Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Exodus vs EverQuest 2
abawcom
Member Posts: 3
Exodus has the potential of kicking Eve into the next gear. Territories/StarBases, alliances, better PvP match ups, and scripted play have the potential of catapulting Eve into a whole new realm of play. I have friends that have been big-time EverQuest fans and my big wonderment is whether the new scripted play will finally give Eve the "what they do and more" aspect that has been lacking between Eve and EverQuest.
I beleive Eve will hit 100,000 simultaneous players. I may be waiting a _long_ time but I think the core architectural design of Eve will be able to scale larger than any other game in existence.
Exodus is a "content" release but I think the next major premise release of Eve should include a First-Person capability that should finally put Eve atop the mountain of player diversity in a world unrivaled by even the imagination of the designers.
Comments
Wow, I am not even going to touch the troll for an EVE vs EQ2 debate. Other than the fact that both are MMOs, there is no comparison. They are different. 100% different. Other than an emotional "I think this or that" there is no way to compair them unless you want a purely technical discussion on graphics and such.
I do, however, want to hit on the "first person" aspect. Why? It does not fit into what EVE is. Let's go totally from backstory for a second. You, as a character, are a pod-pilot. You do not sit in a cockpit and look out the window. You are in a pod, immersed in fluid and wired to the ships systems. You think, it happens. You "see" by an interface that goes to a small camera outside the ship. You move this camera and angle it anywhere around your ship. It follows you through warp and is docked in a small compartment when you make a jump through a gate. Now, being in a pod with no windows, following this "first person" idea, you would see nothing because there are no windows in the pod.
Now, from a game play aspect, combat is challenging and has depth. What would a first person, I am assuming you mean something like Wing Commander, give you? The ability to look out the front of your ship while you are lobbing missles behind you?
If you mean having full control, like a flight simulator with a joystick, there is the fact that a person who is better with a joystick would have the advantage, no matter what your piloting skill level is. That hardly seems right for an MMO.
Is there any MMO, currently, that forces you to be "interactive" in a fight. i.e. hit moving targets, maneuver your character, land a certain attack inside of someone's defense, and have that all happen in real time? From the games I play, you pretty much pick the type of attack and the target, same as with EVE.
I think, personally, that EVE is "atop the mountain of player diversity" as it stands, and the Devs just keep making it better.
I wasn't trying to entice a religous debate. I was trying to have a good discussion about the inherint architecturally designed scalability / diversity limitations built into each game.
Graphics Schmashics; I'll take a well architected distributed system over a choked centralized architecture any day. It is true that the games are very different but where they are very similar is that both are competing to be the "best" MMO in the world. Their means for achieving that goal is very different which is exactly the art-of-design type of discussion that I wanted to have.
The reason that I think the "first person" aspect is powerful is because it has the opportunity to reach an entirely new class of players that Eve/EQ can not reach right now. What is the maximum number of simultaneous players that have been on EQ? How many on Eve? -- Halo 2 had 80,000 simultaneous players in the first 48 hours of being released. I'm not trying to make the point that Halo 2 is great....I'm trying to articulate my belief that the "first person" aspect of games attracts an entire class of people that current MMO technology has not reached.
Take Movies. 6 out of the top 10 top grossing movies combined some type of Science Fiction, Action, Humor, and a little dash of Drama. I don't think that mixing the different types of interests marginalizes the content at all. Not to put too fine of a point on it, but I think that the broader mix actually increases the attractiveness of the game.
I can imagine a new player starting in simple scripted first-person single player scenarios on a planet or moon (think Halo). After some time, the player joins others in joint scripted quests (think EQ). After a period of time, the player gains more skill, participates in more training, earns enough money to buy a small ship, and sets out into space. Initially the player earns a decent living mining and participating in the building of territories. Whent he player docks, the ability to move around inside the sation in a first-person aspect (think of inside of space stations in Star Wars) would allow for a greater depth of connectedness between what is inside the station compared to what the station looks like on the outside. It would also allow for a greater degree of skill in understanding the complexities of operating a starbase (think "The Abyss") and could also introduce the concept of a formal labor system within the game as well (think "The Sopranos"). After some time, the player progresses into PvP action and ultimately the player begins to understand the market inefficiences of the distributed regional market system and figures out new and creative ways to achieve his goals.
My suggestion is full transitional capabilities between the first-person view and the ship-camera view. The initial thoguhts are planets/moons and inside of space stations. I think it would bring more realism, immersion, depth, diversity, complexity, and ultimately more players to the game....a LOT more players.
Played: Quite a few Mmos
Playing: Something
I think there are a few major reasons one can not compare the two games. 1) Sci-Fi vs Fantasy. Vastly different. 2) One has PVP one doesn't.
I think what you were really trying to do was ask can Eve be as "big" as EQ2. In that I think it's going to be hard. EQ already has a name and an established player base. They are a MUCH bigger company with a large marketing arm. It's going to be hard to compete. That said, why does it even have to be compared? I play Eve. I have plenty of player interaction and I love they "closeness" of the community and the devs. If it grew too fast we'd risk a big corp structure, not to mention what if a big company offered $$$ to buy them out? Nope, I hope it just keeps growing at it's current pace. Not too many noobs to offset economy and not so big I just feel like a number!
