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Sunday, November 10, 2024

EVE Online: Revenant Patch Notes - Deathless Ships

EVE Online's Revenant expansion, set to launch on 12 November 2024, is the game's fifth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive and dense. I find reading lengthy patch notes rather boring, so I also like to go to other sources for information. The format of the official patch notes for Revenant is a little unusual as I don't see as many bullet points as in previous expansions. Still, I'll try to add something to the patch notes.

This second post in the series will concentrate on the new Deathless ship line. For years I have heard players long for a pirate ship line asking for a combination of Caldari and Minmatar bonuses. The announcement of Revenant brought the news of two new ships emerging from the Deathless stronghold of Zarzakh.

The Deathless has unveiled powerful new instruments of war – the Tholos destroyer and Cenotaph battlecruiser. Designed for bold, close-range combat, these ships will be the first to employ unique SCARAB breacher pods for sustained damage over time. This new technology will allow capsuleers to damage and disrupt enemy vessels from within, adding powerful new stratagems to warfare in New Eden.

These Minmatar-Caldari hybrid ships are perfect for pilots who relish high-risk, high-reward gameplay, whether in solo operations or fleet warfare. Armed with covert ops cloaking devices and a bonus to stasis webifier resistance, they can slip into enemy ranks undetected and unleash devastating damage, rewarding skilled capsuleers who make the most of their hit-and-run capabilities. Designed for brawling, they are powerful weapons that will provide a tactical edge in the ongoing war.

I started playing EVE back in the day when split weapon types were the norm on Minmatar ships. The ship layouts remind me of those days. However, I'm pretty sure the ideal fittings will use half the high slots as utility slots. I have the feeling planning to fight Deathless ships will prove a pain.

The ships acquired like the other pirate faction ships.

The Deathless ships are available exclusively as blueprint copies from Deathless item traders, which can be found in Zarzakh. Players can turn in Atavums found in exploration sites, and Encrypted Infomorphs from mercenary dens to purchase them.

Unlike the ships introduced in Equinox, the Tholos and Cenotaph did not have individual descriptions. Also, the ships didn't receive an individual dev blog. I'll try to maintain the same format as I used for the Equinox patch notes.

Tholos - Deathless Destroyer

Slot Layout: 6 high slots, 6 medium slots, 2 low slots, 3 rig slots
Weapons: 2 launchers, 2 turrets
Cargo Capacity: 400 m3

Base Defense

  • Shields: 1500 hp, Resists - EM: 0%, Thermal: 20%, Kinetic: 40%, Explosive: 50%
  • Armor: 900 hp, Resists - EM: 60%, Thermal: 35%, Kinetic: 25%, Explosive: 10%
  • Hull: 1100 hp

Drones

  • Drone Capacity - 50m3
  • Drone Bandwidth - 25mbit/s

Traits

Caldari Destroyer bonuses:

  • 7.5% bonus to Shield Booster amount

Minmatar Destroyer bonuses:

  • 5% bonus to ship Stasis Webifier resistance

Role Bonus:

  • 150% bonus to Small Projectile Turret and Rocket damage
  • can fit one Small Breacher Pod Launcher
  • can fit Covert Ops Cloaking Device
  • 100% reduction in Cloaking Devices CPU requirement
  • cloak reactivation delay reduced to 15 seconds
  • immune to all cargo scanners
    |

Cenotaph - Deathless Battlecruiser

Slot Layout: 8 high slots, 7 medium slots, 3 low slots, 3 rig slots
Weapons: 3 launchers, 3 turrets
Cargo Capacity: 425 m3

Base Defense

  • Shields: 8000 hp, Resists - EM: 0%, Thermal: 20%, Kinetic: 40%, Explosive: 50%
  • Armor: 5000 hp, Resists - EM: 60%, Thermal: 35%, Kinetic: 25%, Explosive: 10%
  • Hull: 6000 hp

Drones

  • Drone Capacity - 100m3
  • Drone Bandwidth - 50mbit/s

Traits

Caldari Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level):

  • 7.5% bonus to Shield Booster amount

Minmatar Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level):

  • 5% bonus to ship Stasis Webifier resistance

Role Bonus:

  • 100% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret and Heavy Assault Missile damage
  • 50% bonus to Command Burst area of effect range
  • 25% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret optimal range and falloff and Missile velocity
  • can fit one Medium Breacher Pod Launcher
  • can fit Covert Ops Cloaking Device
  • 100% reduction in Cloaking Devices CPU requirement
  • cloak reactivation delay reduced to 15 seconds
  • immune to all cargo scanners

EVE Online: Revenant Patch Notes - Mercenary Dens

EVE Online's Revenant expansion, set to launch on 12 November 2024, is the game's fifth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive and dense. I find reading lengthy patch notes rather boring, so I also like to go to other sources for information. The format of the official patch notes for Revenant is a little unusual as I don't see as many bullet points as in previous expansions. Still, I'll try to add something to the patch notes.

