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Lowsec PVP: Is it dead? Part 3

September 8, 2017

This article follows on from my previous piece and will look at the final comments from the interviewees and a summary of what has been discussed. Once again, the questions were answered by the same people so please refer to part 1 for information regarding to who they are and what they do.


Why do you think new players should take up lowsec pvp over nullsec and power bloc groups?

Spring HeeledJack:

I don’t think anyone in the current capacity of the game, and after the future updates, will consider going anywhere other than null/a bloc power. There is no draw to lowsec. We have nice fights occasionally but that’s just about it.

Hy Wanto Destroyer:

Null roaming is very time consuming and you normally have to roam far to find targets. Lowsec is much easier to find fights, especially in FW sites, and people tend to be more skilled whereas in null it’s a lot of ganking dumb renters e.g FCON. Bloc PVP is mashing f1 in 10 percent ti-di.

sharp as:

FW PVP is a great place for a new player to start out, and get to grips with game basics. D-scan risk assessment and price point is low. Unlike normal lowsec PVP you also don’t take a security-status hit and it’s got an in game income built into it, LP for plexing etc. But our alliance is at the other end we are bitter vets.

Dreaded Vengeance:

It’s small gang fight-club, every day and without fail – if you want to hone your individual pilot skills, instead of anchoring up and pressing F1 or not seeing a hostile for a day or two, Black Rise and the Bleak Lands are for me the place to be. In addition, it’s easy for an aspiring pilot to get into, you just jump in, explode and work out what happened. There’s no ties, little grind and a fun place to be.


In FW warzones, like Bleak Lands, Metropolis, Black Rise, Placid, etc, there is always a “gudfite” to be had for you and your t1 frigate. You just undock and chances are that there is already someone in your system looking for a fight of your size. In general, FW lowsec is a lot more densely populated than other areas of space. You can always PVP solo or small gang and actually learn how to fly spaceships.

Degnar Oskold:

Lowsec is the best place still for casual PVP without being part of a large blob, where you can learn to be a good pilot and where individual personal skill, not numbers or what your SP lets you fly, still can make a huge difference.


Lowsec is much more accessible and affordable for new players with a meta of frigates to cruisers compared to cruisers and up for the nullsec meta. Faction warfare is a great source of income available to everyone from day one, whereas nullsec has no good combat related income sources for new players, requiring you to “waste” skill points on other areas like exploration or rely on handouts from your alliance. As for PVP, fighting in lowsec will force you to get good. You’ll mostly fly solo or in smaller fleets against competent opponents where individual performance is key to victory. If you can survive, and eventually thrive in this environment, you’ll end up an excellent pilot with skills that are easily transferable to the Alliance Tournament or fleet commanding.

Mystical Might:

They shouldn’t. Low-sec is much like null-sec, just with fewer groups and fewer areas to cover. Any startup is likely to be stomped on and/or absorbed.

If we’re talking smaller low-sec groups, maybe faction warfare types, the smaller areas of space and the relatively easy access means that there’s a greater degree of “content”. This “content” will be for “content’s” sake, not for any greater purpose other than seeing pretty lights though. Content for content’s sake gets boring fast.

Null-sec groups would give you the same access to low-sec content as a small scale low-sec corp, minus a few individuals to fly with in any given area. To go with that low-sec content, you get access to null-sec bloc-style fleets, ratting space, mining space, and content with a narrative. Overall, it’d still probably suck, but I don’t see any reason why you’d join a low-sec group over a null-sec one unless it was snuff/shdwc/waffles, or any of their related pets.

Harkon Thorson:

Lowsec gives you the best mix between casual playing and hardcore commitment. You can have fun by just undocking and roaming, or you can join a group that fights for certain goals and have that immersive experience. Another plus is that corps and alliances are normally smaller here and that leads to new players getting taught on a more personal level. In my opinion, lowsec and FW in particular is where you learn how to PVP. Not saying that I did so far but it’s a good way into that part of the game.


The big thing is that in lowsec you have more opportunities to work on your solo and small gang piloting abilities, as well as your fleet piloting. You can undock and find content nearly immediately. You’ll do it in an environment where you can really get to know the people in your corp and allianc; a place where you won’t just be a face in the crowd. When you fly in the larger fleets, you’ll still be able to feel the impact of individual pilots on the battle as a whole. Also, we almost never have to deal with time dilation.

As another note, the community that has grown in the Caldari/Gallente war zone is one of the best out there. After a solo fight, you’ll find many people are willing to hang around in local and talk out the engagement, offer advice either on tactics or fittings, and in general just shoot the breeze.

Gian Bal:

Honestly, there isn’t really a definitive answer to this. Both are, I would say, the same sort of difficulty to learn in, because they both work in different ways. In lowsec you have to be cautious aggressing on gates, in null sec you need to watch out of bubbles etc. But, overall, it’s about what the person playing actually wants out of the game, I’d say if you want to become a highly skilled solo/small gang PVPer then joining a small lowsec FW/pirate corp would be the best route to go. However, if you wanna be in the middle of all the massive fights, record breaking battles, with hundreds of people shooting with you and hundreds shooting at you and you like that sorta gameplay then a big nullsec power bloc is for you.

