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EVE Evolved: Eleven years of EVE Online
It seems that every year another few MMOs have closed their doors or convert to free-to-play business models to stay afloat. EVE Online has always enjoyed a level of insulation from these market trends elsewhere in the genre, and just last week on May 6th it celebrated its 11th year of year-on-year subscription growth. Following on from my previous column celebrating the EVE Evolved column's sixth year of operation, this week I'll be summarising all the major EVE news stories throughout the year. It's been a big year for EVE fans, one that many of us can be proud to have been a part of. The EVE community turned its financial wizardry toward the real world and raised over $190,000 US in relief aid following a typhoon hitting the Philippines, and CCP even built a monument dedicated to the community. Several massive player battles once again put EVE on the global media's radars, and the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions revitalised the game for explorers and PvPers alike. But not everyone can hold his heads up high this year, with details of more cyberbullying within EVE coming to light and several players being banned for defacing the EVE monument in Reykjavik. In this anniversary retrospective, I summarise all the major EVE news from the year in one place and take a look at what the future may hold for the EVE universe.
EVE Fanfest 2014: EVE's Kronos expansion is an industrial revolution
The EVE Online keynote presentation finished just a few hours ago at EVE Fanfest 2014, and it looks as if there are big plans for the year ahead. This summer will bring us the Kronos expansion, which is scheduled for June 3rd and aims to revolutionise every aspect of industrial activity in EVE Online in terms of both gameplay and accessibility. The economy has become quite stagnant over the past year as players have long since worked out all the most efficient ways to manufacture and trade, so CCP has planned its very own industrial revolution with a complete overhaul of industrial gameplay. Kronos also marks another important milestone for CCP, as the company will be switching from releasing two major expansions per year to a more agile strategy of releasing 10 smaller updates each year. The Kronos release was originally planned as a full expansion before the changeover to a 10-release schedule, so it's as packed as a full expansion. In addition to a deluge of industry overhauls, we'll be getting a shiny new mining ship, major pirate faction ship revamps, an enhanced new player experience, and a cool new effect when players warp into or out of an area. Read on for a breakdown of the EVE keynote presentation and to find out why CCP is moving away from its usual two expansions per year.
EVE Evolved: Six years of EVE Evolved
Six years ago to this exact day, I joined the Massively crew and published the first edition of this column dedicated to the ins and outs of EVE Online. The column has been home to over 300 featured articles since its creation, offering everything from guides and expansion reveals to opinion pieces, fiction, and tales of real in-game events. It's been my pleasure in the past six years to offer the Massively readers a digestible glimpse into the ordinarily somewhat impenetrable world of EVE Online and to introduce new players to the only game (other than Master of Orion II) that's managed to keep me hooked for over a decade. It's been a fantastic year to be a fan of EVE Online, with CCP announcing its long-term vision for deep space colonisation and the game being revitalised through the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions. I've had the opportunity to explore both expansions in this column and to share some hands-on experience with DUST 514 and CCP's upcoming dogfighter EVE Valkyrie. There's been no shortage of opinion pieces this year either, with articles on everything from PvP consequences and twitch controls to whether Star Citizen and Elite are a threat to the sandbox giant. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I round up the best articles from the column's sixth year of operation in one place.
EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.3 and repainting ships
EVE Online's recently released Rubicon expansion was an important first step toward a truly player-run universe for everyone, allowing corporations to wage empire wars over planetary customs offices and introducing a series of new personal deployable structures. The initial release was a little light on content, but developers have since expanded on it significantly with three major point releases. Rubicon 1.3 went live this week, and the changes seem pretty good all around. This release overhauled the directional scanner, buffed the SoE Nestor battleship's capacitor recharge rate and remote repair range, and nerfed remote sensor dampeners into the ground. Large corporations like EVE University were pleased to hear that the limit on the size of corporations has been increased to 12,600 thanks to changes to the corporation management skills. And in response to an emerging trend in fleet warfare involving hordes of drone ships assigning their drones to an interceptor, developers have also limited the number of drones that can be assigned to another ship to 50. The 1.29 GB patch also included several overhauled ship models and new ship shaders, but the new feature I see the most potential in is the ability to finally repaint our ships. This could eventually help corporations establish their own visual identities and might even link into gameplay or EVE's spying metagame. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at some of the Rubicon 1.3 changes and how repainting your ship could become more than simply a cosmetic upgrade.
