Normally I wouldn't care for Sub numbers in a game that I truely enjoy but recently all the activities records and that fact that since i've gone back to high sec its like walking into a shopping mall before Xmas.

Last year when I was playing Eve I would log in on strange hours (i don't usually play on NA or Euro prime time) and the activity would be 14-17k and when it did get busy it would be 24-28k (rarely above 30k).

Now I can log in at anytime and its over 20k at prime time its always above 38k and the weekends are steady 40-45+.

CCP is smart we can all see the sub numbers have grown. Make an alt and check out rookie chat their are over three thousand players in that chat always!

The regular Help chat, the Eve-uni public and recruitment chats are stacked.

All four trade hubs never have less then 500 pilots in them and the main one Jita is crazy stacked with 1200+ freaking pilots.

This is only High sec.....

I believe CCP is about to drop a bomb on us. I think after Apocrypha they will announce atleast 350-400k sub numbers.

You have to be crazy or just a straight up Eve/CCP hater to not see the increase in people. This game has grown a crazy amount in the last year and for a Niche spaceship sandbox all of this puts a smile on my face.

I think EvE has several factors working in its favor right now...

First and foremost, unlike every other MMO I've ever played, EvE's core mechanics are future-proof in a way that more traditional level-based games aren't - the game can go on forever without feeling 'old' or 'stale' as long as CCP keeps doing a good job expanding the breadth rather than the depth of the game (and the skill tree in particular), and throws out graphics updates every few years.

Second, EvE has been getting tons of press lately.  Most people who play MMOs have at least heard of EvE by now, even though they might not know much about it (and what they think they know is probably wrong anyway).  Still, any press is good press.

And, lastly, I think the market favors a game like EvE right now.  EvE, as a 'first' MMO, is really bad for reasons we all hear every day, and I don't think that's ever really going to change.  But EvE is a game that appeals strongly to a certain type of veteran MMO'er, one that's looking for a game with more depth and challenge, where their actions actually contribute to the overall story.  There are lots of people who are tired of the 'Grind for levels, grind for gear, do what the NPC tells me to do' gameplay of all the more mainstream MMOs.

Personally, I don't think Apocrypha (or however you spell it :P) will really blow the doors off, more just contribute to the slow rise.  I do think when Ambulation eventually goes in that's what will cause another big spurt like what happened a few years ago - a lot of people who would otherwise play don't like being a pod in a spaceship, which I can understand and don't fault them for.  But those people will at least try EvE if they can get out of their pod and walk around, and there's enough to do in the stations to keep them entertained when they tire of the space game.

Yeah at the end of this year I think EVE might have what it takes to start closing in on the 1 mill mark, now the question is will the hamsters make it

Super CCP Hamsters Go-Go-Go!!

(I want more people playing this awesome game.)

Originally posted by Nicoli

Yeah at the end of this year I think EVE might have what it takes to start closing in on the 1 mill mark, now the question is will the hamsters make it

you are very optimistic i dont think eve at the end of this year will have more that 600k subs

atari suck allot

I think the subs are steadily rising. The banner ads that state 250k have been around for over a year now. Back then a sunday night peak user count was around 35k now its close to touching 50k.

I reckon current figure are between 300k 350k, after the expansion maybe add another 50k to that. i think its to hard to say what kind of numbers walking in stations will bring. Between 5-600k sounds about right to me, lets hope the hamster can handle it

Oh yeah, EVE online goes mainstream. What a great news... :-/

Originally posted by Gdemami

Oh yeah, EVE online goes mainstream. What a great news... :-/

Another 100-150k subs equals Mainstream to you?

Do you want CCP to keep churning out two Xpacs every year with tons of Bug and balance patches along with full development for WoD?

Yeah that wont happen unless more people play the game.

A game like Eve will never be mainstream.

To the above posters, I don't think Eve will reach 1 million subs and I don't understand the problem people have with Atari.

It's not like Atari is going to pull an NGE on us lol.

---

Originally posted by Z3R01
Another 100-150k subs equals Mainstream to you?.

---

If those 150k subsribers are attracted by new PvE content, then yes.
If those 150k subsribers are attracted by less risk in the game, then yes.
If those 150k subsribers are attracted by less complexity in the game, then yes.

What's WoD, btw?

Originally posted by Gdemami

 

---

Originally posted by Z3R01
Another 100-150k subs equals Mainstream to you?.

---

 

If those 150k subsribers are attracted by new PvE content, then yes.
If those 150k subsribers are attracted by less risk in the game, then yes.
If those 150k subsribers are attracted by less complexity in the game, then yes.

What's WoD, btw?

