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EVE alliance tournament finals start today
For those of you who have been following EVE Online's eighth annual alliance tournament, this weekend marks the spectacular conclusion of the past two weeks of fierce competition. The 64 initial entrants have been whittled down to 32 final teams, to be matched against each other to find which alliance has what it takes to crush all opposition. You can tune into the event's live coverage, beginning today at around 15:00 GMT (11AM EDT), via CCP's high-definition tournament feed. To encourage people to watch the feed live rather than just waiting for the YouTube videos, CCP will be giving away some huge prizes to a few lucky viewers at random. They have two NVIDIA GTX 280 graphics cards and a full set of E-ON magazine issue 1 to 20 to give away. In addition to the usual commentary on matches in progress, coverage of this final weekend of fighting will feature a live studio. Between matches, guest PvP experts and CCP developers will be discussing the state of play live on camera. As usual, CCP have prepared a few interesting videos for the interludes that offer a glimpse into the development of EVE. This year, they'll be giving us a look at their impressive "Video Production Team," and both CCP Hammer and CCP t0rfifrans will be on the show to talk about their latest projects. Videos of the finals will be put on the CCP Games YouTube channel in a few days, but there's nothing quite like watching coverage live. If you missed any of the matches in the first or second qualifying rounds, those videos are now also on YouTube. Skip past the cut to watch CCP's hilarious teaser video for Alliance Tournament 8's live coverage weekend.
CCP Games contributes to "Inspired by Iceland" video campaign
CCP Games, producer of sci-fi MMO EVE Online, had a great start to this year. By January 1st 2010, the number of active EVE subscriptions rose above the 320,000 mark. This magic number meant there were more EVE subscriptions than there are citizens of CCP's home country of Iceland. In celebration of this milestone, CCP felt it important to share with the world the inspiration that lead them to where they are today. As part of Iceland's "Inspired by Iceland" campaign, CCP has put together a video talking about how the development of EVE has been inspired by their home country. In the video, CCP employees talk about EVE Online being developed with a strong sense of community in mind, something that's inherently important to the Icelandic people. They go on to talk about how Iceland has inspired the game's art direction, from the vast lack of scale present in Icelandic landscape to the dark nature of the country. If you've ever been interested in Iceland, skip past the cut to watch this insightful look into what inspires the folks at CCP Games.
EVE Evolved: First impressions of planet industry
As I sat down to write a guide to planetary interaction in EVE Online, I realised that I hadn't explored the system fully enough to come up with any definitively good deployment strategies. A few great guides to planet industry have been circulating since the expansion came out, but it will be some time before people really start to figure out the best ways to use EVE's newest feature. It's a complicated business and since a lot of the products made on planets are still currently available to buy from NPCs, the market potential hasn't yet been fully realised. In this short opinion piece, I give my first impressions of planetary interaction and the Tyrannis expansion.
EVE blogger unveils Project Athena, a collection of fictional ship manuals
Few things impress me about EVE Online's community more than the incredible videos, artwork and fiction created by players. For the role-playing and fiction-writing communities, the game's continually-updated prime fiction acts as a canvas onto which new stories can be blended. Long-time EVE blogger Kirith Kodachi over at Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah has been an avid fiction-writer and contributor to EVE Tribune, producing several articles based on in-character technical overviews of EVE ships. Over the past two years, Kirith has been teaming up with artists and volunteer writers to collaborate on creating a more comprehensive collection of these articles. Written in the style of fictional ship manuals and presented as technical briefings interspersed with historical information, the completed project (dubbed "Project Athena") features full articles on 23 ships and their Tech 2 counterparts. Although the historical information and technical specifications have been invented by Kirith and his contributors, he's done his best to stick as closely as possible to the official EVE prime fiction. At 64 MB, the huge PDF file isn't a small download, but for role-players or fans of EVE fiction it's definitely worth a look.
Get ready for the second round of EVE's alliance tournament
The second round of EVE Online's annual alliance tournament event begins today. If last week's matches were any indication, this second round of qualifiers is going to be awesome to watch. In the first round, the 64 alliances entered in the tournament fought in 32 1-on-1 matches with opponents drawn at random. Teams gained points for each ship they killed, plus additional points for winning their match. In this weekend's second round, the 64 teams will head back into the arena for their final qualifying match. Each team will be matched against another of similar ability based on their performance in the first round. Tune into the tournament's live video stream, starting as of the moment this post goes live and ending late in the evening. The stream picks up again tomorrow at the same time for day 2 of the second qualifying round. If you've missed the first qualifying round, you can watch the matches in high definition on the official alliance tournament website. CCP has uploaded videos from the first round of qualifiers and even written up a great battle report on each match. Skip past the cut for a list of all 32 matches, links to their videos and a quick note of the ships on each side. Don't worry, there are no spoilers in this article, only links to some awesome PvP matches.
