Moria Kethar
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Posted - 2011.06.30 08:02:00 -
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Greetings CCP
I had considered not getting involved in this discussion (or more everyone yelling and no one answering) and remaining a lurker before this account runs out of time in a week and a half - I have already canceled the reoccurring subscription due to the abhorrent behavior of your representatives and attitude of your company toward the player base.
My decision to leave was not based purely on the recent revelations - but they did spurn the final decision I had been debating. I came to Eve for the player-run economy and universe, the spaceships, the community and the sheer mind-boggling depth of the game compared to other MMO's. This was a game where what mattered most was brains and the will to put them to work - you could be a trader, miner, explorer, pirate, whatever you wanted to. IF you worked for it.
The revelations of the past week have been nauseating - the Incarna launch and all the issues therein with the annoying, slow and resource intensive CQ interface, the Fearless newsletter revelations, the dreadful blog posts from Developers, the email evidence that the CEO does not understand the game/product or community at a basic level, and forum posts. Everything continually avoid answering THE question with a simple yes or no.
Let me make it crystal clear what the question is for myself and many others: "Will CCP at any point offer the ability for players to bypass in-game mechanics (earning SP/Standings), the player-controlled economy (items) or otherwise purchase --any-- form of game-effecting benefit for IRL money?"
This has not been a difficult question to answer in the past (see CCP Shadow, this time last year) but apparently it is impossible now to obtain a straight answer. Indeed, it appears that every single person who has addressed the community has worked very hard to avoid providing a straight, simple answer. One would think that simply saying "No, nothing of this nature is going to happen." would be faster, simpler and leave far fewer doubts in your players minds. All in all, the avoidance makes anything you and your representatives have to say extremely difficult to believe.
This very thread was started with the supposed intention of "parlaying" with the player base. Very little real communication, negotiation or debate with --us-- of any kind has happened. While my best wishes are with CCP Pann - you have other employees who could have stepped up to talk to us. Indeed, the primary communication has informed us that we are (in the eyes of CCP) being unreasonable or overreacting.
The very real impression I have is that EVE is viewed as a cash cow to be milked by CCP for as long as possible until Dust or WoD is online. That there is no real direction for improving Eve itself or evolving Eve further within the context of this wonderful universe that exists. It is simultaneously the pay-to-test bed for the technology that will go into these new games and will also provide the funds for those games.
All this, combined with ongoing ---gameplay--- issues that CCP has continually failed to address for years now. The painfully serious balance issues between faction ships, weapons (can anyone say hybrids?) combined with myrid other issues that have been ongoing for ages that no amount of prettying the stations will resolve. Gameplay -NEEDS- to come first in any game if it is to be a success.
What feeling do new Gallente players have when they get told for the first time that their faction ships are worthless, and to start training toward flying a Drake or just /unsub?
Reinforcing this is staggering self-delusion within the company re: the state - from the now infamous Hilmar email and the Dev blog posts. It seems that those making the decisions have little to no interest in resolving the issues that strike the heart of the game because they see the game as being 'premium' already.
(tl:dr) - I won't be the golden goose with game play issues that you kill to pay for other games.
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