Assembly Hall

I agree.

The reason why I mentioned it is because it was one of the things non EVE players told me about this game.
Here my experiences why they don't play EVE are, beside they aren't into science fiction stuff, on number one the time and on second place the costs.

Well the monthly fee kept me ten years ago from joining the game, but now I agree EVE is cheap in comparison to many free to play games. That brings us back to the question why CCP failed for years to convince for example me to join its club of capsuleers? Maybe they simply failed to bring the message of a really cool game despite the fees to me? Who knows.

But people are short sighted, with exception of you dear reader of course. Monthly fees - free, monthly fees - free.... That people very probably will pay over time more for a f2p game isn't in their minds at the beginning.
I don't suggest CCP should change that, the contrary. But I still think it's a reason that has an effect to some degree.

Let's start with some RL background:
I'm an Old Fart, Age 66.
American Veteran of the Vietnam War. Having engaged in RL PvP, I am not obsessed with blowing up pixels.
Age and injury put me at a disadvantage in a twitch contest with teenagers.
Currently disabled and therefore spend a lot of time on line.

The PvE environment in Eve has a base game that if developed could be great. I have come and gone multiple times, mostly because of the attitude of CCP itself, I keep coming back in hopes the attitude has changed. It is one thing to have a bias toward one play style, it is another to kiss the ring of one group of players. Adding up CCP's lost revenue from me is about $3400.00.

The areas I feel CCP could improve Eve in Hi-sec.

Graphics.
I am an armature astronomer with a nice 8" telescope.
As seen from space stars would be distinct points of light. In Eve, stars are blurred as if looking through an atmosphere.
The nebula as portrayed in Eve are huge, to be that close to most nebulae a person would be fried by X-rays and Gamma Rays.
The light diffusion as you look at the star in each solar system is that of again, as observed through an atmosphere, and not from the vacuum of space.

Ganking Risk vs Reward.
The gankee takes all the risk. Crime watch is an improvement, I feel it would be better if in addition to the 15 min. timer, a second 24 hour timer was attached ( perhaps black pirate icon ) that would make them a valid target for the neighborhood watch. These timers would be cumulative. You gank 5 players, you're a valid target for 5 days or until you're killed 5 times.
NPC Corporation faction loss similar to security loss. I have 8.5 standing with say Core Complexion, and you have no status, you get negative status with Core Complexion, get enough and Core Complexion won't let you use their stations.

Piracy
I'm not sure where CCP got it's idea of what a pirate was. Caribbean pirates, with only a couple of exceptions, used very fast, lightly armed sloops against unarmed merchants. The goal was to steal the cargo, not sink the ship.

Evolution of sheep.
CCP believes that humanity will evolve into a species that accepts lawlessness without exception. Something along the lines of an old west town terrorizing it's citizens in perpetuity. Bring in Wyatt Earp.

License to steal.
Custom Office Monopolies granted to the select few at the time of the change. These should either be returned to Interbus or allow multiple offices. This is an example of unfair bias in favor of a few, and a demonstration of how much Eve Is Not a Sandbox. The rules alone prevent me from installing a second office.

Sandbox Myth.
Those who claim Eve is a sandbox are those that the rules favor.
If it were a true sandbox I could make a WWII "Q" ship. An exhumer hull fitted with weapons and modules to gank the gankers.

Non PvP player.
CCP could most likely attract and retain many that are more interested in PvE, manufacturing and trade. ( Expecting PvP diehards to respond with 'that's not what Eve is about", "CAREBEAR", "why don't you leave then" or any troll you want.) Keep in mind, what I propose is not for low-sec or null, only high sec, to aid new players and those that are not obsessed with PvP.

A change in Player Corporations, add a PA (Private Association) category. Up to 3 members that are on the same account, ie a personal corporation. Only other PA's can declare war on a PA.

Any logistics support in High-sec is an act of aggression.

I have seen overzealous wanna-be pretend bad boys drive potential players away. A brand new player (less that one day old) went to recruitment channel, announced he was a new player, some trolls immediately placed a bounty on him. I added him as a contact, but he had already logged off, and 10 days later, has not logged on again, nor replied to the e-mail I sent apologizing for the bad behavior.

Rant is long enough.

1. Nice biographical information, but is it relevant? I will have you know that I am the Queen and reside in Buckingham Palace and do not pay tax or have a passport.