Rocket X:

Lowsec is a different style of PVP, Nullsec is traditionally considered the endgoal, but EVE isn’t like that. It’s about choosing where you want to live. Much like in reality, every location has its pros and cons, but finding a good location to live with a decent level of traffic is key.

If you can get into a decent group you can learn a lot of stuff very quickly with the pirate-like playstyle of everyday lowsec PVP. It can be a lot of fun, and you’ll find that you learn more than being a line member in a 4,000 man ti-di fight out in nullsec.


The majority seem to think along the same direction that lowsec is a great place to learn PVP in a friendly and easily accessible environment from the beginning. However, it is clearly not for everyone and very much depends on what you are after. Ultimately, it depends on your playstyle and the people you end up flying with as that is what makes the game for most people. The life of a lowsec pirate may not be an easy one as the methods of gathering ISK are more limited to that in nullsec, but, if you’re resourceful enough, you can find a way to overcome those hurdles.

Finally, I asked one last question which not all chose to answer.


Anything else to add?

Spring HeeledJack:

Lowsec is dead, CCP updates are killing lowsec alliances. RIP.

sharp as:

As a general statement, I would say lowsec PVPers are higher skilled that nullsec. Things are more fluid as there are so many corps and alliances that share the small part of lowsec you can get 3rd partied very quickly. I think nullsec is more clear cut one power block vs another.

Dreaded Vengeance:

If a member of No Handlebars. destroyed your ship in an act of piracy, we are sorry. Please contact our SRP director Takeshi Covacs for reimbursement.


Huge middlefinger to all risk averse friends of the blue lowsec donut.
Machs are garbage.
Make missiles invulnerable to allow different doctrines.
Add a midslot to the muninn.
Add a midslot to the kronos
Give me shield slaves.
Fuck the police
No blues, no pets and just shoot everyone


This was written from the perspective of an “elite PVPer”, so take it with a grain of salt.

Mystical Might:

The problem with lowsec, null-sec and EVE, in general, is the community. Player-run empires that sprawl multiple regions in terms of POCOs and POSs mean that any attempt by a smaller group to get involved is violently put down. You can, of course, play the long-con and harass these giants, but agreements often render such harassment useless. Each bloc has its pets that’re in certain areas of space. In some cases, these pets will do the work required of them by the ‘giant’ in their partnership. This often translates to POCO or POS repping and defence, with heavy assets if required. If harassment continues, the ‘giant’ may deploy to the area to stifle the opposition, which is possible because the ‘giants’ often avoid each other in terms of persistent content and conflict.

Overall, low-sec needs a community fix of sorts, much like the rest of EVE. How likely that is, I can’t really say. As it stands, groups and players will continue to be absorbed by blocs across EVE due to the existence of infrastructure, reputation and easy access to content regardless of its quality. Agreements will keep cropping up to protect what blocs already have, and acquire what they need in a semi-peaceful fashion.

We’ll just have to see what the Moon Mining changes do to low-sec. I’m expecting nothing interesting.

Gian Bal:

Thanks for letting me in on the article I guess. The Rifter is actually OP as fuck and I heard Gian Bal is elite af.

From the above there is a few constructive comments about where the game is headed and how it maybe changed but for the most part this was covered in the previous article. Ultimately, as mentioned previously the area of lowsec is lacking it’s own individual niche. What truly matters is finding a group you are happy with and enjoy the company of, this game has one hell of a community afterall. You will always find that players maximise on every opportunity that exists in the game but at the minute there is little to make lowsec stand out over the big null sec blocks. They tend to control the regions of lowsec as they see fit by creating powerful alliances with the big players in these regions of space, such as the recent allegiance of Snuffed Out and the Imperium.

In answer to my initially proposed question of “Lowsec PVP: Is It Dead?” I think the overall opinion is that it isn’t completely dead but there is certainly something lacking. There is no reason to engage in combat there, over nullsec considering the negatives against it such as the limited options to PVE in the downtime between any combat action, and the timezone dominance that is currently widespread. From the first part of this series the common view is that the reason to PVP in lowsec is to be away from the big tidi fights that mainly exist in nullsec, whilst still having an objective to fight over. Within the previous article the widespread consensus was the effects that the citadel expansion has had on the current playstyle, which combined with the new moon mining changes, have severely reduced the number of reasons to fight.

Whether CCP has any plans to update the existing play style in lowsec is yet to be seen. The upcoming change to the moon mining may have an affect as there is a large portion of valuable moons based in lowsec. However, aside from this, it is unknown what the future may hold. At present the focus appears to be that to a lot of the entities based in and around lowsec that the current configuration of citadels need to change in the short term. If some of the proposed changes by these groups came into effect, primarily a change in the vulnerability windows and docking rights, it would allow the current timezone stalemates to be lifted to some degree which could improve on the chances that regular combat may continue into the future.

Finally, apologies if you feel you have that you are a large, or small, group in lowsec who has been missed out of this report. As you can imagine, it would be impossible to cover everyone so please feel free to contact me in-game, on discord at Amymuffmuff#6824 or via email at [email protected] Alternatively, just add your comments below.


Secondary image credit: Razorien