EVE a victim of its own success

[Varsity]

Two days after releasing the Red Moon Rising content patch (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8074), CCP's CEO Hilmar Petursson has posted on EVE Online's developer blog (http://myeve.eve-online.com/mb/devblog.asp) (low-quality link for non-subscribers) about the challenges the company faces with its booming MMO, and just how hardcore the team there are about overcoming them.

An excerpt reads:
As the game grows and we stubbornly maintain our goal of one cluster, we have to take a more drastic approach to platform management than before. The gradual addition of hardware and on going software optimizations are not able to keep up with EVE any more.

The urgency of the situation becomes evident when we do updates of the scale of Red Moon Rising. The margin of error is virtually non-existent as we are already so close to the glass ceiling of our current cluster architecture that the smallest mis-configuration leads to us banging against it.

We have been doing research into how we can considerably increase our headroom, the first step was the Ramsan (http://www.superssd.com/success/ccpgames.htm), the next step involves a move to 64 bit architecture. We have brought Christian Tismer, the godfather of Stackless Python (http://www.stackless.com/) to Iceland and him and porkbelly (http://myeve.eve-online.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=277) are here at the office busy figuring out how to squeeze all potential power out of the x64 AMDs we are planning to build our next major cluster upgrade on.

We have world experts assisting us and after everything has been completed the EVE cluster will probably be the first game related cluster site to rank on the Top500 list (http://www.top500.org/).EVE has been growing at an astounding rate recently, going from peaks of 15,000 to 19,000 concurrent players in three just months - all maintained without the sharding seen on other MMOs, where there are several versions of the world running from seperate databases.

Read the full blog: With EVE account (http://myeve.eve-online.com/devblog.asp) | Without EVE account (http://myeve.eve-online.com/mb/devblog.asp)

UPDATE: EVE has just broken 20,000 simulataneous players (http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/evilavatar/eve/eve_20k.jpg)!

Meanest ships, meanest hardware. Just...not...quite...yet...

[Draft]

Pretty game, neat idea, too bad it's just not fun.

[Zeal]

Pretty game, neat idea, too bad it's just not fun.

Too bad only a noob would say that.

Unfortunately, EVE takes months of dedication to actually come to the point to fully explore its universe. I just don't have that kind of free time.

Regardless, it still remains one of the best MMO universes ever developed.

[BadIronTree]

eve is for a small target group...

you think killing cartoon like monsters is fun
some people dont...

try to do other things from just mining in the safe space

ps: http://www.evenews.com/guides.php?viewArticle=7 info for the new OMG BIG ships

ps2: WOW suck *&^(*& EQ 2 RULZ :) and EVE to :P

[holycrapper]

I am personally happy they are having these issues, being a victim of your own success is better then just fading into the limelight, and maybe blizzard will take some natice, make thier next mmo a little more complex and unforgiving. I have played this game and it rocks something unholy, i just couldn't get into it. If I remember correctly i could'nt get the whole social structure down, but what I saw left me wanting more...Here's hoping for more success down the road for these guys, and maybe they'll even get this whole one cluster thing knocked down fierce. Become a shining example of "One world influenced by your choices" and such.

[jacktion]

This game is amazing. It blows WOW away in both visuals and depth. I understand that WOW is way more popular, but where's the challenge in aiming for the lowest common denominator?

ps. does anybody have a link to that story about the assassin clan that infiltrated the corporation and destroyed it from the inside? thnks

[joruussuun]

Well... I started the trial... don't know if I want to dedicate the time to it though... I'm two or three hours in and only 1/3 of the way through the tutorials.

[Draft]

Too bad only a noob would say that.

Unfortunately, EVE takes months of dedication to actually come to the point to fully explore its universe. I just don't have that kind of free time.

Regardless, it still remains one of the best MMO universes ever developed.sounds so much fun.

[ElectricMonk]

I wish I had the time to spend on mmo's, because eve would be my first choice.

[BlindSwordsman]

Eve is very good but it requires time. I have been playing this game for almost 2 years now and it keeps getting better. Huge learning curve? Yes. Is it worth it - yes!

[Nameback]

It is fun, I'm playing through the trial, however it is also a huge timesink. Props to them for trying to keep only one server, it may seem insignificant, but I really like the fact that there is only one EVE universe, instead of 40.

[Thenetcase]

I'm just now getting back into EVE. The fact that you can actually be an effective pirate is intriguing to me. ;)

[Mondopest]

EVE is a great game with a ton of playstyle possibilities.

[ElPresidente]

What I'm loving most about the posts in this thread is that even the people who found EVE wasn't for them are raving about the game. In my own experiences on the site of the mag I write for people who gave this game a go were fairly split on whether they wanted to keep playing but universally praised the game for what it was.

As BadIronTree says, EVE is aimed at a very small group of gamers. It is not intended to be for everyone but it is intended to be the very best at what it does and it does it oh so well.

