Okay, I guess this just needs to be put very simply. Ambulation will not change EVE into a different game, it will just add something else to it. If you hate flying around in spaceships now, you will later too. Now, Ambulation will open doors to more avatar play, but like I said, it's still all about spaceships for the next 4 or so years I'm betting... Then we can actually Ambulation and they can work on more avatar play :P
Also CCP seems to be working on the new MMO so we don't know how many resources are being diverted. This could largely be an afterthought with 1 or 2 people working on it where we won't see huge expansions within the system.
Also CCP seems to be working on the new MMO so we don't know how many resources are being diverted. This could largely be an afterthought with 1 or 2 people working on it where we won't see huge expansions within the system.
The conventional wisdom has generally been that the engine being developed for WoD would be the one that is used in Ambulation. I don't have link for this, but it would certainly make sense and would require very little additional resources beyond a few people to work on integration.
Ultimately, a lot of view points are right on this. Ambulation won't make some one magically like the game. For those people that got a bit bored of flying a ship or wanted more RP tools, Ambulation could be the feature that tips the scale. Whether or not this is a significant audience remains to be seen, but Ambulation certainly wouldn't detract from the game in my opinion. I mean hell, people need something to do when they are hiding in a station during a Wardec.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers. Do something wrong, no one forgets" -from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
Ambulation will not change EVE into a different game, it will just add something else to it. If you hate flying around in spaceships now, you will later too.
But there's something most people are missing. Flying around in spaceships can be fun, but when the ONLY option is flying in spaceships, it gets old. Are there some people whose opinion of Eve won't be changed by ambulation? ...of course. Are there a HUGE number of people that will be drawn to Eve by ambulation ? ... you bet your ass there is, and when those people grow bored of flight they'll dock in their favorite station and ambulate instead.
Ambulation is about options, its about meta gaming, its about depth and dimension. If you do not think ambulation, ( or future fluff) is critical and beleive the argument that " ambulation won't improve politings fun-factor" I must accuse you of superficial reasoning. Let me explain:
Ever heard the expression, "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts"? Well, that basic principle is exactly how you make a deeply engrossing game. Look no further than Eve as an example. A stand-alone trading game isn't fun, stand-alone PvP gets redundant, a stand-alone mission game isn't enough to pull monthly subs. Pull them together though, offer challenge, tactics, risk vs reward, character development, knit it all together with a breathing player-driven ecomony and .... bam : you have potential for years of fun, literally.
Additions like ambulation are not just some linear module attached the side of a house.... they're another layer weaved into a ever expanding dynamic. Ambulations impact on Eve is going to be massive and its affects on Eden will increase immersion ergo fun-factor expontentially.
Ambulation is just really bonus content for current subscribers. Sure it'll help bring in more new blood however what I suspect will really grip them is the actual space game outside the station. If they don't enjoy that part of the game not sure how much Ambulation will inspire them to stick around
It's going to be real interesting when the feature finally hits I cant imagine what it will be like.
Ambulation is just really bonus content for current subscribers. Sure it'll help bring in more new blood however what I suspect will really grip them is the actual space game outside the station. If they don't enjoy that part of the game not sure how much Ambulation will inspire them to stick around
It's going to be real interesting when the feature finally hits I cant imagine what it will be like.
I love playing EVE and respect what CCP has done with the game.
That said, IMO ambulation is the one pending enhancement that I'm starting to think of as being vaporware. Great idea when it was first bounced around, but I suspect CCP isn't seing it as something thats worth the effort to put in the game, at least any time soon.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I'm very amused by all the people who keep saying that Ambulation will change anything in EvE.
Ambulation adds no content, that interacts with the current content. You won't be able to do anything in Ambulation, that will influence the current game. You'll only be able to walk around in a station, talking to others via the same old chat-system and play some mini-games in a bar instead of turning your ship in the hangar.
Ambulation has no priority for CCP. We expected Ambulation to be implemented this winter, but guess what... CCP found tons of other things, that they want to implement first. So much things actually, that not only this winter-expansion isn't about Ambulation but atleast the next summer-expansion aswell will not have anything to do with Ambulation.
