Broken Faction War - Its Not About the Money

On Monday I did a post that certainly generated a lot of interest both here and also on the Eve-O Forums.

Some people obviously don't get it. To me, the making of the money is not the issue. Yes I could join the ranks of the farmer alts but I don't want to. This is not about the money, its about the effect that the style of play is having on faction war as a whole. Faction war is supposed to be about PvP. Stabbed and cloaky farmers or people who don't want to fight should not be in Faction War and should certainly not be able to lock us out of our home system. I yearn for a better time....

I'm looking back to the glory days of Faction War. The above refers back to 2009 and 2010 when it seemed like we were playing in a broken system. But now I see it was a better time. There were no farmers. People didn't fly stabbed and cloaky ships (that are not supposed to have cloaks fitted). We would clash in large (up to 100, so large for low-sec) fleets and have good fights. We'd fly BC and BS fleets not for any reason other than to have a fight. There was no "If we fly BC we cannot get into any plex". We flew BC as they are fun to fight with. How many faction war BC fleets have you seen recently?

Yes the plex and system capture mechanics were broken, favouring those who could log onto Eve immediately as the servers came up. But it didn't matter, it was just bragging rights. Faction war was about the fights not about ISK and docking rights.

However, the grass is always greener. We weren't happy. We begged CCP to make system conquest meaningful. We wanted our actions to have consequences. We wanted faction war fixing. CCP gave us what we asked for, and that is how we got here. It is not CCP's fault that faction war 2013 is not as good as faction war 2009, it is ours.

The Gallene/Caldari warzone is now dominated by farming alts who are using the broken mechanics to make up to a 100m ISK an hour with an alpha clone character in a ghetto fit T1 frigate. You cannot really blame them, its utterly risk free, easy ISK. The mechanics are to blame, the risk verses reward balance is to blame, we faction war players who badgered CCP to 'fix' faction war are to blame.

What do I want?

I want a return to PvP in faction war.

I want to be able to see a war target in system and expect a fight, not a Benny Hill.

I want epic fleet fights and hand-shaking 1v1's simply for the gf's.

I don't want to have to sit in a plex watching a timer roll back because I want to be able to dock up in low-sec and some 4 day old toon just wants to make some ISK.

To be honest I don't care if CCP wants to implement a system where a player can earn 100m ISK an hour in a one week old toon in a 900,000 ISK frigate which creates risk free ISK. But I don't want that in Faction War which is supposed to be about PvP. If I see a war target I should expect a fight, not a Benny Hill chase.

Once again to be absolutely clear - The most lucrative and risk free PvE in Eve Online should not be in Faction War. If you are in Faction War you should be looking for PvP. If you do not want PvP, if you "didn't ask for PvP /cry" then you don't belong in faction war!