skill-queue
Latest
EVE Fanfest 2011: CCP working on mobile New Eden functionality
Hopelessly addicted to life in New Eden, maybe to the point of wishing you could take EVE Online with you on the go? Well, that day may be closer than you think if one of CCP's EVE Fanfest 2011 demos is any indication. The Icelandic development firm showed off a new project designed to run a streamlined version of EVE on Nvidia-based Tegra 2 mobile hardware (that excludes iOS devices, for the non-technical Apple consumers in the audience). The demo was basically a render of EVE's ship fitting interface, shown running on a tablet and a phone, with the future intent being to provide limited functionality sans a PC (think market transactions and skill queue management). According to Gamasutra, CCP has yet to announce a release date for the project.
Warfronts star in the RIFT beta 4 patch notes
As you may or may not have heard, Trion Worlds is unleashing the fourth RIFT beta event today, an event that spans the entire weekend. And as Uncle Ben used to tell us, with great beta events come great patch notes -- so what do players have to look forward to with this update? The most significant change to RIFT's beta is the increase of the level cap -- to 27 -- and the unlocking of the Stonefield and Gloamwood zones. In the prior three events, players were limited to a maximum of level 20 and confined to the two starter areas. This round, players looking for more PvE dungeon goodness should enjoy the Darkening Deeps and Deepstrike Mines, while PvPers will rejoice at the inclusion of Warfronts (Black Garden for level 10 and above, The Codex for level 20 and above). Warfronts are like World of Warcraft's battlegrounds or Warhammer Online's scenarios -- instanced PvP areas where (hopefully) evenly matched teams can go at it under special conditions. There are several quality-of-life improvements rolled into this patch as well. The skill soft queue has been upgraded to a full next ability queue, more hotbars are available, and many of the souls are getting tweaked. You can read the full patch notes here.
Massively looks at Capsuleer 2.0, an iPhone app for EVE Online part 2
I was dreading having to manually enter that long API string linked to my EVE account, but Capsuleer's system made it quite easy. Can you tell me about the Import Control System?Roc: The Import Control System was Sam's brainchild. Nobody wants to manually enter that string, myself included, but I also don't like applications "scraping" my game login data from the EVE Online website. The entire point of an API is to be able to access it without using your game login credentials. Since the iPhone doesn't do copy/paste (prior to OS 3.0), Sam came up with this method for effortlessly and securely importing your data to your device.Sam: As Roc said, the API is all about security. CCP introduced it so that 3rd party applications didn't need your username and password anymore. It's a secure and simple way to provide access to a limited subset of data without exposing the credentials needed to log into your account. My initial prototype had you typing in the big long API key, and man I don't think I got it right more than twice in a row. I knew that we needed a better alternative. That's when I came up with the Import Control System. We have been foiled a bit by a few email clients that don't like the evechar:// url syntax that we use (they try to validate it and can't because they don't recognize the prefix), but with 2.0 we have an alternative http:// based url that can be used as well, so that should hopefully clear up the issues that people ran into.
EVE Online Apocrypha patch notes detail a host of improvements
EVE Online's latest expansion had a fairly smooth deployment, particularly considering how many radical changes were made to the game. Premium graphics were extended to all celestial objects, with entirely new models for asteroids. The Apocrypha expansion also introduced a new, extremely deadly NPC race with an AI far more advanced than what's been experienced pre-Apocrypha. However, this huge list of new features has also led to a number of smaller issues that CCP Games will patch this week. The patch was originally slated for today but considering the laundry list of fixes CCP plans to make, patch 1.0.2 will deploy on Thursday instead, with a slightly extended downtime. Downtime should last from 11:00 GMT to 12:30 GMT, and will fix issues with Epic Mission Arcs, the Skill Queue, and many other fixes are on the way, as detailed in the patch notes. Players into exploration (or hunting down other players) who've been taking advantage of the strength of Deep Space Scanner Probes should note that they've already been nerfed; tomorrow's patch will reduce their strength. Given that there are quite a number of minor changes being made, EVE players may want to skim over the patch notes before the end of Thursday's downtime.
