So on my 13th EVE Online anniversary (please mind I’ve been retired for the past 3 years) Kael Decadence informed me that Project Aurora is actually playable as open beta. So I’ve immediately downloaded the game to my Android phone and began playing (I don’t have enough free time to play games properly on PC, but generally can find time to play games on mobile – it’s why I focused on World of Tanks Blitz for the past four years).
After 48 hours of playing I am slowly reaching Command Module level 6 and already have some feedback to the Playraven/CCP teams.
Things that the Playraven team nailed:
- Resource mechanics are nice. Corp moon mining <3
- Citadel contesting mechanic is ok. Simplified, but similar to EVE.
- Shield and armor ship setups <3
- PVP is quite dynamic – you can help and defend your friends, too
- Technology tree looks good
- Spin counter <3
Things that the CCP team didn’t convince Playraven team to hard enough:
- There is ship incosistency between EVE Online and EVE:WoA
- Caldari Shuttle as Civilian Miner. Drop Shuttle from this line, make Venture as the entry level, and add Hulk on top of the tree.
- Navitas and Heron are Logi and Ewar respectively – here are used as combat vessels
- No in-game factions are present. Where are my Serpentis rats?!
- Ships should be recyclable (can be at a reduced rate like in EVE), because right now I have to throw them at someone to destroy them
- The same applies to Repair Bay – it should be possible to recycle ships from there
- Ship descriptions are copied from EVE Online and don’t reflect the EVE:WoA specifics
- Instant fleet Warp? As if there were no Jump Portals in EVE? Come on! Name the things appropriately please.
- Fleet recall requires microtransactions? It’s free in most other games in the genre vide: Galaxy on fire Alliances, OGame, Supernova
Things that Playraven team could add:
- Ability to link your EVE Online account and portrait with EVE:WoA (use SSO, download character image)
- Cross-game promotions with EVE Online and EVE Valkyrie (unique SKINs, etc., unique items)
Update Open beta will go down on September 28th 2018. The game will go live somewhere in 2019. I will miss this little time-killer…
