mechtech
SRS Industries
SRS.
   |
Posted - 2010.09.07 00:55:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: CCP Greyscale
Oh, and there's always the possibility of expanding w-space - there are other things we could definitely do with that sort of mechanic, but I'm kind of fond of how the current area works already, so I'd be tempted to do any major reworkings of the concept in a new block of systems, rather than completely altering the current ones.
I don't know about empty space, but I like the concept. One of the major things that eve could work on (and has worked on in recent expansions) is the feeling of a unique character for each region of space. Faction Warfare gave (or at least tried to before it was orphaned) a unique feeling to each racial sector. Wormholes are great fun to explore when you're discovering how they work for the first time.
The character of a region doesn't need to be overbearing, even little things like the drone regions are good additions to the game. As a new player, finding out that the little pocket in the top right corner only has drone NPCs that drop minerals (that can fuel POSs) is a cool thing to learn. Little facets of gameplay to explore are what give eve some of its awe factor.
So empty space? Not so much. How about empty space lightly under the control of NPC factions (Invasion might very well be like this). Or how about a few pockets of k-space with a unique background only accessible through wormholes. Maybe there could be a half abandoned station with a crazy station-manager who gives out an ultra hard lvl-5 mission every once in a while in there as well. Maybe a corporation spends 2 weeks trying to get access to this space and run the unique mission in the k-space pocket (that's 2 weeks of content for 30 players, the eve way! 30 players with a unique story about eve they'll no doubt tell their gaming buddies). I'm obviously just throwing things out there, but "pockets of content" are great for the game to have. It adds to the feeling of mystery and secrets shrouded in darkness, which are important to the ambiance of the eve universe 
So go ahead and add that empty fringe space, just tuck away a few secrets in there 
|