mirrors Null Sec.

Of course that sounds good in theory but don't you think that level of integration is better geared toward more advanced players. I do not think it is realistic for a new Dust 514 player, especially one that has no background in the EVE Universe, to venture into such a complex game mechanic as the Planetary Conquest they are talking about.

Players need to acclimate over time to the various aspects of the game at their disposal. Academy, Public Matches, Faction Warfare and then PC. But I think going from Faction Warfare to such a complex PC system might be too big of a jump...especially when you can do all of those other things without even belonging to a Corporation.

I think their is room in the game for tiered levels of Planetary Conquest that integrate more complex features as you move up the tiers. I do not think the expanded version of PC will super successful until the overall player base for the game is larger. And to get the numbers we need game modes that are easy to access and help players evolve.