Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I'm a little bit disheartened with the lack of solid new content in upcoming Kronos expansion/release.

I like the new ships and modules, the changes to drones, low slots on freighters and even the tool tips. I will actually miss the loot spew mechanic as it actually made me have to pay a bit more attention in hacking sites.

The little changes and rebalancing work are something I also think are great additions, and the work on new ships skins, overhauling the ship models and the graphic improvements are something I also think are positives.

Its just the lack of new true PVE content that i'm feeling we are missing out on. Asking for this is something that has been requested over and over again with the general response being that the content creation tools are not in a good place right now. Hopefully the switching to the six-week release schedule will give a team chance to work on it.

But to the point of the post:

I would like CCP to use the new release schedule to make some engaging episodic PVE content similar to the existing epic arcs.

Each release would see a new chapter released for the four main factions.

The overarching story line would have to have some overall lore consequences, with the number of players taking part in each faction effecting the direction of the story line. I.e. if the majority of all completed missions are Amarr then the overall story line favours the Amarr faction.

Players would be able to either take part in missions in high sec, with rewards equal to a good level 4, or take part in low sec mission with rewards equal to level 5, the difficulty scaling with rewards. However each character would only be able to mission for one faction, and they would not be repeatable until two later chapters have been released. i.e you could only re-do chapter 1 once chapter 3 had been released. Changing Factions would not be possible, at least not until the complete story is released.

The NPC rats coming for the improved FW plexs should be the basis of the rats for these missions, more like a PVP experience than a PVE, with less overall number of NPCs but damage levels higher.

The final completion reward for the series should not be released in advance, forcing people not to pick based on reward to grind through for max benefit.

Kronos is supposedly seeing the rise of the pirate factions, so to keep that theme going it would make sense if the story was perhaps a way of the empires calling on the capsuleers to respond to this growing threat, perhaps a pirate faction series could run along side.

It is something, hopefully they can use the experience from that work to develop more content. My overriding hope is that the any work done on this could carry over to provide a full revamp of missions and anoms

Not seeing how the OP's offering makes PVE = PVP. PVP has a script like a story and tons of NPCs? Who knew!

LOL

Last thing EvE need is more PvE stuff. HTFU or return to WoW.

Cant fault the principal of more is better, but...

This is a lot of work for something that will last all of 5 minutes before its boring again. to which the answer is not 'then make even more'



this is a PvP game. its designed around player interaction and its widely regarded that the best content in the game is the content created by players.

PvE hardly ever holds players forever, it gets boring quickly as NPC storylines are interesting for ur first walk through only. After that writers must create more stories to keep u interested, and then even more once u've completed those stories. its a lot of work.

Conflict between players on the other hand, updates itself as players adapt. Players feel more involved with PvP, they feel they make more of a difference and u never 'complete the game' with PvP. It is more interesting on multiple levels and has very good player retention.

So although u dnt have to combat PvP, if u are the guy that does the research and industry for ur allies, or grinds iskies for allies so that they have the equipment and money they need to attack opponents, the game tends to be more fun, never ending and relatively less work to update and tweak.

thats why ppl and the game designers focus so much on PvP and player conflict. And often why fleshing out NPC stories take a back seat. But they still get mentions here and there, and the new exploration sites and belt rat hunting should be interesting.

TL:DR More is better, but i'd rather they focus else where at least for now.

One would hope so. However it does not seem to be the case with existing arcs, exploration, incursions and level 5's.
Given an option, the vast majority of hi-sec players will stay in hi-sec, even if it means much lower rewards. If u force them to take low sec missions, they will complain or not run the arc at all.

For example, all these PvE hungry players. How many of u have ran pirate missions and arcs? theres a whole story to these missions, extra PvE u havent done yet, high rewards and tasty content.

im guessing few of u. The fact they are in low and null means many of u wont be running any of them.


Another common behaviour of PvE players is that they look to 'complete the game'. PvE players reach a marauder, realise they cant skill into anything higher without leaving hi-sec so they feel there is nothing more to do and they leave. It requires a disproportionate amount of work to keep these players interested.

Why not just make PvP more fun and attractive since that already works as player retention and the work involved is more tweaking than content creation?

I agree with you; the basis of EVE is PVP, be it direct combat or other kinds of competition, which are many.

With my post you quoted I was refering to people that just adheres to simply PVP combat and can't stand the sight of a miner; there are people around here that simply can't wrap their minds around the concept of someone liking to do that. What I understood from the OP is a kind of PVE related with the Empires' interests in a form similar to that of Epic Arcs, but one that fluctuates with player actions and its outcomes depend on what the players do, therefore affecting the ever-changing history of New Eden. That is, leaving the Empires relationships between them in the hands of the players. That could mean many forms of PVP, as participants would seek their Empire to be at the top.

I think that would be a quite curious kind of mix between PVE and PVP. Generally players would be trying to accomplish objectives imposed by the Empires, but would also be trying to sabotage the efforts of their enemies, and sometimes fighting directly.

It would be some kind of FW that actually affects the whole cluster and its history, rather than just capture-lose-recapture endlessly, and that involves many aspects of the game. I'd like to see that :)

If the hisec folks who like this sort of content are such a small number how come the PvP focused folks keep moaning about hisec numbers and profits?

Done right it would not be costly, that's the whole point of Content Management. It would be simple to add new, remove old, balance loot etc across the board and on top of that add an underlying plot to the lore. Also don't forget that the marginal clientele underpin the industry of eve and will under no circumstances move to losec or null. They are paying customers too so if PvE is cut or nerfed you start to lose players and the bedrock of eve's economy.

There needs to be both productive and enjoyable PvP *and* PvE for Eve to continue growing