In such a vast and complex game as EVE Online, things are bound to be overpowered or underpowered at any point in time. Finding the golden Goldilocks meta balance isn’t easy. Few people know better what buffs and nerfs would improve the game than the diehard players we have in our community, so we decided to ask them what changes they’d make if they had their hands on the levers of power. More specifically, what weapons, ships, or other features are overpowered and could do with a good old nerfin’. Check out their suggestions below and let us know if you agree: 

Overpowered ships and ship features

Triglavian ships

Two members, Skog and Rixx Javix argued that Triglavian ships need to lose a utility high slot on the basis that their weapon only takes up a single slot. Here’s Skog’s justification:

“Take the Leshak as an example, with four heavy neuts [energy neutralisers] or remote reps on top of the already high DPS and fitting room to tank up. Compared to other battleships, they’re also low-mass, which makes a difference in wormhole space. As a result, they outshine a lot of other ships in fleet comps, and I’d prefer to see more diversity.”

The Vargur

FUN INC doesn’t specify how he’d do it, but reckons Vargurs are ripe for a nerfing: 

“If a fleet of 20 inties [interceptors] with TDs [Tracking Disruptors] galore can't take one down, you know that it’s overpowered.”

The Executor Navy Issue

Rixx believes that CCP needs to take the Executor NI back to the drawing board:

“You tried to nerf it once, but you missed the part that actually makes them overpowered. Please try again.” 

The Prophecy Navy Issue

That’s not the only Navy Issue ship our community believes needs taking down a peg or two. Here’s LukaZaharin discussing the Prophecy NI:

“With its excellent tank, the Prophecy Navy Issue’s projection is just too good. It dominates the battlefield meta in Faction Warfare.”

Capital ships

They say bigger is better, but when it comes to capitals, FirestormGamingTeam says their HP is a step too far:

“If alliances are going to keep slamming these into people, then in my opinion their HP needs to be reduced so smaller fleets can take them down if needed.”  

Supercapitals and titans

The same goes for capitals’ larger siblings. While EVE’s most formidable vessels are expected to pack a hell of a punch, over the years they’ve become more commonplace - a development AlexLeporiday believes is harmful to enjoyable warfare: 

“While these ships represent significant achievements and investments, their sheer numbers and the ease of their deployment has arguably diminished their strategic value and led to stalemates in large-scale conflicts. I'd like to see adjustments that make them more challenging to field, encouraging greater tactical consideration and potentially reducing their dominance in certain scenarios.”

Black Ops

Luka Zaharin argues that Black Ops ships (BLOPs) can get from A to Z too quickly:

“I think that Black Ops’ jump ranges are a bit too high. Either that or some Lowsec systems don’t have enough lightyears between them. From one staging system, BLOPs can be deployed over many jumps to cover entire areas of space with ease.”  

EDENCOM ships

orik Kado's balancing issue with EDENCOM ships lies in the relative difficulty of manufacturing ammunition for the T1 and T2 variants:

“EDENCOM’s ammunition mechanics involve the acquisition of ISK as well as certain items, which are then exchanged at DED corporation stations for the respective copies. So far, so perfect. However, I believe the disparity in items required to manufacture the T1 and T2 variants is entirely misplaced. It defies logic that the T2 variant turns out to be more economical to produce since it doesn’t require hard-to-find materials like the T1, which isn’t far off demanding a ritual sacrifice, unicorn tears, and nuclear engineering. In my opinion, the components required to craft their respective ammunition should be adjusted according to their tier.”

Overpowered weapons, modules, and fits

Sniper fits

How about those pesky long-range builds? PandoraRupture has a request: 

“Long-range sniper fits and doctrines in Lowsec have high return with low risk since there aren’t any warp bubbles. I personally feel it’s frustrating to fight against them. In Nullsec it’s fine because you can close the gap as soon as you’ve bubbled them. But in Lowsec, they’ll just fly off if you get too close.” 

Medium rails and beam lasers

On a similar note, ShoMenao argues that medium railguns and beam lasers are overshadowing their competition: 

“At this point, there’s very little reason to use medium blasters or pulse lasers regardless of the environment. That’s due to the damage and application of the long-range systems even at short range, using the Javelin and Gleam respectively. They also outperform projectiles of both sizes by a wide margin on all but a few ships.” 

Mega Pulse Laser IIs 

ShoMenao has a similar criticism for mega pulses: 

“They’re too strong given the majority of battleships can fit heavy cap boosters with 3200s and hardly notice the cap usage of the weapons, which should be the main drawback given the insane Scorch L application and damage.” 

Armour 

Brother Grimoire believes that armour comps need a chink added to them:

“Armour has always been statistically better than shields, leading to the ‘It would have lived if it were a shield super’ meme. Adjustments would ruin the current meta, but bringing the two tanks more in line with each other would make gameplay feel better.”

Cloaking

The next few features that our community reckon are in need of nerfing are all related to cloaking in one way or another. The first comes from orik Kado:

“I understand that it can be fun to float in enemy space for hours waiting for the right moment to strike. But it can become really frustrating when you’re on the other side. It’s a necessary gameplay mode, and some adjustments have been made to counter the mechanic. However, I believe it could be fine-tuned further. For example, by requiring specialised fuel-carrying ships to enable these long-term cloaked operations. I don’t know how viable that is, but that’s what I’d propose.”