So if you're waiting for Ambulation, then it's atleast over a year from now, before it may get introduced.
Ambulation is something nice to show to the public, as it has stunning graphics tbh, but as it doesn't add anything to the game itself, it is most possibly just vaporware that shows, what a great engine they have up their sleeves for their MMO called "World of Darkness".
Ambulation could add to the game play and nobody is sure, that means nobody outside of CCP, for sure knows what is goingon with Ambulation. It's all speculative talk. Sooner or later CCP will have to come clean and tell us if they intend to put Ambulation in or not. Right now it's a wait and see game.
I'm very amused by all the people who keep saying that Ambulation will change anything in EvE. Ambulation adds no content, that interacts with the current content. You won't be able to do anything in Ambulation, that will influence the current game. You'll only be able to walk around in a station, talking to others via the same old chat-system and play some mini-games in a bar instead of turning your ship in the hangar. Ambulation has no priority for CCP. We expected Ambulation to be implemented this winter, but guess what... CCP found tons of other things, that they want to implement first. So much things actually, that not only this winter-expansion isn't about Ambulation but atleast the next summer-expansion aswell will not have anything to do with Ambulation. So if you're waiting for Ambulation, then it's atleast over a year from now, before it may get introduced. Ambulation is something nice to show to the public, as it has stunning graphics tbh, but as it doesn't add anything to the game itself, it is most possibly just vaporware that shows, what a great engine they have up their sleeves for their MMO called "World of Darkness".
Ambulation is just really bonus content for current subscribers. Sure it'll help bring in more new blood however what I suspect will really grip them is the actual space game outside the station. If they don't enjoy that part of the game not sure how much Ambulation will inspire them to stick around
It's going to be real interesting when the feature finally hits I cant imagine what it will be like.
I love playing EVE and respect what CCP has done with the game.
That said, IMO ambulation is the one pending enhancement that I'm starting to think of as being vaporware. Great idea when it was first bounced around, but I suspect CCP isn't seing it as something thats worth the effort to put in the game, at least any time soon.
Yeah it's starting to feel like Darkfall in a way. I was so pumped for it when i first saw Ambulation in a magazine. but over the years I kind of just gave up.
But the big diff between Ambulation and DFO- if/when Ambulation comes out i think it will very high quality and great graphics. In DFO's case- it just didnt feel polished at release
I actually enjoy dress up alot thats what I adored bout City of Heroes. So ambulation could've brought that nice aspect to the game
What Ambulation could've really brought to the table was even more fun ways to make ISK. Like, maybe allow players to be a costume designer and make outfits for other players and charge ISK.
Then maybe also make ISK at that war room.
I'd like more sandbox options to make ISK. dont get me wrong there is many ways to make ISK but atm i find myself picking routes of least resist like ratting/salvage/loot.
There is something more to this than many people realize. When a guy from TenTonHammer interviewed the people at CCP after seeing the alpha Ambulation video there was an interesting question and answer:
“Now, this is the same engine that you’re going to be using to develop the avatars and character models in the upcoming World of Darkness MMO, correct?”
Magnus grinned back at me. “Absolutely,” he said. “The things we are doing in EVE will almost assuredly have a direct impact on what players see in the WoD MMO. But things will only get better from here, and this is still only an early alpha build.”
So based on early estimates World of Darkness should launch 2010 or 2011 and they are indeed using the same technology and systems for avatar based gameplay. This opens a lot of doors and sheds a lot of light on what could be going on. If they are coinciding development efforts for World of Darkness and Ambulation then it makes sense that it is still not out. It also hints to the fact that, while they were initially planning on simply having avatars that walk on stations, there may be a deeper system coming. If they plan it correctly they can take many elements from the avatar based portions of the new WoD MMO and implement them into EVE.