EVE Online: Rubicon 1.3 patch turns on the lights
A new patch has landed in EVE Online today that features a laundry list of tweaks, the most notable of which is the first pass at the game's new linear lighting. Rubicon 1.3's linear lighting system "increases the texture fidelity improving the richness of color," but CCP said that it still needs more work. The patch also includes several quality-of-life user interface improvements such as giving contacts labels, shift left-clicking to open up a kill report, and the addition of a guest list for stations. Other changes with today's patch include better asteroid shaders, new hull maintenance bots, two new mobile tractor unit variants, additional cosmetic options for ships, and improved corporation skills. You can read the full patch notes for all of the details.
EVE's Rubicon 1.3 patch updating directional scanning
CCP's latest EVE Online dev blog focuses on some UI changes headed your way in the March 12 Rubicon 1.3 update. Tweaks include word filtering and chat highlighting, Neocom blink settings, and updates to the game's directional scanner functionality. "As of Rubicon 1.3, you will have three ways to enter the scan range: one slider and two input fields (one in km and another one in AU)," CCP explains. "Those three input options will be interconnected. That means that when you enter 100,000 in the km field, the AU input field will display the corresponding distance in AU and the slider, which is linear, will also update."
EVE Online: Rubicon 1.1 patch inbound tomorrow
EVE Online is prepping its Rubicon 1.1 patch for tomorrow, January 28th. Clocking in at a little over a gigabyte, Rubicon 1.1 will supplement the most recent expansion with new deployable structures, the final Sisters of EVE ship, graphic tweaks, UI improvements, and the usual kids-clean-up-the-mess-you-made fixes that post-expansion patches typically contain. The full patch notes for Rubicon 1.1 are currently available to read as your ship prepares for drydock.
EVE Evolved: EVE needs real colonisation now
MMOs have absolutely exploded in popularity over the past decade, with online gaming growing from a niche hobby to a global market worth billions of dollars each year. Once dominated by subscription games like EverQuest and World of Warcraft, recent years have seen free-to-play games take centre stage. Global MMO subscriptions have been reportedly shrinking since 2010, and EVE doesn't appear to be immune to this industry-wide trend. Though February 2013's figures showed EVE subscriptions have technically grown year-on-year, those numbers were published just after the Chinese server relaunch, and CCP hasn't released any new figures since. Developers have done a good job of catering to current subscribers and polishing existing gameplay with the past few expansions, but the average daily login numbers are still the same as they were over four years ago. EVE will undoubtedly hook in plenty of new and returning subscribers when its deep space colonisation gameplay with player-built stargates and new hidden solar systems is implemented, but time could be running out on these features. Hefty competition is due in the next few years from upcoming sandbox games such as Star Citizen, EverQuest Next, Camelot Unchained, and Elite: Dangerous, and CCP will have to release something big soon to bring in some fresh blood. In this week's EVE Evolved, I ask whether CCP should focus on new players and suggest plans for two relatively simple colonisation-based expansions that could get EVE a significant part of the way toward its five-year goal in just one year.
Here's an EVE dev diary video on Rubicon 1.1
CCP released a dev diary video focused on EVE Online's Rubicon 1.1 patch today. CCP Guard is your host for a sneak peek of the content drop that will include renovated station exteriors, the Nestor class battleship, new mobile structures, capital ship wrecks, a redesigned Amarr Crucifier, and Encounter Surveillance Systems. See for yourself after the cut.
EVE Evolved: Has colonisation been forgotten?
At last year's EVE Online Fanfest, CCP revealed its ambitious plan to take the game where no sandbox MMO has ever gone before: full deep space colonisation. The plan will be delivered over the next five years and will end with the incredibly exciting vision of players building their own stargates and colonising brand-new solar systems that lie off the grid. Rubicon was intended as the first step toward this glorious plan, and its new focus on deployable sandbox structures certainly seemed to be introducing a more player-directed form of colonisation. I've been cautiously optimistic about the whole endeavour so far, but five years is hell of a long time to wait for that vision to come to fruition. Rubicon's Mobile Depot structure was a great first step toward player-run empires on all scales, but none of the recently announced Rubicon 1.1 deployables has continued along the same theme of colonisation and exploration. The Mobile Micro Jump Drive and Mobile Scan Inhibitor structures I looked at last week provide extra tactical options in PvP, and the three new structures revealed this week are all designed to steal money and resources from nullsec corporations. In this week's EVE Evolved, I ask whether the newly revealed Encounter Surveillance System and alternate Siphon Units are a step in the wrong direction. With games like Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous on the way, CCP may not have five years to deliver the promise of colonisation.
EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.1's new deployables
Of all the major changes to EVE Online in the past few years, it's the introduction of personal deployable structures that has had me most excited. I've always been of the opinion that a true sandbox should let individual players and larger organisations build their own personal empires in empty wilderness. If it were up to me, everything from mining and manufacturing to research in EVE would take place in destructible structures and possibly even player-built deadspace dungeons. The Rubicon expansion took an important first step toward this brand of sandbox-style gameplay with the introduction of several new personal deployable structures, including an item hangar and refitting service that can be deployed anywhere in space. Four more structures were initially planned for the Rubicon 1.1 point release to expand the game's tactical possibilities, and this week two of those structures were confirmed. The Mobile micro Jump Unit is a game-changing strategic device that allows players any nearby players to jump their ships 100km forward, and the highly requested Mobile Scan Inhibitor physically hides nearby ships from probes and the directional scanner. Players on the test server have also discovered overview filter options for Mobile Jump Disruptor and Mobile Decoy Unit deployable structures, but developers were unable to confirm whether these would be part of Rubicon 1.1 or even if they'd definitely make it into the game. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look into the tactical possibilities of the Mobile Micro Jump Unit and Mobile Scan Inhibitor and why some players have reservations about these game-changing strategic structures.
EVE Evolved: Lowsec isn't impenetrable
When EVE Online was created, one of its core design philosophies was the idea of risk vs. reward -- that higher-value activities should expose the player to greater risk of loss. This rule naturally follows from how the world of business and competition works in real life, and I think it will always arise organically from sandbox MMOs with limited resources. If something's risk-free and easy to do, you can bet there are countless other people already doing it and squeezing the profit margins. This idea was also built into EVE at a fundamental level, with the galaxy split into police-protected high-security systems, the pirate-infested low-security borders between nations, and the chaotic uncolonised wilderness of nullsec. The steep step up in risk when transitioning from high- to low-security space has always been a major point of contention with gamers, as those who don't know any better often charge straight into deep space to their deaths. The story of the newbie working his way up to get his first cruiser or battlecruiser and then losing it to pirates is repeated so often on forums and in the comments sections of articles that it's almost become a cliche. While the idea that pirates wait around every corner lingers on, this impenetrable barrier hiding all the best content from new players no longer really exists. Through the addition of wormholes and the changes made in Rubicon, no star system is now off limits to a pilot with just a few months of skill training under his belt. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at what you can do to safely travel and operate in EVE's dangerous areas, why the barrier into low-security space needs to remain low for new players, and how CCP has expanded the EVE universe through the introduction of riskier areas of space.
EVE Evolved: First impressions of Rubicon
For years I've been writing that EVE Online needs more deployable sandbox structures that any player can use, so I was naturally pretty excited to hear that this was to be one of the key features of the Rubicon expansion. The Mobile Depot sounded like a great freeform sandbox tool when it was announced, but I didn't understand quite how awesome it was until I started setting up my own. While the depot is ostensibly a fancy item container with a ship fitting service, anchoring one feels almost like planting your flag in space, and spotting another depot on the directional scanner means war. I've spent this week exploring low-security space in the new Stratios Sisters of EVE faction cruiser, stealing rare moon minerals with a Siphon Unit, and desperately searching for the elusive but valuable ghost sites. As expected, players have already found some creative uses for the new personal deployable structures: Mobile Depots are being used as advertising billboards in Jita and to bait aggressive players into becoming flagged as criminal suspects, Mobile Tractor Units have seen some unorthodox usage outside of missions, and the Siphon Unit will literally print money if you find an unsecured moon-mining operation tucked away in space. In this week's EVE Evolved, I test-drive the Rubicon expansion's new structures to find out if they live up to expectations.
The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall?
