Travel Day To EVE Fanfest 2025

I succeeded in making my way to the Center Hotel Arnarhvoll overlooking the Harpa convention center and concert hall in Reykjavik. My last trip to the world's northernmost capital city was seven years ago, which coincidentally was the last time EVE Fanfest was held in Harpa. I thought I'd record some of the differences this year compared to my seven previous visits. And perhaps a few people might find something useful to take away.

The first thing I noticed was the ease in which I could obtain electronics designed for European electrical outlets. Going back to my travels to Bulgaria back in 2010 I always found finding adapters a pain. This year all I had to do is do a quick search on Amazon and I received everything in a day. I was even a little surprised because one piece arrived the same day I placed the order. Absolutely amazing compared to my previous travel experiences.

The second is inflation has really hit. The biggest piece of sticker shock was the trip to and from O'Hare Airport. The price has increased 50% since my last trip to EVE Vegas. Now, I have to admit some things have changed. The tip is probably included now because I didn't even have to pull out my credit card. All the charges were pre-handled. In return I received some piece of mind because I was receiving text messages letting me know they were setting up the trip. The driver arrived as I was putting the lock on my checked luggage. Really nice service.

Did I mention I flew Saga Class on Icelandair? Okay, the entertainment system was out for the trip. But I credit the seating for my ability to sleep on the flight. Sure, I didn't sleep well but I did sleep which made a difference for running around in the afternoon. I missed the meal but can testify the chocolate chip muffin was first rate. But the biggest improvement was probably access to the lounge. Icelandair doesn't have a lounge of its own in Chicago but I was able to access the one run by the Polish airline LOT. I had gotten through security and customs a lot faster than I thought I would and had three hours to kill. I really appreciated the lounge LOT runs and can't wait to see Icelandair's lounge on my way back.

My first roadbump occurred in the LOT lounge when I realize I forgot my charging cable for my phone. I have an old phone that uses a Type B micro cable. I was hoping to find one when I got to Keflavik airport as I sometimes think Keflavik is more shopping mall than airport.

As I hoped, Keflavik delivered. The airport has an electronics store, Elko, that has a wide range of cables, outlets, headphones, etc. Not only did the shop have the old cable but is located right by the luggage carousals so getting my replacement was really convenient. Plus, I didn't have to worry about recharging my phone's battery meaning I didn't need to buy a watch.

At this point I should make an observation. The reports of EVE's demise will only hold water once the customs officials don't recognize the mention of EVE Fanfest. Once again, telling the person checking my passport I was in the country to attend the convention was all the explanation required.

Speaking of Keflavik, the luggage unloading really impressed me. By the time I walked around the airport and did my impromptu shopping almost everyone had picked up their luggage. I'm used to O'Hare, one of the world's busiest airports. Flying into a much smaller airport brought some benefits.

Now, I did some trip preparation which paid off when arranging for my bus trips to and from Reykjavik. I'm carrying a notebook and on the first page is my travel information. Things like flight times and hotel details. Well, I'm not very good speaking Icelandic so I resorted to pointing to the notebook when explaining where I was going.

I was blown away when I reached the hotel. My 7 previous trips had prepared me to wait until check-in time unless I took advantage of a "early check-in" offer. My plan was to avoid the wait by taking a 10:15 pm flight out of Chicago, arrive at the hotel around 11-11:30 am, drop off my luggage and eat at The Laundromat Cafe. I walked into the lobby with an EVE playing couple a little after 11:30 am and we went up to the counter. Imagine my surprise when the nice young lady told me my room was already prepared and I could check in. I quickly took advantage, got up to my room, unpacked and took a shower, and was out the door walking around Reykjavik by 12:30 pm.

Needless to say, I accomplished the mission and found The Laundromat Cafe. And yes, the cheeseburger was just as good as I remembered although I now regret ordering a milkshake as well. I didn't know the exchange rate and my cheesburger, fries, and Fanta only cost around $30. I could have had a milkshake for only $4 more.

I picked up some ibruprofen on the way back from the hotel at a pharmacy. Unlike the United States where just about everywhere sells the drug, Europeans require going to a pharmacy where the drug is sold over-the-counter.

