This blog would be a lot more interesting if I could write about our current plans and immediate impacts of our current situation in EVE, but EVE being what it is, I can’t. Hopefully the delayed drip won’t result in the details being lost and the stories being relevant. The entire ‘why’ behind last weekends Op is… deep. Very deep actually. But that’s a story for (hopefully) another day.

I’ve previously talked about the true dynamic nature of WH space in EVE, and I want to use last weekends Op as a backdrop to sum that thought up and perhaps add some clarity to it as well. I’ll also use the upcoming Guild Wars 2 MMO as my fantasy example here, but feel free to replace GW2 with just about any other ‘standard’ MMO.

How wormholes connect to each other is the basis for this dynamic space. Imagine that WvW in GW2 was not based on server rankings every two weeks, but rather that each server randomly connected to another, and at times could also connect to multiple servers at once. Guilds would aim to ‘progress’ from starter servers (C1s) to top-tier (C6) servers, but that progression would hinge not just on when your server connects to a higher-tier server, but also who is there to defend it.

Another consideration would be the total iLvl of gear you could bring to the battle. Whether you brought 100 newbies in starter gear, or ten guys in max iLvl stuff, each server connection would only support X amount of iLvl, and once that amount was crossed the connection would close and reopen to a different server. Guild leaders would need to decide if they want to move everyone to another server, or send just enough into battle for a raid and to allow all of them to come home. Complicating this calculation is the fact that anyone from a different server, connections allowing, could also use ‘your’ connection and throw off the math, trapping your members.

An important item to also consider is gear. Imagine if in GW2 you lost some somewhat easily replaced gear whenever you died, but could only replace that gear outside of WvW unless you were defending your ‘home’ server. Furthermore, the quality of replacements available, and their price, would be entirely dependent on the current WvW connection out, and again the iLvl limit would need to be considered.

Finally, and most importantly, the ‘home’ team on each server would own the castles and villages in the WvW space, allowing them to produce gear and resupply without having to deal with an outgoing connection. The longer a guild has owned their piece of WvW, the more time they have had to set up defenses and get entrenched, likely far above the iLvl an enemy guild could possibly get inside through a single connection.

The above makes no mention of the combat system, or how characters would actually go about fighting each other, earning gear, or how gear would be crafted. Whether you swing swords or shoot lasers, the above could still apply, and bring with it all of the meta-gaming that goes into EVE PvP.

(Not to suggest GW2 should be like that. I for one am looking forward to GW2 being a simpler, jump in and smash type of game. A nice break from EVE when I don’t want to think about mass calculations, multi-WH jump routes, and whether or not some ship (or a dozen) is sitting cloaked up just waiting to kill me. Just food for thought.)