EVE General Discussion

What info on what last CSM meeting? Perhaps you could provide a link?

Oh yes, this would be bad. I agree that the default nature of CQ when it came in was one of the unsub-worthy things about Incarna.

In a game like EVE with a well-established playerbase who love the game, you have to tread carefully in changing things (e.g. now it's the UI). It's not that people fear change for the sake of fearing change, it's that through years of play peoples' reflexes get set in a certain way of doing things, so that it's almost physically painful if certain fundamentals are altered.

This is not the same as changing a game mechanic - a change to a game mechanic is rightly something that we must adapt to - but any change in fundamentals like how you access the game or what you consider to be "home" in the game has to be very carefully done.

So, take it from a WiS-lover - NO to default WiS, absolutely NO to WiS being in any way forced on the player, and if that were to happen I'd be on the barricades like everyone else, just as I was about Incarna.

We are pod pilots first and foremost, we get out of our pods when WE have a good reason to.

But we do sometimes get out of our pods

WiS is not an evolution, it's game-changing. At that point, you might as well play Second Life, WoW, or yes, Dust. I play Eve for the spacecraft, not the space barbies. If I want walking, I will play another MMO. I play Eve because IT IS already a niche game, one that is not duplicated at all, or at least not well.

Influx to EVE? No, I just don't see it. Don't get me wrong, I WANT to believe it'll happen, but my imagination just isn't up to the task. I just can't see the demographic that would be attracted by a F2P shooter exclusive to PS3 being in any way, shape or form interested in EVE universe. If that were a possibility, they'd have tried EVE by now, they had 9 years to do it in.

Influx to DUST itself? Again, don't see it. I can see people trying it for a while, I can see a small hardcore following for the game, but that's about it. There are scores of F2P shooters out there, and what's DUST's hook? Connection to EVE? Connection to a game that the bulk of DUST player base doesn't give a hoot about? Not much of a hook.

This is just speculation, of course. Totally off-the-wall personal opinion not backed up by anything at all except roughly 30 years of gaming. It's what my gut's telling me.



Possible, but again unlikely. I mean, OK, for RP purposes it'll be great. Beyond that? Dubious at best.

First, for people to actually participate in avatar play, it has to be either very fun or very profitable or both. And it can't be profitable, because why would you undock if you can earn insane amounts of income through avatar gameplay? If this should happen, EVE will no longer be about ships in space, it'll be about avatars grinding whatever for ISK.

If only certain facets are profitable, such as black market booster trade, I again don't see it working. How many people currently make boosters? How many of them will waste time standing in a station shouting "WTS Boosterz!"?



The thing is, there's been very little improvement there. The recent UI change has been pretty much a disaster. And while it's nice that Seleene says people "owned it" and are planning to fix it, that's not an improvement yet. Looks and eye candy like missiles are nice, but they won't keep people in the game. Good example of eye candy not saving the game would be Aion, Age of Conan, etc. At the time, they were staggeringly graphically advanced games with amazing visuals. But as soon as the novelty disappeared, so did the players. And mechanics-wise, recent changes have been rather weak - FW will need months and months and months of iteration before it is in an acceptable state (see Minnies speedtanking plexes like crazy), and wardecs still need work, crimewatch didn't even make it, the ship rebalancing so far included 4 frigates (out of 24 total), not to mention other hulls. Etc., etc.

OK, I'll admit it. I'm in a pretty depressed mood right now, and that's probably affecting the way I see things. But looking at the blog, I see a lot of same old "we'll do stuff, and it'll be cool". Which has been the EVE marching song for many years now. Hopefully they can bring it all together, but personally I'd like to see more concrete plans, concrete dates, etc. I don't want to see surprise features that appear on SiSi, by which time so much resources were spent on it that it's too late to change anything. And listening to player feedback would be a plus. There was tons, and I mean TONS of negative feedback about the new UI long before it went live. There's no reason they could not have been it coming, because they were told to (and shown on video) what the problems were, and still it went live and we all know the rest.

Anyway, I'm complaining and rambling and in general whining like a mule. Sorry, carry on.

JJR

Dust is one of the first FPS's in a very long time to feature any sort of innovation, meaning, or consequence. That alone makes it interesting and appealing. If players get involved and committed to Dust it would only be natural that some of them would start to think about the big picture and venture into Eve. I am concerned about how well it will do, but if it does well I see an influx into Eve. I know outsiders are scary, but think of all the innocent little newblings that will be out in the open to prey on.

I agree WIS needs to stay a non required cosmetic addition. The focus in EVE needs to be on the ships but WIS would bring in more new players. Most of the people that try EVE and cancel say the same thing, either "it's too hard" (to bad for you), or "I can't get over not having an avatar". Add onto that the masses of SWG refugees and other RP fans that have not received any love from MMO companies in the last 8 years and you could draw in a substantial crowd. Look around the MMORPG forums and you can see all of them begging for things like the ability to sit, TO SIT! All these years and these players have lost more than any other MMO fan. They are dying for a new home. If you build it, they will come.

CCP may not have gotten the UI right yet but they are trying. Look at SWTOR, in beta one fans had the same complaints they do now, and they are flat out being ignored. CCP is a rarity in this genre. They keep us fairly informed and are receptive, 99% of other MMO companies are disgusted by the idea of the players having a say in anything. Until you have experienced SOE from the launch of SWG til the NGE you don't have a proper measuring stick for bad development. It was months of 0 information followed by broken changes with 0 feedback, with no direction or insight into the future of the game. We never got a heads up or even an opinion. When something didn't work it was ignored. That was bad development. CCP trying to do these things, making mistakes, and being open about it is unheard of in this Genre.