Armed with a full belly, some pain reliever, and a big bottle of water, I returned back to the hotel, took a nap, and wrote this first post from Reykjavik. Technically I still have 2 hours to go before my first 24 hours is complete, but I want to check out the hotel bar tonight. Tomorrow, I imagine the attendees will begin trickling in and I'll want to find some EVE players out and about drinking and eating as attendees of EVE Fanfest are wont to do.

New Changes To PLEX?

CCP Games announced the company was making a change in EVE Online's in-game New Eden Store on the Friday before Fanfest. The subject of concern is the the venerable currency known as PLEX. CCP has indicated the company has plans to change the system.

In 2008 CCP introduced an RMT token into EVE known as the Pilot's License Extension. An RMT token refers to a virtual item or currency in a game exchangeable for real-world money or vice versa. "RMT" stands for Real Money Trading, which involves transactions where players buy or sell in-game assets, accounts, or currency using actual money.

For example, in games like EVE Online, PLEX can be considered an RMT token because it allows players to legally trade in-game currency for real-world money value within the game's official system. However, unauthorized RMT activities outside the game's ecosystem are against the terms of service and can lead to penalties including account termination.

The original purpose of PLEX in EVE was to provide players with a way to pay for their game subscription using in-game currency. Players could purchase PLEX with real money and then sell it on the in-game market for ISK (Interstellar Kredits). The system allowed players to effectively fund their subscription through gameplay, creating a bridge between real-world money and the in-game economy. 

PLEX remained relatively unchanged until May 2017. The introduction of free-to-play gaming in the form of alpha accounts was introduced in Ascension release in November 2016.

However, the planned in-game cash shop currency, Aurum, was unpopular and ditched in favor of a revamped PLEX. On 9 May the following changes were implemented to PLEX.

1. PLEX Denomination Change: The shift from 1 PLEX to 500 PLEX was introduced to provide more flexibility for players. This change allowed smaller transactions and made PLEX more versatile for in-game purchases.

2. Aurum Removal: Aurum, the previous in-game currency, was phased out. Players with Aurum balances were compensated with PLEX, ensuring a smooth transition.

3. New Eden Store Updates: The New Eden Store was revamped to accommodate the new PLEX system, enhancing the shopping experience for players.

Despite some spikes, the price of PLEX remained relatively stable in the following 4 1/2 years, only rising by 8%, from 2,549,000 ISK on 9 May 2017 to 2,752,000 on 1 January 2022. 

The year 2022 was in some respects a watershed moment in the history of CCP Games. With revenue failing to keep up with costs, CCP made two decisions that impacted the PLEX market. First, as Friday's dev blog noted, CCP began introducing EVE Store products to the New Eden Store. According to the article, doing so allowed players to purchase them for PLEX and created a sort of parity between the stores. In other words, the company increased the uses, and thus the demand, for PLEX from those who purchased the currency with ISK.

Next, in May 2022 CCP raised prices. The monthly subscription cost for Omega accounts was raised for the first time since 2004. For example, the 1-month Omega subscription increased from $14.95 to $19.99. Discounts were offered for longer subscription tiers, such as 2-month and 24-month plans. The pricing and tiers for PLEX bundles were also restructured and the prices overall raised. In other words, higher real world PLEX prices resulted in an incentive to not purchase PLEX and cut down on the supply.

Rising demand plus lower supply usually means rising prices. And as I learned over lunch at a soup joint in Reykjavik at Fanfest in 2014, lower PLEX sales for CCP and game time code sellers as well. Apparently most people don't have a plan to spend $50 on EVE ISK and get as much as they can. Instead, players will figure out how much ISK they need and spend the minimum amount of real world currency to obtain the amount. Which means the higher the in-game ISK price of PLEX is, the less money CCP will reap from players buying ISK for dollars/euros/pounds/etc.

How bad was the inflation rate for PLEX? From the beginning of 2022 to the launch of the Equinox expansion 2 1/2 years later the average price of PLEX in The Forge rose 87.5% to 5,160,000 ISK. A commodity that had risen in price by 0.15%/month for 55 months was now rising in price an average of 2.9%/month. 

