EVE General Discussion

Last few days since returning I have been getting friends to join me from other games.

All are very excited but as soon as they find out about the training time they get discouraged then they see the subscriptions fees most are great gamers do the calculations and just go this isn't worth my time or effort or money. They actually get angry at CCP saying things like, "what a scam or rip off." I try to warn them before they download it that it is a very different game but the reality doesn't hit them til they start actually playing.

Then I am left with people that are "I will afk train for my trial account and if I dont see anything I like in a few weeks after training I will not play it."

So I have been trying to think of a way for CCP to keep these people, they are good gamers, they are ready to spend money, and are excited about being in a space MMO.

I tell them they could buy characters with isk for plex's most don't want this they want to create a character they feel they started and own, named etc.


Has CCP talked about this at any point as a possibility? If so can I get a link.


The thread is 10 pages hard to find all the info that drove these ideas but here are the work in progress ideas.

New players

• Extend trial accounts with the same restrictions they have now no time limit or until they reach a certain skill point threshold, like X mil SP.


• Change the entire NPC system to be use 3D characters instead of the 2D images that are based on the 3D characters to give the players mission briefings.


• Start and end the missions with a 10-20-30 intro - exit cinematic based on the already created storyline so players would experience what they see in the CCP promo videos quickly.

Null Sec ideas

• Players get alliance logo on a nice big space billboard or space flag some part of the station which can be viewed from any gate based approach angle. This flag would unfold or rise for the first few minutes after down time and go down as the server was closing.


• If you lost a station the logo has to have a cool animated explosion then changed to the new owners flag rising.


• If you own a station for more then X amount of time you are given the option to buy a custom paint scheme or skin based on your Alliance Logo color scheme so that can be applied to every station of that type that is owned by that Alliance. Yes Goon City!


• Of course if it was me and I have choices I would offer the Alliance leadership a few options so they can decide if they want more of one color then another or a different pattern.


• So when you own space it has more of that feeling to every player in the alliance that spilled blood for it.

Player History

• Eve's player created history gets lost - using the Captains Quarters as is would offer a new option the History Chamber.


• This new option would enable the player relive old Eve space battles all the way back to Beta recreated with CCP's tool set as a live fulll screen 3D sim that you can watch and re watch when every you wanted. Show to newer players as well you are new to war son sit down and we will show what we did 3 years ago so you can dock here.


• Right now the player created history is represented by a 2d map with questionable colors and was created by someone outside of CCP or we would have nothing. Thank god for that guy who ever it is... let me look ah Verite < this dude is a god btw he is the only reason we have a way to see what happened over the 12 years. Thank you sir!

Kill mails

• Current system is represented by a lovely 2d image, little boring for my tastes, be great to get a downloadable 3D sim data package that can be replayed in the engine - on demand content so if you wanted a particular loss or epic kill you can relive it.


• Enables players to create VOD's which could be used teach newer players how to fleet fight, small gang tactics, promo VODS, taunting VOD, etc.


• Big issue I have is that most of the great sandbox content is lost to the wind, nobody sees it is represented on a boring 2d kill board in game or out of game. When I look at the big losses of the day I would love to be able to watch / replay them in engine.

Slight changes that might keep a few more percentage of players long enough to get hooked, and these ideas appeal to me as well because I ran though all the content years ago and this would give me a reason to do it again.

Clean Slate

• Offer players ability to change character name after purchasing a character with isk.
• Offer players the ability to scrub the history if they want but not the creation date.
• Offer players a Clean Slate package deal so they can re sculpt, rename, and clear corp history. To lower feature cost just make it an all or nothing choice to see if players find this a useful tool. 2nd Phase would give the player the ability to select what corp history to keep. Resarch Project (Does corp history cost server bandwidth or load times in large congested system?)
• A character with X amount of years would get one clear for free, they could save this like a remap for when they wanted to use it.
• Look into refreshing available names for players that haven't logged in or paid for the game in over 6+ or X years allowing new players to get a name they want. Send all players that are in jeopardy of losing character name mail to last known address in the hope they will log in again to save it. Certain names of players that are no longer with us could be retired permanently like a hall of fame sports star jersey so they can never be used again.
• Create monument to these players.

Funny. When I came to EVE after playing games like EverQuest and Earth & Beyond my response was 'Wait, you mean I don't have to drop sixty bucks for the game, and then thirty every six months on expansions in ADDITION to the monthly fee?!? NEAT!'
The game and content updates are already free, so the monthly subscriptions are a more than reasonable cost to play.

