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This EVE LEGO ship will rock you like a hurricane
Imgur user Dinklebob has uploaded pics of his latest LEGO creation, an homage to EVE Online's Hurricane battlecruiser. The project is currently in-progress, according to Kotaku, and it even features a drone bay filled with cute widdle LEGO drones.
EVE wormholes getting visual makeover with Oceanus
Ready for another Oceanus-focused EVE Online dev diary? We hope so, because that's the subject of this here post. Wormhole space is getting a visual update in the sci-fi sandbox's next content drop, and CCP details the discussions that led up to the decision as well as the particulars of the decision itself in the blog. As you might expect, there are also a number of pretty screenshots.
Watch the fourth EVE Online video in the Clarion Call series
Back in 2009, player corporation Rooks and Kings produced an EVE Online video called Clarion Call: Triage Special, which went viral among space MMO enthusiasts and had a profound influence on PvP tactics in the game. Clarion Call 2 and 3 were released to similar acclaim, and now a fourth installment has arrived. The lushly illustrated, hour-long Clarion Call 4 narrates one perspective of modern EVE tactical history with footage and sound from individual pivotal battles. Don't worry if you're not an EVE aficionado; it's accessible even for a newbie. Just be warned that some of the language and terminology is graphic. Enjoy the video below.
New burner missions scrap nearly 20,000 EVE Online ships, CCP happy with results
CCP is "extremely happy" with the positive player reception of EVE Online's new burner missions that came in Hyperion. The studio said that the high level of difficulty in these missions was intentional in order to challenge the playerbase, and cited a bloodbath of 19,962 destroyed player ships as of September 14th as proof. The cost of the lost ships has topped 870 billion ISK so far. Due to the embrace of these missions, CCP is prepping a new batch of burner missions for September 30th. These new burners, believe it or not, will be even tougher than the current ones, working in teams of three against players. CCP will be putting these missions on the test servers later this week.
Latest EVE dev blog outlines notifications in Oceanus
CCP's latest dev blog details another feature coming in EVE Online's September 30th's Oceanus update. That feature is notifications, which "will give you feedback and information about all the deadly, creative, regretful, and/or awesome things your characters are doing in New Eden." Notifications are sort of a pre-cursor to EVE's eventual new player experience revamp, with the end goal being a more user-friendly sandbox and a removal of the current tutorial in favor of "a more open-ended experience."
EVE Evolved: Has the industry revamp worked?
When I was first introduced to EVE Online back in 2004, a big part of the attraction for me was the promise of a huge player-run economy in which the only real laws were those of supply and demand. With only a handful of tech 1 ships and modules available to build and everything made out of the same basic minerals, science and industry were pretty easy for new players to figure out. Over the years, more complexity has slowly been added to industry via features like Starbases, Salvaging, Capital Ships, Tech 2 Invention, Planetary Interaction and Tech 3 Reverse Engineering. Today's industrialists have to contend with hundreds of different items that are often arranged in sprawling component manufacturing chains, which can make it hard to figure out exactly how to make a profit. The recent industry revamp attempted to solve this problem with a full user interface overhaul and a revamp of material costs and manufacturing prices. All of the relevant information for using a blueprint was packed into a slick new combined Industry UI, allowing new players to find the info they're looking for in-game rather than through websites or opening dozens of item info windows. It's now been almost two months since the industry revamp went live, and while the market for many items is still going to take several months to fully stabilise, the dust has finally begun to settle. So what's the verdict? Has the industry revamp worked? In this edition of EVE Evolved, I consider whether the industry revamp has been successful, how easy it is to make a profit in the new system, and whether it's worth setting up your own industrial starbase.
EVE's Oceanus laying the groundwork for visual ship customization
EVE Online's next release is called Oceanus, and it's coming to a PC near you on September 30th. CCP has published a feature overview dev blog in case you're not up to speed. Major tweaks include French language support, new cloak effects, and a "big visual update" for wormhole space. There's a substantial under-the-hood update, too, and it has to do with how CCP stores and manages ship visual data. The dev blog says that this particular tweak is necessary "for being able to deliver visual customization of ships in the future." You can read about the rest of Oceanus via the links below.