New EVE Quarterly Economic Newsletter talks wormholes and tech 3
Four times per year, CCP Lead Economist Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson and his team of researchers publish the Quarterly Economic Newsletter (QEN). In addition to providing trackable statistics on EVE Online's in-game market, each issue focuses heavily on analysing one particular topic. This quarter's report focuses on wormhole systems and the state of the tech 3 market. Updated player demographics show more and more players entering wormhole space, with a drop in the number of characters in high-security space. Statistics for the number of jumps in wormhole space over the past year show a similar trend of growing activity. This QEN provides some enlightening graphs on the popularity of various tech 3 offensive subsystems and how tech 3 material costs have changed in EVE over the past year. Perhaps most illuminating is the sharp rise in the use of tech 3 strategic cruisers in locations that put them at risk. While the majority are being flown in mission hubs and market systems, over 35% were found outside the safety of high-security space. In addition to this quarter's focus on wormholes, the report contains the usual graphs tracking in-game prices, trade volumes, ships in use and other useful metrics.
EVE merchandise store gets an overhaul
The EVE Online merchandise store received a facelift yesterday to bring its visual style in line with CCP's new EVE Gate social networking tool. In addition to selling EVE game time codes, the store features a huge range of extremely nerdy internet spaceships paraphernalia. If you're looking for the latest issue of E-ON magazine, a model battleship, a new EVE poster or an EVE T-shirt, the EVE store is where you'll find it. In a new devblog, CCP has gone into detail on their future plans for the store. On top of the current cosmetic and layout changes, CCP aim to produce a variety of new posters, collectibles and clothing. Unfortunately for European players, CCP has been unable to reduce the massive shipping costs on items to the EU.
EVE Online's planets are open for business
When EVE Online's Tyrannis expansion went live last month, its main planetary interaction feature was initially disabled. The command centre structures required for planetary interaction weren't released as more time was needed for testing. This had the unfortunate side-effect of causing havoc with the starbase market. Until now, players were only able to scan planets for resources and train the required skills in preparation for the inevitable planetary gold rush. Today the markets in EVE were seeded with command centres, opening the flood gates on planetary exploitation. To help you get to grips with planetary interaction, several helpful guides and instructional videos have already been made. EVE University have produced an impressive and thorough guide, along with a handy chart of what you can produce with each of the planet materials. Similarly, EVE player Korai Iarok has taken the initiative and produced a great flow-chart style PDF showing the manufacturing processes for each item. With these helpful guides and CCP's own video tutorial, even new players should have very little problem setting up their own planet-based industrial networks. Skip past the cut to watch CCP's official planetary interaction video tutorial.
EVE pushes over the 60,000 peak concurrent user mark
With its single-server structure, EVE Online is home to over 330,000 pilots, all playing in the same instance of the game universe. As subscriber numbers rise, EVE continues to set new records for the number of players simultaneously online in a single 3D game world. Records tend to be broken in the days leading up to or following a big expansion, usually during EVE's peak activity on Sunday evenings. The previous record of 56,021 set following the Dominion expansion was beaten yesterday with a peak concurrent user total of 60,453. The high active subscriber levels we're currently seeing can be attributed to both the buzz caused by EVE's eighth alliance tournament and the newly released Tyrannis expansion. The main feature of Tyrannis goes live tomorrow, when the command centres required for planetary interaction will be seeded on the market. With two more weekends of the alliance tournament to go and the imminent Tyrannis land grab, we're sure to see this new record pushed even further in the weeks to come.
EVE Evolved: What not to expect from EVE Online
Of all the MMOs on the market today, few are as polarising as EVE Online. While the game has over 330,000 active subscriptions and I've absolutely loved it for over six years, I still find myself introducing new people to it with the words "It's not for everyone." It does seem to be the case that EVE just doesn't mesh with some gamers. The user interface can look overwhelming, the combat can seem detached and the gameplay is often written off as boring. Players coming from other MMOs are at risk of bringing some fundamental preconceptions about MMO design with them that don't really apply to EVE. These basic misunderstandings in how the game works can be a source of frustration or confusion for people who genuinely want to get into EVE. I find myself answering the same barrage of questions each time I introduce someone to the game, ranging in complexity from "What's the best race?" or "What's the best ship?" to the inevitable "How can I catch up to older players?" or "What should I do now?" In this article, I look at three key ways EVE differs from the MMO norm and what new players can do to overcome these potential stumbling blocks.