EVE is the perfect platform right now for CCP. It is a rapidly growing game that has gained a great popularity, and the station aspect and even the ability to walk around inside of ships could be interfaced into EVE by simply adding a button that then takes you to these areas similar to how you enter a station. The possibilities of EVE are endless, and that is really exciting. They have merged with White Wolf on World of Darkness and are developing an all new avatar based MMO based on the popular franchise. This means that WoD could be a dream come true for sandbox fans who want a more avatar based game than EVE provides, and also that the avatar based elements of WoD can be easily implemented into EVE via stations. Not to mention if you are a horror fan, and especially a WoD fan, than you will be in for something special. I am a huge fan of WoD, CCP, and EVE and what could come from WoD MMO and how that can affect EVE are two of my biggest anticipatory events in gaming ever.
..fluff, totaly useless content, dress up games and pointless housing, etc?
Yeah, depth...for sure.
player downtime is underestimated. one needs these kinds of things to make the combat, missioning, trading, blablabla more interesting. Back in the SWG pre-cu days people actually chose to be dancers and musicians and spend their gaming time in a cantina chatting with total strangers. (good'ol days)
also very good for immersion.
Option A: negociating a trade agreement over public corp chat while docked in a station or
Option B negociating a trade agreement on a conference table in a board room with your directors beside you with the other party and its "delegates" while looking at the same map hologram with the trade route highlighted.
Option A: recruiting for your corp by dropping jetcans in space and renaming them or puting an ad in classifieds
Option B: have your corp lobby room open to anyone with recruitment posters, notes, and officer NPCs to recruit you to the corp while other corp members chat or hang out in the lobby planning the next mining op or simply chatting about last night's hockey game.
Or you can own a bar with dancers and tables, or a store where you can sell your goods personnaly or on the market. a New market will be formed (clothing). there is nothing more intimidating than the leader of a big aliance walking in with attire fir for a king.
everyone thought that it was scheduled for this winter, but a recent devblog has rubbished that, earliest is going to be next summer.
Why do you care? If you dont play eve now but join after ambulation is released, do you really see yourself enjoying flying around in a spaceship?
Well for many people, including myself, the lack of an actual character model is what keeps them from enjoying the game. So this expansion can very well be what makes them play.
everyone thought that it was scheduled for this winter, but a recent devblog has rubbished that, earliest is going to be next summer.
Why do you care? If you dont play eve now but join after ambulation is released, do you really see yourself enjoying flying around in a spaceship?
Well for many people, including myself, the lack of an actual character model is what keeps them from enjoying the game. So this expansion can very well be what makes them play.
For the record, I'm LOVING Eve as it is now, but I'm still eager for ambulation. Ambulation is way more than just walking in stations. It's new industries, new markets, new skills and new players. It's new purpose and branching game play. I will grudgingly accept that one does not personally expect to explore ambulation. But to dismiss it entirely as a fluff (used loosely) feature forces me to question that persons intelligence .. at the very least, their vision. Ambulations impact is inevitable, not optional.
ccp must be throwing it in for the cybors crowd, your actual avatar in eve is a pod that contains your brainwaves and very little biomass at all, think of it like borg taken to the extreme but wihtout the hive mind. the info ive gleaned from the game lore and all the official website info is that youre immortal by the act of repeated cloning and able to pilot things like carriers and titans that would have crews of thousands to the battle ships that would require hundreds of normal people to control by yourself through the pod interface system that connects your encapsulated mind and super computer pod directly into every system of the ship that you have the skills to control, dont have the skill and you cant use the system. they didnt have humanoid avatars for us capsuleers because we gave up anything resembling human form when we jacked into the system, and even the clone minds they store for us are little more then a brain and brain stem hooked up to a super computer, and a back up copy of our brain wave that is kept as up to date as possible if we pay the upkeep fee to make sure skills arent lost if a clone is activated. to add any sort of human form avatar theyll have to half ass lore update something about cloning into a normal body and apparently it just magically doesnt cause loss of the massive skills database thats stored in the pod super computer systems. im not even sure why an eve player would want to go from their avatar being a massive powerfull vessel that reflects their attitude (you can be anything in eve from small fast attack craft that detain targets so their massive all powerfully firepower loaded brethren can smash it into dust to a massive freighter carrying enough materials to build a fleet) restricted down to something as pitifull and lacking in depth as a generic humanoid.