CCP lays off two execs, closes San Francisco offices [Updated]
Gamasutra reports that EVE Online developer CCP has closed its San Francisco studio and fired laid off CFO Joe Gallo and CMO David Reid. The firm's revenue and earnings were both down year-over-year, the website says. CCP laid off 49 staffers from its Reykjavik headquarters in June after announcing the cancellation of its long-gestating World of Darkness MMO in April. [Update: CCP's public relations firm contacted Massively to clarify our source's original claim that Joe and David were fired; in fact, CCP says, they are both "both leaving of their own volition and it's an amicable split."]
EVE Online's Hyperion update adds PvE missions, tweaks wormholes
CCP pushed EVE Online's latest update to the game's live server this morning. Hyperion features "the biggest wormhole changes since they were first discovered" as well as new PvE missions. CCP Guard also notes the patch's "ton of quality-of-life features" during the latest In-Development video dev diary, which you can view by clicking past the cut.
EVE Online previews overview and incursion changes in Hyperion
The next major update for EVE Online, Hyperion, is going live in less than a week. Two new development blogs are available to enlighten players about what's going on with the changes to the game, starting with new shareable overviews. This new feature will allow players to share these settings with others while still allowing the recipient to make changes as needed; it's functionality that players have wanted for a while, allowing both new players and veterans to see through someone else's eyes, as it were. Incursion changes are also on the way, reducing the respawn timers so incursion runners have more to do while also upping rewards. The NCN Wall is also being taken down, and there are new incursions to be concerned with in nullsec space. If you're unclear on what's being added in the update, you can jump past the cut for a video explaining Hyperion's major system changes before it goes live on August 26th.
EVE Online lottery site SOMER Blink shutting down [Updated]
Fans of popular EVE Online lottery site SOMER Blink received some bad news yesterday. After four years of operation, the site is going inactive, with a shutdown that its front page calls a temporary and perhaps permanent hiatus. All players with prizes waiting will be able to claim those prizes, and all ISK in the system will be returned to players over the next several months, starting with those players who had over 5 million ISK in their accounts. What led to this shutdown? The site administrators claim that CCP created a toxic environment and reversed previous statements without warning, resulting in a situation which made the site no longer enjoyable to work with. CCP has issued its own statement, expressing regret at the loss of a community site while stating that the promotion that caused the controversy "was not representative of the original proposal that was brought to CCP." The community team will provide further information soon, although there will be no interference in the refund process. [Thank to Dab for the tip!] [Update: CCP has today commented in detail on the situation. We've included CCP Falcon's full statement below.]
EVE Online: Crius launches today
EVE Online is just churning out expansions (or plus-sized content updates, if you will) lately, with today's Crius release being the latest of the bunch. Crius' main focus is on revising and expanding the industrial and crafting portions of the game. Players can join industrial teams to get important jobs done, enjoy an overhauled research interface, partake in dynamic pricing of tasks, and add industry-related upgrades to starbases. Other fun features of this update include interior atmospheric audio, a new reprocessing system, the ability to opt out of fleet warps, and API support for the industry features of this patch.
Prepare for EVE Online's Crius with new dev video
If you're looking forward to the changes coming in EVE Online's Crius expansion next week, a new video featuring CCP Mimic touches on what to expect in New Eden's industrial revolution. CCP Nullarbor and CCP Tuxford describe the changes that will open up manufacturing to be performed wherever and whenever you like. "What we're leaving behind is what is really the core of industry," CCP Nullarbor says in the video. "Which [are] very interesting problems to solve, such as 'What should I be building?' and 'Where should I build it?'" Be sure to read our previous articles and guides on Crius for more info, and check out the dev video included after the cut. [Source: CCP press release]
EVE Online's in-game industry to be more challenging come Crius
The EVE Online team is trying out a new type of blog post today, this one taking time to look at the "bigger picture" of how in-game industry will function with the upcoming Crius release. According to the post, the team wants industry to be understandable by players and both interesting and skillful to use. "You should feel that you are 'good at industry,' rather than just that your character is. You're good at industry because you make good decisions, you outsmart your competitors, you've invested in the right places and you're ahead of the market," the post states. CCP says that it sees the purpose of EVE's industry as a different breed than what goes on in other MMOs, because the player is challenged to do more than just make certain items: "This is the world we're trying to create, the industry that New Eden deserves: one where you're in charge, where you're facing a new challenge every day, and where you have all the freedom in the world to decide how to solve it."
