Difference between revisions of "CSM Meeting Minutes 3.006"

Latest revision as of 01:56, 12 August 2009

Meeting Minutes: 2009/08/02

See also CSM Meeting Minutes 3.006 raw log

Attendance

Dierdra Vaal, Avalloc, Erik Finnegan, Larkonis Trassler, Mazzilliu, Meissa Anunthiel, Zastrow J, Omber Zombie, Issler Dainze, Vuk Lau

Discussion

Dierdra said that CSM e-mail accounts were finally working. Erik objects, his account was blocked.

Station Owners Unrent Offices (Zastrow)

Zastrow explains the problem being that offices in conquerable stations remained rented out to non-allied corps up to 2 months after conquering a station, blocking the office slots. The proposed solution is to let the conquering alliance unrent offices at will with foreign items being impounded.
Omber asks if foreign renters could not be driven out by increasing the rent. Zastrow objects that there always was a grace renewal offer at old price.
Larkonis asks to consider that if someone were to do a Haagorath followed by an immeadiate and brutal suprise assault then it would render all corporate assets in said stations unobtainable if a director was unable to get to them in time. One would and refund a full month's worth of rental reducing the hold had on offices to a max of one month to still maintain a bit of scorched earth etc. Zastrow deems this case very rare, and the victim alliance could shoot their stations back into their own control.
Meissa points out that station ownership flips rather often during fights until sovereignty is obtained. She suggests tying the unrental right to onwership and sovereignty. Zastrow does not think the flipping was a problem.
Dierdra suggests a one week grace period until offices are effectively closed, giving the previous owner a chance to evacuate; additionally, she seconds Meissa's point. Zastrow agrees to add this to the submission.
Vuk and Omber clarify that unimpounding was possible without station ownership, e.g. by jumpcloning into the station.

Motion passes 9/0

General Discussion About Deadline Compliance

Dierdra proposes to skip Larkonis' issue due to lack of an approved wiki page. Omber and Meissa object that it was submitted within the time frame. Dierdra clarifies that the approval delay had to be taken into account by the submitter, especially since Larkonis announced the agenda topic 10 days earlier, failing to wikify. She then yields to the majority opinion, and adds that the tardiness showed a lack of commitment by the delegates.

Corp Hangar Audit Logs (Larkonis)

Larkonis introduces the issue saying that while audit containers worked fine they lacked the important requirement to hold ships, and were not searchable from assets. The proposed solution is an audit log for whole corporate hangars.
Meissa points out possible DB difficulties.
Vuk suggests to add an audit to hangars optionally.
Dierdra seconds Meissa's opinion on potential DB problems, but generally underlines the importance of the issue and likes the suggestion. Omber adds that solving the technical issues was CCP's obligation, not the CSM's.
Zastrow expresses his support for the suggestion.

Motion passes 8/1 (against: Vuk)

Allow bigger courier contracts (Dierdra)

Dierdra introduces the issue being the current courier contract limits of 100 items and 120k cubic meters did not at all take into account modern freighter capacities. The submission suggests a net increase of these values.
Omber objects that this issue - while being helpful - was already raised and passed to CCP and that the CSM should not waste time on it on Iceland. A mere status request would do. Vuk seconds this opinion.
Larkonis supports the proposal as being helpful to game play.

Motion fails 5/3 (for: Larkonis, mazzilliu, Avalloc)

UI Client remembers passwords between session changes. (Avalloc)

Avalloc explains that retaining the password through session changes (e.g. jump gate / bridge jumps, docking) would be extremely helpful.

Motion passes 9/0

Sort ctrl-tab window list by last activation instead of time created (Erik)

Erik says the intra-game window switch function should work as expected.
Omber does not want to spend a discussion slot on this on Iceland. Erik and Dierdra object that this would not occupy much time just as other smaller issues.

Motion passes 9/0

Move_Recover_Probes_Away_From_Analyze_Button (Larkonis)

Larkonis points out that the 'recover probes' button was too close to analyze which leads to accidental wrong commands.

Motion passes 9/0

Add meta column in item detail list view (Dierdra)

Dierdra explains that showing meta level in the asset lists would facilitate item selection for young and old Capsuleers.

Motion passes 9/0

UI Add support for POS Module Status in Overview (Avalloc)

Avalloc says the inability of the overview to show a POS module's status required teadious searching the module in the HUD or the CT management console (for attacker and defender respectively). The submission requests a selection of possible improvements, adding this info to the overview, either by column or color or tag.
Omber suggests an indicator similar to web/scramble as an additional possibility.
Erik inquires whether facilitating the acquisition of the POS status information would give either side an "unfair" advantage similar to discussions held for the "scanner probes in overview filter" and implications thereof to ship hunting. Avalloc explains that both sides gained, hence the tides remain unchanged.
Meissa asks to consider that the overview already has many columns, enlarging it further could be problematic. She opts for an out-of-overview solution out of the list of suggestions.

