EVE General Discussion

Not so long ago, CCP stated quite unambiguously that they intended to start putting content for all playstyles into their expansions - including content for solo/casual players, who whether you like them or loathe them make up a significant percentage of the playerbase (and hence CCP's income).

Now fanfest is done presumably we've had most if not all the Odyssey content announcements, and I just wanted to review to see where the new content for solo/casual players actually is.

Resource redistribution: no ring mining, no ninja stealing of other people's moon goo, just the same old mechanic but with a bit of a change to what you can get, what you can do with it, and where the bottlenecks are. Nothing NEW here, nothing valuable to solo/casual players.

POS improvements: no modular POS (not even a start on this), just cleaning up some of the more glaring issues with the existing system. Again, nothing NEW, and very limited value to solo/casual players.

New ships: Well sure, we're getting new ships. But sh!t, how many ships do we already have? I know I haven't flown even a fraction of them, so adding more, and with no new features to them (no new T3's, just combat ships)? Adds very little value in my opinion. The Gnosis might be a cool addition, but if it's a one-time free gift it will just end up left in hangar gathering dust.

Scanning changes: whoopy-do, we no longer have to press a button to see what anoms are in system. And we get a flashy line going across the screen when we undock. Saving probe formations and multiple probe launch is nice for sure, but this is just very small quality of life tweaks ("little things") not significant new content.

Ore/Ice Site Changes: moving to anomalies, ice depletion, changes to ore mineral content: iteration, balance, good for null industry sure, but nothing new.

Exploration Mini-Games: Whether this adds content for solo players or not depends on what CCP are going to do to loot drops from the new exploration sites with this mini-game. If loot drops remain the same as they were, but spread out between dozens of dropped cans that a solo player can't possibly gather all of, then it's a nerf to solo/casual gameplay. If loot drops change radically, with chances of finding nice goodies that couldn't be found in these sites before, then it's adding value to all players (including solo/casual). I'll wait and see on this one, but still it's not NEW - it's an iteration on an existing element of the game. Could be good, could be cr@p.

Stargate Changes: Cosmetic. Nice eye candy, but adds nothing new in terms of gameplay, for anyone.

New Exploration Modules: When you take these in conjunction with the Astrometrics skill changes, this is actually a NERF to exploration. To get the same scan strength now as before you HAVE TO fit some of these new mods to your scanning ship. So now choose: weaker scan strength (i.e. longer to scan stuff down) or compromise on what else your ship can do? So new exploration modules in my opinion detract from exploration for everyone (not just solo/casual players)

Ship Rebalancing: as the name suggests, this is balance work, nothing NEW.

Null Industry Changes: excellent changes and I hope they revitalise null industry; but again, it's not new, it's balance/iteration. I'm not a developer, but I can't imagine it takes much time to change the number of manufacturing slots in an outpost. And for solo/casual players, well how many of them are null industrialists anyway?

Now don't get me (completely) wrong, I can see that a lot of these changes are needed (balance, iteration, eye candy) in a 10-year-old game; but I'm just surprised and disappointed at the lack of new content in EVE's 10-year anniversary expansion - I was expecting at least one of the big ideas to get at least started (ring mining & removal of moon goo to facilitate bottom-up alliance income generation; beginning the modular POS work; new scanning system etc)

Have I missed something obvious? Is there more to come from Odyssey? Or have CCP already given up on providing content for solo/casual players?

We have hints of new stuff to come: opening up Jove space (only good if what we find in Jove space is somehow different to what we already have in K-space and W-space); player built stargates. Could be cool. But Incarna could have been cool too.



TL:DR: Odyssey for solo/casual players = yet another underwhelming expansion. Still hopeful for the future.

hi, i hear you're a solo player.

let me introduce you to the most antisocial activity in eve, in order to match your highly antisocial personality.
it's called mining.

thanks for your time.

not ccp's fault you keep paying for a game that doesn't cater to you

So far most everyone's missing the point. Not that I'm surprised much.

CCP said they were going to include content for solo/casual players in future expansions. I can't see it in Odyssey so far, so where is it?

I don't give a f*ck if you don't like the solo playstyle, CCP recognise they need our cash and committed to providing content for us - so where is it?

where is it?

did you miss all of the mining changes?

The Odyssey changes actually are rather interesting, because they swing in both directions of solo and group playstyles.

The last time they added a solo activity, CQ, it didn't go over too well. Once burnt..........

Seriously? Didn't you pay attention to the exploration changes? * Facepalm *

What I want is more new content that can be done solo. Very happy if it can only be done solo at a disadvantage to groups, or with less reward than in groups. I love w-space, taken several (solo) long trips through w-space, even to C6s. Incursions annoy me, why shouldn't there be some minor incursion sites that can be soloed, I don't expect to be able to run an entire incursion on my own. Data/relic sites are not new, they're an iteration on existing exploration sites, and my OP clearly states I'm waiting to see what they're like before deciding if they're good or not for my playstyle.

What I want is for CCP to keep its promise.

Did you miss my OP? What's NEW in the mining changes? Nada.

ice.
grav sites.
mineral composition.

did you miss the dev blogs, and fanfest keynotes?