The blaring issue with the supply problems with PLEX makes the next feature introduced in Equinox rather puzzling. The SKINNR system, the system in which players can design custom SKINs for their ships, requires PLEX. For those who don't want to wait, more PLEX is required. And yet, I didn't see any effort to incentivize the purchase of PLEX to put on the market with real world money. But perhaps surprisingly the average price of PLEX in The Forge has only increased 18%, up to 6.1 million ISK, in the 10 months since the launch of the Equinox expansion.

According to Friday's dev blog, here are the steps CCP has undertaken to address the situation.

Here’s what we’ve done so far:

• AIR Daily Goals now include PLEX as a permanent reward, creating a steady stream of accessible PLEX for active players.
• Seasonal events increasingly feature PLEX in their seasonal reward tracks.
• Occasional PLEX gifts mark special milestones and in-game events.
• Mysterious GalNet Crates I and II, featured in Twitch Drops and tradeable on the in-game market, also offer a chance at PLEX.

These steps help, but we know they’re not enough.

We’re exploring additional tools and mechanics that can rebalance the flow of PLEX, making it feel less like a speculative asset and more like a practical, fluid currency that powers your in-game choices.

I have additional thoughts about what I read. I'm also sure CCP Games will provide more details in the Fanfest presentations next week. But for now I really do need to pack everything now that my laundry's done. Which reminds me, I really do need to check out the Laundromat Cafe once I get to Reyjavik. 

Thoughts Before Travelling To EVE Fanfest 2025

Next week I'll post from Reykjavik as I attend my eighth EVE Fanfest. Somehow I've managed to attend all the events held in the Harpa concert hall and conference center. The facility opened in 2011 and Fanfest was held in the building from 2012-2018. And, like myself, Fanfest returns in 2025.

I had heard stories and talked to people who made the pilgrimage to the northernmost capital city on Earth who had quit playing EVE but wanted to meet up with old friends from the game. This year I'm not exactly in that situation but for the first time in my 8 trips to Reykjavik, 4 trips to Las Vegas and one trip to Toronto I'm not excited about playing EVE Online.

Up until the beginning of March I was getting back into the swing of the game. My planetary interaction colonies were doing well and I was looking at expanding from 6 planets to 12. I was involved with public contracts in Minmatar space and had started to expand into making runs to Dodixie. I had done one level of Project Discovery every day for the first two months of the year. I even manufactured a Porpoise and was looking for fits.

And then I ran across a video. The Oz did an interview with CCP Rattati, the game director for EVE Online. Apparently the idea of selling ships and linking the sale to the in-game corporation Paragon is not dead yet. One of the justifications to selling the ships was to aid new players. Invoking Malcanis' Law to sell things to new players when they were down? Something just snapped and I've barely logged into the game since.

But I still have presentations I want to see. Perhaps the news for the summer expansion will renew my interest. Or perhaps moving onto EVE Frontier is the proper course for me. I almost feel like I'm going to a timeshare presentation except the object is my gaming time instead of a time to spend at a vacation resort. Either way I really do need to pay attention to the Fanfest content this year.

And even without the convention I would want to walk around downtown Reykjavik and see what, if anything's, changed after the pandemic lockdowns. I'm getting old so I probably won't walk up to Hallgrimskirkja, the big cathedral sitting on the hill overlooking the city, but I probably will manage to walk around and get a sub. 

Maybe even one of Reykjavik's hot dogs. The last time I was in Reykjavik the the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog stand was closed (or at least moved) due to construction. I'd like to visit the stand at least once this trip.

I also want to make a trip to The Laundromat Cafe. If Trip Advisor is accurate the place is still open. Or has it reopened? Either way I really would like to make a stop in the place as well.

Those are my thoughts for now. Unless something comes up in the next 48 hours or so my next post will come from Reykjavik. Now I have to finish up the workday, check over my electronics, and pack.

Initial Impression Of Cosmic Exploration

On Tuesday Final Fantasy XIV's patch 7.2.1 launched, introducing Cosmic Exploration. I spent a couple of hours playing last night and thought I'd just give a couple of thoughts.

Our guide through the experience is Namingway, a character first introduced to the Final Fantasy franchise in Final Fantasy IV. We meet up with Namingway to start our journey in Old Sharlayan (X:12.6 Y:13.6) with a quest named A Cosmic Homecoming.

