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EVE Online: Interview with Magnus Bergsson
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Magnus Bergsson is the Chief Marketing Officer at Iceland's CCP Games. Today, Dan Fortier interviews him on a range of subjects including upcoming changes, Path to Kali and more. The interview is joined by two exclusive screenshots that show off the new ships.
;) MMORPG.com: First off tell us more about the Voice Chat option you are adding in cooperation with Vivox. Have you decided what the additional monthly charge will be yet? Are you worried it may add to some lag issues when in use in the larger battles?
Magnus Bergsson: The new voice integration is more than simply a replacement for other third party voice clients like TeamSpeak or Ventrillo. It is directly integrated into the chat channels and more importantly the new gang features. It will offer functionality users simply don't have with other voice software and will offer gangs a strategic advantage in combat, and especially larger gangs. In addition the voice quality is leaps and bounds better than what users are used to. The voice support will not create any lag for two reasons. First, the voice traffic will go out on different pipes than those used by the EVE cluster and will run on dedicated servers at Vivox headquarters. Second, lag that sometimes occurs in large fleet battles is caused by tremendous pressure on the server CPU running the system that battle is enganged on, and has nothing to do with internet bandwidth. So the net effect is that the voice support will not have any effect on EVE Online. There are still discussions about how we will charge for the voice client. We are fully aware of the comments our users have made and are doing everything we can to bring this to them for as little as possible. The voice support is not a profit center in any form; we simply think it is a very cool feature but understandably there are operational costs that we need to cover. |
The whole interview is available here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
FIRST!!!!
hehe always wanted to say that. Anyway on the news article good stuff if a bit old news to a eve fan like me.
Nehterless nice to see.
I hate those "First!", "Second!" messages
Nothing much news for EvE player who is following boards and devblogs. It is intresting to see how much voice chat is going to cost and can you for example chat with random personalities in the local channel.
"I know I said this was my last post, but you my friend are a idiotic moron." -Shadow4482
Good interview. i have a question though, hopefully a ccp rep or magnus can answer at some point. i have included all of the paragraph in question so it would not be taken out of context. there is one small portion that disturbs me.
Being a PVP pilot in EVE my opinions are tainted with anything that affects that aspect of EVE. Those that saw the interview that was done with me on EVE TV know I am bit annoyed about WCSs so I am very much looking to they get nerfed. I will celebrate that day as a major milestone in the development of the human race! Then the seamless map is just fantastic as well as the new gang features with the integrated voice. The new graphic engine will of course make everything just look better and the new Cosmos might be very cool.
{quote:"Being a PVP pilot in EVE my opinions are tainted with anything that affects that aspect of EVE". end quote}
this quote in regards to any future expansions or "that" (which is a kinda confusing initself, being the question was on expansions) aspect of eve made me question why he would state this. to me its not something you say in a public forum. its like saying during a stockholders meeting you state to your stockholders your not interested in making money, the stockholders will begin to look at you kinda funny
arent the devs supposed to be trying to get a larger subscription base and address the entire eve community and all concerns for the whole? making the game fun for all, not just the few that pvp full time? i understand playstyle is a personal thing, thats all well and good, but having a top dev say he is "tainted", which i take for meaning he is not that interested in the "common hi sec folk"
(like me) and his huge decisions (game changing ones will be geared to pvp and not the community as a whole.
before the the pvpr's go up in arms, i know what eve is and what oveur has said the game is supposed to be, i also have read the blogs and the unevitable changes they have had to make, or try to make to gain subs, and its working to some extent, the portion of the community that pvp's is in simple reality smaller than the community in hi sec space, alts aside. the goal is to get these folks to migrate to fulltime pvp, which in my views would be pretty good as a majority pvp community that visits the hi sec shopping mall would actually be able to police itself and form a better political base, resulting in, my view, a quite different pvp community and some interesting fun.
in order to achieve these goals, and i have nothing but respect for the devs trying to satisfy everyone AND support their own visions and future of eve, i feel the devs shouldnt be saying they are tainted, be it pvp or non pvp. i look for business leaders interested in making the future as a whole better for all................what the devs do behind the scenes to tweak their playstyle is their business
magnus...no love for us carebears?
can you smell that?!!...............there is nothing quite like it.....................the smell of troll in the morning............i love that smell.
