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I like the premise of EVE, but...
mark2123
Member UncommonPosts: 450
I like the idea of a space MMO as it's different from the mainstream. I've rolled a few charaters in EVE but I keep coming up with the same problem, although people keep telling me it's not how it is.
I find the game to be very in-depth and complex, which is great and I iike that type of thing, but, boy does it take forever to achieve anything unless you are hardcore. I've rarely met few players who aren't online every waking minute and they naturally seem to get the most out of the game, but it's not very 'casual friendly', in my opinion.
People tell you it is 'casual friendly', because you character develops skill points whilst you are offline. I'd say that's a bi-product of being offline as you can't exactly enjoy the game whilst you aren't playing it. You can't take advantage of those skill points unless you play, and you really do need to play a lot in order to make progress with your goals.
To enjoy the game and actually achieve anything, you can't exactly log-in for 30-60 minutes at a time. It's an MMO that if you try to play casually, then there's little point in playing, as you can't achieve much in pockets. Even a jump of 5-10 systems has eaten up a fair bit of your play-time if you want to be casual. Yes, you can log in for 60 minutes, but you'll log off and be asking yourself "What the hell did I achieve there?"
As I said, I like the idea of the game, but any corps I've been in are active (as they should be) and you can't feel part of it unless you can play almost every night/day for hours on end. Because it's sandbox, you can be totally out of the loop if you don't play for 2-3 days.
If there was some way to speed up some of the game's mechanics, like the warping or the traveling for half an hour to collect some parts etc so that more could be done in the time available to play it, I wonder if it could attract get more players.
As a casual with limited time, I always end up cancelling my sub becauseI realise that I could play for 4-5 hours a week and get nowhere, so I may as well play a different game.
This is not a troll post or a whine, I actually do thing the game is very good and very well made, but I just wish I could get more done for my time, in order that I would consider it worth my while playing.
Comments
Yep this is a common "problem" with Eve. But it is not really a problem since the MMO is catered towards hardcore players with lots of time to spend.
So us who like space ship MMOs are shit out of luck. The only other viable MMO is Star Trek Online and that is pure garbage. Basically the opposite of hardcore Eve, it is hugely casual with space ships popping left and right. Ridicilous.
Elite Dangerous will probably be out in about 6-12 months and Star Citizien probably out in a couple of years or so. Other than that I guess us Space Ship fans have to stick with single player games.
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EvE is not casual friendly. not in the least.
the only "casual" players are those vets that can long in once a week and farm a couple of billion isk in a few hours. they can afford to be casual because they have have played as hardcores for years. they have all the required skills and a huge stockpile of Isk.
new players have 3 choices: farm (and i mean mine :P) your heart out the old fashioned way for a few years. Join a large corp that will give you free stuff as long as you do what they ask of you. Or pay real $$ to buy Plex for ingame Isk.
the only truly casual choice is the 3rd one.
then again it's a true sandbox. sanboxes aren't supposed to be casual friendly.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Eve can be casual friendly, but it depends on your goals, some area easier/quicker to achieve than others.
I would hardly recommend new players spend a few years mining however, that would be kind of boring, even mission running is far more fun, and for a beginning player, is likely to be more profitable than going straight into mining.
The tutorial these days is fairly lengthy and far more challenging than it was when i first started, back in 2004, which btw, if you could let me know what it is i am doing wrong, would much appreciate it, as i have yet to reach the stage where i can log in for a few hours every week and make billions of isk
Joining a Corp in Eve is the first and probably most important thing players do, so joining the right one is important, and rather than 'telling players what they have to do' the good ones are actually able to give help and advice, and often ships and equipment too, the point is to join the right Corp, the right one being entirely dependent on your goals, just don't take it personally if you get asked a lot of questions, there are many wannabee Corp spies/saboteurs so the good Corps tend to be very proactive when it comes to safeguarding their own assets.
It's not casual friendly at all. The offline training is cool, but will still take you eons to level up. Regarding PvP, you have no idea how powerful your opponent is.
I found out the hard way when my 4750 base-hp Brutix was obliterated by a 1600 base-hp Thorax. I spent considerable time/money on my ship but the other player must have had far better equipment since the engagement left him with barely a scratch.
And I also don't know if a casual gamer can expect to be exposed to some pretty heinous profanity. Not my cup of tea, personally.
These two huge flaws above aside, Eve is an amazing game.
"Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
I've played off and on for 5 years and I've only recently accepted that it's simply not possible for me to play the game. It's waaaay too time consuming. Unless people want to do exclusively RvB or (maybe) Faction Warfare, you simply need to dedicate too much time to the game.
I recently tried returning, so I joined a nullsec corp. After going through all of the alliance fits on their forums, I spent several hours buying everything I needed (modules, rigs, weapons, multiple ammo types, scripts, repair paste, etc.). Then I spent more hours moving all of that gear from shopping systems to my lowsec staging area to load into my carrier. And I spent still more hours moving cyno alts around to jump to their system. And that's just to PREP for PVP!