Incidentaly Jacktion the name of the Corporation (not clan this isn't WoW :P) you are thinking of is the Guiding Hand Social Club. If you do a bit of a search on Google you should be able to find links easily enough, it was well publicised.

[BadIronTree]

What I'm loving most about the posts in this thread is that even the people who found EVE wasn't for them are raving about the game. In my own experiences on the site of the mag I write for people who gave this game a go were fairly split on whether they wanted to keep playing but universally praised the game for what it was.

As BadIronTree says, EVE is aimed at a very small group of gamers. It is not intended to be for everyone but it is intended to be the very best at what it does and it does it oh so well.

Incidentaly Jacktion the name of the Corporation (not clan this isn't WoW :P) you are thinking of is the Guiding Hand Social Club. If you do a bit of a search on Google you should be able to find links easily enough, it was well publicised.
Iam CT BadIronTree and in colossus technologies.. the first and older corp in eve 2 years 7 months + and counting :)
since beta 5

[Goronmon]

EVE is a solid game at heart, however the time you need to put into the game before you can do anything other than flying around in some crappy ship is rather ridiculous. I'd say the learning curve isn't that bad, as long as you don't mind reading instructions.

In the end though, I found the combat repetitive, I found trading repetitive and I found mining repetitive. The time spent going for certain goals (ie. skills) is measured in weeks once you get past the beginning tier stuff. It came down to me deciding if spending 4-6 months leveling a character was worth figuring out if I liked the game, or if I would rather play another game where I could have fun from the beginning. I went with the latter.

[Captain Awesome]

I always heard this game had a very in-depth game design. A good learning curve?

My problem with WOW is that it's just too, easy to do just about everything. Which is great for its design, which is what attracts alot of users. Over the course of 3 leveled characters I was very unfulfilled.

[Spigot]

I picked up the trial and installed it but I haven't logged in with my trial account number yet... Should I wait for a bit for the server stuff to settle down before trying it out? What with the Christmas break hitting soon, I'm scared that the amount of people with free time to play this game will spike even more.

That said, I can't wait to try it out. How much is the monthly fee? The idea of just getting in a ship and exploring and trading sounds awesome. I've always wanted an MMO where I can just go off into the hills and be a hermit. This sounds like the kind of game where I can go off into the deepest nebula and be a hermit.

Yeah, my dream MMO experience equals me paying a monthly fee to be left alone in the wilderness. I'm wierd that way.

[jacktion]

That said, I can't wait to try it out. How much is the monthly fee? The idea of just getting in a ship and exploring and trading sounds awesome. I've always wanted an MMO where I can just go off into the hills and be a hermit. This sounds like the kind of game where I can go off into the deepest nebula and be a hermit.

Yeah, my dream MMO experience equals me paying a monthly fee to be left alone in the wilderness. I'm wierd that way.


Monthly fee is pretty much same as everywhere else. 13$? I don't remember.

I do know that you can buy time cards with in-game money. So if you start making a lot of money in a corporation or mining then you can play for free. Cool, huh?

[Heretic Machine]

Well, the fee is likely the standard $15/month.

[Savok]

Shit like this just makes me cry because everytime I try to get to EVE, some shit in real life comes up. When the dev is actively fighting reality for their design goal, that's something worth supporting.

[ElPresidente]

Iam CT BadIronTree and in colossus technologies.. the first and older corp in eve 2 years 7 months + and counting :)
since beta 5

Yeah! Well my corp has been around for 2 weeks! :P

[joruussuun]

UPDATE: Almost finished with the tutorial... and I'm really liking this games so far! I can't wait to get a new ship and cruise around, do a few missions for some agents and kill some pirates.
I don't know if I like the time based skill learning though... waiting hours and days and weeks in real time before being able to learn the skill? I'll see how it works out closer to the end of the trial. Maybe it will grow on me. (Heh, maybe I should just leave it logged in.) :D

[Dr Quincy]

Started playing last night. It's an intimidating experience (most likely the most intimidated I have ever felt setting out on a new game). Hope I didn't exaserbate server problems with my custom.

[dojoteef]

I tried the game out and was sorely disappointed. Travel times even with the jump gates made going anywhere annoying. Combat turned out to be even more boring. I target an enemy and sit back waiting for combat to be over. I feel no sense of accomplishment from that. Same goes with the mining. It was even more boring than the combat.

I kept hearing how great the game was. I like the idea of one huge universe where player action actually affects the game, but the core gameplay in EVE detracted from that ideal.

[Spigot]

Monthly fee is pretty much same as everywhere else. 13$? I don't remember.

I do know that you can buy time cards with in-game money. So if you start making a lot of money in a corporation or mining then you can play for free. Cool, huh?

Very cool indeed. I read something about that recently and that really got me interested.

I'll probably wait until the new year to try it out as I'll be out of town for at least a week and I don't want to waste that much of my free trial.

