The White Rabbit Syndrome and "Off With Their Heads!"

After posting this in THE OLD TRUSTY FORUMS in the General Discussion thread - New EVE Online forums temporarily disabled - setup by CCP Navigator, I decided it should have been here in my blog, so, I plagiarized myself...

_______________________________________________________

I usually keep my arse out of whine-fests, troll parades, and general rock throwing, but this fiasco warrants grabbing my pitchfork and joining the mob if only because of the fact that after the two test runs of the new forums, they were released not only with HUGE, wide-open security problems, but little if any of the testers' feedback was heeded.  I took part in the first test run (unfortunately I couldn't find enough time due to RL issues to help with the second) but when the forums opened, I could only find a miniscule few examples of the user feedback actually being used.  Why bother with tests CCP, if our input is thrown out and disregarded along with the garbage?

It is becoming obvious that someone in upper management doesn't have a clue.  They want their new toys - the way it was designed, regardless of flaws and lack of features - out the door and to hell with what the customer wants, needs, envisions, or finds lacking, and worse, to hell with the silly 'polished' idea.  "Get it out so that we can move onto the next new toy and we'll finish fixing it later (maybe)", seems to be this person's (or persons') motto.

I actually have a lot of respect for most of the dev teams at CCP, and I applaud their apology and acknowledgement of the problem here as well as their dropping back and punting the old forums into service again.  Many companies (no *cough* *S.O.E* *cough* names here) would have taken the stoic, we-know-best-and-you-couldn't-grasp-the-issues route by simply reopening the old forums with a message along the lines of "Due to technical issues, we will be using the old forums until further notice." and that would be that.  I'm not implying that the web team should not be tarred-and-feathered for this MAJOR coding ineptitude they called a forum, but I seriously believe the issue began and ended in the top echelon of management.  Something this bad quite frankly should not have happened, not even in the devs' worse nightmares.  The issue HAD to be a time/deadline/personnel squeeze. Plain and simple.

_______________________________________________________

~~~Spyke

EVE: A Future Vision

As most of you know by now if you're an EVE player, CCP released a new trailer - EVE: A Future Vision - at Fanfest.  Being, IMHO, one of the most awesome EVE trailers released to date and opening the door to huge amounts of speculation, there have been many blogs, articles and discussions popping up about it in the last few days.  I decided to take my time with it and take a good look at the trailer (viewed it well over two dozen times), analyze the content, and try to estimate when, if ever we could see something like this in New Eden.


For those of you who haven't seen the trailer yet (where have you been?!), here it is...



There are some HUGE implications in there that smack ya right in the face...

• Viewing windows that you can actually see through to outside the station.
• The avatar animation in both the station and on the surface is unbelievable.
• Orbital bombardment of the planet surface, from EVE into Dust 514.
• Holographic communication with Dust 514 players (and other EVE players?).
• The readouts on the battle screen showing details of the ground battle.
• Station combat!

Into that list we can add the less obvious, smaller features and the background details...

• The instant comm device that he flips open and closed while viewing the fleet outside.
• The graphics planetside of the orbital bombardment is awesome.
• The ground combat looks intense as does all of the ground equipment and weapons.

Now that is one hugely aggressive vision for the future of the EVE universe!  Just the implications of the station combat alone are enormous.  This could mean missions found only in stations, Dust players commissioning EVE players as assassins and bounty hunters just as EVE players will commission Dust players to take regions of the planets.  Just in EVE alone, this could add a whole new dimension to bounty hunting, sabotage, spying, and corporate espionage, as well as open up a whole new set of skills and new blueprints for handweapons.

The orbital bombardment could mean attacks on PI complexes, and if we EVE players can hit the planet players, I'd wager a guess that Dust players will have a way to hit ships in orbit.  Now THAT would make ya think twice before establishing an orbit above an enemy's planetary territory!

The viewing windows, holographic images, and the avatar animation opens all kinds of possibilities for player-owned establishments and quarters.  Holographic entertainment in nightspots and your quarters; direct, face-to-face communications with anyone in EVE or Dust; windows and ports anywhere; and the very real possibility of avatar/environment interaction - sitting on chairs, stools, and counches; using various small objects like the handheld comm, hand-weapons, mugs, personal items in your quarters; laying on your bed or couch; putting things on your table, shelf, display case - the possibilities are almost limitless.

Now as wonderful as this all looks and sounds, we aren't even close to this ultimate EVE scenario yet.  Considering that Incarna will be released this summer, in stages, with little more than socializing abilities at first, and Dust 514 is at least one to two years away, this vision is probably three to five years into the future.  Hopefully no more than that.  But we may start to see some of the Incarna promise within the next two years since it would have to be nearly complete by the time Dust 514 rolls out.

One thing is for sure though, if CCP holds to this vision while continuing to fix and polish the existing EVE as they have begun to over the past few months,  EVE is going to be THE MMO sandbox that everyone else TRIES to imitate and we EVE players can look to be enjoying our game for many more years.  EVE will be in a class all by itself... the ultimate, all-encompassing SciFi Space-Game MMO!

