With no twitch element to proceedings, and the dense and complicated interface Eve Isk certainly attracts a very select audience and has earned the nickname “Excel Online”. Eve's player-base has consistently grown since its birth however, something matched by almost no other MMO. Even Warcraft seems to have hit its peak.
PvP
Due to the lack of Character Levels and Experience Points, the PvP in Eve is a singularly thrilling experience. When forming up a fleet, every ship counts, whether you've been there one day or 5 years. The scale of the ships is truly astounding, with the largest capitol ships stretching over 18 kilometres. For a new player there is nothing more satisfying than zipping close to one in a tiny frigate and jamming their engines or targeting systems while your team-mates in Battleships pummel away at them with projectile turrets and beam weapons.
The unique role of the Fleet Commander is also something that few will have experienced before, and is something that really takes the combat to a level above other MMOs. It is the job of the FC to organise the fleet (of perhaps 200+ players) into wings and squadrons and then issue orders over a headset. Calling out primary and secondary targets, ordering his Recon and Sniper wings into position and choosing the right targets for the Electronic Warfare squadron to hamper, the job of the FC is a more demanding role than I have previously seen anywhere in computer gaming.
The 'Apocrypha' Expansion
The producers of Eve Online, CCP games have an innovative business model that provides players with the client and all subsequent updates completely free. They see their development as funded by the subscriptions of their players. The most recent expansion (there have been 11 previously) has focused on features both for new players and old.
For the new players, there has been an overhaul of what they call the NPE (New Player Experience). This has been in direct response to the overwhelmingly difficult learning curve. New players are now guided much more slowly through the large numbers of skills and concepts they will need to understand, and give many more rewards and incentives along the way.
The main focus of the expansion is the much talked about wormholes. These randomly spawning rifts in space are the doorways to 2500 new star-systems, full of radical technology and slumbering ancients. This has given the developers an excuse to update the enemy AI which, to be honest, is rather disappointing.