Andrew Groen’s Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online – a compendium that chronicles the ever changing alliances, wars and political intrigue as told by the players involved throughout the game’s 15 year history – will be receiving a second volume in May 2019.
Empires of EVE: Volume II is a non-fiction book that covers the player run corporations and alliances that govern the volatile Null Sec region of New Eden. By interviewing the people behind the in-game capulseers, Groen is able to paint a complete as possible picture of the major battles, betrayals and shifting ownership of Null Sec region that the game has become known for. Volume I covered the events up until the end of 2008, with the alliance Band of Brothers finally collapsing. Volume II picks up at the end of Volume I and covers the events from 2009 through 2016.
Volume II is intended to be a standalone edition, meaning readers won’t have to read the first volume to understand the nuance and gravity of the events depicted. It will include a “full and concise crash course” of EVE Online’s gameplay mechanics and broad history so that non-players can dive in and enjoy the modern era of EVE Online intrigue.
Empires of Eve Volume II comes in a few different tiers as available on the KickStarter page:
$10 USD provides a digital e-book copy (PDF, e-pub etc)
$25 USD provides a soft cover physical copy and digital e-book.
$50 USD provides a hardcover physical copy and digital e-book.
$80 UD provides hardcover copies of both Volume I and Volume II as well as e-book versions of both.
Having personally read through Volume I with my wife, I can attest that Empires of EVE is a fascinating and captivating look into one of the most complex and intricate long running MMORPGs. Full Disclosure: I immediately backed the $50 USD tier on KickStarter because there was no way I was going to pass up the chance at a hardcover copy of Volume II.
Just a small reminder that the latest expansion to CCP Games’ Eve Online, Lifeblood was released yesterday. With this latest expansion Capsuleers living in high-security space receive two brand new forms of PVE content with the release of Resource Wars and Forward Operating Bases. Alongside the release of these new modes, CCP has also made a balance pass to the post of the ships Free To Play Alpha Clones can fly, with most ships except the Vexor receiving a damage buff.
Previously I covered all of the big announcements made at the EVE VEGAS convention a few weeks ago. The primary focus of that event was to promote and announce the then-upcoming changes from Lifeblood. It was also announced that in December free to play players will receive a bump in the number of skill points that they can use, provided that they subscribe for at least a month to train them. This means that players who subscribe for only 30 days can fly up to Battleships for free – unlike the current Alpha Clone restrictions that limit them to Cruisers or below.
Users on Steam can create an Alpha Clone account for free, the EVE client is only about 4. 5GB and will run on most modern computers with no problems, given that the game is 14 years old.
Here is how CCP summarizes the brand new Resource Wars co-operative gameplay mode:
“Tensions are escalating in New Eden, and the battle for resources opens up new gameplay options! The Resource Wars offer tiered, short session co-op gameplay, as well as multiple player roles and strategy.
Find the Mining Expedition sites and fill your Empire’s haulers with as much mined ore as possible in the time allowed, while staving off any hostile attacks. Certain rare asteroids can increase the rewards available for these sites.
Join the Resource Wars and fuel your Empire’s ambition!”
A shot of my Venture mining frigate before entering Resource Wars.
A shot of my Venture mining frigate being shot at during a Resource Wars match.
Here is how CCP describes the brand new pirate faction Forward Operating Bases that are hidden throughout high-security Space:
Blood Raider and Guristas pirate bases have been spotted in High-Sec Empire space! Assemble formidable fleets with other players and go in for the kill. Be wary though, as the pirates will launch their own fleets in defense of their structures.
Rewards include ISK shared out among victorious attacking forces, as well as blueprints for faction structure modules.
This evening marked the kick off of CCP Games’ bi-annual official fan gathering in Las Vegas Nevada. At EVE VEGAS 2017 CCP announced a number of new changes coming to EVE Online with the release of the Lifeblood Expansion in two weeks, as well as some teases in regards to content coming further down the line.
