I've been playing EVE for a while now and all this time these guys haven't charged for one freaking expansion.

I know people have their reasons for bitching about CCP, I'm well aware of what these guys have done in the passed.

I just want to say that I appreciate what these guys do for their playerbase.

Just look at the upcoming expansions this year, Apocrapha is out in March.

This expansion increases Eve's available game world by 46%, give us a new mission system, new modular cruisers, wormholes, new scanning system, UI tweaks, New player experience revamp and more.

In the Fall they give us "Walking in Stations" Which brings more shit into the game then I care to list here.

CCP doesn't have to release all this stuff free, they could easily of waited for QR, Apoch and WiS to be ready then release a new Atari game box for 39.99 and we all would have paid for it.

But they didn't and were getting them for free.

I don't care if you have negative shit to say about these guys, you have to admit that the content they are giving us this year is pretty cool.

CCP is the only company that gives its playerbase a quality Sci-fi sandbox imo, while the game isn't for everyone. I still enjoy it and my wallet enjoys the free expansions.

CCP

Free expansions are great but I prefer LOTRO's model better. The updates are more frequent and the paid content  are considerable. The expansions in EVE are great and all but they don't bring enough content and changes on a consistant basis. For a game this old there should've been a lot more content in both PvP and PvE spheres. It seems like EVE is  crawling a long while other MMOs take huge leaps in their avialable content.

I don't think that EVE really needs more frequent expansions and more content in them.

A few well designed and well researched expansions suit it perfectly imo.

EVE isnt the type of game that loses players once they hit the end-game areas because they run out of quests to do and have the best items. It's constantly changing and 'evolving' into what the players make of it.

EVE is a game thats easy to play but hard to master and I think the approach to expansions compliments this, because you don't constantly have new features and content being forced down your neck

edit: typos

The scope of EVE from beging to now through expansions has been quite large.

Cap ships, Alliances, Claiming Space, Tier 2, Tech 2,  New Space Regions Added,  New Player Races, Faction Warfare, Crap Loads of New Ships..... the list goes on.

They add a new expansion every 6 to 12 months, they dont charge, they update regular with patches and they are very involved with the player community.

There is alot of room left for expanding EVE, but they have come a long long way since release.

To me the price is of little importance, the great thing about free expansions is that they are not optional.

Meaning, no one has to pay for it, but everyone has to install it ( patch it ). This allows better horizontal expansion ( improving current content ) on top of  vertical expansion ( better gear, higher levels, etc ).

If you look at WoW for example, if there is an expansion, they have to create sortoff a seperate game, where the people who bought the expansion can go and where the people who didnt buy can't go.

They also have to do more vertical expanding, because they need a carrot so people have a reason to buy the expansion.

While if the expansion is free, they can easely do some less "sexy" stuff like upgrading and tweaking current content and don't worry about people not buying their expansion.

It is the best system for an mmorpg imho, and one of those reasons I like EVE online.

Originally posted by Kexin

Free expansions are great but I prefer LOTRO's model better. The updates are more frequent and the paid content  are considerable. The expansions in EVE are great and all but they don't bring enough content and changes on a consistant basis. For a game this old there should've been a lot more content in both PvP and PvE spheres. It seems like EVE is  crawling a long while other MMOs take huge leaps in their avialable content.

the major problem of eve is the balance so better take their time to balance this things

CCP is about the only company that does expansions as I see expansions should be.

They don't just slap on "10 more levels" so to speak, instead they widen and broaden the gameplay mechanics, making it deeper and deeper and with more and more options for the player.

CCP seem to release one small expansion with maybe a ship or two and some balance changes and then launch a major expansion after it that introduces a lot of stuff, but a lot of stuff has been introduced recently like Empyrean age added a whole new region along with faction warfare and Quantum rise although it didn't have much stuff it did introduce a lot of changes and redefined pvp in a significant way. (for good or bad make your own mind up)

Eve is a game I've been following for years. However never quite signing up. I have my reasons....a wife who hates me playing online games for one, but mostly its just not quite yet the sci-fi mmorpg i want to play. So why do I keep following it's progress? Well, in my book, Eve certainly seems to be headed in the right direction. Far more than STO or other sci-fi mmorpgs. I'm talking about a living, breathing universe, with visitable planets, space stations, ship interiors, a realistic player-driven economy, and player led politics. The news on Walking on stations had me reaching for my credit card again. But my wife caught me in time. One more year, maybe two...more updates, more options and Eve WILL snag me eventually.