Tag: blogbanter

Blog Banter #78–The Big Reset

Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 78th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are please visit the Blog Banter page. This months topic comes from Talvorian Dex.

Blog Banter 78 – The Big Reset

Just for a moment engage your “willing suspension of disbelief”. Imagine that CCP, at downtime today, reset everything in Eve Online. Everything! When you logged in you were in a starter system with your character… but now with less than a million skill points, a mere 5,000 ISK and a noob ship (now with civilian afterburner!). Markets are pretty empty other than a few seeded items. All Sov is gone. All player structures are gone. All PI infrastructure is gone. No corps or alliances exist. Nothing remains. New Eden is suddenly a completely level playing field and the next great goldrush is on? Or is it? What happens now?

Banter on…..

As far as I know, the Big Reset has been at least once in an MMO and that was the infamous NGE update in Star Wars Galaxies. It’s still referenced to, for example I found this on an elder scrolls online forum. In case you want to know more here’s a nice write up, albeit a little long.

What it came down to, the game changed so much, due to a new combat system that a lot of gear and skills were worthless over night. What made people really angry though, was that the whole thing was extremely buggy. Mobs would move at twice the speed, you couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with your guns etc etc.

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Besides the bugs, a reset is the last available ultimate tool an MMO developer has to try one last time to revitalize interest in their game. It comes with a lot of press attention, and probably a lot of new players who want to see what the hype is about, and who want to seek out new opportunities. In eve’s case, maybe that piece of 0.0 space you always craved for. On the downside, most of your old veteran players will leave. And they wont leave silently, they’ll make a fuz. They’ll camp Jita and suicide gank etc etc. You get the picture Winking smile. It would be interesting though, everybody mining for trit in a simple cruiser or frig, running level 2 missions for a few isk. Though it would be a bit much for people who have already gone through the whole thing.

So the reset would only happen if CCP would be extremely desperate and they’re about to go under. I assume we’re not at that point just yet Winking smile.

Contributors:-

Eve Hermit – BB78 – THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
Jack Jomar – BB78 – The Great Reset
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah – Blog Banter 78 – The Big Reset
The Ancient Gaming Noob – BB78 – Can The Slate Ever Be Made Clean Again?
Ghost of Eve – BB78 – The Big Reset
Space Cadet Online – BB78 – What if EVE was Reset?
SCASS – BB78 – Worse than Brexit

Blog Banter 77 – The Malaise

[stextbox id=”black” caption=”Blog Banter 77″]Is there a malaise affecting Eve currently? Blogs and podcasts are going dark and space just feels that little bit emptier. One suggestion is that there may be a general problem with the vets, especially those pre-Incarna and older, leaving and being replaced by newer players who are not as invested in the game. The colonists versus immigrants? Is this a problem? Are there others? Or is everything just fine and it’s just another bout of summer “ZOMG EVE IZ DYING!”[/stextbox]

This topic had to be addressed at some point in a blog banter I assume, but the topic is as old as Eve itself ;). But there might be some truth to it at this point in time. Let’s face it, Eve isn’t getting any younger. And without any major expansions, as of the last few years, it’s not attracting a lot of new players. The gaming landscape has changed a lot, as have the players themselves since Eve started. It would only be natural to slowly fade away.

Now let’s look at some numbers, you can check eve-offline yourself, also the other participants of this Blog Banter have probably linked the pics by now. You can see a decline (including the usual summer slum) for the past few years.

Google trends is interesting. It shows a peak at 2010 or so and a little decline from ten on wards. Sadly from 2015 or so the trend is at an all time low.

googleTrends
Eve Online Search

I know not a lot of people play Eve through Steam, but we’re looking for trends here, not actual numbers.

steamcharts
Eve Online Steam Charts

You can easily see the decline from about mid 2015 and onwards, with a very interesting peak in May 2016, because of the big war going on. So apparently interest is there, (unless these were all alt accounts, I assume though people playing through steam play usually one account), but people don’t know what to do (any more ?).

