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New EVE Online Expansion Detailed

Posted by Soulskill on from the excel-in-space dept.

Eurogamer reports on the EVE Online Fanfest, at which developer CCP revealed details on the game's next expansion, due out in March. It will be the biggest expansion yet for EVE, and it will "introduce 'Tech 3' modular ship designs, branching epic mission arcs, further improvements to the new player experience, and exploration of uncharted space through unstable wormholes. ... The focus of the expansion will be 'true exploration,' with players using new skills and modules to travel through wormholes into all-new, unconnected space." CCP also hinted that further graphical upgrades would be coming, and a standalone first-person shooter based on EVE may be in development for a console release.

5 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. eve upgrade? by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Did they ever get station ambulation up and running yet? They'd bought White Wolf a few months before I quit playing and the talk of a World of Darkness MMO made it sound like the dev pool was about to suffer a major drain.

    I love space combat games and if any MMORPG was going to suck me in, it would have been this one. But it just required way too much grinding. What finally got me, I had finally worked my way up to a battleship and was doing the hard missions that made the battleship worthwhile and the NPC frigates warp-scrambled me. They're so damn fast, you're scrambled before the fight even begins and if you realize you're overmatched, you can no longer escape as you could with cheaper ships in easier missions. A battleship represents the product of more game time than I'd care to consider and it can be destroyed in seconds.

    The other thing that made it so awful is that the loot tables kept getting tweaked so less good stuff would drop, the addition of salvage meant that you now had to run your missions in a warship and then run through those same stupid rooms with a salvage ship, doubling the grind time without doubling the revenue...

    All of that finally hit me upside the head and made me say "Self, what are you doing with your time here?" I won't even go into the devs cheating and shit, that'd take all night.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    1. Re:eve upgrade? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you were "just" getting into BSs and you thought "hey I can run level 4 missions now" you are sadly mistaken.

      The problem with eve isn't that it's hard, it's that it's harder than most people think it is.

      However, lots of players have been around since the start and this makes it nearly impossible for new players to compete on an even field. In fact, there is no such thing as a fair fight in eve. You either get smeared, or you smear the other guy.

      I've got 2 accounts since day one. They are both ELITE. I never go anywhere alone. EVER. I've got a corp, and if I'm flying outside empire, I've got friends with me, lots of them most of the time.

      The good thing about eve is that it's the only online game that allows players to build and hold an empire. It means something to do this, and it means something to hold on to it. And it opens the door for some EPIC level fighting and intrigue.

      I'm an on again off again player, in fact I have probably spent more months not playing, than I have actually playing, but it's still the only MMO I've ever liked at all.

      There is a major problem, actually several. One is BOB and their empire founded on developer cheating. Another is massive imbalance between new and old players. Another is that there is no such thing as a fair fight. But I don't seem them fixing any of that anytime soon.

    2. Re:eve upgrade? by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I love space combat games and if any MMORPG was going to suck me in, it would have been this one.

      Jumpgate Evolution is what I'm hoping will deliver a quality space combat MMO, but if you prefer the more tactical (from what I've seen) combat that Eve has, JGE may not be your cup of tea. It looks like it's going to be more like an MMO version of something like X-Wing or Freespace.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
  2. Re:I must say this: by Like2Byte · · Score: 4, Interesting

    True enough. I tried EVE for the 14 day trial period. I loved the idea of EVE; however, it was a pain in the ass to get anything accomplished. If you wanted to get new quests you had to be referred to the next quest giver or else they wouldn't even talk to you. Then, some of the quest lines were cryptic at best and I couldn't figure out where/who to turn the quest in to. I gave up but not for a lack of trying.

    EVE is a very intelligent game, one requiring patience and perseverance. The problem is, at the end of the day, I've used up all remaining patience and just didn't have enough for those frustrating quest lines you inevitably will run into.

    Space fantasy game where you can get your own super-destro-death-star warship: +5 points.
    Poor playability: -5 point
    Help Forum FULL of too many people for an overtaxed support agent: -3 points.

    I'm sad that I feel this way. EVE holds so much promise.

  3. Re:So with this round of "enhancements"... by BenLeeImp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Personally, I would think that having developers that actually like to play the game they are developing would be a big benefit to the playerbase, albeit indirectly. Speaking personally, I am much more likely to put extra effort into a project I have affinity for. In addition, having the developers playing the game allows them to get firsthand looks at how things are going out there, and get ideas for how things should be improved. Getting this information through analysts, of one kind or another, is rarely as useful - in my experience, that is. YMMV.