Live Events Discussion

I saw amongst the fan fest coverage mentions of possible access to Jove space and also a good bit about live events. It got me thinking about and then jonseing for EVE again.

Arek'Jalaan was supposed to be, well, actually it was, a player-led effort at driving part of teh storyline. Site One was constructed, stuff happened, etc. The focus of Arek'Jalaan was WH exploration and figuring out the mysteries of WH space, sleepers, the ancient civilizations, etc. With the upcoming Odyssey expansion, the focus is clearly on exploration and things related to it.

Do we know yet if reaching Jove space is actually a possibility? Or if that might be one of the "rewards" for 10 year players (something else I saw mentioned)? Is Arek'Jalaan going to be tied into future live events/player-driven storyline efforts? Is the player-driven storyline idea going to be more than the Caldari Prime thing? That is, not just an X number of hours event, but some sort of ongoing event like AJ?

Reaching Jove space was one of my "ridiculous dream" goals many moons ago and I'm hoping for exploration that leads somewhere truly interesting (as opposed to just another place to find things to turn into ISK and/or shoot red crosses). Any information, insight, or links you guys have would be most appreciated.

I keep wondering if they're going to go with something along the lines of GW2's "living story" model, where they rollout an overarching storyline bit by bit. Depending on what they do with the older lore/story/event results, the AJ thing might work perfectly with that sort of approach. Or maybe they've mapped out a branching line story arc based on certain finds/events/whatever.

I'm not holding my breath that Jove will open up, but I'm hoping. I missed out on the actual AJ stuff. I finally got wind of it once they had already built Site One. I'm not looking for RP, but EVE could definitely use something more than just "our group fought their group and we won/lost and then we did it all over again day after day for a really long time" or "we went to X location and killed npcs/mined and made Y billion ISK."

Here's one of the things I read. There may be others. I vaguely recall reading something else, somewhere else.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/31/eve-evolved-eves-odyssey-expansion-could-be-incredible/

I'm mainly interested because it's been a specific goal of mine for a long time. A sort of intentionally impossible goal requiring incredible changes or twists of fate to accomplish. It would be really fantastic to be able to achieve it. Especially if they don't just open it up, but make it some sort of substantial effort and true exploration. Just re-reading that article gives me hope again.

The current live events system is already like GW2's live events. If you have been following the news, there are multiple archs ongoing together at the same time right now. They just don't push monthly updates and repeatable content for it. I'm not sure if the repeatable content approach is worth copying either. Firstly it'll be just like Lv4 missions. Secondly EVE is single shard, you can't funnel people into one place like in GW2. Thirdly, EVE is designed for people to spread out naturally, having a linear storyline turns the sandbox into a theme park.

As for Arek'Jaalan, while it sounded great that players can generate content for the game, in practice it was quite dysfunctional. Quality control overhead is taxing and you have to deal with things that really don't make much sense or contradict something else, that somehow got popular support and you lock yourself in a catch 22. Moreover, it loosens CCP's control over their IP.

There is always the big draw of being the big story writer and make an impact in the game as a creator, this role is better represented by the RP community and forums such as EVE inspiracy, where things are developed organically and refined over time. I can say that I'm reasonably sure that there's at least one instance of material being taken from there and put into official stories, and I'm a very new user there.

As for player generated stories done within the game itself, that exists, too. Look at the real story initiative. It's a lot more inclusive as far as players are concerned, a lot more all-encompassing as far as content goes, the system is democratic, and highly publicized. Participation and content generated far exceeds Arek'Jaalan had ever had, and they are also much more relevant to the gameplay. They are the stories people log in to EVE for, not some random Sci-Fi fiction.

Instead of wrangling old methods that have been proven to not work, why not spend time participating in things that do, and are waiting for your input right now?

All I can do is hope.

It would be really great if CCP could take some time to lay out what they expect to happen with live events, lore, incursions, and the like. The AJ people were left hanging after a great deal of work and time contributed. No one seems to have bothered to come back and actually tell them what's what. All the interesting stuff that occurred when Incursions first came out seems to have been lost in aether.

BTW: you can see exactly what I've been reading from the link.

Odyssey Press Release: "Odyssey greatly expands the opportunities for players to explore all corners of the massive EVE Universe and its 7,929 solar systems."

If we're not able to explore all 7929 systems, that would imply the statement was incorrect. It would be simpler if CCP simply confirmed or denied that the total number of systems mentioned in the Odyssey press release was incorrect.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Sure. Any particular reason? Or do you just think your stuff is cool