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Details of EVE's upcoming Incursion expansion revealed
It's an ordinary day in EVE Online, with pilots going about their daily business of trading, blowing each other up and battling the pirate forces of New Eden. Everything is quiet -- perhaps a little too quiet. All of a sudden, alarms go off in the space stations as warning comes in of an incoming Sansha incursion. We've known for some time that the Incursion expansion would include dungeon-like military incursions by ruthless pirate faction Sansha's Nation. Until now, however, details on exactly how those encounters would take place have been kept secret. In a new EVE devblog, CCP Ytterbium has now revealed exactly what we can expect from the Incursion expansion's signature feature. The Sansha incursions will begin with wormholes opening into every system in the target constellation. Sansha forces will form blockades at the stargates, replace the local NPCs in asteroid belts and begin to set up a series of military outposts. Sansha's Nation brings a frightening new technology to each incursion, capable of causing a number of debilitating effects on every pilot in the system. Ship resistances and damage output of all ships will drop, making it difficult to run missions or explore while the incursion is in progress. Similarly, cynosural fields will be blocked to prevent any capital ships entering the system. Skip past the cut for a run-down of how we'll tackle the Sansha invasions coming with the Incursion expansion.
EVE invites players back to try out Incursion
As anyone who follows EVE Online should know, Incursion, the 14th expansion to the game, will introduce new avatars. For many MMO players, the graphics-quality -- especially the quality of the player character -- is an enormous draw or repellent. CCP recognizes this, so it has offered something not many companies do. The developers would like former players to come back for five days to try out Incursion on the test server Singularity before the expansion is officially launched. Specifically, they would like you to try the character creator and the social media tools in EVE Gate. This morning many former EVE players received an email asking them to come back. If you had an active account between March 13th, 2009 and November 3rd, 2010, you may want to check the inbox attached to your EVE account, as you probably have an invite in there. Unfortunately, active and expired trial accounts don't count, but Steam is offering a the full downloadable game plus a 30-day subscription. To read more about the character creator, be sure to check out the developer blog, and while you're there, read up on EVE Gate and its mix of social media and gaming. With Incarna releasing next summer, Incursion is a the perfect opportunity to try out the precursor to walk-on stations -- today.
Make your travel plans for EVE Online's fanfest
With the holidays coming up, there's a plethora of things a capsuleer could ask for: that shiny new T3 ship you've been eyeballing, a pile of PLEX, or perhaps a bargain at the EVE Online store sale. But the savvy holiday shopper knows to save his cash for the upcoming Fanfest that is slated to be held in 2011. With Incursion coming up, Incarna to follow, DUST 514 underway, and World of Darkness recently announced, this year's party at the top of the world looks like it's going to be full of all manner of cool stuff to check out. Thanks to a bit of internet digging, it appears that IcelandAir has already released its travel packages for those looking to get the jump on the event and book in at the lowest rates. The travel site indicates that the dates for the upcoming Fanfest are March 24-26, leaving lots of time to get those vacation requests in early. Additionally, IcelandAir lists a CCP dev-attended city tour and a party after the event that offer some idea of the festivities to come, although they're not included with the travel package itself. We've contacted CCP for additional information and will be certain to let you know when we hear more. For now, make sure your passports are in order and get over to the IcelandAir site to get your package booked!
EVE Evolved: The living storyline
When EVE Online launched over seven years ago, it was a small game with a niche place in the MMO world. Sci-fi fans were drawn from across the world to the potential offered by the fledgling universe of New Eden. As a small independent studio, CCP Games made up for its lack of funds with an incredible creativity and a willingness to work closely with players. Much of the early development was focused on working with players, from updates to the user interface to balance issues and ideas for new ships and modules. In 2004, CCP began involving players directly in the game's evolving storyline through massive storyline events. I have fond memories of the time the Serpentis pirate corporation hijacked and stole a Federation Navy titan, an event orchestrated as much for the enjoyment of players as for showcasing the new titan class of ship CCP had been working on. Another particularly memorable storyline arc was the Crielere event, in which players assisted NPCs with research into mysterious new Guristas prototype cloaking devices. These events formed part of EVE Online's living storyline, affecting the game on a fundamental level through the introduction of new ships and items. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the history of EVE's storyline and forward to what the future might hold.
Rockets and more to be boosted in EVE's Incursion expansion
Of all the small issues players want to see fixed in EVE Online, few have gained as much community support as the campaign to boost rockets. Rockets are intended to be short-range but high-damage anti-frigate missiles for tech 1 and 2 frigates with missile hardpoints. Unfortunately, their damage output and effectiveness against other frigates has been extremely poor since missiles and ship signature radii were rebalanced years ago. The issue has gained so much support in the community because it's seen as one of the few problems in EVE that could possibly be fixed in a matter of minutes. Players assert that all it would take is changing a few numbers in the EVE database, and yet the problem has remained unsolved for so long. Missile-slinging frigate pilots across New Eden will breathe a sigh of relief today as a new devblog has finally answered their prayers. In the upcoming Incursion expansion, rockets will have their explosion velocity and base damage increased to make them effective against frigate-sized ships. In addition, several neglected and underused types of tech 2 ammunition are being boosted to make them desirable to use instead of faction ammo. Further changes covered in the devblog include some performance optimisations with the Supercarrier Fighter Bombers and the inclusion of faction ships in the standard market browser. With easier access to faction ships and boosts to underused ammo, players taking part in the expansion's new group PvE feature will be pleased with the changes.
