As mentioned earlier in this thread, I think EVE's success owes alot to SOE and their SWG NGE. When NGE hit there was alot of people on the official forums asking for a new game, and the EVE fans responded. EVE is probably the closest game right now that delivers what SW fans want (at least on the surface). I personally know of 2 fair sized guilds that simply transplanted themselves from SWG to EVE due to the NGE.
Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw My two bits. As mentioned earlier in this thread, I think EVE's success owes alot to SOE and their SWG NGE. When NGE hit there was alot of people on the official forums asking for a new game, and the EVE fans responded. EVE is probably the closest game right now that delivers what SW fans want (at least on the surface). I personally know of 2 fair sized guilds that simply transplanted themselves from SWG to EVE due to the NGE.
While I think EVE has certinaly benifited from the problems other games have had (for example E&B and more recently SWG) I really don't think thats the only factor.
The WOW effect has caused a mass exodus of players from a great many games especally immidatly after its release. EVE on the other hand has showed sustained growth for nearly 3 years now (with a couple of little blips). No doubt the recent problems with SWG have caused an acceleration in EVE's population growth but I don't think its the only factor.
Because EVE is such a unique game and because the devopers are so communicative, the community is extremely loyal to the game. Apparently well over 75% of the players who bought the game with in 6 months of launch are still subscribing to (and regually playing) the game 2 years down the line. No other MMORPG of the modern era comes even close.
Hardin pretty much detailed the reasons for EVE's success. I've taken a break from EVE until the server situation is resolved. I can't PvP with the crashes lag atm.
I don't know about anyone else, but I am having a lot of fun in EVE. You can do whatever you want, but for every action there is a equal reaction. One example I can think of is losing a ship. These things don't grow on trees! Lose one and it is a real loss. That is one thing that many other MMOs have lost. Many have either removed this kind of penality or have softened them down a lot. Basically in EVE there is a lot of depth you don't see a lot of places.
50 times more popular then WoW, maybe ... we'll see how well WoW is going to be doing now that they have run out of continents to release itself on.
WoW has a massive massive advertisement campaign and a massive company behind it, where as EVE is just slowly growing through word of mouth.
I've played both WoW and EVE, and quit playing both ...
I quit WoW, because the general community had the brainpower of a untrained monkey ... (and I wasn't smart enough to play on the RP servers)
I quit EVE, because PvP isn't my thing ... though I have to admit, the most tense moment I've ever had in a MMORPG was running for that jump point while being shot at by a Battleship ... with my entire fortune in my cargo hold.
(the price of being a trader)
both are great games, but somehow I think EVE might be around much longer then WoW.
Originally posted by nogardnaz Maybe it's doing so well because...oh, wait, only 100,000 or so players? I think we need a new definition of "well" or "good" maybe even "popular". By the way, WoW has reached 5 million players. That's 50 x more popular than EVE. I'd define that as doing "well".
the point is:
EVE was believed to fail many times. it has a bold new concept unlike WoW, which is essentially an EQ clone.
EVE has pure, free for all PvP, a player run economy and player run territory. Many who tried that failed, often before launch.
I sill hear it: "EVE will never reach more than 10000 players online" "wont even peak at 40k subscriptions" "too complex" blablabla
now EVE has new user records every few weeks and doubled its subscribers last year.
CCP has only a handful of people working and runs NO advertizement except a few banners at some sites.
popular and popular are 2 differnt things. players of EVE are usually veterans in the MMORPG world. theny have played at least 3 MMORPGs before trying EVE. I have playd over 10.
WoW consists of ex-solo players which got into WoW because it was hyped by the mainstream media.
WoW will experience a huge drop in subscribers once new EQ clones come out. Vanguard and so on.
I never said WoW was "better" than EVE in any of the ways you responded. I simply answered your question: Why is EVE-Online continuing to do so well? The answer is, it's not. The reason is because there are games with many, many more subscribers/active accounts. Those games, I would say, are doing "well". When comparing those games to EVE it's obvious that EVE is not doing "well".
EVE is a good game, I know this too. It is truely an MMORPG. It has an amazing amount of depth. My only quarrel with the game is that it is also amazingly slow. That is why it most likely will not reach the heights of the more popular games. The game is just too fucking slow.
So, I'm sure we both agree that EVE is a better MMORPG than WoW. I, though, am not a zealot like you. So, I won't be defending it's relatively unpopular standing and making obvious fanboy posts trying to boast it's status like you do. It's alright, EVE is still the better MMORPG. This thread, unfortunately, is a question that cannot be answered because it suggests something that simply is not true.