Changes to existing Upwell Structures, the addition of 15 million Skill Points to Alpha Clones (free to play players), new Player Vs, Environment shipyards and “resource wars” are just a couple of the highlights. If you don’t have the time to watch the nearly 3-hour archived stream from earlier today – here is everything announced during the Eve VEGAS 2017 Keynote:
EVE VEGAS 2017 Charity Initiatives:
CCP Partners with Able Gamers to raise funds for the victims affected by last Sunday’s attack.
Tickets to this year’s EVE Vegas sold out before last year’s event even ended.
Folks from Saudi Arabia, Spain, Singapore, Australia and Europe made their way to VEGAS.
EVE VEGAS exclusive Incursis, Thorax and Megathron.
Blade Runner 2049 Charity Screening
Stream Charity Shirts Available
Two Charity Raffles @ EVE Vegas Event:
Blue: Every skin available except alliance tourney.
One of every piece of apparel in New Eden
15 Years of Omega Time – 90,000 PLEX
Red: Fan Fest Experience 2018
Return Flight
Hotel
VIP Studio Tour
All Access Pass
Fan Fest Goes On The Road
2019 will have several Fan Fest events around the world instead of one big one in Iceland:
West Coast NA – EVE VEGAS
Smaller Eve Fan Fest in Iceland
East Coast NA Event TBA
Eve Down Under
Fan Fest Tickets 2018 Available Now
Resource Wars
Empire mining sites hidden from view have been discovered by the pirates.
Short session co-op PVE gameplay.
Multiple Players Roles / Strategies
High-Security Sites
As Capsuleers we aren’t sure what the Blood Raiders are up too but they will be placing Foreword Operating Bases in High Sec with the release of Lifeblood.
Guerista’s Pirates are also setting up Sotiyo Class structures in High Sec as well.
Alpha Cone Adjustments
The promise of Free Eve brought new players to the game. Concurrent player counts spiked at launch and new players are trying the game at higher rates.
CCP wants the free experience to be valuable enough and deep enough that there is no requirement to subscribe to be rewarding.
Want returning players to come back as alphas and feel powerful and useful to corporations.
More skills coming for Alpha Clones. In December a significant amount of Skills will be added.
Tech II – Small and Medium Weapons
Can now fly Battlecruisers
Can now fly Battleships
All Faction Ships Allowed Now (no longer locked in)
20 million total skill points available to Alphas.
Characters in Alpha stop training at 5 Million. Any skills trained in the Alpha set after 5 million are available if subscribed and used regardless of account state.
Moon Mining & Mining Changes
Moon go is the needed resource for Tech 2 ships and modules.
Carve the moon, pull the chunk with a tractor beam and then destroy it to create a new asteroid field.
Each moon has one beacon and only one Refinery can be placed at a beacon.
The extraction process can take anywhere from 1 to 8 weeks. Corporation has exact control over how this happens.
High-grade ore can be found in Moon Ore – double the yield of regular ore but their spawn are random.
A ledger containing everyone who mined from the explosion and only available to the owners of the refinery.
Every character has their own mining ledger.
Reactions now have a similar interface to other industrial processes.
Future of Upwell Structures
Updates that will occur after Lifeblood Expansion – Upwell Structures 2.0 in 2018.
The biggest reworking of Upwell Structures to those structures already deployed early next year.
Four major pillars:
Active / Inactive state – Active when only when at least module is online. Inactive has no armor reinforcement cycle.
Complete rework of the existing “reinforcement system”. CCP has to balance Attackers Vs. Defenders. Shield vulnerability is 24/7, 2 days later is the next fight chosen by the defender. The final fight will be on both a date and time chosen by the defender.
Combat Overhaul: Adding burst projectors to Upwell Structures –Void bomb is being removed from structures.
Moon Mining in Wormholes and High-sec.
CCP wants player feedback on how they can continue to enhance existing structures.
Over the weekend CCP Games held their semi-annual in-person gathering of capsuleers with over a thousand EVE Online players coming together in Reykjavik, Iceland to hear about the future of Eve Online. Held over three days this year’s fan fest brought with it the announcement of the next three major content releases for EVE, the introduction of a new line of deployable structures and the tease of some mysterious content due out later this year.