The first feature is mercenary dens. I have to admit, I'm a bit confused on how their intended usage. From a previous dev blog, CCP described mercenary dens as an offensive-type object.

Get ready for risk and riches, with new mercenary dens – small but volatile outposts anchored to orbital skyhooks around temperate planets. Use these dens to turn workforce into encrypted infomorphs, highly prized by the Deathless, and open the doors to smaller, fast-paced skirmishes.

They’re not just treasure troves though, but powder kegs waiting to explode into fierce battles for control. Anyone can sneak in and set one up, turning nullsec into a playground of covert ops and daring raids. Manage the delicate balance of development and anarchy, and you could reap incredible rewards – or watch your enemies profit from your downfall.

But from the patch notes, I got the impression mercenary dens were put up by the system owner to enhance their resource production. Anchorable to orbital skyhooks around temperate, these objects require a new skill to use. However, I'm not sure exactly how many of the mercenary dens are allowed around orbital skyhooks, one per skyhook or one per character? I believe the former is the case.

The mechanics are spelled out more clearly.

Once a mercenary den has been successfully placed, it will passively generate encrypted infomorphs every hour. These items can either be sold on the market to other players or taken to Zarzakh to exchange for rewards with the deathless item traders. Those include the new deathless ships, breacher pod launchers, breacher pods, skillbooks and exclusive SKINR components.

Mercenary dens can only be accessed by the character which owns them; however, they are vulnerable to attack. Mercenary dens have a single 24h reinforcement timer with a 6-hour jitter which the owner has no control over. While reinforced, mercenary dens will continue to produce infomorphs, but they won’t be able to be removed from the mercenary den until it leaves reinforced mode and has been repaired above 50% shields. Note that it automatically regenerates shields over a long time if no one comes to finish it off, but it can also be manually repaired to full. If a mercenary den is destroyed, it has a 50% chance to drop the encrypted infomorphs inside.

As CCP has done throughout the deployment of the Equinox sov system, some of the features of mercenary dens will not see Tranquility for two weeks after Revenant's launch. The following points are what makes me believe mercenary dens are not intended for raiders to employ.

Additional Features coming after Revenant - Planned for 26 November

Mercenary Tactical Operations (MTOs)

  • Mercenary dens will occasionally give their owners the opportunity to run MTOs, which are similar to existing PVE content such as missions/escalations. MTOs are aimed for a solo player in a cruiser and successfully completing them will give rewards and also increase the development and decrease the anarchy levels of the associated mercenary den.

  • Shortly after Revenant, mercenary dens will have 2 parameters, Development and Anarchy.

    • Development is generated over time, and when successfully completing mercenary den tactical operations. Higher Development levels will cause the mercenary den to increase production yield of infomorphs over time.
    • Anarchy is also generated over time and decreased when successfully completing mercenary den tactical operations. Higher Anarchy levels will cause the Skyhook it’s placed on to siphon workforce production, preventing the workforce from being used by the sov owner.

If anything, Mercenary Tactical Operations I think is aimed at newer players living in null sec. Not only should newer players find the content inviting in cruiser-sized hulls, but they can help in resource generation for their alliance as well. At least, that's my perspective as someone who lives outside of player-owned space. Null sec residents can let me know if I'm wrong.

Friday, November 8, 2024

A Look At The Active ISK Delta In October 2024

With the end of October EVE Online says goodbye not only to another Crimson Harvest but to another expansion. Last month was the final month played under the rules and features of the Equinox expansion. And with not only the presence of EVE's most popular seasonal event but the vast migration of The Imperium to better living space, how did that affect the money supply in New Eden?

In the month of October, the Active ISK Delts -- the net effect of ISK coming and going into the game economy with player accounts, including GM actions -- was 55.0 trillion ISK. To put the figure into perspective, what was the biggest money sink in the game in September turned into EVE's biggest money faucet in October. Player net migration into the game accounted for a 2.5% increase in the money supply last month. Overall, the money supply grew by 5.9%.

