The War On Logi - Boosting Update

Last December I wrote a post on how CCP has been making a lot of changes to the game mechanics that increase player participation while at the same time decrease the effectiveness of Logistics ships, i.e. Space Healers. I noted how the changes to remote rep modules to have optimal ranges and reduced effectiveness in fall off range was part of a plan to reduce logi's ability to easily repair ships in the fleet and then I ended that post with the following:

The War on Logi is part of a broader campaign the CCP has been launching that could be titled The War on the Blob (TM). There have been many initiatives over the past year to make players more active in piloting their ship and fighting with thought and intent rather than just locking primary and hitting F1, broadcast for reps.
Consider:
- changes to fleet warp mechanics
- killing multi-input aides like ISBoxer
- Phoebe jump mechanics nerfing capital jumping tactical and strategic utility
- Fozzie Sov's distributed capture warfare mechanics across constellations
- Force Recons getting Dscan immunity
In the future:
- area of effect doomsdays (Scythe, Hand of God) and more area of effect electronic warfare
- Remote Rep capital blobs will be a thing of the past as Force Aux cannot repair each other under triage
- Dreadnoughts / titans getting weapons for fighting subcaps
- carriers with long distance fighter operations
- much larger grids
All of these things have, to one degree or another, negative impacts on mindless blob warfare, forcing fleets to spread out at a minimum and think and act more independent at a maximum. Expect to see more features and changes that encourage smaller groups of capable individuals and discourage n+1 blob warfare.

Now we have coming in November a massive change to the underpinnings of modern EVE fleet warfare, warfare links moving from off grid fleet effect to on grid area of affect as described in detail in this dev blog. I think this is the latest salvo in the War On Logi.

Back in 2011 I wrote a soon-to-obsolete EVE Masterclass article on fleet boosting called The Mechanics of Command, and in that article I layout all the skills, modules, ships, and implants that deal with boosting. I use a theoretical pilot named Joe to give examples of how the math adds up:

 Pilot Joe has Armored Warfare V, Armored Warfare Specialist V, and an Armored Warfare Mindlink implant. Using the Armored Warfare Link - Passive Defence on a normal battlecruiser he gives 22.5% bonus to all armour resistances to the ships he is boosting in fleet. However, the same pilot and module in a Damnation Fleet command ship with Command Ship skill at level IV gives a 25.2% bonus to armour resistances, and he could fit and activate two more warfare link modules as well.
[...]
If pilot Joe trained up for a Legion strategic cruiser and fit his Armored Warfare Link - Passive Defence module on it with the Warfare Processor subsystem and Amarr Defensive Subsystem skill at level V, he would give a 28.12% bonus to armour resistances.

That is one warfare link, the "Armoured Warfare Link - Passive Defence" module, and a properly fit Tech 3 Strategic Cruiser can fit three of the modules. As you can see, the end result of a trained up pilot with implants and command ship is a dramatic improvement to the ships in the fleet. There aree three armour warfare links:

Armored Warfare Link - Damage Control: Reduces the capacitor need of remote and local armour repairers by 2%.
Armored Warfare Link - Passive Defence: Increases armour resistances by 2%.
Armored Warfare Link - Rapid Repair: Reduces the duration of remote and local armour repairers by 2%. 

So imagine a Legion or Loki with those three warfare links running for the fleet, with perfect skills and fancy implant, and the fleet having a wing of Guardians with faster ~28% Remote armour repairers aiding ships with ~28% better armour resistances... the impact is dramatic, and all from a ship relatively safe in deep space far from the fight, unaffected by enemy tackle, Ewar, or weapons. Shield warfare links have similar effects.

Come November that is all changed. Now a boosting pilot will be on grid and have to watch out for enemy attacks. They may have to decide between being in range of the Logi wing to boost their reppers or being in range of the DPS ships to boost their resistances. Fleets may need multiple boosting pilots to cover both circumstances, or to step up and replace lost boosters when they get alpha'd off the field. With all the coordination required and danger involved, it seems nearly impossible to achieve the same end result of having your fleet get boosted resistances and faster and more efficient logi reps all at the same time for the duration of the whole fight.

Another successful broadside from CCP in the War on Logi.

Hey, as an upside to this change, fleets that that practice and perfect getting as many boosts consistently applied to the fleet as possible will have a serious advantage over fleets that don't master that art form, unlike the current situation where it is trivial for both sides to get perfect boosts for the whole fight. This is a chance for elite alliances to shine.

The Small Gang and Solo Meta

Celebrity PvPer Suitonia has a blog over at https://suitonia.wordpress.com and has been posting occasionally over the past year on serious internet spaceships topics like how powerful Off Grid Boosters are (tldr: stupidly so) and why the Svipul and Confessor Tech II Tactical destroyers are overpowered compared to the Jackdaw and Hecate.

Today they posted a piece titled "The Top 5 Most Oppressive Things In The Solo/Small Gang Meta Right Now" which are, in order:

1. The Svipul
2. Rapid Light Missile Launchers
3. The Orthrus
4. Remote Sensor Boosters (aka "Insta-locking")
5. Links

I strongly suggest you read that post (and other posts on that blog) as the 5 things they listed are things I have noticed as problems in our area of space as well. Shadow Cartel and Sniggwaffe Svipul fleets are virtually unengagable by anything other than another T3 dessie fleet (too tough for regular destroyers, too fast for cruisers), and Rapid Light Missile Caracals are fracking annoying as hell with their range and damage. We don't see many Orthrus ships in my fleets, but insta-locking Svipul gate camps are stupid.

I asked on twitter if on-grid links was still as troubling and they responded:

I don't think On-Grid links are the final solution to Links, but they would certainly be an improvement, especially to lowsec
At least you would be able to separate ships from links by going to different celestials, and they would be actually risked.

I definitely feel off grid links are overpowered and need to be removed, but I'm unsure on grid links are still going to be a problem as there are a lot more options for dealing with ships on the grid than there are hidden off grid far from the fighting. Although, on second thought, the large grid sizes we have now could allow linking from afar to still be annoyingly powerful and relatively safe. We'll see once off-grid boosts are killed.

That Tactical Destroyer rebalancing can't come soon enough!

UPDATE: On twitter CCP Fozzie clarified my pondering on grid sizes and links:

@kirithkodachi @Suitonia "Defined range aoe links" is probably a better term than "On-grid links". They won't have unlimited range on grid.

This is a great response because it gives us some insight into how they plan to tackle the issue, as well as opens some speculation on other things they can do with links, such as versions with different ranges, scripting to increase link effect at expensive of range (or vice versa), possible E-war affecting links, falloff, etc.