Amdor Renevat
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Posted - 2011.06.24 17:26:00 -
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First I want to say that I'm not upset over the current situation with NEX, CQ, or performance.
The reason I'm not upset is because I expected CQ to be rough, performance to drop and the NEX to be incomplete. The change to CQ seems like a pretty big leap to me and I'm impressed they pulled it off as well as they did.
Now, with that said I also have to admit that I'm disappointed with the NEX and communication overall.
When I think of paying to play (which I've done in other games and I have no moral/philosophical problems with) I think of spending a moderate amount of money. I had a friend that was single and spent literally thousands of dollars on Everquest items. I'm married, have kids and bills so I can't spend that much money on a game/hobby no matter how much I like playing. I can spend $5, $10, and sometimes $20 on in game items when I find something neat.
Lately I've been spending my spare cash on cruiser posters, EON issues, map books, awesome satchel w/ patches and a spare account to develop a character to sell. Now that I have the out of game swag I was looking forward to getting some in game goodies.
However I'm not going to trade a plex for a single shirt.
I'd pay 100mil at most for a single clothing item. I would expect that if I cashed in a Plex I could get several shirts, maybe some new boots, some kind of hat, or a pair of bermuda shorts. The main thing would be to get several options at a fairly low price. I don't need to prove I'm elite, I just enjoy having my character look the way I like it to look.
That's one disappointment I had with NEX, the other is a lack of room items.
I don't like the minmatar look of the room, one of the reasons I picked Caldari was the colors/look of the race. I do like the idea of having a room that's all grey's and blues with a military feel. I want to add bookshelves, a table, some kind of lamp, a picture or two, a nice recliner, and maybe a pinup style poster. How about different layout options so I can put the TV in the corner and have room to do WII fit, twister or some serious petting in the center of my quarters? All of these have been left out yet they would really make Eve feel more like a second home and not just a game I play when I'm not in the mood to snipe people in the head (fps games).
The NEX is a good idea, but so far it's overpriced and underutilized. Give me some >$10 options and I'll sink a GTC into it. Leave me with a single cool looking shirt that's more expensive than the shirts I normally wear for realz and I will spend my money elsewhere.
Now, done with the NEX stuff, moving on to communication. I've seen lots and lots and lots and lots of posts on these forums that are great ideas. I've seen intelligent discussion, excellent questions, and notification of pending problems. What I don't see a lot of are replies indicating that the idea has been passed on, the question is being asked, the discussion was informative, or the problem is being looked into. I don't expect an answer to every thread etched onto the boards, but some form of regular feedback would go a long way to helping the players feel like they matter more.
One thing I've always liked in other games was a weekly poll asking about future plans, player feelings or a wide range of topics. How much posting could have been avoided if a poll had gone up stating "How much would you pay for a custom shirt? 50mil, 100mil, 500mil, 1.5bil isk etc. Then you'd have a baseline of player expectations. Or maybe "Would you rather have CQ's released sooner with one room or wait for all racial rooms? Simple questions that the player base is more than willing to answer.
I'm still enjoying Eve but I'm concerned for the future. Will the trend of forcing changes without player feedback continue or will the players have a better voice than just the CSM.Because personally I don't really like the CSM as it seems to be a vocal minority more than an broad sampling of the player base.
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