[Savok]

I don't know if I like the time based skill learning though... waiting hours and days and weeks in real time before being able to learn the skill? I'll see how it works out closer to the end of the trial. Maybe it will grow on me. (Heh, maybe I should just leave it logged in.) :D
You continue to learn skills even while logged off. One of the really nice things about EVE, your character doesn't simply stop because you've logged off.

[joruussuun]

You continue to learn skills even while logged off. One of the really nice things about EVE, your character doesn't simply stop because you've logged off.
Whoa, I didn't know that... that's awesome!
Alright, back to EVE... I'm just waiting for my frigate level 3 skill so I can buy a better ship, spending my time so far doing missions for agents.

[midrael]

The more I hear about this game, the more I'm tempted to try it out!

I've craved a good space trading sim since the days of trade wars and privateer.

[NeuroMan42]

Pretty game, neat idea, too bad it's just not fun.

I played EVE for quite some time, and the above quote is very very true.

[Mason]

I beta tested it for a while and found it beyond tedious. On the plus side, it'd be great after you put in a year or so. On the minus side, it'd be great after you put in a year or so.

[Mozain]

I enjoyed the game too, but I found that the largest problem was I spent way more time not playing while playing it. For example, i'd set a waypoint, go watch T.V. Start mining, have a snack. Hell I would just log in, set a new skill and then log out just so that I could do it agian 3 days later.

[ElPresidente]

I played EVE for quite some time, and the above quote is very very true.

Then why play it for 'quite some time' if you didn't find it fun you silly person you. :P

I tried the game out and was sorely disappointed. Travel times even with the jump gates made going anywhere annoying. Combat turned out to be even more boring. I target an enemy and sit back waiting for combat to be over. I feel no sense of accomplishment from that. Same goes with the mining. It was even more boring than the combat.

This may sound like justification but I'm sure the other EVE players here will agree with me that it sounds like you are expecting EVE to serve up the fun and that is missing the point. This isn't WoW, there is no set path to accomplishment. If you want to look for well defined paths to success (ie: Become a miner, become a trader, etc) then you had best look else where. Yes you can play those roles as though they are player classes if you wish but if you do you simply won't get any joy out of the game.

CCP in their eternal wisdom have simply provided the play ground, the play isn't up to them, the play is up to the player. It allows for a much more free form experience than any other MMO out there. Unfortunately it also means it is very difficult for people coming from more traditional gaming experiences to 'connect' with the gameplay. It feels aimless, uncontrolled, confusing... but that's just because we generally don't get free gameplay like this in the realm of computer/video gaming.

Sure if you want to become a miner and do that go for it but the people who find EVE such a compelling experience are the ones who realise the advantages of having no set advancement structure. They are the ones who become inventive and it is here that you fall in love with the game.

When I started off in EVE I did a few missions here and there but nothing particularly exciting. Then I heard tell of the life scavengers, people picking over the corpses of the recently dead for loot. Thought I could take that idea a bit further myself.

I fitted out a very small craft with a lot of nanofibre structural enhancements to make it as light as possible. I then boosted her up with the most powerful after burner I could afford/the ship could take/that I could use and turned to my star map. Studying for areas where there had been a lot of combat I would take my small craft out to 0 security space where a lot of people had died recently. There were usually a few small trinkets here and there, stuff left behind by the victors because it wasn't worth anything to them but to a mere newb like me... well... they were worth much more than any one mission could pull.

I'd run the missions once a night, had a few close calls with some pirate activity (NPC and PC) but nothing too scary... my high speed saw me clear most hostiles in relatively short time. One night though I went out to an area that was a good deal further from core space than I would normally travel. I hunted around various asteroids but to no avail, pickings were slim.

I was about to clear out of the sector when an asteroid belt I passed showed up as containing abandoned cargo. I ducked in there and saw a cargo can up ahead. Setting my course I sped off towards my target. Stupidly I had left my scanner filters to only show pirates and cargo cans, as a result I missed a big Gallentean Brutix on its way to claim what I assumed was its rightful salvage.

For those who don't know the Brutix it is a ship much larger than mine (a basic frigate) and quite a deal more powerful. I wasn't too concerned when I finally saw it lurch into view, it is a slow ship and I could easily out run it.

Of course I can't out run a cargo hold of drone fighters and it was with some horror I watched the tell tale white trails of drone fighters streaming out from the Brutix. Locking alarms rang in my ears as the aggressive state of the drones confirmed that my Brutix friend had spotted me.

I hit the after burners as hard as I could and whipped straight through the cloud of drone fighters closing in on me. I had no weaponry to speak of, all my CPU and Power focused on speed not combat. The ploy gave me a small amount of breathing room while the drones pulled a 180.

I was coming up close to the cargo and hit a tight orbit with my afterburners flaring. As anyone who flies frigates will know; inertia is a bitch... my light frigate over shot the mark, I killed the afterburners, brought the ship about face and fired a short burst to bring me in collection range as quickly as possible. I grabbed the cargo, frantically dragging icons in to my hold while my armour and shields rapidly depleted under the barrage of drone fire and - now the Brutix had brought its considerable bulk in range - the impact of missiles.

