SI Radio Member Report: Agatir Solenth – 2101.07.03
Greetings my fellow corp men, women, & blog readers!!!
As a fellow blog reader I cannot help but read about the negative opinions concerning CCP’s current efforts to launch Incarna and DUST 514. These opinions range from indifference to I don’t want it. A good example of this can be found in Manasi’s A Mule in Eve Blog. (BTW it is one of my favorite blogs to read!) Manasi has proven to be very knowledgeable in PVP, based on experience and data collected through experimentation. You can only get excited about PVP combat just by reading his blog. However he, like many pod pilots, plays EVE for that singular experience, to fly in a ship (and blow things up). If he invests in any other part of the game it is to supply his PVP exploits.
Now I would like to clarify, that any reference to “he” or “him” is not singularly directed at Manasi. It is more to reference those PVP pilots that disagree or dislike the coming of Incarna & DUST 514 to the EVE universe and the loss of CCP resources it has had from fixing current game issues. I just used Manasi, as he effectively expresses the concerns of a particular player base in EVE. Well done sir! (And thanks for your work/post on the T1 Meta 4 vs T2 it was a good read) In a sense, I am using him to show the fervor for PvP that drives a portion of the player base expectations for EVE expansions.
I, on the other hand, have an excitement for the introduction of Incarna and DUST 514. Why? It adds another layer of immersion into the realm of EVE. For me EVE is not just a space combat simulator. It is a chance to escape into the idea of exploring space. To boldly go, where no one has gone before! That may be why my favorite ship in the game is the Anathema? The Anathema allows me the greatest possibility to go anywhere. It has the greatest chance of getting past a gate camp. It has the best bonuses in the game for probing, allowing me to explore wormholes or other hidden sites. Not to mention I love to be the scout and give the fleet a warp in point! I digress…
I like the idea of having another aspect of the Sci-Fi genre to explore. Any fan of Sci-Fi has had dreams of walking around a station in space, to see what life will be like in the future. I am not a hardcore RPer, but at times I do enjoy it. Why? It is another way to immerse myself in this game we call the sandbox. A sandbox that is about to get bigger! What we should understand is, that bigger is better! Why? It is better because it will bring in more players! More players to shoot, more players to scam, more players to recruit to our corps, more players to provide us with the ships and resources to support our in game habits!
For those critics that think that more players will only increase the already inherent problems in EVE such as lag, overcrowding, or the game developing into what we don’t want. That more players taking part in a different part of the game will take away CCP resources from addressing your concerns as a player… I will have to agree with you. An increase in population will most likely increase those problems, and those new folks in their stations will have demands of their own. They’ll have demands for CCP resources to address their issues too. That is where we as players have to do what we can to support such endeavors such as the CSM and those people that take part in them. We have to continue to express our concerns in forums that CCP has access to. So CCP knows what their paying customers want. Again I digress…
Additionally my final desire for Incarna and DUST 514 is of a personal nature. As an older MMORPG player I began my online gaming experience way back in the day. I have played such games as Ultima Online, Everquest, City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies, and a few others. Along the way I have met a lot of good folks that I enjoy playing with. However, I can’t get them to come play EVE. Why? They attempt the trial version, and quickly realize that they are limited to the view of a single ship. That the only customization and individualization they will have will be the modules that they fit on the ship. For them EVE does not offer the level of immersion that they desire in a game. For some folks they want not only to immerse themselves, but they want to escape as well. For a few hours a day they want to feel that they are someone else exploring a world outside of their own. If that what it takes to get more players, and my friends, into EVE then so be it!!!
***Disclaimer*** Even though I like the fact that CCP is adding layers to the immersion to bring in new players, I do NOT… WILL NOT… support any idea that will reduce the harsh unforgiving experience the sandbox can be!!! I so would EMO RANGE QUIT1!! if EVE concedes to be anything like WoW!!! I digress… :D
One last word about stations and Incarna before I go… I don’t know about you, but I have always dreamed about being able to put a cap in someone’s ass in a cantina like Han Solo did in Star Wars! CSM & CCP make that happen!
Fly Safe… Stay Profitable…
Next Report: Agatir’s Guide to Wormhole Hunting… err I mean Scouting
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#1 by silents on July 5, 2010 - 01:00
I don’t think Eve players are necessarily opposed to things like Dust and Incarna, but they are opposed to them *at the expense of* fixing what we already have.
