EVE New Citizens Q&A

Oddly I agree with you, but probably for a totally different reason. The missions in Eve are limited, and purposelessly so in my opinion. They are a basic lattice work structure. Its clear that CCP has no intention of providing a huge mission structure tailored to new players. The jump from level 1 to level 2 missions is too great. They want you to do other things. Its obvious to me.

If I had an issue, its that its difficult to understand what's possible without some structure (series of missions) that lead you towards those other interesting things to do. If I were to criticize Eve in any respect now, it would be that the missions aren't designed to lead me to other cool things. The sisters of eve story line is cool and all. It serves a great purpose. But so would the epic story arch that helps the Gallente/Caldari . . . build the ultimate super weapon that can't ever be built. Or a story arch that leads you to find the wormhole in "XYZ" system, and haves you follow the wormhole to something cool or neat. Let your imagination run wild for a minute. The purpose is not to provide everyone with an endless set of cool missions. Wow fell into that trap. Players devour the content faster than it can be developed. But missions to lead you to the other things that are cool, aren't bad. They give us a chance to ask and answer the question.

"What do you want to do?"

"Something cool."

"Try this."

I have been playing Eve since March 9, and I played WoW consistently since 2005. I think there are some valid points to be made on both sides of this discussion. So I am throwing my 2 cents into the ring.

By in large the comparison of WoW to Eve as communication tool is useful. One of the more difficult aspects of Eve is learning the language and the jargon. There is perspective to be gained from the comparison.

"Get a point on that Merlin. Engage Webs, crash the gate. Logi stand by. " Means something to an Eve player.

Translation.

"Tank pick up the Merlin. Get CC on the target, everyone move to the blue square. Healer on the raid."

Using terms that precisely or albeit imprecisely describe aspects of the game are useful to players from different games. The die hard Eve players shouldn't bristle at the comparison. Our perspective is different. Getting us "newbies" comfortable with the language is important. Using Eve jargon to explain to us why that other guy is wrong, misses the point. We the noobs feel like outsiders because we have no idea what the heck you are talking about.

Eve is different from WoW. Thank goodness. But I think the players who want Eve to be totally unique and different from anything in the game today, miss the point. Eve has similarities to other MMO's, and those similarities can be and should be highlighted as a point of reference for new Eve Players, but its also unlike other games in terms of open endedness and its complexity. This causes frustration when a new player, or a long time WoW player begins playing Eve.

New Player : "I have finished the tutorial missions, what do I do now?"

Eve Player: "Whatever you want. What do you want to do?"

New Player: "I don't know. I want to do fun non-boring things. I like spaceships. What do you suggest?"

Eve Player (I have no real answer to what you might feel is fun) "But there is Business, Industry, Mining, Exploration, Ratting, Pvp, Ganking, Plexing, Faction Warfare, Hi Sec missions, Low Sec, Null Sec, Ninja Looting, ect, ect ect . . . .

New Player (Sorry I asked)

As a new player the comparisons are valid as far as a communication tools and to explain to the new player that your feeling of isolation and bewilderment at the lack of structure is normal. Instead of smacking each other around over the systematics remember that this is the new player Q & A. Posts that try to draw comparisons are not necessarily bad. T2 gear is kind of the Eve equivalent of Blue gear in wow. Why? Because its rarer and its harder to get. That's all. The point of comparison stops there.

Finally if any new players crawl through 5 pages of forum to read this. Eve is a great game. Eve is on par with Wow in every sense. But they are different games. They have different priorities and different philosophies. That doesn't mean that both aren't great. It also doesn't mean that either is perfect. And may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Oddly I agree with you, but probably for a totally different reason. The missions in Eve are limited, and purposelessly so in my opinion. They are a basic lattice work structure. Its clear that CCP has no intention of providing a huge mission structure tailored to new players. The jump from level 1 to level 2 missions is too great. They want you to do other things. Its obvious to me."

I'm not sure that its in CCP's best interest to "weed out" certain players so that it works as intended. From a business perspective they want more subs, not less. They want to grow Eve, maybe at a slower pace than I would imagine, but they still want to grow.

I'm imagine that CCP remains somewhat steadfast in that they don't want to start creating content for the purpose of entertaining the customer. Creating that content is expensive and tends to feed the monster you create. Instead we may disagree about what's the right amount of content. I would like a little more structure so I could decide based on sufficient data (game experience) whether something in Eve is cool and fun or not for me thank you.

One possible approach.

If the veteran players want new players. They want more who try the game to stick around. They can be creative and make the "missions" for the players. Corps can decide if this is something that is worth the time, and maybe put a bug in CCP's ear to allow some creative ways to get people into some of the areas.

For example (Off the top of my head)

Corps is into exploration. Wants new players to try exploration. Corp leader is allowed into one site without it despawning on one specific day.. Let the corp leader or officer put in an extra can in the site without having the site despawn. The extra can has goodies from the Corps supply. Let the new player scan it down, and have the loot inside. Heck create a treasure hunt if you will. Allow exploits if they dare.

Point is the Corp would need the tools and then the drive and wisdom to organize the event.

So it is not like CCP is lacking in suggestions and solutions. But CCP seems more interested in balancing ships than in retaining new players.

The only thing i can think about that MIGHT work is basically having older players from varius professions sign up as.. mentors isent really the right word but closest i can think about atm. At the end of the regular tutorial and career missions the new player gets sent an EVE mail containing a list of names and what profession, and from there the new player can contact people from whatever profession looks/sounds interesting. Gives them some one on one time with a person (unlike the crowded help and rookie chat) and they can learn and ask questions in a more calm atmosphere.

You are right in that that is the way it is now. In a business sense, that is not good. If a business does not grow and stay competitive in the market place then it dies. The fact that EVE has a unique approach does not stop others doing similar approaches.

Social contact is unreliable.

The point is that CCP must know these things and have taken that into account.

I suspect that CCP got lucky and stumbled onto a recipe for a video game and are afraid to make any real changes for fear that they might ruin what they already have. That is a very common business practice.

But I just can't see that giving more guidance to a new player would not be a win for everyone.

I suspect that CCP got lucky and stumbled onto a recipe for a video game and are afraid to make any real changes for fear that they might ruin what they already have. That is a very common business practice.

But I just can't see that giving more guidance to a new player would not be a win for everyone.

Not 100% sure on this but im pretty sure WOW has been able to avoid deleting servers and so on? Granted last i knew their numbers where declining but this was after Cata was released. Not sure how they did with the Panda expansion.