Originally posted by neorandom ccp must be throwing it in for the cybors crowd, your actual avatar in eve is a pod that contains your brainwaves and very little biomass at all... the clone minds they store for us are little more then a brain and brain stem hooked up to a super computer... to add any sort of human form avatar theyll have to half ass lore update something about cloning into a normal body and apparently it just magically doesnt cause loss of the massive skills database thats stored in the pod super computer systems
Holy crap! I thought the "ships have no crew" myth was bad enough, but now "capuleers have no bodies"! Talk about flying in the face of 7 years of backstory, which you somehow claim to support with this. Did you ever read any of it? This better be a joke.
In case this isn't a joke, here are two Chronicles from 2001 that should enlighten you. You can compare them to the copies on Archive.org.
Ambulation will not change EVE into a different game, it will just add something else to it. If you hate flying around in spaceships now, you will later too.
But there's something most people are missing. Flying around in spaceships can be fun, but when the ONLY option is flying in spaceships, it gets old. Are there some people whose opinion of Eve won't be changed by ambulation? ...of course. Are there a HUGE number of people that will be drawn to Eve by ambulation ? ... you bet your ass there is, and when those people grow bored of flight they'll dock in their favorite station and ambulate instead.
Ambulation is about options, its about meta gaming, its about depth and dimension. If you do not think ambulation, ( or future fluff) is critical and beleive the argument that " ambulation won't improve politings fun-factor" I must accuse you of superficial reasoning. Let me explain:
Ever heard the expression, "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts"? Well, that basic principle is exactly how you make a deeply engrossing game. Look no further than Eve as an example. A stand-alone trading game isn't fun, stand-alone PvP gets redundant, a stand-alone mission game isn't enough to pull monthly subs. Pull them together though, offer challenge, tactics, risk vs reward, character development, knit it all together with a breathing player-driven ecomony and .... bam : you have potential for years of fun, literally.
Additions like ambulation are not just some linear module attached the side of a house.... they're another layer weaved into a ever expanding dynamic. Ambulations impact on Eve is going to be massive and its affects on Eden will increase immersion ergo fun-factor expontentially.
The thing is, spaceships will STILL be the only option for character progression and action. In the stations you walk around, maybe it could be an alternate way of accessing station functions. But no one will really do this day in and out. They'll do it when needed. Roleplayers will probably be more fond of it. If a corp doesn't have something like TeamSpeak or Vent it may want to have it's meeting held in here.
What I'm getting at, is that it will in no way (as I see it now) offer a separate form of progression. Which means, you're options remain the same. You just have something to do for maybe 10 minutes now.
Now, if this introduced some kind of 'player apartments' or 'corp offices' where you or your corp could show off achievements and brag (a morgue for corpses anyone?) that would give it a use, more than just looking pretty.
____________________________ Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online --- == RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP == --- Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online --- Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth ____________________________
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Whats your point .. that some people still won't like Eve? Yea well .. that's a bit obvious, don't ya think? My point, which has already been extremely well articulated, is that ambulation WILL attract those that want more than spaceships, and it will be all those people need to make the jump to New Eden. It's also an incredibly immersive new layer of game-play.
And no matter what a person may tell themselves everything about everything in any MMO is FLUFF in some way. Since the principle goal of this entire operation is entertainment, anything that successfully entertains qualifies as a critical component to the one being entertained. I could not have spelled it out more simply.
Whats your point .. that some people still won't like Eve? Yea well .. that's a bit obvious, don't ya think? My point, which has already been extremely well articulated, is that ambulation WILL attract those that want more than spaceships, and it will be all those people need to make the jump to New Eden. It's also an incredibly immersive new layer of game-play. And no matter what a person may tell themselves everything about everything in any MMO is FLUFF in some way. Since the principle goal of this entire operation is entertainment, anything that successfully entertains qualifies as a critical component to the one being entertained. I could not have spelled it out more simply.