So to answer the original question, yes there is a decline, and it’s been faily obvious. To get out of it you’d need a big expansion of some sort to catch media attention and some hype around the game again IMHO, otherwise it’ll just slowly fade away.

You can find the other participants at the Blog Banter 77 main post.

Blog Banter 76 – Bull’s Eye

At fanfest CCP Fozzie proposed a potential new ship class. Let’s call it the fleet commander’s flagship for now. This is to try and prevent “FC Headshotting” where the opposing fleet knows who the FC is and alpha’s them off the field leaving the rest of the fleet in confusion and disarray. Fozzie mentioned a ship with a great tank but no offensive abilities. Is this a good idea? Is FC head-shotting a legitimate tactic? If CCP do go down the route of a “flagship” how might this work? Also is a new ship the answer or is there another way of giving an FC the ability not to be assassinated 12 seconds into the fight without letting players exploit
 

My experience in fleet warfare is mainly limited to the days when Factional Warfare started. The FCs indeed did get shot at first. Factional Warfare those days was a somewhat tight club and it was well known who the FCs were in most big skirmishes. If I remember well, most flew around in something agile and nimble or order to try to not get caught or a very heavily tanked battleship. I might have seen a damnation, but those were expensive ;).

So do we really need an FC ship ? There are already options, but in big fleet battles once you’re the primary target probably no amount of tank would help. Maybe some sort of ship that has a siege mode, which will mean huge resistances, but no mobility and no offence ?
The flagship suggested in this BB is kind of like drawing a big Bull’s Eye on one ship in your fleet and waving a flag while screaming ‘Shoot me Shoot me’.

Arrow Bull's Eye

Now if we think outside the box a little, it would be cool if the FC could co pilot or even be a passenger on one of the other ships and concentrate on his FCing from there. Sort of like the Star Trek Bridge ;). I am afraid in order to do that, the game would need some rewriting in order to make this feasible.
Another option, though not as cool as the above one, would be to simply remove the names and give them more generic names in order to still be able to call targets. Not my idea, but I think I read that in one of the other responses to this BB. Of course there are in game targeting tools as well, but they might be laggy in case of a large scale battle.

Anyway, there are some option to tackle this problem, I don’t think the ‘flagship’ one is the best one though.
Other participants:
Grimmash on Gaming – Blog Banter 76: Whither Flagships?
The Wormhole - BB76 – Tanky McTankFace
SCASS – BB76 – The FC’s Flagship
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah – Blog Banter 76 – Flagships
YADOT – A CAPSULEERS ADVENTURE – BB76 – The FC’s new chariot

Citadel

As we speak Eve is updating to Citadel, the new expansion that will bring the new POS like structures, or maybe as POS were originally intended Winking smile. You can get your Medium, Large or XL structure blueprint at the moment and a select number of modules. I can imagine the sub components needed will sky rocket the prices in the market, but things will settle down eventually as they always do.

 

Meanwhile Blog Banter #74 is going at the moment. It’s about Fanfest and what people thought was the biggest reveal. Well I didn’t notice any. So I decided to not dedicate a post to it. But I felt obliged to post this here though, since I usually love the blog banters.

The official announcement blog post is over here.

Great guide can be found here : Citadels the ultimate guide

Blog Banter 72–Road to nowhere

Blog Banter 72 – This is the Road (map) to…..

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This month’s suggestion comes from Jakob Anedalle.

“What do you think about using Sugar’s recent blog post as a kickoff for a Blog Banter. I think it’s a great open-ended topic:

http://www.lowseclifestyle.com/2016/02/your-ideal-roadmap.html”

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I am writing just as the  new dev blog is causing a bit of a shit storm over at reddit and the official forum. Anyway, I feel a bit like an outsider looking in, as I haven’t been actually playing, but I look at this subject as someone who’s still following the game and reading about it. What would draw me in again ?