Looking back at past Octobers, one can see that despite the Crimson Harvest event, the Active ISK Delta was usually negative, indicating money withdrawn from the economy due to accounts logging or not logging into the game. Last month's total of 55 trillion ISK was the first time the Active ISK Delta was positive in October since 2017. I believe The Imperium's wealth is well-known, but seeing evidence in a bar chart as inactive players log into the game to move their belongings drives home the fact. The average value of the Active ISK Delta from 2017 to 2023 was -23.5 trillion ISK or 78.5 trillion ISK less than the figure in October 2024. While I believe a good part of the change is due to the combination of the seasonal event combined with the new twice-a-year expansion model, much of the value did come from the final implementation of the Equinox sovereignty changes that resulted in The Imperium moving out of Delve for greener pastures.

But the movement of one of the largest coalitions in New Eden did not result in the largest monthly Active ISK Delta. Going back to the introduction of the Alpha/Omega business model, last month only saw the fifth largest movement of ISK into the game due to the net return of players. The top 5 months are:

  • November 2023: 104.5 trillion ISK
  • November 2022: 74.5 trillion ISK
  • May 2023: 63.8 trillion ISK
  • May 2019: 61.3 trillion ISK
  • October 2024: 55.0 trillion ISK

Just a note about the Active ISK Delta. Going back to January 2017 the Active ISK Delta has only had a positive value 15 times, or 16% of the months. Six of those times occurred since the beginning of the Second Expansion Era with the launch of Uprising in November 2022. But I don't have any records of the Active ISK Delta having a positive value for two consecutive months. Will the launch of Revenant next week break the trend? I have the feeling both the developers in Reykjavik as well as our overlords in Anyang hope the answer is yes.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Dawntrail Diary: A Look Back At 7.0

I stopped doing a weekly review of my play in Final Fantasy XIV's Dawntrail expansion due to my activities becoming rather standardized. But with the launch of patch 7.1 (aka Crossroads), I thought I'd go back and take a look back at the base content in Dawntrail, also known as patch 7.0.

Main Story Questline - One of the reasons I play FFXIV is for the story. Quite frankly, I wasn't exactly enthralled with the first half of the story in Dawntrail. When looking back at previous expansions, I compare Dawntrail most to Stormblood. A lengthy story the development team crammed into a single expansion, with the end of the expansion outshining the beginning.

Rating the stories in the expansions, I would rate them as follows:
  1. Shadowbringer
  2. Endwalker
  3. Stormblood
  4. Heavensward
  5. Stormblood
  6. Dawntrail
  7. A Realm Reborn
Dawntrail falls below Stormblood because due to time. Many of the characters as well as the world were familiar due to the content in A Realm Reborn and Heavensward. I had some familiarity with both Ala Mhego and Doma beyond the name before I downloaded Stormblood. In Dawntrail, the storywriters had to introduce players to a new world in basically five levels of gameplay plus the final point patch in Endwalker. Not ideal, but I did wind up rating the story in Dawntrail higher than the one in A Realm Reborn.

Wut Lamak - Wut Lamak is a bit of a controversial figure who I thought was ill-served by the planning of the content. In my opinion, I think the future Dawnservant should have been introduced in patch 6.4, giving her eight months to grow on players. I know, I know, an impossibility due to female Hrothgars not existing at the time. But a negative factor all the same.

Next came the compressed time for character development in the first five levels of Dawntrail. The character development was way too rushed. The problem was, unlike Lyse who was left behind in Ala Mhego in Stormblood, Wut Lamak had to carry on into the second half of Dawntrail. Wut Lamak confronting both Zoraal Ja and Sphene made total sense, but I think resulted in a damaged main character as the development was rushed.

When talking about Wut Lamak I like to compare her to both Alphinaud and Lyse/Yda. I know Alphinaud is now a fan favorite, but he was so annoying in A Realm Reborn that I didn't fully warm up to him until Shadowbringer. Unlike a lot of players, the change in English voice actor in Heavensward did not help me to warm up to the character immediately. I found Wut Lamak extremely irritating when I was introduced to her at the end of Endwalker. My first thought was, "Why is Yoshi-P making me adventure with this irritating idiot?" Which, to be fair, was my response when I found myself burdened with Alphinaud walking into Heavensward.

