EVE - a review compared to other MMOs

[ant]

so i looked at EVE Online for MMO research. its a pretty cool game. worthy of a look see if someone is looking for a game to play without a grind.

[etege]

I played it for a bit, its an ok game.

[Suten]

whats EVE online?

[ant]

I have been deep in comparison and analysis of EVE and Other MMOS because of my development efforts in the MMO world. Here are my thoughts on how EVE and the other major MMOs compare.

Even though EVE, WoW, and FFXI are all MMOs they are about as different as you can get. To start, the actual mechanics of the characters is vastly different. In WoW and FFXI you have level-based characters based on EXP. In EVE you have a characters real life Age. During this Age, you have the ability to train any number of skills that take real earth time to complete. You have the choice of which skills to train, and when, or if at all.

To State it simply, EVE is a 3D space ship game. You as the player are in a 3D space based world, based on solar systems linked together with jump gates. Everyone in EVE is on a single server.

The EVE Character Progressions focuses on skills and standings with different factions. In EVE there are hundreds of skills to train which each take actual earth time to train. In some cases getting a skill to cap takes 30 earth days or more. During "training" you can be AFK, Logged out, or ENJOYING game play, focused on missions, or PVP.

There is open PVP in EVE like WoW, but the security rating of the system(zone) you are in dictates if you will receive a pirate security rating on your character. FFXI is missing the PVP boat.

In EVE when the ship your in is destroyed, your pod is left sitting in space, hopefully you are quick enough to warp it to a safe station and dock before that too is killed. When your ship is destroyed it is gone and what ever was inside has the possibility of dropping for the players who killed you. You return to a station, buy a new ship or get in one you already had sitting, and undock back to action. Dying in EVE should be a rare occurrence unless you are a PVP whore.

The largest difference in the comparison of the games is where the "horizon" or "End Game" is. In WoW/FFXI, you start out with hundreds of things you can do, and narrow down to raiding instances/Camping NM/HNM and PvP. In EVE, you start with a few things you can do (mining, missions, and low-scale trading) and expand upwards into thousands. To compare the 2, we all experienced first hand how completely boring the FFXI and WoW endgame is. We and are really only keeping our accounts because of the sheer amount of years of effort we have spent on our characters. From what I can tell of EVEs endgame, there seems way more to be interested in with less of a chance of total boredom.

One of the interesting aspects of EVE is the Player Influence on the actual game WORLD. In FFXI/WoW there is very little actual impact set in stone on the world.

I mean, are there actual player names or linkshell names in the world news in FFXI/WoW? No. Even if you could influence the world in FFXI/WoW it would only be on 1 server of hundreds. The only people who would know of your achievements and fame would be in your little sub world.

The only truly famous people throughout the FFXI/WoW fanbase are people who've got there by doing things outside the game. Leeroy Jenkins being the prime example, or Asrial for his windower. Maybe a couple guilds who were the first and best at hunting HNMs.

In stark contrast sits EVE withs its interactive history and news. In EVE if you're really good (or really nasty), world wide fame or a nice fat bounty on your head from a player you killed can be yours. In EVE even at less exalted levels, you can participate in wars that actually change the setting, build stations(player controlled cities), and engage in politics.

There are constantly changing maps of the galaxy, detailing what factions and alliances(multiple guilds linked together) control what areas, pin-pointing no-go systems, and illustrating where wars are in progress.

Character choices are another major area of difference. In WoW, if you create a character, you know from the first second in the starting area what they're going to do. If you're a mage or warlock, it's DPS all the way, with a secondary role as a food vending machine or a transporter beam. In EVE, what your character can do is limited only by what skills they have, and what ships you have access to. If you have the skills and ships, you can go from hauling huge amounts of cargo to being a DPS-monster in seconds. Similar to changing jobs in FFXI.

Then there are the skills. In FFXI/WoW, you grind, you do quests, you go up levels, and that's it. In FFXI you spend hundreds of hours grinding skills (bisquick raising staff on BLM. rock on lol) In EVE, you buy the basic skills, and you learn them with training over real time - and that's also it.

You can go on as many missions as you like, and while you'll get more cash, you won't get more skills. It makes EVE characters nearly impossible to twink or power-level - unless someones got a way to literally time travel on earth. On the other hand, it means that at the start of the game, your options on what to do actually are limited, and no amount of effort will change that; you have to wait.

Finally, there's a matter of player skills. In FFXI/WoW, there's a very definite feeling that time spent on something (especially in the end-game, in PvP and raiding) should equal reward. In EVE, skills and cleverness are what's valued. You can grind and grind and grind at your mining or trade route, but someone can sneak in with a better ship configuration, or a better trade route, and blow you out of space. Indeed, in lower-security areas, they can literally blow you up and take your stuff, unless you've been intelligent with your defenses.

So... to conclude, FFXI/WoW has a limited lifespan as regards interest, going from really interesting in the beginning to just dull at the end, and EVE goes from pretty dull to really interesting.

Am I persuading any of you to play EVE? Be sure not to get too addicted, I need you on our new MMO as soon as its available for testing.

[Suten]

does anyone play EVE? and we're all waiting to test your game ant.... just... waiting...

[ant]

ive got an account, on it for research & testing

[Suten]

lol research and testing... i'll lay low a bit from MMOs till yours comes out...