EVE... out of the ones I played.
Although it could be argued that it is relatively shallow gameplay wise.
EVE Online is probably the most Complex MMO I've ever played. Star Wars Galaxies is another, Pre-CU of course, what with the incredible resource-gathering/crafting, the player cities, the sheer depth of the profession system, and the integration of space-combat. But I'm still going to have to say that EVE Online is the MOST complex MMORPG I've ever played.
In spring of 2009, I and a few friend of mine decided to give EVE online a try. It ended after about a month and a half of missioning and mining and generally, by the end of it, being bored out of our minds. I'm sure that if you asked any of them (my friends) about the game, their response would probably sound something like what Astral posted.
But at the beginning of this year, I chanced upon an article (
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/08/31/the-five-year-spree-part-1/) about an EVE Corporation called StateCorp, a PVP Corp, that had just finished up a 5 year run in EVE. "Here" was the kind of stuff I'd wanted to do in EVE Online. In the conclusion, the writer mentioned that StateCorp was disbanding, but that a core group of it's Vets were starting a new Corporation that was to be affiliated with the website (Rock Paper Shotgun). So I got in touch with them, and I've been having a blast ever since.
EVE Online is a vast game played across the vast vast-ness of space. It's really quite vast. A vast number of people inhabit this vast-ness: generally around 40,000 concurrent players at prime-time, with the record standing at 60,000 concurrent members.
There are four races, and each race has about 50 different ships to choose from.
Every ship has a different layout of "slots" that you can fit specific modules to (High Slots/Mid Slots/Low Slots). Every ship also has a bonus to a specific module(s). So, while many ships are similar, no two ships are exactly alike.
The High Slots are generally reserved for weapons, as well as for Energy Emission modules that steal/neutralize the Capacitor (power) of target.
The Mid Slots are where you will fit your propulsion module, your Microwarpdrive or Afterburner. Here too you will fit your Electronic Warfare modules, Stasis Webifiers that slow down your target, and Warp Disruption modules that stop your target from warping away. Mid slots are also where you will fit the majority of your Shield Tanking modules.
The Low slots are where you will fit the majority of your tanking modules; Damage Controls, and Armor Tanking modules. Here too you will fit Weapon Upgrade modules, which increase the damage/range of your weapons.
Additionally, every ship has a limited number of slots for Riggings, which complement the modules of your ship.
The ship you choose, and the way that you choose to fit it out, will largely determine your role in EVE Online.
This accounts of 25% of your effectiveness in combat.
Your character's skills account for another 25% of your effectiveness. Your skills will determine the modules you can use, the amount of CPU/Powergrid that your ship has to fit modules, and just about all of the basic stats/characteristics of your ship. There are a lot of skills. It can all be a little daunting, especially in the beginning. You need to find a guide, or ask someone who is experienced, because you will have a hard time figuring this all out on your own.
The final 50% of your effectiveness in combat is determined by your PERSONAL SKILL. How you fly your ship is the single most important element to combat in this. If you gave someone a character with all of the skills in the game maxed, and put him into the best ship in the game with all of the best modules the game has to offer, he wouldn't last 5 minutes.
Dock, target, shoot (or mine) and move are the most often used commands.
This is just insulting, even if it is born of ignorance. I like to record my battles so I can play them back later to see how I f**ked up. But I'm constantly forgetting to hit record, because I've got about a dozen other things on my mind and the game is quite frankly just that exciting.
Let me give you an example:
My Friend and I, we'll call him Jack, are sitting in a Low-Security system at a
Safe, a bookmarked location in empty space that is hard to find, i.e. relatively safe. We're trying to decide where to go next, when we notice
Local, the channel that shows all players in local space, go up by one. We check his profile, and see that his Security Status is -5.1; he's a great big pirate. We have all of the Jump-Gates in system on scan from our Safe. A Drake, a missile wielding Battlecruiser with an incredible tank, shows up on the Directional Scanner.
"Looks like bait," I say.
"Yep."
"Narrow him down."
"Hehe. Okay."
So, while I continue to scan for additional ships at 360 degrees, Jack narrows down the cone of his Directional Scanner to try and pinpoint the Drake's location. In less than a minute, Jack has him down to an Asteroid Belt, with wrecks on scan.
"Planet 7 Belt 1," Jack says.
"Nothing else on scan,"
"Shall we say hello?"
"Lets."
We warp top the asteroid belt. The Drake is there, sitting at the warp-in point. Immediately he locks me and opens up with his Heavy Assault Missiles.
"Point, Web, it's a HAM Drake, get ECM drones on him," I say.
"Check Check, Local plus one, Hurricane on scan."
"I see it. I'm scrammed and webbed, let's get this Drake down. Overheat."
"Cane landing."
"I see it, stay on the Drake."
The Hurricane lands on top of us, and immediately starts shooting/neutralizing my active tanked Harbinger.
"Point that Cane. I'm capping out," I say.
"Okay, hold on, we got this."
"Drake is into Armor now."
The Drake is almost down, but the combined damage/nueting of the two Battlecruisers is taking it's toll on my ship. I'm floating in and out of hull, with the Armor Repairs desperately trying to keep up with the damage/lack of capacitor.
"Drake is down, get out get out," Jack shouts.
"Hehe. Too late."
My Harbinger explodes.
"I'll grab my Arbitrator, can you hold him?" I ask.
"Neg, he's burning off, I've dropped point - he's gone," Jack replies.
"Oh well. Fair trade I guess. Where you want to go for lunch?"
"I don't care, wherever you want to go I guess."
"No, you choose."
"No you."
It goes on like that for a while.
This post is too long, but whatever. I have class. o/ Fly safe.
- Snuffles
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Topic: Most Complex MMO (Read 17826 times)