World of Darkness the new Gothic Vampire v Warewolf Sandbox MMO CCP is making.

Also we have no clue what these new players will want to do, sure they may start off as mission running pve guys but after a bit they may turn to the darkside.

I happen to agree with the concern that CCP is taking EVE mainstream....and I've left the game...

Why you ask?

Because I see all the dev work going to NPC revamps, NPC centered expansions (Even Faction War is a glorified npc/mission system for the most part) and more concerned with fluff like ambulation than they are in fixing the issues with POS management/Sovereignty and Capitals/Super Caps.

EVE is definately growing, but I think it is doing so at the expense of the focus on Nullsec and the "sandbox" elements that made it unique.

Originally posted by ericbelser

I happen to agree with the concern that CCP is taking EVE mainstream....and I've left the game...

Why you ask?

Because I see all the dev work going to NPC revamps, NPC centered expansions (Even Faction War is a glorified npc/mission system for the most part) and more concerned with fluff like ambulation than they are in fixing the issues with POS management/Sovereignty and Capitals/Super Caps.

EVE is definately growing, but I think it is doing so at the expense of the focus on Nullsec and the "sandbox" elements that made it unique.

You left because CCP is giving a buff to mission runners gameplay experience?

Last time I checked W-space was in 0.0 also.

Seems silly to me to leave because CCP is giving some love to mission running.

Don't we all play Eve? shouldn't we all have a quality experience? why must every update effect your playstyle?

Also with ambulation CCP is giving us empty stations.... we fill them with what we want, is that not sandbox gameplay?

Edit: I somehow missed your Sov comment, yeah it needs a buff/revamp but it will come, I still thing Emo rage quitting is a bit extreme what could you possibly be playing thats better then Eve?

Originally posted by Gdemami

 

---

Originally posted by Z3R01
Another 100-150k subs equals Mainstream to you?.

---

 

If those 150k subsribers are attracted by new PvE content, then yes.
If those 150k subsribers are attracted by less risk in the game, then yes.
If those 150k subsribers are attracted by less complexity in the game, then yes.

What's WoD, btw?

New PvE content? The expansions adding much more then "PvE content". I'm assuming you mean by PvE content you mean the wormholes? You do know that going in a worm hole will be a HUGE PvP risk, right?

Less risk? You mean the comment I just You call T3 ships costing skills when you lose them less risk?

Less complexity isnt true either... still the same game.

---

Originally posted by SpyridonZ
New PvE content? The expansions adding much more then "PvE content". I'm assuming you mean by PvE content you mean the wormholes? You do know that going in a worm hole will be a HUGE PvP risk, right?
Less risk? You mean the comment I just You call T3 ships costing skills when you lose them less risk?
Less complexity isnt true either... still the same game.

---

W-holes as they are now, are not PvP suitable areas. One reason is the that there are too many of them and As I posted about the issue here:

---

Originally posted by Gdemami
However, just a little insight about glorified Sleeper's AI. I just tried to gank a w-hole ratter. Whole room agressed me instantly. What that does mean?
1) You can't PvP with PvP fit.
2) You get webs and scrams on you then your target just laugh at you and warp off.

I just feel very sorry I couldn't try out if bubbles work in w-hole space. Yes, EVE needs more camps.

---

Well, Nozh is responsible for T3 ships so what else but epic fail to expect? CS are very expensive performance/ISK wise, ratio of T3 ships is even worse...Those ships have no roles and true advantage over T2 ships to justify their production effort.

EVE gets safer and safer with every new patch(sec status changes, speed nerf, agility boost, w-holes, etc.), the risk is diminishing.

Less complexity comes in once you start developing fluffy content at the expense of improving and/or introducing new features that require more than pressing F1-F8...

Originally posted by Gdemami

 

---

Originally posted by SpyridonZ
New PvE content? The expansions adding much more then "PvE content". I'm assuming you mean by PvE content you mean the wormholes? You do know that going in a worm hole will be a HUGE PvP risk, right?
Less risk? You mean the comment I just You call T3 ships costing skills when you lose them less risk?
Less complexity isnt true either... still the same game.

---

 

W-holes as they are now, are not PvP suitable areas. One reason is the that there are too many of them and As I posted about the issue here:

 

---

Originally posted by Gdemami
However, just a little insight about glorified Sleeper's AI. I just tried to gank a w-hole ratter. Whole room agressed me instantly. What that does mean?
1) You can't PvP with PvP fit.
2) You get webs and scrams on you then your target just laugh at you and warp off.

 

I just feel very sorry I couldn't try out if bubbles work in w-hole space. Yes, EVE needs more camps.

