To return or not to return?

Communications Center General Discussion
1

Morning all

Pretty much as the title says, after 6 years away from the game I happened to be watching a video on YouTube and an advert for EvE popped up, and strangely I found myself just watching it and decided to check up on this once glorious game to see what its current state was.

A bit about my previous time in EvE. I started playing back in 2005 and like many other found myself addicted to this game, I loved the scale and size it, the game felt so big when I first started out. I loved reading the forums and seeing some of the big named characters in game going at it with each other, even though I’ve never been a role player, I’ve always felt like a bit of roleplaying was just part of what EvE was and just playing the game made you part of that.

It wasn’t long in to my life in EvE that I realised the only gameplay for me was going to be through PvP, I loved how brutal and unforgiving it was, the fact you could spend hours saving for a new fancy ship and in seconds it was gone gave you such a rush of adrenaline that you couldn’t find in any other game. So naturally I found myself drawn to other players who also enjoyed this side of the game, and after a few different corporations I found my first real home in a corp named coracao ardente and for a few months we just travelled around EvE as a fairly small purely focussed pvp corp just fighting small scale fights, but this was back in the day most ships were viable and you didn’t have to have a specific setup and small corporations could cause havoc in 0.0 space without having 700 capital ships dropped on them.

As the corp grew we got the opportunity to join a smallish PvP alliance called Triumvirate who was based up in the north (I know over the years there has been many different faces of triumvirate but this iteration for me was Tri at its very best before the curse of deklien) and this gave me the chance to experience both larger fleet based PvP as well as still doing a lot of smaller roams. But as with all good things time can be cruel and becoming a sov holding alliance set us on a course of self destruction. Over the years we reformed Tri and had some amazing times but the game had started to change drastically. EvE started to feel small, jump bridges, jump freighters, nearly everyone had a cap ship and it felt like 0.0 space was no longer the big scary place it once was. You couldn’t disrupt supplies being run to 0.0 like before, big alliances just ignored you they no longer need to really defend there space as they would just by pass and unless you started threatening their infrastructure they just let you kill there careless ratters and ignored you. I remember in my early days as part of ASCN (I’m not proud of this part of my history) we would have to do freighter escort runs 50 jumps through 0.0 space with AAA constantly trying to kill you, it provided content to be fair but living in 0.0 was hard work and you had to defend your space to make it happen.

Anyway after 7 years of pretty much non stop play I took my first real break, id bounced about a few places but the game had lost that special thing that had drawn me in all those years ago, and more and more in game friends left and I decided it was time for me to go also. But as many of you will know, quitting EvE is never that easy, I returned after a break and find that spark again through WH pvp in a corp called Volta, it was small organised gangs turning up anywhere in space. We would try and catch a ratting carrier or 2 and hold them until they sent reinforcements and then things got good. Sometimes they would drop overwhelming numbers on us others we would kill them all and get out before things got too much and it brought some of that enjoyment back for me and I got another few years out of EvE before calling it a day in 2014 and this time for good, or so I thought.

So my question is before I take the plunge and try this game one last time, is there still quality small pvp out there, I’m not interested in sitting on gates ganking people, I want fights, good fights. anywhere from 5v5 to 100v100. Big capital warfare doesn’t really interest me, I miss the days when there was only a few motherships in game (Does anyone remember Herra? I believe a corp called The Establishment had one of the first motherships and used to drop it on everyone) I don’t want to sit in a system with 2000 other players shooting structures I want to see if this old game can give me one more adrenaline rush like back in the day. For all its faults over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever found a game that captured me quite like this one, maybe I am just feeling nostalgic and trying to turn back time but they don’t make games like this anymore.

I know its a wall of text but thought I would share a bit about my time in this game.

TLDR
Is the game worth trying again?
Can you still find small to medium quality pvp
Why the hell do random NPCs with weird names attack me when undocking in my reaper after 6 years away (Whats that all about, I just wanted to go visit Jita)

2

:red_circle: No.

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3

They put the Trigs in cos you left.

Tbh its not much different

Miners still whine, industs pretend things are against them when they arent, gankers talk rubbish about everything but the game, FW people are grumpy, Ninja Looters are still shining heroes, and NULLBOTFARM is still a popular boogerman to accuse anything on.

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4

Map has been redefined by Trig invasion, old trades have had to be re-opened due to systems taken by the Trig.

The Trig will attack both player and NPC that are not aligned with them.

5

This is really simple. You don’t really want to, otherwise you wouldn’t have made this thread. If you wanted to, you would just start playing again. As it is clear as a summer day, with a dark blue sky sprinkled with big fluffy cum clouds, that you don’t want to return, you simply shouldn’t. The question “should i, or should i not” only ever comes up because people aren’t aware of the fact that “if they wanted, they would”. As you don’t seem to want, you simply shouldn’t. Asking others to convince you is not going to change anything.

