Intrepid Capsuleers,
As EVE Online picks up speed in 2022, many of the exciting updates introduced in the Road to Fanfest blog are now live in-game! Balance changes, new player-focused improvements, visual enhancements, and more are set to propel New Eden into a future that’s never looked brighter! Whether it’s adding more immersion to the EVE experience, giving rookie pilots a smoother pathway into the universe, or increasing the usability of beloved ship classes in battle, this update packs a mighty punch. A big thank you is due to all Capsuleers who helped test and give feedback on these changes while they were on the Singularity test server.
NEW PLAYER EXPERIENCE UPDATE - MINING MYSTERY TOUR!
A new mining adventure has been added to the AIR new player experience, significantly updating the first hour of gameplay for rookie Capsuleers in EVE Online. This portion of EVE’s introductory experience sends you on a resource gathering expedition fraught with intrigue and hints at the unfolding AIR storyline. This adventure also teaches new pilots how to make money from mining, as well as market and industry fundamentals that will light the fires of their industrialist careers!
ENTER THE ORBITAL WARZONE
The quality-of-life improvements surrounding player owned customs office (POCOs) warfare first outlined in the Road to Fanfest blog are also now live in-game. Gantry shield EHP has been greatly reduced from 10,000,000 to 500,000, and both the onlining delay and unanchoring delay have been increased, creating more fun and fairer gameplay for both attackers and defenders. In addition, players can now warp directly to the gantry when it is placed in space, and the location from which players can launch the gantry has been standardized.
In a related update, the Epithal – known as the hauler for planetary industry commodities – now has a command center bay, allowing players to also use it as the go-to hauler for beginning their PI colonies.
REFLECTING SPACE – ANOTHER GRAPHICAL UPDATE
Maintaining EVE’s visually stunning universe is as big a priority going forward as ever, and in that vein, the graphical improvements mentioned previously are now live. Reflections in-client now include structures, effects, and other significant objects in the space around you, adding to the immersion of New Eden. Undock now in your shiniest ship and revel in its reflective radiance!
COMPRESS TO IMPRESS
The long-awaited changes to compression as part of sweeping industry improvements are here, and finally available to Capsuleers after the merciless raid and theft from ORE research facilities! From the proposed changes to compression being announced and placed on the Singularity test server, to the heaps of positive and constructive feedback received from the community, a lot of work has been carried out on this element of industry to ensure that the in-space compression experience is just as good as it is in structures.
While in space and in the same fleet as an industrial command ship with a special compression module, you can now instantly compress resources of any amount from your hold – and compressing in structures remains unchanged.
- Compression is now a more social ability. Industrial command ships (Rorqual, Orca and Porpoise) have new modules which allow all nearby fleet-mates to instantly compress their own materials.
- This remote compression is available at long ranges - over 200 km is possible.
- As frequently requested, gas and moon ore resources are now compressible using these new modules.
- The Porpoise can now compress gas and asteroid Ore, and both the Orca and Rorqual can compress all resources - gas, ice, asteroid ore, and moon ore.
- Compression continues to be loss-less.
- The capacity of jetcans has been doubled to make it easier for high-volume miners and haulers to work together more efficiently.
Check out the dedicated forum post for all the details.
BATTLESHIP BUFFS
The proposed changes to the beloved battleships of EVE are now live in-game, improving their mobility and survivability on the battlefield. A new role bonus has been added to all empire, faction, marauder, and black ops battleships (apart from the Praxis) which increases the effectiveness of armor plates by 50%, and bumps shield extenders by 100%. In addition, a +5% additive bonus to the hull hitpoint bonus from reinforced bulkheads has been incorporated to strengthen a battleship’s ability to hull tank. Lastly, large micro jump drive fitting requirements have also been reduced substantially.
Speaking of battleships, many scintillating SKINs for this class of vessel will be on sale between 8-16 March in EVE Online’s New Eden Store, including examples from the Eden’s Hunters, Ghost’s Hex, Vampire’s Hex, and Steel Cardinal SKIN lines to name but a few. Gotta stay sharp to look sharp!
CRAB IT WHILE IT’S HOT
If you’ve been CRABbing in your capital with the Concord Rogue Analysis Beacon (CRAB), you’ll be pleased to know that there are now improved rewards for this activity in the form of a decrease in the Loyalty Point cost for the beacon blueprint, as well as an increase in the amount of Rogue Drone infestation data per run. The time is right to get your claws out!
BOLSTERED BULKHEADS
In an update to the changes introduced with Surgical Strike in 2020, resistance modules which had their resistances lowered by that update have now had half the resistances they lost returned. This has been done so that Capsuleers can enjoy the best of both worlds, worlds where force auxiliaries will still be vulnerable and combat can still be longer and more tactical. The benefits will be felt far and wide, by wormholers, Lowsec pilots, and small-medium gangs (and solo fighters) generally.
This also provides new challenges to master, while rewarding good decision making, and opens the door to more specialized fits and doctrines, while also enabling more ship diversity for all areas of combat.
THE LONG AND BINDING ROAD
The road to Fanfest is long and filled with excitement, so there’s even more to look forward to on the horizon including a blog that will discuss revisions to structure combat power and more. Be sure to check out the patch notes for full details on the above updates.
The gate has never been greener.