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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: Ratting, part 2: Flying safe!
Last week I discussed the basics of the "ratting" profession in EVE Online, from picking a good system to three popular ratting strategies. If you're planning to hunt NPCs in nullsec, of course, you'll need to get there first. Pilots who aren't in an alliance with secure access to nullsec will have to run the gauntlet from empire space to their chosen ratting system. The entry points into EVE's nullsec regions are often camped during peak hours and you can expect to run into roaming gangs. Things get a little easier once you're at your destination, but you can still expect to see the occasional pilot or gang passing through the system. Your ability to get into nullsec safely and your efficiency at ratting will be determined largely by the ship you're using and how it's set up. For someone who's never been to nullsec before, setting up a ship for the task and heading into the void can be a daunting task. In this article, I look at selecting the appropriate ship for ratting, some popular ship setups and important safety tips that will help keep your ship safe in hostile territory.
EVE lore blends sci-fi with horror in Blood Raiders pirate faction Chronicle
The sci-fi game EVE Online is well known for being a title where player-driven activities like corporate espionage, piracy, and sweeping galactic warfare are daily occurrences. The game has a rich backstory behind it though; EVE's setting of New Eden continually gains more depth and new dimensions through bi-weekly Chronicles written by EVE developer CCP Abraxas. Since EVE's players are ship-bound in actual gameplay (until Walking in Stations is released), the game's lore adds something that a number of pilots have gotten into, with player corporations and alliances siding with a given faction discussed in the backstory. A fair amount of the Chronicles focus on New Eden's four (playable) races and regimes -- and the Empyrean Age expansion brought factional warfare into the game -- but there are also a few notable criminal organizations presented in EVE's lore. Perhaps the most disturbing among them is The Blood Raider Covenant, a pirate NPC faction in the game that many EVE players know as their enemy through mission running, exploration content, or simply 'ratting' in asteroid belts. EVElopedia describes them as "a particularly gruesome sect of the generally reviled Sani Sabik cult. While all modern Sani Sabik rituals use blood in some manner or another, the Covenant places particular value on the blood of cloned humans, and is utterly ruthless in obtaining it, regularly boarding other spacecraft and abducting all aboard. From their base in Delve they launch lightning raiding parties and surprisingly well coordinated incursions deep into Empire space in pursuit of their goals." Their place in the game's lore provides fertile ground for mixing horror with sci-fi. Some EVE players have even established corporations and alliances aligned with the Blood Raider Covenant and the latest addition to EVE's lore focuses on this bloodthirsty faction.
EVE Evolved: Exploring New Eden
A common theme in popular MMOs today is the idea of exploration. For a surprisingly large number of players, their reason for playing an MMO is to experience new content and explore new lands. Each new MMO or expansion becomes a new country to explore with its own set of features and game mechanics. Limits such as levels, raid progression and quest chains are used to ensure we don't burn through all the game's content too quickly. New Eden:EVE Online is set in the expansive universe of New Eden. This nebular stellar nursery contains thousands of stars, of which approximately 5000 have been explored and added to the game's stargate network. Even though EVE doesn't have level limits, it does have a familiar approach to exploring content. Some content such as difficult complexes (space dungeons) will not be completable solo and other content like level 4 missions will be so difficult as to require large ships with a lot of skills behind them. The majority of the universe, however, is free to explore from day one and there's a lot to explore.In this visual article, I explore some of the stunning content of EVE Online and take a brief look at what the future holds for explorers in New Eden.%Gallery-38200%
