EVE Online... Why?

[Martymer]

I d/l:ed the free trial and did the tutorial stuff up to when I completet my first quest. Now here's my question: What's the appeal? Does combat get more fun than "activate weapon, go have coffee"? Is there a way to make the UI readable? It's so cluttered and unintuitive I can't find anything. It feels like I have to take a frickin' course to learn how to do even basic stuff like... oh... MOVE! Also the font is just way too small, and I can't figure out how to make it bigger. Reading it as it is gives me a major headache, and reducing the resolution makes it blurry.

I get the idea of a huge universe where you can do pretty much whatever you want, and yeah, it sounds like it could be fun, provided there's something to motivate me to actually do something. I don't wanna grind for cash just to get bigger guns so I can grind for cash in more dangerous places, so that I can get even bigger guns, etc, etc. Are there any decent quests? Is there something remotely similar to instanced dungeons? Is there any end-game PvE content? Or is it all about PvP?

 

[Cowabungaa]

It's all about the PvP, or more precise: it's all about the player interaction. There is no MMO out there with a more grand player influenced world than EVE Online. The politics, the wars, the intrueges, it's all unrivaled.

 

[vfaulkon]

It's all about the PvP, or more precise: it's all about the player interaction. There is no MMO out there with a more grand player influenced world than EVE Online. The politics, the wars, the intrueges, it's all unrivaled.

Maybe so, but doesn't it seem odd that the 'game' portion of this game is so...not fun?

Player interaction is fine and all, but I can interact and roleplay with other people in a sci-fi setting on a forum FOR FREE. If I'm paying $12-$15 a month, I expect to get some fun out of it.

Given the premise of the game, this has potential to be a lot of fun, but as far as the gameplay is concerned it's nothing more than an expensive incentive to catch up on your reading.

 

[smokeybearsb]

I had the same experience as this guy. It was boring as fuck for me.

 

[jasoncyrus]

Indeed, I didn't even have to play it to feel an enomorous urge to cut my own testicles off first.

From the reviews I've heard of it. It's a space age game that set on the mechanics of real life.

Only way to get money is to work, only way to work is for a corporation, striking out on your own is a giant pain in the ass, and worst of all it's set in real time.

And for all this simulation of the pains of reality you get the honour of throwing your money away at it.

Personally I'd rather spend my time working at a REAL job than in a fantasy job...

Two words to sum up EVE Online as an MMO, appeal wise, Epic Fail.

 

[Grayl]

I've always LOVED the idea of EVE; a player driven universe with buyable space stations, upgradeable skills and the freedom to do whatever you want.

Unfortunately, I found the game so boring that I can't even make it past the tutorial. Combat was literally, as Martymer stated, "activate weapon, go have coffee". I assume it gets a little harder later on in the game, but still... games are meant to be fun, and the combat and even the travelling around is boring.

I've always had a problem with combat in MMORPGs in general, because it seems like they make a massive and brilliant world and then make the combat slow and boring. It just puts me off the game, especially when a normal fight on a MMORPG is something like this:

Autoattack,
3,
4,
2,
5,
2,
Loot.

And repeat. That isn't fun, and people that do find it enjoyable I always ask them this question: Do you find the GAMEPLAY enjoyable, or are you just addicted to the game?

EVE has the potential to be the best MMORPG out there, and I'd almost class it as that now. The amount of free content they give away and the massive amount of stuff to do in the game is just too immense for words. It's just a shame that most people that play it instantly dislike the slow moving combat. Though, if you enjoy it, it's better playing a game you enjoy with like-minded people rather than a game everyone enjoys with idiots.

I'm not a point and click gamer anyway, so I guess EVE never was for me.

 

[Cowabungaa]

It's all about the PvP, or more precise: it's all about the player interaction. There is no MMO out there with a more grand player influenced world than EVE Online. The politics, the wars, the intrueges, it's all unrivaled.

Maybe so, but doesn't it seem odd that the 'game' portion of this game is so...not fun?

Player interaction is fine and all, but I can interact and roleplay with other people in a sci-fi setting on a forum FOR FREE. If I'm paying $12-$15 a month, I expect to get some fun out of it.

Given the premise of the game, this has potential to be a lot of fun, but as far as the gameplay is concerned it's nothing more than an expensive incentive to catch up on your reading.

Well imo the enviroments look fantastic, and the massive fleet battles are just awesome, but yes it's true: the best part of EVE is the interaction, the massive (1 server for everyone) open world. It depends on what you see as gameplay, imo the whole spiel is gameplay, politics and territorial control included. I guess you mean combat though, and other more traditional rpg elements like quests. Those do indeed stand at second place, combat isn't Jumpgate style but more tactical and the quests aren't really that variated. PvE in general isn't what it's about, PvP combat is a lot better and a lot more intens with piracy, ambushes, full-scale wars, everything.
I guess you can say that EVE truly is a niche game, but as far as sandbox MMO's go, nothing beats EVE. In EVE it's all about power, controlling space, having a vast empire, waging war and politics against other alliances. I just heard a story a while ago about how one of the biggest alliances (biggest as in, controlled craploads of space) was destroyed via an informant who worked himself up through the ranks. When he was high enough, the spy just disbanded the alliance and all the space was up for the grabs and a massive goldrush ensued. You won't find such things in any other MMO, such a grand player controlled world.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

