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EVE Evolved: Stepping through the EVE Gate
Though EVE Online is often lauded for its rich decade-long player history full of wars and complex political dealings, the NPC storyline and New Eden's ancient backstory have always held my fascination. I started playing in early 2004 after reading dozens of fiction chronicles and mock scientific articles on the EVE website that painted the picture of a real living universe where incredible things could happen. Sure enough, my first years of play were punctuated with compelling live events and storyline arcs like the Crielere research project that led to the development of cloaking devices, the theft of a Federation Navy titan by Serpentis pirates, and the Blood Raiders taking over Delve. CCP has frequently stated that its goal with EVE is to create the ultimate sci-fi simulator, and the core of a compelling sci-fi setting is a living universe that grows and changes. The best sci-fi TV shows are those with a constant cycle of revealing compelling mysteries and then solving them and of encountering escalating challenges to be overcome. EVE has done this extremely well a few times in its life, such as with the release of wormholes or when the Sansha incursions events were kicking off, and each time the concurrent player numbers have spiked. Guild Wars 2 has shown the power of an evolving living storyline to get people into the game and keep them actively playing in the long term, something that should be the norm for MMOs and that EVE Online could take much greater advantage of. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at some of the big NPC mysteries revealed in EVE Online's decade-long history and ask why they were abandoned and where they could go now.
EVE Evolved: Sandboxes make the best stories
Every MMO has stories to tell, some written by developers and told through quest content and others created by players through everyday gameplay. Themepark MMOs lead every player through the same fictional story and give no real control over the outcome, but I have to wonder whether the effort invested in that story is even worth it. MMOs are meant to have long-term replayability, and a linear story is new only the first time you play through it. After a while, players find themselves skipping dialogue, ignoring quest text, and grinding yet another character to the endgame. In contrast, sandbox MMOs tend to eschew their own storylines in favour of letting players make it up as they go along. Sandbox MMO EVE Online has spawned some incredible tales and videos over its lifetime, with stories of political goings-on, wars, and record heists hitting the news every year without fail. EVE stories usually also appeal to many people who don't even play the game, an effect uncommon in other MMOs. It's not often that the in-game exploits of a themepark MMO guild will reach the media or generate the same level of interest as a big EVE story, so what is the magic sauce that makes stories from EVE so appealing? In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the best stories and videos from EVE Online and ask why EVE continues to grip us with its stories and themepark MMOs don't.
EVE Evolved: Adapt or die
When EVE Online was first released in 2003, it sold mostly based on its future potential. Everyone I played with in those early years got into EVE in order to be on the ground floor of an awesome space game that was getting more awesome by the month. Features were undergoing continual revision, and new content was released regularly, making EVE a radically different game every six months. Players met this design strategy of continual iteration head on with an "adapt or die" attitude, and it kept the game interesting for years on end. Fast-forward to 2011 and the story looked very different. The Dominion, Tyrannis and Incursion expansions introduced new gameplay but didn't heavily iterate on any other features. By the time Incarna released, most of EVE's gameplay and content had been the same for two years and players had nothing new to adapt to. For the Crucible and Inferno expansions, CCP finally iterated on hundreds of small features and even introduced new modules to reboot EVE's "adapt or die" PvP ship design metagame. With a lot of the small things now covered, I think some of the game's big features are due for iteration. In this week's EVE Evolved opinion piece, I look at how EVE players adapt to new challenges and explore several areas of stale gameplay that are in dire need of iteration.
EVE dev blog hints at upcoming live events
MMO live events are a tricky business due to the fickle nature of playerbases as well as the inherent technical and logistical challenges that often arise. That hasn't stopped CCP from putting together the occasional shindig in EVE Online, and in the company's latest dev blog, CCP Headfirst tells us how the Sansha Reborn events that dovetailed with the Incursion expansion were the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Headfirst writes that there are "entirely new live event plot lines in the works," and he goes on to state that CCP's near-future plans will please both lore hounds and combat fiends alike. Cruise over to the official EVE website to read the full dev blog.
EVE Spotlight: An interview with CCP Soundwave
EVE Spotlight is a new bi-weekly feature in which we interview prominent members of EVE Online's player community or development team. Every two weeks, we'll be shining the spotlight on a player or developer who has a significant impact on EVE so that we can highlight the efforts of EVE's most influential people. If you've ever tuned into EVE's annual Alliance Tournament, chances are you've seen CCP Soundwave in action. Through his work on EVE-TV, Soundwave has been a big part of the alliance tournament's studio team. Most players would recognise him for this work on the Alliance Tournament, but he's probably done more for EVE in his normal job than through EVE-TV. As a Game Designer for CCP, Soundwave has worked on some major features like the Tyrannis expansion's planetary interaction. Most recently, Soundwave worked alongside the other members of Team Best Friends Forever to produce the impressive Sansha incursions that are currently hitting New Eden. With the expansion having now been released, the team had been moved on to a project with almost universal support -- the quest to fix all those little issues with EVE that collectively add up to a big headache. In this EVE Spotlight, I talk to CCP Soundwave about the upcoming ninth Alliance Tournament, game design at CCP, the Incursion expansion, and CCP's new commitment to tackling all the small issues with EVE.