~~~ Spyke

UPDATE 0n "Lock-out Looming for Many EVE Players" - UPDATED!!!

~ New update info at the bottom ~

The new Dev blog by CCP Zulu - Shader Model 2.0 Support Discontinued April 5th - has finally shed some light on the issue of players possibly facing a lockout due to not being able to access the Character Creator that I blogged about on Sunday, February 27, 2011. Apparently Shader Model 3.0 IS the requirement for the Character Creator that has caused so many to have issues with the CC.

In the Dev Blog, it is also announced that the grace period for the CC has been extended for another few months and that they (CCP) are working with a graphics card company (as yet undisclosed) to secure a discount for us to upgrade our cards.  Now THAT is something you won't see a gaming company do everyday!  I was upset with the way CCP handled this issue with their silence but I think this balances the equation and then some.  I'd like to say thank you to CCP for this effort and for giving us time to upgrade our systems to comply with the new minimum requirement.

On a side note here, the blog states that they estimate that approximately 9000 players have graphics cards with Shader Model 2.0.  Personally, I suspect that the number is significantly higher.  They claim that these systems are roughly eight years old but they aren't taking into consideration newer computers built by companies that used the older tech to build cost-effective systems.  My laptop is a prime example.  It's a Dell Inspiron with a 17" screen that is only a little over four years old yet the Intel chipset only supports Shader Model 2.0  I'd wager that there are a LOT of others out there in the same situation.

Anyway, even though the possible discount won't help me much (as I stated above, I'm on a laptop with an integrated graphics chip - no upgrade for me.  It's new system build time!), those of you who are affected by this should keep a watch on the Dev Blogs and/or here on my blog.  As soon as they announce who the graphics card company is that they are working the deal with, I'll post it.

Guess I'd better close this now and start shopping for parts for that new build which should have occurred over a year ago when my old system fried.  I've procrastinated long enough (now I've just got to come up with the money O.o )...


UPDATE: On 03/26/2011, CCP sent out emails to everyone about the graphics cards deal...

__________________________________________________________________

OUT WITH THE (VERY) OLD
IN WITH THE NEW... FOR 10% LESS!

As mentioned in CCP Zulu's latest devblog, to ease the transition for those that need to upgrade to the new minimum video requirements, EVGA, NVIDIA and CCP Games have banded together to offer a 10% discount on select model EVGA video cards supporting Shader Model 3.0, Shader Model 4.0 and even DirectX 11 for today's latest games!

{Your Charter's Name's} EXCLUSIVE EVGA DISCOUNT CODE

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Your exclusive discount code is valid until April 17th 2011 at the EVGA US online stores for 10% off of any of the following popular video cards:

• EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti FPB
• EVGA GeForce GTX 460
• EVGA GeForce GTX 450
• EVGA GeForce GTX 440
• EVGA GeForce GTX 430

We want to thank you for being a part of the world's most incredible online universe. Visit the EVGA EVE Discount Page for more details and to order your blazing new video card with a 10% discount, courtesy of EVGA and CCP Games.