Originally posted by nogardnaz Maybe it's doing so well because...oh, wait, only 100,000 or so players? I think we need a new definition of "well" or "good" maybe even "popular". By the way, WoW has reached 5 million players. That's 50 x more popular than EVE. I'd define that as doing "well".
5 million people bought the box, which is very impressive by itself. However how many people actually have a ongoing subscription (esspecially considering how quicky you can get to the end and the usual complain of it lacking in end game) is another question all together.While i don't think their subscription are anywhere near 5 mil..1 or maybe even 2 mil worldwide is probably more accurate. Again far more then Eve but WoW's population like one poster mention, isn't going anywhere but down. World of Warcraft which i believe is well done(as in is polished,got its target audience and does exactly was its intended to do) seems to have been built for short term success as oppossed to long term like Eve.
Originally posted by nogardnaz I never said WoW was "better" than EVE in any of the ways you responded. I simply answered your question: Why is EVE-Online continuing to do so well? The answer is, it's not. The reason is because there are games with many, many more subscribers/active accounts. Those games, I would say, are doing "well". When comparing those games to EVE it's obvious that EVE is not doing "well".
Umm... I thought that OP's question was "Why EvE is still growing - why it is not shrinking like other games after release?". We are just trying to find different reasons why EvE is still growing.
If question would be "Why EvE is doing so well?" - answer would be: it isn't doing very well, it could have done much better. Maybe OP's title and message is bit biased.
We are trying to discuss from possible reasons why players are not leaving EvE so fast than in other games. We are trying to discuss from reasons why players are leaving other games so fast. We are not talking about reasons why WoW is doing so well or why EvE doesn't have 1 million subscribers.
Of course discussion like this tend to be pretty "opinion" oriented. There really hasn't be much facts in thread yet.
"I know I said this was my last post, but you my friend are a idiotic moron." -Shadow4482
Originally posted by nogardnaz Maybe it's doing so well because...oh, wait, only 100,000 or so players? I think we need a new definition of "well" or "good" maybe even "popular". By the way, WoW has reached 5 million players. That's 50 x more popular than EVE. I'd define that as doing "well".
i understand what you say. how can a game with 100k subscription be doing well? there are games out there with much more subscriptions.
yes, but how many of them are growing? to do well is not only to have a lot of players. to do well is to please those players, to have them interested on the game for a long time. yesterday i read on the EVE official forums that 60% of the players that subscribed within the first 6 months of the game (2 years ago) are still playing. how many more games can say that?
that is why in my opinion EVE is doing well, because there is a high posibility that a player that joins in and gets through the first dificult month, sticks with the game for a long time.
and that is why EVE is always growing. even though the rate of new players may be lower than in other games (raw numbers, not proportional), the rate of people leaving is also much lower than the rest of the games.
if by doing well we are talking only about profit, then, yes, wow is making much more money. but we should look at the investments, not only on creating and producing the game, also on publicity, staff, servers maintenance... i dont think EVE is doing much worse than wow, given the amount of money they have to invest (much less staff, almost no publicity, only one server)
Originally posted by nogardnaz I never said WoW was "better" than EVE in any of the ways you responded. I simply answered your question: Why is EVE-Online continuing to do so well? The answer is, it's not. The reason is because there are games with many, many more subscribers/active accounts. Those games, I would say, are doing "well". When comparing those games to EVE it's obvious that EVE is not doing "well". EVE is a good game, I know this too. It is truely an MMORPG. It has an amazing amount of depth. My only quarrel with the game is that it is also amazingly slow. That is why it most likely will not reach the heights of the more popular games. The game is just too fucking slow.So, I'm sure we both agree that EVE is a better MMORPG than WoW. I, though, am not a zealot like you. So, I won't be defending it's relatively unpopular standing and making obvious fanboy posts trying to boast it's status like you do. It's alright, EVE is still the better MMORPG. This thread, unfortunately, is a question that cannot be answered because it suggests something that simply is not true.
You have no clue about the relativity behind the concept of doing well.
EVE is doing better than CCP ever thought it would do. Evidence of this would be the entirely new shard they are putting in on the 21st so they can keep up with the population.
EVE is doing very well. I would say its doing better in relative terms than WoW.
Originally posted by nogardnaz You have no clue about the relativity behind the concept of doing well.EVE is doing better than CCP ever thought it would do. Evidence of this would be the entirely new shard they are putting in on the 21st so they can keep up with the population.EVE is doing very well. I would say its doing better in relative terms than WoW.
Just to clarify here. It not "another" shard. It was a COMPLETE replacement of the older equipment with dual opteron 64 bit IBM blade servers.
