The Dantelion Plan - A Place to Get Lost In - The Abyss

Good Day, Capsuleers!

Today, in this edition of the Plan, I will tackle a subject that has been on my mind for a very long time but on which I couldn't spend that much time yet, Abyssal Deadspace.

As many, I participated into the early testing, I argued plenty with some people about some aspects of their implementation (hello Salvos!), and I dropped them quick when I realized that they did not pay that much, before picking them up again when the rewards got better.

The very first thing I thought when I saw their introduction at Fanfest was "this need to be able to be done with a fleet and they need to allow PvP". For now they were limited to a single Cruiser and they only permitted PvE by allowing only the starting pilot to be in the pocket and no-one else.

But enthusiastic remarks from CCP pointed to a future where those could be done with others and where they would allow you to fight other pilots.

And with the recent revelations from EVE Vegas 2018, this future is very much coming. 3-frigate fleet Abyssal runs will be a thing, and 1-cruiser Abyssal runs will have a special gate leading to any survivalist favorite place, The Thunderdome!

Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves

Anyone who has spent enough time in EVE knows this.

EVE at its core is a game about competition (and freedom accidentally).

The introduction of a feature where players would be free of interactions with other players, which would essentially revolve around being shot by them, was deemed heretical. 

Abyssal Deadspace introduced the dreaded Instances, sacrilege to the One Server, One Universe principle. Now you could be alone in your own Universe, cut out from the entire rest of the Server. 

They also introduced something largely reviled by a significant portion of the EVE playerbase, a lack of competition. Nobody could harm you in your little pocket except yourself and your poor life choices.

Both those two aspects of the feature made them something controversial to many. Two very important credos of EVE were being violated right in front of every player.

However, despite their controversial nature, Abyssal Deadspace fulfilled a need, the one of low-on-time, infrequent players looking for something to do quickly in EVE, before logging out and taking care of the wife, kids, or work. They were something that only asked for half-an-hour, had a clear challenge, and boasted rewards that were pleasing (and encouraged the pilot to then Sub if they wanted to pilot the Trig ship they just won, nice job CCP).

I would say, in that they warranted any and all the credos CCP violated with them, as they pandered to a demographics that is important (has money, his willing to spend it, and more stable than a 20-alts machine that could unsubscribe them all at the drop of the slightest perceived provocation).

And in a way, Abyssal Deadspaces are not that isolated as they seem from the One Server, One Universe.

The goods coming from them participate in the creation of the intriguing Triglavian ships, each finding its niche in multiple activities around New Eden, and by that they influence New Eden indirectly. Also, they participate in the Destruction part of the EVE cycle by being a considerable material sink considering the billions of ISKs in ships, implants, and materials they destroy.

So in a way, Abyssal Deadspaces play their part in the EVE orchestra the same way places like Null (through resources), Wormholes (through T3), and High-Sec (through Trade Hubs) play their's.

Still, the interaction aspect is still sorely lacking. And this is something both frigate-fleet Abyssal Runs and Thunderdome Abyssal rooms will help with.

Through frigate-fleet runs you finally get to make this a social activity, the whole freaking point of a MMO btw, and through the Thunderdome, you make it a competitive activity, something that is also very much the point of an MMO.

But those are still very much modest. Only 3 players in a run is hardly socializing, and limiting it to frigates is not impressing. And the Thunderdome will lack the depth of all Ship specializations out there, Logi, Damps, Links, etc... 

So, for now what Abyssal Deadspaces offer is still timid, and for good reasons, as CCP is very much testing the waters with those. 

What can we ask for, for the foreseeable future?

What about 100-man Abyssal Runs? What about no restrictions on Ship sizes? What about frequent invasions of your pocket by enterprising Capsuleers or dedicated Corps? What about pockets where you can reside in for MONTHS?

The One, Crucial, aspect of A-Space due to its isolated and temporary nature, is that each of those scenarios is possible.
A-Space being instanced and temporary makes it the perfect place where, as CCP said, additions, changes, concepts can be tested without throwing off the entire rest of the EVE Ecosystem.

To me, there is two needs Abyssal Deadspaces can fulfill (almost) better than all spaces out there.

The need for Expeditions, and the need for Structured PvP.

Out There, In the Jungle

Although many who play EVE will disagree with it, those are needs that exist within the EVE ecosystem.

Most will say that EVE was not made for Structured PvP, that combat being unfair is a core principle of the game. And they would be right.
EVE made the bet very early that negative and arduous situations were the best way to create meaningful and heroic moments. Some victories matter even more exactly because the fights were unequal, you were overwhelmed, you were cornered. And. Yet. You. Won.

So EVE decided to focus on that, Destruction has a place in the cycle, Loss is a part of the experience, and Unfairness is the tool used by both.

However...

As much as Destruction has a part in the cycle, Creation has a part too, and thus, as much as Unfairness has to be used to create those situations, Fairness has to be used too.

The role Fairness can play in the EVE experience is in providing accessible entertainment that can be used to prepare people to deal with Destruction, Loss, and Unfairness. And even in Fairness there is competition, so Fairness does not violate all the tenets of EVE.

