I like what they are doing with EVE Online, but can a new player actually achieve greatness in this game with so many corps taking control over everything?

Groan... oh man I feel so strongly tempted to reactivate one of my accounts for a little while.  

I have to say, from what I've seen, I'm extremely impressed with what they've been doing since they switched from having two big expansions to many smaller ones.  I was afraid they'd never add a big new feature again.  I guess the jury's still out, but it looks like they've actually been adding way MORE in a given period of time than they ever were before.  

On the other hand... how did it take them 11 years to figure out to show drone health while in the bay?

Think the writing is on the wall with Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen are MMO based games that if they don't get their act together their subs will start to dwindle when these games are out and running smoothly. Especially since EVE Online still charges a monthly fee and I think that both E:D and SC will be just buy the game and some form of micro transactions in game. I was just thinking why did it take so long? 🙂

Don't think E:D is much of a threat to Eve but Star Citizen probably going to be a huge one for them.

Think the writing is on the wall with Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen are MMO based games that if they don't get their act together their subs will start to dwindle when these games are out and running smoothly. Especially since EVE Online still charges a monthly fee and I think that both E:D and SC will be just buy the game and some form of micro transactions in game. I was just thinking why did it take so long? 🙂

I'm going to have to strongly disagree with this.  That is not to say that I think that EVE won't decline, or that E:D and SC won't contribute to this.  However, I take issue with the direct comparisons that are often made.  Most of the actual gameplay of EVE is entirely different from what you'll find in E:D or SC.  I think the best way to describe it is that EVE has more in common with action RPG's, while E:D and SC have more in common with FPS's.  Alternatively, one may think of EVE as being all about capital ships (by the old Star Wars definition) while E:D and SC are all about fighters and corvettes (it remains to be seen whether piloting the larger ships in SC will be interesting, certainly it'll be quite different from EVE).  

Furthermore, EVE has a staggering amount of content.  Even if Cloud Imperium fulfills all of their promises, it will probably take them a good 5 years to come close to it.  On the other hand FD seems to have no intention of adding most equivalent features to Elite at all (I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing, it's just a different type of game). Granted, EVE's features are all designed in such a way as to be as to be staunchly multiplayer.  This usually requires some sort of time commitment, which is why I don't play anymore.  

CCP is coming out with EVE Valkyrie, which looks like it will try to compete directly with E:D and SC.  We have no idea how it will interact with EVE itself yet.  Who knows, maybe it will be quite successful?  Certainly Elite and SC won't be able to keep everyone happy.

The subscription model on the other hand, seems like a problem.  EVE is hopelessly dependent on it, I see no way of them to transition into a different payment model, but it seems that fewer and fewer people are willing to pay subscription fees.  I just bought 2, new AAA games on a Steam sale for $30, and that seemed like a lot of money.  $15 a month seems pretty hard to justify these days.

Hey ExpandingMan, oh that wasn't really my argument at all I know all those games have different feature sets and content. Instead it was more of a general observation. What has the space gamer really had to play in the MMO space besides EVE Online and the less well known Vendetta Online (I left out STO on purpose)? I don't think there is much, that's why I think both E:D and SC will have an impact regardless of feature set and content of EVE. Now its both SC and E:D world to screw up, if they don't deliver or piss the fans off EVE will probably stay static. But if they do deliver or those PvPers out there like more of a twitch based game instead of a cap ship type battle then that will come into play a little here. But as you said subscriptions for games are starting to fade fast, now I think more people would sub if it wasn't $15 and it was like $5.

I as well am interested what CCP does with valkyrie and whether they are going to design it to compete with SC or E:D, I don't think they will... I think they will just create a solid twitch shooter that will satisfy the action junkie and tie it into EVE some how. Only reason I don't play EVE is because of the time that I would need to invest and the fact that it would probably take forever to become relevent in the game.

I might be wrong here since I don't play EVE, but I think they handcraft their zones and I think E:D and SC are using more procedural so it may not take as long as you think to build the content.

We'll see, I am not a EVE hater at all. Just we'll find this competition very good for us the space gamers because this will breed new features, content and extras to get people playing these games. I mean look what CCP did, those ships look awesome and they are going to update everything in the game. I might have to sub just to check the game out for 30 days when they get the gfx updates done. Me personally I never knew why EVE never put a twitch based combat element into the game, where maybe only carrier class ships can deploy fighters in battles...

 

 

I might be wrong here since I don't play EVE, but I think they handcraft their zones and I think E:D and SC are using more procedural so it may not take as long as you think to build the content.

EVE is procedural, but when I was talking about content I was thinking more along the lines of research, manufacturing, mining, different ships and modules with radically different roles, that sort of thing.  Perhaps I used the wrong word.  I'm very curious to see where exactly SC will land on the procedural spectrum, surely they have to hand-craft an awful lot.  

 

 

Me personally I never knew why EVE never put a twitch based combat element into the game, where maybe only carrier class ships can deploy fighters in battles... 

It's just not that type of game.  Instead of adding that sort of gameplay to EVE, they are creating Valkyrie (which I'm sure CCP will want to integrate with EVE in some way if it is successful).  Personally, I don't always prefer twitched based combat.  Perhaps that is because I play a lot of strategy games and RPG's (although I've sort of been moving away from the RPG genre lately).  Also, it's hard for me to imagine what twitch combat for capital ships would look like.  

But yeah, certainly we agree that E:D and SC will have some effect on EVE, if for now other reason than because people only have so much time to spend playing games, so even if you like both, you may not play both.

I played EVE for 3 years or so back in the dim distant past. I enjoyed it, but don't think I'll ever resubscribe, because the kind of gameplay I enjoyed - being a lone explorer (not in a guild), flying around remote star systems, minding my own business - quickly became almost impossible as the game gained in popularity. Then there was the whole fiasco around avatars and real-money content which put me off too.

I suspect the game will still retain its niche market in the MMO/space game industry, but won't directly compete with SC and Elite.

auryx

They do have over 500,000 subscribers.

Short video of the ships makeover.

Eve's new features in one minute and fifty four seconds.

EVE looks great, I just need to sit down and play the trial for a week or so. Think its been like 10 years since I have played EVE, that's why I was like why bother because new people today must have a hell of a time making anything of themselves in the game without being in a corp.