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Tyrannis launch oversight destroys starbase market
After what seemed to be a smooth launch, it soon became apparent that EVE Online's Tyrannis expansion had brought with it several broken features. While the planet-scanning interface works fine and looks fantastic, the deployment of command centres was pushed back until June 8th. The materials produced on planets could not possibly be made until June 8th but on May 26th, tier 4 products from planetary interaction began appearing on the market. It wasn't long before EVE players figured out that you could refine NPC-sold starbase structures into high-end planet products. Starbase structures are one of the many things that CCP is switching from being supplied at fixed prices by NPCs to being produced by players through planetary interaction. The NPC supply was meant to be removed on May 26th but as players were currently unable to produce the structures, that change was delayed until June 8th.
CCP launches EVE Gate
Lost in the hubbub and excitement surrounding the launch of this week's Tyrannis expansion is the debut of CCP's EVE Gate social networking platform. Luckily, CCP Zymurgist charges to the rescue with a quick news release detailing the features of the new service. "EVE Gate is a new social networking site open to the pilots in EVE Online and is now open for business. Head on over to http://www.evegate.com and get started with managing your contacts, reading your EVE mail, setting up calendar events, and talking with your corporation and contacts all without being logged into the EVE Online client," he writes. Check out the press release and the official EVE Gate website.
EVE Online Tyrannis launch day roundup
EVE Online's long-awaited Tyrannis expansion is finally upon us and here at Massively we're celebrating with a roundup of our recent Tyrannis coverage. The expansion's main feature is a form of planetary interaction that gives players the ability to colonise and industrialise the planets of New Eden. Tyrannis also sees some important changes coming to EVE, with a new insurance scheme coming into effect and the release of the EVE Gate social network. Tyrannis was initially scheduled for May 18th but some last-minute changes forced CCP to push it back to May 26th to give more time for testing. The structures necessary for planetary interaction will be released on June 8th, giving players around two weeks to learn the new skills and plan the conquest of their favourite planets. As you wait for your client to update, catch up with our previous coverage below and be sure to visit the official Tyrannis features page for more details, backgrounds and interview videos. EVE Online's next expansion revealed: Explore planets in Tyrannis It's been known since the last EVE Online Fanfest that the next expansion would be based around planetary interaction, but details on exactly what that interaction would constitute have been thin on the ground. In a bumper devblog today, EVE's Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson gave a first glimpse of what we can expect this summer. EVE Evolved: What could planetary interaction be like? The information we have so far on the expansion is limited to a single devblog, which provides only a general mission statement for the expansion. In the absence of further information, I find myself wondering what the planetary interaction in Tyrannis might be like. In this speculative opinion piece, I look over the information we know for sure about Tyrannis and go on to speculate on what it might be like. Click past the cut to see more of our Tyrannis coverage!
Buy low, sell high at the EVE Tyrannis sale
EVE fanatics are undoubtedly familiar with the EVE Online store, which offers clothing and other goodies so that pilots can strut around making the statement, "I'm leveling up my skills right this very second." In celebration of the touchdown of Tyrannis, EVE's latest expansion, shrewd players can nab a few great deals as the store cuts its prices. If you want an EVE ship of your very own to admire (or snuggle with at night -- we understand), a hefty 15% discount could tempt you in the right direction. They've bundled the popular EVE Conquest board game with a t-shirt, so now your best friends have a reason to gank you and loot your corpse. If you're looking for back copies of E-ON, issues #1-18 are available for the taking for the low price of $7.00 apiece. Finally, they've got a couple all-purpose coupons for the entire store: one for 10% of shipping, and one for 10% off any order. Head on over for the full announcement, including coupon codes and specific details.
EVE dev blog details Tyrannis API additions
EVE Online has always been one of the most open and accessible MMORPGs in terms of in-game data. The new Tyrannis expansion, recently delayed a week to May 26th, will expand on the game's history of making its APIs (application programming interface) available to players and enterprising programmers. "In Tyrannis we are delivering a vastly improved contacts system and the new calendar. For these features, we will be providing a new set of APIs for you to consume in your own applications. Not only will we expose this new data to you, we have made some changes to existing APIs, and two Outpost related APIs have been added to help ease outpost management," writes CCP Stillman in an EVE dev blog entry posted earlier today. Whether the new APIs are incorporated into the the plethora of player-developed EVE tools already in existence, or they inspire the creation of entirely new programs, we can't wait to see what New Eden's residents do with the new information. You can check out all the details over at the EVE dev blog.