Motion passes 9/0

Mobile Mining Gun (Erik)

Erik introduces the suggestion as one possible approach to improving low-sec attractiveness, by giving miners an offensive module, deployable in a belt, which could be used to fight aggressors.
Avalloc wants to know why the suggestion was limited to low-sec. Erik explains that he was not aware of that restriction in the proposal, and that 0.0 was not intentionally exempt.
Zastrow objects the suggestion as it would move combat away from ships and to (static) structures.
Larkonis opposes the suggestion. With regards to 0.0 any reasonable mining force already had enough means to protect themselves (intel, defense team) if not space was already in their hands. As for low-sec, the costs incurred by the operation of the suggested mining gun would render them useless. Vuk seconds this opinion.
Dierdra thinks that low-sec would need improvements, but the suggestion was not going the right way. Current resource availability was lower than high-sec, hence making low-sec safer for miners would still not motivate expeditions. Exploitability was not thoroughly clarified in the suggestion. Automatic shooting to other ships could lead to unintended standing loss. And well tanked pirates, who can usually sustain gate guns, would be able to take out the miners before incurring substantial damage. Finally, player-based assistence would further be reduced by the suggestion. She suggests a mining crystal which would turn a mining laser into an anti-ship weapon as a different approach.

Motion fails 8/1 (for: Erik)

Retweak Minmatar Ewar Ship Web Abilities (Larkonis)

Larkonis explains that Minmatar EWAR ships have disporportionately suffered from the "nano nerf". Attribute corrections are suggested to improve the situation.
Meissa is worried about making the different races' ships too similar, while she agrees with the general intent of the suggestion.
Dierdra seconds the intent of the suggestion. She suggests, however, to retain the primary EWAR capability like the T1 counterparts, i.e. TP for Hyena. Larkonis agrees and wants to clarify the document to that end.
Zastrow thinks that EWAR ships of all races had suffered to the same extent by the nerf. Larkonis, on the contrary, gives Gallente as an example, who got a scram tweak. Curse was still useful as well as Falcon. Dierdra seconds this opinion.
Erik wants to know if all races should have the same strengths, or whether, on the other hand, mixed fleets should be required for optimal setup. Larkonis details that mixed race setups would always outperform single race fleets. Dierdra adds that the suggestion was not to extent Minmatar ships' abilities, but fixing/improving current ones.

Motion passes 6/2 (against: Vuk, Avalloc)

Sound engine woes (Dierdra)

Meissa wants to know if EVE featured sound output.
Dierdra introduces the issue by saying that sound engineering was particularly weak in EVE and that, on the other hand, sound would substantially improve immersion. The request is for CCP to improve their effort to that end.
Avalloc adds that he would like to have more options in order to enable/disable sound types.
Omber points out that CCP was already working with a new sound engineer, and he supports a request about the progress.
Erik supports the issue.

Motion passes 9/0

AFK/Busy/Available Indicator (Avalloc)

Avalloc says the lack of an indication of being AFK (as a deliberate setting) can lead to diplomatic incidents or confusion at best, especially when convos are auto-accepted while the invitee is away. The proposal states some ways to indicate AFK along with visibility constraints.
Meissa emphasizes the importance of the indicator being deliberate and voluntary, as automatic system behaviour could give opponents free and undesired intel.
Erik asks for details about the visibility constraints because he thinks that publishing the info in the local channel was too broad.
Dierdra wants to know if the issue, which she supports, had already been brought up. Neither she nor Avalloc are aware of previous requests of this sort.

Motion passes 9/0

Dynamic Missions (Erik)

Erik explains that adding some sort of variables to a mission setup would improve long-term fun for the pilots who concentrate on mission running as the main goal of their gaming experience. He concedes that those who need "reliable" mission income to do what they do else, would suffer from such a change. FW is mentioned as one source where the dynamics in the mission could come from.
Avalloc and Vuk support the suggestion. Dierdra seconds that, but she points out that she sees missions maily as an income source for other aspects of the game, thus she would give this issue a lower priority overall.
Zastrow hopes that dynamics in missions will decrease their high-sec profitability.

Motion passes 9/0

Faction Vessels (Larkonis]

Larkonis introduces the issue being that through Empyrean Age and Navy Cruiser upgrades the pirate faction ships were rendered mostly useless, except for Sansha, who received an overhaul. The request is to rework pirate faction vessels, with focus on Cruiser and Frigatte size.
Meissa supports the issue, however, she wants the prize of the ships to remain substantial in order to retain the value of FW rewards.
Erik asks if the submission contained a request for more faction ships, or merely a balancing of the existing ones. Larkonis confirms the latter adding that the request was mostly to execute similar type improvements as have been attributed to Navy type vessels.

