Shiorinar
Order of Silver Star
0
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Posted - 2017.02.18 07:51:48 -
[1] - Quote
Hello,
I really enjoyed the new Tutorial and all the changes to the Game. Especially for new players. I have tried the game several times, first time was in Beta (got in with the French) Last time I tried the game was 8 years ago.
This time it hooked me finally. I believe there is room for some small improvements but overall it is a 10x Orders of Magnitude better than before.
Especially in terms of Fun factor and Balance. I know not everything was added recently (I am finding out) but the Tutorial is great, the continuation with Career Agents is also great.
The rewards (Ships Money Fittings skills etc) are good to setup new players a bit more solidly on their feet and ease the steep learning curve and minimize the shock of losses. Besides many of today's MMORPG players are not used to an Old School Sandbox (I player Ultima Online for 5 years before EVE). Still as much as I have always liked EVE's Sandbox Premise, Open ended Play and Sandbox focus. It was some specific mechanics and balance that kept me away, which now seem to have been addressed very nicely, or at least definitely greatly improved.
I have not moved on to the SOE Epic arc yet but looking forward to it as well.
It is all very exciting so far and looking forward to explore and discover more.
Suggestions for Improvements:
In the tutorial missions the first Top Frigate Handed to the player might be good to include a step about Insurance.
The Agent Mission reward the same ship (Basic Combat line) so that is good but players do not know it in advance, and the BPC given requires some materials which can only come from either the market or 0.4. The market can be costly and without insurance money new players may feel constrained should they wish to rebuild the Frigate. Mining in 0.4 comes of course with a risk, and for new players can turn in to further losses which could discourage some.
So insurance step before the big engagement battle of the Tutorial would be great. It would teach new players about minimizing losses too, as it is and integral part of EVE.
The rest flows very well.
On the Career Agents my only comment is n relation to Exploration. It is very exciting Career. As an Explorer Type player it got me hooked. However it is disappointing to find out that there is not much to do in High Sec with exploration as Site are very rare and one either needs to venture in WH's (which I did a couple of times, for the first time Yay!) or go to low sec. Both are not easy prospects for new players without proper skills ship and fitting knowledge.
It therefore is an exciting aspect of the game but that new players have to wait for. It maybe good to add some more sites in High Sec.
Or have an Advanced Exploration Career agent to further guide a player. Albeit, the fun of a Sandbox game is to make new friends and establish relations with other players interact and learn like that. So I am skeptical about too much Player2NPC interaction beyond New Player Phase.
Maybe a career Agent could be steer players towards interaction with others put them in contact with some Player run Organizations which hold neutral status in EVE and are welcoming everyone willing to help grow.
Another area is Planetary Colonization, this is new to me but there doe snot seem to be a Career agent to teach about it. Maybe a future addition?
To close, my initial impression this time around has been quite positive. I lost a few ships (one in a WH) but thanks to the NPE I was able to absorb the shock in a smoother way and recover in away which permits me as a player to learn form my own mistakes as I am not totally handicapped, and thus grow in a more paced way. I just love the new Mining Frigates, no more mining with 25 cubic meters cargo hold back and forth to base, hehe, this is great. The specialized holds.bays are a great improvement.
Many Time sinks and Tedium have been eased out or all together removed. And I think this is overall very positive for EVE, because, intentional tedium and times sinks, are a thing of the past and also at some level I would say conflict with the essence of freedom a sandbox is characterized with. The playground vs the Themepark, but if the play ground has obstacles then it loses its appeal. And EVE has much depth and much potential even after all these years which would go undiscovered with too many obstacles.
So thank you Devs for this new refreshing Direction :) |