Judging by that latest dev blog, CCP is a little desperate to get people back in. Granting amnesty for people who bought ISK in the past. I am afraid, they don’t have any money / staff at the moment to pull off something big, that would bring in new players and pull back in, those that haven’t played in quite a while.

First of all we got the skill injection thing so returning / new players can ‘catch up’. I think what would bring back in those players CCP so desperately wants is a new big expansion. Something like the Wormhole expansion, Apocrypha. All these sprints and little improvements / new ships are all nice, but they aren’t creating any new headlines. A new hyped up expansion that would add a new PVE element that’s actually fun to do (solo and in a group) would be nice.

road-to-nowhere

So I’d put that on my roadmap. What exactly would that be you might ask ? I have no clue to be honest, I am sure some smart people can come up with something. Bit of a bad roadmap this, come to think of it Winking smile.

Also 0.0 space would need some love and they way it’s conquered.All you ever read about the sovereignty rules are complaints, so that needs (yet another) rewrite.

I do realize my roadmap is a little vague, but the point is that CCP needs to come up with something big otherwise Eve will just bleed out and slowly disappear. Is this going to happen ? I am afraid not, I don’t think they have the resources at the moment.

Other participants can be found at the main blog banter page over at Sand Cider and Spaceships !

Blog Banter #71 – Too Many Ships

Oops I missed this blog banter ! To be honest since I haven’t played for a while I never did experience the too many ships syndrome much. Usually the same ships were used for the same tasks, no matter whether there was a new one available. Not sure how much this has changed tbh.

Anyway, the people that participated are right here.

BB71: A Cornucopia of Spaceships
BB 71 – Decision Fatigue
BB71- Spaceships Make the World Go Round
BB #71: So Many Spaceships
BB71 – THE HARBOUR CRUSH
Eve Online Blog Banter #71: Too Many Ships Spoil the Sandpit?
BB71: Dear Santa. Thank you for all the presents!
Blog Banter 71: When too many is too many?
BB71 – Spaceships, Spaceships Everywhere!
Blog Banter 71: Too Many Ships Spoil The Sandpit? (OOC)
BB71: A rich game world full of spaceships

Blog Banter 69–A kind of magic

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Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 69th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are please visit the Blog Banter page.

Because of Space-Magic

CCP sometimes get stuck between a veldspar ‘roid and a hard place when they try to blend realism with sensible game mechanics in our sci-fi simulator. Sometimes they create a scientific answer such as 4th dimensional drag to explain our ‘submarines in space’. Other times, not so much. When a null-sec Citadel is destroyed players ‘stuffz’ is to be magicked to another station. Why should a citadel be different to a titan? Should CCP ensure that ‘space magic’ always has a plausible explanation or do we need just to say “Well, its only a game!” and engage the willing suspension of disbelief? How should it work when a citadel goes boom, how do we balance risk with reward, and how should any “space-magic” be explained?

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The first thing I thought of when I read the introduction to this month’s banter was this book on Star Trek physics I read a long time ago. From  what I remember I sort of understood only half of it Winking smile. But it was quite an interesting read about what could actually be possible and what could not, with the warp drive and all of that. It’s nice to know that some things could actually be accomplished, albeit in the very far future, if mankind does not destroy itself before it ever gets that far.

Hans-Klok-magic-6846500-354-354

In video games you have to strike a balance in my opinion between convenience and what is sort of believable in the particular world you’re playing in. Will I be able to walk back as a ghost from the nearest graveyard to my body and resurrect when I die ? Probably not Smile with tongue out. But it’s convenient with the gameplay so we go along with it. On the other hand, a lot of things in Eve for example would be somewhat possible in our imagination, probably in another universe in the very far future or after some technological breakthrough we have no clue about at the moment. On the other hand, repper ship that can create more energy than what comes in, always sounded very implausible, so there’s that Winking smile. But at least you have a feeling that somewhere sometime, this universe could be real.