Motion passes 9/0

Personal hangar improvements (Dierdra)

Dierdra explains that this request was to either introduce divisions for personal hangars or make containers transparent to the asset list.
Erik supports the issue.
Meissa says that DB issues would inhibit CCP in implementing this feature. Dierdra objects that technical issues were to be solved by CCP. Innovative ideas could also implement the required functionality without following their wording, as was done by grouping weapons, which was initially deemed not feasable.
Zastrow supports the issue.

Motion passes 9/0

Toggle Logging On/Off for each Chat Channel (Avalloc)

Avalloc explains that the current logging being "all or nothing" is neither flexible nor helpful, leaving hundrets of log files uselessly on the drive. The suggestion promotes selective logging per channel.
Dierdra supports the suggestion.

Motion passes 9/0

Send Hail Message On Convo Invite (Erik)

Erik introduces the suggestion as an additon to Avalloc's earlier issue to give a "show info" button in the modal convo invites. Requesting the inviting party to enter a one sentence reason for the convo would give the invitee a better basis to decide on accepting or declining. Additionally, an intermediate acceptance setting could be introduced between "auto accept" and "auto block".
Vuk asks if PvP interruption via convo was still possible with this suggestion. Erik explains that the issue would not change any of that behaviour, with "block all" still being the only solution.
Meissa suggests to add to the submission a request to change the modality of the convo invite. Something less obstructive to the UI. Erik wants to add this to the document.

Motion passes 8/1 (against: Omber)

Travelling_through_Concord_Space_no_longer_randomly_gives_GCC (Larkonis)

Larkonis introduces the suggestion saying that in system with CONCORD sovereignty, and only there, pilots with a negative sec rating randomly acquire a general criminal counter. Since there is no warning, nor chance to avoid being killed once the GCC is set, the submissing suggests to remove this behaviour.
Dierdra gives for consideration that requiring to check system sovereignty is not too much to ask of an outlaw or pilot with negative security standing. Meissa seconds this opinion and adds that she would prefer to restrict high-sec travel to pods for anyone with lower than -2 CONCORD standing. Larkonis explains that isolated low-sec systems would, then, be unreachable for pirates.
Erik objects the proposal because sovereignty of systems should make a difference, although he generally dislikes this difference being NPC reaction only at the moment.

Motion fails 8/1 (for: Larkonis)

Drone stance interface (Dierdra)

Dierdra says that the proposal was to indicate drones' aggressive/passive mode on the UI.

Motion passes 9/0

Ship Crews (Erik)

Erik introduces the suggestion as being some kind of dynamic rig on a low-level game mechanic view. The new rig would allow "crew" as their (exchangeable) charge, and depending on that crew type the effect of the rig's improvement on the ship would change. Additionally (similar to T3 ships, where early eject saves skill points), ejecting from a ship early would save the crew along with the pod, thus saving the crew's bonus for a new ship.
Larkonis believes that the suggestion was too complex for players to understand, and requests to skip the trade aspect of crews along with the upkeep. But the idea of "crews" was generally fine.
Dierdra is torn, as she wonders if further ship customization was required. But she likes the concept and adds that ship crews had been established through chronicles. Meissa responds that the issue's complexity might just come from its novelty; all of EVE was complex for the novice. Adding a new type of module would further promote diversity, while a final implementation would probabely differ from the original text.
Issler supports the issue.
Meissa adds that CCP explicitly asked the CSM for new ideas on conceptual basis.

Motion passes 8/1 (against: Zastrow)

The Future of Lowsec: A request for a discussion with CCP (Lark)

Lark introduces the topic as being an agenda request for the info session with CCP apart from the CSM-CCP meeting. Similar to Omber's request to discuss RMT.
Omber supports the request, but points out that CCP might already have plans for the (in the past) four sessions. Still, requesting something would not hurt.
Issler supports the issue as well. Erik seconds that, mentioning his earlier topic as being part of attempts to "fix low-sec" that needed a lot more thought.

Motion passes 9/0

Forum profanity filter (Dierdra)

Dierdra explains that the request was to make the profanity filter optional, latest with the COSMOS upgrade.
Omber points out that the profanity filter was required for the 13+ rating in the United States. But it could be improved to leave normal words intact.
Larkonis supports the issue saying that the educational purpose of it was questionable.
Meissa is worried of the forum turning into a curse-haven without filter. Dierdra responds that the asteriscs would rarely alter the understandable sense of a post.
Erik supports the proposal adding that scripted censorship would never work, and he was not aware of European regulation requiring such filter for age clearance.

Motion passes 8/0

Factional Warfare - NPC Review (Erik)

Erik introduces the topic as a request to revisit the FW NPCs as their strengths and abilities seem off balance.
Dierdra would prefer NPCs in FW to retain some race specialties. Erik responds that EWAR removal was only part of a list of suggestions, and that the CCP balance team would ultimately look at what is necessary.

Motion passes 9/0