The spacefaring MMORPGEVE Onlinerecently brought a massive in-game war that lasted over a full year to a close, but the players already appear to be directing their ire toward a new foe: the game’s developers. After the battles of World War Bee drew to a close, players attempted to return to a more laid-back mode of operations, only to discover that CCP Games has proposed some unpopular changes toEVE Online’s industrial systems in a new developer blog.
Although the game may be most notorious for its massive spaceship battles, there are many reasons forEVE Online’s popularity and longevity. One of them is the incredibly complex and detailed in-game economy created by interactions between players and the game world–and which can be significantly altered by minor tweaks to the game mechanics.
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Reportedly,EVE Onlineplayers resented some proposed alterations to the way the game handles mining operations–specifically, the addition of new systems for mineral compression and wastage. The existing mechanics have miners compress materials automatically, but the new mechanics would require miners to compress materials manually at a rate determined by skill–and the number of compression modules a player has installed on their mining ship. AlthoughEVE Onlinerecently added more resourcesto the game, many players seem to believe that doesn’t outweigh the additional expenses created by these proposed changes, especially since a number of mining ships are also being nerfed.
Some players argued that making mining riskier and increasing the odds of resources being lost would lead corporations to bannewEVE Onlineplayersfrom mining activities, put the construction of capital ships out of reach of many players, and reinforce the position of existing corporations over new ones. It might also make it impossible for players who spent a lot on their mining rigs to make those rigs profitable. Even worse, the proposed changes would make the process of mining time-consuming and clunky.
While some changes toEVE Onlinesuch as the Project Discovery initiativehave been welcomed by players, this one has been thoroughly rejected. According to CCP, player feedback is very important to the developers, which is why the proposed compression mechanics have already been dropped. Product director Snorri Árnason stated that the mechanics “sounded better on paper” and that the timer for how long the compression would take was set for far too long. It was supposed to make mining more interesting, but as the developers appear to have missed the mark on what players actually want, CCP is just pulling the function entirely.