They also recently completely replaced the database layer with a RAMSAN solidstate storage device, effectively getting rid of the database lag that was hindering the markets and items. They also indicated that following the next patch on the 28th, they will be getting even more of these solid state devices to even FURTHER improve the lag issues that still affect the game.
Another reason for EVE's fan's loyalty (mine included here).
Unlike SOE who are freaking rediculous when it comes to 'numbers' (people/accounts, etc.), we get posts of the BREAKDOWNS of who's been playing, who still is, and such:
from the dev blog posted regarding the new patch as well as info about our skill system:
OVEUR from the latest dev blog: ----snip ....covered a question about skill points in an interview with MMORPG.COM the other day and was doing some followup data mining on how many people actually had an amazingly high number of skillpoints. The basic premise of the skill point system is that skills are balanced via the system's built-in tools, such as rank adjustment, new content which increases attributes and of course the diminishing returns involved with time spent to learn the fifth level opposed to the time spent on the first four. As a result, the gap and possibility to keep up (or even reach and surpass) the 3 year old player is more than realistic, especially since the more you train, the more you are specializing - or getting more versatile. Therefore, as a new player you can quite quickly approach competitive levels with much older players in certain fields. However, on to the good stuff, data mining! Here is the breakdown of skillpoints of active characters on Tranquility: ---------------------------------------------- between 0 and 1 million skillpoints: 358353 between 1 and 2 million skillpoints: 14035 between 2 and 3 million skillpoints: 8149 between 3 and 4 million skillpoints: 5826 between 4 and 5 million skillpoints: 4696 between 5 and 10 million skillpoints: 14859 between 10 and 15 million skillpoints: 9875 between 15 and 20 million skillpoints: 7861 between 20 and 25 million skillpoints: 6194 between 25 and 30 million skillpoints: 4373 between 30 and 35 million skillpoints: 2568 between 35 and 40 million skillpoints: 1313 between 40 and 45 million skillpoints: 257 between 45 and 50 million skillpoints: 4 between 50 and 55 million skillpoints: 7 between 55 and 60 million skillpoints: 1 ---------------------------------------------- Not as many high skillpoint players after 3 years as you would have thought. We should also remember, that time is in favor of new players, the average EVE player only stays for 7 months. However, this doesn't say very much about the character behind the skillpoints, since skillpoints are quite relative, some fields have more higher rank skills than others and some are simply hard to train for a lot of players. As an example, a person might be really good in leadership, but that person would have spent a lot of time training that ability if he has low Charisma. The next person might have high Charisma and can easily train the leadership skills, but at a faster rate. Therefore, both end up having the same amount of skillpoints, but one spent 1 month to achieve the ability, the other spent 3. /snip.
Rather than just stay silent on something that can be very controversial, they step up to the plate and explain themselves.
With this sort of responsiveness and concern, they EARN the loyalty of their customers....and ya CANT put a price on that. ----something SOE should have figured out a long time ago, and something that Blizzard would do well to emulate.
Originally posted by nogardnaz Maybe it's doing so well because...oh, wait, only 100,000 or so players? I think we need a new definition of "well" or "good" maybe even "popular". By the way, WoW has reached 5 million players. That's 50 x more popular than EVE. I'd define that as doing "well".
The real question is; how many of the '5 million players' still enjoy WOW? And if this game is so damn good,why am I,a WOW player,looking more into EVE these days,and not grinding with my guild as we prepare for the end-game?
I was criticised on an earlier post on EVE for saying things I thought would happen in-game having only played for a few days,regards 0.0 space and the PvP.(thinking open-ended,perhaps like the game itself) However,having played EVE for 4 days or so now,I've noticed one thing that is TRUE.
You ask for help on any question,you get ANSWERS. Ask about ships on Rookie Help chat,usually has about 1k+ people on it,and people will tell you a suggested ship based on your race. (Rifter for a Minmatar like myself) I don't recall getting much help on the WOW General chat when I asked for it (tbf WOW is simple,but people still have questions),and replies usually took a few minutes. Also,there's an overall sense of maturity to the game. No-one brags about their SP totals,or their ships being the best. There's a lack of 1337 speak or bickering to be noticed.
Imo,the reason EVE is doing so well is because it attracts a mature audience,away from the 'childish' communities of other games. The forums are a slightly different matter,but even the flaming there seems a tend more constructive than other games. There's no LEARN 2 PLAY here.
