EVE General Discussion

It's only a conundrum because CCP is refusing to pool its resources in a single game, and is instead happy and content taking HUGE gambles like Dust 514 and WoD (of which we have seen precisely d*** so far, no gameplay, avatars, combat, etc.)

Look, CCP is not a tiny indie company. They had 600 employees pre-Incarna, and still have about 400 after Incarna? There's WAY smaller companies doing WAY bigger things (see Trion, among others, which has < 200 people) will significantly smaller staff.

But the problem is, not all of CCP employees are working on EVE. Instead, a goodly portion of them is off working on Dust. Which, let's face it, has a very reasonable chance of flopping. Especially in light of its PS3-only requirement and the fact that with PS4 coming within the next 18 months nobody in their right mind would buy a PS3 just for it. And lest we forget, Dust is going to be F2P. So what kind of revenue they can expect from it, I don't know. I'm guessing they're aiming at what TF2 did, but I don't think they're being realistic. TF2 is a franchise, for one, not a first game in the series. And secondly it is incredibly fun, addictive, accessible and yet deceptively simple with tons of hidden complexity. Not to mention is has FANTASTIC community support via Valve and lately the Steam Workshop. Just can't compare Dust to that and expect the same thing to happen.

And then there's WoD, which still hasn't graduated out of the vaporware category. We've seen virtually zero footage of it, aside from the map fly-by last year. Which showed a couple of city blocks, totally devoid of any moving parts, avatars, vehicles, NPCs, weather systems, etc. Considering the game has been in full production supposedly since 2009, that's hardly impressive.

So it boils down to a choice. Currently it seems CCP is white-knuckling it on Dust front, and to heck with the rest. We'll have to wait until the possible Dust flop before we will see more focus on EVE. And I doubt they'll just drop Dust within months when it becomes obvious it isn't going to fly. They'll likely waste months or even years trying to keep it going. But it's their business, literally, so they'll do what they want regardless of what we think. Which may be a good thing, and I have certainly been wrong before.

That is not to say that the current direction of EVE development is bad. No, far from it. In fact, it's needed. There's a lot of INSANELY outdated and broken stuff about this game that needs to be fixed. Like drones, for example. Or PoS. Or a ton of other things. Trouble is, things are happening too slow because CCP isn't focusing on any one game. Think about the latest "expansion". What was REALLY added, that was a huge game-changer? Nothing much. As such, old hands still get bored and quit. And new players are not really coming in either, because the game is "same old" thing. The little tweaks are invisible to new/casual players, and they're never compelling enough to make them stay.

For example, over this holiday weekend, I tried to lure my bother into EVE once again. He watched me play in the new FW stuff, saw new ships, etc. But at the end, he just shrugged and said that it's really same stuff he last saw years ago:

-Yes, the UI is a bit different, but it's still spreadsheets when it should be graphical representation (this is talking about D-scan).

-Yes, the AI is a bit better now, attacking drones and all. But combat is still simplistic and dull to the point of extinction (compared to newer games like GW2 with highly dynamic and interactive combat where an archer's arrow flying through a wall of fire produces a tertiary effect of fire arrows, or active dodge system reminiscent of fighter games).

-Yes, the new FW system is way nicer than the original implementation. But it's still orbiting a damn button and hoping not to fall asleep doing it.

-Yes, the targeting icons are now round instead of square. So what? Windows are still square. The entire UI still looks awkward and Frankenstein-like - the ship-related and targeting is round, the windows and overview and scan is all sharp-angle rectangular spreadsheet. And drone UI? lol Forgetaboutit!

In fact, the whole experience of showing him the "new and improved" EVE reminded me of that movie, "Crocodile Dundee", where Paul Hogan sees a TV in New York hotel and says he's seen one of these years ago in Australia. He turns it on, sees the opening credits of "I Love Lucy" and says "Yep, this is what I saw." and switches the TV set off. That's what's happening to EVE right now.

Etc., etc. My point is, these changes are NOT making new people, or people who tried EVE years ago and wrote it off, come to the game and try it. Never mind stay. And no matter how the game is improving, people who are playing right now WILL get bored and quit at some point, even if temporarily. That's stagnation.

Bottom line, I said it before and I'll say it again - WiS is NEEDED for EVE to keep going. It is the ONLY thing that will attract new players, or make players who tried it years ago come back and try it again. No amount of starship tweaking or adding a handful of new hulls is going to cut it. And the longer CCP puts it off, the worse it'll be.

Although I agree that CCP have definitely spread themselves too thin, I have to say your probably being a little harsh on Dust. For a start, Dust wasn't actually designed as a console specific game (coding wise), and as such will be easy to run on the PS4. Not only that, but CCP have let slip that the PS3 exclusive deal, is a limited term thing. If I could find the blog I read that in I would link it, but it might be more hassle than it's worth at the moment. I think I read it on an IGN blog. CCP has all intentions of keeping Dust running indefinitely, even if that means switching consoles. And lets face it, it will add to Eve (Eventually).

WoD of course is another matter entirely. If they can generalise the engine and use the tech in Eve once it's done, then it's fine that they have people working on it. If not, then frankly they messed up pretty bad.

Having said all that, CCP have spread themselves too thin and I would rather have them spending time on WiS then on either of the other games, but then I am biased... Because I play Eve obsessively. So my motivation for saying that is pretty selfish.



Easy solution. Elevators. Lots and lots of elevators.

Right now it means that if you're trying to take over factional warfare, then if your faction's Dust guys are winning it will be slightly easier.

(in other words, effectively nothing)

So basically DUST is now ,what Incarna was for a few people ,when this so called Rage happened.

Maybe for you .
I guess ,you own a console

like i said ,i don,t play on console.
I tried ,but i can not get myself used to the controls of it.

So ,Devs diverted to the DUST side of CCP gains me nothing.
But ,i don,t whine and especially don,t ragequit about it.

So ,what gameplay ?

lol that was fast .
i was just wondering how long it would take you to come in and come up with the same old routine.
and that is a real story .

and then you see the bulkheads burst as the pos gets destroyed when you are inside it....omg weeeeeeee

I would like to present you plan for EVE updates. Predictions made by professional Magic Eight Ball user.

summer 2013 - more clothes, ship and module stats iterations, DUST launch, iterations on iterations that were made in 2012
winter 2013 - more iterations on ships, DUST iterations, tatoos, ship skins in NEX store
summer 2014 - POS overhaul, null overhaul.
winter 2014 - iterations on null and POS system.
summer 2015 - sansha empire is defeated (definitely) and enslaved by amarr, sleepers are back and they are taking back the wormholes, all jove citizens able to breathe are obligated to wear womens underwear, noone will see them anyway.

as you can see, there is no WIS present there.

Orbital bombardment anyone? That's just one potential content generator, and it's not the only one.

Orbital Bombardment will add quite a lot of content through sheer opportunity and player initiative. If it's in your interest that Dust bunnies on your side win a certain battle, then your going to want to be there for orbital support. And if it's in the interest of your enemies that they lose, then they will be there as well. More opportunity for PvP, which ever way you look at it.



I would love to see that. It would be so cool.



Wow, where did that come from? Haha, never saw that before.