As soon as the can was empty I punched my warp drives and anxiously watched the warp guage fill only to drop back to 50% just before it reached 100%. The hammering continued and just with two bars of armour left on the ship the little frigate started to vibrate in the reassuring manner that only a ship entering warp can achieve.

I don't know how upset that Brutix pilot was. I don't know how wealthy he was but amongst my cargo I found a laser weapon I was later able to fence for over 700,000 ISK. Considering most missions I was doing only netted 5 to 10 thousand if I was lucky that was a great heist.

I've played a number of MMOs and no game has rewarded me so well for being inventive... no I'm not talking about the 700,000 ISK. I'm talking about the sheer amount of fun I had during that. It is one of my most memorable gameplay experiences and while I now play with slightly bigger boys than I was playing with back then it is still the moment that sticks in my mind.

Oh how I love EVE :P

[Varsity]

I've had several trial accounts myself, not enough time or money for the real thing, and I can vouch for things being pretty dull until you break into PvP (which doesn't have to mean combat). My last character ended up running around the rim of secure space trying to find humans to trade with, because trading with the AI is so pointless and unrewarding. I eventually got invited to join a corp but they were mostly sixty-odd jumps out into 0.0 so that proved pretty pointless too.

I'm fairly sure now that the key is to start playing with a group, which isn't too suprising when you consider the focus on PvP over PvE(nvironment). Starting out alone in such a socially-driven game is a recipie for drudgery, I think, unless you get lucky or like that sort of thing.

Also: this thread is great.

Edit: Fucking awesome story, Presidente.

[Savok]

And that gentlemen, is free form gameplay.

[Morratut]

Damn I want to try it. It's would take up so much time though :(

[joruussuun]

God damn it... I just lost all my money (241,000 isk) and am now negative -9,000 isk, and my ship was destroyed, because customs said I was carrying contraband... that I didn't even know I had (it was all mission reward stuff). I couldn't figure out how to hand it over to them... I thought 'yes' would be handing it over. But apparently not. They destroyed my only ship and fined me twice. So that's basically it... can't afford a new ship, can't finish my mission.
I guess I have to start a new character... somebody said you can't even trade money between your own trial characters though... so there goes 3 days of skill training.

EDIT: Ok, well, it appears I automatically had insurance on my newb ship... so I got that back but lost all my improvements and money. Maybe not a total loss if I can do some more missions.

[Savok]

Yeah the game isn't that unforgiving :P

But it's odd you'd get rewarded with contraband, unless the mission itself was illegal or something?

[joruussuun]

Yeah the game isn't that unforgiving :P

But it's odd you'd get rewarded with contraband, unless the mission itself was illegal or something?
No... I was rewarded with Small Arms from a Administration courier mission... and the Calderi apparently find Small Arms illegal... and to make matters worst... I am going to fail my mission because I can't find where they destroyed me so I can see if my mission item survived. :(

(heh... any EVE uber rich players want to take pity on the newb who accidentally was carrying contraband and send him a little cash to pay his fine and maybe get back on his feet...?)

EDIT: God... i'm just so damned angry... :mad:
I was trying to hand the contraband over... but it's like "... want you to hand over you contraband. If you decide to decline your ship will be destroyed..." and then it gives you a "Yes/No"... so I chose 'Yes' thinking it was 'Yes, hand over the illegal contraband..." but apparently it was 'Yes, tell them to shove it and make a run for it..."

EDIT 2: Yes... now I failed the mission and the agent is PISSED at me and won't give me any more missions. :(

EDIT 3: Started a new trial character... guess I'll have to wait on a new ship till tomorrow and I can gain my frigate level 3 skill.

[Apex]

Ive played Eve for ages too. I like it but hate the rampant fanboyism in the community.

What most people won't tell you is that CCP (the makers) are very sympathetic to PVP players. So they minimallize safe space. So the majority of the players stick to it while quite alot of other low security systems even entire constellations lay empty unless people are warping through them to get somewhere else.

This is one of the main reason why their having these problems right now. Because most of the problems are in systems that are heavily populated.

[Goronmon]

This may sound like justification but I'm sure the other EVE players here will agree with me that it sounds like you are expecting EVE to serve up the fun and that is missing the point.
I know what you are trying to say here, but it doesn't make sense when you are talking about a computer game. I, along with many other people, expect the gameplay to be fun with the games nowadays. Its almost as if you are saying you just need to use your imagination to make the game fun.

Like someone said earlier, after a while of playing I found myself logging on just to start training a new skill. Not exactly my idea of an engaging gameplay experience.

[Mav]

Eve much like WoW and many other MMO's has it's super great aspects and the total game killer ones.

It's visuals are very nice. They run well and look great even on a low-end gaming machine. Pop in a really good machine and it's spaceship bliss. However the enforcement of a minium 1024x768 resolution is one of several killers of the game. I played it on a neighbors P4 3.6 system with all the trimmings and while I can see using higher resolutions is "good" some people actually, enjoy a lower resolution. The text in the 1024 was just insanely too small to read half the time, I almost went blind sitting so close to the monitor to read it. Give me 800x600 please.