But I wasn't just burdened with an irritating, know-it-all rich kid Elezen in Dawntrail. The story writer also decided to throw in a splash of Lyse. The character I was introduced to as Yda in the forests of Gridania, Lyse wound up becoming a leader in a land she didn't really understand. The big difference with Wut is the amount of character development time devoted to that aspect of Lyse. Like I said, the development of Wut was rushed.

I guess I need to briefly mention some sort of kerfuffle involving the English voice actor for Wut Lamak. I wasn't aware of any issues until reading MassivelyOP. All I really want to say is that I thought that for the new female Hrothgars introduced in Dawntrail, the English voice actor's sound fit. Of course, I did find the character annoying so maybe my description isn't exactly the greatest endorsement. Any dissatisfaction with Wuk Lamat is due to the writing, not the voice actor. But don't go out and harass the writers either.

The MSQ Dungeons - At the beginning of the expansion a lot of players complained about the difficulty of the MSQ dungeons. The ones I found most difficult were the final three 4-character duties: Vanguard (level 97), Origenics (99), and Alexandria (100). The final duty was so hard it scared me away from attempting the last trial of the expansion until two weeks ago. In fact, if the level of difficulty of Alexandria continues in future expansions I'll have to give up on playing the white mage job, one I've enjoyed for the past 5 years. I did wind up completing The Interphos, only dying 3 times. Thankfully the Astrologian in the party was experienced and made it possible that I could finish the trial on my feet.

Yes, the duties and trials were well done. And the music was good as good as ever. But honestly, with the problems I had completing the normal difficulty level story content, I'm questioning if the next expansion will force me from the game.

Role Quests - I only managed to get one job, white mage, up to level 100 in patch 7.0. As such, I only completed the healer's role quest. I enjoyed the chase from the New World back to Limsa Lominsa. The questline had a rather Hildebrand-like quality to it. Nowhere as serious as the ones in Shadowbringer or Endwalker, I found the healer quests more an appetizer rather than a main course.

Currently I'm levelling up the Warrior job and reached level 60. I know I could have made Gunbreaker my tank job and reached the Dawntrail role quests much quicker, but I've heard so much about Warrior I had to find out first hand. So far I find playing Warrior fairly easy, but I haven't reached Bardam's Mettle yet.

Crafting and Gathering - I found the crafting and gathering grind enjoyable in Dawntrail and I still have a little ways to go to finish the Wachumeqimeqi Deliveries content. I have three of the five NPC quest givers to finish. I've at the level 95 quests for Pameka (carpenter, leatherworker, weaver) and Donuhanu (fishing), and the level 93 quest for Rral Soj (armorer, blacksmith, goldsmith). I really need to finish these questlines up before the next patch, although not doing so is not the end of the world. With the lack of mention of any crafting/gathering specific content so far, I might want to save these quests for something to do later.

I should add upgrading my crafting and gathering gear to best in slot with the medium level of melding was not painful. Not only did I have over 145 million gil saved up going into the expansion, but I had over 900,000 sea cowries from my island sanctuary, plenty to meet all my tier 9 and tier 10 materia needs. I'll reach patch 7.1 with 149 million gil and 650,000 sea cowries.

The Retainer Army - Final Fantasy XIV has content that stays relevant no matter how long someone has played the game. One of those systems is the retainer system. I have 9 retainers, which means my subscription costs more than the two EVE Online accounts I maintain. On the positive side, I receive enough gil to more than cover my expenses each week while still needing to put in work to keep the funds rolling in. Levelling alternative jobs like Warrior through the MSQ duties using the Duty Support and Trust systems keeps the army operating.

Over the course of the last four months I finished levelling all 9 retainers, with 6 of them having best-in-slot melded gear. The only ones needed gear updates are the two white mages and the newest botanist retainer. I'm assuming new crafted gear is coming so I'm holding out until Tuesday to decide how to upgrade the three retainers. The other six I may leave be depending on what the possible benefits are for upgrading.

My Island Sanctuary - Last week I finally received the Island Peerifool from a Sanctuary Material Container, the final mount I was missing from my Island Sanctuary. I put my island into maintenance mode a couple of months ago and only spend perhaps 20 minutes a week on the feature now. I also discovered the stacks of materials I gathered up 4 months ago before the launch of Dawntrail was enough to last through a patch cycle. But just barely. I was down to 24 Island Copper Ore after setting up my workshops for the final time before patch 7.1. I'll need to get my low inventory items back up to 300 each over the weekend.

