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EVE Evolved: EVE's Odyssey expansion could be incredible
When EVE Online's upcoming Odyssey expansion was officially announced last week at PAX East, the anticipation from players was almost palpable. Odyssey aims to follow in the footsteps of 2009's blockbuster Apocrypha expansion by revamping the exploration system and filling the void of space with thousands of new hidden treasures. We've been promised new ships, a new scanner mechanic with sleek new UI and additional functionality, and a rebalancing of industrial resources across the game. Though CCP is saving most of the expansion reveals for next month's EVE Fanfest and beyond, we can make some fairly educated guesses on what the expansion will contain from the press release and teaser site. It's pretty much a given that we'll get some kind of new exploration ship, and there's pretty strong evidence that moon minerals will be changing somehow. We're also almost guaranteed to get new faction battlecruisers, and the evidence is mounting that Jove space may finally be about to open for exploration. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the evidence for Jove space finally opening, explain why we desperately need a new scanning system, and make some educated guesses on what else the Odyssey expansion might contain.
EVE Evolved: Rebalancing EVE's ships
Recently we heard the glorious news that CCP will be overhauling EVE Online's entire roster of tech 1 ships as part of the Inferno expansion. The overhaul will start with changes to the skill requirements for destroyers and battlecruisers and culminate in the complete removal of ship tiers and the introduction of new structured ship lines. Countless new ship types have been released since EVE launched in 2003, but there has never really been a unifying design policy on ship skills and combat roles. Now, eight years down the line, adding new ships has become a struggle in avoiding making older ones obsolete. Drastic change is needed, and when the Inferno expansion hits, that's exactly what we'll get. When a new EVE player is ready to get into something larger than a frigate, he's currently faced with the choice of training for a destroyer or skipping it and heading straight to cruisers. Similarly, players often skip from cruisers straight to slow, bulky battleships even though battlecruisers are probably the most effective ship class for new pilots. A new system is on the way this summer, one that aims to fix this problem by introducing new racial versions of the destroyer and battlecruiser skills that must be trained on the way to bigger ships. This change should make training progression much clearer for new pilots and is just the tip of the iceberg of awesome plans in the works for the summer expansion. In this week's EVE Evolved, I examine EVE Online's upcoming ship revamp and tell you how you may be able to get free skillpoints when the patch goes live.
EVE Evolved: Fitting the Gallente Talos
Among the hundreds of changes brought by EVE Online's recent Crucible expansion, the new tier 3 battlecruisers certainly rank as player favourites. Rather than giving each race a bigger, tougher battlecruiser, CCP gave the new ships the ability to fit battleship-class weapons but heavily limited their defensive capabilities. All four tier 3 battlecruisers are turret-based, letting them output massive damage with close-range guns or hit for solid damage at battleship sniping distances. As with all new ships, it can be difficult to figure out how to fit the new tier 3 battlecruisers to make full use of their unique combination of high damage output and high mobility. Last week I looked at three viable setups for the Caldari Naga, which proved to be an absolute monster with 1,000-1500 DPS when using close-range blaster setups and a terrifying 650 DPS when sniping at 100km-130km. This week I take a similar look at the Gallente Talos, a ship designed specifically for close-range combat. I explore a traditional armour-tanked blaster fitting with dual webs, a shield-based variant that packs a huge 1,500 DPS punch, and two long-range blaster fits that give the Naga a run for its money. In this week's EVE Evolved, I explore four solid PvP fittings for the Talos, with both shield and armour setups.
EVE Evolved: Fitting the Caldari Naga
While EVE Online's recent Crucible expansion brought us over a hundred small features, balance tweaks, and graphical updates, its headline feature was undoubtedly the four new tier 3 battlecruisers. It's been several years since a new combat ship was added to EVE, and combat had begun to get a little stale. Most of EVE's ships follow a logical design progression, with larger ships having more tank and higher damage output. CCP turned that concept on its head with the new tier 3 battlecruisers, which deal battleship-class damage but have both the agility and paper-thin tank of a tech 1 cruiser. The Caldari Naga is the very definition of a glass cannon, able to output more damage than a Megathron or Rokh but at the cost of having practically no tank. It can be sniper-fit to deal around 650 DPS at ranges of 100-130km, blaster-fit to output a raw 1,500 DPS at ranges below 10km, or even set up to fight effectively with blasters outside web range. Its high top speed and cruiser-like agility add new gameplay options to existing sniper and heavy damage-dealer fleet roles, providing battleship-class damage for roaming cruiser gangs. It's a potential game-changer for nullsec alliances engaging in hit-and-run style warfare, but as with all new ships it can be difficult to figure out an effective ship fitting. In this week's EVE Evolved, I explore three solid fittings for the Naga designed to fill common PvP roles.
