EVE General Discussion

WiS needs a purpose.
No-one has yet given it an actual gameplay purpose that is sensible and fits in with the rest of the universe.

Frankly the 'single character, multiple games' idea they floated ages back tied in with a PC port of Dust is by far and away the best way forward for 'WiS' that allows meaningful gameplay if Dust was then expanded with additional PvE layers involving more than quick death matches.

It's a little more complicated than that.

The rundown...

- CCP spent more than a year developing it
- While developing it, CCP basically ignored a whole bunch of "little" problems and imbalances throughout the game
- the half-joking phrase "in 18 months" was coined from the above points (because that was how long we were told before CCP would get back to working on "other things")
- CCP kept praising and hyping up WiS (Walking in Station)
- Everyone hated the Dramiel.

- The Captain's Quarters was finally released.
------ We got one room (Minmatar) and no access to the rest of the station (because no content had actually been made).
------ It was both buggy and a major resource hog (some video cards overheated)
------ The Captain's Quarters was "not optional." In fact... the original station view was removed entirely. If you disabled the Captains Quarters you would be given a static image of your ship in the hanger (see: no station spinning).
------ The Captain's Quarters was revealed mostly to be a R&D thing for the future... and players were all being used as "beta-testers."
- Microtransactions were introduced.
------ The Microtransaction items costed way more than "micro-amounts" (there was a Monocle that costed about $70 USD in PLEX... shirts and pants were no better).
- A DEV leaked an internal newsletter where various other DEVs were discussing "gold ammo" type items (see: items you paid for via microtransactions that would give you tangible boosts in the game).

- Players revolted.
------ The forums were filled with flames and rage and ranting.
------ A "substantial" amount of players threatened to unsubscribe (I think it was 10% of the total playerbase)
------ Players went to Jita and began to shoot at a monument indefinitely to show their discontent.
- CCP stayed stubbornly (and infuriatingly) silent about the whole thing.
------ The CSM was requested by CCP to come to Iceland and talk about the situation.
- When CCP made their first public statement about the whole thing they attempted to rationalize it.
------ Players got angrier.

- CCP acquiesced.
------- An apology was written by CCP's CEO himself (though, there are rumors that it may have been ghostwritten).
------- Players were promised that "gold ammo" type items would never become a thing. Microtransactions would be limited strictly to "vanity" stuff or things that were already available in some form (basically, "lateral benefits")
------- A new hanger view was made... just like the old one.
------- Captains Quarters view was made "optional."
------- CCP promised to refocus their efforts on space related stuff and work on all the "little things" that players had been basically begging for for almost 2 years.
- CCP silently put WiS on the backburner.

- The Crucible Expansion was released 6 months later.
- Players rejoice.
- Many "little" things are fixed and/or polished.
- Some interesting things are introduced (i.e. Attack Battlecruisers)
- Some old favorites were brought back (i.e. engine trails)
- The current ship rebalancing efforts more or less started here.
- Subscriptions hit an all time high (at the time).

- Today...
------ WiS still brings up some bad memories.
------ It probably IS being worked on... somewhere in the background.
------ the biggest problem (that I see) is making it fit into the larger EVE universe without taking away from the space part of it.



TLDR; Walking in Station was delayed/shelved due to a whole combination of events (poor planning, poor investments, poor execution, poor public relations) that led to an explosion of frustration among the playerbase (which had been building for some time). People are still sensitive about the whole thing.

WiS needs a purpose.
No-one has yet given it an actual gameplay purpose that is sensible and fits in with the rest of the universe.
The closest that ever came was the idea about exploring wrecks, but then there is the hugely awkward question about what happens to your ship in the mean time.

Frankly the 'single character, multiple games' idea they floated ages back tied in with a PC port of Dust is by far and away the best way forward for 'WiS' that allows meaningful gameplay if Dust was then expanded with additional PvE layers involving more than quick death matches.

Legion died?

Long ago, before we got the incarna expansion, CCP had several threads going:

A new generation of drugs. The first ( and, as it turned out the only) was Quafe zero.
A way for players to make said drugs, that required buying contraband items while off the grid. The chronicle "Jita 4-4" shows the idea.
A way for other players to enforce the law against those who are trying to transport contraband. The current Crimewatch system is the result.

The entire system was never described. But here is my guess of how it might work. One player runs a bar. That player pays bribes to the station personel to look the other way. As a result, the bar becomes frequented by an NPC. Other players can buy contraband form this NPC. The bar owner gets a kickback. All of this would be done with our avatars.

The player with the contraband would then have to transport it to a special facility, in space, for making the new drugs. CONCORD, saying they are overextended with all this new activity, allows players to enforce the laws against the contraband via ship to ship combat.

Result: A way and reason for players to have establishments, avatars walking about and interacting, and a tie-in to spaceships.

Dare I say that was rather half assed work you did there...

Not you, personally, but in general.

lul, you want eve to stay up when other upcoming games (2016) will be released with full walkable ships planets stations insert anything else?

it will only get worse from here (2016) on. Atmospheric flight says hello too.

shoulda though about this when you still had a chance (2012) 4 years of planning...

oh well, good luck with your declining players online game :D

I'm not sure you really are how you pretend to be ...
... but that doesn't matter.

What you don't get is that if EVE had these features as well ...
... the other games wouldn't actually get very far.

I doubt you understand what our game is actually about ...
... and rate games based on "WOAH LOOK AT THAT".

Until you get bored, because it's all generic gameplay anyway.


And then you come back.


And keep bitching.