Why is EvE so popular?? Why its because of me ofcourse
At the Guiding Hand, we hold the contract sacred - if the client wishes us to skin a target's loved ones alive and wear their face for a mask while killing them, we will do so ~ Istvaan Shogaatsu
I think EVE is successful for several reasons. #1 it is fun. #2 it has good eye candy which is easy for EVE to do because of the way the game is set up. First it seems the poly count can be kept quite low since we are not talking about trying to draw a hundred buildings with a dozen enterable rooms each as WWIIOL is now attempting to do. WWIIOL is also trying to draw hundreds of trees, shrubs grass stands, flowers, etc... Then there are the ambient sounds like dogs barking, birds chirping etc... So eye candy by what I've seen is the best in this game. Better than any other MMOLG. Then you have one of the aspects that make any good MMOLG in that you have to become a part of the community if you want to succeed. Community makes all the difference.
Another strong point going for the game which some MMOLGs have and some don't is that there is no competition. There is no game like EVE out there. Same for WWIIOL. WOW on the other hand has lot's of competition and yet it is still pretty succesful. Many other similar games are not, however.
One thing that all MMOLGs have in common that EVE seems to be trying to do something about is the leveling grind. All games have a level grind to some extent. WWIIOL you start out only getting to use some of the most basic equipment. Then you are expected to be succesful in it to level up. Hard task in any game when you are going up against masters of the game with multiple years experience and weapons that totally outclass yours.
WWIIOL is still not tough to get up to where you can use some good equipment however as you don't have to get very high in rank to get stuff like binoculars and some mid grade equipment. Then it doesn't take much time from there to get to where you can use top of the line equipment. Here's the kicker, in WWIIOL, like real life, a simple recruit rifleman can kill a General with one bullet to the head. So even as a recruit, you are still in the game.
EVE is using some innovative ways that in effect have accellerated the advancement of new people. And yet one flaw I saw was that it appears that you can never really surpass the level of somebody who started a few years ago, if you are starting right now.
That is one thing I like about WWIIOL. I have been playing it since day 1 and yet, if you put in the time and do well, you could pass me up by being a better player. I am high enough that you probably aren't going to do it in a month or two but depending on your skill it could happen sooner than you think. Also, if you have an interest in leading the troops on the field, you can leapfrog right past me and become a High Command player.
It would be good if EVE developed a way for a better player to surpass a player who has been playing for 3 years. That is one thing that holds me back from trying the game. I don't like coming into something like that wihtout the possiblity of getting to the top. I also don't want it to take 3 or more years to do so.
I want my achievements to be skill based alone, not who can or did put in the most time online.
i loved playing eve trial , 2 things made me not join in . one is the fact that you dont have a inside ship view like cokpit , other is the fact that you dont have a human form ... i felt like i was the ship.
those are not big problems , if i wasnt playing gw and happy about it , i might pay for eve.
Originally posted by Imsneaky EVE is using some innovative ways that in effect have accellerated the advancement of new people. And yet one flaw I saw was that it appears that you can never really surpass the level of somebody who started a few years ago, if you are starting right now.That is one thing I like about WWIIOL. I have been playing it since day 1 and yet, if you put in the time and do well, you could pass me up by being a better player. I am high enough that you probably aren't going to do it in a month or two but depending on your skill it could happen sooner than you think. Also, if you have an interest in leading the troops on the field, you can leapfrog right past me and become a High Command player.It would be good if EVE developed a way for a better player to surpass a player who has been playing for 3 years. That is one thing that holds me back from trying the game. I don't like coming into something like that wihtout the possiblity of getting to the top. I also don't want it to take 3 or more years to do so.I want my achievements to be skill based alone, not who can or did put in the most time online.
From the Lead Developer's Blog on EVE's site. This has been posted before, but Imsneaky, you are being held back for reasons that aren't really good reason from getting involved so, without further ado, the lead developer's information regarding the evil dreaded "I can't catch up" fallacy:
Lots of skill point conversations on the forums lately, well, at least when they are up.
I covered a question about skill points in an interview with MMORPG.COM the other day and was doing some followup data mining on how many people actually had an amazingly high number of skillpoints.
The basic premise of the skill point system is that skills are balanced via the system's built-in tools, such as rank adjustment, new content which increases attributes and of course the diminishing returns involved with time spent to learn the fifth level opposed to the time spent on the first four.
As a result, the gap and possibility to keep up (or even reach and surpass) the 3 year old player is more than realistic, especially since the more you train, the more you are specializing - or getting more versatile. Therefore, as a new player you can quite quickly approach competitive levels with much older players in certain fields.
