Eve has always fallen into the later category. This isn't a criticism or a failure, it's just the way things are... errr, have been.
My first reaction to Inferno yesterday was whoa Nelly. Shiny new ships, some new models, a new UI, kill reports(!) and some other things that don't matter. Oh, I forgotted one. MISSILES!
The circle is now complete. When I left you there were but turrets, but now there are launchers. Heavy Missile launchers on mah Drake, rocket pods on my Vengeance, Torpedo... ah, flat things, on my Typhoon. And they are all a glory to behold, racing off in random sorta wavy trails of awesomesauce as they tend to do now.
I love the new Manticore model, wish we had that back when I actually flew that ship more often. The above mentioned Vengeance is amazingly shiny. My favorite however has to be the Absolution. The Space Chicken is still a chicken, but with its crossed swords and demon eyes, it is a scary space chicken. Well done on the Amarr overall. Which only makes the Minnie ships seem even more in need, but more on that later.
Back to missiles. The addition of missile launchers is an interesting change that affects me more than I anticipated. When turrets were added it was cool and great and awesome certainly, but it still left a rather huge gap in the game. Our missile ships were still naked. Yesterday they got their clothes and now everyone is ready for the ball.
It is hard to explain. But Eve feels... I don't know, full maybe? Certainly 'complete' isn't the right word and 'finished' is far from accurate. I'll go with Full for now. In the parlance of the old skill train graph we've all seen a million times, it finally feels like Eve itself has finally reached the plateau. Doesn't it? Am I reading to much into this? Maybe. But with DUST on the horizon, our internet spaceship game is all grown up.
For all my friends in FW, those that find the new UI system worse than before, and all those that found fault in yesterday's launch, I do sympathise with you. A little. My Low Sec remains unattended, GCC is still fifteen minutes and it remains a vaste wasteland in serious need of some love. So it is hard to generate much in the way of sympathy.
Change is hard. It always has been.
Now on to the Minnie ships! (Which I continue to volunteer to assist with CCP!)