EVE Probe helps CCP diagnose graphical glitches
To help better test EVE Online's graphical capabilities, the team at CCP Games is looking at EVE Probe to save the day. With a reported 855 different GPU configurations in use by EVE players, EVE Probe was created to deal with issues that may not necessarily be able to be replicated by the dev team. EVE Probe gathers performance data from your machine after you've experienced a graphical problem and sends it back to the team for a more detailed analysis than was previously available. All data is sent anonymously and nothing is collected that can identify a player. If you're curious about EVE Probe, you can check out the complete dev diary on the topic at the official site.
EVE's Crius to revamp manufacturing on July 22
Are you sorta curious about EVE Online's science, manufacturing, and research aspects but have never managed to jump in with both feet? If so, you might want to hold off until July 22 when CCP releases its Crius update. The patch will feature "a complete overhaul of the tools for industry activities," along with dynamic pricing across New Eden helped along by the removal of slot limitations for science and industry jobs. Traveling worker teams will also be available, as will new options for reprocessing. There's a lot more to the update, too, and CCP has helpfully provided links to all the appropriate dev blogs in today's news post.
The Daily Grind: Is PLEX/APEX/C.R.E.D.D. risky for developers?
Trion announced ArcheAge's APEX system recently, and while I'm sure it has its own wrinkles, my first instinct was to compare it to EVE Online's PLEX. It's a fascinating idea, allowing players with knowledge of an in-game economy to leverage said knowledge into enough currency to buy tradeable items that can be redeemed for subscription time. It's always struck me as a bit risky, though. We can only guess at the number of EVE fans who play the game for free thanks to PLEX, but I imagine it's a pretty significant slice of the game's old money crowd. And while newer games like ArcheAge and even WildStar are aping the system in some fashion, it's too early to tell what sort of effect APEX and C.R.E.D.D. will have on developers' bottom lines. What do you think, Massively readers? Do these sorts of systems seem risky to you if you put yourself in a dev's shoes, or do you think the number of players taking advantage of these systems is relatively small? 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!
CCP aiming 'to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life'
CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson closed this year's GameHorizon conference with a 30-minute talk focused around EVE Online's history and its future. Petursson starts at the very beginning with CCP's 1997 founding and carries it through the present day in which the firm employs 400 people at studios ranging from Reykjavik to Shanghai to San Francisco to Atlanta. He doesn't shy away from what he refers to as the company's "turbulent times," but he also says that CCP's mission -- "to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life" -- will continue well into the future. You can watch the full presentation after the cut.
The Daily Grind: What MMO documentaries would you like to see?
Yesterday we reported on an upcoming EVE Online documentary, and while I haven't seen it yet, I'm very much looking forward to it. The announcement also got me to thinking about which other MMOs, communities, and personalities I'd like to see examined in documentary format. But The Daily Grind is all about you, so how about it, Massively readers? What MMO documentaries would you like to see? 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!
Crowdfunded EVE Online documentary premieres July 11
The crowdfunded indie documentary that takes a behind-the-scenes look at EVE Online's community is set to premiere on July 11, 2014. A Tale of Internet Spaceships was filmed during 2013's EVE Fanfest and aims to show what makes the sci-fi MMO so special to its players. "This candid exploration of a video game community investigates the sometimes complicated relationship between EVE's dedicated player base and the game's developers, CCP Games," a press release from Sorgenfri Productions states. "It also documents one of the most tumultuous times in the game's lifespan -- the release of the Incarna expansion -- which turned out to be one of the most important moments in the history of online roleplaying games." Thanks to a successful $3000 Indiegogo campaign, the documentary will be published for free on YouTube and Vimeo right after its premiere at 8pm on July 11th. A teaser trailer is provided after the cut below. [Source: Sorgenfri Productions press release]
