Hyellow everyone!
I'm curious what's the current status of all planets:
- are they being actively developed (as in regular new content)?
- are there any regular events being organized?
- do they have an active population or not?
- is the community friendly towards new players or not?
- pros and cons for each one
Thing is that I have a few friends that just quit EVE and are thinking about joining EU and they're considering what planet to pick and, being away for one year, I simply can't answer these questions accurately myself.
I am well aware that everyone is subjective and has a favorite planet, but I still hope that I'll get some reliable answers which I can pass to them. Thank you in advance!
I think my view is probably one of the most balanced you'll find.
I had a whole thing written about my first choices of planet to start on, but my info was out of date. Between Calypso's starting experience and
AJ's informative post, I recommend starting on Calypso.
Don't start on Cyrene, but do play on it after you've gotten started in the game. See its entry below for why.
I feel
strongly that by far the primary pro and con of each planet is its "feel" and ambience. That said, I particularly like Calypso's tutorial and early play, and the perks Monria (
Monrian Born Program | How it Works) and Rocktropia gave their native avatars after sending them through Calypso's tutorial and early play. Next Island also offers some pleasant perks for its citizens.
- are they being actively developed (as in regular new content)?
Yes. All of them. But some of what I consider "content" is provided more by the community than by the planet partners / MA. In general, the more active the planet, the more PP/MA attention it gets in terms of new content.
- are there any regular events being organized?
Yes. On all planets.
- do they have an active population or not?
From most to least active:
- Calypso
- Arkadia
- Rocktropia
- Cyrene
- Next Island
- Monria and Toulan
Calypso is the only planet whose auction is active enough to be worth a new or casual player risking posting on it. On each other planet's auction, there are a handful of resources whose local prices are inflated enough to be awkward. In all other respects, all of the planets are active enough to be quite worth while playing on.
- is the community friendly towards new players or not?
Yes. There are of course the occasional grouches and trolls, like in any MMO, but once you ignore them the rest of the community is solid.
- pros and cons for each one
My response to that is not organized, not thought out, and far from comprehensive. Here it is anyway, take with salt.
- Calypso: Planet is in an excellent degree of completion; all of the systems work here, even the auction; having the most players, it also has the highest number of walking annoyances. Calypso weapons' statistics are really unpredictable even within the same line of weapons, you have to entropedia their dpp and other stats. Calypso mobs and spawns are similarly unpredictable, offering that as a challenge in play; many of the low mobs tend toward high aggro, very low hp (glass cannon mobs), many with low enough hp to make finding a small enough weapon a difficult challenge. The other planets don't have glass cannon mobs by comparison.
Calypso has unique daily missions with a cooldown of only 16 hours instead of the usual 20, making them especially playable. Not only that, but the Daily Terminal which hands them out, selects 3 hunting missions, a crafting mission, and a mining mission all at random each day. If you don't like one, you can just get a different one the next day. Daily tokens can be exchanged at an NPC for some lovely stuff (I'm only familiar with the guns, which I love).
- Arkadia: Planet is in an excellent degree of completion; all of the systems work here except the auction is too slow for most sellers (too many non-sales, the fees add up); Community here is somewhat better integrated, and very helpful. Arkadia's hunting daily is monotonous but easy and exceptionally well balanced. For that matter, the whole planet is exceptionally well balanced (the team appears to have put thought and skill into it). And when you get a weapon or tool from Arkadia, its name tells you just what you are getting, with the exception of the Piron line (variable, some of them top-notch) and the Gravis line (a whole line of turds). Other planets don't do the player that favor to that extent.
Arkadia's hunting daily reward is skills and ammo, varying according to the avatar's military rank, which increases with number of dailys completed.
Arkadia's lower-midlevel play is particularly pleasant. I'm currently hooked because I'm a midlevel hunter and noob crafter - lovely place to shoot low/mid mobs and click textures.
Arkadian-Born avatars begin play in Arkadia's unique starting area and proceed to Arkadia. They also don't have to pay the 10k sweat "Offworlder Fee" to get their Arkadian Passport which unlocks Arkadia's daily, but frankly, 10k sweat is just not that hard (cheap now too).