However, on to the good stuff, data mining! Here is the breakdown of skillpoints of active characters on Tranquility:
between 0 and 1 million skillpoints: 358353 between 1 and 2 million skillpoints: 14035 between 2 and 3 million skillpoints: 8149 between 3 and 4 million skillpoints: 5826 between 4 and 5 million skillpoints: 4696 between 5 and 10 million skillpoints: 14859 between 10 and 15 million skillpoints: 9875 between 15 and 20 million skillpoints: 7861 between 20 and 25 million skillpoints: 6194 between 25 and 30 million skillpoints: 4373 between 30 and 35 million skillpoints: 2568 between 35 and 40 million skillpoints: 1313 between 40 and 45 million skillpoints: 257 between 45 and 50 million skillpoints: 4 between 50 and 55 million skillpoints: 7 between 55 and 60 million skillpoints: 1
Not as many high skillpoint players after 3 years as you would have thought. We should also remember, that time is in favor of new players, the average EVE player only stays for 7 months.
However, this doesn't say very much about the character behind the skillpoints, since skillpoints are quite relative, some fields have more higher rank skills than others and some are simply hard to train for a lot of players.
As an example, a person might be really good in leadership, but that person would have spent a lot of time training that ability if he has low Charisma. The next person might have high Charisma and can easily train the leadership skills, but at a faster rate. Therefore, both end up having the same amount of skillpoints, but one spent 1 month to achieve the ability, the other spent 3.
So, in a way, does the number of skillpoints really matter?
Originally posted by Imsneaky I think EVE is successful for several reasons. #1 it is fun. #2 it has good eye candy which is easy for EVE to do because of the way the game is set up.
Looked on the EVE website today,the screenshot shows a ship inside what appears to be a tornado and a lightning storm all in one. Now that's something I'd like to see!
Comments
My two bits.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, I think EVE's success owes alot to SOE and their SWG NGE. When NGE hit there was alot of people on the official forums asking for a new game, and the EVE fans responded. EVE is probably the closest game right now that delivers what SW fans want (at least on the surface). I personally know of 2 fair sized guilds that simply transplanted themselves from SWG to EVE due to the NGE.
While I think EVE has certinaly benifited from the problems other games have had (for example E&B and more recently SWG) I really don't think thats the only factor.
The WOW effect has caused a mass exodus of players from a great many games especally immidatly after its release. EVE on the other hand has showed sustained growth for nearly 3 years now (with a couple of little blips). No doubt the recent problems with SWG have caused an acceleration in EVE's population growth but I don't think its the only factor.
Because EVE is such a unique game and because the devopers are so communicative, the community is extremely loyal to the game. Apparently well over 75% of the players who bought the game with in 6 months of launch are still subscribing to (and regually playing) the game 2 years down the line. No other MMORPG of the modern era comes even close.
Amarr Victor
I don't know about anyone else, but I am having a lot of fun in EVE. You can do whatever you want, but for every action there is a equal reaction. One example I can think of is losing a ship. These things don't grow on trees! Lose one and it is a real loss. That is one thing that many other MMOs have lost. Many have either removed this kind of penality or have softened them down a lot. Basically in EVE there is a lot of depth you don't see a lot of places.
Maybe it's doing so well because...oh, wait, only 100,000 or so players? I think we need a new definition of "well" or "good" maybe even "popular".
By the way, WoW has reached 5 million players. That's 50 x more popular than EVE. I'd define that as doing "well".
there were too many string theories
and im glad eve's focus is on
U theory
i mean M theory
also
grafix r good
i can see a lot of nebulas
and hypernovae
when you warp around
one thing tho
i think they should add some quasars
cause it's a bit dark
and there seems to be
a lot of white dwarf stars
all around
but this may be the main reeson
this game so loved but i crank up my gamma
and still cant see
just imho tho
50 times more popular then WoW, maybe ... we'll see how well WoW is going to be doing now that they have run out of continents to release itself on.
WoW has a massive massive advertisement campaign and a massive company behind it, where as EVE is just slowly growing through word of mouth.
I've played both WoW and EVE, and quit playing both ...
I quit WoW, because the general community had the brainpower of a untrained monkey ... (and I wasn't smart enough to play on the RP servers)
I quit EVE, because PvP isn't my thing ... though I have to admit, the most tense moment I've ever had in a MMORPG was running for that jump point while being shot at by a Battleship ... with my entire fortune in my cargo hold.
(the price of being a trader)
both are great games, but somehow I think EVE might be around much longer then WoW.
the point is:
EVE was believed to fail many times. it has a bold new concept unlike WoW, which is essentially an EQ clone.
EVE has pure, free for all PvP, a player run economy and player run territory. Many who tried that failed, often before launch.
