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EVE Online's new forum is back online
Back in April, EVE Online received a brand-new forum with a revamped search tool, the ability to "like" posts, and other useful features. Unfortunately, players quickly found several serious security problems in the new forum software, including the ability to inject arbitrary HTML (but not script) into any thread via a modified forum signature. It also became known that the forum was a modified version of open source software Yet Another Forum, with the authentication system tied to CCP's own login service. A cookie exploit was discovered in this login system shortly after the forums went online, allowing users to post as anyone they wanted -- even as developers. The new forum was temporarily disabled pending a security review and the old one reactivated. After a complete security revamp and a period of rigorous testing, the new forum returned to service today. This forum is tied into CCP's web platform EVE Gate, which provides quick access to your character's evemails while not in the game and has integrated social networking features. The old forum will be officially decommissioned on Friday, September 9th and left as a permanent archive. [UPDATE: We've been informed that the previous injection exploit involved only HTML and not script. The post has been modified accordingly.]
EVE Evolved: A new nullsec for everyone
Several weeks ago, EVE Online developer CCP Greyscale published possibly the single most important devblog of the past two years. Titled Nullsec development: Design goals, the blog laid the ground rules for high-level discussion on EVE's upcoming nullsec revamp. For those who live in nullsec, territorial warfare and nullsec life represent the true endgame of EVE. It's in these massive lawless regions of space that players forge alliances, build their own empires, and lead massive fleets of ships into enemy territory to kick over some space sandcastles. Over the past two weeks, I've been delving into the discussion surrounding the upcoming nullsec revamp and speculating on what changes we might see. I started with a look back at the early days of nullsec industry and went on to give some ideas aimed at reclaiming those glory days. I followed that up with last week's summary of EVE Online's empire-building history, the problems faced by today's territorial warfare mechanics, and further speculation on how the system could be radically changed for the better. In this week's EVE Evolved, I conclude this series of articles on the upcoming nullsec revamp with an examination of the discussion surrounding PvE, the local channel, and the potentially revolutionary smallholding system that could give even casual and solo players a taste of nullsec.
EVE Evolved: Building a better empire
It's often said that EVE Online is 99% endgame, with only the tutorials and epic mission arcs really providing directed gameplay. Once you get out into the open world, the game is dominated by sandbox laws and social interaction. This is most clear in the lawless nullsec regions where alliances war over territory and build their own empires in the void. Last week I looked back at the early days of nullsec industry and examined the problems industry has developed over the years. With a massive nullsec revamp scheduled to begin this winter, I went on to speculate on how the game could be changed to bring back the glory days of nullsec industry. Although adequately incentivised local mining and production could transform player-created empires, those aren't the only areas of gameplay being revisited. Sovereignty mechanics, fleet warfare, small gang warfare, exploration and small-scale territorial control will all eventually be redesigned as part of the massive iterative overhaul. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the history of EVE's empire-building and territorial warfare mechanics, some of the problems faced by the sovereignty system, and how those aspects of EVE could possibly be changed for the better.
EVE Evolved: Bringing back the glory days
In years gone by, exploring the unknown far reaches of the EVE Online universe meant setting a course for nullsec. With no way to install a permanent residence in the most lucrative far-off systems, players would launch dangerous expeditions into the deep with the hope of striking it rich. Nullsec was the only place to mine rare ores containing megacyte and zydrine, and piracy wasn't as common as it is today. For putting themselves at the risk of pirates, miners were rewarded with an income stream greater than that of any other profession in the game. It was a golden age in exploration that wasn't to repeat itself until March 2009's Apocrypha expansion opened 2500 hidden wormhole systems for exploitation. Things have changed considerably since those early days of EVE. Player-built starbases and outposts have transformed the face of nullsec, allowing alliances to build themselves an empire in the void. December 2009's Dominion expansion brought a complete revamp of the nullsec sovereignty mechanics, allowing alliances to upgrade their space but dramatically increasing the cost of system ownership. Despite all of these updates and improvements, over the past several years we have somehow lost a lot of what made nullsec great in its glory days. Local industry has been replaced by risk-free logistics, and nullsec's risky but rewarding mining profession is now greatly overshadowed by safe highsec mission-running. With a new iterative nullsec revamp scheduled to begin this winter, I use this week's EVE Evolved to speculate on what can be done to bring back the glory days of nullsec industry.