Completing the Final Allied Society Faction Grind - Before patch 7.1 introduced the first Dawntrail allied society, I figured I needed to complete the Omicron questline in Ultama Thule. And I'm glad I did. Not only did I receive a really well-thought out Miw Miisv mount, but I really liked the storyline. Honestly, I know that some players hatred of crafting and gathering will lead them to never partaking of the Omicron and Loporrit society quests. But I think it was really good. The only reason I didn't do the Omicron society quests during Endwalker is that for some reason a storyline for gatherers was locked behind a non-MSQ duty I wound up soloing as a white mage when I reached level 100 and had my level 710 gear. Hopefully something like that doesn't happen again.

Catching Up With Margrat - I'm not exactly sure how I missed doing custom deliveries with Margrat, but I did. I made up for that mistake. I only wish the Unending Journey held the cutscenes for the custom delivery questlines, because I really wanted to relive the experience at the end. Another very well-done story that crafting and gathering haters will not experience.

The Graphics - I've complemented the graphics before, but I'll do so again. Having visited all the areas except for some optional dungeon content, the graphics are so much better than in Endwalker. I realize some bugs made it through the QA process, but overall I was really happy with the new zones. Hopefully the graphics update is complete in the older zones before the next expansion hits. Seeing some of the graphics in the older zones in the background of my character with the new graphics in cutscenes was a bit odd at times.

The Music - I'm not going to lie. The music wasn't quite up to Shadowbringer/Endwalker standards. That's not to say the music was not really good. Just that I got the feeling that Soken was distracted, perhaps with Final Fantasy XVI. Then again, when the last music I hear is that celebration music as the credits roll, I knock off a point. True, the music wasn't as cringe as the Ala Mhego anthem played at the end of the Stormblood MSQ, but I was reminded of it.

Server Stability - Having experienced the insanity of the Endwalker launch, I was really impressed with the lack of queuing during Dawntrail. Apparently someone at Square Enix pissed some people off because the game experienced a lot more DDoS attacks than I remember ever having before. Then again, I'm still seeing multiple instances of some zones during peak times, which I don't remember seeing at the end of patch 6.0. All the measures Yoshi-P worked to implement since the launch of Endwalker worked for the current expansion.

Those are all the things I personally experienced during the first four months of Dawntrail. Perhaps I'll adventure out and do something wild like PvP someday. But for now, I need to head over and collect some materials for the workshops on my island. I need to free up the time now for the new features coming in patch 7.1 next week. 

Monday, November 4, 2024

A Look At EVE Online Activity In October 2024

In EVE Online's Second Expansion Era the month of October is usually an interesting point to look back on. Not only is the month the last one of the summer expansion, we can see how successful the last two expansions were in generating new activity, and presumably new players.


For once I can add some commentary from Jester on his graph. He believed that the increase was due to the big migration by The Imperium from Delve to the cluster's south and south-east. I believe the Crimson Harvest event had as much of if not bigger impact. Either way the average user counts grew from around 21,000 accounts to almost 23,000 accounts, slightly dipping down at the end of the month.


Looking at the numbers one can make the argument for both reasons for increased average concurrent users being valid. In high sec, the number of NPC kills increased by 15.1% in October compared to September. Even year-over-year making NPCs explode in high sec increased by 4.0%. But in null sec, major null sec movements seemed to dominate. The Crimson Harvest is a PvE event but NPC deaths in null security space decreased 1.8% from September. Overall, the end of the Scarcity Era continued with an increase of 24% of NPC explosions compared to October 2023.


Since the release of the Uprising expansion in November 2022 I have looked at low sec as a measure of the health of the game. After three months low sec once again witnessed over 200,000 player-owned ships dying in the security band. Also, I don't think Crimson Harvest had a big impact on low sec, with the number of NPCs dying in low sec slightly decreasing compared to September. Still, the number of NPC kills rose by 18% year-over-year.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Cloud Imperium October 2024 Sales Revenue Declines 36.9% Year-Over-Year

After recording a very good third quarter for 2024, Cloud Imperium Games' revenue from the sales from its online cash shop came in at $9.2 million according to the CCU Game dashboard. While the second highest sales month so far in 2024, the figure represents a 36.9% year-over-year decline from last October's total of $14.6 million in sales. For the year, the company's sales revenue is down by slightly more than $3 million, a 3.7% year-over-year decrease over the $80.7 million recorded in the first 10 months of 2023.