I sill hear it: "EVE will never reach more than 10000 players online" "wont even peak at 40k subscriptions" "too complex" blablabla
now EVE has new user records every few weeks and doubled its subscribers last year.
CCP has only a handful of people working and runs NO advertizement except a few banners at some sites.
popular and popular are 2 differnt things. players of EVE are usually veterans in the MMORPG world. theny have played at least 3 MMORPGs before trying EVE. I have playd over 10.
WoW consists of ex-solo players which got into WoW because it was hyped by the mainstream media.
WoW will experience a huge drop in subscribers once new EQ clones come out. Vanguard and so on.
EVE will be growing for a long time.
Askatan
I never said WoW was "better" than EVE in any of the ways you responded. I simply answered your question: Why is EVE-Online continuing to do so well? The answer is, it's not. The reason is because there are games with many, many more subscribers/active accounts. Those games, I would say, are doing "well". When comparing those games to EVE it's obvious that EVE is not doing "well".
EVE is a good game, I know this too. It is truely an MMORPG. It has an amazing amount of depth. My only quarrel with the game is that it is also amazingly slow. That is why it most likely will not reach the heights of the more popular games. The game is just too fucking slow.
So, I'm sure we both agree that EVE is a better MMORPG than WoW. I, though, am not a zealot like you. So, I won't be defending it's relatively unpopular standing and making obvious fanboy posts trying to boast it's status like you do. It's alright, EVE is still the better MMORPG. This thread, unfortunately, is a question that cannot be answered because it suggests something that simply is not true.
Wow! That is just awesome. I love it!
Umm... I thought that OP's question was "Why EvE is still growing - why it is not shrinking like other games after release?". We are just trying to find different reasons why EvE is still growing.
If question would be "Why EvE is doing so well?" - answer would be: it isn't doing very well, it could have done much better. Maybe OP's title and message is bit biased.
We are trying to discuss from possible reasons why players are not leaving EvE so fast than in other games. We are trying to discuss from reasons why players are leaving other games so fast. We are not talking about reasons why WoW is doing so well or why EvE doesn't have 1 million subscribers.
Of course discussion like this tend to be pretty "opinion" oriented. There really hasn't be much facts in thread yet.
"I know I said this was my last post, but you my friend are a idiotic moron." -Shadow4482
i understand what you say. how can a game with 100k subscription be doing well? there are games out there with much more subscriptions.
yes, but how many of them are growing? to do well is not only to have a lot of players. to do well is to please those players, to have them interested on the game for a long time. yesterday i read on the EVE official forums that 60% of the players that subscribed within the first 6 months of the game (2 years ago) are still playing. how many more games can say that?
that is why in my opinion EVE is doing well, because there is a high posibility that a player that joins in and gets through the first dificult month, sticks with the game for a long time.
and that is why EVE is always growing. even though the rate of new players may be lower than in other games (raw numbers, not proportional), the rate of people leaving is also much lower than the rest of the games.
if by doing well we are talking only about profit, then, yes, wow is making much more money. but we should look at the investments, not only on creating and producing the game, also on publicity, staff, servers maintenance... i dont think EVE is doing much worse than wow, given the amount of money they have to invest (much less staff, almost no publicity, only one server)
so yes, in my opinion, EVE is doing very well.
You have no clue about the relativity behind the concept of doing well.
EVE is doing better than CCP ever thought it would do. Evidence of this would be the entirely new shard they are putting in on the 21st so they can keep up with the population.
EVE is doing very well. I would say its doing better in relative terms than WoW.
Make a difference!
what i like at eve
1 support
2 corporation
3 standing
4 forum style
a plus i dont see a game whit a radio
BestSigEver :P
Here is one reason:
SOE developer
EvE developer (not work safe)
"I know I said this was my last post, but you my friend are a idiotic moron." -Shadow4482
[quote]Originally posted by Copeland
[b]
Just to clarify here. It not "another" shard. It was a COMPLETE replacement of the older equipment with dual opteron 64 bit IBM blade servers.
They also recently completely replaced the database layer with a RAMSAN solidstate storage device, effectively getting rid of the database lag that was hindering the markets and items. They also indicated that following the next patch on the 28th, they will be getting even more of these solid state devices to even FURTHER improve the lag issues that still affect the game.
Another reason for EVE's fan's loyalty (mine included here).
Unlike SOE who are freaking rediculous when it comes to 'numbers' (people/accounts, etc.), we get posts of the BREAKDOWNS of who's been playing, who still is, and such:
from the dev blog posted regarding the new patch as well as info about our skill system:
OVEUR from the latest dev blog:
----snip
....covered a question about skill points in an interview with MMORPG.COM the other day and was doing some followup data mining on how many people actually had an amazingly high number of skillpoints.