It will definitely be entertaining and draw some new people in. what I'm trying to get it as you're not going to have hordes of WoW players or LOTRO players flooding New Eden because of it. Ambulation won't make subscriber numbers jump from 300,000 to 900,000 when it comes out.
No doubt that what it will add will be entertaining, but you will still have to like the core of the game. I also don't doubt, as I said, the new layer that does allow you to walk around in station will in-fact pull in the people who've been looking at it but need that last little thing,
____________________________ Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online --- == RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP == --- Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online --- Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth ____________________________
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Is there any links to something that gives all or most of the additions in ambulation directly related to avatars? It would be interesting to see exactly what the point is, or if its just to socialize. I just watched a small video from back in 2007(saying it was coming in 2008 lol) from some gaming convention, and it looked good back then which was 2 years ago. Showing a meeting room, and the docking stations in full 3d with player models.
everyone thought that it was scheduled for this winter, but a recent devblog has rubbished that, earliest is going to be next summer.
Why do you care? If you dont play eve now but join after ambulation is released, do you really see yourself enjoying flying around in a spaceship?
Actually anyone paying attention at all knew it wasn't coming out in the upcoming winter expansion as far back as february of this year. And anyone still thinking it was coming out this year by July has had their head in the sand or just isn't following EVE at all and is new to discovering it.
Right now general concensus is that Ambulation is on a back burner till sov mechanic changes are implemented and finalized again. That seems to be the burning drive behind CCP right now because so many people are sick of the way sov, especially with jammers bridges and titans involved, works.
TBH don't expect ambulation until ambulation is announced.
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
Comments
Also CCP seems to be working on the new MMO so we don't know how many resources are being diverted. This could largely be an afterthought with 1 or 2 people working on it where we won't see huge expansions within the system.
The conventional wisdom has generally been that the engine being developed for WoD would be the one that is used in Ambulation. I don't have link for this, but it would certainly make sense and would require very little additional resources beyond a few people to work on integration.
Ultimately, a lot of view points are right on this. Ambulation won't make some one magically like the game. For those people that got a bit bored of flying a ship or wanted more RP tools, Ambulation could be the feature that tips the scale. Whether or not this is a significant audience remains to be seen, but Ambulation certainly wouldn't detract from the game in my opinion. I mean hell, people need something to do when they are hiding in a station during a Wardec.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
But there's something most people are missing. Flying around in spaceships can be fun, but when the ONLY option is flying in spaceships, it gets old. Are there some people whose opinion of Eve won't be changed by ambulation? ...of course. Are there a HUGE number of people that will be drawn to Eve by ambulation ? ... you bet your ass there is, and when those people grow bored of flight they'll dock in their favorite station and ambulate instead.
Ambulation is about options, its about meta gaming, its about depth and dimension. If you do not think ambulation, ( or future fluff) is critical and beleive the argument that " ambulation won't improve politings fun-factor" I must accuse you of superficial reasoning. Let me explain:
Ever heard the expression, "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts"? Well, that basic principle is exactly how you make a deeply engrossing game. Look no further than Eve as an example. A stand-alone trading game isn't fun, stand-alone PvP gets redundant, a stand-alone mission game isn't enough to pull monthly subs. Pull them together though, offer challenge, tactics, risk vs reward, character development, knit it all together with a breathing player-driven ecomony and .... bam : you have potential for years of fun, literally.
Additions like ambulation are not just some linear module attached the side of a house.... they're another layer weaved into a ever expanding dynamic. Ambulations impact on Eve is going to be massive and its affects on Eden will increase immersion ergo fun-factor expontentially.
..fluff, totaly useless content, dress up games and pointless housing, etc?
Yeah, depth...for sure.
Ambulation is just really bonus content for current subscribers. Sure it'll help bring in more new blood however what I suspect will really grip them is the actual space game outside the station. If they don't enjoy that part of the game not sure how much Ambulation will inspire them to stick around
It's going to be real interesting when the feature finally hits I cant imagine what it will be like.