The ships are great, lord knows there's a ton of them. And it even doesn't take long to save up a little bit of credits to buy your first new ship. Though I really dislike the whole insurance/ship thing cause even if you lose your ship you can still lose your pod at some point which means entire character skill reset and other stuff. And the best ships, are insanely expensive. You literally need to micro in the game to get those.

The skills, are the big killer. I do like how you can keep training skills, while you are logged out. But what's say you log in and start doing whatever, killing pirates or minning and you get to a point where you can do something slightly higher like, get a ship with more cargo capacity. Thats great, except you can't pilot that ship cause your piloting skills haven't leveled...You can buy a skill if you have enough money, or go do fuck all while you wait many, many hours for a single skill to level up.

The mining is cool the first time you do it, you know manuevering to an asteriod and setting up your drill laser thing, then it's just tedious as you wait for your cargo hold to fill up...

The real end-game pvp is supposedly awesome, huge battles of hundreds of ships and all kinds of cool stuff. except to get there you literally need to put in 90+ hours a week into the game.

Credit for trying something different but not the best way to nail the science fiction fanbase with the slow slow gameplay

[Savok]

Well that's fucked up, maybe you need a license or something.

[Savok]

I know what you are trying to say here, but it doesn't make sense when you are talking about a computer game. I, along with many other people, expect the gameplay to be fun with the games nowadays. Its almost as if you are saying you just need to use your imagination to make the game fun.

Like someone said earlier, after a while of playing I found myself logging on just to start training a new skill. Not exactly my idea of an engaging gameplay experience.
Twisp and Catsby, it's not for you.

[Iron Maiden]

insurance is great for tech1 ships you spend 3rd of what ships costs and you get 100% back.
unless you start playing with tech2 ships wich have an insurance payout of close to nothing.
who ever said combat is borring is insane.
your pilot ability is what gets you kills not your stats.
radial velocity, transversal velocity, your range, your guns optimum and falloff ranges all that effects your damage giving and damage taken. having a battleship doesnt mean you take out all ships thats are below it. in fact is my vindicator BS that costs around 800mil with another 600mil in equipment will go down to a group of 10 frigs/cruisers that cost 50mil combined.

in pvp a person that only played the game for 1-2months is very important in fleet battles. i v been in 1v1 and i v been in 100vs100 either way its very exciting.

travel times sucks i know, but most people dont know about microwarp drives skills which increases your speed by 500% which can cut your travel time big time.

game has changed big time in the last year or so. and if you havnt played during the time you should give it a try again.


p.s. brutix has no missle slots, but its a good story anyways

[jacktion]

I know what you are trying to say here, but it doesn't make sense when you are talking about a computer game. I, along with many other people, expect the gameplay to be fun with the games nowadays. Its almost as if you are saying you just need to use your imagination to make the game fun.

Like someone said earlier, after a while of playing I found myself logging on just to start training a new skill. Not exactly my idea of an engaging gameplay experience.


This game does not lead you by the hand.

You get as much out of it as you put into it. What the hell do you expect if you only log in to start training a skill?

[Xaerin]

EVE is a solid game at heart, however the time you need to put into the game before you can do anything other than flying around in some crappy ship is rather ridiculous. I'd say the learning curve isn't that bad, as long as you don't mind reading instructions.

In the end though, I found the combat repetitive, I found trading repetitive and I found mining repetitive. The time spent going for certain goals (ie. skills) is measured in weeks once you get past the beginning tier stuff.

This is pretty much my experience also. Any MMO is repetitive when you get right down to it but with EVE the repetition is really obvious. Also in 4 hours of gaming you could spend at least an hour of that just traveling between systems.
Even the pirating, which is probably the most exciting thing you could hope to do in the game is really tedious and repetitive.
Very pretty but very slow.

[Varsity]

EVE is about socio-economics, not environmental timesinks like mining. The real fun comes when you start playing with others.

Edit: they've just broken 20,000 simultaneous players (http://www.btinternet.com/~varsity_uk/evilavatar/eve/eve_20k.jpg).

[tenchiker]

Eve is shit. 20k players is no massive milestone. It's not bad but it's nothing to get all worked up about. If we saw announcements from other mmorpg's every 1 or 2k simultaneous players we'd have one sometimes 10x a day. There is nothing to eve but pure catassing and pud fiddling.

[F9Phoenix]

It's funny how usually that number of subscribers is considered a huge failure. They must have some incredibly low overhead.

[Varsity]

That's not subscribers, that's the number of people connected to the server *right now*. They had over 70,000 subscribers back in September when they hit 15,000 simultaneous, so by my calculations they must have around 100,000 now.

[ElPresidente]

I know what you are trying to say here, but it doesn't make sense when you are talking about a computer game. I, along with many other people, expect the gameplay to be fun with the games nowadays. Its almost as if you are saying you just need to use your imagination to make the game fun.