CCP are continuing their blind drive for new content, leaving a trail of half-finished debris in their wake.
So we’ll get Incarna, and it will be half-baked, and CCP will rush on to their next big thing. Woop-de-doo.
#2 by nekre on July 5, 2010 - 09:23
Hey nice post… I’m not too big on CCP taking a vacation from everything else just for DUST and Incarna to be honest myself. But on the other hand I can’t wait for the army of noobs who will join EVE ready to dye at my hands
I am a bit concerned about what popularity could do to this game but up to this point I have complete confidence in CCP and their willingness not to turn it into WOW. I mean I know they screw up quite a bit but they’re still on top of things and as a software developer myself I know what that means with such a huge project
#3 by agatir on July 5, 2010 - 15:25
Thanks… and I agree. CCP won’t be making it WoW in space. I also have confidence that CCP has a plan that will only make the game better.
#4 by Luminus Aardokay on July 6, 2010 - 13:46
Being a game developer on occasion too, I can put myself into CCP’s shoes and I can very well see and understand the plethora of reactions from the player base (and since my games are free to play, I can only imagine the bitching CCP gets with everyone second guessing their decision since money is involved). So when it comes to my opinion, I’m just letting CCP decide what’s best with constructive feedback.
Cause really if I wanted a game to be exactly the way I imagine it, I’d go build my own game.. with Blackjack.. and Hookers… in fact.. forget about the game thing.. =P
Other than that, excellent read Agatir =P
#5 by Dirk Smacker on July 7, 2010 - 17:05
What exactly do we know about Incarna? I gather we can get black market missions in stations and it’s likely where the interface will be for hiring Dust 514 mercs, but has anything else been announced or even hinted at?
#6 by nekre on July 7, 2010 - 18:15
I think black jack and hookers are going to be available on the Intaki station once Incarna comes out
)
#7 by Steve M on July 7, 2010 - 20:39
I agree with your comments regarding immersion in the game universe. However, immersion is exactly why I’m OPPOSED to these new features at this time.
User interface and other bugs completely ruin the game experience for me on a daily basis. My settings continually reset to defaults on session changes (since tyrannis 1.02/1.03), and that’s just the recent stuff. Incarna might sound like it’ll immerse you more in the universe, until leaving your ship makes the game crash.
Fix what’s already there, THEN work on new stuff!
#8 by manasi on July 13, 2010 - 18:21
Sigh…your right to some degree I do tend to get wrapped around the axle at just the thought of PvP.
Thanks for the mention by the way I am ashamed to say I didn’t see it on the 8th.
Anyways it probably will be ok, I am sure there is some psychological term to describe to intensely focused on one thing to avoid all others at their detriment.
having been involved when SWG completely screwed their game over ( the switch to grinding for weeks to be come a jedi, versus everyone being able to select it) new stuff, outside the PvP realm of playing makes me well sorta nervous I guess.
Yes I will be one of the first to change my picture.
Yes I will walk around in stations if only to see the “seedier” side…hell it is a game after all.
More people playing is indeed something I do want…and no not always to shoot em
Thanks again for the mention and nice words bro.
TC and I will make sure to move you to the top of my own MUST reads asap!
#9 by agatir on July 14, 2010 - 02:29
Thanks Mule!
BTW – I too am a SWG-Starsider veteran who spent hours upon hours grinding class after class to open Jedi, then countless hours of the solo grind. (that accounts for my year or so absence from EVE)
I can say that unlike SOE expansions, that CCP’s expansions move the game forward… and I dare say, make the game better!
#10 by Dirk Smacker on July 18, 2010 - 22:53
I like what you said about immersion. As someone who enjoys PI and has two accounts making plenty of isk to fund three accounts in PI, that the process of playing PI takes away from EVE immersion. Well, feeding my manufacturing planets is akin to mining and I do feel like I’m part of a universe, but the planetary screen is something else entirely.
Personally, I would like to see a change with Incarna where you have to go inside certain stations to operate your planets while docked (fluff = station main antenna bandwidth issues). Maybe go to some terminal and “jack in”. At least then the PI screen may make some sense.
Good blog and show, BTW