One Shots: I'm walking into spiderwebs
New Eden, even on a good day, is a place that is rife with dangers galore for pilots -- wardecs, pirates, scammers, liars, and more, all ready to make your life hell. With the addition of Incursion to EVE Online, you can add Sansha's Nation to the deadly mix as well. Unlike players, who might consider sparing you if you can offer a sweet enough bribe, these AI forces are only out for one thing: total destruction. It's not all doom and gloom, though. There are sweet rewards for pilots willing to risk their hulls in the fight against Sansha's invading forces. This exciting EVE Online One Shots was sent in to us by Lopsy Lu, who snapped the image in the heat of battle. Lopsy writes in: "Captured here is the final assault on a Sansha mothership in the Yulai system during an Incursion." In the mood to show off the large fleet battle you've been part of recently? Get a particularly sweet kill-shot? We'd love to see it. Just email your screenshot to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a note telling us about what we're seeing in the picture and why you chose that image. Your picture could be the next one we showcase here on Massively! %Gallery-112285%
EVE Evolved: Incursion guide -- Combat strategies
With the final release of EVE Online's Incursion expansion, Sansha fleets began invading constellations across New Eden. Hell-bent on revenge against the empire nations that rejected him, Sansha's unholy army of borg-like cybernetic soldiers is united in a singular goal -- to bring his disturbing brand of order to the galaxy. The incursions have been running for several weeks now, and players are quickly adapting to EVE's latest group PvE challenge. In last week's EVE Evolved, I began a series of guides to tackling incursions with an article on fleet composition and group tanking strategies. Even with a well-composed group, it's still possible to fail encounters if the fleet doesn't exercise good target-calling and combat strategies. With some Sansha ships fielding remote repairers and others throwing ECM, energy neutralisers, and massive torpedoes at players, taking on an encounter isn't just a matter of tanking it and flinging missiles in all directions. Fleet commanders must be able prioritise the enemy ships in order of the danger they present to the fleet. Clear target-calling will help a fleet to focus fire and get targets down quickly, and good prioritisation of targets can mean the difference between victory and defeat. In this week's second part of the EVE Evolved guide to incursions, I explain two popular target-calling strategies and look into prioritising targets in order to minimise the risk to your fleet. I end with a list of high-priority NPCs with special abilities that you'll need to keep an eye on.
EVE Evolved: Incursion guide -- Fleet setup and tanking
In last week's EVE Evolved, I gave my first impressions of EVE Online's newest group PvE activity based on a cautious first night spent at an incursion in Obray. The Sansha incursions have been running for over a week now, and players have come up with some clearly effective strategies for clearing the sites. Many groups are now tackling the incursions in relative safety, and yet every incursion still sees several ill-prepared fleets decimated at the hands of Sansha's ships. Incursions throw some difficult challenges at players, with focus fire melting vulnerable targets, energy neutralisers and ECM disabling your support ships, and bomber frigates wreaking havoc on large hulls. In some encounters, Sansha's Nation will even use deployable remote repair platforms and other structures to its advantage and will call in random reinforcement waves if your group is too slow. With the right fleet composition and strategy, however, all of those challenges can be overcome with ease. It seems that what players need most right now is a solid guide to tackling incursions. Over the next few editions of the EVE Evolved column, I'll be smashing my way through EVE's incursions to compile a comprehensive guide from the ground up. In this week's first part of the guide, we get the ball rolling with vital information on incursion fleet composition and tanking strategies. This part of the guide is aimed mainly at those interested in Vanguard-level sites, but the fleet setup and tanking strategies described are fundamental to all encounter sizes. In this week's EVE Evolved, I tackle the fundamentals of incursion fleet design and tanking, which should be enough to help your group jump right into 10-man Vanguard encounters.
