Samstag, 17. November 2012

Our universe is too small

Recently I read that some capsuleers think that the New Eden universe is too big. Too many starsystems for too few players.
I totally disagree. For my taste it is much too crowded. In fact I think that the overcrowded universe is the singlemost significant reason why the EVE population does not grow. It cannot sustain more people.
Let me elaborate:
The first few weeks when you start as a new player, everything is fine. You do your tutorials, you do the epic arc and then probably some missions, mining, or production.
But then you want to try other features. Most probably exploring is on the list. There you will soon notice that there is a fierce competition for the sites in Highsec. You won't make as much money as with running missions. Much too few sites for too many explorers.
You think about lowsec then. But everytime you travel there, you die horribly without achieving anything. You actually might enjoy this first PvP experience and roam there more often.
But mining or exploring in Lowsec is in my opinion not advisable. Chances are high that you will be probed out in no time and killed. If lowsec were just bigger, chances would be better to find a quiet corner to make some money in.
So you continue with missions, but it gets boring. Sooner or later you will think about maybe moving to a wormhole. A C1 or C2 probably either for you alone or with 1 or 2 friends. I think you know what I say next: they are all occupied already. Wormhole space is also too small.
So what now? Nullsec might be your next option. You are in for a big disappointment.
There are many alliances that want to own sovereignity Competition is fierce. But there only two powerblocks now (in fact it is only one) that conquers all the space, even if they do not need it. It is true that many of the systems they own are empty and unused. You still can't have any (if you don't want to rent from them, or join a 50.000 man block).
If the universe were much much bigger, at least 5 times the current size, then many more alliances (and small ones too), could have their own space. Noone would want to conquer all.
So in the current state many players will leave after some months or maybe after 1-2 years, because there is nothing to do. Nowhere to grow into. If you don't want to stay in empire and grind missions...and who would want that?
So this is why I think that New Eden is much much too small. What do you think?

3 Kommentare:

  1. Yes and no. It depends on the type of space, and I'm pretty sure that the number of system is not the problem.

    - Highsec: It's intentional that it's crowded. Surely not too big, because traveling will become tedious. Today you can cross highsec in a speedy ship within an hour. If there are places in other MMOs that are an hour away with the fastest means of travel, people become unhappy. Really unhappy. Not too small.

    - Lowsec: If you don't find an empty part of lowsec, you haven't really looked. There are so many deserted systems or systems with only one or two obvious POS alts that it's sad. Not too small.

    - Nullsec: Yes, all the space is occupied. But as you state yourself, the space is unused. That's not a problem of the number of systems but of the sovereignty mechanics. Not too small, but flawed mechanics.

    - Wspace: Maybe. This one seems a big crowded, since you just cannot accept any other entities within your wormholes before you can do anything worthwhile. It might be too small, but I have to expertise there.

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    1. Thanks for your detailed answer. Probably you are right about Hisec and Nullsec. But for Lowsec I am not so sure. There is much interest in lowsec, many Hisec dwellers actually would like to start some activities there.
      But, as we all know, survival chances are very small. Go there for exploration, missioning, ratting or mining and you will be blown up. There are many many sharks / pirates just waiting for you.
      I am all for risk /reward, but it doesn't work with the current lowsec. Making it bigger is maybe the wrong answer, but I am sure it would help.

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    2. I have more to add I think:
      as you said: Hisec SHOULD be overcrowded. Maybe yes, but only in order to get people to other regions. And there are none. That's the biggest problem EVE has. The people that want to leave Hisec mostly can't. So they leave the game.

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