AH / Hardmode Raiding... done
It's been a few weeks since posting, and my WoW playtime has pretty much hit 0.
*The 'guys' I've raiding with for four years have quit for real life and kids.
*My kids, being only slightly younger, will demand that I quit in a year anyway.
*For me, this game sucks without the end-raiding; and there isn't anything that holds my interest in WoW anymore (besides hardmode 25man, which again... is limited to a year at best.)
*I hit the WoW goldcap (/golfclap). So, AH raiding has lost its interest. I have done a few nights for the guild (I get about 2000g for 30-45m of time), but that's about it.
So, life without WoW. I haven't entered an instance in four or five weeks. I still know all my remapped hotkeys by heart. (I wrote sooo many macros that were all bound to keys) At this point I'm planning on putzing around until I can finish a long, strange, trip meta achiev then cancelling my accounts.
I have been playing EvE online.
Not surprisingly, I enjoy the economics of the game, and have started off as a miner. Questing (missioning) as a secondary hobby until I build up enough to dive into research/manufacturing effectively. Although, after I get a good feel for the economics... it's trading time.
In 2 full weeks of playing EvE, I have:
*purchased cyberware for my two accounts (~$80M isk)
*upgraded my ships (~$25M isk)
*purchased a lot of skill books (~$50M isk)
*purchased an 'alt ship' for missioning when mining gets too dull (~$20M isk)
*upgraded clones / bought misc stuff (~$5M isk)
and I've banked an extra ~$25M for contingencies.
So, I've accumulated about ~$200M isk over a two week period, starting with the standard $100k. I feel that this is quite a bit in a relatively short period, and a few vetrans in my corporation (guild) have been impressed. But, how does this compare with WoW?
CCP (EvE's creators) offers 'pilot licenses' for sale for IN GAME money. A player can purcahse a $15USD game card and sell it through the game's open market for ISK. (I like this concept sooo much. Needless to say, it's essentially killed the 'gold sellers'.) The license currently goes for $300-325M isk. Let's say $300M for easy-math. This equates to $20M isk for $1USD. Doing 10 seconds of 'research' via google shows I could buy 200g from wow for $1. ($5 for 1000g advert.)
So, this would roughly be the same as having a new WoW player come online for two weeks, play about 60hrs (~3days... kids were at grandma's with my wife) and gross 2,000g. All in all, i'd say... that's pretty normal for a character almost hitting lvl45 without a rush. I've done better, but then again.... I know many tricks in WoW.
Some of the real important things regarding EvE for me:
*You can specialize and get to YOUR endgame in about six to seven weeks. Old timers may be able to do 3x more than you, always... but you can catch up in your specialty because they'll have run out of things to do.
*ONE universe. I play in the same universe as EVERYONE else who plays EvE. That's just kewl.
*The economy is EXTREMELY player driven. NPCs generate some very basic building blocks, but EVERYTHING people really want is made by another player.
*A massive, massive AH 'market' to have fun with. I'm still learning until I get full into the AH. My second account has already started the skill training regimen for hauling goods between trading hubs.
*It's PvP. PvP player pirates, PvP alliances establishing control over the boarders, Player controled spacestations, and everything has the potential to get blown up, including the police. (Although there are always more cops...)
Regardless, I"m currently interested in the game, and it fits one more, very important element: I can logg off for a business trip, family, or just 'cause with no issues. You can't push hardmode WoW and have that as a reality, at least in my experience.
*The 'guys' I've raiding with for four years have quit for real life and kids.
*My kids, being only slightly younger, will demand that I quit in a year anyway.
*For me, this game sucks without the end-raiding; and there isn't anything that holds my interest in WoW anymore (besides hardmode 25man, which again... is limited to a year at best.)
*I hit the WoW goldcap (/golfclap). So, AH raiding has lost its interest. I have done a few nights for the guild (I get about 2000g for 30-45m of time), but that's about it.
So, life without WoW. I haven't entered an instance in four or five weeks. I still know all my remapped hotkeys by heart. (I wrote sooo many macros that were all bound to keys) At this point I'm planning on putzing around until I can finish a long, strange, trip meta achiev then cancelling my accounts.
I have been playing EvE online.
Not surprisingly, I enjoy the economics of the game, and have started off as a miner. Questing (missioning) as a secondary hobby until I build up enough to dive into research/manufacturing effectively. Although, after I get a good feel for the economics... it's trading time.