The basic premise of the skill point system is that skills are balanced via the system's built-in tools, such as rank adjustment, new content which increases attributes and of course the diminishing returns involved with time spent to learn the fifth level opposed to the time spent on the first four.
As a result, the gap and possibility to keep up (or even reach and surpass) the 3 year old player is more than realistic, especially since the more you train, the more you are specializing - or getting more versatile. Therefore, as a new player you can quite quickly approach competitive levels with much older players in certain fields.
However, on to the good stuff, data mining! Here is the breakdown of skillpoints of active characters on Tranquility:
----------------------------------------------
between 0 and 1 million skillpoints: 358353
between 1 and 2 million skillpoints: 14035
between 2 and 3 million skillpoints: 8149
between 3 and 4 million skillpoints: 5826
between 4 and 5 million skillpoints: 4696
between 5 and 10 million skillpoints: 14859
between 10 and 15 million skillpoints: 9875
between 15 and 20 million skillpoints: 7861
between 20 and 25 million skillpoints: 6194
between 25 and 30 million skillpoints: 4373
between 30 and 35 million skillpoints: 2568
between 35 and 40 million skillpoints: 1313
between 40 and 45 million skillpoints: 257
between 45 and 50 million skillpoints: 4
between 50 and 55 million skillpoints: 7
between 55 and 60 million skillpoints: 1
----------------------------------------------
Not as many high skillpoint players after 3 years as you would have thought. We should also remember, that time is in favor of new players, the average EVE player only stays for 7 months.
However, this doesn't say very much about the character behind the skillpoints, since skillpoints are quite relative, some fields have more higher rank skills than others and some are simply hard to train for a lot of players.
As an example, a person might be really good in leadership, but that person would have spent a lot of time training that ability if he has low Charisma. The next person might have high Charisma and can easily train the leadership skills, but at a faster rate. Therefore, both end up having the same amount of skillpoints, but one spent 1 month to achieve the ability, the other spent 3.
/snip.
Rather than just stay silent on something that can be very controversial, they step up to the plate and explain themselves.
With this sort of responsiveness and concern, they EARN the loyalty of their customers....and ya CANT put a price on that.
----something SOE should have figured out a long time ago, and something that Blizzard would do well to emulate.
The real question is; how many of the '5 million players' still enjoy WOW? And if this game is so damn good,why am I,a WOW player,looking more into EVE these days,and not grinding with my guild as we prepare for the end-game?
I was criticised on an earlier post on EVE for saying things I thought would happen in-game having only played for a few days,regards 0.0 space and the PvP.(thinking open-ended,perhaps like the game itself) However,having played EVE for 4 days or so now,I've noticed one thing that is TRUE.
You ask for help on any question,you get ANSWERS. Ask about ships on Rookie Help chat,usually has about 1k+ people on it,and people will tell you a suggested ship based on your race. (Rifter for a Minmatar like myself) I don't recall getting much help on the WOW General chat when I asked for it (tbf WOW is simple,but people still have questions),and replies usually took a few minutes. Also,there's an overall sense of maturity to the game. No-one brags about their SP totals,or their ships being the best. There's a lack of 1337 speak or bickering to be noticed.
Imo,the reason EVE is doing so well is because it attracts a mature audience,away from the 'childish' communities of other games. The forums are a slightly different matter,but even the flaming there seems a tend more constructive than other games. There's no LEARN 2 PLAY here.
EVE rocks ^^
Why is EvE so popular?? Why its because of me ofcourse
At the Guiding Hand, we hold the contract sacred - if the client wishes us to skin a target's loved ones alive and wear their face for a mask while killing them, we will do so ~ Istvaan Shogaatsu
I think EVE is successful for several reasons. #1 it is fun. #2 it has good eye candy which is easy for EVE to do because of the way the game is set up. First it seems the poly count can be kept quite low since we are not talking about trying to draw a hundred buildings with a dozen enterable rooms each as WWIIOL is now attempting to do. WWIIOL is also trying to draw hundreds of trees, shrubs grass stands, flowers, etc... Then there are the ambient sounds like dogs barking, birds chirping etc... So eye candy by what I've seen is the best in this game. Better than any other MMOLG. Then you have one of the aspects that make any good MMOLG in that you have to become a part of the community if you want to succeed. Community makes all the difference.
Another strong point going for the game which some MMOLGs have and some don't is that there is no competition. There is no game like EVE out there. Same for WWIIOL. WOW on the other hand has lot's of competition and yet it is still pretty succesful. Many other similar games are not, however.