For those who keep track of new accounts (aka "new citizens"), October's 31,204 was 3.9% less than the total of 32,479 in October 2023. For the year, new account creation is down 29.8% for the ten seven months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Overall, the recorded sales tracked on the CCU Game dashboard is $735.1 million since the launch of the Kickstarter in October 2012. But Cloud Imperium has additional funding sources not tracked by the dashboard. Overall, the company has recorded $833.7 million in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2022 financial report).

  • Sales/Pledges: $735.1 million (through 31 October 2024)
  • Subscriptions: $33.0 million (through 31 December 2022)
  • All other sources: $65.6 million (through 31 December 2022)

In addition, the company has received a total of $63.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2022 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $897 million, or $892.2 million when excluding the returned funds.

October's stunning year-over-year sales decline does not necessarily represent a huge drop in interest in the game itself.  I expected a drop-off, especially after seeing CIG not repeat a big ship sale in the middle of the month. On 10 October 2023, CIG made the Drake Vulture the subscribers' ship of the month and apparently the promotion was very popular. At least, the beginning of the offer coincided with a big jump in cash shop revenue. One not matched in October 2024.

For me, November is now a critical month financially. CIG's cash shop revenue has not declined year-over-year since 2017. Over the previous six years, the median year-over-year sales increase for November was 25.4%. If CIG repeats that type of performance in November, the sales total will exceed $120 million. If the sales increase is only 19%, the company can match last year's total of $117.6 million. And if revenue can't keep up with 2023's aggressive sales and marketing plan for a second consecutive month? I think the internet will hear a lot of "the game is dying" from beyond Star Citizen's critics.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

CCP Games Begins Its Seventh Year Owned By Pearl Abyss

Time really flies, so much so I almost forgot another anniversary. The acquisition of CCP Games by Pearl Abyss was finalized in mid-October 2018. I was at EVE Vegas seven days later and if someone had told those I was with the Icelandic studio would engage in more video game development than the much larger Pearl Abyss over the next six years, I think we would have laughed.

But looking back, that's exactly what happened. Sure, the mobile game we played at the convention, EVE: War of Ascension, died a little-noticed death in 2019. My memory is a bit hazy, but CCP's new mobile game launched on Tuesday, EVE Galaxy Conquest, sounds a lot like the first planned mobile game set in the EVE universe.

CCP Games also partnered with Chinese gaming giant NetEase not only on running the Chinese EVE Online shard, but in producing a new mobile game. The transfer of the game from Tiancity was finally approved in March 2020, with the operation of Serenity restarting a couple of months later. But EVE: Echoes, the mobile game licensed and developed by NetEase, launched in August 2020. Looking back, these two moves worked to ensure 2019 was CCP Games worst revenue year under Pearl Abyss' ownership. Not bad for a studio many believed was dying at the beginning of 2018.

Future game development is being performed in-house. In addition to keeping EVE Online up-to-date with two expansions per year beginning at the end of 2022, the studio currently has two games undergoing player testing. The first, EVE Vanguard, is CCP's fourth attempt at creating a lasting first-person shooting game set in the EVE Universe. The game has undergone player testing all year and I would not be surprised if a release date was announced at the upcoming Fanfest in May. 

The second game is EVE Frontier. The oft-derided blockchain-based MMORPG is currently under development having missed the "blockchain games as flavor-of-the-month" wave from a couple of years ago. While I'm under an NDA, I can say the Phase V playtest begins on 7 November

On the other hand, CCP Games' parent company Pearl Abyss has not pumped out the content like the developers out of Iceland, Shanghai, and London. Of the three planned games the South Korean company announced, only Crimson Desert is still under active development. Work on DokeV was put on hold in order to concentrate on launching Crimson Desert. And as for Plan 8? The game is barely visible in the pipeline, at least on Pearl Abyss' quarterly earnings calls for investors.

Even on the publishing front our overlords in Anyang are playing catch-up to their not-so-newly acquired company. Much of the increases in profits over the past few years were due to moving the publishing of the Black Desert franchise internally. And as for China, Pearl Abyss switched in-country partnership to Tencent in May, which coincidently led to approval to operate Black Desert Online in China in June. BDO may begin operations in the world's second largest market at the end of 2024 or sometime in 2025.