And from my point of view, A-Space is the perfect place to provide Fairness in the EVE experience (alongside Faction Warfare).
It being isolated from the rest of the Universe makes sure that said Fairness does not drip out too much into areas where it doesn't belong, like Null-Sec.

So, I have multiple examples on how A-Space could be used to provide said Fairness all based on the kind of strange, crazy ideas for A-Space I just listed above.

But before that, I want to present to you cases that show you how that role A-Space could play in EVE is not something that strange and alien.

Plenty of other games do it, and those cases show that there is a demand for what A-Space could provide.

First Case - Albion Online and Hellgates

Albion Online features PvP zones called Hellgates that can only be accessed through a portal in the Open World.

Those zones contain NPC demons that have to be vanquished to be looted and make a chest appear at the center of the zone.

A Hellgate can be accessed by two teams of players of a maximum fixed size (2, 5, and 20-man in the near future), and only one of those teams will be able to reap the rewards, Two Teams Enter, One Team Leaves.

If you paid attention to what CCP is adding this November 13th for A-Space PvP, this looks similar.

So essentially, you have a Structured PvEvP competition where two teams have to fight for ressources (the loot and buffs dropped by the demons) and for an ultimate reward.

What are those zones good for?

First, they provide a fair competition accessible through the Open-World. You actually have to work for access to the zone as it involves finding it and then killing the demon guarding the place where the Hellgate entrance spawn.

Second, they provide a source for a unique resource, Runes, which creates a legit career for people who are interested in specializing in them.

Again, you should see some common patterns between them and A-Space.

Second Case - Destiny 2 and Gambits

The last expansion of Destiny 2, Forsaken, features a new mode that has both aspect of PvP and PvE, Gambit.

The principle of that mode is simple. Each team is in its own pocket, you kill NPC enemies in yours to collect a resource called 'Motes', using those Motes you summon bigger enemies that will give you more motes, and then once you have enough motes, you can do something unique to the mode:

You can invade the other team's pocket.

Invasion of course involves you trying to kill the enemy team or annoy them enough so that they lag behind in motes collection and boss slaying.

The point here is more on the collection of motes than the actual PvP, the invading player provides some element of surprise in that you never know what kind of player will come in your pocket and what kind of annoyance or straight-up threat he will bring.

For now A-Space only revolves around NPC-slaying, there is no resource collection aspect, and invasion is limited to the coming Thunderdome room that you have to enter voluntarily. You cannot invade the Abyssal run of another player while they are doing it.

For now.

Third Case - Crowfall and the Campaigns

The upcoming sandbox PvP MMO features something unique for their servers, that they call the Campaigns.

A Campaign will be the equivalent of a server with a specific ruleset and an expiration date. Meaning that the campaign will eventually end, crowning a victor.

So each Campaign is a completely different experience with different rules, and they all exist in an instance separated from all other Campaigns. Once a player chooses to be in a Campaign, he is committed to it until the Campaign ends, and Campaigns can last for months.

This is a novel concept, in that it solves the eternal mechanism of the soft/gear reset employed by most themepark MMOs, in that the item/power level cap has to be eternally raised in order to entertain the audience.

In Crowfall, the World is destroyed and you start anew.

More importantly, you can import objects won through your previous Campaigns, and thus you can then export objects from the current campaign you are in if you are victorious. This gives an incentive to go into those Campaigns and win, as the more Campaigns you win, the more objects you will be able to export to aid your future ones (and raise your e-peen through the constructions of castles, monuments, and such in the Eternal Kingdoms).

This makes sure that the strongest entities don't remain the strongest forever. A new Campaign is started and in that one the Guild or Alliance that won the last Campaign(s) starts from the bottom like everyone else. It also provides the excitement of a new server to explore, settle in, and then dominate.

Outside of the Randomization/Unique aspect of each Campaign, this has not much to do with A-Space as it is right now, but it is very much relevant to what A-Space could become.

The same way Campaigns allow for unique resources that can only be gained there to then be exported back, in A-Space we gain access to the Triglavian items and ships to bring back to the rest of the EVE Universe.

What if we had, in the same way as Campaigns, Abyssal rifts that asked for weeks or months of commitment, with hundreds of pockets to explore, and unique resources and ships to gather, craft, and use?

Eventually that Abyssal rift would close, ejecting everyone, while still allowing them to export back their hard-earned resources back to the Cluster.

Would you be willing to do it if one of those resources was a potential Triglavian Titan?

As with the Campaigns, the separated and isolated nature of each rift would allow for experimentation , with different rulesets, items, resources, and victory conditions. Each could allow for a very unique experience.

A Place To Get Lost In

A-Space offers to the game something that no other spaces can. A place for experimentation and unique experiences.

The amount of things that are possible in the Abyss is mind-numbing, so much that you could get lost in it, thinking up each one of them. Although the first forays of CCP have been timid, they have been open to future ones and they are have not done anything that would jeopardize that potential, and we should be glad for that.

Despite what many detractors of the feature will see as violations of the EVE formula, A-Space has something to offer to EVE that can be of use to it and from which it can profit. An interesting question will be if those who are so concerned with defending the EVE formula will allow A-Space to provide everything it has to provide to the game.

That will be all for today. Next time I will go in depth around two Abyssal features I thought out to better illustrate the points I have been discussing in this article.

Until then, Stay Golden!