EVE Online introduces new bot-reporting feature
Botting is an almost universal problem in the MMO scene, disrupting in-game economies and often funding shady RMT operations. EVE Online has always been a big target for the RMT industry as much of a character's progression relies on in-game currency. In a world where you can buy a bigger ship, better modules and even the loyalty of player-run mercenary corporations, demand for the illicit sale of ISK is high. Several years ago CCP banned over 6200 botters as part of Operation Unholy Rage and launched the PLEX system to provide a legitimate way to buy ISK that doesn't harm the game economy and helps cash-poor players fund their subscription with in-game ISK. This week, CCP continued its plans to rid New Eden of bots with a devblog on its recently implemented "report bot" feature. The devblog explains how to identify a bot, how to report it and the steps GMs take after investigation of reported characters.
EVE Evolved: Flying the Dominix
Of all the ships I've flown over the years in EVE Online, the Gallente Dominix remains one of my absolute favourites. It's big, it's slow, and it looks like an upside-down mouldy shoe, but it's forever been one of the most versatile battleships in the game. With a massive bonus of 10% to drone damage and hitpoints per level of the Gallente Battleship skill, the Dominix can easily deal around 500 damage per second just with its drones. It can take on targets of any size by switching to medium or light drones and can field a full rack of six railguns or blasters to push its damage even higher. In PvE, the Dominix can be set up as a long-range damage platform for blitzing missions, a salvaging platform relying only on drone damage, or even a heavily tanked ship that will take all the damage while your drones automatically kill everything in sight. For PvP, the Dominix can be used for short-range damage, sniping, remote repair support, electronic warfare support, spider-tanking, capacitor warfare, and other roles. It can shield tank or armour tank and can even be set up with a reasonable hull tank for a surprise factor. In this week's EVE Evolved, I give two viable PvE fittings for the Dominix and two of my favourite PvP setups, along with advice on how to use each setup to its fullest.
Biggest EVE Online scam ever recorded nets over a trillion ISK
Of all the stories that come out of EVE Online's colossal sandbox, it's the tales of criminality and dirty dealings that grab our attention the most. Thefts and scams would be cause for account closure in most MMOs, but they form a legitimate and dark part of the EVE universe. The famous Guiding Hand Social Club heist of 2005, Ricdic's EBank scandal and last year's massive 800 billion ISK Titans4U scam are just a few of the most high-profile thefts and scams to hit the EVE community over the years. Today the biggest scam ever recorded hit thousands of EVE Online players like a brick in the face, netting a record one trillion ISK in final takings. Proving that old ideas still work, Eddie Lampert and Mordor Exuel pulled off a simple Ponzi scheme on a massive scale. Promising unprecedented returns of 5% per week on invested ISK, the duo convinced over 4,000 players to open accounts in their Phaser Inc. investment scheme. Many initially dubious players were eventually convinced to invest by real testimonials from their friends and corpmates. Over 1,831.67 billion ISK was invested, 345.18 billion of which was paid out as interest and 452.72 billion of which was withdrawn by wary investors. When the business closed up earlier today its owners collected the remaining 1,034 billion ISK. To put that massive number in perspective, it's enough to buy 2,953 30-day time codes worth a total of $51,677.50.