EVE Evolved: Incursion in progress
In a blaze of fire and glory, Sansha Kuvakei's fleet clashed with players in a major offensive in Yulai. Although his AI-controlled Sansha battleships numbered in the hundreds, the sheer force of capsuleer defense initiatives was brought down on Kuvakei's fleet like a hammer. With the Sansha ships under heavy fire, the fleet opened additional wormholes to call in reinforcements. Amidst the busy buzz of lasers scorching hulls, capsuleers hurling missiles, and CONCORD rescue operations, space itself warped as several massive Sansha supercarriers emerged from the incoming wormholes. Sansha Kuvakei played his biggest and most fearsome card as a show of the incredible forces he now commands. And capsuleers burned them to ashes in defiance. Since the battle in Yulai, Sansha's Nation has begun launching full-scale occupations of constellations across New Eden. Many players dove straight into the fray without adequate preparation, and Sansha's forces were not forgiving. While most NPC pirate ships found in EVE Online are weak with a very basic AI, the new Sansha ships are both smart and deadly. They use everything from ECM and energy neutralisers to stealth bomber technology and logistic support. Thousands of player ships were destroyed in the first day of fighting as people worked out, through a system of trial and error, how best to tackle EVE's latest supervillain. As the dust settled, I began to get a solid impression of how well the feature is working and whether it really is the breath of fresh air EVE's PvE has been sorely lacking all these years. In this week's EVE Evolved, I give my first impressions of the Sansha incursions in an attempt to demystify some of the discussion surrounding them and share some basic tips for getting involved.
Sansha incursions have begun in EVE Online
The moment EVE Online players have been waiting for has finally arrived. Sansha's Nation has begun its plan of regular incursions into known space. Using terrifying advanced technology suspected to be of Sleeper or Jovian origin, the Nation has begun sending masses of troops through controlled wormholes into constellations across New Eden. The powerful new Sansha ships found in these sites are controlled by a borg-like hive mind composed of the millions of citizens abducted from planets during last year's Sansha raid events. The Sansha ships are even named after the system their crews were abducted from, an eerie reminder that we could do nothing to prevent the Sansha raids. To find out where the nearest incursion to you is, open your mission journal and go to the incursions tab. If you can't see any incursions in the global report after refreshing it several times, you may need to clear your cache. To do this, press the escape key to open up the game options, go into the "Reset Settings" tab and click the button next to the text "clear all cache files." This will restart your game and the incursions will be visible. Once you arrive at a constellation that's under siege, a new chat channel will automatically open to help coordinate resistance efforts in that constellation. Players who are thinking of getting into the incursions are urged to proceed with caution and use only ships they would be willing to lose, as these upgraded Sansha ships are deceptively powerful for their size classes. If you'd like to take part in the incursions with other Massively readers, join the Massively channel in-game for instructions on how to get involved with the official Massively Mob corporation. To give some background to the events taking place right now all over EVE, CCP has released a new video trailer putting the Sansha threat in context. Skip past the cut to watch the video, embedded in HD.
Massively's EVE Online Incursion video devblog roundup
Having progressed from being a small independent studio in Iceland to a successful multinational industry leader, EVE Online's developer CCP Games has always had a reputation for being very close to the game's playerbase. Back in July, this view was soured when information from devblogs and the June CSM summit seemed to suggest that EVE would receive no bug-fixes or iterations on old gameplay features for at least 18 months. Players were in an uproar, and a growing perception began to spread that CCP was selling current EVE players short in order to focus on Incarna. In the past six months, things at CCP have take a complete 180-degree turn. Planetary Interaction has received the iteration players were promised, with gameplay tweaks and user interface fixes being deployed at a rapid pace. CCP also instituted team GridLock, whose purpose was to wage an all-out war on lag and fleet issues. In a refreshing and extremely welcome turn of affairs, CCP has been making a gargantuan effort lately to communicate with the players about upcoming changes and collect feedback. Though regular technical devblogs and pre-released test-server patches, players have been kept more informed than ever about what's going on behind the scenes at CCP HQ. Most recently, a series of 18 developer videos was released leading up to the Incursion expansion's final release today. Topics covered include battle reports from the ongoing war on lag, information on server optimisations that have been made recently, updates to planetary interaction, and other interesting topics. Skip past the cut for a detailed roundup of all 18 videos, all hosted on CCP's official YouTube page.
EVE Spotlight: An interview with CCP's trailer team
EVE Spotlight is a new bi-weekly feature in which we interview prominent members of EVE Online's player community or development team. Every two weeks, we'll be shining the spotlight on a player or developer who has a significant impact on EVE to highlight the efforts of EVE's most influential people. With its impressive graphics and deep-space setting, there's no doubt that EVE Online produces some stunning visuals. Players have produced some incredible videos over the years using only in-game footage and video-editing software. The official game trailers are often even more impressive, with some fantastic cinematic trailers preceding every expansion. Occasionally, CCP's trailer team pumps out an absolute gem of a trailer like The Butterfly Effect and Causality that showcases the game's sandbox nature and gives a taste of the unique things you can achieve in EVE. With the impressive Incursion trailer still fresh in our minds and Sansha Kuvakei's impending revenge drawing ever-closer, we took the opportunity to talk to CCP's trailer team. Skip past the cut for our interview with CCP Loxy from the EVE trailer team and a behind-the-scenes video look at what goes into making EVE's epic trailers.
