This week I was burning towards an enemy ship to set-up an engagement (nothing was over-heated) when suddenly my prop mod stopped working. It just went dead. I warped off and docked up to repair it, but it wouldn't be repaired. It just stayed dead. I had to purchase a new one from the market a system over and replace it. Odd.
This week I can no longer track Asteroid Belts. Everything else, stations, plex, gates, anything else in space - but not Asteroid Belts. I've tried everything. As have others in Stay Frosty who are experiencing the same thing. It is just not working. This is annoying and impacts us hunters directly.
Add these to the constant loss of chat windows, the random loss of the ability to type or use commands, and the other dozen or so annoyances that keep popping up and things start to feel concerning. For the past two years I've been fighting a losing battle against the launcher starting up Eve 4 screens wide on my computer. While that specific issues seems to be fixed with the most recent updates, it has been temporarily fixed before - only to reappear randomly again. So fingers crossed.
I am not a complainer. And I hate bitching about minor annoyances. But cast these stones against a much bigger wall that includes massive feature creep and vast areas of unused or empty space, clustered content, and pack mentalities and I think we all have reasons to be concerned. Recent changes to Zarzakh have only helped to illuminate those concerns at a much deeper level than just a localized issue with the new Havoc inspired short-cut would have us believe. Remember this is a universe that still contains POSes in space. And I could easily and without much effort at all list off a litany of additional content that has expired or been abandoned over the years. Pochven anyone? Abyssal space? It is a long list.
So yeah, I have some concerns. Constantly expanding the game is a recipe for significant feature creep and it feels like Eve is truly starting to show her age. I think it might be time for some deep breathing exercises and some deep cleaning around the house. If we want to keep inviting guests over and have them stay, we really need some significant leadership on how to evolve AND devolve Eve into a mighty version of itself that can survive into its third decade.
I'm not randomly complaining either. I am responding directly to complaints, worries, and concerns expressed to me by players. I'm responding to yet another round of saying good-bye to long-term and committed players leaving the game. I'm responding to long expressions of frustration on our Discord. To players watching the daily numbers and choosing what days to log-in or do something else. And my own concerns stem directly from those concerns that I see daily in and around not only my own community of players - but the greater community as well.
Someone needs to step back and take a good hard look at the entirety of Eve Online right now. Where is it currently and where do we need it to be in the near future. I believe strongly that there continues to be potential in this universe and I refuse to give up on that potential. But I have concerns.
Sometimes the answer is less. Not more.