The May Content Drop
Blood Raider Shipyards
Interactions with NPC pirate factions are about to escalate quite a bit with the addition of the Blood Raider Shipyards with in the May 9th release. This hostile Amar offshoot will begin deployment of their own shipyards which are similar to the player owned Engineering Complexes in design. Only a limited number of these shipyards will be deployed across New Eden at a time and upon destruction, a special blueprint for one of the Blood Raider Capital ships will drop, This means that competition from other players will be fierce for this highly coveted loot.
Here is how CCP’s site about the May Release describes the Blood Raider Shipyards:
“Blood Raider shipyards provide a unique opportunity for capsuleers from across the cluster to assault Blood Raider manufacturing facilities and military staging points,salvaging blueprints that will allow the construction of formidable Blood Raider capital vessels.”
Three New Blood Raider Capital Ships
Those lucky enough to survive the Blood Raider Shipyards PVE events will be rewarded with one of three brand new Capital blueprints that they can either use to manufacture one of these three new ships or sell for large amounts of ISK on the marketplace.
Pilots in New Eden have multiple ways that they can upgrade their account from the free-to-play Alpha tier to the subscription based Omega clone status. Some of these involve giving CCP real money (typically between $15 – $20CDN a month depending on the amount of game time subscribed), earning enough in-game ISK to purchase a Pilot’s License Extension (PLEX) for an additional 30 days of game time or earning PLEX through the refer-a-friend referral links.
Another entirely second premium currency currently in exists in EVE Online called Aurum which is used to purchase cosmetic items in the “New Eden Store”. Basically, CCP will be retiring Aurum entirely with the May release and making PLEX granular. Instead of purchasing a single PLEX item that can be redeemed for the in-game time, Pilots will be able to purchase PLEX in smaller chunks and spend it on a number of existing services including re-customizing their character, optional apparel, extending their subscription time or donating it to a friend. Don’t have enough ISK to buy the entire 30 days right away? Save up PLEX in smaller chunks until you have the 500 needed for 30 days by storing the new granular PLEX in your accounts PLEX Wallet.
This is how CCP explained the changes to PLEX, their official developer blog on this change has an entire breakdown of the coming changes and an FAQ for existing players:
“Currently, PLEX is rather large. By always existing as a one-month chunk of subscription time, PLEX can be cumbersome to buy and trade. We think it would be great if it could be broken into smaller units that fit your needs rather than always being bound to the size of 30 days. With that in mind, our first planned change is to convert every existing PLEX into 500 PLEX. After the change, anything you could get for 1 Plex from CCP will instead require 500 Plex. This new PLEX granularity will allow us to sell smaller PLEX packages, and allow you to trade whatever amounts you like with each other.”
New Introduction Movie:
The Winter Expansion: Unknown PVE Events In Empire Space
CCP is hard at work preparing a brand new expansion that will see new dynamic Player Vs Environment content come to New Eden. Specific details about this expansion were kept vague during the Fan Fest keynote and really any talk about the expansion’s existed that happened to come up during any panels.
What little we do know can basically be summed up nicely in CCP’s own words:
“We are going all-in with the EVE Online winter expansion. Using all new capabilities (dynamic PvE etc.), we will create amazing new content in the universe. The heart of this expansion will be all about new content: New challenges, new rewards, new aspects of EVE to learn and explore in Empire space. Stay tuned for more info.”
So Much More
(Image via CCP Games)
There was so much more information shared during the Eve Fan Fast keynote address and the almost six hours of daily content streamed on CCP’s Twitch channel over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday. If you’re a veteran capsuleer or simply feel like the world of New Eden might be interesting after reading this nearly 1,000 word summary of the major announcements I highly recommend giving some of it a watch. Not only is CCP’s dedication to their now 13 year old MMO so apparent but the EVE Online community is some of the passionate players I’ve ever shared a server with.
It wasn’t all flashy trailers & keynote presentations either – everything from lectures from real scientists, to community driven concept art panels to insights into the largest player run economies in gaming were available through CCP’s Twitch stream. EVE Online is a vast sandbox and clearly CCP has a lot of changes planned over the next year that will continue to evolve the content and user experience of Eve Online.
