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Eve Online gets user-friendlier with free Apocrypha update
Today is probably the closest thing to a rebirth in the six-year history of Eve Online, the ambitious, complex, and notoriously user-hostile science fiction MMO. Right now, as I type, an update is being applied to the server (note the singular, as everyone who plays Eve Online is on the same server!). That update is the free Apocrypha add-on, which contains a lot of stuff for advanced players, such as wormholes to new solar systems, a new type of DIY modular starship, and an advanced story arc that progresses through all four factions rather than limiting itself to one corner of the game's massive galaxy. You can read through all the new features here.
But more importantly, Apocrypha changes the way new players are introduced to the game. From the developer's blog:For the past few years, the process of creating your character has been a multi-step process with a lot of choices. Choices that were intimidating, to say the least, for anyone who had never played EVE before...For Apocrypha, we simplified this process. We eliminated choices that had no effect on you whatsoever and moved these choices to a more appropriate time where you could make an informed decision...These choices, all important, are better made once you have a true understanding of how things work in EVE. Once you know what you want to do, what you want to fly and so on, that is when you should decide on your career and skills. And it is better that you understand what the attributes do, before you start fiddling with them.
As someone who was unceremoniously dumped into those choices when I started play Eve Online last month, I'm in a position to say, from first hand experience, that it's about time. I hope the initial round of missions and the tutorials are revised as well, since those are equally important in terms of making new players feel welcome. Eve Online is a remarkable game in many ways, and it's about time the developers met players half way.
By Tukang Nggame at 9:09 AM ON 03/10/09
it's funtastic real space game.
By David at 1:26 PM ON 03/10/09
I couldn't agree more. I myself just started playing Eve Online last month and it has a real steep learning curve. I think they should also expand the FREE trial from 14 to 30 days because most of that 14 days are spent in a blur.
By Deathwish Drang at 5:21 PM ON 03/10/09
The new game requires a graphics card better than the one I've been using for the past two years, so now I'm out of the game because I can't afford the update--and I have 2 accounts all paid up! Why didn't they email me and warn me i'd be sol?
By Russ at 12:36 PM ON 03/11/09
To Deathwish, apparently you didn't read the forums or dev blogs which stated they were going to do it.
I've played the game for 6 years and this is the best update so far.
By Nelix Starvent at 2:06 PM ON 03/25/09
I did 14 day trial and spent most of my time trying to learn how to navigate and finding out I didn't have the skills requuired to do anything. The whole 21 days to train for some skills, and the fact you can only learn one skill at a time are the things that turned me off of Eve. Realtime play is great, but I';m not going to lay out $$ every month for a 'game' that I have to go to college to play.
By Arik at 10:29 AM ON 09/13/09
I played EVE for a few months, was impressed with everything except the lag in some areas which would bog down in peak times that made it unplayable. This was especially bad in the Novice player areas.
However there were issues I hated, Manditory PVP was the major one, Nothing like performing a long trade run that required travel through a red sector only to be blown up upon entering the system by a griefer in a ship so large my ship could have fit inside his gun barrel.
The second was the "One skill at a time," however it is more complicated than previously mentioned. You are allowed 3 different characters, however only one character can learn a skill at a time, so if you want to play an ALT, or if you are a Roleplayer, you have to stop training on the primary character before you can train on an alt, which never made sense to me. The characters are different, why would one character's training intefere with another?
Arik:
I played EVE for a few months, was impressed with everything except the lag in some areas which would bog down in p...More »