I can see how I could come off sounding like that but it isn't what I mean. Table top RPGs are a butt load of fun but all the ruleset does is just provide the ruleset, the environment in which you can have fun. That can be well designed and allow people to live out their role playing fantasies. If you play such an RPG going "I go through that door and kill that guy. *roll* *roll* I win" you won't have much fun at all and perhaps the give/get style of gameplay isn't for you. Some people prefer to not engage in the gameplay creation process, I know I'd hate it if every game like EVE out there was so free form. Sometimes I want to sit down with my Katamari and be told "Roll it this big!" and not have to put any more energy in. Other times I like to shape the gameplay experience and for me that is the joy of playing RPGs on a desktop or playing a game like EVE.

Once again it isn't a game for everyone and as I said in my original post the thing I find most about EVE is that you have a higher percentage of people who don't like the game respecting it that you normally have. I think CCP should be applauded for just giving gamers the tools and allowing them to create their own experiences. Sure, not for everyone, but for those people who enjoy that I thinkk there is little denying that CCP has done an amazing job in allowing for people to truly make their own destinies.


The Caldari Outlaw (http://myeve.eve-online.com/download/videos/Default.asp?a=download&vid=27) - This video I think explains very well what I find so rivetting about this MMO. Unlike other MMOs I'm not taking part in a fiction only relevant to me (Take an MMO like City of Villains which has some great tales in it but to be honest, you are no more the chosen one than the guy next to you... it is just your personal experience of the game suggests you are. Considering only NPCs relate to this story it feels a little false) but the fiction I engage in is one that engulfs everyone I come into contact with.

There are no chosen ones, no stars of the tale, its just people doing what people do and given the right environment it can produce stunning stories you just don't hear elsewhere. Case in point being the Guiding Hand Social Club and their now famous assination/corp theft. You don't hear of that in many other MMOs because the games push you to set paths. In EVE the community rules and CCP act more like the forces of physics if you get my drift

[trip1eX]

A friend of mine, that I used to know, plays this game. ;)

It does look like fun if you put a lot of time into it. The late game real-world eco and if you die you're f'd are intriguing.

But expect to spend 20 hrs/wk for a year or two just sitting and mining asteroids which translated properly means watching grass grow.


And really why not put your time into your real-job or career and it would help you out much more.

[ElPresidente]

Mining is no longer the only way to make a buck for beginners. The game used to have that problem but it is largely gone now. I've only mined one rock in my life and that was during the tutorial.

P.S. Thanks for pointing out the Brutix issue in my tale there. As I said it is a memory from a long time ago, it was definately a Brutix and it was pounding me with something... evidently that something wasn't missiles. :D

[F9Phoenix]

That's not subscribers, that's the number of people connected to the server *right now*. They had over 70,000 subscribers back in September when they hit 15,000 simultaneous, so by my calculations they must have around 100,000 now.



ahhh ok, that makes more sense. the game isn't my cup of tea, but I can definitely see the appeal to some.

[Savok]

Eve is shit. 20k players is no massive milestone. It's not bad but it's nothing to get all worked up about. If we saw announcements from other mmorpg's every 1 or 2k simultaneous players we'd have one sometimes 10x a day. There is nothing to eve but pure catassing and pud fiddling.
Another reason to love EVE, it doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator like some games, keeps folk like this out.

[tenchiker]

Another reason to love EVE, it doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator like some games, keeps folk like this out.

Your right. It caters to the ones who enjoy pounding themseleves repeatedly in their head. Real time skill training that takes hours? Oooh i'm so there. This game is nothing more then boring tripe. You and the other fanboys pls go back to enjoying it while the rest of us play actual games instead of a connect the dot simulator. Think of how many books you could have read while you spent 90% of your time in Eve just staring at the screen as your ship goes from system to system.

[Nameback]

Your right. It caters to the ones who enjoy pounding themseleves repeatedly in their head. Real time skill training that takes hours? Oooh i'm so there. This game is nothing more then boring tripe. You and the other fanboys pls go back to enjoying it while the rest of us play actual games instead of a connect the dot simulator. Think of how many books you could have read while you spent 90% of your time in Eve just staring at the screen as your ship goes from system to system.

Boring tripe? You mean like doing something over and over again? You mean like a FPS? Or for that matter, like any non stradgey game?

[Verocity]

Eve is shit. 20k players is no massive milestone. It's not bad but it's nothing to get all worked up about. If we saw announcements from other mmorpg's every 1 or 2k simultaneous players we'd have one sometimes 10x a day. There is nothing to eve but pure catassing and pud fiddling.

If you took your prepubecent eyes off of WoW long enough to read the entire announcement, you would notice it's 20k simultaneous users on one shard. Every other MMORPG can not make that claim as they all have several server shards consisting of 3k simultaneous users tops.

