Eve Online.... bye bye.

Over the last month or so I've been trying to post about Eve Online. Every time I've gone to the draft and added or changed something I've ended up sounding very negative. Very antigame or more specifically very antigame company. That can be a good thing as rant posts are not aloud on the official forums so I have to vent frustrations somewhere. I wanted something more constructive though. Events for my own gameplay and interaction with CCP have also overridden what I was going to talk about. This post is going to be more about the game company rather than gameplay. I'm going to waffle on as well as make some points. I could rewrite it to be more to the point but that would undo the stress relief of venting.

I enjoy the game. I have two Eve Online accounts. This last month saw both accounts come around for renewal. I decided with much mulling over to continue and bought a year sub on both. Almost immediately I regretted it. Not for any reason like buyers remorse but I should have waited.
CCP has no consistency with promotions. What annoyed me was that on one account I got free SKIN's and two weeks later got nothing when updating the other account. However if I'd waited another two weeks and only bought 90 day's instead of a full year sub, I would have gotten 90 days of free multi-character training as well. It grinds my gears.

Its the Mystery code disappointment all over again.
Nothing for the Mystery code due to CCP saying nothing big or worthy happening in the game ... Citadels happen ... not big enough apparently. It goes against all they actively said.

My other mystery code rants:
https://acasualcarebear.blogspot.ie/2015/10/eve-eve-and-more-eve-bad.html
https://acasualcarebear.blogspot.ie/2016/01/spotlight-on-mystery-mystery-code.html
https://acasualcarebear.blogspot.ie/2016/05/ccp-mystery-code-misers.html


It's frustrating.


I'm not the only one to feel frustration. NevilleSmit.com makes a lot of good points on his blog!
http://nevillesmit.com/blog/2016/5/1/occupy-new-eden
http://nevillesmit.com/blog/2015/1/9/stopmysterycodeneglect


The sandbox allows for a lot of play styles it's true. I'm enjoying what I do, even if it is a short login. #I am the 85 percent

I've seen a lot of similar people drop off the grid over the last year or so. Others like me have become stuck in a rut routine and become more of a hermit. Effort and timing need to be considered when doing anything in Eve. Trust especially both in and out of game, player to player and player to game company.

People and the "Meta" say that players coming and going is all part of a cycle but my friend list over the last 6 years is longer than ever with inactive players. There are lots of things to do in Eve but that is a problem in itself. Maybe a broader general appeal would help but that would inflame the vocal minority into a firestorm. 

Two good related post:
https://evehermit.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/2922/
http://nevillesmit.com/blog/2016/7/1/listlessness 

The last patch/expansion (does CCP know what to call these "releases" now?) was received as being underwhelming. http://nevillesmit.com/blog/2016/5/1/occupy-new-eden with a link to a podcast that is also worth listening to regarding it.

CCP has a mish mash of idea's and implementations. Fool me once with the mystery code shame on CCP, fool me twice with this latest offers fiasco, shame on me.
Is there any real consistency for offers!
So being that peeved I sent in a support ticket to get a refund. Long story short the nice GM that replied offered the choice of suspending the accounts until I decided to return to the game or an immediate refund. I chose the immediate refund (few days, banks permitting). So in short order I had got the money back.

The quickness of the process makes me wonder if this type of refund happens often.

CCP does walk a fine line to keep the playerbase they have but they may rely too much on the lies of statistics. These stats can change depending on the current flavour of the month that the current perspective of CCP.

Why CCP does things the way they do I am sure is down to it's own internally developed culture and changes, or lack of changes over time. It's like there seems to be a loss of common sense sometimes. CCP works in mysterious ways (that's not meant as a good thing). Some of their actions leave me scratching my head. 

Pay for a year of Eve and you may be lucky to get some free skins, two weeks later and you won't get those skins. But if you wait another few weeks again and you'll see that if you had waited and only paid for 90 days of game time you'd get 90 day's of free alt training.
I'll be complaining about that for a long time to come. Right after I bitch again about the mystery code.

CCP seems to place too much emphasis on the here and now. Granting the most benefits to players who are living the game month to month while abandoning the longer term players. Focus on the microtransactions is probably the driver for that.

I have to mention the mystery code again. I'm sure CCP has all but forgotten it at this stage (That really, really, really grinds my gears!). After many dev posts about nothing being big enough to warrant a mystery code "gift" they release Citadels. There is nothing bigger in Eve Online yet there is still nothing. The mystery code is an ideal way for keeping longer more invested players like me keen on the game. What a true facepalm fail for CCP.

Making the current player base grind on dailies will burn out and bore people unless it's implemented better. Yes they will continue to do it as is,  it gives an in game plus for that player. It is Eve after all.
I do think that making the player base you already have work for the subscription they already pay is effort in the wrong direction.
Some more thoughts on the dailies worth reading: http://nevillesmit.com/blog/2016/7/6/horseshoes-and-hand-grenades

I won't be holding my breath for any upcoming in game PVE content changes. The long term CCP Seagull road map has great things planned. If there is any improvement to PVE content it will be very coincidental with whatever else is changing.

CCP seems to be leaning on the only common ground all players have, no matter the direction they have taken in game. Player (can) shoot player. As long as they revolve around that then they will never grow the player base and appeal to a broader range of player.

The NPE, it's development plan and attachment of a player with an NPC faction with a strong storyline gives hope for PVE but I don't see much else. If that even happens at all.

If things change and change for the betterment of my gameplay style I might consider a return to the game but more likely than not I'll end up being a dick of a player on a trial account.