It looks like the developers of popular MMORPG EVE: Online and the in-universe VR flight title EVE: Valkyrie might be entertaining offers from unknown 3rd parties interested in buying up the company from its current owners Novator Partners & General Catalyst Partners LLC. Supposedly CCP has been valued as high as $955 million US dollars, making the potential acquisition one of the highest in recent years.
All of this comes from unnamed sources cited by the reputable Bloomberg News Service but no official confirmation has been made by CCP, their owners and any potential buyers are not yet known. The last time a value for CCP was publicly disclosed was back in November 2015 when $300 million USD was raised from current stakeholders Novator Partners Inc. More than a year ago CCP was appraised at 1/3rd of its estimated current value, $330 million USD.
On the official EveOnline reddit /r/EVE players voiced their concerns about a potential buy-out by a larger corporation or publisher. Some worried that if CCP ends up being sold that the transaction would negatively impact the development of EVE Online and related titles. Other opined that CCP being purchased could end up just as negative as Electronic Arts’ acquisition of Mythic, a company that EA later shuttered after cancelling Warhammer Online.
As Jackalime wrote:
“The company that purchases EVE might be hoping to make it oriented for the type of market / store they are involved in, which would affect all future development. It would likely be with the intention of exploiting it to their advantage in the short-term future, since even assuming long-term interest for EVE remains the same, it would take decades to get a return on it.”
While wiiki24 drew comparisons to the aforementioned Mythic acquisition:
“Just to point out, Mythic had bitten off way more than it could chew with Warhammer. They were out of money, and they had to sell, or the company never could have lasted as long as it did.
The ironic part was the EA suits buying into the Mythic guy’s promises to be able to make a WoW competitor in three years. Why anyone ever believed that is beyond me, since that’s pretty much impossible (9 women can’t give birth to 1 baby in a month), but they did.”
Still others like Leshoyadut maintain that EVE Online has been a stable niche product for over 13 years now and to expect huge changes would be messing with a successful formula:
“ Also, much as EVE has a niche market, it’s still a long-term money maker. It’s been making money for 13 years, and recently had a pretty positive reception of F2P, meaning its slow decline has been pushed off by probably at least another couple years on top of whatever life was already left (assuming alpha players keep coming at a moderate pace in the months ahead).
For all that CCP doesn’t have a huge market, it’s actually pretty successful.”
Personally I feel like the release of the latest expansion EVE Online: Ascension has provided CCP with a lot of positive press and visibility over the past couple of months. With the introduction of free-to-play Alpha Clones and concurrent player numbers their highest in three years it is no surprise that larger companies & publishers might be submitting purchase deals to CCP. Also just because CCP’s owners have offers on the table doesn’t necessarily mean that they will sell the company, failed mergers & business deals happen all the time.
EVE Online developer, CCP,. has sent out a reminder to everyone who may have ever registered for a trial for their MMORPG – EVE Online – to remind ex-trial players that that their account has been upgraded to Alpha Clone status with the release of the Ascension expansion.
The world of New Eden can seem like a daunting place full of danger and just too many different statistics for new players to grasp. This is part of the reason I’ve covered Eve Online: Ascension as much as I have – the New Player Experience and Alpha Clone status allow even the freshest of capsuleers to start their life in New Eden without getting overwhelmed.
So, make sure to check out some of the feature briefs re-produced from the recent promo email that CCP sent out.
Regarding free accounts:
Fly totally free or subscribe for total freedom. The choice is yours withEVEOnline‘s new Clone States. Active subscription accounts are now called Omega Clone accounts. Inactive accounts and all trials (active or expired) have been reactivated and upgraded to Alpha Clone accounts.
Alpha Clones
– Zero monthly fees
– Standard training speed
– 21 ships per character
Omega Clones
– Regular monthly fee
– Double training speed
– 326 unique ships to fly
The brand new EVE Online Portal App that app that allows Capsuleers to check-in on various activities while away from New Eden:
“We are pleased to announce that EVE Portal, the EVEOnline Mobile app, has been released as an open beta for both Android and iPhone. This first iteration of EVE Portal will include base level of functionality, with more to come in the future.”
