Prepare to see what happens when a publisher forces the premature release of a game. Again.

Beta stage 8, now with fee's!
</cynical EVE beta tester>

Official launch on March 6 eh? Next year then?
Hehe... methinks someone meant May.
:<

Official launch on March 6 eh? Next year then?

Oy... I've messed up about everything I've touched so far today.

Hehe... methinks someone meant May.

Indeedy!

I beta'd EVE and I found the lack of direction crippling. I was never able to get into it. I hope when the game ships it has alot more documentation to help newbies like myself.

Yeah that scares me too cause I really am enjoying testing this game but there is so much for them to tweak still as well as test features that they have not added in yet.

Oh please don't let this turn out to be Anarchy Online all over again!

I'm with you, Freaky. Eve needs at *least* six more months in the oven. The current model is buggy, laggy and, unfortunately, a bit boring (it redefines the term "timesink"--and not in a good way). I love the graphics and even the music is cool--I really wanted to like this game. I'll check back a few months down the road and see how it looks.

That doesn't sound good

(the fact that there are two testers saying this game needs a lot more time in Beta).

Sigh, those fucking publishers.

Well, maybe one day people will stop buying prematurely released crap, so publishers will see the light. Right now, you can't actually really blame them, a MMOG is an incredibly resource drain, and what better way to beta test than with testers who are paying 10-13 bucks a month for the privilege?

Sigh once more.

Creston

There are at least four other MMORPG's that I tested and said the exact same thing... let's see... AC2, EVE, E&B, Shadowbane, just for four... I'm under NDA for another two..

I beta tested Eve... it is SO not ready for release its not even funny. Weeeeeeee! Screw six months... it needs 9-12 months more work and preparation, seriously! And please, for god SAKES implement some kind of quest/job setup.
This comment was edited on Apr 23, 11:32.

I've been in the beta for a few days now and I have to say this game has real potential. The look and feel is fantastic, and it wasnt that hard to get into it. It has a dark atmosphere (kinda like Aliens) and should be the holy grail for most Space Junkies (forget Earth & beyond! played that as well!). Although you have to do a fair ammount of mining before you get the big money, it is really fun to upgrade your ship, your skills (you can train your skills offline, that's what I love!) study the market or just be a mean pirate (be warned though, PvP can be quite a pain for the pacifist tradesmen) Yet as of now, it is still quite buggy and, to be honest, I was a bit shocked when I read about the Gold status. I hope that in the next weeks they can squish the remaining issues to an extent that new players will be drawn into the great game that EVE indeed is.

Talk about a game I really wanted to like... I beta tested this game as well, and after I got over the initial WOW factor of the visuals, I was bored to tears. Despite the rediculous learning curve because of an overly complicated interface (4 clicks to start mining a rock as compared to 1 click in E&B - another fairly boring game), there's really nothing to do except mine in the early parts of the game. And who the hell in development thought that mining a rock for 6 to 10 minutes was great fun?!

If you want to explore, forget about it because every system looks the same, except for a different nebula or dust cloud background map.

Combat? HA! Almost as boring as mining. Target the offensive vessel then click on the gun you want to fire. Right click on your ship, click on Orbit, then sit back and watch pretty little beams go back and forth for ten minutes. Then you die (or if you'r smart, warp to a nearby station and avoid getting killed when your HP is low). YAY!

Hundreds of people have requested low level activities like NPC assigned bounties on scrub NPC bad guy ships, NPC hauling assignements, and even exploration quests. Nothing. CCP insists they want the player base to create the quests, etc. The point their frozen minds are missing is that they need to ESTABLISH a player base first. In order to do that, give new players some fun things to do in the early stages of the game. That way they wil stick with it and the FUN part will bring in new players. CCP is making the same mistake that Turbine did with AC2; relied too heavily on players to build their world before establishing a player base. That's why at peak hours there is never more than 300 people on an AC2 server - a server that is supposed to hold 5000. I wish CCP luck, but I don't see Eve lasting more than a year with it's current model.

The skill training system is horrible. It completely divorces the player from earning his or her skills. AND it divorces the skill itself from the practice of said skill. I see what they're going for, but it doesn't work.

While it may be the case that other games have been pushed out the door prematurely by their publishers, every deadline, every milestone and the release date (and decisions to delay) have always been made by the Eve developers here at CCP.

The client has gone gold, but that doesn't mean we've stopped making improvements and adding content. The beauty of MMOG's as opposed to console games or single player pc games is that they are always a work-in-progress (or should be.) Updates, fixes and changes are coming in fast and furious and we are very confident about our May 6th release date.

I also beta tested this crap pie , i guess anyone can be a beta tester now. I couldn't find the 'game' in this thing so i just quit.

Well, adding new content is one thing... but there are basic problems with the game that should have been fixed before going gold.

The interface is horrible and slow/ unresponsive (and not just because of lag). The type is too small for my old eyes, extremely difficult to read all of the text. Convoluted trading system, making money is a painful process.

Ship controls are lame, its almost impossible to do a fly-by of other ships. At least EnB, when I beta tested that game, you could "fly" your ship somewhat.

The game is extraordinarily dull, its pretty, but it is soooo dull.

I'm coining a term, right here and now, at Blue's News on April 23, 2003. The term is: Pyrite. Fool's Gold. The gold status of this game is pyrite... a gold status for fools.

Okay.. I've been beta testing EVE for about 5 months now and can finally give my opinion so far.

Overall: AWESOME, AMAZING, Best MMOG I've ever played
Cons: Bugs!!! But its still beta... and they have 2 weeks and I've seen games come together in this time..

The best way to look at EVE is that its something that's never been done before. Those who write 2 lines saying "it sucks.. I was bored" clearly need first person shooters as they give you a framework to play in.

EVE does not do that. The game gives you room to do whatever you want. I like to think of EVE as a big sandbox.. I make of it what I want to. No-one to boss me around or make me do something.

I know there has been comments made about the lack of content but I've seen more and more come online as the months have passed.

Sure they have bugs but then what MMOG doesn't have them? Shit.. I've played EQ when it came out and it was buggy as hell. SWG can't keep their servers up for more than 4 hours before they crash (and mind you not with 5,000 people playing at the same time). And don't get me started on Planetside which is a laugh (like SWG which is a shell of a game).

EVE won't appeal to everyone.. its really hardcore and has a steep learning curve. But once corporations have settled in and made a nice home for noobies, EVE will set the new standard for MMOGs. One guy showed me the ropes and I can't stop playing the game.

That's my 2 cents as a beta tester for 5 months (not 2 weeks like some on this forum).

I want to like it like you do, but I just can not work out what to do. I understand that there is a huge universe out there where you can do what you want, but if they're to make this a successful and to make this profitable, a lot more people need to be able to work out what to do.

Cheers,
Quboid

War isn't about who's right, its about who's left.

Thanks Unmaker ------^

This games does need some more time in Beta. It has some -major_ issues with crashing, things jusp flat out not working, and the wholesome fun of mining all the damned time. Granted, missions weren't available to beta testers, but from my experience with the rest of the game, these will be needing polishing as well. Don't buy the game in the first 6 months or so untill there is a special offer for subscription (i.e. FREE).

I'm sorry the game sucks so much right now, I wanted it to be a blast. And it will be--a year or so from now when the paying beta testers get all the issues worked out.

The only company that I can honestly say has the space game down is Ambrosia Software with its Escape Velocity series. Now if only they'd kick it up a notch and make it an MMOG, without a subscription--and get their PC version of the game outta beta!

NMG
This comment was edited on Apr 23, 12:43.

yet another space mining simulator.


yay.