All the faults that one can find with Eve are well founded. The UI is indeed wretched and cluttered with gobs of information (all of which tends to be incredibly important), and there is no way to truly fix it. All one can do is sift some of the windows around. The core combat mechanics, at the most basic level are completely uninteresting, as all one has to do in PVE is ensure the opponents are in range and then let the guns autocycle until they explode. It does indeed take ages to get from point to point, and this only gets worse as your ship class gets larger (god forbid you fly a freighter, a cross system warp can take several minutes, this doesn't include the 30+ second alignment time to initiate warp or any gate approaches you do at a speed so slow you would shame the Princeton rowing team). The PVE itself is utterly uninteresting, as the only thing that really changes is the sheer amount of damage coming in, and even this is easy to manage.

But, like any MMO I've played, if one wants to find fun in the game they have to seek out other people. Since the PVE aspect of the game is so fantastically weak, the only place you really feel the need to have other players around is in PVP, and as others have pointed out this is where the game actually shines.

Combat in PVE is as dull and uninteresting as it gets, but once other players are involved the things you have to do to survive and prosper skyrocket dramatically. Players must be fairly aware of the battlespace - whether it's to reduce or eliminate incomming damage, maximize the effectiveness of their own guns, move in to a close enough range to keep a target from escaping or simply knowing when a battle is a lost cause. In the case of PVP, it's actually a good thing that the basic combat mechanics are so simple. If one were forced to play the game in the same fashion as WoW or WAR, it would be nearly impossible to both keep track of what's going on, figure out what you need to do and then execute it.

Eve isn't for everyone is the common saying and it's entirely accurate. I played for years, but the fact that losses are permenant means that one is always forced to return to the horrid grind of PVE eventually. Different players develop their own ways of coping with such a problem. Some use ships that literally allow them to complete missions without ever actively paying attention to the game. Others partake in the in game trading system in order to gain cash. Some people sell time cards for game money (literally converting real world money into fictional spaceship currency). This reality is what has slowly driven me away from the game. As it stands, even though I can fly some of the largest and most powerful ships proficiently, I choose to fly some of the smallest (Assault Ships). The reason is simple - an assault ship can deliver many hours of joy before imploding and even then it's easily replaced in a mere hour's worth of PVE grind. Replacing other, more powerful ships requires a far larger investment of my time into an activity I loathe.

 

[vfaulkon]

It's all about the PvP, or more precise: it's all about the player interaction. There is no MMO out there with a more grand player influenced world than EVE Online. The politics, the wars, the intrueges, it's all unrivaled.

Maybe so, but doesn't it seem odd that the 'game' portion of this game is so...not fun?

Player interaction is fine and all, but I can interact and roleplay with other people in a sci-fi setting on a forum FOR FREE. If I'm paying $12-$15 a month, I expect to get some fun out of it.

Given the premise of the game, this has potential to be a lot of fun, but as far as the gameplay is concerned it's nothing more than an expensive incentive to catch up on your reading.

Well imo the enviroments look fantastic, and the massive fleet battles are just awesome, but yes it's true: the best part of EVE is the interaction, the massive (1 server for everyone) open world. It depends on what you see as gameplay, imo the whole spiel is gameplay, politics and territorial control included. I guess you mean combat though, and other more traditional rpg elements like quests. Those do indeed stand at second place, combat isn't Jumpgate style but more tactical and the quests aren't really that variated. PvE in general isn't what it's about, PvP combat is a lot better and a lot more intens with piracy, ambushes, full-scale wars, everything.
I guess you can say that EVE truly is a niche game, but as far as sandbox MMO's go, nothing beats EVE. In EVE it's all about power, controlling space, having a vast empire, waging war and politics against other alliances. I just heard a story a while ago about how one of the biggest alliances (biggest as in, controlled craploads of space) was destroyed via an informant who worked himself up through the ranks. When he was high enough, the spy just disbanded the alliance and all the space was up for the grabs and a massive goldrush ensued. You won't find such things in any other MMO, such a grand player controlled world.

Perhaps, but that doesn't say anything about my point - the gameplay is D-U-L-L.

Getting any sizable amount of money means either doing the same four missions over and over, mining for hours and hours (a phenomenal cure for insomnia), or running courier missions which is either impossible for newbies (dangerous territory runs are a guaranteed death until you get a decent ship or a corporation signup) or as simple as selecting the Auto-warp option and kicking back for twenty minutes.

The interpersonal interactions -can- be fun, I won't question that, and the potential is great. But there's so much tedious grindwork (particularly raising your skills, which requires ZERO effort and can be done without playing) that without any connections, the game is not fun at all. And while I'm all for making the player interactions entertaining, challenging and all that, without the basic part of the game being at least halfway enjoyable, you'd be better off logging onto AIM and playing make-believe space pirate with your friends.

And yes, I heard about that story. It does showcase the positives of this game, but fails to show the long-ass drudgery it took to get to that point.