From what I read so far in the other Banters, most bloggers agree that the upcoming change in Citadel where your stuff magically respawns in some convenient place when it’s destroyed, goes totally against what Eve stands for. Once your stuff is blown up / stolen, you can’t get it back. Period. That’s what Eve is all about, and that is what makes the virtual economy going. No idea if it’s set in stone yet, but it definitely needs some reconsideration in my humble opinion.

ps. I just happen to post this on Mophisat’s tenth birthday, well planned !

Contributors:-

Main Post

Suspension of Belief – Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
Because of Space-Magic – NevilleSmit.com
Loot Fairy Triumphant (Blog Banter #69) – Interstellar Privater

BB69: It’s Not About Space Magic, it’s About Space Money… – A CARBON Based Life
BB69: Oh, Video Game Magic – Eveoganda
BB 69: Because of Space-Magic! – MMO Nomad

Blog Banter 68–My Rig

Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 68th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are please visit the Blog Banter page.

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This is my Rig, There are Many Like it…

What do you play Eve on? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours! Are you pew-pewing on a laptop? Plotting universal domination on a 12 monitor set up? Mining away on a 50″ TV? Is your set up located where your other half can speak to you or do you lock yourself away for hours in your Eve themed shed? How do you play your important internet spaceships?

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My main PC, is an I7 3770 with an nVidia 770 and a bunch of disks, in a big case under my desk. The L shaped desk is in my own little corner of the living room. On my desk is also a Marantz slimline receiver to power my  audioengine A2+ speakers. The two rear speakers are two cheap Berenger speakers that make quite a bit of noise.

Got 2 consoles also hooked up to the receiver, I usually prefer to sit in my little corner, instead of on the couch to play games. My PS4 is hooked to the TV still, play it every now and then but not too often. Also got another PC hooked up, AMD 8320 with an Asus R9 290. You’d think I’d prefer that to my PC with the 770, but I only used it so far to play Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition.

Since I also like me some racing games there is a Logitech DFGT next to my desk. It’s very easy to just hook it up and drive a bit. Be is Assetto Corsa or ETS2. The pedals are always under my desk on one of those bathroom anti-slip rugs so they don’t slide away Smile with tongue out.

not-my-rig

The best purchase I did this summer was an LG 27” 1440P monitor. I love the thing. At first when it arrived I thought it was too big and had to move some things around, but now I love it. Much more desktop space, games look great and in racing games you can see more and it’s more immersive to boot. I got another screen on my desk usually showing some Twitch stream or another, with another tab in the browser for Tweetdeck.

Another thing that might be worth mentioning that’s on my desk is the Rode NT-USB mic. I used to have a whole mixing desk with XLR mic setup to record my youtube stuff, but it was a bit of a hassle so I figured I’d just  buy a good USB mic.

Oh and on the wall behind me are two big Eve posters, the one that shows the sizes of all the spaceships and one extra wide one that I got with the Eve mag, if I remember correctly.

Well that’s about it Winking smile. You can read other contributions at Sand Cider and Spaceships !

BB 66–The charm of duct tape

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Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 66th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are please visit the Blog Banter page.

Caldarification

The art team has been working on many art assets recently and there has been talk of the “Caldarification” of Eve related art. Recently examples have been the WIP images of the Thrasher class destroyer redesign and the citadel. Do we need to keep the lines between the races designs clear cut or is some blending of more generic sci-fi styling a good thing? Should Matari be flying/floating scrap heaps? Should Gallente be ‘all about the bass’? Or is a bit of generic sci-fi styling needed to bring new life to our important internet spaceships even if it leans a bit to Caldari?

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I for one very much love the charm of the four racial flavored ships. The Minmatar ships prove that there can be beauty in ships held together by duct tape. Just look at the wonderful Tempest for instance !