In 2 full weeks of playing EvE, I have:
*purchased cyberware for my two accounts (~$80M isk)
*upgraded my ships (~$25M isk)
*purchased a lot of skill books (~$50M isk)
*purchased an 'alt ship' for missioning when mining gets too dull (~$20M isk)
*upgraded clones / bought misc stuff (~$5M isk)
and I've banked an extra ~$25M for contingencies.
So, I've accumulated about ~$200M isk over a two week period, starting with the standard $100k. I feel that this is quite a bit in a relatively short period, and a few vetrans in my corporation (guild) have been impressed. But, how does this compare with WoW?
CCP (EvE's creators) offers 'pilot licenses' for sale for IN GAME money. A player can purcahse a $15USD game card and sell it through the game's open market for ISK. (I like this concept sooo much. Needless to say, it's essentially killed the 'gold sellers'.) The license currently goes for $300-325M isk. Let's say $300M for easy-math. This equates to $20M isk for $1USD. Doing 10 seconds of 'research' via google shows I could buy 200g from wow for $1. ($5 for 1000g advert.)
So, this would roughly be the same as having a new WoW player come online for two weeks, play about 60hrs (~3days... kids were at grandma's with my wife) and gross 2,000g. All in all, i'd say... that's pretty normal for a character almost hitting lvl45 without a rush. I've done better, but then again.... I know many tricks in WoW.
Some of the real important things regarding EvE for me:
*You can specialize and get to YOUR endgame in about six to seven weeks. Old timers may be able to do 3x more than you, always... but you can catch up in your specialty because they'll have run out of things to do.
*ONE universe. I play in the same universe as EVERYONE else who plays EvE. That's just kewl.
*The economy is EXTREMELY player driven. NPCs generate some very basic building blocks, but EVERYTHING people really want is made by another player.
*A massive, massive AH 'market' to have fun with. I'm still learning until I get full into the AH. My second account has already started the skill training regimen for hauling goods between trading hubs.
*It's PvP. PvP player pirates, PvP alliances establishing control over the boarders, Player controled spacestations, and everything has the potential to get blown up, including the police. (Although there are always more cops...)
Regardless, I"m currently interested in the game, and it fits one more, very important element: I can logg off for a business trip, family, or just 'cause with no issues. You can't push hardmode WoW and have that as a reality, at least in my experience.
Total Comments 6
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Very valid points about all that you've experienced in WoW, and are experiencing in EvE. I know I would miss raiding if I had to stop for real life stuff. (And I did when College decided to take up a ton of time!)
As for EvE, i've been intrigued, but haven't thought it'd be as easy to just pick up and learn in freetime, (as I still intend to play WoW primarily). It seems something that would require more time investment, at least initially, to pick up the basics of the game enough to succeed, or at least survive. Is that accurate? |
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Any MMO to really 'succeed' is going to require some time commitment. EvE is different than most games out there. A CCP description is pretty accurrate: (paraphrasing) "Many MMOs are like amusement parks. You see something you like and you grind/quest away until the 'ride' is done. EvE is like a sandbox. It is what you create."
I hated questing in WoW. There are really only 3 different quests that get repeated over and over and over. Few of the stories were good, but I only cared about end game and AH raiding, so questing wasn't fun. In EvE I did a total of 9 introduction missions before heading out to make money. Occassionally I do some missions to blow stuff up, but I could just as easily create an alt to pirate others (and blow them up). Or I could go around and blow up players doing mission, or whatever else I want to do... (There are even videos on youtube of players blowing up bases). Everything is destructible. If you can/want to deal with the police, or live in outlaw space, everything is possible. The skills in EvE is what restricts you from doing everything at once. ALL items are player created. A new player can't just hop into a Tier III (best) ship, fitted to the hilt; because they don't know how to fly it, use the weapons or subsystems. The EvE skill system learns during real time. It takes X many seconds to learn a skill (which ranks 1-5), learn the pre-reqs, etc. Currently I'm on a business trip. My character is learning a skill rank that will take 4 days. I don't have to be online for this to continue. You can queue up to 24 hours in advance, but if I don't logon in 4days, I can 'lose' some skill points. Some of the high end skills (such as capital ship flying) can take a month to learn. Going on vacation? Just start training one of those extra long skills. The general thing people do are: PvP in 0.0(outlaw) space, mission(quest), manufacture, research, trade, and mine. The amount of game time you invest will get you: more ISK (gold), and better reputation to lower taxes. Another option for ISK is to purachase a 15day card and sell it through their AH system (market). This will net you around $300-325million ISK. (This also means you could buy it from others and pay $0 for the game) |
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Not that I've played EVE, but as far as I know, the "end-game" EVE also requires a lot of commitment, getting kicked out of alliances if you don't do as is asked by the leaders (hit x at 2AM for example...)
