Mandatory for Fitting

It's about time people stopped bitching about the warp core stabiliser (WCS) module. Nothing says "I'm not looking to fight" like a WCS module or three. For those of you unfamiliar with the WCS module it works something like this: Ships in EVE need a warp scramble strength effect on them of 0 or less to warp. The vast majority of pvp fleets have several if not all ships fitted with either warp disruptors (points) or warp scramblers (scrams). Disruptors give a +1 scramble strength to ships they are targeted at. Scramblers give a +2 or +3 effect. To counter these offensive modules we have the WCS module. Despite the variety of strengths of the offensive module we only have access to WCS modules with a flat -1 strength (negative because it removes from the warp scramble penalty on the ship). For those of you who are mathematically challenged this translates to a mandatory fitting of three WCS to guarantee you will be able to warp away unimpeded from a single tackling module. In addition to this lopsided equation of lost fitting options the defensive ship has its targeting range and scan resolution reduced by between 40% and 50%. To continue with the above guarantee we find our WCS-fitted ship needs to lose three lowslots and gets a 78.4% penalty to targeting and lock time.

I regularly read comments from bloggers about how EWAR is evil and wrong. Oddly this never seems to include points and scrams even though they are technically counted as EWAR. If a PvP ship doesn't have a point of scram it is a terri-bad fit. For some unfathomable reason, if a non-PvP ship is fitted with a WCS this is a terrible travesty to the game (even though this is the natural counter to the PvP fit) and the witch hunt is on for the modules to be removed from the game. This is despite the high cost of fitting these WCS modules. Removal is demanded with absolutely no proposal to replace with some other suitable counter to the point and scram EWAR-fitted ships. So why is this? The answer to that question is easy - there is a belief that once you get a ship tackled he or she is committed to a combat engagement. This belief exists even if the tackled ship is a weaponless industrial ship. If the tackled pilot still has the audacity to warp out there is a feeling of being robbed of that fight. In the case of the industrial it would be a very one-sided 'fight' but the robbed feeling still exists. How dare that pilot counter my active modules! Yet countering fits is inherently in the nature of EVE.

The statement "EVE is a PvP game" is often rolled out. The same people tell CCP to "stop messing with the sandbox" when they propose some change that will negatively affect the particular commentators play style. So which is it? Is EVE a PvP game where everyone must participate in combat or is it a sandbox where people can chose their own career path? Personally I believe EVE is the latter and I'm sure CCP agree. In my opinion EVE is a universe where people can choose to never undock and spend their entire time market trading, using hauling companies to move their goods from station to station. I believe industrialists are free to mine their minerals, turn them into ships then inexplicably sell them for less than the market value of the minerals. Finally, I believe it is every pilot's prerogative to attempt to counter any attack with the tools provided within the EVE universe.

So to the solution. Well, do we actually need a solution? Is there even a problem? Well yes, there is a problem. But it likely isn't what you think. The problem is people who think fitting a point or scram guarantees them a fight. Those people are wrong and they need to adjust their expectations. If you really, really feel it is your Bob-given right to kill defenceless industrials who have no intention to fight; if you really can't stand they neuter their ship to within an inch of its life on targeting and locking then put your money where your mouth is. For 120 Mil you can get a +3 faction scram. A mere two of these and you're going to stop just about everything. The question is: Who's unacceptably gimping their fit now?