EVE Online - Catch All & new meat check-in

Ahh what a disappointment. We were fed a vision of Incarna that was player driven, like everything in EVE, but this first iteration is really very little but a storefront. It's also very limited in scope, which makes me wonder what they have been working on all these years.

Incarna was always effectively just a storefront - what else can it be ? And it is just a start point, albeit I would prefer that it was a storefront for either ephemera or player-to-player transactions. It will always be limited in scope because the game is meant to be about internet spaceships, so the action of the game is always in space, not in the mall.

Hopefully.

davet010 wrote:

the action of the game is always in space, not in the mall.

Hopefully.

I've gotta say though, that last week when our corp was station camping the members of the jackass griefer corp that declared war on us we were really wishing that we could just go into the station and either kill them there or force their ass out into space.

This sh*t storm does not bode well for the future of the game and I was already worried even before it broke out. EVE is not in the greatest shape as it is with the past two years consisting mostly of half baked expansions that never got iterated on and a distinct lack of focus on improving the core game. If they try to milk the EVE player base for all the money they can with MTs then I think the game is done.

I feel like they've been keeping EVE on life support for a while, taking all the money and shoving it into their other projects. They should have fixed POSes by now, they should have done something about low-sec by now, they should have game mechanics that don't just involve static structures with huge amounts of hitpoints. EVE really needs a few kickass expansions, CCP is not in a position to try to sucker more money out of us.

And yet there are more concurrent pilots now than there have ever been.

I'm also interested in what you feel needs to be fixed about POS's, other than it being a pain in the backside dealing with how long it takes to set them up and take them down.

CCP's response.

Now let's see what the CSM come up with - if anything. They aren't particularly representative, so let's just hope they take everyone's view into account.

http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp...

Elycion wrote:
davet010 wrote:

the action of the game is always in space, not in the mall.

Hopefully.

I've gotta say though, that last week when our corp was station camping the members of the jackass griefer corp that declared war on us we were really wishing that we could just go into the station and either kill them there or force their ass out into space. :)

lol...that would be awesome...maybe with dust we can send in strike teams to kill the pilots in the station. That would be an interesting concept.

davet010 wrote:

CCP's response.

Now let's see what the CSM come up with - if anything. They aren't particularly representative, so let's just hope they take everyone's view into account.

http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp...

they're pretty anti-non-vanity items for MT fwiw

everyone but CCP seems pretty aware that gold ammo or gold ships would instantly kill eve

I had been planning on giving this a go when the client drops to $5-10 during the summer Steam sale. I've always been intrigued with the EVE gameplay experience and with my summer fairly open I was looking forward to having an intense fling with it to see if we were meant to be.

What with the general unrest and pissed-off-edness of the EVE universe at the moment, is this not the best time to come in as a total noob who doesn't know anything about EVE and has never even played an MMO before?

Michael wrote:

I had been planning on giving this a go when the client drops to $5-10 during the summer Steam sale. I've always been intrigued with the EVE gameplay experience and with my summer fairly open I was looking forward to having an intense fling with it to see if we were meant to be.

What with the general unrest and pissed-off-edness of the EVE universe at the moment, is this not the best time to come in as a total noob who doesn't know anything about EVE and has never even played an MMO before?

first off....this is post number 1000...so woot. second...if you want to play, go for it. EvE hasnt changed much...just a few cosmetic changes so far...if that holds...only time will tell..but for now, go for it. I am thinking of pulling out of nullsec and becoming a carebear for University...we'll see...I just need a break from the war.

Zell's got the thousand lightyear stare.

Michael wrote:

I had been planning on giving this a go when the client drops to $5-10 during the summer Steam sale. I've always been intrigued with the EVE gameplay experience and with my summer fairly open I was looking forward to having an intense fling with it to see if we were meant to be.

What with the general unrest and pissed-off-edness of the EVE universe at the moment, is this not the best time to come in as a total noob who doesn't know anything about EVE and has never even played an MMO before?

So far, the vocal majority on the forums and the gaming press are up in arms, and you'll be forced to de-pod into your captain's quarters (which may not be fully optimized for all gaming rigs), but the core game and new player experience should be the same. You'll probably just notice a lot of complaining in local chat (if you bother to check it) and if you head to Jita, people may be attacking the local stone monuments.

If you have larger blocks of free time, the curiosity, and a Steam sale, that's a great time to jump in. It seems like CCP moves slowly on implementing anything they do, so even if the cash-for-gold ammo apocalypse does come, it won't be for a while (read: months).

While I wouldn't recommend playing right now (cancelling your subscription is the only way to have an impact on CCP right now), if you do, make sure to link up with a corp. Eve University would be an excellent choice, really, as a new player in the game.

I don't have a problem soloing in MMOs normally, but Eve is definitely an MMO you will burn out on if you try that for very long.