The sandbox idea of EVE is indeed very cool, but the problem is... the rich get richer while the new/poor guys do all the work, at least so I've heard. Quote:
The EvE skill system learns during real time
Anyhoo, good luck in EVE and play whatever suits you!  |
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I think that I really like the idea of queuing up skills to learn, etc, and making it so that it very actively promotes the idea that 'the world continues even if you're not on'. That's a way neat feature/design aspect of the game.
But I think that Ingmar makes a few very valid points as well, and are part of my reluctance to join. It all being on one big server is really really cool, but at the same time means that there are very established guilds/groups that run the galaxy, and if you're not in one, (my impression anyway is that) you won't stand a chance. The other reluctance I have to joining is the flipside of being able to queue up stuff ... there's lots of waiting. With WoW, potentially speaking, you could keep skilling up, and leveling, and etc, without waiting. There isn't really much limit in that respect, only a question of investment. Whereas with EvE, it sounds a lot like the limit is hard coded into the gameplay. I definitely like the idea of effectively being able to play for free. And, the scale of the game intrigues me enough that i'll probably break down and try it at some point. Now ... as for Auction House raiding ... if you're looking for a place to invest your gold .... :P |
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I have been playing Eve, and I do not have a desire for end-game PvP. I logon to mine/mission according to my schedule, and if RL comes up... no EvE. ALL MMOs have an endgame that I can't participate in anymore. EvE player driven economy is the only MMO I can think of in which I can play to my schedule and still enjoy.
I have found a corporation with similar 'beliefs', and guess what... we're all over 30... which I don't think is a coincidence. We may be Eve 'carebears', but that's the time we have. Regardles, WoW is pretty much done as I wait to complete Brewfest for the 'Long, Strange, Trip' meta-achievment. Then it's expiry time. |
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Eve Update:
EvE is going very well. I have one mining / missioning character that still has a ways to go before being where I want. He will be in a Hulk in about a month, after my social/trade skill diversion then attribute remap. My second toon is a hauler/manufacturer/trader (eventual researcher). I get an Indy/Transport this week and I make 8-10x more manufacturing/trading than I do mining. HOWEVER, I have downtime during the trading / manufacturing, so I mine in the iterim. My Income right now is around 250M/week currently between the two characters. I am still buying a lot of skill books and preppring for other ships. I am hoping to PLEX my accounts here in another month, which will have me paying $0/month while playing Eve. The $ isn't a big thing... Plex is such a neat concept, I gotta participate. (There are barely any 'gold sellers'.) For WoW players: EvE has a brutal market (AH) in which you need to transport your good to the trade hubs (while avoiding player-pirates) then sell. Every tactic you've read about here in EJ is present in Eve. To make things even more interesting, ther is ONE server. All players are on the same market. Monopolies are still possible (In remote space), but very, very difficult. PLEX is basically a 30day subscription. Eve makers allow players to buy time cards and 'sell' them on the market for in-game money. The buyers are other players who spend in-game money for the time cards. This concept has pretty much eliminated gold sellers. It also fits very well with the brutal capitalistic nature of the game. (An 'AH' tactic in Eve you dont' see in WoW: putting up a price on an item that is Really cheap; then blowing up the person who is coming to buy it... pirate tactic.) Another unique thing in Eve: transferring characters to another account for in-game money. You can only skill train 1 character in an account, so the idea is to train up a niche character and then 'sell' that character to another player for in-game money. (Fully developed alt while you keep training your main benefit for buyer). I am seriously looking in to making a third account JUST for this purpose. If my spreadsheet assumptions are correct, I should be able to fund all three accounts with my professions, then sell developed characters for enough Eve $ to buy 3 months worth of game time (on all 3 accounts). The amount of time to create a character for sale: 3 months. The first 3 months may be rough (I may have to actually -gasp- PAY for AN account). The economic challege is very intriguing. I'll probably break down an try it. |
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Recent Blog Entries by Derrek
- AH / Hardmode Raiding... done (08/03/09)
- Top ten epiphanies from AH raiding (07/05/09)
- Raiding AH with a new toon (05/11/09)
- Using professions for gold (04/13/09)
- Weekly AH reports (03/09/09)
