@CCP_Dopamine
After many discussions with other players I would like to give here CCP my feedback to this devblog
Before I get in there though, first a preparation. Please go to the people in your company who have the numbers for subscription and ask them how many have canceled their subscription since 12.11. compared to the days before. Also go to the people who had weekend duty and ask them what has been going on in the Jita system. Besides, a look at this forum and other platforms could not hurt to get a view of what’s going on. Because you need to understand something that seems to have not yet reached Iceland: The players are very discontent.
I will try to explain why. Three years ago, it was recognized that the industry in Eve is not on a good long-term path. Pretty much everyone agrees with that, building one titan per month with one char has not been a good thing. The first solution was “the era of chaos” which led to the biggest drop in player numbers ever. That this was not the right way was also understood at CCP and it came something new: the big plan! A new reworking of the industry to be better overall. To do this, it should first be really difficult for the players in the form of scarcity. This was not well received but still tolerated, because it was said that there is a plan and if we all persevere, it will be better in the end.
It was announced for months that scarcity will be over end of 2021. On my Internet browser right now I see everywhere “The Age of Prosperity”.
When it was announced that on 12.11. after two years(!) finally all were quite expectant. Big industrialists hoped that their gameplay will return, small miners that they can set new aims, alliance leaders that money will come back, pvpplayer that there will soon be more targets to shoot and pveplayer that it will be the first step of many into a whole new gameplay. They have all been disappointed. Instead of the “Age of Prosperity” new nerfs, only this time hidden behind a lot of promising words. Instead of new mechanics, old ones are given new restrictions and most of the problems are not addressed but made worse.
Players have gone along for two years on the promise of improvement through the “grand plan.” But sentences like “In addition to the doubling of resources, a new ‘mining waste’ mechanic will be introduced.”, “Gone are the days of ‘lossless’ compression. From now on, when you compress resources, some amount will be lost during the process.” “This will mean that Rorqual proliferation in New Eden will be impacted, which will mean more from everyone that is not in a Rorqual” does not give people the feeling that this promise will be kept.
To be exact: that it is not a “Age of Prosperty”, but about a continuation of the scarcity. Also comments from CCP employees like “solo moon mining is not a god given right” I have to assume a certain arrogance and have to answers “getting money from player subscription is also not a god given right”. Therefore, the players feel lied to, misunderstood and betrayed. From this grows the discontent which you hopefully see.
After this admittedly long comment now to the direct feedback to the devblog “From Extraction to Production” from the “Age of Prosperty”.
The interpretation from what CCP hopefully gets the protest of the players should be this: Clean wipe and back to the drawing board!
This time please with a focus on:
- Restoration of the removed belts and ore anomalies.
Regardless of how much and fast you can miner, it would be nice if something was there for mining. It was 90% removed, doubling what little is left (and taking it away again by mining waste and compression cost) is not the answer.
That the Rorqual becomes boosting platform, okay, but then something else must come! How about mining ships in battleship size? Ships that mine slightly (not 2/3) less than a Rorqual. It can’t be that an exhummer is the endgame of mining. One more note at this point because apparently is not quite understood: Rorqual are not only there for mining, they are also the primary source of pvp nowadays. Taking away, this content creator must be replaced, otherwise it will be even(!) less going on in space.
- Rework of Capital building
Two options, either a complete rebalance of capital building components again, or the resources needed for building must be made available! I don’t know who thought it was a great idea to use a lot of WH gas to build capital ships, but to put it as simply as possible: it was not a good idea! This gameplay is just not fun. I don’t know how many capital ships have been built since the changes, but a number around zero wouldn’t surprise me. This also leads again to other areas of gameplay: If something is irreplaceable it won’t be used so much, what isn’t used can’t be destroyed for less content and thus leads to a dying game…
So, if it has to be that you have to use masses of gas, then make it accessible. By simple spawn, or by that the weather storms leave some gas clouds behinde them, or a kind of mining titan which harvests the gas from a sun… There are hundreds of possibilities, just do something so that the profession of the producer can return.
And that leads to my last point, which is what the Age of Prosperity should really be about:
- Give the players back their dreams.
People who start with eve want to create something in this sandbox. Whether they want to be pirates, merchants, leaders, whatever, that’s what eve has been advertised as for years, that you can fulfill your dreams in New Eden.
But how can you have industry when they say, “You want to build your own ships? Find a dozen friends from all areas of the game, then you can start. You want to build a big ship? Off to the WH with you, no, not because you can do so much with it, but because only there you get the gas to build the parts for it” and so on and so on.
The majority of people don’t come to eve because they dream of fighting with frigate fleets. They come because there are (were) possibilities to reach everything, no matter if big or small. But the Age of Prosperity which CCP strives for doesn’t seem to be about fulfilling dreams, only about keep on dreaming - forever.
If you don’t take anything from this admittedly too long text, then at least this: People want to keep playing eve, but not at all costs, because it’s a game and that means people want to have fun. And as you hopefully see from the reaction of the people, this “Age of Prosperity” you are talking of, is no fun.
Thanks for reading