EVE Evolved: Everything there is to know about Crucible
This summer's lackluster Incarna expansion and the ensuing microtransaction drama took a massive toll on EVE Online's player community and development staff. Players were quitting in droves, and CCP eventually had to lay off 20% of its staff worldwide. Two years of half-implemented expansions, broken features, and "first steps" that were never iterated on left players begging for a content-heavy expansion like Apocrypha or those released in EVE's early years. EVE is known for being practically a new game every six months, but since the blockbuster Apocrypha expansion, daily life in New Eden hasn't changed much at all. To pull things back from the brink, CCP refocused development on EVE Online and gave developers a free pass to work on hundreds of small features and improvements. The company began flooding us with details on new ships, graphical updates, new gameplay mechanics, and desperately needed balance tweaks, and we loved every bit of it. Although it's mostly small features and gameplay tweaks, the Crucible expansion feels like a genuine rebirth for EVE Online. The types of changes made show that CCP knows exactly what players want from EVE and that the company is now willing to deliver it. With CCP's renewed focus on internet spaceships, the Crucible expansion feels like the start of a new era in the sandbox. In this week's EVE Evolved, I pull together everything there is to know about the Crucible expansion that went live this week, from its turbulent origins to the awesome features and PvP updates it contains.
StarCraft 2 Mega Block Battlecruiser assembled in time-lapse
Check out this one minute and forty second time-lapse of a Mega Blocks StarCraft 2 Battlecruiser picked up at Blizzcon 2011, being put together over six and half hours. In the end, we're treated to the sound that lets us know it's ready for action.
Latest EVE dev video talks ship balance and features coming this winter
Several weeks ago, EVE Online developer CCP Games restructured its company and announced a new laser focus on in-space features for EVE Online. Since then we've seen an absolute deluge of news updates and devblogs on features due for release in the winter expansion. In the first two of CCP's new In Development video series, CCP Guard explored the art department and showed off the new nebula effects, EVE's sharpened shadows and the new tier 3 battlecruisers. In the latest In Development video, Guard talks to the EVE feature teams about the absolutely massive list of balance changes and features coming with the winter expansion. CCP Soundwave admits that developers have "probably done more rebalancing in the past month than we have in the past two years," before rattling off an impressive list of changes and new features. Skip past the cut for a brief summary of the changes and to watch the video in HD.
Meet the Caldari Naga, EVE's latest battlecruiser
Minmatar? Check. Gallente? Yep. Amarr? Roger roger. Caldari? It's about time! EVE Online's battlecruiser rollouts are now complete thanks to today's introduction of the Naga. Like its three factional counterparts, the new ship is coming courtesy of EVE's winter expansion. Also, like the previous reveals, the Naga is the brainchild of an EVE player and it first appeared during last summer's Design a Starship competition. In addition to its fearsome lines and considerable bulk, the Naga is "equally capable of fitting large torpedo launchers, large rail guns or even blasters, [and] is easily the most flexible weapons platform of the four new battlecruisers," according to the latest CCP dev blog. Head to the official site for further info and additional images.
EVE Online reveals Amarr tier 3 battlecruiser, the Oracle
Last year graphic designers and EVE Online fans from across the world competed in CCP Games' huge Design-a-Starship contest. The ultimate contest winner was the incredibly impressive Minmatar Tornado, which was meant to be implemented in the game shortly after winning. The ship's implementation was delayed until earlier this month, when CCP announced that the Tornado would be one of four new battlecruisers hitting EVE with the winter expansion. The new tier three battlecruisers are designed to use battleship-sized weapons and are specialised for mid range to long range combat. In a new devblog today, CCP Guard revealed the Amarr tier three battlecruiser: the Oracle. Originally named the Mentor by its creator Alexey M, the Oracle appears to quite literally be a stripped down forward section of the popular Armageddon. The ship joins the Minmatar Tornado and Gallente Talos as yet another entry from last year's design competition to be implemented in the game. The Caldari battlecruiser is still to be revealed, but we got a first glimpse of the ship from yesterday's In Development video devblog and can confirm that it is also a player-submitted design.