EVE Evolved: Upgrading to a PvP cruiser: Minmatar and Caldari
Over the years, I've introduced several friends to EVE Online and tried to give them the best start possible. Offering a financial safety net for ship losses definitely helped a little, as did providing funding to back market experiments and manufacturing or research ventures. What I found helped most of all was to bring new players on quick PvP fleets and discourage them from gravitating toward mining or mission-running as their primary form of gameplay. The adrenaline rush of EVE PvP is something I've yet to find in another MMO, and it's the reason so many of us are hooked to the game. It only makes sense then to introduce new players to it as soon as possible. Last month, I encouraged new players who might be starting out on their own to grab a few friends and similarly charge into PvP from day one. To follow up, the last two weeks' columns have been dedicated to getting new players into their first PvP frigate and upgrading to a cruiser, with emphasis on staying financially ahead of the inevitable ship losses. Last week we tackled Gallente and Amarr ships, with some cheap battle-tested setups for the Thorax, Vexor, Arbitrator and Omen that new players will be able to fly with only a few weeks of skill training. In this week's EVE Evolved, we look at Minmatar and Caldari cruisers, with setups for the Stabber, Rupture, Blackbird and Moa and tips on saving your escape pod to minimise the cost of death.
EVE Evolved: Upgrading to a PvP cruiser: Gallente and Amarr
People come to EVE Online from many different gaming backgrounds, and for one reason or another, the game doesn't click with most people the first time they try it. Two weeks ago, I encouraged people who have tried EVE but never got it to click with them to approach the game from a new angle -- to grab a few friends and charge head-first into PvP with guns blazing from day one. In last week's EVE Evolved, I advised new players on getting into their first PvP frigate, preparing for PvP, and staying financially ahead of the inevitable ship losses. I also put together two frigate setups for each race that will fit and function well with only a few days worth of skills trained. While frigates are fantastically cheap ships in which to learn the basics of PvP, their effectiveness on the battlefield is limited. Most tech 1 frigates struggle to deal anywhere near 100 damage per second, and if caught by enemy tacklers they die quickly. While the next step up is the destroyer class, I strongly advise PvP-oriented players to skip it and move straight on to cruisers. Although cruisers have less mobility than frigates and are easier for large ships to hit, they pack a big punch for a relatively low cost and can take a bit of a beating. In this week's extra large EVE Evolved, I share effective and battle-tested setups for the Thorax, Vexor, Arbitrator, and Omen that new players can use with less than two weeks of skills trained. I also suggest skills to train and give a few tips for keeping costs down. If you're a fan of Minmatar or Caldari ships, tune in to next week's EVE Evolved for the continuation of this article.
EVE Online shows off new toys in the war on lag
It's a bit of a cliche to solve a problem by declaring war on it, but in the case of EVE Online's war on lag the analogy really does seem to fit. The ever-increasing number of players places a growing strain on EVE's single-shard universe, and developers fight a constant battle to keep server performance acceptable. This time last year, the members of CCP's lag-busting development group Team Gridlock released a series of devblogs delving into all the work going on behind the scenes to fight lag and new tools like the thin client and mass testing events. In a new video devblog, CCP Veritas from Team Gridlock shows off the latest toy in the fight against fleet lag. The Telemetry profiler gives developers millisecond-accurate details of what's happening on a server node, from physics calculations and database accesses to sending and receiving of data. By capturing telemetry of laggy fleet battles on the main EVE server, Veritas will be able to directly analyse the logs to find out where optimisations are most needed so that EVE can once again support battles with thousands of players per side. Head over to the official devblog webpage or skip past the cut to watch the video.
CCP cancels EVE's Quarterly Economic Newsletters
EVE Online is often lauded for its complex player-run economy, which functions so like a real world economy that CCP even hired its own lead economist Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson to analyse it. Dr Eyjo's findings are normally released four times per year in his Quarterly Economic Newsletter (QEN), detailing everything from subscription numbers and popular ships to price changes on the market. The economic report for the fourth quarter of 2010 was released back in April, but at the time players weren't aware that this would be the last QEN ever to be released. In a new devblog yesterday, CCP Recurve posted the four main price indices normally contained in the QEN along with a graph of their development since October 2003. In response to player questions in the comments thread, Dr Eyjo revealed that the QENs for 2011 would not be published as usual. Instead, players will be getting monthly price index devblogs and the economic reports will likely be released once per year. This comes as bad news for players who were looking forward to finding out the economic impact of April's controversial nullsec anomaly changes. It may also mean that details like subscription numbers, population distributions and ISK generation will only be made public a maximum of once every year and that a current snapshot of those metrics may never be released.