Massively's EVE Online Tyrannis contest, part 3: Fiction-writing contest
Over the past two weeks we've been running some awesome weekly contests for readers to win EVE Online game time courtesy of CCP Games. In celebration of the upcoming launch of EVE's Tyrannis expansion, we gave away 10 PLEX in our planet screenshot contest two weeks ago. Last week, we ran a caption competition with a 15 PLEX prize total and received a flood of entries. So many in fact that we're still debating which captions should win a prize. The winners of that contest will be posted as an update to the second contest post within the next few days and the winners will all be notified via email. This week marks the last week of our Tyrannis contest trilogy and to end on a high-note we're giving away a whopping 25 PLEX. Ten top prizes of two PLEX are available and a further five runner-up entrants will get one PLEX each. To enter, all you have to do is write a short piece of fiction based on the planets and moons of New Eden and submit it to the comments on this post. Entries are limited to 200 words or less as we're sure to get a huge number of entries and we want to give each one the full attention it deserves. Your entry can take the form of a short story, a poem or any other type of written fiction. Prizes will be awarded based on creativity, writing style and presentation. As with the previous two competitions, this contest is open to readers from any country. UPDATE: Entry is now closed. We are now reading through the submissions and picking winners! UPDATE 2: Winners have been selected! The list of winners has been added to the end of this post. Each winner will be contacted via email to arrange delivery of their prizes. Skip past the cut for the contest rules and full submission guidelines.
CCP announces Tyrannis delay
CCP has just announced a delay of EVE Online's forthcoming Tyrannis expansion. Originally scheduled for May 18th, the new content will now debut one week later on May 26th, and market seeding of Planetary Command Centers will be pushed back to June 8th. Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson, writing on the official EVE Dev Blog, briefly outlines the reasoning behind the delays. "In our regression testing, we have identified scalability issues with the Planetary Interaction feature, which led to code refactoring that then needed further testing before being launched to Tranquility. Planetary Interaction is a unique feature in the sense that it is available to almost all players in the game providing opportunity for manufacturing for the masses, so ensuring that it runs smoothly on our cluster is of great importance to all," he says. You can read the full press release here, and don't forget to check out Massively's extensive Tyrannis coverage. [Thanks Darkdust!]
EVE Online brings back live events with Tyrannis
Read that title for a second. No, you're not dreaming and you haven't stepped into a time machine and emerged on April 1st. EVE Online is finally bringing back live in-game events that players can participate in. Any player old enough to have participated in EVE's live events should be as giddy in their seats as I am right about now. In years gone by, CCP ran short sequences of events that pushed an important storyline arc in the game's fiction. Developers would take on the roles of key figures in the story, acting their part according to a guideline script. The idea that if you were in the right place at the right time you could become embroiled in a terrorist plot or find yourself in the midst of an epic battle between NPC factions was as intoxicating back in 2005 as it is today. This is sure to be a huge boost not just for EVE's role-playing community but for the everyday player that wants to get involved in the great stories of New Eden. Skip past the cut for more details.
Massively's EVE Online Tyrannis contest, part 2: Caption competition
Last week we launched the first of three awesome EVE Online contests in association with CCP Games. To celebrate the upcoming launch of EVE's Tyrannis expansion with its impressive planetary interaction feature, we asked players to submit their best screenshots featuring planets. We expected around 25 entries but with the contest being open to international readers, we received an absolute flood of responses. A total of 114 screenshots were sent in before the deadline last night and we began the difficult process of choosing our favourite shots. Thanks to the generosity of the fellows at CCP, we were able to increase the number of winners from 5 to 10. Congratulations go to EVE players Agara Mnemion, Aurum Pax, Banana Ninja, driv4r, Garnoo, Ice Monster, Lamthara Lachesis, paritybit, SpiroTris and Vladmir Skef. Each of you will soon have a 30 day pilot's license delivered in-game by CCP. For those interested in seeing the winning screenshots, they're the first ten images in the colossal 114 entry gallery below. %Gallery-92556% Skip past the cut for this week's second part of our amazing Tyrannis contest trilogy. Think up a funny caption for our screenshot and you could win two months of EVE game time! UPDATE: Winners announced at the end of the post! All winners will be emailed to arrange delivery of their prizes.
EVE Online turns 7 today, BIG corp runs huge anniversary lottery
On May 6th 2003, a little online space game by a relatively unknown independent Icelandic games company was officially released. Fast forward seven years down the line and that little company is a megalithic giant in the games industry. Spanning four countries and leveraging hundreds of staff, the company has begun to expand its portfolio with a console MMOFPS and a new MMO based in the World of Darkness setting. Under CCP's development, EVE Online has stood the test of time and enjoyed a steady increase in subscriptions. At EVE's sixth anniversary last year, they announced having reached 300,000 active subscriptions with a peak concurrent user total of 53,850. Some time in December of last year, the number of EVE subscriptions finally surpassed the number of citizens in CCP's home country of Iceland. That number rose to 330,000 active subscriptions by March of this year, with a peak concurrent total of 56,021. With the Tyrannis expansion around the corner, EVE is sure to see the same characteristic growth this year too. CCP took the time to start a congratulatory thread on the EVE forums to mark the day. To celebrate, they're also donating massive prizes to EVE's oldest and most respected player-run lottery. The BIG lottery's anniversary draw is open now for entry and closes on Sunday, May 16th, with a live prize drawing the following day. The first place winner takes home a colossal 25 billion ISK prize, with the second place reeling in a huge 10 billion ISK. CCP is sponsoring prizes of a year's free game time, a battleship model from the EVE store, a copy of the new EVE: The Burning Life novel and an EVE T-Shirt. Not to be left out, E-ON Magazine is offering the latest four issues of the magazine plus a copy of their EVE Strategic Map booklet. Finally, EVE player "Ash Tre" is sponsoring the contest with a pack of faction cruisers. From all of us here at Massively, happy birthday EVE Online!