[tenchiker]

If you took your prepubecent eyes off of WoW long enough to read the entire announcement, you would notice it's 20k simultaneous users on one shard. Every other MMORPG can not make that claim as they all have several server shards consisting of 3k simultaneous users tops.

I'm 27. Not to mention i don't play WoW. At the moment i've been playing Civ 4 along with some Darwinia and Gothic 2. I read the post and i realize it's all on one shard. But it's still only 20k simultaneous users. While having them all on the same server is pretty neat it is only necessary because of the game design. Imagine having 20k users all on at the same time on a WoW server. There would be nothing to hunt and every single area would be massively overcrowded. I've played the game as well. Take your patronizing elsewhere.

[51|RandoM]

Imagine having 20k users all on at the same time on a WoW server. There would be nothing to hunt and every single area would be massively overcrowded. I've played the game as well. Take your patronizing elsewhere.

Shame the WoW world is so small. That is one of the reasons it only got a couple months of my time. Looks like there might be a game above and beyond just the coding of Eve, which could provide the staying power that most MMORPGs lack for me.

[Spigot]

I've spent most of tonight on EVE and I have to say that I'm really enjoying it. I can definately see how this wouldn't be everyone's choice. For those who like taking a long view and planning things out over a long period of time as opposed to getting an instant twitch thrill it is awesome.

The sheer amount of information ingame is staggering. I'm still working on the tutorial but it's keeping me busy. And hey, if you don't like staring at the screen while your ship is travelling, you can always do what I'm doing. Just Alt-Tab out and read EvAv or play something else.

[ElPresidente]

Of course WoW would be crowded with so many users, WoW is a much smaller world than EVE.

There is nothing wrong with liking EVE, there is nothing wrong with liking WoW or another MMO either (or not liking any of them) but seriously just passing a game off-hand as shit and then crowing about stats you have read incorrectly is doing yourself a disservice.

[tenchiker]

Of course WoW would be crowded with so many users, WoW is a much smaller world than EVE.

There is nothing wrong with liking EVE, there is nothing wrong with liking WoW or another MMO either (or not liking any of them) but seriously just passing a game off-hand as shit and then crowing about stats you have read incorrectly is doing yourself a disservice.

Did you even bother to read my posts? I didn't read the stats incorrectly. I posted they had 20k simultaneous users. I didn't say it was on more then one shard but for whatever reason the replier assumed i did. As for your WoW comment yes it's obvious that Wow would be overcrowded because it's a smaller world. I was only pointing it out because people were making like 20k users on one shard is some huge accomplishment. But in reality it is only like that because of necessity. If Wow or any other game's world was as big they would have done 20k on one server as well.

Not to mention i wasn't just passing the game offhand as shit and i could care less about the number of users or whatever stats. I tried the game myself 1st back in beta when it was nothing but a mining simulator and about 6 months ago again. While it was much improved over the beta i still thought it was shit so i had no problem in saying so. But apparently the resident Eve fanboys could only respond to that with personal attacks.

[Varsity]

There are certain forum features that help when threads get into this situation. This is my favorite (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/profile.php?do=addlist&userlist=ignore&u=3920). :)

[Nighthawk]

So how many folks have picked up the Trial version now? Maybe somebody oughta start a corporation for the Evil Avatar Noobs so we can kinda help each other out and advance together through the game a little bit. I have not really met any other folks to get into their corporations, but I have only played for about a day.

I am really beginning to enjoy it, and I'll have to decide if I wanna start paying for it in a couple of weeks. If I could find some folks to enjoy it with, I would probably be down with continuing it. What are ya'lls thoughts after a weekend with EVE?

[Varsity]

I made a thread about that idea a few months ago. Give it a bump and see what happens (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5656).

[Spigot]

I'm on my first day of the Trial and I like it so far... except I'm stuck. I undocked from a station and never really ended up anywhere afterwards. I just get a black screen that lets me bring up the ESC menu but that's it. I've sent a petition but I don't know what that'll do.

Grr... At least I got some training started before the glitch hit.

[joruussuun]

UPDATE: I'm still having fun on my second character. No accidental obliterations this time for carrying contraband. After doing two agents worths of missions, and a a couple cargo holds worth of mining, i'm sitting on top of close to half a million ISK and looking to buy my first ship today! It will be a class three Gallente Frigate, the Incursus (http://www.eve-online.com/itemdatabase/ships/frigates/gallente/594.asp). Going to try some bounty hunting missions next (on npc pirates) I think.

[Apex]

UPDATE: I'm still having fun on my second character. No accidental obliterations this time for carrying contraband. After doing two agents worths of missions, and a a couple cargo holds worth of mining, i'm sitting on top of close to half a million ISK and looking to buy my first ship today! It will be a class three Gallente Frigate, the Incursus (http://www.eve-online.com/itemdatabase/ships/frigates/gallente/594.asp). Going to try some bounty hunting missions next (on npc pirates) I think.

Wait noo, Im a Gallente pilot also. Go for the TRISTAN instead. It's the best Gallente Frigate for combat. Two turret hardpoints and two missle launcher hardpoints and you can fit an afterburner and additional armour plating if you've got the skills.