I always find myself missing fleets because they go out 15 minutes before I log in, or they're planning on staying out for 8 hours, or the fleet comp is a ship I don't have ready, or it's on a weekend afternoon and I have to take my daughter to a birthday party, or, really, a million other things that stand in way. And unless you're in a small gang and the the rest of the fleet are willing to wait for you, you can't easily take a bathroom break, or a phone call, or respond to an email, ad infinitum. Impossible game to play if you're a group PVPer without a lot of spare time to dedicate, IMHO.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the game is great but it's just too must of a time sink that a lot of people can't justify. With a job, a family (two kids) and plenty else to do, I'm starting to find that my passion for MMOs is linked to how casual-friendly there are so that I can play for an hour and feell like I've done something.
Like the other guy said, you can spend hours just prepping do do something. I once waited for a mining op to start. It took 45 minutes from when it was mentioned to the first ship to be mining. Then I ask "What the hell am I spending my spare time doing here" lol.
If a space games comes along that's more 'casual friendly' and if it's pretty decent, that I'm up for that. The couple on the horizon may be ok so will have to keep fingers crossed.
check out some youtube clips of Elite Dangerous.
it's not a sandbox like EvE, and it is still in beta, but as far as space games it's been one of the best games around right now. it's completely casual friendly, so much so it even has a "solo" (just you and NPCs) option.
it's a cockpit view archade style flight space simulator much like what Star Citizen will be whenever it's released. some people do call it "space trucking online", and there is some truth to that as a lot of the starting money is made by moving goods between stations. however, if you'd rather fight there is plenty of that as well. they are slowly adding exploration, and mining just now. while options are still a bit limited, and there is little "end game" content, the game looks amazing, and plays very well (random crashing aside).
Also, If you can get your hands on an Oculus Rift DK2 this game will blow your mind. no joke, there is nothing that will make you feel more like you are inside a friken spaceship like playing this game with the rift.
I'm in RvB so when I'm not pewpew'ing I'm in nullsec scanning down data and relic sites making some isk. Both are things you can do with low level skills.
Some may argue this, but the biggest bonus to EvE besides being the greatest sandbox game ever is the social aspect. It's hands down the most social game out there. Sandboxes weed out whiners and crybabies Which is also a bonus imho.
What do you want to be in EvE?
Where the hell do people get the idea that mining is the way for a new player to make ISK? After years of seeing this I am baffled
PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
Give me liberty or give me lasers
There are some people who don't like to scam or join gatecamping corps. Baffles me also.
Ratting
Missioning
Trading
Courier/Hauler work
Exploration
Invention
Production
Presumably you're not baffled that people don't do these in preference to mining as well. Please do help me understand why? That is if I'm not asking too much for you to hold back on the stupid identity politics bullshit - I realise people can get pretty attached to that, so I apologise if I'm asking too much of you here.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
I have always said that when I retire I am going back to playing Eve. I agree it is not very casual friendly and most things take forever to do. I like the game but each year I go back and get bored with the long waits to do anything.
I have only played EVE briefly on a few occasions, but these are my preconceptions (possibly misconceptions) of the game: -
If your looking for a game where you need to achieve goals and receive gratification when you log on for 60 min a day, then Eve is not the best place to look, themeparks does that bit better.
Agreed. And I wish weapons had firing arcs. Right now you can fire all weapons in any direction.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
That isn't related to game though. Organized group content in any game is rather time consuming.
EVE is suited for casual play, and I would say more than other games. Due EVE being horizontal, there is no pressure on leveling or similar crap. You can log in and just do what you want depending on your mood and time available.
However, I do agree on one of your points - travel time. That can be somewhat consuming, especially once you account for localized item storage and related asset management. It is managable though, you need to be a bit organized.
There is tons of things to do for new players. My advice would be trying out running exploration. It is very suitable for playing in short time chunks. Other thing I would go for is FW missions - good rewards with some easily affordable PVP.
Do not let ignorants tell you what you can do or not, or how the game is, find out for yourself.
Its designed like that so there is literally no leveling cap, you can never have every skill, you need to pick and choose whats important for your needs.
- Ratting, missioning:
Literally as numbing as mining, only more boring since there is hardly skill involved for a new player, plus you have to press keys so you can't do worthwhile things on the side like playing an instrument, reading, etc
- Trading:
Playing the 0.01 game with bots. So fun
- Courier/hauler work:
All the sensible hauler work is outsourced to Red Frog and the likes. Courier missions available are 75% scams and the 25% left yields less income than mining veldspar
- Exploration:
Actually this is probably the best road to follow for a new player, as high sec seeds pretty high rewards from time to time. Expect player to ragequit when, with a bit of experience under his belt, he ventures into lowsec for crappy rewards and constant griefing.
- Invention / production:
For a new player? all of my lols. There's no competing with industry moguls at this point.
Scamming and gatecamping are still the most profitable ventures in this cesspool known as EvE-Online
Scamming is supposed to be very profitable, I just have too much of a conscience to participate in it. Gate camps never really paid me big, guess we always had too many ships to make it worthwhile.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Yeah...
Well, I made it half way to max in 10 years so your numbers are more than a little off. Though ~20 years is quite a bit too.