EVE Evolved: Getting into your first PvP frigate
In last week's EVE Evolved, I encouraged new players to grab a few friends and charge head-first into PvP with guns blazing from day one. Whether you join a faction warfare militia, form a corp to declare war on other corporations or head out to lowsec or nullsec, starting your PvP journey is an important part of enjoying EVE. Several readers requested help with picking a ship, putting together a viable ship fitting and finding the funding for it. So many players asked for help that this week's column is entirely dedicated to the messy business of putting together your first PvP frigate and learning to fly it. Although the ship of choice for most newbies is the agile Minmatar Rifter, each race has a range of frigates that can perform well in PvP groups with minimal skills. In this article, I'll suggest fittings for two frigates from each race that new players with as little as one day of trained skills will be able to fly. One of the core concepts of EVE Online's PvP that often discourages new players is the idea that your ship is irreversibly destroyed when you die. While this may seem like an extremely harsh death penalty, deciding how much you risk in PvP is part of the game's tactical gameplay and even the best active PvP enthusiasts lose at least one ship per week. Death in EVE is essentially a financial loss followed by the inconvenience of having to buy and fit a new ship. Most of the financial penalty can be countered by using cheap and effective tech 1 equipment and insuring your ship, and the inconvenience of death can by bypassed by building up a stockpile of disposable PvP ships. With that in mind, this week's absolutely massive EVE Evolved is dedicated to getting you and a few friends into your first PvP frigates after as little as one day in the game and helping you mitigate the financial loss of death.
EON Magazine issue 24 looks back at EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion
Issue 24 of EVE Online's quarterly official magazine EON hit the shelves this month, bringing a fresh dose of internet spaceships to coffee tables and bathrooms everywhere. Produced by MMM Publishing and written by a growing cast of writers from within the EVE community, EON provides something solid for fans of EVE to hold on to and acts as a snapshot in time or record of the game as it evolves. Recent big news stories and nullsec wars are detailed in each issue, along with editorial pieces, fiction, interviews and guides. The latest issue is a wormhole special, with a huge focus on 2009's incredibly successful Apocrypha expansion and the hidden wormhole systems it brought to EVE. In addition to the second part of Pottsey's background on the ancient Sleeper race locked away in wormhole systems, the magazine contains testflights of the four strategic cruisers produced from materials discovered in wormhole space. A fantastically insightful article on the making of Apocrypha also delves into the gritty details of how CCP put its entire weight behind one incredible expansion during a time of real world economic turmoil. Skip past the cut for a breakdown of everything in EON Issue 24 and my impressions from reading through it.
EVE Is Real website presents visual record of EVE, hosts launch contests
Two weeks ago, EVE Online developer CCP Games announced a new advertising campaign with a twist. An external marketing company was hired to create a unique virtual museum of EVE artwork, screenshots and videos that would function as a growing visual record of what EVE means to its players. People interested in seeing what EVE is all about could then skim through the site and hopefully get a better impression of what it's like to be part of the EVE community. Players got a head-start in uploading content to the EVE Is Real website last week and we've been eagerly awaiting the website officially going live. Although no official announcement has been made, it appears that the EVE Is Real website has launched. To encourage players to upload their work, the site's creators are running launch contests with some huge prizes. The top 20 images uploaded to the site will win their owners a brand new EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE graphics card, and the video that gets the most votes will secure its creator an expensive Alienware gaming desktop machine. Submissions end on August the 18th, and the voting phase then takes place between August the 18th and September the 1st. If you've created some nice screenshots, an epic EVE video or even an awesome My Little Pony version of the latest EVE trailer, submit it before August the 18th for your chance to win. In an interesting move, CCP will be rewarding every single EVE player with several thousand of its new microtransaction currency Aurum if the website takes off. A running total is maintained of the number of times images and videos on the site have been shared via Facebook and Twitter, and at certain share levels every single EVE player will be gifted a lump sum of Aurum.