..fluff, totaly useless content, dress up games and pointless housing, etc?
Yeah, depth...for sure.
I'm smarter than you
I love playing EVE and respect what CCP has done with the game.
That said, IMO ambulation is the one pending enhancement that I'm starting to think of as being vaporware. Great idea when it was first bounced around, but I suspect CCP isn't seing it as something thats worth the effort to put in the game, at least any time soon.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I'm very amused by all the people who keep saying that Ambulation will change anything in EvE.
Ambulation adds no content, that interacts with the current content. You won't be able to do anything in Ambulation, that will influence the current game. You'll only be able to walk around in a station, talking to others via the same old chat-system and play some mini-games in a bar instead of turning your ship in the hangar.
Ambulation has no priority for CCP. We expected Ambulation to be implemented this winter, but guess what... CCP found tons of other things, that they want to implement first. So much things actually, that not only this winter-expansion isn't about Ambulation but atleast the next summer-expansion aswell will not have anything to do with Ambulation.
So if you're waiting for Ambulation, then it's atleast over a year from now, before it may get introduced.
Ambulation is something nice to show to the public, as it has stunning graphics tbh, but as it doesn't add anything to the game itself, it is most possibly just vaporware that shows, what a great engine they have up their sleeves for their MMO called "World of Darkness".
Ambulation could add to the game play and nobody is sure, that means nobody outside of CCP, for sure knows what is goingon with Ambulation. It's all speculative talk. Sooner or later CCP will have to come clean and tell us if they intend to put Ambulation in or not. Right now it's a wait and see game.
This is called conjecture, not argument
I love playing EVE and respect what CCP has done with the game.
That said, IMO ambulation is the one pending enhancement that I'm starting to think of as being vaporware. Great idea when it was first bounced around, but I suspect CCP isn't seing it as something thats worth the effort to put in the game, at least any time soon.
Yeah it's starting to feel like Darkfall in a way. I was so pumped for it when i first saw Ambulation in a magazine. but over the years I kind of just gave up.
But the big diff between Ambulation and DFO- if/when Ambulation comes out i think it will very high quality and great graphics. In DFO's case- it just didnt feel polished at release
I actually enjoy dress up alot thats what I adored bout City of Heroes. So ambulation could've brought that nice aspect to the game
What Ambulation could've really brought to the table was even more fun ways to make ISK. Like, maybe allow players to be a costume designer and make outfits for other players and charge ISK.
Then maybe also make ISK at that war room.
I'd like more sandbox options to make ISK. dont get me wrong there is many ways to make ISK but atm i find myself picking routes of least resist like ratting/salvage/loot.
There is something more to this than many people realize. When a guy from TenTonHammer interviewed the people at CCP after seeing the alpha Ambulation video there was an interesting question and answer:
“Now, this is the same engine that you’re going to be using to develop the avatars and character models in the upcoming World of Darkness MMO, correct?”
Magnus grinned back at me. “Absolutely,” he said. “The things we are doing in EVE will almost assuredly have a direct impact on what players see in the WoD MMO. But things will only get better from here, and this is still only an early alpha build.”
So based on early estimates World of Darkness should launch 2010 or 2011 and they are indeed using the same technology and systems for avatar based gameplay. This opens a lot of doors and sheds a lot of light on what could be going on. If they are coinciding development efforts for World of Darkness and Ambulation then it makes sense that it is still not out. It also hints to the fact that, while they were initially planning on simply having avatars that walk on stations, there may be a deeper system coming. If they plan it correctly they can take many elements from the avatar based portions of the new WoD MMO and implement them into EVE.
