Missions & Complexes

I've been doing a lot of missions recently waiting for my skills to catch up. What I've noticed is that missions are basically all the same formula in eve and probably the same as they were back when eve came out.
Eve has a rich back story so why the same old missions? Sansha and angels attacking for no apparent reason or benefit.

Maybe some of the pve could be modeled on how pvp and fw works instead of totally pve orientated. Have friendly and enemy AI ships that actually interact with the player.

An agent mission could go like this:

A number of pirates have been hiding in a wormhole in 'jita'. You then use a scanner probe to scan down the wh and think of a ship to enter the WH and fight the pirates. You receive contact from a stranded ship in the WH who you have to track down. If you find him he becomes a new agent in the WH and you work with him to kill the pirates :).

I know this might be a lot of effort for people who like to do fast simple missions, but I think its brings a lot more fun into the game and teaches people more than just how to press afew buttons and set up a decent tank on a ship.

Missions are where the "lore" of EVE gets transmitted...or at least where it *should* be transmitted. But the missions themselves do almost nothing to tell an actual story, much less transmit the lore of EVE. Missions should be where you learn the history of the EVE universe -- the races, the conflicts, the mysteries, the history. But all you get are the same cookie-cutter missions over and over and over again. Even the so-called "epic arcs" are just more of the same, with a few unique missions thrown in to give them a bit of flavor.

And the writing...my God. Horrible, lame, amateur. And worse yet, not even in-character for the race you're running the mission for.

I'd like to see an element of randomization in missions as well -- it wouldn't be hard to do even if they're part of a larger "plot", and this would make them more interesting to mission runners who are running a mission for the 100th time.

I realize that no one wants EVE to turn into another "theme park" MMO, but PVE is a major part of the game and as such it should be given due attention -- not just on the mechanics side, but on the actual storytelling side. EVE has a rich culture and backstory, and it's a shame that very little in the game itself actually transmits that story. You have to go to the "meta game" to find it out -- books, the Wiki, and so on. The game itself should be the primary vehicle for transmitting the lore of the game (think of a game like Dragon Age: Origins, for example). For new players, this is a vital part of getting them immersed in the "culture" of the game.

And for players like me, who do mostly PVE and industrial crafting, it would make long-term playing of the game more interesting.

I agree, this would be really awesome and is something that's always in the back of my mind of things to do

There is an inherent tension between the "themepark"/PVE player and the "sandbox"/PVP player. Many players like the unscripted, emergent gameplay inherent in the sandbox model, and this is great.

But I'm one of the players who finds the lore and backstory of the EVE universe fascinating, and I wish (wish!) that the game would do more to convey that backstory during gameplay. At present, the various races exist mainly as differences in ship design and capabilities -- there's no real sense of political or cultural conflict within Empire space. (For example, a Minmatar pilot can roam at will through Amarr space and visit any agent they have the security level for, all without being hassled. Likewise a Caldari pilot in Gallente space. Yet the political/cultural situations in the lore suggest that this would be highly unlikely to happen.)

Exploration especially could be very much better with an improved missioning system. Archaeology in particular would be a great way to show the history of the EVE universe, and slowly uncover the history of the galaxy. It could show the player who and what the Jovians are, how they got there, and how the relations with the other races developed. It could show how the various pirate factions split off from their parent cultures. And so on.

There's an enormous amount of "story" latent in the EVE universe, but the game simply doesn't *tell* it. New players would have an easier time of the "how and why" of EVE, I think, if the game spent a bit more time explaining how the EVE galaxy came to be the way it is.

Please shave head, draw eyes on back of it. This will maybe bring it to the front of your mind?

To say that missions are neglected is an understatement to say the least.

this made me laugh lots...

I want to add that I'm NOT asking for hisec to be made "safe" for new players. That's not the point I'm making at all. In fact, I find the possibility of random death to be quite exciting!

No, I'm just asking for CCP to put a bit more effort into telling the EVE story in-game. I want my choice of race and faction to *matter*. I want there to be a real impact on the game if I choose (say) Gallente over Amarr, or vice-versa. My choices should matter beyond the color-scheme of my stations and the design of my starter frigate.

I'm also NOT asking for extensive cutscenes or voice-acting as in SWTOR. As we're finding out, that kind of static content goes stale fast (though how many hundreds of times have we had to grind through the 30-odd missions CCP has given us per level?). What I do want is faction-specific missions with an element of randomization, and "epic arcs" that are truly epic: that tell a coherent story, that have a real impact on the world, and that take place on a grand scale.

Currently working on Incursions and FW :) Maybe once I'm done with that.. we shall see

I totally agree, it would be amazing to eventually have very race-biased paths available to you :) However, they need to matter in a way that doesn't completely limit and cut you off.. we never want to say no you can't do that because when you created a character and just picked the one with the prettiest face, you closed off an entire area of content to yourself.

just tell them that if you get 1000 likes, you'll make tractor beams draw in frigates. that should do the trick.