I agree that there isn't much new stuff in the article but it's nice to get an update on this game. To bad they are charging for voice chat when a few other games have it at launch and costs nothing.
I am always impressed with EVE developers though. They seem to be keeping this game up to date and playable. If there is an MMO out there that will weather the test of time I think this will be it. They aren't scared to change the fundamentals and roll with the community.
You don't have to pay for it if you don't want to and Teamspeak and Ventrilo will still be there.
and add it to perception. Most new players dont know much about the game yet and they are fooled in a way at
the start thinking that the mercenary build for Caldari race is all out combat when u start put with 10 charisma like I did.
I hope CCP realy considers making this a new feature in Kali because i feel that they realy owe us Loyal Veterans.
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I honestly don't see what is so bad about this nerf. It only gimps ships that want to do combat, if you want to fly a hauler or simply ferry a combat ship WCS is still a verry good module. People should stop whining as WCS was never intended as a combat module.
While the interview does little to shine light on the transitions CCP are making with EVE (fans already know this) it does give a simple overview to those who might not be knowledgable. i think it also shows the desire to maintain moderate growth with the proof of developing upon an established community. (SOE would give a rats ass about you, your family nor your friends)
Charisma is a good thing. I feel worse for the player who think the 10 points of charisma is a "gimp" then I do for the ones who actually have a 5 charisma. There's supposedly going to be a huge push in new "tech", skills or modules, whih will be dependant upon the Charisma attribute. When the factional warfare comes into play you'll start seeing those with min/max skills asking for a "respecification" of skill points 'cs their <10 points in Cha doesn't cut it...
While the interview does little to shine light on the transitions CCP are making with EVE (fans already know this) it does give a simple overview to those who might not be knowledgable. i think it also shows the desire to maintain moderate growth with the proof of developing upon an established community. (SOE would give a rats ass about you, your family nor your friends)
Charisma is a good thing. I feel worse for the player who think the 10 points of charisma is a "gimp" then I do for the ones who actually have a 5 charisma. There's supposedly going to be a huge push in new "tech", skills or modules, whih will be dependant upon the Charisma attribute. When the factional warfare comes into play you'll start seeing those with min/max skills asking for a "respecification" of skill points 'cs their <10 points in Cha doesn't cut it...
10 Charisma vs 5 Charisma is alot of diffrence especialy in the long run. Right now there arnt enough social skills out to realy benefit from starting out anything higher then 3 charisma and I think there is only once race (Achura)
where now you can start that low with your Charisma but I hope your right and that they make changes in the future.
It's better be hated for who you are, than loved for who you aren't.
voice chat is good because u get less spy but sux because if server is down or u crash u cant talk about massive log on
BestSigEver :P
Just once I would love to see an interview that is familiar enough with a game to ask the real questions instead of reading from a provided script. IE: propaganda.
Questions that should have been asked but werent:
Gads the list of real questions interviewers should be asking goes on. But I guess that would require that the interviewer actually cared about the game enough to research them.
An so it begins
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.[/CENTER]
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I honestly don't see what is so bad about this nerf. It only gimps ships that want to do combat, if you want to fly a hauler or simply ferry a combat ship WCS is still a verry good module. People should stop whining as WCS was never intended as a combat module.
I haven't played EVE for over a year, but what is WCS? I'm curious what the issue is.
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Warp Core Stabilizer. I think the problem is people get into combat and before they can be beat they warp away. The guy who's about to win is trying to lock them down so they can't warp, but the guy who's losing's WCSs are keeping his warp ability ready. They probably both have WCS though. lol
I think out of all the changes that need to be made, more content is probably the biggest. For some reason there just doesn't seem to be anything to fight over.
nethervoid - Est. '97
[UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|AQW|DN|SWTOR|Dofus|SotA|BDO|AO|NW|LA] - Currently Playing EQ1
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No it isn't and it doesn't need to be, since it wasn't intended as such. The idea of Invention is that you can apply research (in the form of research points and acquired materials) to generate new and better items. So, you mix an old module with some research and some secondary items and you end up with something better (Tech 2, i.e. T2) than the original (T1). This mechanism also lends itself to being used if and when T3 would become part of the game.
Reverse engineering is merely a way of generating a blueprint from an item, only to make more of the same item. In the case of generating a blueprint original (BPO), you could improve the material and time efficiency, but it would still be the exact same item. That's where reverse engineering and invention are completely different.