The requirements to get into Cosmic Exploration are two-fold. First, complete Endwalker. Second have a Discipline of Hand or Discipline of Land (crafting or gathering class) of level 10 or higher. In other words, the feature is designed to help high level players level non-combat classes. Best yet, to do so without flooding the marketboard with a lot of low-level items no one will want to buy.

Cosmic Explorations has a feature I wish the allied tribal quests had: a feature to look back on the construction progress. I know that MassivelyOP has reported otherwise, but as far as I know no server has managed to reach the end of the group construction content. Looking at the server list no server through the first two days is more than halfway through the third construction phase.

But honestly, what Cosmic Exploration is about is the Cosmic tools. Players can obtain the initial version of the tool from Researchingway at X:21.1 Y:21.8. To level up the tool to the next version, a player needs to visit Researchingway and hand deliver the research data acquired by completing various stellar missions. Oh, and unlike previous relic tool grinds, players do not need to equip their Cosmic tool while levelling. While equipping the tool produces greater rewards, just possessing the tool is enough.

When thinking about stellar missions, think fieldcraft leves. I've only done botanist missions so far but Cosmic Exploration has four levels of missions, ranging from level 10 up to level 100. 

Before I forget, Cosmic Exploration has FATEs. Giant FATEs. 

Large-scale projects will be triggered as milestones are reached in cosmic exploration.

When a project has been scheduled, a notification will be issued at the top of the screen, and after an allotted time has passed, the project will automatically commence. In order to participate, press the "Join FATE" button while in the designated location.

When a project has been completed, progress will be advanced to the next stage and changes to the field will be reflected. Participants will receive rewards dependent on contribution.

I have participated in a large-scale project. A very crazy time with both crafters and gatherers getting together to complete the FATE.

I should add another type of large group activity exists: Mech Ops. One player gets to climb into a giant mech and blast big rocks into little rocks while everyone else uses a special tool to extract the valuable ore thus exposed. Once I got the hang of what I was supposed to do I had fun.

I was really happy to discover the Exotablet. No running back and forth to the central hub to turn in missions. Just click on the little planet icon to both receive and turn in missions. The little flying saucer that comes out and scans you to determine if you've met the requirements to complete the task at either bronze, silver, or gold level is a nice touch. After about four hours of play I still get a kick out of seeing the little spaceship scan me.

When a tool is ready for an upgrade the Exotablet gives a visual indicator. The bottom left icon displays the progress on a tool. Very handy. And the icon with the question mark has a pretty comprehensive help feature.

The rewards aren't the greatest, but then again I haven't purchased the new dyes. I have my island sanctuary producing enough cowries to keep me stocked with the dyes introduced during the Ishgard Restoration so I plan on buying the new dyes. 

• Carmine Red Dye
• Neon Pink Dye
• Bright Orange Dye
• Neon Yellow Dye
• Neon Green Dye
• Azure Blue Dye
• Violet Purple Dye
• Metallic Pink Dye
• Metallic Ruby Red Dye
• Metallic Cobalt Green Dye
• Metallic Dark Blue Dye

For those looking at the gear from the vendor, I think the Carbonweave gear from Heavensward looks a little snazzier while maintaining the same general style.

And finally Cosmic Exploration offers Cosmic Fortune, a roulette type game. Tickets are available from Orbitingway (X:21.8 Y:21.1) and cost 1000 lunar credits. So far I haven't picked up a rare item but I suspect I'll play long enough to win some nice items.

Overall I suspect I'll find Cosmic Fortune a very grindy way to get my Cosmic tools. But a lot of players were demanding grind so apparently Yoshi-P listened. I also have to say the first area on the moon, Sinus Ardorum, does look nice. Hopefully the sight doesn't get too old as I suspect I'll spend a lot of time running through Cosmic Exploration.

System Requirements For EVE Frontier And EVE Vanguard: Fanfest 2025 Edition

CCP Games, due to the nature of its games, has a smaller-than-normal potential player pool. The Icelandic game studio is very fond of full-loot PvP sandbox games. The company's flagship game, EVE Online, fits the description and a game under development, EVE Frontier, falls within the same genre. Which means the studio must reduce friction to player interest in other areas to build up a healthy player base for its games.

