Zifrian
Licentia Ex Vereor
Black Core Alliance
1512
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Posted - 2014.07.04 00:25:00 -
[1] - Quote
Quote:if you think there are ways we can do it better, please let us know in the comments and weGÇÖll tune future iterations accordingly!
First appreciate the blog, it is nice to know the general vision you are attempting to achieve with a particular patch as it gives a broader picture to evaluate the changes. I do think you should continue to publish these however, I would like to see it before the patch. While I think this was generally conveyed in an earlier blog, maybe it should be published earlier with a clear intent before the subsequent blogs.
As far as the information in the blog, IGÇÖm not sure you are going to achieve one of your goals because if you achieve one, you donGÇÖt achieve the other.
The first goal is that GÇ£industry should be easy to understandGÇ¥ and the second, GÇ£industry should be interesting and skillful. You should feel that *you* are "good at industry", rather than just that your character is.GÇ¥ To me these goals are contradictory and based on what IGÇÖve seen in Cirus, you did not achieve the first goal. The second goal is a bit closer, but again IGÇÖm not sure you fully explored what you could do to fully achieve it.
On the first, industry in EVE is complex and dynamic, which then relies on a complex and dynamic market. The thing is, industry will ever be easy to understand GÇô and thatGÇÖs OK. There is no beginner industry, intermediate level industry, and advanced industry GÇô There is just EVE Industry, and it is complex. CCP should own this and stop trying to create a simpler industry but instead try to match the complexity of PVP. Think about fitting a Rifter and flying out to fightGǪhow many choices did you make for your modules? How did you fit? When you get in a fight, what tactics do you use? What ammo do you use? How do you fly? When do you overheat? CCP owns a much more complex and dynamic PVP system than many other games. Do the same thing with industry - Own the complexity and make it better.
The UI is an improvement and the removal of extra materials and R.A.M.s does get rid of unnecessary and needlessly complex parts of industry but you added Teams and Dynamic slot costs. Those two things make industry even harder to understand, but are steps in the right direction. Furthermore, the things the community really wanted in the UI was a reduction in the number of clicks and shortcuts to make tedious decisions, well less tedious. There is enough complexity with industry already that I should be able to select 10 of the same blueprints, enter max runs and click GÇ£BuildGÇ¥. But what we got was a rehash of what already exists. This is where I wanted to see the focus but you seemed to get caught on this GÇ£easierGÇ¥ goal when you really should have just focused on the complex nature of industry and improve on it.
On your second goal, I think you are getting close with the dynamics of line costs but you missed the mark with teams. Teams could have been done so much better and IGÇÖm afraid what will happen is weGÇÖll figure out GÇ£the codeGÇ¥ and then only a few teams will get used over and over again while the others wonGÇÖt provide equal benefit. This will directly impact your second goal because then industry will fall into rote calculations again. Player run teams could have been a much better option and add even more complexity to the game where personalities make a difference.
To achieve this second goal though, one thing you could do is add some sort of mini-game (not like hacking) to the invention or production process that will affect the outcome in some way. One idea might be where you may have to target some sort of laser on a moving target for 30 seconds or something. That way player skill could be added to industry.
In the end though, this expansion will be interesting and add complexity and more dynamic changes to production but I really think you could have done more with this if you really got away from trying to make things simple. There is a particular type of player that likes EVE and they donGÇÖt play the most popular MMOs in the world. I really think you should just accept that industry is like almost all other things in EVE and set your vision on that.
GÇ£Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do. GÇ¥ - Dale Carnegie
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