EVE Online Tyrannis trailer released in HD
EVE Online players have been following the build-up to EVE's Tyrannis expansion with a great deal of anticipation. The expansion is set to launch in just under two week's time on May 18th and brings with it the ability to colonise and industrialise planets. Here at Massively, we're even celebrating Tyrannis with a series of contests each Saturday leading up to its launch. The official Tyrannis expansion page has been up and running since mid April, giving players a peek at what features to expect on release. The one thing we've all been waiting for is the official expansion trailer. CCP have a history of producing incredible trailers for EVE and the new Tyrannis trailer is no exception. It seems to take some of the best ideas from EVE's latest fan masterpiece "Future Proof" and develop them further. With CCP's usual level of professional polish and dramatisation, this is a trailer that has to be seen. Skip past the cut to watch the full trailer, embedded in HD.
Massively's EVE Online Tyrannis contest, part 1: The planets of EVE
The planets and moons of EVE Online received a major graphical overhaul in the Dominion expansion, with some impressive results. Those previously boring brown-gray blobs in space were transformed into lush paradise worlds, frozen wastelands, hellish volcanic planets and more. When the Tyrannis expansion launches on May 18th, EVE players will finally get to interact with the new and improved planets, exploiting them for their natural resources. With the launch of Tyrannis just around the corner, Massively have teamed up with CCP Games to bring you a series of three exciting contests. Each Saturday from now until May 15th, we'll be running a new competition where readers can win some in-game pilot's licenses. The licenses can be redeemed to add 30 days of game time to your EVE account or sold on the market for a quick 300 million ISK. For details of how to enter the contest and full submission guidelines, read after the break. UPDATE: Due to the popularity of this contest and CCP's generosity, we're expanding the prize total to ten pilot's licenses. Instead of five winners, we'll have ten! UPDATE#2: Entry to the contest is now closed!
CCP release more details on Tyrannis, promise to continue development after release
Scheduled for release on May 18th, the Tyrannis expansion has a lot of EVE Online players excited. The expansion's long-awaited planetary interaction feature will open up the planets of New Eden for colonisation and industrialisation. CCP revealed the first details of planetary interaction in a devblog back in February and at GDC 2010, senior EVE producer Torfi Frans Olafsson elaborated on what we can expect from the expansion. A prototype of the planetary interaction feature has even been available on the EVE test server, from which player feedback has been gathered to help develop the expansion. In a recent devblog, CCP released some encouraging new information about Tyrannis. Included in the announcement was a list of the tools and structures we'll use to colonise planets.
CCP changes deep safe spot nerf due to player feedback
On Wednesday, we brought you the news of CCP's plans to nerf deep safe spots in EVE Online. Deep safe spots are bookmarks far outside the outer boundaries of a solar system. Being several hundred AU from the nearest celestial body, ships in a deep safe spot are far outside normal scanning range. The spots have been created using a variety of exploits over the years, and with Tyrannis on the way they're headed for a nerf. The announcement of the change was met by strong opposition from some players on the official EVE forums, not about the nerf itself but the planned implemention. On May 18th, all ships and objects over 10AU further from the system's star than the outer-most planet were scheduled to be deleted. Any ships or items inadvertently left there would be gone and any pilots logged off in these locations would log in to find themselves without a ship. In response to player feedback, CCP have decided to rethink their plan to delete objects in deep safe spots. These objects will instead be moved to the outer edge of the solar system. In the new announcement, CCP took the time to clarify what objects will be moved with a handy diagram. The announcement was rounded off with some interesting statistics, showing that there are currently about 345 ships without pilots abandoned at deep safe spots across EVE. As these ships will eventually be moved to within normal probing distance, some lucky players may find them unexpectedly.
EVE Tyrannis site is go, flight!
