[2019] The iChase Case

Captains,

While this conversation has mainly been constructive and a good discussion on an important area within the game... Please ensure this does not become a personal attack towards iChase or any other player in particular.

We value the time and effort iChase has put into the game, and very thankful of the opinions hes shared with the community at large.

Lets make sure we stick to the main topic that being the current state of CVs in the game.

iChase does bring up some points within his video that the development staff are aware of and determining and testing solutions for. His nor the wider community's concerns are being ignored. Development is actively listening and working on improvements for this important area of the game.

Fem,

Its a hard one to judge, I do think its important to add a language warning if a linked video has a lot of cursing.

In this case, the emphasis is on the CV issues more than on the cursing. It all comes down to intention of the post of the video.

Fem,

I can understand why you would call for my opinion given that I was a primary CV player pre 8.0. I have abstained from adding much commentary beyond what is public fact since personally I don't have much experience in the new CVs as due to motion they make me feel quite ill (something I have stated pre-rework several times when asked why I don't play flight sim/FPP games). While I do have some established opinions based on my limited play and playing against. I have tried to remain mostly neutral so I can assess and address player concerns without self bias.

While I do believe that iChase is a very strong player, I do feel like I would've played this round differently if I was commanding his ship. Whether that would've resulted in a different result, your guess would be as good as mine. The overall sentiment he is expressing however, is valid. Being lone targeted by a CV is not fun, and in certain ships it does feel like there is nothing you can do. iChase has brought many tremendous videos to the community as has helped many captains over the years, and as any player he is of course is allowed to express his frustrations over an element he is not enjoying.

Whether additional factors added to him targetted (Being a CC / New ship / etc) we will never know as we don't know the mind of the opposing CV player. Based on my experiences both facing and behind a CV, the only situations I've (been) heavily focused (in) one ship was when they were drastically out of position or a direct threat to my(their) own ship. We have acknowledged we're still not 100% set on the current position of CVs and their interactions within the game (Cite Sub_Octavian on Reddit) and we have more changes that are in testing.

I think Chase's video does represent a factor that many of the community can relate to, unfortunately this is exaggerated due to his obvious frustration and (probable) intentional targeting within this match.

In regards to personally defending CVs from Nerf bats; if there is data that warrants a change to be tested, and the test results a more balanced game for all, then I am in favor of that change. What is important is what is right for the game balance as a whole. We know its taking longer than we want to get there but progress is being made.

Fem,

That is the stance of all WG staff, we care about balance on a wide scale.

We are currently investigating accessibility on a wide scale of possible issues. I know I'm not alone in this issue and we of course want the game to be accessible to as many people as possible.

Hey, lets keep things respectful. Both iChase and Notser have done considerable good for the community over the years, but as with anyone, you don't have to agree with everything they may say.

Lets keep the discussion productive and constructive and free from insults.

In regards to a few comments I'm catching in here asking where are those defending/speaking for CVs. It would be a good time to mention that just because this thread primarily covers complaints against CVs, when we receive feedback on anything from the community in mass, we don't take it on face value, we will drive into the related data related to the feedback and see if there is trends/justifications in the topic. We also investigate the inverse to ensure that the data points are related to one another. This allows us to confirm a cause an effect relationship between factors. Sometimes, despite ample concern, data cannot substantiate the effect players are seeing and we may see another cause for what we're seeing.

We care for the balance of the game, we do not blindly make changes.

Fem,