Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I launch this idea after having done most of all kind of pve we could find in Eve, and sill not having found what i really expect from a game.

I think we could all agree about pve in Eve is really boring. Accept the mission/probe the plex, go to where you are told to, kill the rats, loot, and go back the beginning in order to repeat that. And it won't take more than three hours to complete the operation.
In the first times you do that, it does look like an adventure. But after some years of playing, it simply looks like industry.

It has to be kind of industry, because people needs isks and have to run after it.

But it also shows this universe as an industrial place. The background, all the possible legends, myths, are only shown to those who are looking for it through web-sites and forums.

Personally, what does attract me in a space background is that feeling of an infinite place, that contains infinite secrets, ancient events, myths and legends that wait to be discovered. Way more than could contain a medieval or contemporain background.

I remember a famous slogan that ccp used to advertise Eve : " The universe is yours".

Done. The universe is mine/ours. And now ? Where are the surprises ? Where are the real adventures ? Where can i find something that nobody already found before ? Can i have another goal to fight another player ?



Here is what i'd like to see in Eve.

While i am chilling around, i receive an e-mail from an official (or unofficial btw) npc agent, asking me to meet him in person as a designed place, because he has something to tell me. (looks like a story line, does'nt it ?)

Once i meet him, he starts the conversation like this :
-" Can you tell me what do you know about a famous dead pirate named "Idontgiveafok" ? "

The he explains to me what this hell of a pirate has done in the past, all the treasure he found , an of course, that nobody knows how and where this guy died, and nothing has ever been discovered concerning him, his ship , his treasures, and even his crew.

Then, lately scientists exploring deep space discovered a note . The note was signed by one of the famous pirate's quartermaster. It seems to be a love letter that he tried to send to his beloved wife waiting for his come back to home.

Scientists and historians think that some sentences allude to the last travel of "Idontgiveafok".

And i'm asked to investigate. I should do it quickly because nothing guarantee that this information has been kept secret, and there are probably other players already investigating on it.

I should consult the Official Archives first, in order to learn more about this famous pirate and his history. I will proably find clues in there.

Some clues that will lead me to other clues, then other and other.

During my investigation, i'll have some artefacts to find, some enigmas to solve, some people to meet.

Until i finally get close to the place where i should find the wreck of "idontgiveafok" ship, three or four weeks later. But it seems there are other players in the place, and pvp is allowed there, because we are not in an high sec system.

And because i'm a roxor pgm, i killed them all in my mighty rifter. I get close to a strange gate, which is probaby the outcome of a four-week investigation through stories and places. I solve the enigma that activates the gate, start my warp, and land close to the famous pirate' ship wreck, that i can finally loot and salvage.





This scenario is the typical one we all have seen in many old games. And i do really miss it.

Player would have to read a lot of history, to gather a lot of information by himself, to find some places without predefined bookmarks, to solve many enigmas. And he will be in competition against other players, for this race to the treasure.

The whole session may not last three poor hours. it has to be made for during at least five days.

Moreover, an experimented treasure hunter, would be faster and more efficient that a noob one, but not because of in-game skills. But because of his own knowledge of history, key-places, and particulars npc agent (official or unofficial).



To be honest, i'm about to quit Eve. I've already done many pauses, but this time the feeling is different.
I need new adventure like this. I want to feel that this universe has a lot of secrets that wait to be discovered, instead of feeling that this universe has already been colonised, controled, exploited.

There are some people that play a game in order to live a nice story, to dream a little. MMO's players are not all aiming at griefing people ;) you know.

That sounds like a pretty cool idea, actually. Some points of contention, though:



While the "plot" is sound, there are only so many different ways this can happen. After your first couple of run-throughs, this will start to feel like a drawn-out plex. It happens with all PvE; there's not really much you can do to prevent it being repetitive.



I don't think the tech backbone is in place to make this work, necessarily. Missions, exploration (and expeditions), etc are all linear. With a few exceptions in mission arcs, there's no branching, and definitely no order variation. This proposal of yours might require a revamped mission system. (Also one that doesn't spoil the mission for you by showing you what you'll find ahead of time -- "Red")



This is really the biggest issue. PvE -- or at least, challenging PvE -- is done in ships specifically fit for the purpose, and those fits leave you extremely vulnerable to those using PvP fits. Also, most people who would be interested in running an arc like this are not interested in running into PvP while doing it. "Missions with PvP in them" is a concept that was tried with FW missions, and resulted in people only using stealth bombers and Tengus to run the missions, so as to never have to deal with PvP.

The result of making the end stage of this treasure hunt into PvP is that gangs of PvPers would just be found camping that end point, ruining it for everyone.



Unfortunately that is not exactly true anymore. However, while it has all been colonized and controlled, there is nothing preventing you from wresting that control from its current holders.

Eve's non-player story is very poor. That is one of the big reasons PvE just sucks. You can live a nice story, but you have to create it yourself via player interaction.

treasure hunting is for me flying through deep 0.0 areas, ganking carebears and hoping for a good drop from their ships. This is true treasure hunting.

Deklein is for instance a good area where a lot of careless people are ratting in expensive fit ships.

Meta 14 fits aren't worth thier weight in minerals to me when I am in Deklein.

- Take Covert Ops to Deklein
- Scan worm hole, go through and pigtail to high sec
- Bring combat char from High sec to Deklein
- 50/50 you will get a juicy target, 20/ 80 the fit doesnt burn in the wreck

- By amazing stroke of luck you pull 2 billion in mods, log out
- Log Covert Ops in, scan another worm Hole, pig tail to high sec and run combat char through.
- Go to Jita and sell mods.

---- Kind of profit?

You might just as well run 4's if ISK is what you want, assuming you can't just buy 2 Plex for any number of RL reasons.

They used to have Log tags but the log tags all pointed to overview sites that were charted on a hundred websites. Still, to the OP I do 'run treasure hunts'. They just don't become Jita markets. Maybe they will one day, maybe not. I can't make that happen, only CCP can.