---

 

Well, Nozh is responsible for T3 ships so what else but epic fail to expect? CS are very expensive performance/ISK wise, ratio of T3 ships is even worse...Those ships have no roles and true advantage over T2 ships to justify their production effort.

EVE gets safer and safer with every new patch(sec status changes, speed nerf, agility boost, w-holes, etc.), the risk is diminishing.

Less complexity comes in once you start developing fluffy content at the expense of improving and/or introducing new features that require more than pressing F1-F8...

Worm holes dont make anything safer... their basically new systems that people are going to TRY to be going to. Its silly to even try to say they are "safer" - at the least they are just as dangerous as any other system. You just dont see people going in to them as much as they will once the patch hits because theres no reason to farm them yet, and the pvp rules on the test server. Also, its more dangerous because everyone found in them is going to be using PvP fits for the new AI. If you go to typical systems, everyone you run in to wont be in PvP fits.

Speed nerf actually made things more DANGEROUS because people used to be able to easily solo PvP and not risk losing their ship. That makes no sense - how does not being able to get away as fast = safer? lol... hell the boards are full of people complaining that you cant solo pvp anymore since it happened - does that sound like safer??? 

---

Originally posted by SpyridonZ
Worm holes dont make anything safer... their basically new systems that people are going to TRY to be going to. Its silly to even try to say they are "safer" - at the least they are just as dangerous as any other system. You just dont see people going in to them as much as they will once the patch hits because theres no reason to farm them yet, and the pvp rules on the test server. Also, its more dangerous because everyone found in them is going to be using PvP fits for the new AI. If you go to typical systems, everyone you run in to wont be in PvP fits.

---

W-space = PvE fit, high tank, low gank. Plain and simple, been there, seen there. Did you read what I wrote?

Sleepers are not smarter, they are thougher.

---

Originally posted by SpyridonZ
Speed nerf actually made things more DANGEROUS because people used to be able to easily solo PvP and not risk losing their ship. That makes no sense - how does not being able to get away as fast = safer? lol... hell the boards are full of people complaining that you cant solo pvp anymore since it happened - does that sound like safer??? 

---

Eh...people can't solo because the combat mechanic is screwed up. You should read up the boards you talk about.
It is much safer for people that it should not be safe at all.

One more of my quote regarding this topic:

---

Originally posted by Gdemami
If anyone is present in the area of compulsory PvP, not carefull and ready to PvP, he deserves to be ganked. Plain and simple, that's EVE.

Ganking mission runners or ratters should be always risk free as far as they are not PvP ready.

---

Folks ya gotta not gank so many noobs the gene pool might dry up and then with no noobs to gank we might start attacking ourselves.

Well I am going to finally pick up this game when the special edition release's here on Friday,I have always wanted to give it a go but tbh after reading alot of the forum's about the ganking/learning curve even the fact some people swear that you have to have 3+ accounts to do anything always put me off....well no more.

It would seem with the special edition they are trying to give us newbs(not noobs)a leg up,just things like the new ship,better guide with good tips,combat boast,even the fact they are giving you 60 days with the box is great,I never tried the trial as I always thought 14 days would never be enough and may infact put me off the game as I wouldnt have seen myself progress enough.

There does seem to be quite a few posters on here and the other forums that are against the fact they are trying to help newer players to settle in and offer an easier learning curve and a couple of legs up here and there,I guess I can see the point of the vets as they never had that but maybe they could also see the point for guys like me that want to enjoy the game without resorting to ripping there hair out,there are even posters on other forums against the npc corp's,cant understand this as it seems a great place for new players to get there feet wet before moving on.

Anyway I am starting to rant here so I will just say I will have the game on Friday when it releases here and take my time to learn it and take it 1 step at a time,I am going to spend this week reading as much as I can about it so I am alittle prepared, though I am under no illusions it wont be an easy 1st couple of weeks and I guess nothing can prepare you for the 1st ship lost :) 

Daylight write down this corps name and check them out " Old Farts" if you like what you see send them an in-game e-mail or travle to there corp station.

Originally posted by cosy

Originally posted by Nicoli

Yeah at the end of this year I think EVE might have what it takes to start closing in on the 1 mill mark, now the question is will the hamsters make it

you are very optimistic i dont think eve at the end of this year will have more that 600k subs

atari suck allot

Atari is doing packaging... not much that we have even remotely seen that says they are in development at all So I don't see the constant fuss about it.

As for the million mark... Finally hit stores in shortly is a bonus... But by the end of the year with ambulation I expect a much larger boost to the population, While I highly doubt that EVE will make a million I think it might have the stuff to close in on it in 2010.