Assembly Hall

Can the CSM request that CCP update the players on the future of Incarna?

There is degree of uncertainty about Incarna’s future given conflicting statements by CCP. There is a lot of speculation and belittling of players that express an interest in Incarna, which is not helpful.

Hilmar said in his letter to the players that Incarna was an essential part of the future of EVE, then in a later interview said that “Incarna was on ice, and that we may get back to it”.

This has created confusion.

It is also important to recognise that Incarna in its current state DOES NOT represent the actual vision for this feature. (for reference look at previous fanfest videos)

This is not a request that CCP drop everything that they are doing to focus on Incarna. What it is, is a request that CCP provide clarity on the future of Incarna, recognising that it represents only one playstyle among the many possible in EVE, and worthy of further development just as those other playstyles are – and certainly should not be abandoned.

So my specific request to the CSM, is that they ask CCP to clarify what is going to happen with Incarna. Is it not going to be looked at for 12 months. Will the multiplayer establishments arrive during this period.

Thanks

I would also like CCP to clarify the status and future plans for WIS.

Plain and simple guys -- CCP ****** up with the way they rolled out Incarna, in allowing the FiS stuff to stagnate for about two years (hence the :18 months: meme from a number of the vets).

They nearly completely halted iterating on Incarna and WoD for the moment, because they realised that they were in a very tenuous place with EVE (and thus, with all their other plans) so did a VERY quick turnaround and gave us Crucible.

Crucible is seriously their "plan B" release, done in a few weeks to make people happy again. Hell, look at the trailer even -- it's reminiscent of Eve Never Fades (and some of the other "great" trailers of old) -- they even went so far as to use fraps captures of the game rather than the pre-rendered "cinematic trailers" that they've been doing since Dominion.

Likely what we'll see happen is a focus on FiS, and a lot of the things that have been broken for a LONG time for the next 2-3 patch cycles, with MAYBE some WiS stuff thrown in as well. What'll likely happen is 18 months of neglect for WiS beyond "simple" things, and then afterwards a balanced WiS/FiS approach thereafter...

Incarna was an expansion. It came...that's that. What the question should be is...

What is the future of WiS?

Be reassured that Chairman For Life Mittens will soon be working with CCP to bring changes to highsec as well.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that since you have nothing better to do than come here with your dumb remark, that you have run out of things to do in EVE, therefore some sort of expansion, perhaps involving walking in stations might help alleviate your boredom.

Your welcome

OK, I get it, you want to see more about WiS. You want to sit and spend 2 hours per day doing things that has no meaning (within the confines of the game world). That's cool with me, but before you go flipping out that they don't care about you anymore because they went back to their core game (FiS) ... you've got to look at the bigger picture.

You're 3 years old. Assuming you've played that whole time, you've sat through the "18 months" and "excellence" things from CCP, and have accepted the lacklustre expansions over that time with the rest of us. Incarna was a REALLY BAD expansion overall -- CCP nearly killed the relationship with their core demographic. They've said nearly as much in the recent devblogs, and the Crucible trailer itself. Crucible is fixing a lot of the issues -- PCU the last two weekends has been at 50k or better for the first time since Incarna.

No, Crucible has not fixed all the problems in EVE, nor will the next expansion ... but if CCP keeps with their "back to basics" stance, the game as a whole will get significantly better with time. Seriously -- Crucible was a great expansion that was practically thrown together in a few weeks. Look at what they were able to achieve, and apply that to what they can pull off for the next expansion.

Sure, WiS will get the "and oh yeah, we were able to throw this in too" treatment for a while, but better that than "sorry guys, we can't keep TQ online. It was a great run, maybe we'll see you in Perpetuum or something."

... what part of CCP's "yeah, we'll keep working on WiS but it's mainly backurnered" stance is hard to grasp?

Yes, I am specifically asking for clarification on CCPs vague and contradictory comments, and details on what to expect in the next 12 months.

There is no need for the anti-everything-that-isn't-flying-in-space crowd to get their knickers in a twist just yet. But they are welcome to do so.

It would be great to get a response from CSM or CCP on this.

I fully support the questioning of CCP on matters such as this however the experience I have with public relations and marketing tells me that CCP will release information when they actually have something they can market.
So it is possible they are working on new clothes that actually have color to them and they may just be also working on station environments but the simple fact is that they would only tell us if it encouraged more people to play or somehow caused an increase in revenue.

CCP above all else is a business, this is especially true/significant this year.
Also keep in mind that CCP is horribly understaffed. They run a tight ship and only allow a specific allocation of resources to given projects. If CCP was less top heavy in how it spends it money then there would be the potential for better overall quality.

However right now the impression I get from the people on the inside I talked to is that CCP likes having small teams because it is both cheaper and has a lower potential for conflict and disorganization. The problem with this is that game companies competing with CCP have more resources and staff so they can pump out quality content at a much faster and consistent rate. Now do not misunderstand me, I am not trying to tell anybody at CCP how to run things, I only have a BA in Management and am by no means an expert or verified authority on such matters.

I am only trying to make the argument that CCP functions the way it does because it is managed to function that way. If CCP were to get "acquired" overnight by some observably wealthy 22 year old virgin then I can promise things would change and more people would be hired. These easily reproduced bugs and experience breaking problems would be fixed in beta. There would be more then 2 gender options and the game would have a system by which all non-trial users could vote on what they think the focus of the dev team should be. I would of course have a special team of no less then 35 devs and other staff with the exclusive focus and function of seeding the game with futanari references both written and visual in nature.