If you are a new player and are going to play Eve for the long term the best thing you can do is to get the Learning skills. Train memory and and the additional attributes that are most applicable to your chosen career path. E.g. Gunnery skills will train faster if you have high Perception and Willpower.

But the learning skills themselves require Memory and Intelligence. So get the learning skill, Instant Recall and Analytical Mind. Train them in leap frog fashion.when you've got those quite high you then do the next level up. If you train them high first you can then train other attribute raising skills faster. Which then allow you to train all skills quicker.

Hope that makes sense.

[joruussuun]

Wait noo, Im a Gallente pilot also. Go for the TRISTAN instead. It's the best Gallente Frigate for combat. Two turret hardpoints and two missle launcher hardpoints and you can fit an afterburner and additional armour plating if you've got the skills.

If you are a new player and are going to play Eve for the long term the best thing you can do is to get the Learning skills. Train memory and and the additional attributes that are most applicable to your chosen career path. E.g. Gunnery skills will train faster if you have high Perception and Willpower.

But the learning skills themselves require Memory and Intelligence. So get the learning skill, Instant Recall and Analytical Mind. Train them in leap frog fashion.when you've got those quite high you then do the next level up. If you train them high first you can then train other attribute raising skills faster. Which then allow you to train all skills quicker.

Hope that makes sense.
Well, I wasn't really planning on being a dedicated fighter. I was mostly going to be a trader, so that is why I am picking the Incursus. It seems to have the best speed/cargo capacity combination, along with being a decent fighter in case I get ambushed or have to kill off some pirates.
I'll look into those Learning skills... so far I only have Empathy or something under there, so I guess I'll have to find and buy the rest. :rolleyes:
I don't know how long I'll play. At least through the trial. I might buy another month or two depending on if I continue to like it. The thing is I always like most MMORPGs at the beginning, but am soon bored. This one at least does seem to have some extreme depth to it though, so maybe I won't get bored as quick. :D

[Spigot]

Has anyone else had this happen? If I try to log in as either a new character or my main it just sits at the "Entering Space: Checking Navigation Systems" screen. I can bring up the Escape menu but it won't let me quit from there. I have to alt-tab out and close it from Windows.

I can see space or my ship briefly when I hit Alt-Tab but whenever I go back it's just that same screen. Grr...

It's rather annoying as I really want to play. I was just wrapping up the tutorial and was leaving a space station when this happened. Sigh.

(EDIT: Never mind. I think I found a way around it on the Eve-Online boards. Why didn't I think to delete my cache first?)

[joruussuun]

Man... the game is really what you make of it. Since the skills are time based, there is no grind and you can do whatever you want. I am mainly acting the trader, so I was surfing the market looking for things to buy and sell, and stumbled on 100 Small Arms being sold 7 jumps away for 5 ISK each. A station in the system I was currently in was buying Small Arms at 100 ISK each! Small Arms are considered contraband in Caldari territory, so I was planning my route around that, but somebody else bought them up while I was plotting. But imagine buying something and getting 20x what you paid for it! And that's just the trading aspect to the game.
I also tried my hand at some pirate/bounty hunting and had a lot of fun. I had recently bought a new ship and outfitted it with some nice guns (nice for relative newbies) and took some bounty missions along with just surfing through some asteroids and deadspace complexes. Hunting down pirates nets you some nice bounty money and loot and was fun space combat also! I felt very powerful in my new ship speeding into the thick of enemies, pounding their shields and armor, and ultimately obliterating the ships themselves in 5 seconds flat with two blasters trained on each at a time.
Impressions so far after 3 days: This Game is Good Times! (I hope it holds!)

[Savok]

Well to add more problems to EVE I've got myself another trial account :p

This time I understand it a little better (doing the tutorial in one sitting helps) and am enjoying myself when there's actual gameplay to be had, though I'm still totally buggered when it comes to the markets.

On a side note I've found it's a great idea to have a DS or PSP on hand, when you set the autopilot you can do other stuff while you wait. Also I wouldn't mind a help channel that didn't flick through at the speed of light :p

[Spigot]

Well to add more problems to EVE I've got myself another trial account :p

On a side note I've found it's a great idea to have a DS or PSP on hand, when you set the autopilot you can do other stuff while you wait. Also I wouldn't mind a help channel that didn't flick through at the speed of light :p
No kidding. I've had my GBA with FFIV on it within easy reach while I've gone flitting about the galaxy on autopilot.

That, or a good book. I have to say, EVE is the first game to make the Hippogriff flights in WoW exciting :)

That said, I am enjoying EVE although I am seriously doubting whether to sign up once I finish my trial account. I can appreciate the depth of it and would love to put the time in but I also DON'T have the time to devote to it as I usually have about 18 other games on the go at once and the sheer amount of time required by EVE just isn't available to me. Which is a shame.

Having a toddler really hurts the extended gaming sessions too...