EVE General Discussion

Thanks for the involvement!

The Interview is now up: here


http://eve.stratics.com/thursday-interview-pre-inferno-interview-with-ccp-developers/

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Im prepping a new interview for the coming month with CCP employees.

I'll close this thread in a few hours, so if you have questions to ask. List them now.


Rough draft below...
(places where 'you' is used, its used in the generic sense of the word)

Art team

1. Please share the decisions that made the team move away from asymmetric ship design?


2. Have anything changed since you reached those conclusions, or do you still not like 'awkward'?


3. Can you dive into some of the decisions concerning the T2 ship designs? What kind of changes can we expect to see in the future?


4. Please explain the logic of rectangular turrets designs (250/280mm artillery for instance). How did that happen?


5. Some players feel that the current V3 skins are 'blurry', do you intend on adding higher resolution skins?


6. There are concerns regarding the UI changes (ie. eyecandy vs functionality); can you dive into some of the priorities that were weighted during recent development? At which point does shinies and/or overcomplexity enter the stage and gets left out? Have we reached a point where the overlay is oversaturated with complicated menus and displays that effectively slow down the client? And how did you prepare for the UI changes?

Game Design

1. Can you share some of the issues or reasons that made you increase the cost of Jump Fuel? Has it affected anything you didn't intend to?


2. There are still some features that didn't make it to this patch (crimewatch, unified inventory etc). While the new launcher gives you the opportunity to release new features faster than before, can we expect to see the expanded features released on a case by case basis or do you intend to release those at a later date as a bulk update?


3. Character customization options lists jumpclones as one of the fields where players can build different characters within their account by training for it, adding individual implants that fit into specific roles with specific ships potentially adding up to 14 different character builds. How do you see this playing out in the long run, will it still float?


4. To iterate on the above questions; The Inferno patch aimed at increasing conflict, but there are still a large number of players that have easy access to risk-free travel across New Eden - essentially giving these players little reason to ever put themselves at risk even while living in Null-sec as well as being able to safely transport moon goo to trade hubs. Do you intend to wrangle the safety out of these players at some point and returning EVE to hard mode? I'd imagine that living in Null would be ... you know ... dangerous? Players hint at removing local could help. Would you agree?


5. The current path of iterating on ship training routes and fixing training paths into specific patterns and bundling it up with iteration on ships only really points to one thing when you regard the recent removal of the Amarr frigate mining bonus. Are you prepared to disclose the reason at this point or is it still too early?


6. Inferno seemed to be aimed at high-sec warfare (FW and corp wars). Alot of bugs and issues were fixed, but it would seem that there are still things you can do to enhance it. Is it a done deal or do you plan on adding more to it?


7. New modules were released and it looks like more is coming. Have there been any major concerns as to the intended design of the modules and how they play into the intricate EVE Economy? Do you see any concerns for Mudflation? Will you release them on a case-by-case basis as they get tested out on Sisi or in bulk? Can you share your thoughts as to what made you decide on which modules to ad? Can you expand on the decisions that went into the 'Lockbreaker' module?


8. What do you have in store for Marauders? And what about them ORE ships?


9. So what are you guys working on at the moment? This time you managed to overhaul 5 frigates, what is holding up the rest of the bunch?

Management

1. Recently, CCP employees has taken over the RP postings which was usually handled by the ISD's; Interstellar Correspondents (Team IC). Do you need more voluntary applicants for this team and are there other ISD teams you need populated again?


2. You recently downsized the team somewhat. Since Fanfest you seem to have been on track when it comes to EVE Online though. I imagine it was a painfull decision to make; was it worth it?


3. A few months ago CCP Ytterbium was assigned to readress skills vs ship lines. Recently he was tasked to FW though. Why isn't he finalizing the progress? Is the art team not ready with the next line of ships? How did the work turn out in the end? Is he satisfied, is the team?

Dust 514

1. Since Beta is well underway; what are some of the major hurdles you've encountered so far in terms of community, game play and the tech involved? Can you share the thoughts that was put into the realization of executing a successfull planetary bombardment?

Empty document FYI.

Other question noted.

Document works fine for me. And it's LOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGG.

Also why they took the EVE is big out of the picture and narroed the sandbox to fit a shoebox.
The whole feeling of EVE being a big universe just isn't there anymore. That was one of the great features.

Haha, that's true.

You could also ask if the features that didn't make it to Inferno (more crimewatch functionality, major improvements on the Unified Inventory, Ally contracts, more tiercide ship, etc. If those are going to be bundled into another 'escalation'-like update over a few months or are they going to be released in minor individual content patches whenever they are ready.

Do you hint at something specific or is it just a feeling you have?

Please try to be as specific as you possibly can, if possible.

I remember when travelling from deep null sec to a high sec markethub was still an adventure. It required planning, teamwork and luck.
Now I can use jumpbridges / cyno's for the greatest part. EVE isn't big anymore, it's just a few jumps wide.

Jumpclones also took away a lot of this. I can have one clone here, another whereever I want it and so on for third etc. Making travel in case of an emergency less of a travel and more of a click and done.
I don't even have to risk high end implants because I can use a combat clone for PvP and then switch back to another clone for PvE.

It got dumbed down and far too easy to move around.

What was the reason for changing the war dec mechanics in this way as to only remove the exploitation and not further enhance it to limit pure griefing war declaration?

I'd much rather have seen a "capture the flag" scenario that allowed one party of the war to engage hostile "war" assets in highsec when the wartargets would rather dock up then confront their fleet thus allowing one side to completely remove the war after a certain amount of time (call it reinforcement timer after shooting the war asset) if the other wartargets didn't show up the following day to defend their war asset.

This would in so many beautiful ways increase the amount of proper war engagements one would have in highsec instead of each side picking of random stragglers from the other's alliance.

High sec wars are still broken, especially with CCP's failure at actually removing neutral/non-neutral station/stargate hugging logistics in Inferno and rather wait for next release..... pfff

When are they removing local.

I believe question 4 will adress these concerns.

Please see question 6 under Game Design.