To the un-jaded eye, the October changes are great. The EVE Dev Team, fresh from the first summit with CSM 13, rolls out a cure for cancers in their October balance pass.
The EVE cancer that is ECM gets a healthy whack with the nerf bat, bringing shouts of joy from (nearly) all quarters. Everyone’s “favorite” form of E-war has certainly been due for an update. For the target, ECM is brutally frustrating, as you wait impotently for the chance to respond. For the user, ECM is nearly as frustrating. The offensive ECM ship makes incredible sacrifices to become a force multiplier/divisor, but RNGesus decides whether your sacrifice will make you the dead hero, or just dead. Defensive ECM, whilst better than nothing, amounts to essentially flipping the magic EC-300, and asking it “Magic ECM, will I die?”
While entirely unintuitive that ECM will jam everything except your target, and making ECM entirely worthless for solo and very small gang use, few will mourn the end of of an era in which prey can semi-randomly escape tackle and with their cargo, pride, and MC Hammer “Can’t Touch This” attitude intact. The three pilots who fly polarized ships relying upon ECM to escape in the case that “It’s a Trap” or the gank fails resign themselves to approximately 50% more red on their killmails when the victim shoots back. Signal Cartel contemplates new SRP policies, as Hug fleets suddenly face significantly higher risk, but vow to press on to deliver hugs throughout New Eden.
Likewise, few will mourn the end of Fozzie Claw fleets. While long range webs, Rapid Light Missiles, and a few fast drone boats serve to occasionally put these fleets into remission, it’s the removal of Interdiction Nullification that will finally put these fast, inexpensive, high-alpha ships to rest, and allow other, healthier doctrines to emerge. Or, perhaps, will finally result in correcting the long-standing issues with interceptors as “the” tool for contested Aegis Sov.
What’s not to love about overheating a bubble generator, and going from 0m/s to 8km/s in two seconds? Long range webs were of some use, but the Lurch Hictor was incredibly cancerous in several contexts. Even a cloaky ship flown by an experienced pilot had little chance of escaping a Lurch Hictor gatecamp, and even a ship fit specifically for the purpose of killing them requires an unreasonably high level of skill and low latency to counter the Lurch Hictor. Both NS and J-Space residents used these ships to make theirs safer, and love of safety is a cancer eating away at the soul of New Eden. Few will regret the passing of this doctrine.
So, all is well. The title says it all. CCP: Curing Cancerous Playstyles.
But, wait…
CCP cures cancer.
In the October release.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
CCP sells Rosada Dawn skins for Breast Cancer Awareness month.
CCP cures cancer.
In the October release.
So they can claim to cure cancer as they announce availability of Rosada Dawn skins.
Dirty Scoundrels.