Rounding out the reminder sent out by CCP is an abreivated list of featued added in Ascension:
New Character Sheet – with better organization, more intuitive skill overview, and support for the new Clone states.
Command Bursts– are similar to auras and point-blank area of effect (PBAoE) skills, providing Armor, Shield, Information, Skirmish, and Mining bonuses.
Other features and updates include:
– Fitting Simulator
– More Activity in Asteroid Belts
– Tactical Destroyer Balance Pass
– AoE Generators for Titans
– Explosion and Wreck Renovation
– Capital Ship Rebalance
– P.A.N.I.C. Button for Rorquals
EVE Online developer CCP Games has revealed details about the 2017 EVE Online Fanfest to be held in Reykjavik Iceland from April 6th through 8th 2017.
This 3 day gathering allows EVE Online capsuleers to gather and discuss their shared interest in massive multiplayer internet space ships. Attendees will be able to partake in panels, a live-streamed keynote, meet their favorite CCP dev and join in on a pub crawl in Iceland.
Fanfest tickets are quite pricey – costing $227 USD through EventBright for those who are interested in pre-ordering. Purchasing a ticket grants attendees access to all of the on-premise events as well as CCPS large party held at The Top of the World and an exclusive Fanfest goodie bag. In order to attend Fanfest attendees must be over the age of 18.
CCP will take EVE Online free-to-play on November 15th with the launch of the Ascension expansion. Alongside a skill limited Alpha Clone free-to-play state Ascension will bring changes to NPC mining belts, brand new industrial arrays allowing miners to have a brand new home among the stars and brand new ship explosion animations that looks pretty awesome.
For more information check out the official FanFest website.
CCP Games will be bringing some major changes to the world of EVE Online with the launch of the Ascension expansion on November 15th. This latest update to the long running sci-fi MMORPG brings with it the much publicized free-to-play Clone States, balance changes to Tech 3 Destroyers, updates to asteroid belts and a new range of Engineering Complexes for corporations or enterprising entrepreneurs to build.
Alpha Clones (Free To Play)
Alpha clones are a new way to experience EVE Online and this state allows new players as well as lapsed subscribers to return to the world of New Eden for nada, $0, the cost of nothing. Unlike the currently existing trial accounts, alpha clones will not have any time limits placed on them. Alpha Clones will be able to participate in a number of activities around the high /n low security standing areas of the star cluster.
Alpha clones are limited to the type of skills that the are allowed to train. Some of these skills can go as high as level 4 and Alpha clones are even able to train Corp Management, meaning that they are able to run their own small corporations if they’d like. The Alpha state is the default state for all clones – with “Omega” state being the unrestricted access for paying subscribers or those who use the in-game PLEX item to add subscription time.
In Terms Of Ships Alphas Are Limited To:
Tech One Frigates
Tech One Destroyers
Tech One Cruisers
Tech One Mining Frigates
In Terms of Skills Alphas Are Locked To:
Ship command for ships within their own faction.
The levels & skills as outlined in this blog post – although it may change before release.
The release of alpha clones will see a large number of new capsuleers in New Eden.
New Player Experience
Starting out in New Eden can be daunting to say the least and that is why CCP is bringing an entirely original New Player Experience that centers around the player’s chosen faction. Previously new capsuleers would simply be dropped into new safe space in front of their faction’s school. This New Player Experience instead introduces new pilots to the many different mechanics and skills that are needed to survive post-human life.
Each faction has a different commander, they are as follows:
Amarr- Rafayel Tahron
Caldari State – Rai Kaatara
Gallente Federation – Kole Torelle
Minmtar Republic – Yna Vadari
The tutorial coming will introduce players to a number of different skills, mechanics and maneuvers that are vital to surviving life in Eve. Pilots will partake in a series of missions for the mysterious Sisters of Eve faction as well as their Empire in order to learn the ropes. By the end of this set of tutorial missions capsuleers will also face off against the mysterious Drifters faction, who pop up from time to time to disrupt the politics of the New Eden star cluster.