EVE dev video shows work on engine trails, custom ship skins and more
If you're a fan of EVE Online, I apologise in advance for the funny looks you get when you jump out of your seat yelling "HELL YES!" while watching the latest In Development video. In this second part of CCP Games' new video devblog series, CCP Guard takes a live hand grenade into EVE Online's art department to show us just what's going on behind the scenes. We've already seen the impressive nebula effects and new Raven model due for release in the winter expansion, and today CCP showed off some massive shadow improvements, but those upcoming additions pale in comparison to what's planned for after the winter period. The latest In Development video shows that CCP is currently working on engine trails, custom ship skins, a new cyno effect, a new warp tunnel, and graphical upgrades for every single ship in the game. It's a tall order, one that's unlikely to be fulfilled in the winter expansion despite developers' recent laser focus on delivering new features. The video gives a sneak peek at the models for the Amarr and Caldari tier 3 battlecruisers, which were selected from fan-submitted entries to last year's design contest in a similar manner to the already revealed Minmatar Tornado and Gallente Talos. Read on to find out why custom ship skins are more work to implement than most of us realise and to watch the new video in HD.
EVE dev blog unveils new Gallente battlecruiser
Another day, another piece of good news for EVE Online. Are we sensing a trend here? At any rate, the latest CCP dev blog reveals the Gallente Talos, the newest New Eden internet spaceship that will find its way into the hands of capsuleers everywhere when EVE's winter expansion finally hits. If the Talos looks strangely familiar, that's probably because you saw it during EVE's Create a Starship contest last spring. Like its recently revealed Minmatar counterpart, the Talos is a battlecruiser, and CCP describes it as an "in your face glass cannon." Warp to the official EVE website for some more pics and the full dev blog.
EVE dev blog talks new Minmatar battlecruiser
More good news for EVE Online fans just showed up on the sci-fi sandbox game's official website. It turns out that CCP wasn't kidding when it said it has shifted its focus back to internet spaceships. The latest EVE dev blog features a couple of images of the new Minmatar Tornado battlecruiser as well as a bit of verbiage confirming that CCP will be announcing the ship's factional counterparts in the coming weeks. And yes, we did say battlecruiser, since CCP has thought better of its original plan to release the Tornado as a battleship. "When reviewing the armadas of existing ships we came to the conclusion that it would make much more sense to add another tier of battlecruisers instead of a fourth battleship tier, and that the accessibility of BC skills would mean more of these ships might be in the hands of younger, brasher pilots. That means more pew pew pew overall," CCP Guard writes.
BlizzCon 2011: Mega Bloks Thrall figure and more
Earlier this year, it was announced that Blizzard would be teaming up with MEGA Brands, Inc. to release Warcraft- and StarCraft-themed Mega Bloks sets. It looks like they're definitely going to have a presence at BlizzCon 2011, and the toys look great. BlizzCon attendees can look forward to a Thrall giveaway figure as an exclusive gift -- but there's plenty more to be had, including a limited edition Battlecruiser. Only 3,000 of these Battlecruisers were produced, and they are available for purchase to all BlizzCon attendees and Virtual Ticket holders. You can order yours on the official Mega Bloks BlizzCon site. Oh, but that's not all. Attendees can also tweet to win by taking their photo with a massive Mega Bloks statue of Thrall. On top of that, you can also enter to win a chance for a one-of-a-kind Mega Bloks Frostmourne replica by guessing the number of bloks that went into creating the sword on display at the Mega Bloks booth. Be sure to stop by Booth C-303 to take a look at the Mega Bloks creations and get in on the contest action! Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup cohosted by Wowhead, and look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
GameTap severs ties with Derek Smart's Galactic Command
Derek Smart. It's a name resigned by many to whispers in quiet corners for fear of incurring the vocal wrath of one of the most eccentric, dare we say manic game developers this side of a coke machine. The man behind such nefarious titles as Universal Combat and the Battlecruiser series has made a name for himself by beating up vending machines and releasing buggy, open world-style space titles, though Smart's latest endeavor, Galactic Command – Echo Squad, was poised to be his first take on the growing episodic game market. That is, however, if it is ever released.The game, first announced last year by GameTap, has been dropped by the would-be online publisher, as GameTap content VP Ricardo Sanchez told Gamasutra that the four-part space shooter "wouldn't resonate too strongly with our audience." He does compliment Galactic Command, however, calling it "one of Derek's strongest games," thought to be honest that's a bit like rating splinters based on depth and propensity to bleed. Smart has said that he's looking to bring the 16-player online shooter to Xbox Live as well, so we may someday see if Galactic Command lives up to Smart's existing triumphs, or if it's actually, you know, playable.
How would a Starcraft MMO work?
Speculation over Blizzard's upcoming MMO continues unabated, even with the lack of anything new to feed upon. The biggest hope, I dare to say, is that it's going to be Starcraft that gets the treatment, even if it's still a long way away from release. Starcraft holds fast in many gamers' hearts, including mine, so it's only natural to want more. But when actually considering the possibility, how would it play out?Our Krystalle has already given this a glance over on WoW Insider, and our recent Ask Massively asked a similar question, but I'd like to take it deeper. Let's take World of Warcraft as a point of comparison and see if we can run down this mythical beast.
