I've finally done it. I've managed to persuade several of my friends to leave their linear MMOs behind and join me in EVE Online. For each friend, they had pretty much different concerns and interests. Friend A: He's a huge graphics nut. He has to have great looking graphics. The new trinity patch in EVE Online was an easy sell. Also, he hates playing games by himself. He's huge into coop. I persuaded him to join me in EVE Online because I carefully described there is no huge discrepancy between veteran and newbie. Even though I am many months ahead of him, he can still join me in both PVP / PVE missions and make meaningful contributions. Because the barrier known as 'Levels' doesnt really rear its ugly head in EVE we can enjoy each other's company versus Level based games I was ahead way ahead of him because I played a bit more. Friend B: Long time roleplayer. Like friend A, he hated playing games like World of Warcraft because everyone else was way ahead of him. I convinced that in EVE Online he doesnt have to worry bout that nonsense. We got his back if he gets jumped because we will be right beside him. There is no levels to seperate us and force us into different areas.... No raiding, none of that nonsense. Friend C: Really into economy. This was an easy sell. EVE Online has real economists ON STAFF. I also explained to him even though in EVE Online there is uber equipment like Titans no one is gonna be stupid and lose it in any fight. Due to harsh death penalties pvp is somewhat self regulating. Sold. He's signed up and is now eagerly awaiting the Servers to come backup! He also loves skill-based games. So I kept asking him how could he be happy with being to bound to one role that a developer created for him? In pen and paper that we play its usually always skill-based and they allow us to experiment with any role. And he never lasts long in linear based MMOs anyway. He keeps trying to go back to WoW but never makes it past level 40. Friend D & E: These two guys are hardcore into PVP. They're not interested in being a ship. Havent gotten him to breakdown yet but I will make one final push tonight to get him to convert. I suspect the allure of earning loot from PVP will push his buttons in the right way. He realizes he's on an endless treadmill in World of Warcraft for gear. Think he's on Season 3 arena gear. I'm pretty happy I will have a nice small gang to venture into 0.4 with me to do my missions and gank. Once all of them get their first kill and see how pvp isnt pointless in EVE Online like all the other MMOs whereas the victim comes running right back they will be hooked I am sure. I just need to persuade my friends D & E to give it a try. I'll probably tell them about the upcoming avatar (ambulance patch) and maybe that'll help them adjust. They are used to having like 50 abilities on their screen though so it's going to be tough to get him adjust to the idea of being bound by a ship in EVE Online. But at least I have 3 friends secured in the space of 2 days...
That is the same with me and mine. Though the skill training does sell its self.
EtaNn
Wed Mar 12 2008 1:33PM ReportI would play EVE online if you could do both ship and ground based playing. It just reminds me too much of that old game Descent where you were a ship and nothing else.
Wed Mar 12 2008 1:52PM ReportUnfortunately, I've tried the game on several occasions, and the primary problem I've always had is the pacing. Because unless you're really into economy, PvP is your other big option, but getting people together, getting the supplies together, and being at the right place at the right time/travel time, can make for some long drags where you're doing nothing but mining (great if you're really into that I guess) or grinding missions/complexes which for me anyway, is kinda boring. The game looks great, and it does have a great amount of depth. If you can get into it, its a great game, but I just couldn't get a feel for it, I just felt like I was spending hours preparing for the good part of the game (PvP for me anyway) the majority of the time I was playing.
Wed Mar 12 2008 1:52PM ReportI agree 100% Kordesh.
I've tried EVE a few times and always get to the same point... once that initial rush of gaining new skills and running missions etc. wears off, the "grind" begins to show it's ugly face.
I can imagine (and have heard from many) that once you "get there" it's totally amazing... but those totally amazing events are spaced out very far... You'll have this huge PvP battle, one side will win or the other side will retreat... and it'll take another couple of days/weeks for people to rebuild / prepare before the next big onslaught.
You risk so much with such attacks, you don't risk it often and only risk it when you have a good chance of winning.
In some sense, zerging can be a lot more fun. If you keep throwing yourself at the enemy because you know there is very little consequence to your death, yes, the victory may not have as much meaning, but it's certainly a lot more fun then waiting and waiting and waiting (to me).
Grinding for gear = suck. It's true. Grinding for money = suck. It's true. To me, waiting for the "good stuff" = suck.
I'd rather have my fun all the time, every time I log in but in smaller doses then one big hurrah every couple of days / weeks.
I guess this is the core difference between the "new" MMOs and some of the older ones. I've been around the genre for a long time, and my tastes have changed over the years. I have less time now to invest, less interest in the 8+ hour straight gaming sessions..
So I like being able to log in for a brief amount of time and acomplish something.
Few hours raiding here, few hours doing some PvP there...
Wed Mar 12 2008 3:17PM ReportI dont understand why people are "waiting" for PVP did you guys seek out pvp oriented corps? Our corp was being sieged 24/7 by BoB and other huge alliances. My first week joining I took my lowbie craft to 0.0 at our POS and worked my way up from a lowly savager/tackler to a myrm/drone pilot. I'm still not nuber unfortunately cause I took a break to get caught up with RL but yeah dont stay in Empire (0.5+).
0.4 and below is where most the action is. Right now I'm in Empire though until I get these newbs trained up. I can already tell they need my firm guidance. one newbie was talking bout just purely training for Trading. I gotta drag this guy to 0.0 and show him he can charge a fortune for items in 0.0 cause everything is high demand there. I love this localized economy this has always been off da chain
Wed Mar 12 2008 7:29PM ReportIf you want some fun, check out the EvE online forums and look for the RED vs BLUE war.
They're basically 2 corps that have each other permanatly war dec'd (which means that they can fight in any areas of space without concord stepping in). You can create a char right off the bat, jump in a frigate and get to work hunting down players from the other side. It's great fun, and alot of higher skill level players have created newbie alts to have some frigate fun while they're mains have skills training etc.
Reccomend giving it a go!
Wed Mar 12 2008 7:42PM ReportThanks so much about the tip about red vs blue I had heard about that but didnt get any details. Sounds awesome will do! I've always wanted to tryout a caldari alt and see what missile launchers are like (Gallente pilot here)
Wed Mar 12 2008 7:55PM ReportSame as Kordesh. There's alot of pacing problems in EVE. For me it was the long distances to travel - and specifically sitting and waiting for all that tedious "warping to jumpgate" and stuff in your travel.
Thu Mar 13 2008 10:11AM ReportHere we go again.... Remember my article on "Why do mmorpg players love pointless PVP?" Now take what we've learned and APPLY it to a space MMO that is vast and near infinite.
The travel times are necessary for good pvp in THIS game (forget about WoW, EQ2, and those other games think about EVE online here). This way if some attacker invades your POS and you kill them- they stay gone for a long time due to long travel times. Recall, people get griefed the crap out of them in WoW cause if the antis kill the pker he can come right back. Not so here....
To me its really plain common sense. If you cant understand why a pvp centric MMO has long travel times.... Especially a SPACE MMO then you are just missing it.
Even in TRAVELLER players had to experienced long travel. Starport and many other games in the Trade Wars vein you had long travel.
So I can understand why you might not care for it but please be reasonable is crazy to expect a game in this genre not to have long travel.
Even I can understand why Guild Wars has no travel and by that same token EVE online greatly benefits from Travel.
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