“I don’t know if I want to” is always “I don’t want to”, because if you wanted to, you’d know. The lack of clarity usually originates in external factors and a lack of understanding of the decision-making-process, which is common, because that’s not anything one is being taught. Of course, because that’d make people smarter. vOv

Now, if you’re curious then things change and you should. That’s a “I want to know more”, with past experiences influencing your decision-making-process. The best way of moving forward, in this case, is simply diving in and trying.

In any case is asking others not going to help in the long run, because you’re asking others to convince you “to want something”.

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6

I appreciate the reply but I have to disagree with what you have said. A big part of me wants to come back as I have always had a love for this game but I’ve been away for that long I’ve no idea what I would be coming back to. I’ve no real idea the state the game is in, I’ve no real idea the state of PvP and basically we all know how time consuming this game can be and I want to know if there is still the content out there to make it worth the effort and seen as most people I played with years ago are no longer part of the game, what I am really looking for from this thread is opinions from current PvPers to get an idea of what sort of gameplay is still out there.

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7

The odds of you regretting your decision are just going to go up. Their experiences are influenced by a virtually unlimited amount of factors, including, as a simple example, their in-game whereabouts. Imagine someone convinced you of playing, because his experiences are “awesome”, yet you’ll have a vastly different experience simply because of some variables you did not take into account.

The best recommendation I can give you is: Stop torturing yourself with this question and instead just start doing it. You’ll come to a final decision much faster and easier that way. PLUS, there’s always the chance that the experience will hook you, which is impossible to happen when you just ask others.

8

You are probably right, and I am tipping more towards just jumping back in. The reason I made the long post and spoke about some of my past EvE experience was I wanted people, especially any old timers to know the gameplay I’m looking for and a I guess also a little bit in hope maybe reassure me that there is still part of that side of the game I loved out there.

You’re right the ultimately I have to make my own choices and EvE is at the end of the day what you make of it but I just wanted to hear other people’s opinions before making my final decision. Again thank you for the replies though.

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9

Out of curosity, please let us know, in this thread, in case you’ve reversed your decision eventually. Thanks! :slight_smile:

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10

Return, you can always leave again.

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11

It’s a problem a lot of gamers have, start getting a bit bored of their current game (if they have one). Then start thinking about old games they used to play. Then their memory puts on the rose tinted glasses and that annoying thing called nostalgia kicks in. Before they know it they’ve convinced themselves to go back and try again.

Now you’re back, either sub for 1 month or play on Alpha to see if you like the game as is. 1 month should be long enough to decide that.

12

If you leave, contract all your stuff to me and I will invest it for you and give you the profits when you return.

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13

Why thank you kind sir, I don’t have much but what ever I do find still laying around I will make sure you receive it all.

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14

I didn’t think of asking :roll_eyes: but I can’t complain, this once got me a billion ISK. :smiley:

15

Responding to this one comment - keep in mind that the game did not so much ‘lose’ anything. Instead it filled out, matured, gained ‘professional’ level players etc. Yes certain things like fozzie sov and jump freighters changed some gameplay styles, but for the most part the ‘rules of the game’ are still much as they were then.

The key difference is that in a mature game with tons of invested, skilled, experienced long-term players, the opportunities presented to you change over time even if the game remains the same. And when the “opportunity window” shifts a bit away from “small gangs being able to catch viable PvP targets”, then the number of players available to team up with for that sort of thing drops a little, which makes it harder to form gangs for it, which makes it less viable, which drops more people out, etc.

I agree that CCP very much needs to focus on ways to make solo/small/casual PvP more common and more engageable. Giant space wars make great news - they don’t make good daily gameplay. FW should be their premier area for this, but they’ve let it languish and even crippled it at various times.

Resource wars and Abyssal space are two other areas that could have offered this regularly. They’ve dabbled in it and then given up or removed it because they simply don’t understand how to effectively design and code good gameplay opportunities.

Take the plunge? I would, sure, if there’s any interest on your part at all. After all, what’s it going to cost you? It’s not like you’re getting married. As for what to do once you’ve plunged: I’d try some Amarr/Min FW maybe, or see how low sec is looking now that the map has been shaken up a bit, or maybe even check out groups like Eve U or Red vs Blue (if still active, I haven’t looked in a while) and see if you can help revive PvP interest in the game by participating in some “organized casual PvP”.

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16

Thanks for the reply, you make a lot of valid points. I guess when you’ve been away from the game for so long you tend to look back through rose tinted spectacles, and just remember the way things were. I’ve decided to take the plunge and gone omega for the month, you never know I might find my love for the game again even after all these years.

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17

yes
best gaeme evvvr

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18

Sigh. I think you have some valid complaints, but you seem to focus on the negative, and ignore the positive.

Regardless, there’s a difference between being honest with people, and just being a bitter vet who’s trying to sabotage the game, and it looks like you’re the latter. If you don’t think the game is worth playing, leave. Trying to ruin it for the rest of us is just a dick move.

19

It’s the age of chaos… If you like adventure without a known endgame and you have the game time to adapt, then your going to enjoy the latest changes. Some are really good! I would suggest just dipping your toes in to see how “you” like it, not the rest of us. Best of luck! :grinning:

20

I don’t think you should…
Can I have your stuff?

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