I really tried giving EVE a chance, but I'm going to have to wait for a Steam sale to get the client (especially with all this microtransaction business going down) on the cheap. I liked what I saw, but I figured I could only do so much with a trial account. Also, a curious question ... can you delete or otherwise overwrite your characters once you convert to a paid account?? That may be a dealbreaker if I can't, because I seriously fudged up two out of my three character slots.

mikeohara wrote:

I really tried giving EVE a chance, but I'm going to have to wait for a Steam sale to get the client (especially with all this microtransaction business going down) on the cheap. I liked what I saw, but I figured I could only do so much with a trial account. Also, a curious question ... can you delete or otherwise overwrite your characters once you convert to a paid account?? That may be a dealbreaker if I can't, because I seriously fudged up two out of my three character slots.

once a character is made, its a done deal. I know you can change the picture/avatar...but you cant change the name or your record of deeds...you have to delete the character and start over.

I used to be a huge evangelist for EVE, but after Incarna and the MT store, I can't recommend avoiding EVE enough. CCP has destroyed any and all goodwill with the core community with this patch and everything surrounding it.

AnimeJ wrote:

I used to be a huge evangelist for EVE, but after Incarna and the MT store, I can't recommend avoiding EVE enough. CCP has destroyed any and all goodwill with the core community with this patch and everything surrounding it.

I've been out of EVE for a while now, just checking in the forums every so often to see how much has changed and whatnot. In some respects I understand perfectly both sides of the argument, ie the community getting all up in arms over this memo as the core community has NEVER wanted the walking in stations thing, and I understand how CCP needed to have someone write that memo as they do need to see all the directions they could go and how to take the most advantage of the store/walking in stations. The thing that I really don't get is why they didn't invite some/all of the CSM members to write their own thoughts and/or include thoughts on what the player base would think of the various ideas. But then again, public relations has never been CCP's strong suit (the whole T2 BPO fiasco, T20...)

AnimeJ wrote:

I used to be a huge evangelist for EVE, but after Incarna and the MT store, I can't recommend avoiding EVE enough. CCP has destroyed any and all goodwill with the core community with this patch and everything surrounding it.

I think that 'Incarna and the MT store' is a bit of an overreaction in terms of a reason to avoid EVE. Incarna works as described even on my fairly low-powered desktop(which has a GT 260 card in it) and mid-range laptop (complete with M240 card), and is only the first step. The MT store is a minor item at the moment, it's entirely optional and sells nothing other than cosmetic items at the moment - so if you don't like them, don't buy them. There's far too many drama llamas on the forums, who are only interested in one facet of the game and decry anything other than maximum effort being placed upon that - without recognising that they are a small (albeit vocal) minority. Same goes for the people on the CSM, by and large.

damn those pesky developers trying to do different things!!!

I recommend the recent episode of "Dissecting CCP" on EVE radio. The guests on that are about as high profile and insight knowledge as they can get. It sets some things straight and confirms a few other ones.

http://www.eve-radio.com/podcast-dow...

It will take more than "monocle-gate" to chase me out of EVE.

At the moment, I have unchecked "Load Station Environment". I only have a 8800GTS and I haven't had any issues yet (no fancy temperature-monitoring for me), but why stress it out if I don't have to.

I noticed that CCP is going with the "listen to what the players are doing, and NOT what they're saying" as apparently there have been MANY monocles sold. If you don't like them, don't buy them. I can't see any developer pumping time/money into things that no-one is buying.

What Elycion said. Players 'buying' ships for real money won't significantly affect the game.

1. Because they'll still need the skills to equip and use them properly. Or else watch them burn.

2. Something bought for real money would be valued more - so it won't be taken down to low sec and used for pvp.

3. Ship buying has been going on for ages anyway, just outside CCPs control. One of the largest faction ship dealers was often accused of 'ISK-laundering' for people who did buy and sell ISK or LPs. If it wasn't changing the game then, why should it now ? Do they think everyone is going to suddenly be buying passive drakes (which are as cheap as chips anyway) and going down to 0.0 to evict the current sclerotic alliances ?

EVE.....EVE never changes...

Ever since I started playing the game over five years ago there have always been a highly vocal minority that screams bloody murder about New_Change47 and how it means the end of the game. Meanwhile the numbers for active subscriptions and concurrent users have continued to rise year after year. I have no doubt that if I were to add the people shooting statues and screaming about the END OF TIMES in Jita to my watchlist that I would see the vast majority of them continue to log on in the weeks and months to come.

The only way EVE is likely to really die is if CCP started listening to these vocal players and keeping the game in some kind of perpetual feature stasis (which is apparently the only thing acceptable to some people.)

I'm convinced that WoW was half as popular as it is simply because the Dev's ignored that vocal minority..and realized early on that by watching players behavior and how they played they would learn alot more than they ever could by listening to the idiots that screamed anytime any change was made.