- The EVE Online Dev Team

__________________________________________________________________

If you haven't seen yours, check the email you used for your account(s) or check your junk/spam folder.

~~~ Spyke

Concurrent Skill Training

The debate over whether or not training more than one character at a time on the same account should be a feature has been around since the beginning of EVE back in '03.  Up until just this past year, most vets have been strongly opposed to any ideas or proposals which advocate more than one character training at a time.  Most of the proposals and suggestions usually come from newbies to the game (I submitted one myself two years ago) and are usually shot down quickly with the likes of...

"If you want to train a second character at the same time, start a second account."

 "No other game lets you do that, so why should EVE?"

"Training more than one character would make it too easy for botters and scammers to train alts for sale or as specialized ISK farmers."

This attitude seems to have changed somewhat for whatever reason.  There is a proposal in the Assembly Hall forum - [Proposal] skill training for 2 characters on one account - that, even though it has only 25 supports so far, it has almost NO negative replies and of those that don't support it, the opposition isn't vehement while the arguments for it are good and sound.  It is one of the first proposals that I've read that suggests paying for the privilege and it seems to have very few negative aspects to it.

I added my support to the proposal but with some changes and limitations proposed...

_________________________________________

I definitely agree that there should be some way to train more than one character on an account at the same time. The OP's suggestion is just as good as any I've read and has the advantage of both giving the players a wanted feature and putting more money in the CCP coffers. As far as this being a micro-transaction - HOGWASH. It's simply additional subscription fees. And since you still can only play with one character at a time, those who have two or more accounts so that they can play two or more characters simultaneously, would still keep those other accounts. I happen to have three accounts and I guarantee that I would be using this on all three accounts, at least to train a second character on each. The third would be as necessity dictated.

I would prefer though, that the price was a bit lower than a full sub price, and with the option of using PLEX as payment as well as the standard sub payment method...

• Option #1 - Standard Payment Method (NOTE - Using this option you cannot use 3, 6, or 12 month plans except with only one character training and/or using PLEX for the others.):
1. 1 Month/1 Character Training = $14.95
2. 1 Month/2 Characters Training = $24.95
3. 1 Month/3 Characters Training = $31.95
• Option #2 - PLEX Payment Method (NOTE - Since PLEX costs more - #34.99/2 - than standard monthly subs, the benefit is seen in the training times):
1. 1 PLEX applied to an account = Add 1 month sub time to account OR 1 month training on both 2nd & 3rd character OR 6 weeks training on 2nd character.
2. 2 PLEX applied to an account = Add 2 months sub time to account OR Add 1 month sub time to account AND 1 month training on 2nd & 3rd character OR 2 months training on 2nd & 3rd character OR 3 months training on 2nd character.

In addition, training times would not be at the full 100% for all characters training...

• 1st Character always trains at 100%.
• 2nd character trains at 75%.
• 3rd character trains at 50%.

In the skill queue, you would designate the status of the character as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. This could be changed and switched at any time so that no character is locked into a slower training rate.

_________________________________________

Those are my thoughts on this.  This is a feature that I think is long past due in EVE and shouldn't be all that hard to implement.  If this subject interests you (and it should if you play EVE), go read the proposal and support it or state your reasons against it.  I'd like to know what you all think.  You CAN leave comments here too folks.  Just use the comment link below.

~~~ Spyke 

A Base of Operations

I recently had a conversation with my brother who had just started playing Lord of the Rings Online F2P (LOTRO), about the housing in that game.  I think anyone who has played the game would agree that the housing in LOTRO leaves a lot to be desired (it sux).  Some of the best housing implementations in MMOs have been in Ultima Online (UO) who basically broke the ground on this ‘fluff’ feature, Star Wars Galaxies (STG), and EverQuest II (EQ2), all of which had some really outstanding feature components but also had their share of drawbacks.  Say what you will about SOE but they do know how to do housing in an MMO (and I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, that they've recently added housing to EQ as well).