EVE is the perfect platform right now for CCP. It is a rapidly growing game that has gained a great popularity, and the station aspect and even the ability to walk around inside of ships could be interfaced into EVE by simply adding a button that then takes you to these areas similar to how you enter a station. The possibilities of EVE are endless, and that is really exciting. They have merged with White Wolf on World of Darkness and are developing an all new avatar based MMO based on the popular franchise. This means that WoD could be a dream come true for sandbox fans who want a more avatar based game than EVE provides, and also that the avatar based elements of WoD can be easily implemented into EVE via stations. Not to mention if you are a horror fan, and especially a WoD fan, than you will be in for something special. I am a huge fan of WoD, CCP, and EVE and what could come from WoD MMO and how that can affect EVE are two of my biggest anticipatory events in gaming ever.
..fluff, totaly useless content, dress up games and pointless housing, etc?
Yeah, depth...for sure.
player downtime is underestimated. one needs these kinds of things to make the combat, missioning, trading, blablabla more interesting. Back in the SWG pre-cu days people actually chose to be dancers and musicians and spend their gaming time in a cantina chatting with total strangers. (good'ol days)
also very good for immersion.
Option A: negociating a trade agreement over public corp chat while docked in a station or
Option B negociating a trade agreement on a conference table in a board room with your directors beside you with the other party and its "delegates" while looking at the same map hologram with the trade route highlighted.
Option A: recruiting for your corp by dropping jetcans in space and renaming them or puting an ad in classifieds
Option B: have your corp lobby room open to anyone with recruitment posters, notes, and officer NPCs to recruit you to the corp while other corp members chat or hang out in the lobby planning the next mining op or simply chatting about last night's hockey game.
Or you can own a bar with dancers and tables, or a store where you can sell your goods personnaly or on the market. a New market will be formed (clothing). there is nothing more intimidating than the leader of a big aliance walking in with attire fir for a king.
baseline, IMMERSION is the key word.
Well for many people, including myself, the lack of an actual character model is what keeps them from enjoying the game. So this expansion can very well be what makes them play.
Well for many people, including myself, the lack of an actual character model is what keeps them from enjoying the game. So this expansion can very well be what makes them play.
For the record, I'm LOVING Eve as it is now, but I'm still eager for ambulation. Ambulation is way more than just walking in stations. It's new industries, new markets, new skills and new players. It's new purpose and branching game play. I will grudgingly accept that one does not personally expect to explore ambulation. But to dismiss it entirely as a fluff (used loosely) feature forces me to question that persons intelligence .. at the very least, their vision. Ambulations impact is inevitable, not optional.
ccp must be throwing it in for the cybors crowd, your actual avatar in eve is a pod that contains your brainwaves and very little biomass at all, think of it like borg taken to the extreme but wihtout the hive mind. the info ive gleaned from the game lore and all the official website info is that youre immortal by the act of repeated cloning and able to pilot things like carriers and titans that would have crews of thousands to the battle ships that would require hundreds of normal people to control by yourself through the pod interface system that connects your encapsulated mind and super computer pod directly into every system of the ship that you have the skills to control, dont have the skill and you cant use the system. they didnt have humanoid avatars for us capsuleers because we gave up anything resembling human form when we jacked into the system, and even the clone minds they store for us are little more then a brain and brain stem hooked up to a super computer, and a back up copy of our brain wave that is kept as up to date as possible if we pay the upkeep fee to make sure skills arent lost if a clone is activated. to add any sort of human form avatar theyll have to half ass lore update something about cloning into a normal body and apparently it just magically doesnt cause loss of the massive skills database thats stored in the pod super computer systems. im not even sure why an eve player would want to go from their avatar being a massive powerfull vessel that reflects their attitude (you can be anything in eve from small fast attack craft that detain targets so their massive all powerfully firepower loaded brethren can smash it into dust to a massive freighter carrying enough materials to build a fleet) restricted down to something as pitifull and lacking in depth as a generic humanoid.
Holy crap! I thought the "ships have no crew" myth was bad enough, but now "capuleers have no bodies"! Talk about flying in the face of 7 years of backstory, which you somehow claim to support with this. Did you ever read any of it? This better be a joke.
In case this isn't a joke, here are two Chronicles from 2001 that should enlighten you. You can compare them to the copies on Archive.org.
