EVE General Discussion

The one thing I do not like is the idea that we're losing "capsuleers". CCP Guards' video was a light hearted ****-take (And well done) but that vision of three people sitting in a spaceship as if it was some Star Trek movie just didn't feel right to me. I still hold to the vision of a limp body, housed in a pod of goo with all sorts of wires snaking from it. Not something pretty that prances about in stations; but the immortal gods that gave up a large part of their humanity for immortality and the right to walk amongst the stars.

So, it's as simple as that: if you are able to create portable scanning and communication equipment tied with neurotoxin injector small enough to place it in your head, it will do even when you out of your egg. It's just a question of technological advancement.

don't

Players never had a problem with the monocles and other vanity items? I am going to assume you weren't playing during Incarnaggedon then. The NEX store was what most of the hoo-ha was about, as well as the leaked internal memo that said they were going to introduce the whole 'gold ammo' and pay to win thing. Then Hilmar CCP Zulu came out and said 'some people do want to spend $1000+ on a pair of jeans, what's the problem?'. Don't remember that?

As for the current mega expensive vanity items. The cybernetic arm, the pirate patch monocle, the tattoos... only available by spending £100+ on the collectors edition.

WIS is a good idea, Incarna wasn't.

WiS almost killed the game so CCP wisely backed off and refocused on real Eve content.

I believe the idea that micro transactions would have turned into pay to win is what upset people.

The arguements about what did or did not cause the summer of rage are always going to be conflicting and misleading. There were a lot of factors that caused it, and everyones reasons for joining the protest will be different. Honestly, after this time, any arguement about what did or did not cause it will always be self-serving and rife with selective memory. Yes, WIS was one of the reasons, but no, it wasn't it all. Every single part of Incarna and the events around it contributed.

18 months - Set the stage by creating an undercurrent of neglect in EvE, and creating an expectation of WiS ("we better get something worth the loss of 18 months of EvE developement")
The one room - Showed a massive under-performance in realising the "dream"
No meaningful gameplay - Showing a complete lack of listening to the playerbases concerns over WiS
NeX - The introduction of the much-hated microtransactions, and showing CCP fundamentally ignored playerbase desires in WiS (player-made clothes was the one most-talked about feature).
Melted Graphics Cards - Evoked a scare that a vast number of EvE players were about to be excluded through a huge technological jump
Ship Spinning - Minor, but showed a detachment from the playerbase
Monacles - Showed a fundamental misunderstanding of the term "micro"
$1000 jeans - Displayed a fundamental dissonance between the players and developers
Greed is Good - Showed a corporate direction that was a radical departure from what people expected
The Memo - Showed a disdain at the management level for players opinions on the matter

Any one of these things in isolation could have been forgiven... there would have been grumbles, but it wouldn't have been the summer of rage. "18 months" could have been forgiven if WiS had appeared as more than one cupboard. The one cupboard could have been forgiven if it hadn't been for the 18 months prior. As much as some hate microtransactions, fundamentally, a non "gold-ammo" solution like the NeX was quite a neat choice, had it not been for the fact it killed the hope of player-made clothing. The monacles could have gone by with barely a comment if there had been some cheap items on the NeX. The $1000 jeans could have been taken for the joke it was meant to be if not for everything else. The melting graphics cards might have been less an issue had ship spinning been left in, or had they prioritised getting more station out rather than shining the one office to razor-sharp detail. Even "Greed is Good" might have been taken for a hypothetical (especially given some of its articles sounded tongue in cheek), and not faced with so much rage had it not been for the Monacle and Jeans, and the surprise appearance of the NeX. The Memo might have just seemed like a "let the initial storm pass, and we can then assess the true opinion" if not for all the other signs of complete ignorance on the part of the devs to understand the problems.

The point is, everything played in to the storm, and WiS is tarnished forever by association. While WiS is intrinsically tied to the NeX, and any developement will require being bought with the blood of another 18 months, it can have no hope of being warmly recieved.

I have said it several times - WiS only hope is to be completely ripped out, and the NeX removed and never spoke of again. That might cleanse WiS of its associations. Dig out the old ambulation files, or hell, approach it through Legion. Quite basically, if they ever want to approach WiS again, they have to pay attension to the mistakes of Incarna - No neglection of EvE in order to facilitate it, meaningful gameplay is paramount, manage players expectations, don't hope to dazzle us with glitz to disguise the lack of content, and microtransactions are no substitute for gameplay options. I think that is more what the anti-WiS arguers want to get across. Just "giving them another developement cycle" is just not going to happen without massive caveats, and a threat that next time the game wont survive such a massive faliure.