Aerious
Exodus probably isn't going to "kick" anything into gear. I'm hopeful however it will ensure EVE's existence for a long time yet and keep the game growing at about the rate it is now.
"Don't blame me, I voted for Badnarik."
http://www.lp.org
Still waiting for my next mmorpg...
WARNING: Spelling and grammatical errors intentionally left in document to test for Anal Retentive Trolls.
"The key to wasting time is distraction. Without distractions it's too obvious to your brain that you're not doing anything with it, and you start to feel uncomfortable." - Paul Graham http://paulgraham.com/hs.html
Yes I played both EQ and Eve. I have seen reports of EVE constant growth in subscriptions, but I'm not sure if it will ever be like EQ size. Its simply a matter of mathematics. Lots and lots of MMO's to choose from you can pick and choose the one you like not just between 2 or three like EQ had at the begininng. Add in there EQ name recognition - player base, and they will be around for a long time.
That being said, I am surprisngly addicted and intrigued by EVE's depth and options for the player. Maybe it isnt, but I view EVE as a thinking man's game and I am but a child. In EQ, the whole crowd was just different, fun and childish, but not a thinking mans game. Differnt strokes for differtn folks and different moods.
Try out EVE if your up for a challenge.
For what its worth... 2 silver coins?
Signaturen-Creator
Yes, different games and totally different playing styles. Can't compare those. As for the "first person" bit I understand you mean walking around with an avatar in stations and on planets etc (a bit like in Earth & Beyond) - that would be an additional game, and if I remember correctly it has been stated several times by CCP that it ain't gonna happen.
When I first started in Eve there was a huge PvE thing on the live server to test load or something technical. As a noob I couldn't do much except watch, but it was so epic I hung around that system for hours (Crielere).
It would have been great to watch the battle from inside the station, but the devs said if they were to make a 1st person aspect it would need to have a point ie you would have to do something inside the station, hence it would be a whole new game, they argue.
But all I wanted, and still want, is to go into the station, look around, look out of the window, maybe play space invaders and gamble etc, talk to people etc. It doesn't need to affect the game at all, as with the rest of the game allow players freedom and they will make their own amusement.
Like in Counterstrike, where everyone suddenly decides to jump around like idiots or kill themselves or jump off the building like lemmings, great laugh, no need to design a whole new game just a space to muck around in, the players will make thier own fun. But the devs do seem dead set against the idea unless it can have some kind of purpose.
Surely looking out the space station window is just the same graphics engine but from a fixed point isn't it? And I may be in a pod but I'm still human!
Eve needs to get more resources, and they need to get them now. Also, I believe they should start entering other markets like Singapore, where thousands of gamers are just clamouring to get their hands on a game as brilliant as Eve Online, and only Eve Online can measure up to that requirement. Graphics, gameplay... They have it all, but very little marketing.
I don't like Everquest because it is a normal MMORPG. Besides, it is medival, but I prefer science fiction games. I like the hiss of laser and crack of cannons, and the prospect of titanic ships unleashing amounts of firepower enough to level a planet across vast distances in the void. I like the great Alliance vs. Alliance battles, and how missiles streak across space to flare up in great explosions amongs the enemy masses, throwing them into rout and confusion. I like the idea of a complex corporation system, and where everything isn't all about killing stuff and getting experience from it, then going up levels and more levels and looking for the best stat combos. It's about using your wit and talent to give yourself the cutting edge over an enemy. It's all about specialising yourself to be as useful to your corporation members as possible. It's about determining your own role in the New Eden, where being a loner or corp member or pirate or alliance leader are all equally good or bad. It isn't about "getting into a guild is better". It's about you.
Ruven Lukas, the legend of Genesis.
From the Book of Genesis
not in a dev blog, but you will find it repeated several times in the irc dev chat logs (you can find those on the popular fan sites).
as for the first person bit, i think the ccp reasoning (in my view only of course) is that to make any first person mode useful they would have to add basically another game to the existing eve game, which a "one game size" company like ccp obviously can not afford, and they'd have to alter the existing game considerably in the process in order to have those two "modes" work out together.
my personal take on 1st person view is that there is no reason to introduce it besides a single one, which is players from other mmogs being used to having them.
i aint gona happen
Total War does not allow you to FPS with the enemy soldiers
NHL Hockey 2004 does not allow you to build a rink and populate it with vendors and ticket booths
Halo doesnt let you build a base and produce troops and vehicles o nthe map where you want them
BFVietnam doesnt let you play a civilian who has to avoid the combat, keep a job, build and house, put stuff in it and invite your neighbours around for a jacuzzi in the backyard.
Each game is its own game.. with styles and features of its own making. EvE is a ship only game, nuff said.
The only problem i see in the future well being of EVE is the skill system .... new commers will find verry disturbing the fact that they will NEVER ever gain on the old players.
As for the content that EXODUS brought...well.....i can't see it.
From a pvp-er point of view there's nothing new in EXODUS (in terms of content that is) except the fact that i can grief the miners of the alliances.
As for a First-Person view..erm...NO WAY! Fights in EVE happen way to fast and a FP view will only add to the lack of visibility we allready have with all those windows opened.