EDIT: Eclectic Dreck pretty much put it as well as anyone could. I'm considering the free-trial because I have a friend with a corp. who plays, so maybe working with him would make this game more enjoyable.

But, like ED said, if exchanging real world money for in-game currency is not only legal, it's encouraged, that's a frickin' huge red flag right there.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Perhaps, but that doesn't say anything about my point - the gameplay is D-U-L-L.

Again, depends on what you see as gameplay. The core of EVE's gameplay is it's roleplaying, PvP and territorial politics (wars included). The rest, PvE missions and combat mechanics, rank lower on the importance list and is not the reason why someone would really play EVE. It's true that the grinding is incredibly dull, heck the game is pointless on your own (well I guess there are exceptions, if you can manage working as a merc or a bounty hunter), but in a corp it's a whole nother ballgame. EVE is really difficult to judge from the early hours of playing it, since most of the time you're not in a corp yet and PvP is almost nonexistant. Sadly it does indeed take a while before you get to the good stuff, and that's a big point of improvement I think. But for the people who actively look for a game like this, you won't get any better. It's the best sandbox MMO out there, with (apperantly) excilerating PvP.

PS: I don't play the game, only played 2 trials, teehee. Enjoyed them though, I didn't find it difficult to learn at all though, a really good tutorial helps you on the way. After I finished a couple of pretty cool quests, I had a nice amount of money and a nice ship (apperantly a pretty good Gallente frigate). Then I was stuck at the dull courier missions, and I basically entered the point where the game became boring without a corp. And since I did not have a corp, I quitted the trial.

 

[Davey Woo]

I never saw the attraction of EVE. AS far as I could make out, there were a total of 3 things to do.
Mine - Involving right clicking on an asteroid and clicking "Mine" then waiting until your cargo filled up.
Fight Pirates - Involving right clicking on an enemy and clicking "Attack" then turning weapons on and off.
Quests - Involving either of the above, or being a courier, involving right clicking on a destination, and clicking "Warp To".

By doing this you got money, which allows you to do these three things faster.
Just seemed too shallow for me.

 

[Jamanticus]

I agree with every post in this thread. I once heard someone say that EVE didn't even really need graphics. It could be a text-based game with bar graphs and the gameplay would still remain very close to what it currently is.

In EVE, you need goals if you want to have fun with it in any sort of long-term sense. It's so realistic in its world that, if you wander around aimlessly, you'll be bored to tears. Even the PvP can be boring if you don't keep in mind what you want to accomplish with it.

Ultimately, it was this freeform nature of EVE that made me quit. So many choices, such huge losses to deal with- it made me want a game where things were a bit narrower, a bit more spelled-out.

 

[haruvister]

I had the same experience as this guy. It was boring as fuck for me.

And me. A game without gameplay. What next, a book without verbs?

 

[maxturbo211]

if EVE online met project sylpheed i'd TOTALLY play it. just putting it out there. if you dont know what project sylpheed is, look it up.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

EVE Online was so much fun, and I decided to be a fucking miner! I've never met such an intelligent community on a game. Seriously, it's the best MMO that I have ever played. I don't know why, but the concept of space-pirates and millions upon millions of miles of untravelled space makes my pupils dialate in awe.

 

[TheCameraman]

Played EvE, still having skills on training for later.
I have to say it's my favorite MMO to date. (Played WoW, WAR and Everquest).
The exploration aspect is my favorite part, as it is actually rewarding.

 

[RusticMonkey]

I never saw the attraction of EVE. AS far as I could make out, there were a total of 3 things to do.
Mine - Involving right clicking on an asteroid and clicking "Mine" then waiting until your cargo filled up.
Fight Pirates - Involving right clicking on an enemy and clicking "Attack" then turning weapons on and off.
Quests - Involving either of the above, or being a courier, involving right clicking on a destination, and clicking "Warp To".

This is true in the sense that you need to build up capital in beginning before you can really branch out and diversify. This for me is Eve's Catch 22.


I tried it twice, but it's so hard to get into. You read and hear what's possible when you get going, but you need to put in alot of grinding before you can really compete with the "big boys" in the main/end-game, in either the economy or PvP. Moreover, the factors that drive commerce, and the economy as a whole take awhile to reveal it's intricacies. Since the ginormeous economy and tradeskilling system affects the entire game. Production and Manufacturing is complex and vastly muli-layered.

I remember feeling like I was not really taking part in the "core game" while playing. Mining all alone in some asteroid field. An altogether noobie unfriendly MMO, but when you are able to hop over the first hurdles it should be worth it, according to the internets. Be ready to invest some time and effort though.

 

[Cuniculus]

Despite the arguments for Eve, one huge problem, and the reason I stopped playing, is that there is not easy respawn like in other MMOGs. If you died in the game, you lose your ship, and all your work up to that point. That is a huge pain in the ass, because none of the missions really have a difficulty level rating on them, so you could take a death trap mission and not know it until you're already being raped. Then imagine you were playing WoW, and when you died, all of your armor disappears. That's how it feels. All the shit you worked so hard for is gone forever.