One thing that all MMOLGs have in common that EVE seems to be trying to do something about is the leveling grind. All games have a level grind to some extent. WWIIOL you start out only getting to use some of the most basic equipment. Then you are expected to be succesful in it to level up. Hard task in any game when you are going up against masters of the game with multiple years experience and weapons that totally outclass yours.
WWIIOL is still not tough to get up to where you can use some good equipment however as you don't have to get very high in rank to get stuff like binoculars and some mid grade equipment. Then it doesn't take much time from there to get to where you can use top of the line equipment. Here's the kicker, in WWIIOL, like real life, a simple recruit rifleman can kill a General with one bullet to the head. So even as a recruit, you are still in the game.
EVE is using some innovative ways that in effect have accellerated the advancement of new people. And yet one flaw I saw was that it appears that you can never really surpass the level of somebody who started a few years ago, if you are starting right now.
That is one thing I like about WWIIOL. I have been playing it since day 1 and yet, if you put in the time and do well, you could pass me up by being a better player. I am high enough that you probably aren't going to do it in a month or two but depending on your skill it could happen sooner than you think. Also, if you have an interest in leading the troops on the field, you can leapfrog right past me and become a High Command player.
It would be good if EVE developed a way for a better player to surpass a player who has been playing for 3 years. That is one thing that holds me back from trying the game. I don't like coming into something like that wihtout the possiblity of getting to the top. I also don't want it to take 3 or more years to do so.
I want my achievements to be skill based alone, not who can or did put in the most time online.
i loved playing eve trial , 2 things made me not join in . one is the fact that you dont have a inside ship view like cokpit , other is the fact that you dont have a human form ... i felt like i was the ship.
those are not big problems , if i wasnt playing gw and happy about it , i might pay for eve.
Guild - http://lightness.goodforum.net/
Blog - http://www.pierrecarlier.com/
From the Lead Developer's Blog on EVE's site. This has been posted before, but Imsneaky, you are being held back for reasons that aren't really good reason from getting involved so, without further ado, the lead developer's information regarding the evil dreaded "I can't catch up" fallacy:
------------snip----------------
Skillpoints don't really matter?
Lots of skill point conversations on the forums lately, well, at least when they are up.
I covered a question about skill points in an interview with MMORPG.COM the other day and was doing some followup data mining on how many people actually had an amazingly high number of skillpoints.
The basic premise of the skill point system is that skills are balanced via the system's built-in tools, such as rank adjustment, new content which increases attributes and of course the diminishing returns involved with time spent to learn the fifth level opposed to the time spent on the first four.
As a result, the gap and possibility to keep up (or even reach and surpass) the 3 year old player is more than realistic, especially since the more you train, the more you are specializing - or getting more versatile. Therefore, as a new player you can quite quickly approach competitive levels with much older players in certain fields.
However, on to the good stuff, data mining! Here is the breakdown of skillpoints of active characters on Tranquility:
between 0 and 1 million skillpoints: 358353
between 1 and 2 million skillpoints: 14035
between 2 and 3 million skillpoints: 8149
between 3 and 4 million skillpoints: 5826
between 4 and 5 million skillpoints: 4696
between 5 and 10 million skillpoints: 14859
between 10 and 15 million skillpoints: 9875
between 15 and 20 million skillpoints: 7861
between 20 and 25 million skillpoints: 6194
between 25 and 30 million skillpoints: 4373
between 30 and 35 million skillpoints: 2568
between 35 and 40 million skillpoints: 1313
between 40 and 45 million skillpoints: 257
between 45 and 50 million skillpoints: 4
between 50 and 55 million skillpoints: 7
between 55 and 60 million skillpoints: 1
Not as many high skillpoint players after 3 years as you would have thought. We should also remember, that time is in favor of new players, the average EVE player only stays for 7 months.
However, this doesn't say very much about the character behind the skillpoints, since skillpoints are quite relative, some fields have more higher rank skills than others and some are simply hard to train for a lot of players.
As an example, a person might be really good in leadership, but that person would have spent a lot of time training that ability if he has low Charisma. The next person might have high Charisma and can easily train the leadership skills, but at a faster rate. Therefore, both end up having the same amount of skillpoints, but one spent 1 month to achieve the ability, the other spent 3.
So, in a way, does the number of skillpoints really matter?
------------------------snip-------------------------------
Looked on the EVE website today,the screenshot shows a ship inside what appears to be a tornado and a lightning storm all in one. Now that's something I'd like to see!