EVE Evolved: Learning to let go
Bombarded by the epic stories emerging from EVE Online's colossal social sandbox, thousands of MMO addicts per month give in to temptation and pick up a free trial. Most drop the trial for one reason or another, but those who continue on to a full game subscription often fall into a common trap. Some enjoy the concept of the game enough to subscribe for a month, and a portion of those get invested enough in skill plans and the mission grind to stick about for two or three months. It's rare for a new or trial player to actually get into PvP or start creating the same epic sandbox stories that drew them to the game in the first place, but this is exactly what they should be doing right from day one. New players often spend their entire trial or first month of gameplay attempting to grapple with the enormity of EVE, absorbing as much information as they can in order to make informed decisions for themselves. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking months of training skills and learning the basics of the game through reading or PvE will be required before you can PvP competitively or begin crafting your own epic story. I firmly believe that the real learning curve of EVE is in learning to let go of these ideas and to accept the loss of ships or items as part of the game. I believe new players need to discard their pre-conceived notions of death penalty, what skill points represent, and the idea of preparing for endgame. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at how EVE is actually very forgiving for new players getting into PvP immediately, I challenge the learning curve myth, and I encourage new pilots to drop themselves into EVE at the deep end.
EVE Evolved: The evolution of microtransactions
Two weeks ago, the escalating drama in EVE Online saw me drained of my normal enthusiasm as I contemplated the very real possibility that my time in the game I love was coming to an end. While the forums were filled with the most vocal and angry players, discussions with veteran players featured mainly disappointment and a distinct sadness. For those few days spent in limbo waiting for the results of the emergency CSM meeting, I and many of my in-game friends remained a hair's breadth from giving up on EVE entirely. It was a delicate situation based more on perception and poor communication than intent or fact, and I think CCP pulled things back well with formal statements from both itself and the CSM in addition to an in-depth follow-up press conference. One of the big points to come out of the press conference was that while CCP and the CSM are both confident that none of the future microtransaction plans are game-breaking, the company did not restrict itself to vanity goods such as Incarna clothing. While the CSM was convinced that CCP planned only to produce pure vanity goods, CCP Zulu was careful not to rule out gameplay-affecting microtransactions altogether. Both CCP and the CSM also talked about "game-breaking" sales rather than using a clearer term like "gameplay-affecting" or "non-vanity." It's reasonable then to assume that in the future we might eventually get non-vanity goods that do interact with gameplay but aren't game-breaking in terms of balance, mechanics or interaction with the in-game economy. In this week's EVE Evolved, I show exactly why options like selling ships would be game-breaking and then let my imagination run wild as I speculate on possible non-vanity microtransactions for the far future that shouldn't disrupt gameplay.
Interview with CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson discusses recent events
The recent EVE Online controversy over the direction CCP is taking with the game's development took the game's developer CCP Games completely by surprise. What started as a quirky story about virtual clothing being sold for more than real clothing rapidly got out of hand with the leak of an internal company newsletter discussing previously rejected ideas for gameplay-affecting microtransaction options. The ensuing controversy quickly escalated with the convenient leak of global company email from CEO Hilmar Petursson and CCP's abject silence in response to player concerns. CCP eventually released joint statements on the contentious issues with EVE's democratically elected player advisory council, followed by a thorough press conference to address any concerns not handled in the statements. The only person we haven't heard from yet is Hilmar Petursson himself. In an interview with gamesindustry.biz today, Hilmar answered some frank questions on recent hot topics ranging from feelings inside CCP following the leaks to the company's reasons for implementing microtransactions now. At popular EVE fansite Failheap Challenge, players have posted a transcript of the interview and have begun discussing the issues it addresses. The discussion highlights that this interview was performed the day before the CSM met in Iceland for its emergency meeting and so represents Hilmar's views before that event. Among the important answers is confirmation that CCP has a commitment to discuss all future microtransaction options with the CSM before implementation, something players have been asking for since the initial statement came out.