Come May 18th, planets are fair game for exploitation and industrialization in EVE Online, as the much-anticipated Tyrannis expansion goes live. For those who simply cannot wait for a taste of the good life, CCP has just launched the official EVE Tyrannis website for the enjoyment and dissection of all. EVE Online is heading in new directions with Tyrannis, allowing players to finally explore planets (presumably in preparation for DUST 514) -- and not just explore them, but to build industries on them that will revolve around completely new materials. Tyrannis will also usher in EVE Gate, a social networking hub to tie EVE players together. The new website is a grab bag full of goodies, including promotional videos, overview of the new systems, and a screenshot gallery. Wanna-be colonists looking to get a head start on the inevitable competition would do well to devour every snippet of information presented here. Head over to the official Tyrannis site and let us know what you think!
Deep safe spot nerf coming to EVE Online
Any EVE Online player that's spent time in nullsec or lowsec will know the importance of safe spots. By creating a bookmark while in warp, you can warp to areas of space several AU from any celestial objects. Although other players can still see your ship on the directional scanner, they'll need to narrow down your location with combat scanner probes to warp in on top of you. You can be stay relatively safe from hostile players by continually warping between multiple safe spots, an old and intended part of EVE's tactical gameplay. The creation of deep safe spots several hundred AU from the nearest celestial object, however, has never been an intended game mechanic. Over the years, several different bugs and oversights have allowed players to create them. Unfortunately for players that have been using deep safe spots, this particular tactical tool is going to change when Tyrannis hits on May 18th.
EVE Evolved: A sneak peak at EVE Gate
Some time ago, CCP announced their unusual plans to develop their own EVE Online social networking website. Their plan was to tie it into the game, giving players a site they could visit to stay in touch with their EVE contacts and corporation while not logged in. It was expected to be ready by Winter 2009 but never materialised when the Dominion expansion was released. Now named EVE Gate, the website has been rescheduled for the upcoming Tyrannis expansion on May 18th. Recently, CCP released an early alpha version of the EVE Gate website and have begun the slow process of adding features and working out bugs. Some of the features are not active and the site is not yet tied into the active EVE server. Nevertheless, the current alpha build shows what we can expect from the site when it launches. In this article, I give a run-down of what features we can expect from EVE Gate at launch and what we can expect from it in future iterations.
E-ON Magazine issue 19 hits the shelves
In Autumn 2005, EVE Online became one of the only MMOs out there with its own dedicated print magazine. Under contract from CCP Games, MMM Publishing has worked tirelessly ever since to produce EVE's official magazine "E-ON." Four times per year, we're blessed with a dose of the latest and greatest things from New Eden in a comfortingly solid format. The magazine covers everything from strategy guides and ship fitting advice to sneak peaks at upcoming expansions, interviews with CCP staff and incredible fiction set in the EVE universe. E-ON differs from other game magazines in that they don't any make money from advertising. In an effort to keep the magazine all about EVE, they've taken the unusual but apparently successful route of publishing full-page adverts from in-game corporations and organisations. Advertisers buy space in the magazine with ISK, the in-game currency, and adverts must be for strictly in-game purposes. The ISK is then used to pay volunteer writers, who create most of the magazine's content and produce important things like guides from a true player's perspective. There's even a scheme in the works to reward advertisers with discount coupon codes for the magazine to gift their corpmates. Now nearing their fifth year of publishing, E-ON issue 19 has recently been released. As usual, this issue is absolutely packed full of everything we've come to expect from the mag. Skip past the cut for a run-down of what you can expect in issue 19 of E-ON Magazine.
Win some PLEX and an interview with CCP in new EVE Online contest
With the EVE Online expansion looming just a few short months away, fans of the game have a lot to look forward to. If you count yourself in that group, you'll be happy to hear that Crazy Kinux has something to make the wait even better. How about some free PLEX and an interview with a CCP developer? CK has arranged both of those for the lucky winner of his current contest. In his contest post, he asks that you "Write a blog post on Tyrannis and its Industrial consequences to EVE, wherever you see them," which is a familiar request to those who have been following his blog for a long time. He ran a similar contest a while back and got a great response, so he's doing it again. The five best entries will win a PLEX, which is a great prize in itself, but they'll also be entered in a random drawing for a podcast interview with one of the developers working on Tyrannis! The contest is currently underway and the deadline is April 10th. All the details can be found here, so best of luck!
EVE Online ship insurance changes to come with Tyrannis
EVE Online's insurance system has been a hot topic of debate over the years. Under the current system, ships have a fixed base value calculated according to the minerals used in their production. Platinum insurance costs 30% of this base value for three months worth of coverage and if the ship is destroyed in that time, 100% of the base value in ISK is deposited into your wallet. It's a safety net designed to lower the cost of losing ships and promote PvP. The main drawback of the system is that the values it uses for minerals are fixed and haven't changed since EVE came out in 2003. The prices of the various minerals that go into a ship have changed drastically over the years but insurance costs and payouts have remained constant. Skip past the cut for a breakdown of the problems with the current insurance system and details of CCP's new plans.
