ccp-rise
Latest
EVE Evolved: Could permadeath work in EVE?
Permadeath has been one of the most contentuous features in online gaming since as far back as I can remember. The feeling of permanently losing a character you've spent months training up and playing with because of a single mistake or lag spike would be horrifying to most people, yet the idea continues to intrigue both players and developers. Diablo II's Hardcore mode is probably the most successful permadeath mechanic in an online game to date, separating the hardcore players onto a different server so that they develop their own game economy and leaderboard. Several MMOs have experimented with permadeath servers or mechanics over the years, but they're almost always reverted as failures. In a recent presentation at EVE Vegas 2014, EVE Online developer CCP Rise discussed the idea of permadeath characters as something he's wanted to add to the game for the past few years. This is particularly problematic for EVE as the game uses passive time-based skill training and the whole game takes place on one massive shard. The hardcore players would need to have enough incentive to risk their characters' lives on a daily basis, their abilities would have to be balanced with non-hardcore players, and abuse of the system to suicide gank players would need to be handled. But if those problems are tackled, is it possible that there's a place for permadeath in EVE? In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at how permadeath could be added to EVE Online without disrupting the rest of the game.
CCP Rise stops by Reddit for an EVE Online AMA
EVE Online game designer CCP Rise spent a couple of hours on Reddit today answering questions about the past, present, and future of CCP's space-themed sandbox. Questions ranged from incredibly broad to ridiculously specific, but some interesting tidbits did crop up as the Q&A went on. When asked about the long-delayed ability to walk around stations and interact with other players via character avatars, CCP Rise explained that the team is focused primarily on enhancing in-space gameplay and that putting people on avatar development would require too much in terms of resources and time. He also praised the current Council of Stellar Management for helping the CCP team dodge potential blunders and better understand EVE's players. The whole thing is worth a read if you're an EVE pilot or are interested in a small peek at the life of an MMO game designer.
CCP outlines EVE Online's upcoming industrial ship rebalancing
CCP loves tweaking EVE Online's internet spaceships. And according to a new dev blog by CCP Rise, the guy behind the Odyssey battleship rebalance, industrials are about to get a major makeover. Not only are a bunch of them getting new names, but many are seeing their core performance shifted in other, more tangible ways. Here's the nitty-gritty: Industrials have been divided by roles instead of tiers. Every race will now have one cargo-focused industrial and one focused on travel time. Specialized bays have also been added, with dedicated bays for minerals, planetary commodities, and charges (ammunition, nanite paste, etc.) now available on specific ships. Every industrial has been given a special feature to make it more appealing. For instance, the Wreathe offers the fastest travel time, while the Badger gained slots for missile launchers. Along with all of these changes come new names for some ships: Nereus (Iteron), Kryos (Iteron Mk. II), Epithal (Iteron Mk. III), Miasmos (Iteron Mk. IV), and Tayra (Badger Mk. II). The industrial ship update is set to go live with the Odyssey 1.1 patch due later this summer.