And yet if there was ever a game packed with gold sellers, item traders and all-around nobheads, it's that one. I guess the difference is that in most parts of WoW, players are competing against the system, and pvp is confined to relatively small areas. Most of the people twining on in Eve Forums are competing directly against each other, and thus in their view allowing people to get ships etc is going to affect them.

davet010 wrote:

Most of the people twining on in Eve Forums are competing directly against each other, and thus in their view allowing people to get ships etc is going to affect them.

Although I'm sitting on the sidelines watching, this seems to be at the very heart of the matter. Vanity items are ok. Walking in stations is a wash. But the central issue is: Will advantage-giving items (ships, skill points, loyalty points, ammo, etc.) eventually be sold for cash? If so, the argument is that it will break the spirit of the game as well as potentially the economy of the game because it is a player run economy. The minute the veteran industrialist players feel like they are competing against an online store rather than other players (especially since you can't ever intimidate, wipe out or pvp an online storefront) is when the game will supposedly die.

That, and the utter lack of clarity/communication coming from CCP regarding the issue has veteran players really anxious.

Virtual economies really are fascinating from many points of view.

Montalban wrote:

But the central issue is: Will advantage-giving items (ships, skill points, loyalty points, ammo, etc.) eventually be sold for cash?

I'm guessing that we're eventually (18 months minimum) going to see something along these lines happening. I actually think that some useful in-game items can be sold via Aurum without destroying the game economy. The trick would be to sell BPC's and not the items themselves. At that point it wouldn't be much different than the existing setup where you purchase a BPO from an NPC supplier, you still need minerals and a manufacturing base to produce the final product.

RMT has already been a sanctioned part of EVE online for a long time now in the form of PLEX for ISK, all the Aurum conversion is really doing is establishing a "PLEX-sink".

In the end I think that CCP wouldn't risk pissing off some of their customers unless they were fairly well convinced that a greater number of customers were interested in the idea of a "cash shop". Personally I wish it weren't so, but I can't fault a business for trying to do what is necessary to stay profitable and competitive.

Wink_and_the_Gun wrote:

I noticed that CCP is going with the "listen to what the players are doing, and NOT what they're saying" as apparently there have been MANY monocles sold. If you don't like them, don't buy them. I can't see any developer pumping time/money into things that no-one is buying.

Well...

EVE leaked mail wrote:

Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:16:54 -0400
To: redacted
Subject: ccp ceo global msg sent today
From: redacted
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=.UTF-8.
Message-Id: redacted

sent by hilmar to ccp global list-

(strt)

We live in interesting times; in fact CCP is the kind of company that if things get repetitive we instinctively crank it up a notch. That, we certainly have done this week. First of we have Incarna, an amazing technological and artistic achievement. A vision from years ago realized to a point that no one could have imaged but a few months ago. It rolls out without a hitch, is in some cases faster than what we had before, this is the pinnacle of professional achievement. For all the noise in the channel we should all stand proud, years from now this is what people will remember.

But we have done more, not only have we redefined the production quality one can apply to virtual worlds with the beautiful Incarna but we have also defined what it really means to make virtual reality more meaningful than real life when it comes to launching our new virtual goods currency, Aurum.

Naturally, we have caught the attention of the world. Only a few weeks ago we revealed more information about DUST 514 and now we have done it again by committing to our core purpose as a company by redefining assumptions. After 40 hours we have already sold 52 monocles, generating more revenue than any of the other items in the store.

This we have done after months of research by a group of highly competent professionals, soliciting input and perspective from thought leaders and experts in and around our industry. We have communicated our intention here internally in very wide circles through the Virtual Economy Summit presentation at the GSM, our Fearless newsletter, sprint reviews, email lists and multiple other channels. This should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Currently we are seeing _very predictable feedback_ on what we are doing. Having the perspective of having done this for a decade, I can tell you that this is one of the moments where we look at what our players do and less of what they say. Innovation takes time to set in and the predictable reaction is always to resist change.

We went out with a decisive strategy on pricing and we will stay the course and not flip flop around or knee jerk react to the predictable. That is not saying nothing will change, on the contrary, in fact we know that success in this space is through learning and adapting to _what is actually happening_ and new knowledge gained in addition to what we knew before and expected.

All that said, I couldnât be prouder of what we have accomplished as a company, changing the world is hard and we are doing it as so many times before! Stay the course, we have done this many times before.

(end)

If that's their biggest revenue from the store it's not much of a success.

f that's their biggest revenue from the store it's not much of a success.

well.. whats the margin on that monocle?

TheGameguru wrote:
f that's their biggest revenue from the store it's not much of a success.

well.. whats the margin on that monocle?

$59,98?
Mind you, their in-game shirts are also more expensive than the real life versions so that might also be the reason why they aren't selling very well.