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EVE's CSM X candidacy opens today
EVE Online developer CCP is accepting applications for its Council of Stellar Management beginning today. The CSM is a democratically elected group of 14 EVE players chosen annually by their peers and tasked with maintaining "close and constant contact with EVE development." Candidates must not have "any records of serious breach of the EULA and/or TOS," CCP says in its announcement post.
CCP talks new EVE destroyer, cash shop SKINs
CCP released a pair of EVE dev blogs today, one of which focuses on a new tactical destroyer slated for February's Tiamat release. The other entry concerns ship painting, and more specifically Super Kerr-Induced Nanocoatings, or SKINs, if you prefer. SKINs differ from the paint jobs currently populating EVE's cash shop in that they function as "a license to use a specific design or pattern for a ship. You then apply that license to your character and then your character will be licensed to use that design whenever you wish," according to the blog. For now, CCP says, SKINs are permanent and cannot be lost even if you're podded.
CCP and CSM IX review the year in EVE
CCP has published a recap of the year in EVE as viewed through the eyes of the ninth Council of Stellar Management. If you're new to EVE, it's worth noting that the CSM is an elected body of player representatives who "are in constant contact with the EVE Online dev team in order to have a front line, up to date view on features and improvements that are currently being developed for EVE." Elections for CSM X will open on February 25th and close on March 10th.
EVE Online patches in Proteus
Deep space never looked as good in EVE Online as it does today, now that the Proteus release has gone live. This monthly update has made visual improvements to the Gallente Exequror and the asteroid fields that players will encounter on a regular basis. Other Proteus features include a balance pass on recon ships, additional high-end exploration sites, improvements to the beta star map, new player mining locations, and a streamlining of some module groups. You can check out the Proteus features page or read up on the patch notes for more info. EVE's next update, Tiamat, is scheduled for February 12th.
EVE Online video gives brief 'recon' of Proteus
Sometimes all it takes is a good preview video to ratchet up one's personal excitement and anticipation over an upcoming release. If you're an EVE Online fan, then you might get that rush from the following brief video in which the devs outline Proteus' main features. One of the biggest features of Proteus is a full rebalance for recon ships, including making them more sturdy and completely immune to directional scanners. The update will also contain the module tier side project, beta starmap tweaks, permanent places for newbies to mine, and visual improvements to one of the ships and asteroid belts. Check out the video after the break!
CCP shows historical player age distribution in EVE
"Every EVE player likes math, or at least the potential destruction it unlocks," CCP says in the comments of its latest YouTube vid. The reel is basically one minute and 38 seconds worth of graph porn showing how EVE's players have "matured" over the past 11 years. Or, as another commenter puts it, CCP has basically "stolen our young adult lives." Click past the cut to see the clip.
EVE Online player loses $1,500 in a ship attack
You would think that no one in EVE Online would ever risk carrying around a huge pile of PLEX these days, especially after the last dozen times that something went south while someone was transporting large sums of money. But Ozuwara Ozuwara was not the kind of player to be deterred by the very real possibility of having his precious cargo destroyed. So he loaded $1,500 worth of PLEX into his ship, set off for deep space, and then got blown up by fellow player Diorden without ever making his way out of high-security space. Yes, all of the PLEX was destroyed, all 84 pieces, which comes out to roughly 70 billion ISK on the open market. The bright side is that this might at least teach the lesson that this cargo is too valuable to cart around unguarded, by which we mean that you can check back in here a couple of months from now to see the same thing happen again to another player.
Latest EVE dev blog charts module rebalancing
EVE's forthcoming Proteus release will feature the second round of rebalancing work that CCP has termed Module Tiericide. Today's dev blog explains some of the changes courtesy of a sizable chart that shows stats like CPU usage, optimal range, powergrid usage, and more. There are a lot of numbers to parse, but if you're into that sort of thing, CCP says that it will be collecting player feedback and acting on it prior to Proteus' January 13th launch date.
CCP looking for EVE Fanfest speakers
The 2015 version of EVE's annual Fanfest is only three months away! CCP is looking to ramp up player engagement during the event, though it says it will not be "replacing any developer presentations with community ones." The firm does want to "increase the number of player-run sessions," though, and its latest news article outlines how you can get involved in 45-minute panels, 10- to 20-minute presentations, or five-minute "lightning talk" events.
EVE Online plans security crackdown on RMT rule violators
Players who have been skirting EVE Online's TOS might find themselves on the bad side of a ban come 2015, as the studio is rolling out tougher rules on violators in the new year. CCP posted a security blog in which it outlined how real-money traders will be punished, as well as those engaging in other activities such as input broadcasting and multiplexing. While CCP didn't post the number of bans it performed in 2014, it did show a few graphs illustrating where the problem areas lay. Banned accounts this year, permanent and temporary, were divided up by macro use (56%), ISK selling (18%), ISK buying (5%), modified clients (4%), ISK spamming (1%), and other (16%). On the brighter side of news, the team is hard at work on January's Proteus patch with sneakier combat recon ships, improved asteroid belt visuals, and the retirement of industry teams. [Thanks to Chrysillis for the tip!]