In order for the game to survive as 'free to play', it will become 'pay to win'. Which will kill it.

I'd recommend your friends stop trying to negotiate for more and either take or leave what's offered.

your ignorance makes me cringe.

[quote]


They all leave that is the point of the question. Eve is in a odd place right now you have to wait for training, grind isk, spend real world money on something that you can actually lose, it is confusing for a lot of people.

They see the deck stacked against them and go drop 60 dollars on cards for HS or LoL skins. Because they feel they own that content and they have a fair fight. We know this isnt the case with Eve.

These are people have no clue about Eve history - Russian macro droners, macro farmers, moon mining or any of the best ways to play eve for free. I remember the days when BoB used the tower exploit for 7 years before it was fixed to control the entire south of the map.

They are just new players that are excited about spending money on a game they have never experienced before see the videos and want to try it. You know main stream people that have money, and talent for playing games.

I'm trying to imagine what would happen to the community.... so many ways it could go. Would be cool to see a ton of people in space though.

EVE has never been "just another casual game". It's more like a hobby and requires, at least, some commitment. The truth is that all more or less popular MMO games do, but a lot of people deceive themselves by saying: "I can stop playing whenever I want" - and still spend much more time than they should in the game regardless. EVE is honest about itself, at least.

The problem with your suggestion is that EVE is a competitive sandbox with a player-driven economy. You don't seem very happy about how the skill training system works, but I see it as optimal, being one of the important equalizers in the game. You see, even though the veterans have a huge head start now, the current system saves us of power levelling of new characters by big alliances, which would, naturally, have much more resources to do that. If we had to grind EXP like in other games, new players would be forced to join powerful blobs not even to have an edge over their peers, but simply to stay competitive. Not fun and not good for the balance of power.

Going F2P in a player-driven economy is pure madness. Dozens of mining alts. Dozens of ganking alts. Ratting alts. Alts, alts everywhere. The monthly bill is the only thing keeping the alts in check. Okay, great, let's limit all players to one character, then! Sure, but will it work? The more tech-savvy players will find a way to bypass the ban - they always do - and everyone will have to follow suit. What do you think of the prospect of having to have a bunch of virtual machines, a list of proxy servers, and a basic course in programming to be able to join a decent corp? Not fun at all.

Your post kinda denies this.

Welcome back tho

I think you should encourage them to log in, form a fleet and go do a different career path as a fleet each time.

For example:

Mining Ops - Everyone searches nearby Asteroid Belts and Ore Anomalies in system to bookmark and mine a specific Ore such as Golden Omber, then do Fleet Mining with Hauling back to station until Ore is depleted, then Reprocess the Ore and stockpile the Minerals.

Mission Ops - Everyone picks a different Corp in same system, pulls one mission offer from an Agent which the fleet completes, loots, salvages and stockpiles everything in station with the Minerals.

Exploration Ops - Fleet runs a few different types of sites, such as Hacking, Combat, DED, etc. Gathers up all loot and salvage at each site to add with stockpile in station.

Market Ops - Research various Regional Markets to find highest Quick Sell ISK value for the Ore, Mineral, Loot and Salvage stockpiled in station, transport items to those areas, sell and divide ISK between Fleet members.

PvP Ops - Fleet up with cheap combat fits and go do a low sec roam, jump on first player ship encountered. Continue until Fleet get's a kill.

Just a few ideas, all of which can be done with brand new characters. The Mining, Mission, Exploration and Market Ops will help fund the PvP Ops, plus it gives you a quick tour of just a few of the different paths available in this game. The main thing is to log in and do stuff together.

Good luck and above all else, have fun.


DMC

Do you understand that I am talking about players that play mostly Heartstone, Wow, League and DOTA2 and they are high elo in all these games, high meaning top 5% of all players in the USA or EU? And that have spent 1000's of dollars on two or three of these games. People that go to gaming bars to watch people play during big events.

I would kindly ask that discussion continue. I would like to see some of this money going to CCP.

Free to play is not the solution. If CCP can make every battle between alliances as interesting as the yearly alliance tournament, they will be able to gain more accounts than they will lose. Players can be sure that they will have interesting fights if they spend time to accumulate skill points while learning how to fight the PVP combat mechanic and making isk by playing PVE activities. Individual player skills will be more valuable in a battle. Tournament-style battle will also solve or mitigate many problems of the Damnation sov and Aegis sov such as structure grinding, time dilation, power projection, trollceptors, jump fatigue.