What is not appealing to me in Pax Dei (and it is the same and the only issue I have atm with EVE Vanguard) is the compartmentalization and multi-instancing the world - they went multi-sharding route.
After tasting New Eden’s one-shard (well two-shards if you account for separate server for China) it is hard to swallow multi-shards.
Edit:
I can only see one advantage of multi-sharding - no need to deal with multi-time zone players with 8+ hours of time difference attacking your structures in their spare time while you are at work or asleep
So, Pax Dei as an EVE Online Giga-spansion, eh? Get the wayward EVE devs back on board, re-hire them and gut them for new ideas.
Sounds spicy, Dryson. I actually like it!
Dryson, I know it’s one of your pet peeves, but did you have to introduce that topic here? Charitably speaking, it is often uppermost in your list of irritations, so I should (and shall) let it pass. But, really…
The single-shard universe is definitely one of EVE’s selling points for some folks. I guess I appreciate it without being aware of it. I think I too would dislike a game-world which was overly fragmented in this way.
Yes, do we really need another medieval/survival/sim? There must be a big or potentially huge market for these games or they wouldn’t keep appearing. Historically themed stuff seems to sell well. And there’s your answer, I guess.
Take EVE Vanguard, for example. There’s no way in hell it is going to be able to compete with titles like Call Of Duty or Helldivers, so why bother? They should have sank those resources into the game that they already have.
Actually, that doesn’t bother me. I’m an old gamer and, like watching films in black and white, my brain automatically adjusts for it.
ESO, one of my favourite games, has rather long load screens, too, during which they display a piece of artwork. It’s hardly slick, but again, I get used to it.
If EVE Vanguard fails, there will be no more EVE FPS attempts and all EVE:O dev resources will get shifted to PA which will replace EVE:O in the long run
So if you want EVE:O to stick around for some more time you better keep your fingers crossed for EVE Vanguard’s success.
If your analysis and its consequences prove to be accurate, then yes, I better had cross those fingers. As long as I don’t have to - you know - engage with the thing…
Personally I think Eve O will be fine and doesn’t depend on the success of another game. If we look at other games in this spaceship genre we will see that many arent subscription based.
Elite Dangerous for example doesn’t have a subscription, although recently they released a new ship you can only buy for real life cash and the general game is only supported by weapon and ship skin sales. If any game is to fail it will be the ones that don’t have a subsription model first.
As long as Eve O meets that minimum number of subscriptions it can survive for a long time provided the content is good and customers get value for money. What is unique about Eve O is that players do have an extremely high level of control in what happens in game which is an attribute many games do not have.
VG is not “another game” - it is the other half of EVE Online (imho) - the other half CCP strives to bring to life since 2006 (my assumption), like 3 years after New Eden was opened for accepting connections.
DUST 514 started as a PC game and was showcased by Hilmar himself at FF’09 (hence 2006 as a probable date of the development start). It was using Carbon (EVE’s engine) which was too demanding for “regular gaming PCs” back in the day. Rumor has it that it melted PC’s hehe.
Then Sony came and tricked CCP (my assumption again) into a dying platform that was too weak to handle DUST straight of the bat and required heavy UE3 customization. That partially prevented it from being easily upgraded to PS4 (and UE4), and prompted CCP to go back with the game to PC (Project Legion). I suspect Sony threatened CCP to sue over IP infringement (DUST514 assets are treated by Sony as partially theirs I suspect) and the project died
Then was a Project Nova and now Vanguard. So the idea of EVE FPS is almost since the beginning with New Eden.
When you warp through systems past the planets, do PI, dock at stations or jump through gates located near planets, doesn’t you wonder what is down there? Don’t you feel something is missing?
With Equinox come planets textures update - you should saw that on yesterday’s CCP twitch. It was really good looking stuff. Every type will get a higher resolution textures and will see more varieties of them for every type:
Add new planetary resources (especially Upwell cloned workforce) coming up via Skyhooks. It will trigger more curiosity of what’s down there imho. Not being able to satisfy that curiosity leaves players (like me) frustrated and possibly disillusioned with EVE in the longer run. Making them win the game
The idea of being able to visit New Eden planets is very attractive for new players. CCP is aware of that and mentioned it on several occasions of various interviews.
Do you really wan’t to turn away every new player who asks for that to leave and go play (choose your poison):
Star Citizen (meh),
Elite (hmmm… )
NMS (definitely mind-blowing and inspired by EVE in many aspects imho, but it’s too colorful, “plastic” and childish for my taste - I’d spent like 600+ hours on it )
You should really not underestimate the role of EVE FPS as a player retention factor…
Thanks for such a detailed survey, Elinore. I read it with interest.
Although the concept of EVE Online was clearly inspired by the space environment and the activities which could be placed within it, there have existed from the beginning players who also wanted to enjoy planet-side play at the same time.
I think this proved such an enormous challenge (it’s really two games in one) that no company managed successfully to accomplish it to everyone’s satisfaction. EVE’s attempts failed because they couldn’t square the integrational aspects convincingly (in my view). It’s still a difficult task.
You know, I haven’t even tried No Man’s Sky; perhaps I should - but I need to know how they handle space travel first. I’ll look it up.
I suspect there are quite a few EVE players eager to play a tie-in FPS. But I’m also aware that, like you, they are probably not new to gaming. An FPS has to be satisfying in itself, the mechanics, design, combat, progression; all of it has to be top-notch, on a par with today’s other popular FPS offerings - or the project will fail.
I’ve said elsewhere that I’m not interested in Vanguard. There’s no perceived gap in my EVE experience that it could possibly fill. I understand, though, that other people will feel quite differently about it!
Yes, i can see an FPS will definitely add to Eve-O. My point is that Evo-O without the ability to leave our ships still has lots of playability and will survive for many years to come without an FPS.
CCP have made some bad decisions in my opinion and I would have thought there was no need to bring out a new seperate FPS game, an FPS should have been incorporated into Eve.
Losing ships is what drives Eve, so if an FPS was part of the EVe-O game then it would disrupt the current pvp balance as pilots might decide to spend all of their time in FPS mode.
Personally I can’t see how they are going to effectively link the 2 FPS and Flight modes in different games and we may end up with a similar result to Dust 514.
Pax Dei will become another World of Warcraft if not done properly, which everyone who plays WoW, wont even blink at Pax Dei.
Pax Dei might get a large niche following if marketed for the medivel re-enacters and medivel cosplayers. The ones who actually go out and beat the snot out of each other with replica weapons and wear armor.
But why fake it, when you can suit up and play it for real?
Pax Dei will have to be so hooking that players will turn the page of their Pax Dei storyline with every tree the player passes, just to see whats around the next tree. Just like Capsuleers turn the page of their own storyline with each Warp Gate they use. Every system is a page in the book that never tells the same story twice.
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