As far as the BPO lottery goes, because that's what you're -really- asking about, those are still in the works. More than just the Invention mechanism has been proposed to deal with it, in a way that won't be unbalancing for the game (or unfair to current T2 BPO owners/buyers) but on the other hand improves the mechanism for players.
is Invention going to balance the T2 market since the cost of the
required elements (BPC of the item and The Item) is so expensive that
the only people that could afford to invent (chance based) could simply
buy the T2 BPO.
Because whenever you increase the supply of a commodity without also increasing the demand for it, prices tend to go down. Since it will be players deciding what they want to invent, you'll see players inventing T2 items that are in high demand, offering a good profit, and as a result, reducing prices on those.
I disagree with your assertion that it "is so expensive that the only people that could afford to invent .. could simply buy the T2 BPO". You -could- say that producing an individual T2 item through the Invention track is far more expensive than it is for owners of a T2 BPO. But you'd be forgetting that it -does- eliminate the need to own that T2 BPO, which is outside the financial scope and power of most players, whereas Invention on a smaller scale is not.
The new ganging system for one. But no mechanism you could introduce wouldl deter large groups from forming. In any war, virtual or real, the larger army tends to win if both sides have the same level of technology. EVE PvP lends itself very well to guerrilla warfare however, corporations like The Establishment are excellent proof of this. (they are only a dozen pilots, but were one of the first corporations to build and fly a mothership in battle and they regularly take over Outposts from 1000-player alliances, be it always for a short period)
is a pay to play game yet it actually has less Content than any other
MMOG in existence, even the Revelations patch (Kali) is simply adding
some of the functions that were supposed to ship when EVE went gold,
what actual NEW content is planned?
If you are saying that Outposts, Player Owned Starbases, the plethora of shipclasses and modules (all affecting gameplay in varied and profound ways), COSMOS and Complexes were all planned and "were supposed to ship when EVE went gold", you know more than I do (or CCP for that matter). But perhaps I'm missing the point and by "more content" you just mean "a bigger ship", in which case I'll refer you to carriers and titans.
Ofcourse, you -could- mean backstory and RP content, as you seem to in:
have heard CCP say that Content is not necessary because the players
are the content, in Counter Strike, Battle Field, Call of Duty or any
number games this is true but all the games where the players are the
content are Free to play, why do players continue to pay to entertain
you? To qualify this question let me say that
pay to play games are like the players throwing a few sheckles and
saying Dance monkey boy and the monkey boy dances. This is because the players are paying to be entertained. How have you managed to convince people to pay to let them be the entertainment?
Players are not always paying to be entertained and in EVE this is certainly not the goal. EVE is like a large room filled with very nice toys and players are paying for the opportunity to compete for and play with these toys. Compare it to a racing track with expensive sports cars. You pay to get admitted to the track and then have to compete with other players to be allowed to drive the cars. You wouldn't demand a chauffeur to drive you around the track in a limo either, would you?
And to the people complaining about the chat not being free: CCP is not charging for the chat service, nor will it be obligatory to get a subscription from Vivox. However, you -could- criticize CCP for forcing Vivox onto it's player base without offering other parties to make a client that will integrate with the game.
I'm disappointed that CCP didn't just create an API of sorts on the EVE client, perhaps allow Vivox first use of it, but ultimately opening up the functionality to any developer that feels like writing a plug-in for the game. It could have been standard-setting, instead of commercial product pushing.
A little more than just my 2 cents, greetings,
Grismar.
if you want to run a ventrillo server from a 3rd party you have to pay for those servers. Same thing here.
Not everyone has the bandwidth to host thier own server and most of the ones that can host for some certainly can't host it for hundreds.
And this new service also integrates nicely into the game.
All in all it's a new service offered by a 3rd party that integrates nicely into the game and is OPTIONAL. I like it.
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And you don't have to pay for it either and still use it like alliance fleet combat teams can turn on the feature for everyone in the gang even those that don't pay for it. (thats from what i've heard and read in blogs).
The reason why CCP gave it to vivox is so that its not tied into the game directly and doesn't effect the bandwidth even though eve doesn't need much at the moment it would still keep the servers completely safe from being affected by voice comms while being hosted by another company.