In order to get better standings with Caldari Navy so I can run my own level four missions if corp members are not around without heading back to Minmatar space, I've been forced to run level two missions. And rather than buying a whole new ship to do so, I've been doing them in my rigged out tech 2 battle ship.
*stunned silence*
While the Eve crowd gets up off the floor, let me explain to anyone who might be reading this what that means (waves at Karthis).
There are five levels of missions (read: quests) in Eve that you get assigned to you from agents belonging to big NPC corporations. Each agent offers missions of one level and you can only talk to agents if the NPC corporation likes you enough (aka have standings with that corporation). In order to get to the agents that offer higher level missions, you need to accept and complete lower level missions to get improved standings.
Level one agents are generally available to everyone except enemies of its corporation and level one missions are designed for newbies flying basic frigates. Level two missions are designed for players that have been around a bit longer and fly cruisers. Level three for the experienced pilots in battlecruisers, and level fours are for veterans in battleships. Level 5 missions are designed as group activities by many veterans in powerful ships.
So to say I'm running level two missions in a rigged-out tech 2 battleship is like saying a level 60 WoW character is doing quests designed to be accomplished by a level 15 character. Its overkill in the extreme. But hey, we do what we have to.
I figure I need about 5-10 more missions and I'll get access to the level 3 agent I'm aiming for. Probably take the rest of this week or so, depending on if I get to join in level fours with my friends.
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WoW breaks quests/missions/whatever down like this:
ReplyDeleteSolo - if you're of the appropriate level, you should be able to do it on your own.
Group[2]-Group[5] - Assuming you have the recommended number of people of the appropriate level (somewhere between two and five) you should be able to handle the quest. (If you're higher level or very skilled you may be able to do it with less.)
Instance - Five people of the appropriate level should be able to clear the dungeon and complete the quest.
Raid[10], Raid[25] - Given the properly number of skilled and appropriately geared players, and also given a favorable mix of classes, you should be able to clear the raid dungeon and complete the quests.
Yeah, WoW has give a lot more thought to quests / mission than Eve has, but that is by design as the developers put in missions as a side activity and not a main thrust. Unfortunately for them, the public disagrees.
ReplyDeleteHummmm.... okay - that strikes me as an interesting (and previously unknown) tidbit.
ReplyDeleteIf missions are not the main thrust, what is the main purpose in EVE?
Eve gets is name from "Everyone versus Everything" in my mind. Note, the following is all my opinion.
ReplyDeleteEve is designed to put players against each other in pure combat, space control, market economics, industrial activities. In essence, Eve is a sandbox where players decide how to interact with other players, cooperative, competitively, aggressively, etc.
The most dynamic and exciting areas of Eve are the "lawless depths of space" where there is no protection other than what you and your friends provide each other. And anything you have can be taken away by someone with more power. AS you get closer to the civilization centres, there is more NPC protection (stations to hide in, sentry guns to help protect you) but for the most part you friends and enemies make the game.
In the most secure space, NPC police protect you from attacks although suicide gankers can sometimes kill you before the police kill them, and their allies can swoop in to recover any surviving goodies from your wreck.
Everywhere you go, you are not safe. You can be safer, but never 100%. This is Eve and it can be brutal.
Missions are mostly a very solo activity added in for some variety. The problem Eve's developers face is that a large population of people wanting to avoid the brutal PvP aspect of Eve have made missions their ONLY focus and hence the safest space is over populated with people that rarely interact with each other. Over the years they try to address this slowly by increasing the number of missions and working on their quality, but it still lacks behind games that started from that direction.