EVE's incursions go live on Tuesday, Sansha events to follow
The first two stages of EVE Online's new Incursion expansion were released in November and December, bringing us some much-needed UI fixes and removing learning skills from the game. Citing a commitment to polishing the expansion's main features before publishing them, CCP delayed most of the expansion until a third major patch. Scheduled for release on Tuesday, January 18th, the third phase of Incursion will include the extremely impressive new Incarna character builder and periodic Sansha invasions into constellations across EVE. In a new devblog, CCP has revealed that the Sansha incursions will be starting with some well-deserved build-up events. In previous expansions, new content was simply present as soon as players logged in, with little more than a few lines in the patch notes and a devblog or two to describe the new additions. The fact that the incursions are being heralded in with live events is sure to be popular with players, and it may represent a change in the way CCP delivers new major features. When the final Incursion patch goes live on Tuesday, players may begin to see some odd occurrences that seem very out of place. Events will build up to Sansha's Nation inevitably beginning its crusade against all the systems of New Eden and the incursions going into full swing.
CCP releases special EVE Online chronicle
The backstory in CCP's EVE Online often gets overlooked in favor of the pew pew, the internet spaceships, and the dastardly deeds of the title's infamous meta-gaming crowd. CCP has nonetheless continued to pump out a number of lore chronicles over the years, with the newest focusing on the brewing conflict between the Sansha and EVE's demi-god capsuleers. The latest installment, Uplifted, is penned by CCP Headfirst and is a special addition to CCP's usual chronicle publishing schedule. If you're looking for some sci-fi MMO reading material to round out your holidays, check out the full list of New Eden chronicles at the game's official website, and don't forget to leave your thoughts in the Uplifted comment thread.
EVE trailer debuts in selected cinemas before showing of Tron
Earlier this month, we heard the news that a few selected US cinema theaters would be showing a new EVE Online trailer. On the EVE forum, CCP Manifest published a list of the participating theaters and told players that the trailer would be aired between eight and fifteen minutes before the main movie showing. The new trailer is essentially a re-cut of the impressive and very cinematic Incursion trailer released last month, adapted for the big screen and the general cinema audience. With Tron's release last week, the EVE trailer has already been seen at several theaters on CCP's list. This is the first time CCP has tried to advertise via cinema, and if things go well, we could see more trailers on the big screen in the near future. This showing is the first of a series of small-scale tests designed to see how effective cinema can be as an advertising venue. If you'd like to see your local theater featured in future test-showings, post its name and location in the thread for CCP's marketing department to look into it. For those unable to attend one of the participating theaters, the short 30-second cinema trailer has been published as promised on CCP's YouTube page. Skip past the cut to watch the cinema trailer, embedded in high definition.
Second part of EVE Christmas present revealed -- the Echelon
Two weeks ago, we learned of CCP's plans to remove learning skills from EVE Online. Learning skills have always been a problem for new players, and their removal has been an issue supported by players for years. As the first part of a two-part Christmas present to players, CCP announced that the skills would be removed with the Incursion expansion's December release. Speculation on what the second part of that present could be has run wild on the forums, with many older players even wishing lost features would make a come-back. CCP has just announced that the second part of EVE's Christmas patch will be a new ship called the Echelon. As with previous presents, Every subscribed player will have one of these ships delivered to them through the item-redeeming system. The Echelon is a unique CONCORD design aimed at fighting the oncoming Sansha menace. The ship boasts impressive hacking capabilities, with a bonus to the operation of specialised Sansha codebreakers. A limited-edition Sansha codebreaker will also be included with the ship. Until now, hacking has been restricted solely to a mini-profession for the gathering of invention materials and completion of static COSMOS missions. This announcement is the first hint we've seen that the Sansha incursions we're looking forward to in January will include an element of hacking.