EVE Online and DUST 514 celebrate the holiday season
The year is wrapping up and EVE Online players are getting presents to celebrate. CCP Games has posted a short recap of the past year and an announcement of the holiday gifts players can expect to receive as a paid subscriber. That includes snowballs, fireworks, jackets, and a set of trinkets to commemorate the past year. Players can also look forward to 20 free days of multiple character training as a final additional gift. All of these promotions are available until January 11th. Meanwhile, for those of you who prefer to explore this particular universe via a console shooter, DUST 514 is having a holiday event with its 12 Days of DUST. Starting on December 25th, each day will bring a new reward to players who finish three daily missions, so you'll have to keep playing through January 5th to unlock all the rewards. A special reward is awaiting those who clear everything, so get strapped in and ready to shoot if you want to celebrate the holidays that way.
EVE Online nixes industry teams
Not every new idea is going to take off and be a smash hit, as CCP definitely understands this as much as anyone. The EVE Online developer said that the implementation of industry teams earlier this year has been vastly underused, and as a result, teams will be removed from the game entirely in 2015. "We have been closely tracking all related industry metrics and dials and it is apparent to us that usage of teams has been very low relative to the goals we set for it -- with single figure percentage use in manufacturing jobs and near nonexistent use in research," CCP wrote. Industry teams had allowed players to hire NPCs to help out with industry jobs. The feature will be "methodically removed" over the next few months, although players will be able to use teams until they are forceably retired. On another note, EVE tweeted that it has freed up over six million names from former trial players and has made them available for general use.
EVE Online speeds up game installation and access
To "get people into the game quicker," CCP is smoothing out the download and installation process for EVE Online. This new method of deployment is scheduled to go into service at the start of 2015. This means that the installation package will go from a 7GB download to a zippy 200MB one instead. Once that game client is up and running, it will then download the rest of the game's resources as needed. "On a fast connection you probably won't notice much of a difference -– load times may be slightly longer at times. As you play more, more resources will be cached and fewer and fewer need to be downloaded. The client will be smart about pre-fetching resources it expects will be needed soon," the team said.
Here's everything new and noteworthy in EVE's Rhea patch
Still wondering what's under the hood of EVE Online's Rhea patch? You must've missed all those CCP dev blogs, then. In any case, wonder no more, thanks to this newly released video that takes you on a tour of the sci-fi sandbox's newest features including PBR rendering, the new Thera system, 100 new wormhole systems, and more.
CCP dev blog talks PBR and 'making EVE look real'
Have you ever wondered about the math behind the visuals in your favorite games? If so, look no further than the latest EVE Online dev blog, which regales us with tales of the Phong Reflection Model and how it's giving way to something called Physically Based Rendering or PBR. The post features a bunch of equations, literally, and plenty of associated smart-person talk. Fortunately for me it also features quite a few pretty pics of internet spaceships! You can read it for yourself via the links below.
EVE Online's Rhea update launches with photo-realistic spaceships
The many sleek and styling spaceships of EVE Online are about to get a visual upgrade with today's Rhea update, thanks to something called physically-based rendering. By applying this tech, spaceships will have "a natural, photo-realistic look." Of course, when it comes to visuals, they must be seen or they didn't happen. So see! After the break, that is. CCP says that this new tech will be initially limited to spaceships but eventually will be used on stations and other space objects. You can also check out the patch notes for Rhea as well.
EVE's Rhea tweaks star map functionality
Rhea's on final approach, and EVE Online developer CCP has published another dev blog designed to clue pilots into the patch's new features. Today's installment tackles the star map, which has been tweaked with new visuals, a windowed mode, and zoom functionality that represents the beginnings of a consolidation project that will marry the star map with EVE's solar system map. There are some smaller changes as well, so click through to the dev blog to learn more.
EVE's Rhea update profiled in new dev video
Curious about EVE Online's forthcoming Rhea update? Have yourself a look at CCP's latest in-development video, which we've embedded just past the break. It features tidbits on the new Thera system, 100 new shattered wormhole systems, redesigned and remodeled ships, manual controls, and a lot of other stuff. CCP has also released a textual dev blog focused on the cloning changes that Rhea will introduce on December 9th.
CCP to target EVE Online botters in 2015
Last week, CCP Games updated its policy on multiboxing and input automation within the spaceship sandbox EVE Online. Multiboxing -- that is, " playing as multiple separate characters, simultaneously, across a number of accounts, either by using multiple computers to run the game, or by using a number of instances of EVE on a single computer" -- will continue to be allowed, CCP wrote. But input animation is off the table. "Input Automation refers to actions that are commonly also referred to as botting or macroing," explains the studio. "This term is used to describe, but is not limited to, the automation of actions which have consequences in the EVE universe," including automated "activation and control of ships and modules, navigation and movement within the EVE universe, movement of assets and items within the EVE universe, [and] interaction with other characters." Botters caught violating the rule after January 1st will be punished with a temporary ban on the first offense and a permanent ban on the second.
EVE rookies, look here first
Are you an EVE Online newb? Are you a vet who's returned thanks to that trailer and who's basically forgotten the game's finer points? CCP is calling your attention to a new blog post designed to mitigate a bit of the sci-fi sandbox's infamous learning cliff. You'll find a terminology and new player FAQ, EVE University guides, chat tips, and more, all waiting for you via the links below.