I'm two weeks late to the party, but I haven't seen anyone make a big deal (or even mention) the 6th year anniversary of Pearl Abyss' acquisition of CCP Games. And given the need of CCP to go out and acquire on its own $40 million to help develop EVE Frontier, perhaps the oversight is warranted.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

CCP Games News: Galaxy Conquest And EVE Online Patch Notes

Today is a pretty big day for CCP Games. To the outside world, the big news is the launch of EVE Galaxy Conquest, the studio's second mobile game and first developed internally. But to the null sec residents of EVE Online, today is also the day their infrastructure is forcibly changed over to the new Equinox sovereignty system.

First, the Galaxy Conquest news. While no new articles appeared on either the official EVE Online website or the CCP Games corporate site, an advertisement is on the EVE Online launcher. Apparently interacting with the Galaxy Conquest social media accounts earns players in-game rewards.

Also on the Galaxy Conquest website is an advertisement looking to enroll content creators in the Partnership Program.
EVE Galaxy Conquest is looking for content creators within our player community! Whether you are an accomplished content creator or an enthusiastic beginner, whether you plan to depict epic battles, dive into the meta, or provide tutorial guides, our team has prepared generous rewards for you. We look forward to seeing you showcase EVE Galaxy Conquest and grow your audience!

In addition to in-game rewards such as Quantum, As an EVE Galaxy Conquest partner you can expect the following:
  • Access to the devs via Discord
  • Featuring on CCP promotional channels
  • Sneak peak at upcoming content
On a business note, I have to make two predictions related to CCP's new mobile game. First, I don't believe the EVE IP meets the ₩20 billion quarterly revenue goal as stated to investors on Pearl Abyss' Q2 earnings call. I do believe that going forward that the revenue generated by Galaxy Conquest will allow CCP to meet the target in fiscal quarters in which the studio does not launch an EVE Online expansion. At least for the next 2-3 years.

On to EVE Online. Today's patch is not the only one released over the last week. I'll combine last Thursday's patch notes with today's to allow players to see all of the changes and fixes implemented over the past 7 days. I'll start with the sovereignty changes as to not bury the lede any further.

Features & Changes:

Sovereignty:
  • All remaining Sovereignty Hubs which were running in Legacy mode have been automatically converted into using the new mode.

  • It is no longer possible to remove rigs from structures which were eligible for rig removal.
Balancing:
  • The bounty rewards for the destroyer, battlecruiser and battleship NPCs which are exclusive to the Forsaken Sanctum/Teeming horde sites have been increased by 20%.

  • The chance of a Large Mercoxit Deposit spawning in a nullsec sovereignty system with a level 2 Prospecting Array Upgrade present has been increased by 3x

  • The Magmatic Gas cost to run a Metenox Moon Drill has been increased from 88 to 110 per hour.

  • Reduced the NPC buy order price of Superionic Ice.
Missions and NPCs:
  • The SoCT has expanded journal buy orders to Genolution stations, including new buy orders for recently discovered journal entries.

Defect Fixes:

Audio:
  • Combat music no longer plays over other music.
Gameplay:
  • Insurgencies - Fixed an issue where the pirate FOB could move from reinforced back to vulnerable again if there was a temporary outage with the external service while it was reinforced.

  • Insurgencies - Fixed a bug which could cause empire factional warfare HQ solarsystems (Amo, Intaki, Mehatoor and Onnamon) from not starting at suppression level 2.

  • Insurgencies - Fixed a bug where corruption effects could linger after an insurgency ended.

  • ESS - It’s no longer possible to place deployables (like Micro Jump Units and Mobile Tractor Units) closer than 1000km to the ESS in the main ESS room.

  • Fixed an issue where NPC kills would not be counted towards daily goals and events if an NPC was one-shot by a player.

  • Fixed an issue where NPC kills would not be counted towards daily goals and events if an NPC was killed indirectly with a smartbomb or an EDENCOM vorton projector weapon bounce and wasn’t targeted by any player directly.

  • Fixed a killmail bug which could occur if a player killed themselves in one shot (Such as dying to their own bomb in a stealth bomber/failing Ghost Site hack etc).

  • Fixed a killmail bug which could occur if a player got a final blow on a player’s ship, but the damage they did was all in one-shot and they didn’t damage the target previously.
Graphics:
  • Adjusted the distance from which certain objects are visible in space.

  • Shattered Paradigm decals no longer clip on the Orthrus.

  • IGC logo on Shattered Paradigm SKIN is now grey instead of red.