Cloaks and BLOPs

Back to Black Ops ships again, Pandora Rupture thinks their speed and cloak combo makes them overpowered: 

“Trying to catch them without heavy investment is nearly impossible. It’s just too easy to gank with a good setup, and the risk of losing ships is very, very low.” 

Warp > Cloak > MWD builds

Rixx Javix’s problematic build is related but more specific. It’s the combination of warping, cloaking, and microwarpdrives that’s come to be known as ‘the cloak trick’. In short, it’s a manoeuvre that allows ships to align, cloak, and build speed so that pilots can warp off again almost immediately after uncloaking:

“It was an interesting discovery, but now it’s totally out of hand and needs to be nerfed. It’s created an almost impossible-to-catch subgenre of ships whose pilots no longer need to fear the game’s dangers.” 

Multiboxed drone builds

Luka Zaharin thinks that drone builds are too powerful, particularly when deployed by multiboxers in Faction Warfare (FW): 

“I’d definitely call the drone assist in FW sites overpowered, especially when combined with an Algos. I’m not sure how it is in other regions of the game, but in FW multiboxers can easily farm a large amount of resources in a short amount of time, with very little risk to themselves.”

ShoMenao raises the same point, “As a solo pilot, there’s nothing more frustrating right now than multiboxed drone fleets.”  

Overpowered structures

Ansiblexes

CCP, if you’re going to make one of these proposed nerfs, it’s safe to say that Ansiblexes are the most popular choice. Fun Inc, Rixx, Brother Grimoire, and FirestormGamingTeam all agree that Ansiblexes needed toning down. Here’s what these players had to say in the order they’re listed above: 

“Having the ability to travel multiple regions in mere minutes is just wrong… or just allow all players to use them.”

“Anything that avoids gate chokepoints is overpowered in my opinion.”

“Projecting an 80-man fleet with cap support to deal with a small gang taking your ESS kills content.”

“I’m so tired of these. They either need to have their range shortened or just be nerfed into oblivion.”

Structure proliferation

Both Fun Inc and Alex Leporiday believe there are too many player-owned structures. First up, here’s Alex:

“While structures serve a crucial purpose in EVE’s gameplay, the ease with which they can be deployed and replaced has led to ‘structure spam’ in certain areas, cluttering the map and making both navigation and combat more cumbersome. Implementing limitations on structure deployment or increasing the costs associated with them could help address the issue, encouraging more strategic placement.” 

Fun Inc adds: “Especially in Nullsec, just go to the T5 gate in 1DQ, and you’ll see what I mean!”

Overpowered security system features

Nullsec chat

From anonymous messaging to delayed messages, much has been proposed concerning comms in Nullsec. Here’s Brother Grimoire’s solution: 

“The meta in Nullsec is just to press ‘dock’ when a neutral shows up in the system - riveting risk-averse gameplay. With Sov Null being controlled by players, they shouldn’t have access to the trappings of civilisation unless they build those trappings themselves. That’s why I suggest adding a fuelable ‘local module’ that can be destroyed or hacked to provide local chat in Nullsec."

Highsec incursions

When it comes to the incursions meta, orik Kado believes that too much power is in the hands of too few pilots in Highsec: 

“The incursion system is very simple: NPCs deploy in a random area, and players form groups to tackle the combat sites until the incursion is defeated. However, this type of content has for years been controlled in High Sec by a limited number of groups who reserve the right to invite more or fewer players to complete the objective. This, combined with the significant resources that can be amassed with each new incursion, results in a very safe area of the game where players can amass a large amount of resources with minimal risk. Worse still, the content is monopolised by these few ‘elite’ groups.”

Other overpowered things

Alpha clones 

Finding the balance between free and paid subscriptions is a tricky act for any game developer using the freemium model. Alex Leporiday thinks that the game would benefit from Alpha players getting a leg up: 

“Alpha clones offer a great entry point for new players, but the Skillpoint restrictions can sometimes feel limiting and create a significant power gap between them and Omega clones. I believe that increasing Alpha skillpoint caps or allowing access to a wider range of skills could provide a more fulfilling experience for new players and encourage them to transition to Omega status.”   

Medical boosters

Drugs; don’t do ‘em, kids. Often given as daily login rewards and Twitch Drops, medical boosters provide in-game advantages, which according to PandoraRupture adversely affect player engagements: 

“They provide unique boosts that can make or break PvP engagements, and you either have them or you don’t. They should either be made available to everyone through in-game production or they shouldn’t be in-game at all."

Thank you to everyone who submitted to the bounty and for giving your criticism in a constructive manner. We’ve forwarded your thoughts and ideas to CCP. Let us know if you agree or disagree with any of them in the comment section! We’ll soon launch a bounty asking which features you’d like to be buffed. Some text has been edited for brevity, clarity, or spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can find the original wording here. Image credit: Razorien on Flickr and CCP Games.