Massively's EVE Online Apocrypha expansion hands-on
var digg_url = 'http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/06/massivelys-eve-online-apocrypha-expansion-hands-on/'; Massively got word that EVE Online lead game designer Noah Ward, aka CCP Hammerhead, would be in New York City last week. We jumped at the chance to find out more about the Apocrypha expansion, and Ward was kind enough to give us our own hands-on demo while answering our questions about where EVE Online is heading. We were pleasantly surprised to find that EVE's lead writer Tony Gonzales was on hand as well. Fans of the game's backstory will know him for writing The Empyrean Age novel, which chronicled the events leading up to New Eden's factional warfare. Apocrypha will be the most significant expansion in EVE's history to date, introducing new -- and some controversial -- features while revamping existing aspects of the game. Ultimately the aim of CCP Games with Apocrypha is to make EVE accessible to more gamers while adding depth for the existing playerbase. The Apocrypha expansion launch will coincide with EVE Online's retail release on March 10th. Leading up to that date, a number of the CCP developers have dropped info about what's on the way through dev blogs and the occasional interview, but the expansion seen as a whole is mind-blowing. What we have for you here is the most complete look at the Apocrypha expansion offered to date, in one place, and much of it from the developers themselves. We've tackled Apocrypha in four parts: the New Player Experience, Epic Mission Arcs & Tech III, True Exploration, and the Sleepers.Strap yourself in and get ready for Massively's exclusive hands-on with the Apocrypha expansion for EVE Online.%Gallery-47038%
Long-awaited skill queue coming to EVE Online
The sci-fi massively multiplayer online game EVE Online stands apart from other games in the industry in several ways, one of which is that it uses a real time skill training system rather than experience-based advancement. This is a feature many players like, as they're able to advance even when they're offline, but the downside is that you need to log in frequently to change the lower levels of skills (due to how quickly they finish.) For anyone who's bothered with it, actually getting up for 4am skill changes? Not cool. Getting a skill queue is one of the issues that the player-elected Council of Stellar Management (CSM) brought to the game's developers, CCP Games. (The CSM are representatives of the player base that work with the devs to ensure that development reflects what EVE's subscribers really want from the game.) Apparently the message got through loud and clear. EVE Game Designer Eris Discordia announced today that a skill queue is indeed in the works, in her dev blog "More Queue Queue."
EVE Online trojan warning
CCP Games issued a warning today, regarding a trojan found in a macro for EVE Online. CCP Wrangler said that the macro is being offered by 'Gold Harvest Macro Solutions' and ostensibly allows a player to automate their skill-training with a queue, eliminating the need to periodically log in and change skills. CCP became aware of it and put it through testing; here's a shocker -- the shady software contains a trojan. Please contain your surprise. CCP Wrangler's full announcement (login required): "A number of players have recently received an advertisement for a skill training macro, this macro is sent by Gold Harvest Macro Solutions who claims that the macro will let you create a skill training plan and have your character automatically train your skills. This macro has been tested and it contains a Trojan, so make sure you do not download any software from these people. If you downloaded the program, make sure that you run a complete scan of your system and then change all of your passwords!"Not that anyone who uses programs like this doesn't really understand they're breaking the accepted rules of the game, but pretty much using any 3rd-party automation with the EVE client is a bad move.
The tyranny of skill training
One of the nicest features of EVE Online is the fact that skill progression doesn't go hand-in-hand with a monotonous grind. Rather, the game uses a time-based system of advancement. But this seemingly casual aspect of the game is a double-edged sword; in the earlier stages of skill training, a newer player needs to log in very frequently to switch up low level skills. Some EVE players set their alarms and drag themselves out of bed in the early morning hours to switch their skill training, so as not to lose hours of time where progression halts. PC gaming blog 'Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle' has a post about how EVE's system "creates significant pressure to log on and pop a new skill on every time one finishes." Logically, a new player would assume that it's possible to queue skill training in advance. That assumption, however, would be wrong. Thus the early career of an EVE pilot is one of setting alarms, calendar reminders, and sticky notes... all to avoid that guilt over losing hours of advancement because of something trivial like sleep or a job. But as time goes on, skill training intervals lengthen at higher levels and thus require far less maintenance. Implementing a skill queue was one of the issues brought to CCP Games by the player-elected Council of Stellar Management (CSM), as it's one of the complaints most players have when getting to know the game. How do you feel about skill queues? Is it a necessary feature that CCP should implement, or should the developers be focusing on more pressing matters? [Via]
