EVE Online's Next Frontier

If you look at the graphs over at MMOGChart.com, most of the lines that aren't WoW seem to be heading downwards. The little engine that could, though, is personified by the Icelandic dynamo EVE Online. FiringSquad has an interview with CCP Senior Producer Nathan Richardsson. He discusses the popularity of EVE right now, and goes into some of the company's plans for making sure the game stays that way in the future. From the article: "This iterative process is based largely on our crazy future views of how EVE should be and a lot on player feedback. We then want to do some revolutionary stuff to the EVE universe and then evolution comes and bites us in the ass, reminding us that it's not cool to always throw new stuff in, the current game needs to be constantly maintained and evolved. In the end, we're never happy and I guess this is part of what is fuelling our continued passion for EVE."

Comments

Screenshots...

[posterlogo]

...are all of random ships floating around in space. There to show off the "beautiful graphics" with absolutely no indication as to what a screen of actual gameplay looks like. Too many games out there rely on these cherry-picked screenshots as selling points.

Re:Screenshots...

[brennz]

You only fought NPCs. You were in high security space the entire time.

You mentioned nothing of true tactics in ship vs ship pvp.

When it comes to player vs. player in EVE, EVE has so much more tactics and strategy than most other MMOs. The simple reason behind this is the massive variety of ships, loadouts, skillsets. Whereas WOW has certain classes that specialize in killing other classes, and strictly defined skilltrees, EVE has far more variety.

Yet another newbie posting on a game. This is like a level 5 nub in WOW talking about endgame.

Re:Screenshots...

[Anonymous Coward]

Disagree with it because his entire type of fighting sums up only frigate piloting..and even then only T1 n00b frigate piloting.

To quote:
"Combat seems to involve automatically setting your ship to orbit another, then enabling your weapons. Which then shoot away at regular intervals, all aiming done automatically"~ford perfect

I wish I could still do that in ym cruiser battleship..I frankly think that sort of introduction to the games system management DB is a decent approach. (to dully note, even fi this was the entire battle system, it would still beat WoWs, ctrl click and wait method of gameplay)

Some other notes:
"I suspect there's no chance of the autopilot failing (memories of having to manually fly a stricken spacecraft into dock with a fast-orbiting space-station in Elite 2 come to mind...)" Autopilot only fails if someone else pulls you out of it and decdes to blow your ship to pieces.

"Other players seemed friendly enough, although admittedly I didn't interact with - or see - that many. No Counter-Strike style griefers that I saw, anyhow." - again...didn't spend much time outside of 'alone' stuff as opposed to joining a player corp and doing things, like the Tutorial recommends.

Also... the man goes on to state that he expected an action game...which eve is defiantly not.

Re:Screenshots...

[urikkiru]

Eve actually isn't that dull, but it's also a game that refuses to hold your hand. Gameplay is whatever you choose to do, so there's no overarcing plot or guide to steer you towards something really. Combat for example, seems simple at first. However, as you play more and more, and understand the mechanics more, you find that combat is anything but simple. Simply autopiloting around a target, and going afk while your weapons fire only works very early on. After that you have to start thinking about ship loadouts, traversal velocities, what modules to activitate when, distances relative to your target, damage type selection, what to harden your ship against, etc. I too remember being initally bored with combat. Then I started fighting real opponents, and that's when things got very exciting.

Anyway, Eve has a high learning curve, and tries not to throw it at you all at once. It's a strength, but also a flaw. It's a game of patience in many ways, and not instant gratification like some other games.

Re:Screenshots...

[Anonymous Coward]

Eve-Online is definantly a different style of gameplay... and I LOVE IT.

Sorry to hear that some people don't like the style. Yes, the aiming is done for you( which avoids the cheats that pervade games like CounterStrike ). And no, you dont fly your ship with a joystick, but there is a lot more to the Eve-online than 'steering' your ship in a 1st person shooter way. One hell of a lot more.

For starters you learn skills. These skills matter a great deal in how your ship is piloted, how long your ship lasts in combat, how much damage you deal, what kinds of ships you can fly( mining barge, transport vessel, assault frigate, battleship, etc ), and even how fast you learn those skills.

The game is more than just mining, or mindless combat. You can do pretty much anything in the game that you could ever dream of. You want to be a spy? Then BE one. Go out, infiltrate a player run corporation( yes, you can be ceo of your own corporation and have other real live players under you ), find out where their valuables are, how strong they are, how they fight, and then sell the information to some other real player in the game who wants it.

Do you want to be the head of the strongest alliance in the game? The only thing that will hold you back is yourself... minus others in the game who have the same goal. :-)

Wanna be a pirate? YARRR!!! You can. Want to be a bounty hunter? Politician? Just left alone and not griefed by those that get a kick out of ruining everyone elses fun? You can do all of that.

When you lose a ship in game, you really lose it. There isn't a save game button so you can try again. This adds to the excitement. Are you willing to lose a ship you worked 2 1/2 weeks to be able to afford? or are you too afraid to risk it?