New EVE Online trailer highlights the player behind the space ship
Hot on the heels of today's announcement that EVE Online will soon be making its way to Japanese gamers, CCP released a new trailer for the Incarna expansion. Rather than focusing only on in-game action, the new trailer entitled "I was there" tells the tale of a memorable battle from the perspective of a player. Although the dialogue is pretty corny, the story and feeling behind it are things any player involved in gang or fleet warfare can identify with. We all carry stories of the epic fights we've turned around in our favour, and we all like to remember that we were there. The trailer highlights the very real rush of fleet warfare, the real bonds we form with the players behind the ships and the communities we build and defend together. That sense of community is even extended outward into the real world, as attendees at the annual Fanfest or any one of several unofficial EVE meet-ups find out every year. At the 2011 EVE Fanfest in March, CCP and EVE players in attendance raised $11,000 US for charity Get Well Gamers. Notable items sold included the official CCP Banhammer from the GM department, as seen in the company's absolutely not safe for work music video HTFU, and a tour of the CCP offices led by CEO Hilmar Pétursson. CCP Soundwave's impromptu art print auction raised a massive $1,500, bringing total donations up to the $11,000 mark. The money was delivered to Get Well Gamers this week and will go to help buy gaming systems for sick children to play during their stays in hospital. Skip past the cut to watch the new Incarna trailer, embedded in HD.
CCP partners with Nexon to release EVE Online in Japan [Updated]
The Japanese games market can be difficult for western companies to break into, with accurate client localisation and translation acting as a huge potential roadblock. In an unexpected press release today, EVE Online developer CCP Games announced a strategic partnership with Japan-based MMO publisher Nexon to bring both EVE Online and DUST 514 to the Japanese market. EVE is currently available in English, German and Russian, and Japanese players have so far found considerable difficulty in playing the game. Unlike EVE's Chinese release, the Japanese client will connect to the main Tranquility game server. Nexon will add the game to its portal website and use its own billing system for Japanese subscribers. As we've seen with EVE's sizeable Russian playerbase, it's likely that entire alliances and communities will build up within the game once it hits the shelves in Japan. While the language barrier between players from different parts of the world can limit social interaction, it turns out that everyone understands the language of smashing internet spaceships to bits with lasers. The PC release of EVE Online in Japan will appear later this year. [Update: CCP has informed us that this deal with Nexon does not apply to anything DUST-related.]
EVE Online press conference answers vital questions, transcript inside
After what should have been the celebrated release of the long-awaited Incarna expansion last week, the EVE Online community erupted into flames. The controversy began when players realised that the vanity clothing items in the game's new cash shop were ridiculously overpriced. The $68 monocle became a centerpiece that the media latched onto, in the same way that World of Warcraft made the headlines when Blizzard had the audacity to sell a $25 mount. The story should have ended there as a piece about a crazy Icelandic game company selling virtual clothing for more than real clothing. Unfortunately, some conveniently timed leaks from inside CCP caused this simple issue to escalate to the point of panic, causing in-game riots and a significant number of subscription cancellations. The company's silence on the simple question of whether non-vanity microtransactions would be introduced was seen as an admission that gameplay-affecting items would end up in the cash shop. CCP flew the Council of Stellar Management, EVE's democratically-elected player representative body, out to Iceland for an emergency meeting last week. The result of the meeting was a joint statement between CCP and the CSM addressing all of the major concerns players had. Last night, CCP ran two press conferences over Skype to give EVE fansites and the gaming media a chance to ask additional questions that weren't covered in the official statement. Skip past the cut for our in-depth three-page transcript from the gaming media press conference, including answers to several pressing questions sent in by Massively readers and some great issues raised by other participating members of the press. Comments can be posted on page 3.