I really liked the freestyle  housing in EQ2.  I used it as my base of operations, my place to get away from the grind, a place to regroup before setting off on my next set of quests and adventures, and I even held my guild meetings there at the request of the members because they loved the place (I spent a LOT of time, energy, and resources trying to make it awesome, and it paid-off).  On the other hand, Turbine slapped the housing together in LOTRO because of an overwhelming player request and then basically ignored it besides adding more and more items for use in the limited hook system.  Try as I did, my house was nothing more than a cookie-cutter copy of every other house of that size, with storage.  It was nothing more than an oversized walk-in storage closet.

Many, if not most, MMOs today ignore this feature even though it has so much potential as a game feature.  It gives the player a sense of being a part of the game’s world because you own a small piece of it.  It is the single best way to establish immersion into the game’s universe.  It also gives the devs a new source on which to base rewards and loot in the way of furnishings and accessories for the homes, and it establishes an often needed money-sink to help control rampant economies.  Housing also tends to draw more casual players and RPGers into a game and is probably the single most requested fluff feature next to personal avatar customization.

With the introduction of the Captain’s Quarters and the upcoming Incarna, CCP is taking it’s first baby steps towards player housing in New Eden.  In EVE up to this point, our ships were our homes but with Incarna, our characters will finally be walking in stations with full bodies instead of just a stagnant floating head portrait.  There has been a lot of talk and speculation about what Incarna is going to entail…  How will it affect the established gameplay?  Will it be mandatory?  Will there be combat &/or missions?  Will it tie in at all with PI and eventually with Dust 514?  Will it be nothing more than in-game socializing without any ‘meat’?  All valid questions.  But I haven’t seen much, if any, discussion on how the housing aspect is going to play out?  Even when the CQ was unveiled the discussions focused mainly on its affect on docking and on its being mandatory, not on the housing itself.

The first thing that came to my mind as I read CCP Chiliad's dev blog - Looking Ahead: Captain's Quarters and the Road to Incarna - were, "will we have a CQ in every station?"  That would be kinda weird, especially if we can customize them with mods and accessories. As a matter of fact, can we customize them?  Will we be able to interact with the items within the CQ such as sit on the couch shown in front of the main screen or lie on the bed?  Will we be able to add other pieces of furniture?  Will there be smaller items that will be placeable and useable within the CQ like trophies, mementoes, military/corp/alliance decorations and insignia displayed on plaques, mugs, food and drink, holograms, skill books, blueprints, maps, clothing, ship models, etc., etc., etc.  Will we be able to visit other players’ quarters to hold meetings, entertain, or just hang out to take a break from the grind?

If there are ports, will we be able to actually see what is happening outside the station within our view?  Will there be functional market screens, maps to plot courses, an accessible database, corp screens, a PI screen, manufacturing & research screens?  Will we have a comm (chat) to interact with others besides the normal chat?

Is the CQ going to be the ultimate housing or will there be more?  Perhaps the CQ is just the housing allocated in each station for visiting pilots but there will be an option to purchase permanent quarters that would be uniquely our own, and the real customization will be happen here instead of in the standard CQs.  If there is going to be additional housing to purchase, will there be different sizes, layouts, and locations within the stations?  On how many stations will a player be able to have a personal quarters?  Only one?  One per system or constellation?  Per region?  Per empire?  Or as many as you can afford?  Will corporations and alliances be able to purchase headquarter and office complexes similar to the guild halls of other games?

CCP wants to make EVE the ultimate Sci-Fi space game – a complete, all-encompassing universe.  Housing, if done right, can be a HUGE step towards reaching that goal.  I’m hoping that they look at this as an essential part of Incarna and don’t slap in a standard set of rooms that have no real use and is nothing more than eye candy.  When I need to unwind after that last roam, or need to gather myself before the upcoming big fleet battle; when I want to take a break from making ISK out in the roid belts, the moons, or the PI enterprise; when I want to plot my strategy with my closest buddies for the take-over of the empire; if I want to lay-low for awhile from my enemies but still have access to my personal empire however big or small; or simply want to take some time away from the turmoils of space and do a little customizing, I want to be able to dock my ship and go home for awhile.  I want a base of operations.

What are your thoughts on this?  I know a lot of EVE players couldn’t care less about this aspect of Incarna, nor about Incarna itself.  But I suspect that there are just as many that do.  I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter, pro or con.