No, Eve isn't a 1st person shooter style game you can write a hack for to make you see through walls and auto-aim your gun so you can 'win'. Eve-Online is a game for those who want to do whatever they can think of. And dare I say, its a game for those who are a little more grown up. If you want instant gratification, go play a 1st person shooter or go play WOW. This isn't the game for you.

I apologize in advance...

[skia]

Great. Now how about a Mac version!

On EVE

[brennz]

I'm playing EVE right now.

EVE I consider somewhat like Shadowbane-in-space, without the sb.exe and with a far better engine.

EVE graphics are great. Far better than anything else on the market that is an MMO.

I love the depth of EVE - you can trade, mine, pirate (PK), pvp, run NPC missions, or kill NPC pirates.

The huge amount of players online at any given time is great too - it isn't like standard MMOs with everything being on seperate servers.

EVE has a different levelling system also - basically time based. You set a skill up, it finishes after a set amount of time. No need to kill a mob over and over again, then move on to tougher mobs. Just time, based on the attributes of your character.

EVE requires a high performance system in order fully experience it in all its glory. I am using a p4 2.8 C, 1 GB ram, gf fx 5900 ultra typically at 100hz @1024x768 and my framerate is somewhat substandard. Going to build a new system specifically for this.

Also, alt usage is rampant in EVE. Because you can only train up one character at a time, a significant % of people run alts. I know of people that have as many as 5 accounts!

EVE's territorial, and risk vs. reward system is far superior to most other modern MMOs. In most other MMOs, there is no risk really, because of the watered down pvp. You die in WOW, you basically lose nothing. Not so in EVE. Dying in EVE can be seriously painful because of the massive expense of well fitted ships.

My only gripes with EVE is the time based levelling has some of the oldest players nearly at 55 million skill points (SP) so newer players cannot dream of competing with them, not for years. There is significant amount of time to be spent in your initial learning tree, and follow on into chosen skills based on your professions.

Eve Online story - MUST READ

[Viking Coder]

For anyone remotely curious about Eve Online, this story is a must read:

http://static.circa1984.com/the-big-scam.html

From the intro:

This is a story of deception, intrigue, and doublecrossing. It is a story of liars, bandits, and greed. It is a story of the worst of the human condition, and how the motive for profit will drive a normally nice guy to the deepest depths of evil and betrayal.

This is the story of my life in Eve Online.

I've played EVE

[lonesome phreak]

For a few months now. I think the biggest thing keeping people playing it is the complexity. On eve-online there are programs to help you choose the right types of weapons for range, speed, ship size, ammo type, and so on. There are about five different types of each turrent, going from really cheap to really expensive...and there is a definate difference in game play. Hundreds, if not thousands, of different combinations of different ship moduals that can change various attributes of the ships such as CPU usage, power output, sheilding (against four different types of damage like explosive, thermo, emp) all combine to make a complex game just to start out with.

Throw in corporations, pirates, wars...it really is like a different world. What I find most interesting in it is the fact I can start my character training on something, and then don't really need to go back and mess with the game until the training is done if I don't want to. The biggest problem is the amount of ISK (in-game money) that things cost. It takes weeks to get enough ISK together to build a decent battleship, and you can loose it in less than a minute. You sit in your escape pod...hopefully you bought some insurance, and even that isn't enough to get a ship like you had. There are pirates everywhere in low security space, and once you've dropped to .4 or lower (on a scale of .0 to 1, with 0 being mad-max land) anything goes pretty much. A few times I've come through a gate to be immediatly attacked. If I have a mission into low-sec space I'll put 2-3 warp coil stabilizers on the ship just so I can escape if I'm jumped.

EVE is definetly not a game for the casual player. To get a really good character is usually takes at least 6mo to a year to build up one character. But, if you enjoy space combat and corporate subterfuge, it is a very fun game. Also, even though it have great graphics, it's not overly-taxing on the system like WOW and COV.

Re:A protected world view.

[ReverendLoki]

There is so much wrong in your post....

Most Americans won't play EVE because most Americans don't play MMORPGs in general. Speaking strictly about the Americans who play MMORPGs, though, most won't be playing EVE because of the huge time investment. Most of these gamers play for a diversion... they are playing a game, not trying to work a second virtual job.

You say that Americans like games simple and dumbed down, and say that is why Americans don't like Soccer, but instead play games like (American) Football, Basketball and Baseball. I'm guessing you have never played Soccer, then. It's simplicity is part of what makes it a great sport... at the core, you just need a ball to play it. No fancy rules, no complex strategies, no infield fly rule, no complex screen pass patterns. Once you've mastered the offsides rule, which any 6 year old can do, it's a simple game.

Regarding your comments on music as a reflection on American society - you realize that this applies to the entire world, don't you? And why are you including the Beatles as an example of American music?

Look, I may just be falling into the trap laid by yet another Troll, but the way I see it, you are extremely confused on... well, almost every subject you broached in your brief explanation...