2. Great, so an 'armature' astronomer wants to chip in with their two cents? Fantastic. Let's re-do what the art department has created just to be more realistic. Submarines in space? Never mind about that.

3. 'The gankee takes all the risk'. Brilliant. Don't worry about the fact that the aggressor loses their ship when they violence someone else's boat - don't worry about that at all! Were a player like you to have a telephone conversation with CCP, I imagine it'd go something like this:

You: "Change the game, it's unfair to those players who refuse to interact with others but who get blown up without (as I see it) any repercussions!"

CCP: "Free and unfettered actions (and the attendant consequences therein) are the essence of the sandbox. What's stopping you from exercising the killrights and blapping the guy who blapped you?"

You: "Errr...change it anyway, make a level playing field!"

CCP: "Sorry, no - it would destroy the game as we know it"

You: "NO U"

4. Your analogy with seafaring pirates is flawed, as - to my knowledge - Caribbean pirates perhaps weren't concerned with looting the modules from their prey. In EVE, that is very much a part of the piracy experience (loot fairy permitting).

5. You don't have to be 'obsessed with PVP' to enjoy this game (I I'm terrible at it...doesn't stop me trying, though), but you most certainly must accept that virtually everything in EVE is predicated on social interactions and dependent therein. It's not a single player game with MMO elements; it's an MMO with some single player (PVE) elements - that is the truth now, and it has been the truth since the beta game servers were switched on.

Accepting that this is the way things are will do wonders for you; if you can't, perhaps another game may be more to your liking.

In a funny way, by the way, you yourself are now a 'criminal' (in the context of the forum'), as you have breached rule 3 with your self-admitted rant:






Food for thought.


*Bumble steeples his fingers*


Your move, cowboy.

PvE, trading and industry are indeed an essential part of Eve - but they absolutely require PvP to be worthwhile. Gathering resources and making stuff would lose all meaning if this sandbox game did not have risk as well as feature permanent loss. No one would want your stuff and be willing to give you anything for it.

You are asking to have your cake and eat it too. PvE/industry requires PvP to give it meaning and items in this game value, and PvP needs PvE/Industry to make the weapons of war. You cannot isolate players from PvP like you want yet still let them benefit from the shared game economy. If you want that, you can already mine/mission/build to your heart's content in 100% safety on the test server. But you won't, because if you tried you would quickly come to the conclusion that these activities have little value in isolation from the greater game.

Eve is a single-universe, competitive sandbox game, almost unique in the gaming space. CCP has tried to juggle the eternal dilemma of safety vs. vulnerability and already highsec is extremely safe, essentially 100% safe if you spend little effort. No, not 100% safe, but this is by design and whatever risks that are left are easily managed. You have to accept those risks or play something else. CCP cannot provide the absolute safety you seem to demand and still stay true to the fundamental design of the game. The customers that you say want that just cannot be catered to with this product.

MMOs have lifespans. Maybe EVE has simply passed it's peak.

It's certainly looking a lot more polished nowadays, but for me personally it's still pretty much the same game I quit playing over a year ago (I'm back for a month out of curiosity).

Plus there are a number of other space ship games out there that simply weren't around 5 years ago, so players have choices in what game they play. Personally I prefer the hands on flying of Elite Dangerous, but at the moment it lacks the complexity and depth that EVE offers, and all players on the one server provides a unique experience.

I personally think CCP's current tactic is going to try and grow it's customer base through multiple products (Valkyrie, Dust/Legion/Whatever), rather than trying to attract more players to EVE.

I think this is a shame because I would like to see EVE grow, the lore is interesting and universe unique, and there plenty of avenues for new and interesting game play (WiS, colonizing planets, interacting/meddling with NPC empires) but I don't think any of these will be explored because "EVE is just about spaceships herp derp".

Suicide ganking helps the economy as it adds demand and drives up commodity prices.

It's sad, but by following a few simple rules (Not being AFK, not using direct warps between gates, using comms) brings you to find that nullsec is far more pacified than high-sec ;)

A wonderful story sure to delight and warm the hearts of the HTFU crowd.

Because null-sec is where a bunch of wannabe landlords live and they like to keep their turf pacified. So the tenants are generating more income and the revenue on services is thus better.