I’m going to be starkly honest with you. I have been suffering from a rather bad case of bitter vet syndrome as of late. And as time wears on, I grow more and more bored of EVE.
I don’t like being one of ‘those’ people. Where, no matter what they aren’t happy. And I try to write about what I enjoy as much as I write about what I don't like. There are many Faction War players that never seem satisfied. CCP makes changes, usually that the FW community expressly begs for, “if only you could change XYZ, FW would be so much better…” and inevitably a month or two after the change, the very same players are singing the same tune about some other thing.
However, my particular strain of the ho-hum virus is a little bit more than Faction War blues. As much as I like some of the changes they are making in EVE, I admit that I crave more.
I crave new game play. For, even with all of the new-ish things they’ve introduced over the past few years, it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen an expansion with completely, ground breaking material. I’m talking, on the scale of introducing Wormholes and Tech 3 technology, Incursion game play, or Faction War as a brand new feature.
I admit, I’m currently not looking forward to the winter expansion. I don’t want more ship rebalancing, shiny new GUI interfaces, and old revamped features passed off as new, exciting stuff.
I want something new to do. Something completely foreign. Something that hasn’t already been beaten into the ground by every other blogger, meta gamed, theory crafted, min/maxed, and mapped out in Excel spreadsheets. I want something so new, it doesn’t yet have a ‘community’ attached to it, or an old sticky thread on the forums, or its own CSM representative.
People often talk (in glowing terms) about this new direction that EVE has been taking for a while. But I can’t help thinking that we’ve also lost something along the way—our ability to think big. Instead, we seem to swirl in a deathtrap of arguing over the finer details of balance for this or that, and carefully keeping our ideas ‘within reason’ so as to be taken seriously.
Some days, I think that I’d rather walk in stations.
I want something that isn't expressly for the purpose of generating ISK. That's one of EVE's greatest failings: everything is about earning ISK or not losing it.
ReplyDeleteCome on stop whining and put your big boy pants on -errr big girl pants- get in a SFI and go kick some ass:-) Seriously, I hope you get out of your funk - I really enjoy your blog.
ReplyDeleteIf you decide to take three months off don't leave two billion in assets in Sahtogas. Pro tip.
ReplyDelete-Zarnak
You are quite right Susan, it is a major problem. Almost a year ago to the day I posted this http://sandciderandspaceships.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/expansions-wwjd.html which asked, would the lack of a Jesus feature in the expansions be harmful to Eve. Was a hotly debated topic.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is there are only so many 'expansions' they can release that fix things and add a few bits here and there. Eve needs to be kept fresh and after 4 expansions of fixing stuff I'm craving a Jesus feature!
I agree with you and would like to see new corners of the world open up to explore and brand new things to do. However, there are so many things to do already. Sometimes all that's needed is a change of pace. Have you:
ReplyDelete* Led an incursion fleet in low-sec?
* Completed one of the major epic arcs?
* Taken a kiting cruiser/BC or tanky BS out to a null-sec entry system to fight vastly outnumbered?
* Ninja'd missions?
* Kickstarted a regional market?
* Set up a POS in a WH?
* Manufactured combat boosters?
* Built an OOG tool to make life a little easier?
* Suicide ganked freighters/mission runners/incursioners?
* Infiltrated a corp to awox/steal?
* Hunted null-sec ScaredBears™ with a bomber?
* Black ops drops?
* etc.
Many of these things might not seem like they appeal to you. That's fine. But the point is that they're out there, available. But if you don't like black ops, living in a wormhole, running incursions, or T2 manufacturing, what makes you think that the next feature they'll introduce will appeal to you?
Unfortunately, years of CCP releasing and then leaving to languish all of those jesus feartures has created an incredible mess for them to clean up. I think we're still a few expansions away from seeing another good new feature while they continue to clean shit up that's been left to rot for too long.
ReplyDeleteI'm also worried at the direction that development has started to take. Too many things are getting pushed aside for needing too many resources, while the attitude prevails that 50 little things are better than 2 or 3 really big things. The result is that the ship balancing is the most exciting thing going on right now, the rest of odyssey has been a "meh" experience at best.
I agree and feel the same tbh. CCP always seem to be chasing their own tails when it comes to yet another ship re-balancing patch. And 9 times out of 10 the 'expansions' are pointless. There has not really been anything 'special' that makes me take note and get a buzz when I log in. Ive done the incursions, WHs, 0.0, pirate and am currently having some re kindled fun in FW, but before I cancel my sub i will wait & see if they get back on track with an awesome Winter Expansion, that will be the decider. If its a new UI or a jump gate render... *sighs*
ReplyDeletePerhaps the 6 month cycle is too short for developing something large and new?
ReplyDeleteI totally feel the same here. Eve is popular and well alive. That´s a good thing. But I also rerember the "good old days" when it was actually possible to fly around alone for hours without really meeting anybody. Space was big and dark and full of adventures.
ReplyDeleteBring back some excitement , CCP. Space should be large...and endless in a way.
And dangerous, even for large entities. CCP in my opinion caters too much to the need of those large blocks of power. Numbers of pilots is the most important factor.
i propose stuff like degrading of euqipment (ships and pos and stations alike) that are not maintained / used. Mass limits for titan bridges as well as max cyno´s and jumpbridges opened per system per timer. Minefields and other ways to wage a guerilla war on sov alliances. ways to "fake" transponder signals (e.g. appear as a carrier on dscan, but fly an iteron instead). and new space. vast and unknown space...
Admittedly i also feel like the 'magic' has bled from eve. Seeing the birth of FW, wh's/t3, ect gave the feeling of wonder that is hard to come by now. But thats bitter vet syndrome in a nutshell; we know too much. I believe eve needs a new frontier of sorts, but at the same time i really do crave an expansion of lowsec and the 'outlaw' lifestyle in particular. Eve sells itself on a facet of being a pirate, but have neglected them. The best we've gotten lately is the aggro changes to sentries, (which is a god send, don't get me wrong) and exploration giving a boost of explorers to ransom.
ReplyDeleteHowever i disagree with you about rebalancing. CCP started something and they need to finish it. As it stands now interceptors are pretty broken since they rebalanced their t1 counterparts. An atron has better cap and is faster than a ranis for example. Electronic attack frigates need work too, kitsune and sentinel excluded. Blops fall under the recon bracket but boast no recon like bonuses.
Whats vastly worse is the direction CCP has seemingly taken to make eve more friendly and less HTFU. We saw its inception with the aurum exchange and lately in that rediculous change to article 8 of the terms of service. It has seriously rattled the faith of long standing subscribers in the game theyve invested so much time and money in. I can be banned for claiming to be myself on my own alternate character on the same account. Really...
Just my two cents.