Go play WoW, you pansy! I have an active account in EVE Online ATM and have for over a year. Shows how much you know, eh?
I'm just sick of trying to get new people to play only to have them griefed out of the game or throw their hands up in frustration because it's too hard to figure out what to do in the game to progress before the trial is up. The game and a large segment of the population are downright hostile to new players. You don't throw a person with no combat training into a live combat zone. Same principle here.
They have made a couple stride in the right direction but the game NEEDS to do a better job of easing new players in. After this period (when they're properly lubed up) THEN they can get a real taste of human nature at it's worst.
The gameplay itself isn't bad, and it looks pretty with a nice system and all the candy turned on, but there isn't so much of a skill curve but a skill CLIFF. Most people that try the game don't survive to the end of the free trial because there's nothing fun about puttering around for a couple hours, getting a shiny new frigate and then making the mistake of wandering into a low security zone. They get OMGWTFPWNBBQ's by a gank squad camped at the warp gate consisting of a bunch of players with far, far more skill points as soon as they appear. These players don't care that these new people have nothing worth taking, they do it for kicks and e-peen enlargement (omg killmails!111one!one!).
This kind of deliberate griefing, scamming, cheating, etc. is rampant through the whole game. CCP actively caters to these types of players (hell Magnus even used the derogatory term "carebear" to refer to players that don't want to PVP by staying in "safe" Empire space). EVE has a well-deserved reputation for being a cesspool where all the a$$hats that get kicked out of other MMOs thrive. Unlike Blizzard, don't do seem to do anything about a rampant and out-of-control gold-farmer problem (think whole fleets of macro-miners). Not to mention that they gave a certain, privileged group of players licenses to effectively print money via a limited number of blue-prints for critical items (which is why people got so irate over the dev scandal).
This game will have a niche following, but they just won't ever expand beyond a certain point. I guess you could say it's successful from the point that they have made some money at it, but if they would make the game a bit less harsh and predatory, especially towards newer players, they'd be able to pick up a LOT more subscribers.
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I'm just sick of trying to get new people to play only to have them griefed out of the game or throw their hands up in frustration because it's too hard to figure out what to do in the game to progress before the trial is up. The game and a large segment of the population are downright hostile to new players. You don't throw a person with no combat training into a live combat zone. Same principle here.
They have made a couple stride in the right direction but the game NEEDS to do a better job of easing new players in. After this period (when they're properly lubed up) THEN they can get a real taste of human nature at it's worst.
The gameplay itself isn't bad, and it looks pretty with a nice system and all the candy turned on, but there isn't so much of a skill curve but a skill CLIFF. Most people that try the game don't survive to the end of the free trial because there's nothing fun about puttering around for a couple hours, getting a shiny new frigate and then making the mistake of wandering into a low security zone. They get OMGWTFPWNBBQ's by a gank squad camped at the warp gate consisting of a bunch of players with far, far more skill points as soon as they appear. These players don't care that these new people have nothing worth taking, they do it for kicks and e-peen enlargement (omg killmails!111one!one!). This kind of deliberate griefing, scamming, cheating, etc. is rampant through the whole game. CCP actively caters to these types of players (hell Magnus even used the derogatory term "carebear" to refer to players that don't want to PVP by staying in "safe" Empire space). EVE has a well-deserved reputation for being a cesspool where all the a$$hats that get kicked out of other MMOs thrive. Unlike Blizzard, don't do seem to do anything about a rampant and out-of-control gold-farmer problem (think whole fleets of macro-miners). Not to mention that they gave a certain, privileged group of players licenses to effectively print money via a limited number of blue-prints for critical items (which is why people got so irate over the dev scandal). This game will have a niche following, but they just won't ever expand beyond a certain point. I guess you could say it's successful from the point that they have made some money at it, but if they would make the game a bit less harsh and predatory, especially towards newer players, they'd be able to pick up a LOT more subscribers.