EVE General Discussion

Close minded customers like you almost killed EvE.

What about close-eyed customers?

I agree. And's it pretty lazy analysis to point the finger at Incarna and say it killed EVE, when if you bothred to remove your head from your arse before looking at that graph that it is obvious that the roots of EVE's decline in subscriber numbers began before Incarna's deployment, and is probably due to multiple factors.

Let's hope the decline in numbers doesn't continue despite the refocus on FiS. I think it will continue, as CCP has a lot of work ahead restoring faith and meeting their own hype before players start coming back.

Let me rephrase then.

Focusing on Incarna almost killed EVE.


We were listening to Zulu telling us that incarna would be CCP focus for the foreseeable future, and that FiS wouldn't get any major attention for at least the next 3 to 5 years.


So let me say this again. There are thing that MUST be fixed/rebalanced/iterated with FiS before any proper attention can be given to WiS. CCP believes that IT IS NOT POSSIBLE for them to deliver any meaningfull FiS content this year if they also have to finish WiS and estabilishments.


So if they are SAYING that they CANNOT DO IT, then by all means let them do it their way. The LAST thing anyone wants is for CCP to bite more than they can chew once more. Which is what they did with Incarna, and what got us to this point.


And at any rate, and i'm not trying to scorn anyone, just look at the amount of people that are irked by this change in CCP's development plans, and the amount of people that are HAPPY.

Now go back and look at the amount of people that liked what CCP was doing regarding WiS, and the amount of people who were irked by it. Compare the numbers, and tell me with a straight face that what CCP is doing now is wrong as a company who wishes to retain the majority of the customers it has left, and wishes to nurture any hope of recovering those it lost.

This

Reality check:

CCP is a relatively small , independant studio. They overstepped their bounds and bit off more than they can chew. **** happens. I'm not white knighting, just stating the facts. I for one am interested in Incarna, and all that comes with it. I also expect it to be executed at the same high standard that FiS is.

Despite my cynical post history, I am quite impressed with the recent turn of events in regards to CCP senior leadership, and I am very hopeful that it will result in a better game for all of us. If that means waiting for a finished product a bit longer then so be it.


PS - Or maybe it's the wine (whine?) talking.

PPS - Also, I won't spend a red cent in the NEX store untill we get a multi-avatar environment (hint, hint).

Vs. Sony, who can draw on a pool of 160,000 people...

Or Blizzard with 2,700.

Yes.

And they said that they can't so i honestly don't see the point in this pointless thread with absolutely no point to be properly pointed out.

I'm sure this was a hard call, but probably the right decision at this point.

Yes, you are going to take flack from many because you put out "another unfinished feature", even though this is because you had to devote those resources to finishing "other unfinished features".

A lot of comments have been made concerning the point that was made about the plan for Incarna content not being up to snuff, that no fleshed out concepts had been run past the CSM, and that getting the tech running to facilitate making WOD tick was more important than figuring out how to properly fit Incarna into EVE.

I'm going to assume that while actual design and coding work is devoted to FIS content and iteration this winter, the main work on Incarna (beyond releasing the rest of the CQ's) will center around optimizing the engine itself and forming a working outline for how to make avatar based game play be an entertaining enhancement to EVE as opposed a collection of things that can be done more easily from our current interface.

To be a success, Incarna needs to:

1: Tie into and ENHANCE current PVP and PVE content. Preferably affecting not only things like manufacturing, working the market, and agent missions... but also provide tangible benefits to PVP activities (whether in planning, making treaties, gathering intel, etc.).

2: Open completely new area's of game play that are engaging and fun, as well as make practical sense to do in your avatar instead of a pop up window. It must NOT focus on content that makes no practical sense to be avatar dependent.

3: Leverage the endless content that comes from player interaction instead of providing only static content that is exactly the same every time you do it.

This is a tall order, and will likely need to tie in with a large number of existing game area's as well as large number of completely new area's of game play. Basically, it is almost as staggeringly large a project as creating the EVE universe to begin with.

Personally I would establish some firm guidelines for Incarna content similar to what was done for developing null sec (and by extension further defining the other sec area's in EVE) before I do anything else.

Second I would make those guidelines available to the CSM and let them kick it around.

Third, I would then present those guidelines to the community in a blog to get not only general feedback but to harvest the inevitable flood of ideas that the community will generate that fit within those guidelines.

Then I would take the best of those idea's, combine them with your own and what you already have in the pipe, and create your game plan from that. Put out those broad strokes to gather some feedback and then apply the whip to the programmers liberally.

If you take this approach, you will find a huge portion of the player base will become heavily invested in the success of Incarna... which is a big win for us all.

Funny story.. In-game i would be shooting a lot of people here.. but on this thread we are all on the same side lol.

In other words, complainers are either new people or high-sec bears and those who are happy about the changes are EVE vets who actually play the game.