- Rocktropia: Planet's development is quirky and haphazard, pretty much whatever its owner feels like working on at any given moment. That doesn't make it worse, just whackier, and the locals have fun with that aspect. Rocktropians are a more passionate bunch than most, more open, more tolerant, and often whacky - think of the planet as one big party. If a party isn't your idea of a good time, or if you don't enjoy ND Studios' very urban aesthetics, Rocktropia may drive you nuts. Otherwise, it's great.
Rocktropia is small enough and its playerbase insular enough that your main source of income is direct trading, not the auction. Neverdie has taken the edge off that dynamic by providing the only fully functioning pawn shop I know of in the game.
Rocktropia also has player-owned instances. I mention this to illustrate how deeply ND collaborates with his playerbase. It's a very tight, even family-like bond. This is not to say the other planet staffs don't collaborate with their playerbase - they all work hard at it, and their effort shows - but on Rocktropia, it's a family matter.
Rocktropia has dailies like anywhere else, and I've forgotten them.
Rocktropian-Born avatars begin play on Calypso and get a free one way trip to Rocktropia once, when they feel ready.
- Cyrene: Well balanced but doesn't quite feel complete. Immersive, but doesn't feel like it's part of the same universe when you're on it. Auction is useless except for mission reward materials, but the planet has more daily missions than I've seen anywhere else, and half of them are just daily materials hand-ins, which drives the auction. Planet staff are creative and friendly. If you want a break from the rest of the universe and have a decent pedroll to cycle while you wait to find buyers for your loots, Cyrene is the place to go. Overall returns are quite nice even in TT (although still a slight loss before mu just like anywhere else). Eco of looted guns is slightly better than on most planets (although at this point the eco of all planets' most commonly looted guns is great).
But don't start on Cyrene for two reasons: its early play is a rough draft of a game, and doesn't give nearly as much help as on most planets, and more importantly, you need a bankroll to cycle while you wait for buyers for your loots. If you have the bankroll and the patience, Cyrene is great, a superb vacation from the game's norm. Players who prefer Cyrene should start on some other planet and move to Cyrene once they've played through the earliest part of the game (ie, after reaching Sisyphus if they began on Calypso/Rocktropia/Monria).
Cyrene has its own unique starting area which is borderline broken, from which new Cyreans proceed to Cyrene. They'll need to visit Calypso to get proper gear for lowbie play.
- Next Island: Planet is incomplete, but hella fun, and its community is probably the nicest in the game. I don't know squat about its early play but otherwise I can recommend it. Its planet staff work closely with a large group of players who succeed in making Next Island a welcoming and fun place to be. They even provide transportation away from the planet on a regular schedule, negating the feeling of isolation the planet previously had.
I think Next Island has some dailys.
I think Next Island has a unique starting area all its own, from which new Next Islanders continue to Next Island.
- Toulan: Planet is in a very early stage of development, and its balancing varies. That said, it's a very enjoyable place to play, and as of this writing its most commonly looted weapons get the best eco of commonly looted weapons from any planet. And it has at least 8 hunting dailies which reset every couple hours, all of which give skill rewards, and the rewards of 3 of which are very helpful for a lowbie hunter, for killing very easy mobs (I know two of those give Aim). Great place for a lowbie hunter to farm Aim and hides, which are in very strong demand among low level crafters (although the same is true of Arkadia). Planet is however isolated by its distance from everywhere else except Next Island.
I have no idea where Toulan-Born avatars begin play.
- Monria: Not technically a planet, rather a moon, Monria's community is small and extremely tight knit. Their Mentorship program for Monrian-born newbies has all kinds of advantages. Transportation to and from Monria is also a nonissue for Monrian-born avatars willing to accomodate the planet's fleet's schedule. Monria has 5 mobs, plus plenty of bosses; the first 3 mobs are newbie-friendly, but the only oil they drop is muscle. Monria has a crafting daily which gives a really big skill reward (Engineering). But between the ease of travel from Monria to Calypso, and the fact that Monria has indoor-rules mining only (ubers-only mining, pretty much), there's usually nothing on the Monria auction to craft. There are however enough active shops to mostly counter that setback.
Monrian-Born avatars begin play on Calypso and travel to Monria for free when they feel ready.