Monday, October 28, 2024

EVE Online News Not Important Enough For The News Feed

Over the weekend a couple of events concluded in the EVE Online world that didn't make the news feed. I didn't even think to check until I read Wilhelm's coverage of the CSM 19 election results on The Ancient Gaming Noob. I did manage to find some news on Twitter (aka X, which is a totally stupid name). 

For the first time since I started playing in 2009 I didn't vote. I might wind up doing a voting breakdown, but to be honest, I'm a bit burned out on CSM content. Also, I might have to install Python 2.7 on a computer and I've moved on to Python 3. Then again, I saw a presentation at Fanfest last year in which CCP plans to move on to Python 3 as well. I wonder if the election script will need any updating.

The other piece of news was the results of Alliance Tournament XX. 

A long-time tournament powerhouse, The Tuskers, defeated the winner of Alliance Tournament XVIII, Truth.Honour.Light. This year's win is the second for The Tuskers, as their previous win was in 2016. The Tuskers did not set a record for time between AT wins. That record still belongs to HYDRA RELOADED, winners of Alliance Tournament IX (2011) and Alliance Tournament XVII (2021).

Perhaps CCP will publish the news later on today. But I would have thought at least the CSM 19 results would have had better publicity from CCP. Unlike the finals of the Alliance Tournament, the news could have been set to release at any time.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Ashes Of Creation Alpha 2 Begins Today

I really didn't anticipate doing any coverage of Ashes of Creation. The game is still in an alpha state and probably 5 or more years away from a commercial release. But then a crazy thing happened. Tiny indie studio Intrepid Games stumbled into a tech war with the giant, 1000+ employee Cloud Imperium Games, developers of the upcoming Squadron 42 and Star Citizen. The technology? Dynamic server meshing. And since how Ashes of Creation performs can affect the finances of CIG due to the comparisons of each game's technology, I feel I need to at least do a little coverage.

The Alpha 2 testing of Ashes of Creation starts today for selected people. The full testing calendar describes a rollout lasting 7 months.

  • 25 October 2024 - For players who attained Alpha Two access via a giveaway, or Kickstarter Pack, Kickstarter Addon, Pre-order Pack, and Pre-order Addon.

  • 8 November 2024 - For those who purchased a First Wave Bundle.

  • 20 December 2024 - For those who purchased a Second Wave Bundle.

  • 1 May 2025 - For those who purchased a Third Wave Bundle.

The wave bundles are a bit controversial. Charging to test a video game? Yet, people are willing to pay for the privilege. The bundles are:

  • First Wave - $120. Sales of the bundle end 1 November 2024.
  • Second Wave - $110. Sales of the bundle end December 2024.
  • Third Wave - $100. Sales of the bundle end 27 May 2025.

Each bundle comes with Alpha Two, Beta One, and Beta Two access, 1 Month of Subscription Time ($15 value), and $15 in Embers, the in-game currency. Remember when I mentioned 5 or more years until commercial release in the introduction? Intrepid is planning two rounds of open beta testing before launch.

The testing also feels more like the alpha testing I've seem from CCP Games in their player testing of EVE Vanguard and EVE Frontier. We are 7 months away from 24/7 testing of AoC. The schedule for how long servers are available for testing is below.

  • On Friday, October 25, 2024 Alpha Two begins. Phase I of this testing phase will be weekend testing that starts on Fridays and ends on Sundays.

  • On Friday, December 20, 2024 we will move to Phase II of this testing phase which will be periods of testing for 5+ days in a row.

  • On Thursday, May 1, 2025 we will move to Phase III of this testing phase which will be testing that is up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with downtime for game updates.

  • Note: Dates are subject to change due to development, but Intrepid will notify testers of schedule changes in advance.

One thing I think changed is that the Alpha 2 playtesting is not under an NDA. At least, a quick look at Twitch gives that impression. The NDA for the testing before Alpha 2 was lifted a few days ago

The allowance of streaming the Alpha 2 could lead to embarrassment for other developers, primarily Cloud Imperium Games. CIG's CitizenCon presented a vision of Star Citizen highly reliant on the ability to mesh servers together. If Intrepid shows the ability to have massive PvP fights with tech developed faster and with far less people than CIG, I can see a lot of sniping at Intrepid from Star Citizen white knights looking to defend their game by tearing another game down.

Which brings me back to the concept of the server meshing wars. People will defend their game on the claim that their favorite game studio is developing cutting edge technology. What that does to funding for the various games is something to watch for the future of crowdfunded gaming projects.