The ecosystem outlook is a breath of fresh air in the news against botting and RMT, with a small but fresh statistical release of the progress made to combat this issue. With renounced focus on sources of RMT being clamped down and payment fraud being prevented, the signs look positive for the future of EVE Online going in 2021. Changes to the game seem to be directed towards player-vs-player content and balanced reward output.
Reserve bank keys being released makes me imagine the planned out heists crossing time-zones and coordination for the next payday crew. The ESS fighting meta has settled into three styles: long range sniping, mid range kiting, and close range brawl. Fighting inside or outside the ESS depends on afterburner or microwarpdrive fitting, as only afterburners are allowed within the ESS bubble. However, few major ESS fights have occurred. Only small skirmishes, rarely more than three dozen people involved. The reserve bank is an opportunity to change this.
Notable systems have swelled in reserve bank value – some bearing well over 10, 20, and even 30 billion and more. This is supercarrier money on the table for anyone bold and daring enough to attempt a heist. Unfortunately as a side effect of the war, and the unpopular changes to null-security ratting, we are seeing fewer carriers, supercarriers, and expensive PVE ships being fielded. Instead, cheap and disposable cruisers such as the Ishtar and the Gila have exploded in popularity due to the ability to complete sites with minimal input (and the revert to the dreaded drone changes).
Notably, the topic of cloaky camping is being revisited, and changes potentially to be made to reduce the impact of this style of gameplay. Personally, I have not used cloaky camping nor worked with people that do this. I don’t have a strong opinion on the matter because cloaky camping would never stop me or my corporation if we lived in null and earned income there. I personally have killed cloaky camping groups and fleets that use cloaky eyes for hunting. I don’t understand their impact. The topic of cloaky camping has been heavily debated on reddit and the forums for years. It’s psychological effect and ability to completely shut down PvE activity has been observed.
The icing on the cake (for me) is the bottom of the article. The report on botting and RMT. With a reminder not to purchase RMT, and certainly to discourage your friends and members from buying RMT, we can stand proud of this statistical achievement; 42,000 issued bans. This equals around 3,500 banned per month. That’s nearly the same number as Dreddit (3,700 as of December 2020) every month.
Within that 42,000 is a notable 7,200 bans (or 15%) of which came from player reports.
I can proudly say that I alone account for and claim 4% of those 7200 bans. Under my main account I have almost 300 ban report emails in 2020. I haven’t even added reports from my alt accounts. Given my highly nomadic and active PVP style, I believe that people like me are probably responsible for the majority of reported bans. CCP encourages everyone to report accounts suspected of botting whenever possible. According to the July 9 report, over 25% of the reports received resulted in bans. This is a huge percentage of success for something that can be completed in 5 clicks for fewer.
This is a sweet victory for me, as I’ve spoken passionately and extensively about the danger that RMT and botting poses to the game. It’s good to see things being done.