Here’s a rundown of some of the skills that players will learn over the course of the tutorial:
Basic combat – Locking on to targets, over heating their weapon’s rack and looting targets.
Industrial Loop – How to select a rock for mining, how to tell when your cargo hold is full, how to use blue prints to build munitions & other industrial skills.
Hacking– Learn the ins & outs of the hacking mini-game which is at the centre of the “data sites” that are located throughout New Eden.
Market – How to sell & buy items in the regional markets.
More information about the New Player Experience is available in this CCP dev blog.
NPC Mining Fleet Changes
Right now mining in EVE can be a relatively low risk affair, assuming that you can stay clear of other players. Usually I’ll see a couple of low ranking NPC ships but they are easily dispatched with mounted guns or turrets. It sounds like with the upcoming changes protecting a mining ship won’t be as simple.
After the launch of Ascension NPCs will come in a number of different varieties – not just solo fighters and larger sub-capital ships that exist in Asteroid Belts today. In Ascension NPC factions & corporations will send their own mining fleets with dedicated mining ships, haulers and defense units. The AI that CCP has built is modelled based upon the ship fits & fleet compositions that the most successful mining players use in-game right now. Pilots who are willing to risk their ship for fame and fortune can destroy NPC haulers for a chance to loot a special cargo box that could be filled with random rare items & blue-prints.
Further changes to mining include the launch of the brand new engineering complexes – player built structures that can be used for dedicated mining and production related activities. Engineering complexes might be a little more expensive than existing POS (“player owned structures”) that existed prior to the previous Citadelsexpansion. More information about how the introduction of engineering complexes and other mining changes will impact New Eden check out this CCP dev blog.
EVE Online Portal App For iOS and Android
The world of EVE Online will be coming to Android & iOS devices later this year. Capsuleers will be able to access their notifications, EVE in-game mail, manage multiple characters and of course spin the ship in a virtual docking bay.
There’s a lot of information coming out of EVE Vegas which runs for two more days until Sunday Afternoon. To close things off here is the brand new song from CCP’s in-house dev lead band Permaband so prepare to WARP TO THE DANCE FLOOR!
Can you believe that CCP’s baby, EVE Online, has turned 13? Usually, the teenage years are a time for rebellion, Defiance and not a Tabula Rasa for long time fans. But since all of those games no longer exist – it’s actually an amazing milestone for a massively multiplayer online title to be live for such a long time. EVE: Online joins the leagues of games like Ashron’s Call, Everquest 1 and Lineage II as being one of the few games from the golden age of MMOs in the mid-00s to still welcome new players.
Developers CCP is celebrating this major anniversary with an in-game event known as “Capsuleer Day” this weekend, sponsored by the in-universe technology conglomerate Upwell Consortium. All active pilots will be given a new Upwell themed skin for their capsules and a set of “festival launchers” allowing pilots to launch celebratory fireworks into the vacuum of space
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Joining in on the festivities this weekend it’s third hard at all – you can snag a 21 day trial through the following referral link, download a 14 day trial from the Steam Store or if you’re ready to commit you can purchase the Eve Core Bundle on Steam at 75% off ($5.75 CDN).
The core starter pack includes:
A Venture mining frigate
A full set of modules & equipment
Over two dozen primary skills unlocked and ready to train
A deployable mobile depot
Prototype skill booster
30 days of game time
CCP haven’t been letting EVE Online sit idle – their latest major expansion Citadel launched just last week and is part of a larger plan to update player owned structures over the foreseeable future. The next structures – Drilling Platforms and Mining Arrays are expected to be rolled out in the summer and winter respectively.
CCP has announced that you can now register for the DUST 514 beta. DUST is a PS3 exclusive, free to play, MMO FPS that is connected to CCP’s EVE Online universe. In DUST, players can act as mercenaries for EVE players, and the outcome of DUST battles could result in the conquest of planets for EVE’s numerous player run corporations and alliances. If you are interested in trying this out, then you can sign up for the beta here.