EVE Evolved: EVE players debate microtransactions
Sometimes it seems as though the entire MMO industry is moving toward microtransaction-based pricing schemes. With the success of free-to-play titles like Runes of Magic and Free Realms, it's clear that microtransactions are becoming a popular alternative to the standard subscription model. Famously, Dungeons and Dragons Online also proved that a hybrid model with both subscription and microtransaction options could be a great success. Even World of Warcraft has hopped on the microtransaction bandwagon with its infamous sparkle pony and cosmetic pets. With the industry moving firmly in one direction, questions have been raised over whether EVE Online will ever implement any kind of microtransactions. Believe it or not, the first steps toward doing just that have already been taken. It was discovered some time ago that the Incursion expansion this winter would give players the ability to buy extra neural remaps with PLEX. Neural remapping allows players to re-assign a character's attributes using a points-based system. As attributes are only used to determine the speed with which skills train, remaps allow players to max out the stats required to train a particular branch of skills. In this opinion piece, I look at the microtransaction debate currently raging in the EVE community and weigh in with my opinions on this controversial issue.
EVE Evolved: Group PvE in EVE Online
EVE Online is often thought of as a strongly PvP-based game, with player conflict and competition at the heart of practically every activity the game offers. Competition for resources, power, and notoriety routinely drive players to disintegrate each other's ships, but this effect isn't limited to just PvP. Miners compete with each other for ore on a daily basis, for example, and traders fight for market supremacy. EVE's competitive sandbox element is such a headline feature that PvE often takes a back seat in discussions about the game. EVE's combat-based PvE comes in the form of repeatable agent missions, hidden exploration sites, and deadly Sleeper encounters. While most of these can be completed solo by experienced pilots with a well-designed ship, they're often much faster and more fun when done in groups. The lack of a limit to how many pilots can be brought on PvE expeditions even makes it feasible to take newer players along to tough missions, something that doesn't happen in most MMOs. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at why EVE's PvE is so inherently soloable, which types of PvE encounters are well suited to group play, and what the future holds for EVE's possibly neglected group PvE content.
Incarna scheduled for summer 2011 release
EVE Online is often said to be a game that's not for everyone. One of the biggest points of contention a lot of new players have with the game is the lack of any real avatar. The faces we customise on character creation are little more than passport photos, sitting next to names in chat channels and posts on the official game forum. Without a full body avatar to interact with the world, a lot of new players find it difficult to relate to their EVE characters the way they would in other MMOs. Originally named Walking in Stations, the Incarna expansion is intended to rectify this problem by giving players the ability to walk around and socialise inside the space stations of New Eden. Until now, it wasn't known for sure when the expansion would be released. It's been in development since as early as 2008 but has been pushed back several times since then as the enormity of the project began to fully unfold. Earlier today, Eurogamer reported that a release schedule for Incarna has finally been revealed. The first step in the feature's release will come with the Incursion expansion this winter, in which we'll get access to the new character creation and customisation process. After that, CCP's goal is to release the first iteration of Incarna, complete with the ability to walk around station environments, with the next summer expansion. Barring any major setbacks, it's reasonably safe to say that Incarna is on track for a summer 2011 release.
EVE Online: Incursion coming this winter
CCP has a new expansion coming for EVE Online players, and it should be here before you know it. While there is not an official launch date for EVE Online: Incursion, it's slated for Winter 2010 and will bring many improvements to the game. Improved character creation, new ships, new loot and rewards, and new storylines are just some of what players will find in the expansion, and CCP is looking forward to its reception. The Incursion site is live now and contains the full press release with all the current news. We'll keep our eyes open here at Massively for any details as they're available!
PAX 2010: CCP unveils EVE Online's latest expansion
Tweet var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/story/r/pax_2010_ccp_unveils_eve_online_s_latest_expansion_massively'; At PAX Prime, we caught up with CCP's lead game designer Noah Ward, who paused helpfully between the roaring crowds on all sides of the booth to fill us in on the "secret sauce" to EVE Online's continued growth and success. Ward said it was simple: CCP's steadfast commitment to the game for the long haul. The dev team strongly believes in the growth of EVE and works hard to expand it both inward and upward. Part of that growth includes continued expansions to the title, and Ward was excited to reveal the next one on deck. While it doesn't yet have a name -- at least, nothing CCP could put in print -- the team is hyped up about its latest expansion to the EVE Online franchise. Set to debut later this winter, the expansion looks to build on many of the key foundations that Tyrannis began. Hit the jump to hear about the four new features that EVE fans will find themselves crowing about by the time Santa comes a-callin'!