EVE's Alliance Tournament VIII kicks off today
Today marks the start of EVE Online's eighth annual Alliance Tournament. Each weekend for the next three weeks, teams from 64 alliances will face each other on an even playing field where strategy and execution are the deciding factor. Using expert commentators sourced from the EVE community and live video streaming of the event, CCP Games do their best to make the tournament a great spectator sport for the average player. For those that enter the competition, it's a chance to prove that their alliance has what it takes to come up with winning tactics and execute them flawlessly. The first qualifying round is already underway and you can tune into the matches through CCP's live video stream.
Tyrannis launch oversight destroys starbase market
After what seemed to be a smooth launch, it soon became apparent that EVE Online's Tyrannis expansion had brought with it several broken features. While the planet-scanning interface works fine and looks fantastic, the deployment of command centres was pushed back until June 8th. The materials produced on planets could not possibly be made until June 8th but on May 26th, tier 4 products from planetary interaction began appearing on the market. It wasn't long before EVE players figured out that you could refine NPC-sold starbase structures into high-end planet products. Starbase structures are one of the many things that CCP is switching from being supplied at fixed prices by NPCs to being produced by players through planetary interaction. The NPC supply was meant to be removed on May 26th but as players were currently unable to produce the structures, that change was delayed until June 8th.
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 Online Tyrannis launch day roundup
EVE Online's long-awaited Tyrannis expansion is finally upon us and here at Massively we're celebrating with a roundup of our recent Tyrannis coverage. The expansion's main feature is a form of planetary interaction that gives players the ability to colonise and industrialise the planets of New Eden. Tyrannis also sees some important changes coming to EVE, with a new insurance scheme coming into effect and the release of the EVE Gate social network. Tyrannis was initially scheduled for May 18th but some last-minute changes forced CCP to push it back to May 26th to give more time for testing. The structures necessary for planetary interaction will be released on June 8th, giving players around two weeks to learn the new skills and plan the conquest of their favourite planets. As you wait for your client to update, catch up with our previous coverage below and be sure to visit the official Tyrannis features page for more details, backgrounds and interview videos. EVE Online's next expansion revealed: Explore planets in Tyrannis It's been known since the last EVE Online Fanfest that the next expansion would be based around planetary interaction, but details on exactly what that interaction would constitute have been thin on the ground. In a bumper devblog today, EVE's Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson gave a first glimpse of what we can expect this summer. EVE Evolved: What could planetary interaction be like? The information we have so far on the expansion is limited to a single devblog, which provides only a general mission statement for the expansion. In the absence of further information, I find myself wondering what the planetary interaction in Tyrannis might be like. In this speculative opinion piece, I look over the information we know for sure about Tyrannis and go on to speculate on what it might be like. Click past the cut to see more of our Tyrannis coverage!
EVE Online's fifth CSM election results are in
Voting season is over in EVE Online's fifth CSM elections and the results are in! The Council of Stellar Management is EVE's democratically elected liaison council between CCP Games and the game's player-base. It's their job to collect a list of some of the best ideas and game design proposals suggested and voted on by players in the council forum. Once every six months, the council will meet with CCP for a week of rigorous meetings in Iceland to put forward those ideas and discuss their feasibility with EVE's development staff. There's no doubt that the CSM has had a legitimate impact on EVE's development and with this fifth term, they're even being given the ability to assign some development resources as they see fit. Skip past the cut for a breakdown of this year's voting statistics and to meet the new members of EVE's CSM.
