EVE Online Q&A

[Evil Avatar]

The OGaming Network posted an interview (http://www.ogaming.com/data/3673~eveonlinenow.php) with Creative Director Reynir Harðarson, talking about the ever expanding Sci Fi universe of EVE Online.

OGaming: Guild Wars is a title which has converted from a subscription-based model to an expansion-based model. In July, you released “Cold War Edition,” a major add-on to the EVE universe, which, likewise, was free of charge. Will you be releasing any future content without charge? If so, how does a pure subscription-based model work for an MMORPG such as EVE?

Reynir Harðarson: All expansions to EVE are free. We consider EVE to be a service and people paying for a service should be entitled to free upgrades. I think the Guild Wars model is interesting, but I have my doubts about its viability. Guild Wars is a very well done game, made by a very talented team, but the fact of the matter is that expansions will always sell less volumes than the original game and having them sold as boxes in retail means that only a fraction of the money goes back to the developer, which is not good for business. I might be wrong of course and Guild Wars seems to be doing very well at the moment. EVE is doing very well financially and we are pouring more and more resources into keeping it fresh. There are major things on the horizon, so watch us closely.

[Varsity]

Wait, which end of a Titan is the front? I think I've had it the wrong way round.

[YoungAlCapone]

I'm on day 4 of my 14 day trial and I'm thinking about subscirbing. Only thing holding me back is actually having to pay.

I have always been against paying monthly to play a game, but I am barely into it and I feel that this game would be worth paying monthly to play. It is a very good game, lots of depth, entirely too many options. Just the way I like it.

[agentgray]

I am willing to pay $50 for the guild wars expansion. It is still cheaper than most MMOs annually.

It may not be viable like the guy says in the interview...for the developer, but it is for the gamer.

I just wish they would send me a key. I mean. Shoot. I'd be willing to really give it a try and make it viable. :)

[bean19]

Quick Thoughts about Eve Online:

1. Timed leveling makes it difficult to compete with other players. It would literally take a year to progress far enough in skills to compete with other players.

2. Normal gameplay is set in a deep setting, but is shallow. Mine ore endlessly. . . place collected ore in case for freighter or large ship that is in your guild to haul back to base. Rinse, repeat ad nausieum to gain the money to buy new ships or the resources to create them if you are a crafter (or the guild has a crafter).

3. Occassionally (rarely really) fight off mobs that come to attack your mining operations.

4. When guild/corporation is not on, complete delivery missions, resource collecting missions, or "attack" missions that yeild a tiny reward compared to the reward that can be obtained when playing with higher level players in your corporation on mining runs.

5. Huge universe. . . but it is mostly just empty space. There are different things happening, but you'll find yourself warping through sectors mindlessly most of the time as there is not much (if any) directed content.

6. When your corporation goes to war, tag along and die to some huge battleships auto-drones because you do not have enough skills for the first month to be able to handle a ship that can last more than a few seconds against the unmanned uber-drones of the players who have played for 2+years. Your not even being taken out by someone interested in you because you are insignificant. . . Probably could last the entire battle (if your team was winning and you didn't get wiped out as an afterthought) if not for the drones that don't know that you are insignificant and auto-kill you.

Doing a new shard would actually level the playing field. It would lead to new corporations and not require you to have played for at least six months to join any of the larger, more well organized corporations.

[Levvy]

Responses to Bean's points:

1.) True to an extent, but like all MMOs there is point of diminishing returns on skills. Higher rank skills for older players can take months to give the same bonus a new player can get in a few hours. Also, older players tend to diversify in to the 100s of other skills. The trick as a new player to focus on one or two skill sets initially, then branch out later.


2.) If you don't like mining ore, then don't. I make more $$ hunting NPC pirate complexes then I ever made mining, and it's hella fun. I have a co-worker who just started the trial and he made 30+ million in his first week just doing trade runs. Just like the real world, you need to be smart to get rich. Mindlessly mining ore is like mindlessly working a desk job. If you want to get ahead, learn how the system works and be inventive.

3.) See above.

4.) Are you still doing level 1 missions? Rewards scale up with higher level missions, but like I said, you'll never get rich working for someone else :)

5.) Not much to be said, they made it that way on purpose.

6.) Sounds like you had a bad battle commander. New players should be tackling other ships of the same size. Are you cannon fodder? Sure. Name a game where new players aren’t. The difference being that even cannon fodder is useful in the large battles. Also, any decent corp is paying all your ship and clone expenses anyway, so there is no loss to you other than pride.

[Karmakin]

Re:Guild Wars, yeah I'm a GW fanboy. But I don't think my thinking is wrong on this.

On their expansion based business model, the thing is, GW has no expansions. It has chapters. There's a huge difference on this. GW:Factions, is more of Warcraft II to Warcraft I, and less of say, The Frozen Throne. You don't need a copy of GW:Prophecies (The name for the first chapter), to play the second. So it's not a given that you're going to see the same shrinkage from expansion to expansion, in fact, if one expansion tends to rock, there's a possibitily that the player base could explode. Myself, I suspect that Factions will sell more than Prophecies, mainly because it'll do a better job of providing non-PvP and middle-of-the-road players fun content and competition.

[jacktion]

So each chapter of Guild Wars can be purchased on its own and played with nothing else? That is cool. It is like a mini-game.
Here is my prediction of game payment systems for the future. Ready?

Each game will be subscribed to and content will be added as often as possible.

This will work across platforms and systems.

I will simply subscribe to Splinter Cell and then I can play it on my DS2. My PC, my PS5 or whatever. I will just be a member of the Splinter Cell family. There won't be new games released but just an unending stream of content. A new level each week or month. A new gun once in a while. An extra enemy model so when you sneak around a city the NPCs are more varied. New vehicles.
This will automatically download wirelessly to whatever tech you are using and you will just keep playing and not think about it. It will just be an ever expanding world of content that you exist in alongside the real world.

It is the future.

[Rirath]

Myself, I suspect that Factions will sell more than Prophecies, mainly because it'll do a better job of providing non-PvP and middle-of-the-road players fun content and competition.

Huh, what? I know there's going to be some new PvE stuff, but I keep hearing most about the PVP stuff. I'm a almost strictly PvE player, but I've got Factions on pre-order anyway since I easily clocked 90 hours in GW doing PvE only.

So, what exactly have you heard we're getting?

[EL CABONG]

I tried EVE online I made a custom Brutor and was looking forward to getting into it. When I played I couldn't buy a sheild booster in the tutorial I didn't have engouh money so I skipped the rest of it and had a hard time trying to figure out what I was doing at that point.

[Levvy]

El Cabong, try re-doing the tutorial. I seem to remember a step before that where you are supposed to reprocess an item you start with and and sell the minerals you get. If not, the other players in your starting corp are EXTREMELY helpful and will usually loan you any starting equipment you might need.

[EL CABONG]

El Cabong, try re-doing the tutorial. I seem to remember a step before that where you are supposed to reprocess an item you start with and and sell the minerals you get. If not, the other players in your starting corp are EXTREMELY helpful and will usually loan you any starting equipment you might need.
Thanks. I did sell all the stuff I had but I still had problems. I try to re-doing it or getting help from starting corp.