Live Events Discussion

It seems that with the push for more frequent updates, the sense of a virtual world is slowly eroding.

There was once a time when EVE's lore was continiously expanded through fortnightly chronicles published on the website, chronicles were published with beautiful artwork through EON Magazine and we'd routinely read live event news (sometimes with no actual event in-game) through the community news. Meanwhile each snippet of Walking in Stations (especially the article published in the magazine more than 5 years ago) brought players just that little bit closer to really involving themselves in this fictional setting.

All of this is gone. We no longer even receive cinematic/lore trailers with each patch.

There are so many lore sections that are out of date in-game. Aside from EVE: Source (which was brilliant) it's apparent there has been a huge shift towards 'all gameplay' and 'no immersion'.

So aside from my concern, what is in the works to help reinvigorate this game's world? What is in the works to entice players to really explore New Eden beyond the appealing gameplay itself?

The game is in a general malaise lately and a feeling that better times are behind it.

But this is a Viking-run company and would not be surprised if some great shakeup occurs and some of the spirit comes back in spades.

For now there is a changing of the guard in the development department (it certain appears) and it also takes time for replacements to get to know the code.

The demographics of the game is also changing too. There appears to be a huge conflict between older players who got their start with box-set D&D basic and know hardship with pride and newer players who want quick gratification and have feelings that are easily hurt. Hence the game has a proverbial "fork in the road" that amounts to "damned if you do, damned if you don't". It's going to take some considerable craft to get around that.

The live events and the chronicles were what it was all about for me in the past. Now it's back to skill que online and waiting for better days with a watchful eye towards the future to ensure I'm not wasting money.

The game had vast potential to be more than a game - not like some virtual reality though - but a vehicle for "total experience" science fiction consumption. Imagine if the Star Trek franchise was not just series' and movies, but an MMO early on (had that technology been more readily available in the late 1960s).

You see the seal has yet to be broken on this: the idea of consumption of science fiction that is not merely watching it on a TV but participating in it. Imagine that, instead of just knowing about the Battle of Wolf 359, we would occasionally meet people who were in that battle. That's what I'm talking about.

So I'm hoping that these Vikings are the ones to break that seal and not some US company that picks up on the idea and riddles it with indoctrinating PC crap that makes it too excruciating to put up with and comprising a huge waste of technology (though at least would inspire epic griefing of the sort of people attracted to excruciating indoctrinating PC crap).

It can even be something as simple as the Apocrypha news bulletins which started with this: REPORT: COMMUNICATIONS LOST WITH ORE SURVEY TEAM IN OUTER RING

I stayed up all night for the entire duration of the patching process just to read each news bulletin which culminated in the loss of an entire planet's population and all the associated political intrigue. This is a primary feature of this game. Even when you're logged out, the world continues without you.

This is a prime example of why I describe EVE Online as a "newspaper". Where any other game is a great novel, the world stops where ever you leave your bookmark. However that newspaper will be obsolete in less than 24 hours and a new one, featuring a literal world of changes, will be ready to read. Possibly reflecting your influence on the world.

Surely these works of fiction are easy to produce? They must be easier than a cinematic trailer.

+1 for OP.

Have you been naughty enough for the Yule Lads to visit?

Whoa now, you are expecting more than ship balancing and texturing? What happened to player generated content? You want news bulletins sit in a trade hub and deliver it yourselves you lazy bastards.

These are simply superb, not just a tool to bring new players in, but a tool to keep many interested too, there are always those who simply say, it is a sandbox and players make the content, sure, why not? They are right too, but this, these wonderful lore creations, make it a sandbox with a view of the stars!

I get the impression that the game is in dire need of an extensive content expansion like apocrypha or incursion. While those expansions didn't introduce anything I personally couldn't live without they gave existing and inactive players entirely new things to do. Apocrypha in particular introduced craptons of new pvp opportunities as well as pve ones.

While balance is cool a perpetual cycle of nerfs and buffs with the occasional nugget of badly thought out content like polarized weapons jammed in is not going to capture the imagination of the community or make for appealing trailers.

Looks like they could lead to a significant expansion of the lore

Remember WH's. It's only exploring for the first few weeks, then everyone has explored everything. That or it's pure procedural generation so it's not actually exploring anything of substance, just a loot source.
Think playing an RPG for the tenth time. The first time you explore everywhere, even the useless spots. By the tenth time you know better than to go down the useless areas that don't give anything, and you've seen them already.