It looks to be a good fall if you love MMO expansions, as they're all over the place. EVE Online fans have Rubicon, Lord of the Rings Online adventurers hope to dive into Helm's Deep, EverQuest II Ratongas are chewing up Tears of Veeshan, and the EverQuest faithful have Call of the Forsaken to conquer. And that's not even to mention the upcoming Galactic Starfighter for Star Wars: The Old Republic and Lineage II: Valiance. That's a lot of new content to explore, but only if you're in those particular games. So sound off: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Eve Online: Rubicon launch-day roundup
With the launch of Rubicon today, New Eden's space will start getting just a little more crowded as EVE Online pilots start deploying personal structures in their quest for wealth and power. There's little doubt that said space will also be littered with plenty of blasted ship debris, perhaps even from the hulls of the new and shiny white Sister of Eden ships. If you can't get strapped into your virtual cockpit because you're stuck behind a desk (or some other meatspace employment cage), you can still prepare yourself for your next trip into space with these in-depth features, ship highlights, and videos below while listening to this newly released Rubicon track. Just think of it as a preflight check.
EVE dev blog covers Rubicon ship rebalancing
EVE Online's 20th expansion, Rubicon, goes live on November 19th. Rubicon brings many changes to EVE including mobile structures, new faction ships, controllable customs offices, and a completely overhauled warping system. And of course, Rubicon includes adjustments big and small to a wide variety of the ships already flying in New Eden. CCP today posted a summary dev blog outlining the changes due with Rubicon for each ship type. Interceptors are receiving role bonuses that make them immune to warp bubbles, electronic attack ships are seeing range increases and general upgrades, interdictors are getting increased survivability and higher damage output, and marauders are receiving a complete functionality revision that splits the ship type into two distinct roles. Check out the full post for details. And if you haven't already, have a look at Brendan's EVE Evolved from yesterday so you'll be ready for these and other big Rubicon changes.
EVE Evolved: Getting ready for Rubicon
EVE Online's Rubicon expansion goes live in just two days on Tuesday, November 19th, introducing four brand-new personal deployable structures and revamping PvP across the board with a seemingly innocuous warp acceleration fix. The expansion represents the first step in new Senior Producer Andie Nordgren's plan to bring true player-run deep-space colonisation to EVE Online. The new Mobile Depot that can be placed anywhere in space is possibly the most sandboxy feature since the introduction of player-owned starbases back in 2004. Players have been coming up with plans for the device since its first announcement, but I think we'll see its true potential revealed in the coming weeks and months. If you've been saving up your Sisters of EVE loyalty points to get your hands on the faction's new exploration ships, be prepared to buy and build the blueprints as soon as the server comes up. These will be the first pirate faction ship blueprints that are available in high-security space, and a recent devblog confirmed that players have been collecting Sisters of EVE loyalty points like crazy lately in anticipation of the expansion, but those who get the built ships to market first will make an absolute killing. For the rest of us, getting ready for the expansion means planning where to set up a Mobile Depot for some quick profit-making enterprise or building a few small PvP ships to put the new warp speed mechanics to the test. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the best places to set up a Mobile Depot, re-consider the lure of low-security space, and propose adapting your PvP fleets to take advantage of the warp acceleration changes.
Grab popcorn and watch the EVE Online: Rubicon trailer
"THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES." With this line, the EVE Online: Rubicon trailer drops its mike and leaves the YouTube, perhaps to grab a snack in the green room. For everyone else, there's the option of rewatching the official trailer a few hundred more times until the expansion launches on November 19th. You can check it out after the break!
EVE Rubicon streaming live this Thursday
Are you excited for the upcoming EVE Online: Rubicon? CCP aims to charge you up even more by showing off some of the best tidbits of the expansion in an upcoming livestream. CCP Guard and CCP Seagull will talk EVE Online's second decade, while CCP Fozzie and CCP Rise will discuss the upcoming ship balance. CCP Paradox and CCP SoniClover will follow up with info on player-owned customs offices, the new Mobile Siphon Unit, and more. Plus, the new Rubicon trailer will be debuting during the stream. Tune in at 19:00 UTC (14:00 EST) this Thursday, November 14th on CCP's Twitch.tv page.
CCP unveils revamped EVE Online character selection screen
The folks over at CCP today previewed one of the smaller EVE Online changes set to debut with November 19th's Rubicon expansion: a prettier and easier-to-use character selection screen. As is CCP's custom, the reveal is accompanied by an in-depth dev blog that discusses every change in granular detail, but the basic gist is that the new selection screen loads faster and provides more useful information about each of your characters so you spend less time waiting and deciding and more time playing. EVE's item redemption interface has also been streamlined, with more obvious prompts and drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to deposit redeemables directly into a character's inventory.