Help EVE's developers get to the bottom of fleet lag this Saturday
The down side to EVE Online's truly massive single-server design that puts all players in the same universe is that lag has been a constant problem since the game's launch. For the most part, the game runs smoothly and lag doesn't affect the day-to-day lives of players. It's when too many players congregate in one place that the server node they're on begins to grind to a halt. Circumstances can rapidly go from bad to worse, with server nodes collapsing under the strain and database failures occurring. It's been noticed by players that lag in fleet battles has gotten considerably worse since the Dominion expansion came out. To get to the bottom of the issue, CCP Tanis has been scheduling regular test-server events in an effort to replicate the conditions experienced on the main EVE server. By logging a fleet battle in action, CCP hope to find ways to resolve fleet lag and prevent further lag-causing defects from reaching the main server unnoticed. On Saturday 29th May between 20:00 and 21:00 EVE time, CCP will be running an important hour-long testing session. They're asking players to turn up and help out, as they need at least 300 pilots to begin testing and ideally would want over 500. For information on what the testing consists of and how to access the EVE test-server, visit the official mass testing sticky thread on the EVE forums.
Win EVE game time with the Planet Risk podcast
As EVE Online's Tyrannis expansion draws closer, CCP has been avidly supporting community competitions surrounding its launch. In addition to our own three massive contests centred on planetary interaction with a huge prize total of 50 PLEX, there have been numerous smaller contests on other popular websites and community blogs. Unfortunately, while any EVE player is sure to get excited over the chance to win some free game time, not everyone's contests have been successful. The Planet Risk show, one of EVE's popular podcasts, launched a contest where listeners were encouraged to record themselves mimicking the show's presenters. Despite thousands of hits to the contest page and vocal support in the community, bizarrely not a single entry was received. In response, the show's presenters have extended the contest until the end of the month and relaunched it with more accessible entry requirements. Players can now enter either by writing something about planetary interaction or recording themselves talking about it. Pop over to the Planet Risk contest page for details on how to enter the contest.
EVE Evolved: Ratting, part 1: Strategies
There are plenty of ways to make ISK in EVE Online, from exploration and mission-running to trading or any number of alternative professions. One of the oldest and most popular ways to make a reliable income in EVE is hunting the pirate NPCs that spawn in asteroid belts, an activity known as "ratting". Ratting is probably the best way to repair the low security status you'll be left with if you engage in piracy or suicide ganks. For those who live in nullsec, it's often the primary way to farm ISK for replacement ships to support PvP activities. Some players who don't have access to nullsec through their corporation or alliance even sneak characters in for the sole purpose of ratting. If done properly, it can make more ISK than level 4 missions and there's always that chance of finding rare faction and officer NPCs with valuable loot. In the first of this two-part guide, I look at where to find the best NPCs, how to find a good system for ratting and the three most popular ratting strategies.
EVE Evolved: Sansha abduction live event
On Tuesday, CCP announced that the Tyrannis expansion heralded the rebirth of live events in EVE Online. No sooner had the post gone live than the planned events began to seriously kick off in-game. It all began when classified CONCORD documents were inadvertently leaked to the capsuleer community. Code-named "ISHAEKA", the documents revealed that a CONCORD task-force had been monitoring recent Sansha military build-up in their home region of Stain. Since then, Sansha fleets have been spotted emerging from wormholes and abducting citizens from the colonised planets of New Eden, leading to some huge clashes with players. In this lore-packed article, I look at the story behind EVE's Sansha abduction event, how you can get involved in some of the epic battles and what could be improved in future events.
Massively's EVE Online Tyrannis contest, part 3: Fiction-writing contest
Over the past two weeks we've been running some awesome weekly contests for readers to win EVE Online game time courtesy of CCP Games. In celebration of the upcoming launch of EVE's Tyrannis expansion, we gave away 10 PLEX in our planet screenshot contest two weeks ago. Last week, we ran a caption competition with a 15 PLEX prize total and received a flood of entries. So many in fact that we're still debating which captions should win a prize. The winners of that contest will be posted as an update to the second contest post within the next few days and the winners will all be notified via email. This week marks the last week of our Tyrannis contest trilogy and to end on a high-note we're giving away a whopping 25 PLEX. Ten top prizes of two PLEX are available and a further five runner-up entrants will get one PLEX each. To enter, all you have to do is write a short piece of fiction based on the planets and moons of New Eden and submit it to the comments on this post. Entries are limited to 200 words or less as we're sure to get a huge number of entries and we want to give each one the full attention it deserves. Your entry can take the form of a short story, a poem or any other type of written fiction. Prizes will be awarded based on creativity, writing style and presentation. As with the previous two competitions, this contest is open to readers from any country. UPDATE: Entry is now closed. We are now reading through the submissions and picking winners! UPDATE 2: Winners have been selected! The list of winners has been added to the end of this post. Each winner will be contacted via email to arrange delivery of their prizes. Skip past the cut for the contest rules and full submission guidelines.
