Thursday, August 12, 2010

Solo PvP Dead???

Rixx Javix in his Evoganda blog asks ... Is Solo PvP Really Dead?

Personally I don't think so. The reality is that in EVE getting into a fight is always harder then the actual fighting. At least if you want to get into a fight where you can win. Anyone can take a frigate, head towards the nearest null-sec boarder and suicide against a gate-camp. However doing so is not what PvP is about. PvP in EVE (for solo or small gangs) is more like hunting. It starts when you undock as you choose your ship and fittings. Then the roam starts where you have to:
  • Avoid targets that can kill you.
  • Successfully track down targets that you can kill.
  • Engage targets that you can kill in situations where they can't escape.
  • Kill the targets before any of their friends arrive.
To do this requires a lot of skill and more then a little bit of luck. When I fly I run from far more then I pursue. Sometimes I miss opportunities. More than once I have fled from a lone Incursis on a gate, jumping through to check what was on the other side only to find an empty system. Other times I have taken the chance and been blown to oblivion by a trap. The most satisfying is seeing the trap, yet engaging, killing the target and then escaping just before their backup lands.

Because it is such a chance based endeavor sometimes you will not find anything. I have done whole roams solo through Providence and Catch with not a target to be found. Other times I have to skip opportunities as I head back to base needing more ammo and repairs.

Personally I think this is part of the whole fun of PvP in EVE. You really never know what exactly is going to happen when you undock. The trailer from last summer with a 'Lone Wolf' is a really accurate (although somewhat stylized) depiction of what it is like. You could come home empty, or you could start a galactic war, literally anything could happen. If things were always predictable, as in you undock and there are always a couple of guys waiting for agreed upon 1v1s with predictable ship fittings, it would be fun at first, but get boring fast.

Anyways, I am not really sure what the whole point of my article is, however since my week and a half old daughter is on a growth spurt and wakes me up every hour.... it is amazing I am able to put together complete sentences.

4 comments:

  1. I dont think solo pvp is dead, its just dead in provi.
    In provi there are to many carebears who dont want a ~good fight~ just a gank, and its to close to home meaning that if you engage somebody backup (for both parts)can be there within minutes even if there are not standing by.

    That and the fact that everybody knows agony here (and that we like to use bait) makes provi a bad solo hunting ground.

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  2. Congrats on the baby!

    Nah it isn't dead dead, just in Summer mode right now and in need of some loving attention. It'll happen as long as their are hunters there will be prey.

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  3. You have a very honest post here.

    I've started playing EVE on march this year, and so far I couldn't experience good solo pvp.

    My Corp is based sear Syndicate area, and I have to say, solo pvp is almost impossible there. Even when we are roaming in a fleet of 10-15 pilots is hard to get into a good fight. Other fleets will only engage when they have ridiculous advantages over us (in numbers or fleet comp).

    I'm getting tired of gate campings and jumping multiboxing-semiafk miners in 0.0., cause hinestly this si the only kind of targets that I have killed latetly.

    I'm a solo/small gang type of pvper, have done it successufully in many other games, but I'm finding really hard to do it on EVE. I have done a few solo roams just to find myself fleeing from huge blobs or gate camps. It is really frustrating.

    I guess (hope) I'm just trying it on the wrong region.

    Can you guys point out a good place for solo pvp?

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  4. When I was in Syndicate a few months ago I found it to be a great ground for Solo PvP. Being NPC space means that large alliances don't attempt to control it.

    What are you flying in Velho? Often I find that people who are having difficulty in solo PvPing are just trying to do things wrong.

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