EVE General Discussion

The best thing you can do for EvE graphics is get a second Screen. You can move alllllll the stuff thats "needed" to one side and have have a clear unadulterated view of space on the other.

Also after getting a new gaming rig recently, i turned all the graphics all the way up, with eve on one screen and swapping a number of other MMO's on the other and the comparison is laughable!! Eve Kicks ASS

But how closely does the population of Steam subscribers match the population of EVE subscribers? I play EVE Online, but none of my systems are represented in that Steam survey (2 Apple computers for starters).

Considering that Steam is mostly used by FPS players, I think it's a very poor indication.

Of course by the end of 2013 it will be a different picture as most Mac users will have upgraded to machines that can at least support DX10 as opposed to the current DX9 minimum. The typical refresh cycle for Mac owners is 5 years, so Mac users upgrading next year will be replacing the last of the DX9 chipsets in the Mac lineup. By the same logic, we'll be waiting until about 2016 for the majority of Mac users to have DX11 compatible chipsets, but by then it won't matter since we'll all be using OpenGL or its successor (if Microsoft is lucky, it might still be around as the alternative OS provider for people who don't want Linux, ChromeOS or Mac OS X).

actually no , I small gang pvp from time to time , gas mine (the gas crush fps) , and PVE , 200 men battles -once ,seen videoes on YouTube, read Press releases from CCP about the lag issues and saw how it was solved by TiDi
again (as I've said, CPU bottle neck, Trinity's problem , just zoom out. No game today can handle that volume smoothly,and at the volume, you won't be using the optical targeting system ,you'll be zoomed all the way out using the OV)

On large scale battles you concern won't be about looking good, it'll be surviving.
On everyday operation, the graphics enhancement would not only provide the users with a long awaited eye candy, it would also increase our immersion in this universe without being overly taxing on performance.



PS: If I were a full time miner, I won't even be here asking for faster pace and a more concentrated path on graphics , I would be whining about suicide ganking or probably not here at all as I surf the internet for lolcats instead of raising public and CCP awareness about possible future development directions :P

so you're saying your computer can't candle a game from 2003
HW 2
but can handle EVE , updated to Trinity 2 a while back around 2007
However, adding effects from the 2003 era may mean that your computer won't be able to run EVE anymore?

Interesting

Well, on a post about looking into the future and progressing the graphics , which would logically lead to slightly more modern display requirements, you said " if the graphics of EVE go beyond why I can afford by way of supporting hardware".
As I've said , the option to switch to lower quality effects will be able to solve the problem for those who find it difficult for their PC to keep up.(refer to earlier posts)

And we're not reverting to older technology, we are referring to older creations based on ancient technology with note worthy concepts which we could take cue of in the modern time :P

True. but the scale is quite a bit different as it won't be hosting thousand man fleet battles any time soon.
Nevertheless , the market economics, player interactions could be seen as a hybrid of EvE and Battlestar Galatica Online.

On a graphical front ,tho . I'm just quoting it as a benchmark of current gen gaming visuals .*cough Caldari ship design *cough cough *MOAR CORAX *cough cough
The main focus would still fall on the Homeworld 2 concepts .

iCE , damn .. I remember her.
She literally turned GTA IV into another game with her photorealistic texture pack lol .

Although it WOULD be simply MAGICAL to have such graphics in EvE.
We have to remember it required serveral GTX670s to run the singleplayer at above 60fps.
Apparently it wouldn't be practical to have that sort of details.

OP,

While I agree that EVE lacks that continuity to ships (launch on build, and eventually a slow, multi-explosion drifting death), that's really just eye candy. As much as EVE is lacking graphically, it has the same weakness in its gameplay.

Compare EVE's combat to combat in any recent MMO, and you'll see what I mean. In modern MMOs, there's line of sight at the very least, where one ship/character can physically shield another from damage (Pirates of the Burning Sea, 2008 and onwards). There's active combat dodging (Age of Conan 2008, Guild Wars 2 2012, etc) to avoid damage in combat, based on player skill, not passive numbers generated in the background. There's compound effects, like arrows passing through fire becoming fire arrows and applying a burning effect on hit, weapon projectiles over long distance have trajectories (GW2), etc., etc.

By comparison, EVE is really, really simplistic when it comes to gameplay. And when the choice is between better eye candy and better gameplay, I'm afraid I have to go with gameplay. Though, since probably two different teams would be working on this stuff, there shouldn't be a conflict I guess.

Further, a reminder that a game can survive with great gameplay and content, but not with great graphics. Case in point, WoW graphics, even back in 2004, were rather obsolete. But the game took off in a massive way. Why? Gameplay and previously unseen in any MMO amount of content. On the flipside, Age of Conan, back in 2008, had the best graphics BY FAR of any MMO. Way better. Highly detailed characters, motion-captured animations for combat, with dozens of finishers (many of which were unique to class), very long (up to 2.5km?) draw distance, water reflections, dynamic lighting, etc., etc. Graphically, for back then, the game was stunning. But it flopped in 3 months due to lack of content and unbalanced mechanics (melee had interesting combo-based combat, but casters had same old button spamming, which made combat unbalanced at the very core). Same goes for games like Aion - the game was just amazingly pretty, but content and gameplay were severely lacking - three months, and a flop.

So, while a game can survive, and in WoW's case do amazingly well, with mediocre graphics but VERY strong gameplay and content, a game cannot survive with fantastic (best in class) graphics and poor gameplay and content. So that's where priority should be.

Well, direct control may not be required. But suppose you had a button that would do an "evasive roll" on your ship. And you could do it twice in 15 seconds, with 45 sec cooldown. And during the evasive roll, your ship would be immune to damage. And add to that the projectiles of all kinds having certain speed (so turret damage would no longer be instant). Suddenly this makes the game very interesting. Alpha is still dangerous, but no longer king against an opponent that is paying attention. Over a short window (while getting focus-fired), a good pilot would mitigate a lot of damage. And you're not re-writing EVE for this. You're just adding a button/hotkey on the UI, and adding a roll animation to the ship (which should take no time at all).

Stuff like this is relatively quick and easy to do, but makes combat a lot more hands-on.

Then, on top of that, throw in line of sight and collision detection. As in, you can't hit a ship behind another ship. Bam, you just made formations critically important to any fleet engagement. Next, throw in damage variety based on the angle of the hit. Frontal hit would do less damage (lots of glancing), sides normal, rear most? Bam, now flanking is critical, on top of formations.

And all of this stuff? Existed in MMOs since 2008. Namely, Pirates of the Burning Sea. That game also had ship boarding and avatar combat. You didn't have to sink a ship to win - if you boarded it and put your cutlass through the other captain's gullet, you won. Did I mention this was in an MMO in 2008? January 2008? As in, almost 5 years ago?