EVE General Discussion

CCP,

I am tired.

I am tired of logging on and more and more of my friends are running around in tanks. I get on vent and they are all there…just not on Eve online. My online (former) Eve friends are all alive and very active – in tanks. I want them back in space with me but I need help from you. Now mind you, these are many of the pvp vets…and they are bored. Bored to the point where they are ready to leave Eve (or have left)…even if their subscription hasn’t run out. They still like the potential of Eve best…but not the current reality.

I know this isn’t post anything new to the forums…but I had to shout out hoping that someone at CCP would heed the call:

The last time felt real excitement among the pvp player base was the release with the buff to faction ships. So what ever happened to the ship design competition last year that was promising some new empire faction ships? We hold our breath in anticipation to some new ships to fly in or to make go “boom”. Even the wormhole expansion added some fun elements to the pvp world…but how long ago was that expansion? PI? Seriously? Endless clicking to make a bit of isk…? Pretty - but no excitement - other than the occasional gank at the customs office. But the announcements from CCP made it sound like it was the second coming of Eve. Now Incarna is the second coming.

Incarna is pretty…but empty of game play elements. So, even when you finally give your squirrels enough acorns to spit out a full station for us…how does that help improve game play and excite the core veteran player base? I look at a game like Global Agenda…and move around the pretty station and quickly get bored with it. And 3 new racial captains quarters – WooHoo! Now I can stand around doing nothing in a Gallente room! Yeah, yeah, I get it – make us walk around so we can play dress up with Nex items. Isk = Aurum = revenue for CCP. But to fund vampires? Really? Didn’t that go out of vogue after all the 13 year old girls chose between Team Edward or Team Jacob?

On a side note, one aspect of pvp excitement was introduced by incarna – the unknown associated with my (less than a year old) computer overheating and shutting down. Which, apparently (according to CCP) was somehow our fault so nobody was getting reimbursed for any lost ships or implants.

We all know that the nerd rage over Nex was only partly the “pay for play” aspect…it was also rooted in rage over the continued anemic releases that do nothing to improve (or rather, rejuvenate) ships in space gameplay – and changes like making unprobeable ships probeable is a nice little change but ultimately unexciting. How is it that fixing / tweeking existing / broken game elements is considered “new content”? By Jove (heh), why not finish some of the projects that have been promised and started but have fizzled out to…

Moments that Define History? Really? We'll see. We can hope.

I am not saying that Incarna can’t be a welcome addition to our game – but it needs to come with "ships in space" gameplay elements to recapture our imagination.

I am a patient person, but I too find my patience nearing the end. Instead of 10-20 friends (and their friends, and so on) excited about making spaceships explode they are excited about what tier tank is next. Sadly, I also have many friends talking about Eve in past tense and looking forward to the chance to train to be a Jedi (shudder) – hoping that it will fill the void that used to be Eve.

So, is my course set? Am I heading back to the station to dock up, going to pull the tarp over my beloved Hookbill, turn out the (non-spinning ship) hangar lights and soon to be revving up a tank engine?

Only CCP can ultimately answer that.

vet

Not at all - I still very much enjoy Eve or else I wouldn't have bothered posting.

And yes - they are off playing World of Tanks. I have never tried it, so can't comment on whether or not it is any good. But how is that any different than a 3 week old Eve player in his shiny Frigate going up against a 6 mo old player in a Cruiser...I am sure the results are generally similar. ;-)

to the other posts,

The OP's points is that they are playing a different game, whatever it is, instead of eve cause they are bored. and frankly so am i.

^^^ This

Confirming that the Tanks sub section of our Alliance TS sever always has more people in it than all of the EVE related sections combined.

Tanks may be a simple game with very little in the way of permanece, but its free and the combat can be pretty fun at times. I play both, for entirely different reasons. I will probably get bored of tanks soon and move on to some other game for when I am in a not very serious gaming mood.

It is not like EVE is the only game I play. It has however been the one game that I keep coming back to, and have put way more time into than any other. That is simply because no other game provides the same type of meaningful player interaction that EVE does. I will admit though that I am starting to get pretty bored with EVE's current combat mechanics and the condition of null warfare in general. If another game came out that incorporated EVE's loss mechanics, complex economic system, and the same player driven sandbox focus but actually provided interesting combat mechanics, I would be leaving EVE in a heartbeat.

I still have some high hopes for Infinity.. but I do not think it will be exactly what I am looking for. Might get close enough though.

OP: Just do the one intelligent thing: Play both EvE and WoT. It's in no way a hard thing to do.

Sup.
What OP said.

You are correct - it isn't my point (at all). While Eve is not the only MMO that I play regularly, I enjoy it most due to the breadth and depth of gameplay tied to the option to pvp at any time - and there has been a very noticeable decline in the activity in game. Even within my corp (and in many of my friends corps / alliances) those who log in many times check to see what is going on then say "oh, nothing going on? Then I am off to play _____ (enter any other game name here) and either log off or stay docked up someplace. Not because they don't want to play Eve, but because there isn't nearly as much going on. A year ago, I would have challenged someone (anyone) to go into Lo-sec (area of your choice) and just start jumping around and NOT find a gate camp or a roaming gang looking for a fight. Now, I am the one jumping around looking for a fight and not finding anybody undocked let alone looking for a fight - not everytime mind you but more and more frequently. Now we all can give anecdotal evidence showing areas to get a fight (many areas of null sec are still active, thank goodness) - but I am talking larger trends that I am noticing in game.

I saw a steady (albeit slower) decline in activity before Nerd-ragegeddon this summer and the decline has only sped up since then.

People are getting bored with Eve and going elsewhere.

Nothing to excite the veteran (primarily pvp) player base has come out in far too long. That needs to change quickly or that aspect of the game is going to continue it's slow death. I truly believe that pvp is the heart and soul of what has made this game great in the past and if it goes away will ultimately kill the rest of the game. CCP is missing the point with Encarna - we all think it has potential to be a cool addition to the game...but that isn't what gets the adrenaline rush going and ultimately hooks us and gets us coming back for more.

I am happy I am not alone, but disheartened, hearing that many of you have noticed the same trend - so I am responding to bump this up to (hopefully) draw more attention to our plea.