Tempest

The Rokh for me is the ultimate Caldari ships (looks wise). A picture says more than words, just look at them lines Winking smile. Somehow I associate this also with industrial efficiency.

rokh

And the Amarr I do associate with shiny ships. The punisher is a nice example. Most of their battleships are very shiny as well Winking smile.

punisher

And there is one race left, the Gallente. I mainly associate them with French people and/or hipsters. Not sure what style of ships goes with that, so I am a little lost here. I loved the Dominix and the Brutix models though. They don’t really associate well with hipsters, so that’s a bit of a clash. So the Gallente is the race I am not quite sure about.

brutix

As you might gather by now, I love the racial flavors of the ships and I hope it stays that way. Leave the Caldarification for the mixed race ships maybe ? If it has to be there that is.

Blog Banters:

Tetra’s Eve Blog – http://tetraetc.com/blog/2015/08/31/caldarification-bb-66/
Eveoganda – http://eveoganda.blogspot.com/2015/08/bb66-time-marches-on.html
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah – http://www.ninveah.com/2015/09/art-by-any-other-name.html
MMO Nomad ,confessions of a – http://blog.fenjaylabs.com/2015/09/01/eve-online-blog-banter-66-art-style/

SCASS – http://sandciderandspaceships.blogspot.com/2015/09/bb66-more-red-dwarf-less-caldari.html
Low Sec Lifestyle – http://www.lowseclifestyle.com/2015/09/blog-banter-66-escape-from-originality.html

Blog Banter #65–Attributes

Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 65th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are visit the Blog Banter page.

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This months Banter was suggested by Jakob Anedalle

“I liked the discussion on The Neocom’s recent “Tinfoil Factory” on the future of attributes in Eve. Perhaps piggyback on that and invite those folks into the banter as well?
http://theneocom.com/2015/06/21/the-neocom-presents-the-tinfoil-factory-pilot-attributes/“

Attributes and Skills
Does Eve need attributes? It’s been discussed a lot recently. Unlike other MMO’s your characters attributes don’t make a difference in day-to-day gameplay. They simply set how fast you train a skill. Is it time to remove attributes from the game or totally revamp their purpose? Do they add a level of complexity to the game that is not needed? If you really need to use a 3rd party application to get the most from it should it be in the game? Should they be repurposed with each attribute adding a modifier to your ship? Are attributes a relic from the past or are they an important part of Eve – You make your decision and deal with the consequences?

Banter on!

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What I remember from creating my first character is that I had no clue what I was doing. Which probably sounds familiar to a lot of people. I thought intelligence sounded good so I went with a somewhat balanced Caldari character. I gave some more thought towards the next characters, they had more perception and willpower so gun skills and the like didn’t take as long.

Anyway, I think the system seem to be outdated now and it needs a revamp. It would be nice to keep in a little rpg and replace it with something else instead of getting rid of it altgether.

I was thinking something along the line of damage (dps), damage reduction (tanking), logistics (healing), learning (to speed up skills marginally, to keep a little bit of the old system in this new one) and tax reduction (for the merchants among us). Maybe some sort of discovery attribute as well for a scanning / loot bonus ?

That would just about cover it all. You can even keep the current attributes even and give them a new meaning. This would also be nice for alts, you can specialize them a little bit.

Of course these would all be somewhat marginally better, otherwise you get into the situation where you must have a certain spec to do something and I would think you would want to avoid that as a game maker.

So those are my thoughts, you can read more here :

Cloaky Bastard – Useless Attributes
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah – Attribution
Eveoganda – My Brain Hurts
Notes from New Eden – At Rebukes
The Ancient Gaming Noob – Not for Attribution
Torchwood Archives – Attributes and Skills
Sand, Cider and Spaceships – Useful Attributes
Target Caller: BB65 – Easiest One Ever
Lexx Jonlan Tweets. I don’t think he gets the BLOG Banter bit!
Low Sec Lifestyle – Blog Banter #65 – What is Interesting?
Crossing Zebras http://crossingzebras.com/a-farewell-to-attributes/ and also http://crossingzebras.com/cz-minutes-attributes/
Jakob’s Eve Checklist – Attribution Needed?