Heathkit
Merch Industrial
Goonswarm Federation
0
   |
Posted - 2012.01.18 19:11:00 -
[1] - Quote
I don't think CCP needs to worry so much about having endgame stuff for 8 yr old vets to train to. Generally, it seems that people who have been around that long and haven't quit have found something they enjoy doing, or have the resources to buy a character if they want to try something new, or even just trade their pilot for something different.
I like the skill system - in a way, it gives you a constant form of income. Your skill points are worth roughly 200/isk each, depending, but you can only really cash them out after more than 6 months of training or so. The skill queue gives you something to look forward to or anticipate, and a sense of accomplishment when you unlock something you've been waiting for.
You can have either skillpoints or isk and have a lot of fun. However, having neither is pretty dull. I followed a pattern which is pretty common - played for a few months, set some long skill plans, then got bored when I ran out of things to do. When I came back last month, I had free skill points from the learning refund which let me jump right into things I'd been waiting to do (ecm, covops, t2 guns, etc).
I think new players should start with a minimum number of skill points - enough to let them experience one kind of gameplay (ecm combat, pve, invention, whatever). If they don't like it, they should be able to switch easily. Instead of the 60 days of free gametime, maybe new accounts should get 60 days worth of skill points and unlimited respecs until they reach a certain threshold of either skill points or account age, whichever comes first.
Also, returning after 2 years to see all my stuff was pretty cool. Goonswarm had even retaken my home station, so I had time to evac some of it. However, most I just ended up dumping on contracts - the important thing wasn't the stuff, it was the wealth I'd accumulated.
I think stations in nullsec need to be lootable. Assets should be put up on contract at some discount of base price automatically, with proceeds going partially to the owner and partially to the conquering party. Or maybe they just get trashed and turned into isk. Maybe you can only seize assets by destroying the station such that it needs to be rebuilt or repaired at some cost, or maybe just capturing it is good enough.
I got quite a few "please come back" emails in the past two years, and I largely ignored them. If I had gotten an emails saying my assets were in a station under seige and might be seized soon, I probably would have resubbed and done something about it.
Also, I'm glad CCP is focusing on the website - being able to participate in the game without having to log in is important. However, I think you guys should strongly focus on developer APIs and developer engagement. You just don't have the resources to match the creativity and productivity of the legions of smart nerds out there who want to make their game better.
If CCP had a developer registration program, where a license cost $50 a year and gave you API level access to stuff such as market data, contract data, and the ability to affect game state in some way, I guarantee you'd see a wealth of new application and new ways of playing the game that would totally surprise you. Plus, architectures oriented towards services and APIs are easier to test, which would give you more freedom to refactor and iterate without breaking the game all the time. |
Heathkit
Merch Industrial
Goonswarm Federation
14
|
Posted - 2012.01.20 00:17:00 -
[2] - Quote
If one of the goals of FW is to have a place for players to participate in PVP without having to be part of a huge alliance or coalition, why not just have FW award bounties for killing other players, similar to bounties on rats? If you want to encourage players to shoot each other, give them money to do so.
I'd award players engaged in FW a bounty of 25% the market value of the destroyed enemy player's ship. |