New EVE chronicle tells a tale of revenge against the Sansha invasions
EVE Online is currently buzzing with news of the Incursion expansion, which is being released in three parts over the coming months. The final release in January will be bringing the expansion's key feature, constellation-wide incursions by Sansha pirate forces. The incursions themselves began as a live event several months ago. After discovering the secrets of controlling the formation of wormholes, Sansha forces began using them to invade populated systems across EVE and kidnap citizens of the four empires. The abducted people were brought back to Sansha territory to be converted into mind-controlled slaves of the nation. In a new EVE chronicle, CCP loremaster Abraxas tells the tale of one man's dealings with the pending Sansha invasion. It's a chilling story of a Sansha scout sent to talk to the leader of an asteroid colony and one man's dark revenge against the Nation. For those of you who have been following the Sansha lore with interest, this latest Chronicle "The Plague Years" will give an interesting glance into the inner workings of the Nation.
EVE Evolved: Preparing for Incursion
Several months ago, pirate faction Sansha's Nation began invading the populated systems of New Eden in force and abducting colonists from the defenseless planets. Using a frightening new technology, Sansha's forces have been able to open controlled wormholes directly in orbit of their target planets. CONCORD and the local faction navies have been unable to defend against the incursions, leaving the fate of EVE Online's planets solely in the hands of capsuleers. EVE players immediately began to organise intelligence networks and corporations dedicated to detecting and fighting the Sansha threat. In the upcoming Incursion expansion, Sansha's Nation will be stepping up its attacks to full-scale invasions of entire constellations. Having converted the millions of colonists they've abducted to mindless drones of the Nation and even having moved a conquered Jovian space station into their hidden wormhole home, Sansha's forces have never been stronger. When the Incursion expansion's main feature goes live in January of next year, players will find themselves on the front-lines of a war. We'll group up in fleets of 5-10, 10-20 or 20-40 players to tackle the various incursion sites and ultimately destroy each invasion wave's mothership. With the first Incursion release scheduled for this month and less than two months to go until the constellation-wide Sansha attacks begin, now is the perfect time to prepare for the expansion. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the ways you can benefit from the upcoming expansion and what players can do to prepare for the war against Sansha's Nation.
EVE Incursion trailer fortells Sansha's revenge
Tweet Fueled by his dreams of creating a utopian society, a young Sansha Kuvakei took to the stars. He sought to establish a new universal order among the citizens of New Eden and create a better future for everyone. His dream quickly turned to New Eden's nightmare, as Sansha's followers grew and began arming themselves for a war. While the public saw him as a glorious messiah and leader of a prosperous new kingdom, Sansha had begun experimenting in secret on the most unholy of creations. Combining Jovian pod technology with the then-illegal brain implants, Sansha found a way to control not just the economic activity of his empire but also the actions of his followers. Millions were converted into mindless slaves of Sansha's twisted Nation before the empires took notice. It wasn't long before Sansha's empire crumbled, left with only a handful of fanatical followers and a small army of true slaves. Sansha's influence in the empires waned, and his empire was scattered to a small section of the lawless outer regions. Out of sight, but not out of action, it's here that Sansha has been building his forces and biding his time. It's from here that the Nation launched expeditions into the unstable wormholes appearing throughout space. In the unseen depths of wormhole space, Sansha has been building an armada, its purpose to impose his unholy order on every citizen of New Eden. Having captured a Jovian space station and learned the secrets of controlling wormholes, the Nation has already abducted millions from their home planets and converted them to serve the Nation. Soon Sansha's plans will come into focus and nobody, not even miners in the relative safety of the empire's strongholds, will be safe from his terrible revenge. Skip past the cut to watch the new Incursion trailer, embedded in HD.
E-ON Magazine issue 21 round-up
We regularly spend money on our favourite MMOs, be it in the form of a monthly subscription fee or a microtransaction purchase. We often spend more time and money on our favourite online retreats than we spend on other hobbies, and yet few MMOs have their own dedicated magazine the way other hobbies do. EVE Online players are fortunate enough to have the quarterly EVE magazine E-ON to spread out across their coffee tables. Produced by MMM Publishing, E-ON is guaranteed to be 100% EVE from cover to cover. Even the advertisements in it are for EVE corporations and services rather than paid ads for other games. I've been slowly reading my way through Issue 21 since it popped through my letterbox and have definitely enjoyed it. This issue focuses on live events and the upcoming Incursion expansion, with a special feature on EVE's annual fanfest event in Iceland. The issue also contains guides to faction warfare militia fleets, EVE's various communication tools and the first of a series on Drones. Interviews this time around include CCP's video producer Stevie Ward and Technical Director in the fight against lag, Derek Wise. As usual, the magazine contains the latest war reports from nullsec, an awesome new piece of EVE fiction and the impressive layouts and graphics that readers have come to expect. Skip past the cut for a breakdown of what you can expect from E-ON issue 21 and my impressions of the issue.
