CCP needs to be dead clear on player intention for AIR Daily Goals

Preamble: Most of us are hard-working folk looking to PLAY EVE. We don't have time to go out of our way for 15min-1hr each day to do dailies (and yes since you started this circuit halfway into the month we need to hit every day that we can). Me personally I work 5 days a week 12-14 hours a day with a wife and child who need my love and attention the other hours of the week. Sometimes I only have time to login, not even do stupid dailies, and now with dailies, forget actually playing EVE.

Did you intend for all Alphas and Omegas who only have serious time to play on weekends (8-10 days out of the month) to be locked out of daily rewards and monthly skillpoints? Literally 0 SP/month? Then bravo, you succeeded.

Were you intending for all players to switch activities every 15 minutes on a daily basis? If not then your dailies are not working. This is ADHD gameplay. These are CHORES. Either give us more flexibility on what we do each day or give us goals that fulfill from multiple angles. Let's break those two methods down one by one.

If you want us to try new activities, there is no reason for us to have to try a new activity each and every day (and only dipping our toes into it as little as possible). You can do so many different things to make this better.

Three examples of what you could do:

  • Give us two quests per playstyle (8 goals total)
  • Give us a new quest when we finish the first one (like how the quests worked in the Capsuleer Day event)
  • Let us choose -or- assign us a playstyle (with rerolls) with 4-8 quests related to ONE activity per day.

That way we can sink our teeth into a new activity on a "one day at a time" basis and really engage with EVE Online. Right now all we're doing is hopping into our Ventures and mining Veldspar for 10 seconds, and manufacturing 1 round of ammo whenever possible. This is surely NOT what you were intending for us to do. But your current system necessitates this kind of severe ADHD gameplay. Allowing us to complete the dailies with one activity will incentivize players to delve deeper into the different aspects of EVE.

Look, I'm a Dad, I have a kid. If there's one thing I've learned it's that you can make someone do things but you can't make them to do it the way you want, and if you want to keep things light and fun you have to let go of total control. Some of these quests are too ham-fisted in getting us to do very specific things. Faction Warfare quests only apply to those who actually do Faction Warfare. Is it that you want us specifically to do Faction Warfare only, or is it that you want players simply to get out of high-sec?

Ramble: Scanning quests want us to scan down very specific sites but who knows when you will actually find multiple relic sites or data sites? This is further exacerbated when you realize there is only ONE way to fulfill these quests with no clear end. Either keep hopping around for scans or give up. Either FW in a proper arena and cross your fingers and hope to not die, or find a backwater nowhere and afk for 15 minutes hoping not to get caught. And the new salvage quests are similar, make well over 15 wrecks, and who know when you'll actually get 15 ticks of salvage, and if you don't want to do salvaging well then tough luck. Admittedly I don't know how to fix the Scanning or Salvage quests. They are just too derivative (you salvage tangent to other content, you scan only to do other content).

I understand this section is a less coherent and singular than my previous point but if you want people to engage in low-sec you don't have to tell us what to do. Give us multiple ways to complete a quest so that they happen simply by playing EVE. Because at the end of the day that's what we're all trying to do, right? Play EVE.

The quests would be better if they were more general, such as:

  • Jump through 5 low or null security systems (can be fulfilled by FW, miners, haulers, etc.)
  • Exchange 2500 damage with another player (can be fulfilled by just about any PVP, whether you win or lose)

I have to spend time with my family now, but what I'm trying to say is that the goals would be so much better if they had a clear ending AND is able to be done by several activities. Quests like these still have the same end goal if your plan is to have us blow up ships, but it's either more direct, more generally applicable, or both.

Daily Goals are best when they feel like nudges for consideration and not chores! Players will do them regardless, just let us do it the way we want!

Let me know your thoughts.