Heading into next week's EVE Fanfest CCP will showcase two games under development, EVE Frontier and a first person shooter, EVE Vanguard. I thought I'd post the known system requirements for the two games and compare them to the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for March 2025. Will the hardware requirements keep the number of potential players down?

First up is EVE Frontier. According to the FAQ, the minimum and recommended requirements are the same as EVE Online's. Makes sense since both use the Carbon engine.

Minimum Requirements:

• OS: MacOS or Windows 10 64-bit
• CPU: Dual Core @ 2.0 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB or higher
• Video: AMD Radeon 5450 or NVIDIA GeForce 420 or better with at least 1024 MB VRAM

Recommended Requirements

• OS: MacOS or Windows 10 64-bit
• CPU: Intel i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 7 1700 @ 3.6 GHz or greater
• RAM: 16 GB or higher
• Video: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon RX 580 or better with at least 4 GB VRAM

As expected, the operating system is pretty universal amongst Steam users. Ninety-six percent of Steam users run either Windows 10 or 11 and another 1.5% run a Mac operating system. The CPU speed also should not pose an issue. For the minimum requirements, over 99% of Steam users have CPUs at least 2.0 GHz or faster. The recommended speed, though, is a little restrictive. While Steam doesn't use 3.6 GHz as a breakpoint, only 2.5% of Steam users own a CPU 3.7 GHz or faster.

The news is better on the number of physical cores. Basically only 0.03% of Steam users own a computer with only 1 processing core. For the recommended requirements, the listed cards have 6 cores. A total of 79% of Steam users own cards with 6 or more cores.

The amount of RAM required to run the two games is also a bonus. For the minimum required 4 GB of RAM, 99.97% of Steam users have the required memory installed. For the recommended amount, 85.5% of Steam users have 16 GB of RAM in their computers.

To give a hint as to whether the average Steam user has a video card capable of running EVE Frontier, the median user owns a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060. 94.9% of Steam users have the 1 GB of video RAM required to run the games at minimum level and 84.9% at the recommended level.

When we get to EVE Vanguard the hardware requirements are a little higher.

Minimum:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit (21H2/19044) / Windows 11 64-bit
• Processor: Intel i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

Recommended:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit (Latest) / Windows 11 64-bit (Latest)
• Processor: Intel i5-11600K / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3080 / AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT

The processors listed on Steam are a little faster than those required for Online & Frontier but can use the older i5 processors instead of the newer i7 & i9 processors. Still the processor speeds appear to be a touch faster for the system minimum (2.8 GHz) and a little slower at the recommended level (3.6 GHz). Still, only about 32% of Steam users have the required hardware to run Vanguard at minimum specs while the recommended processors are the same as EVE Online's.

Another difference is the required amount of RAM for the minimum requirements. Don't try running Vanguard with anything less than 16 GB. While 84.9% of Steam users already have 16 GB of RAM installed a small proportion of EVE players trying to play Vanguard may wind up with an unpleasant surprise.

And finally, as one might expect from an FPS game, the video card required to play Vanguard is much more powerful. The AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT listed on Steam, for example, has 16 GB of VRAM while the NVIDIA RTX 3080 comes with 10 GM & 12 GB variants. Overall, probably only 30% of Steam users own the recommended hardware to run Vanguard but nearly 2/3 can run the game on the minimum specifications.

I didn't realize until writing this post about just how much more powerful a computer needs to be to run EVE, whether Frontier or Online, compared to a FPS game like Vanguard. How much does will that cut down on adoption of Vanguard by EVE players. After all, buying a Playstation 5 is only $500 or so. Purchasing a computer just to run Vanguard seems like a bigger ask.

Trying Out Blue Mage

Tuesday is the launch of Final Fantasy XIV's patch 7.21 and the introduction of Cosmic Explorations. But before I dove headlong into crafting and gathering I wanted to level up my chocobo companion. I didn't want to do a boring FATE grind so I went ahead and started up another job: blue mage.

