Feb
16

Lowsec is the Happiest place in Eve…

10 Comments

…if your idea of happy is blowing shit up. Turns out Twin Turbo (aka CCP Diagoras) was not ignoring me. Instead, he was marshaling his army of spreadsheets to churn out my requested information. Here it is: Total Kills by Security Status Group for 2011.

At first glance this is just absolutely flabbergasting. How in god’s name did Nullsec not have a majority of PVP in Eve? However, upon further review of the events of last year (NC falling, various alliances failscading, then towards the end of the year the Great Lull where everyone spammed ‘Winter is Coming’ and bided their time before launching massive campaigns) it makes a little more sense. There was a lot of flux and uncertainty in nullsec, meaning that many major PVP entities either took holidays or refuge in lowsec. The infamous image of PL Motherships hotdropping six Tuskers in Frigates is indicative of this shift.

However, it still is pretty stunning. Here’s a graph demonstrating the number of player accessible systems in Eve, broken down into sec status groupings (BIG GIANT DISCLAIMER: Everyone has different numbers on this. I’ve asked Johnny Turbo for the no-shit numbers but am still waiting):

Okay, that’s not too surprising. Wormholes make for a massive chunk of systems but really, wormholes don’t count (just kidding Two step, I really liked Clarion Call 3 trolololol). Anyways, high sec seems to be a little smaller than I had previously thought, but the distribution of space is fairly straightforward. Note that lowsec, while accounting for nearly 30% of all PVP in 2011, occupies only 10% of the game’s geographic space.

Now, though, we play with the numbers a little bit and come up with this statistic:

Yeah. Need we say more? Lowsec really is a gigantic Fight Club. Some argue that it should be MORE of a Fight Club (I was one of them until this morning). However, I think this says all that needs to be said. Lowsec is the deadliest space in this game. Take that you damned ‘nullsec is elite pvp’ adherents. I think lowsec residents can take a little more pride in these numbers. Granted, we don’t deal with bubbles or Titans ERRYDAY, but we have our own tribulations to overcome (GCC, Sentries, etc) and seem to be doing pretty well.

Also of note: on a per system basis, Nullsec is SAFER than High Sec. Just barely in 2011, and I’m sure the new numbers will reverse this, but the fact that they are statistically identical on a per system basis is pretty sad imo. Nullsec needs to be just a tad bit more dangerous – say, by an order of magnitude.

Anyways, just a followup on the last post using 2011 numbers. I thought it was interesting at least – maybe you will too.

Fly Smart,
Marc


Posted in general/other crap piratical philosophy
10 Comments Posted by Marc

  • http://twitter.com/khanhrhh Khanh’rhh

    Good to know my impression that there was never anybody in 9/10 of WHs I ever found wasn’t just my inability to make any pew happen :)

    Nice graphs. You know what, though? It’s long been said that “no one is in lowsec” and “lowsec is dead” or “lowsec is broken.”

    What this shows me, is that lowsec is the space that is working BEST. Clearly a larger percentage of people are finding action there than anywhere else. Perhaps fixing lowsec is less about fixing any “giant wounds” and more about performing a little quality of life adjustment (GCC issues, sec status grind, etc).

    • Marc

      That’s one way to look at it. Or you could look at it in terms of population:

      Only 8% of the Eve Population lives in Lowsec. And yet people are obviously interested – 30% of all PVP taking place there and all. This could mean people coming in for peaks, nullsec residents being kicked out/taking breaks, or it could mean that lowsec PVPers get significantly higher unique kill counts than anywhere else.

      However I do agree – lowsec isn’t broken and the PVP seems to be working alright. Quality of Life adjustments and increased (interesting!) PVE activities would probably get it where it needs to be.

      Sucks that the figures don’t support the claims, but I’m not going to be one who says ‘well, the figures don’t line up with what I think so they must be wrong!’, lol

  • http://scramweb.blogspot.com toterra

    I wish they would break out NPC null-sec from regular null-sec. I think if you eliminated places like syndicate, curse and NPC fountain… you would see null for what it truelly is… dead.

    • Marc

      That’s a good point there.

  • http://www.EVEProGuides.com Abbadon21

    Depends a lot on what lowsec you’re in…. Back in my old low sec home of Genesis the boredom is the worst killer.

    Best low sec for fighting tends to be near trade hubs I think.

    • Marc

      That or near Nullsec entries, can get some decent fights on those areas. But yeah, the amazing part of all these statistics is what numbers can’t tell you about – the general feeling of an area. And my general feeling is almost always that there isn’t much in lowsec.

  • http://eveopportunist.blogspot.com Logan Fyreite

    Marc,

    I think your graphs are missing an important statistic that needs to be factored in to determine if “lowsec” is really broken or not.

    A per person ratio of NPC kills to PVP kills in null/low/high/WH space.

    I think this stat would show that in lowsec you have your highest percentage of dedicated PvPers, while in the other places, you will see a much more bear slant to the numbers.

    I asked “turbo” about it already but really this would be pretty simple math if yo already have the numbers.

    1. population in each area (low/null/high/WH)
    2. Kills of NPC’s in each area
    3. PVP kills in each area

    I think you have 1 and 3 judging by this post, but 2 is needed, 2 would determine how many bears you have in each area. Also numbers aren’t 100 percent accurate because of the 0.0 pvpers who roam lowsec on the reg looking for fights.

    • Marc

      Really I think you can kind of infer that from the presence of the other two. I don’t think it is any secret that the bears prefer WH, Null and High (more or less in that order) for making ISK.

      As for Nullseccers roaming low – it goes both ways so that’s pretty much a wash to me. Look at Tuskers killboard – half of it is filled with Nullsec shenanigans on a regular basis.

      • http://eveopportunist.blogspot.com/ Logan Fyreite

        This is true, Soter’s comments on twitter about Lowsec not being broken etc that made my eyes roll.

  • Norbert

    The reason why only 8% of the population live in Lowsec is quite simple.
    Because you only go there for PvP that is.
    You can’t really do any non-PvP activities in Lowsec, because you will just die. Very soon.
    So there are the chosen 8% that do nothing but PvP (most people cannot fund this playstyle). Everyone else lives in Highsec or Null, where it is mucher safer to PvE, mine, research, manufacture etc.
    Quite simple.