Doppelganger
The vicious cycle
But there's something most people are missing. Flying around in spaceships can be fun, but when the ONLY option is flying in spaceships, it gets old. Are there some people whose opinion of Eve won't be changed by ambulation? ...of course. Are there a HUGE number of people that will be drawn to Eve by ambulation ? ... you bet your ass there is, and when those people grow bored of flight they'll dock in their favorite station and ambulate instead.
Ambulation is about options, its about meta gaming, its about depth and dimension. If you do not think ambulation, ( or future fluff) is critical and beleive the argument that " ambulation won't improve politings fun-factor" I must accuse you of superficial reasoning. Let me explain:
Ever heard the expression, "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts"? Well, that basic principle is exactly how you make a deeply engrossing game. Look no further than Eve as an example. A stand-alone trading game isn't fun, stand-alone PvP gets redundant, a stand-alone mission game isn't enough to pull monthly subs. Pull them together though, offer challenge, tactics, risk vs reward, character development, knit it all together with a breathing player-driven ecomony and .... bam : you have potential for years of fun, literally.
Additions like ambulation are not just some linear module attached the side of a house.... they're another layer weaved into a ever expanding dynamic. Ambulations impact on Eve is going to be massive and its affects on Eden will increase immersion ergo fun-factor expontentially.
The thing is, spaceships will STILL be the only option for character progression and action. In the stations you walk around, maybe it could be an alternate way of accessing station functions. But no one will really do this day in and out. They'll do it when needed. Roleplayers will probably be more fond of it. If a corp doesn't have something like TeamSpeak or Vent it may want to have it's meeting held in here.
What I'm getting at, is that it will in no way (as I see it now) offer a separate form of progression. Which means, you're options remain the same. You just have something to do for maybe 10 minutes now.
Now, if this introduced some kind of 'player apartments' or 'corp offices' where you or your corp could show off achievements and brag (a morgue for corpses anyone?) that would give it a use, more than just looking pretty.
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Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online
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== RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP ==
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Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online
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Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth
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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Whats your point .. that some people still won't like Eve? Yea well .. that's a bit obvious, don't ya think? My point, which has already been extremely well articulated, is that ambulation WILL attract those that want more than spaceships, and it will be all those people need to make the jump to New Eden. It's also an incredibly immersive new layer of game-play.
And no matter what a person may tell themselves everything about everything in any MMO is FLUFF in some way. Since the principle goal of this entire operation is entertainment, anything that successfully entertains qualifies as a critical component to the one being entertained. I could not have spelled it out more simply.
It will definitely be entertaining and draw some new people in. what I'm trying to get it as you're not going to have hordes of WoW players or LOTRO players flooding New Eden because of it. Ambulation won't make subscriber numbers jump from 300,000 to 900,000 when it comes out.
No doubt that what it will add will be entertaining, but you will still have to like the core of the game. I also don't doubt, as I said, the new layer that does allow you to walk around in station will in-fact pull in the people who've been looking at it but need that last little thing,
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Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online
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== RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP ==
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Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online
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Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth
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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
The tinfoil hatter in me is saying CCP is waiting to release Walking in Stations until Jumpgate: Evolution launches.
Is there any links to something that gives all or most of the additions in ambulation directly related to avatars? It would be interesting to see exactly what the point is, or if its just to socialize. I just watched a small video from back in 2007(saying it was coming in 2008 lol) from some gaming convention, and it looked good back then which was 2 years ago. Showing a meeting room, and the docking stations in full 3d with player models.
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-Currently playing FFXIV, and BDO.
Actually anyone paying attention at all knew it wasn't coming out in the upcoming winter expansion as far back as february of this year. And anyone still thinking it was coming out this year by July has had their head in the sand or just isn't following EVE at all and is new to discovering it.
Right now general concensus is that Ambulation is on a back burner till sov mechanic changes are implemented and finalized again. That seems to be the burning drive behind CCP right now because so many people are sick of the way sov, especially with jammers bridges and titans involved, works.
TBH don't expect ambulation until ambulation is announced.
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell