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Eve Online: The Second Genesis Developer: CCP Publisher: Simon and Schuster Interactive Release Date: (Released) May 06, 2003 Sci-Fi MMO
Eve Online on the other hand, had a relatively flawless launch, where problems were quickly resolved within a couple of patches and continued on its way for players to explore the great vast reaches of this new universe. We were looking forward to talk to they guys about Eve Online post launch and learn about the game now two weeks after it's release. After quick introductions with Peter B., we hooked up with Mike "Campion" Wallis who says he really doesn't hate us after two misquotes in a row from GenCon last year. We can never apologize enough. After mandatory suck-up-age, Rayven decided it was time to send the Div away so he could learn more about the game. A new fanboi is born. Character Generation: Eve Online is based on a skill-based system where characters choose backgrounds from templates. Walking us through character generation we quickly had a female from a military background. Wondering if players have already discovered the cookie cutter templates, we were informed that there has not been any yet. Players have been going with either all-industrial mining types to gain the cash and a leg up on the economic systems or with military backgrounds, as the character we had. The preferred PK template! By maximizing skills at the start like gunnery for example will save player days of training later.
Starting players get a few starting tutorials that allow them to become familiar with the game. There is a learning curve, which can last a few hours for the total newb. Most veterans though can easily get into the game and run through the basics in a short time, which last about 30 minutes. Following the base tutorial there are four base missions, which further develop combat, training, trading, and mining. After about two hours a player is ready to go. The Galactic Tour: Our demo was on the live servers, and we witnessed ships warping in and out. You can click on any ship and bring up the other players information. In newbie systems, players are almost totally protected. You can fire upon other ships, but there are galactic police that will come by and vaporize you. However, and we found this interesting, unlike Ultima Online if you were strong enough you could actually fight the guards. Although, if you were able to do so, you would not actually be in the newb zones as you already were to advanced to be in that location. For the sale of argument, if you did find yourself griefing newbs, we learned that more and more guards would continue to spawn and come after you, until eventually they appeared with the largest of ships, the dreaded and feared battle cruiser. Stations are also protected with sentry guns. Basically get your ass out of there. Leveling: In Eve there are no leveling treadmills. No need to camp rats. No Ding. Its all skill based. The skills are all ranked from level one to level five, with level one being a novice and level five being an expert. Overall there are about 120 skills in the game. Training levels in skills can continue to advance in real time, even after a player logs out of the game, thus giving casual gamers a chance to keep up by purchasing a skill. Players have no limits for their skills other then time-sinks and reaching the maximum level within a skill.
Ships and Loot: How can you have a space game without ships? Ships in Eve are fully customizable, with over 80 different starships. Drag and drop from 3500 varied items, or rare items that are not available on the NPC market which can only be found as loot. Almost everything in game is manufactured by players, or bought and traded on the player based economy system. As an example we asked about the ultimate gun that everyone would wish to equip on a starship. Would it be something that we are going to buy or find? We learn that it is something that we would find. Uber weapons can be found on the market manufactured, though through the market as it's a player based economy. NPC's vendors won't spawn the items, but other players may sell it to the market. Another item to note that when shopping, you are not limited to just the merchants in the current space station you are docked at, but can broaden your search for items through the entire solar system. Expanding to a larger search may not always be beneficial, as you may have to travel pretty far to get the item. As you expand and begin looking for better items, the player market plays a very important and integral part of the game. As players gain higher-level skills, they will provide through manufacturing better items. So, be wary whom you kill today, as you may need to purchase their wares tomorrow.
At this point we were taken on a tour of the galaxy, represented by tiny colored dots filling the monitors screen. Each dot represented by various colors we are told each represent a system within the Eve Online galaxy, for a total of over 5000 systems. Two thousand of those systems have yet to be explored as players have yet to travel to them in exploration or by building warp gates to access them. Eventually player run Corporations will arrive within those areas and set up shop opening more resources to the player community. It could take months before players are even ready to begin adventuring in those areas. This gave us the required "Ooh Ahh," as we thought about the benefits of being the first to arrive in those areas. As to Death: Death does have meaning in Eve, but they have implemented a rather great system in the form of clones. The game does involve PvP and a players ship can come under fire, with the result of it being destroyed. The last thing a person wants to do is lose the investment of time they have put into creating their character. When a players ship is destroyed, a player can eject from it and is in relative safety in an escape pod that can return to a space station where a player can get a new ship. However, the escape pods can as well be attacked. Griefers will destroy life pods. I would. If a player's life pod is destroyed, instead of losing all skills a player trained, his or clone will be activated with a percentage of knowledge a player had. The better the clone, the less skills lost. Better clones do cost more money, so this adds another gold sink in a creative way as a benefit to players.
We've heard very little negativity on Eve since it's launch. Like any other MMO they have had problems, but according to Mike Wallis, the developers at CCP have been quick to respond with patches and hot fixes within 24 hours of release. The game is continuing to grow and is always expanding. After all the love we have heard, were looking forward to checking out Eve Online first-hand. It's looking good and sounds like a lot of fun. Especially when the publishers are in the game actively playing, how can anything get done! Don't worry Campion, we won't reveal your secret identity! Side Note: Neives from UOPowerGamers asked us to say Hi to Pann, the Community Relations Manager for Eve. During our time at the booth, we learned that Pann was unavailable, so Pann, "Neives from UOPowerGamers said Hello!" [Eve Gallery] Next Page: EverQuest II Discuss: We hear a new galaxy calling!
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