A blue mage in FFXIV is a limited job that learns abilities by mimicking enemy attacks instead of leveling up traditionally. Unlike other jobs, blue mages gain spells by observing monsters use them and then defeating those monsters. Considered a limited job, blue mages can't queue for regular duties but can participate in special Blue Mage-exclusive content. The job features extreme burst damage, meaning the blue mage can do some content otherwise inaccessible. Perhaps more importantly for my purposes, the grind should help level up my companion, as I could get two week's worth of challenge log experience for my chocobo.

When I started the quest to unlock the job, Out of the Blue, I received a pleasant surprise. Blue magic comes from the Whalaqee people of the New World. So perhaps for all the people interested in the story looking into blue mage at the end of Dawntrail is a logical next step? Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Blue mage does have a semi-traditional series of job quests every 10 levels. However, the reminder to do the next quest in the series doesn't pop up automatically like for the other jobs. Also, one can purchase a new spell every 10 levels, at least in the first 50 levels. The quests and spells are obtained in Ul'dah.

I know that guides are out there suggest the best way to level is obtain a certain spell that throws fish and abuse a mechanic. But as part of my reason for playing blue mage is to level my companion, I just took the sortable spell list and started working my way up the levels. The method seems to work as I now have 24 blue mage spells in a week.

I have to admit I'm actually looking forward to running dungeons solo using the blue mage job. One of the spells needed to advance the blue mage quest line required defeating Galvanth the Dominator, the final boss of The Tam-Tara Deepcroft. While I failed to even reach Galvanth the first time I tried at level 26, defeating the creature from a Lovecraftian nightmare was very satisfying at level 32.

My goal for now is to reach level 50 by the end of the weekend so I qualify to participate in the Masked Carnivale. One of my weekly tasks is collecting Allied seals in order to purchase aetheryte tickets. Usually I just go out, hunt down the elite mark from the hunting board, and collect 100 Allied seals, which brings in 20 tickets. If I can just teleport over to Ul'dah and grab a couple hundred seals in 10 minutes every week I'll consider the effort leveling blue mage a win.

My Trip To EVE Fanfest 2025: Paid For By Me

I know that I write a bit about finances of game companies, but when I created The Nosy Gamer 16 years ago I never thought things would get as crazy as they are getting now. Crazy, as from a personal perspective. The issue is attending EVE Fanfest 2025 in two weeks. I looked at the schedule and I plan to attend a lot, if not most, of the EVE Frontier presentations.

EVE Frontier, for those new to the project, plans on using Web3 technology. Forget all the libertarian talking points and theory about the subject. When most regular people find out that the blockchain and cryptocurrencies are involved, they tend to think of people like this guy.

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried - Photograph: Faith Aktag/Getty Images

Sam Bankman-Fried, often referred to as SBF, is an American entrepreneur who founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the trading firm Alameda Research. At his peak, he was considered a major figure in the crypto industry, even ranking among the richest Americans. However, his empire collapsed in November 2022 when FTX filed for bankruptcy amid allegations of fraud.

In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested and later convicted on multiple charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering. In March 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion. His downfall has been compared to some of the biggest financial scandals in history.

The circle of legal action concerning Bankman-Fried didn't just engulf his confederates. Several high-profile celebrities have been sued in connection with Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. The lawsuits allege that these celebrities promoted FTX and misled investors. Some of the notable names include:

• Tom Brady (NFL quarterback)
• Gisele Bündchen (supermodel)
• Larry David (comedian and actor)
• Stephen Curry (NBA player)
• Shaquille O’Neal (NBA legend)
• Kevin O’Leary (businessman and TV personality)
• Naomi Osaka (tennis star)
• Trevor Lawrence (NFL quarterback)
• Shohei Ohtani (MLB player)
• David Ortiz (MLB legend)
• Udonis Haslem (NBA player)
• Golden State Warriors (NBA team)

The only person not fooled by Bankman-Fried, or at least lured by the millions SBF threw around, was Taylor Swift. So the record that crypto-bros will pay people to say nice things about a project to fool the public is pretty much a given at this point.

One of the goals of my trip is to act more like Taylor Swift and less like Tom Brady where EVE Frontier is concerned. Attending all the presentations about the project to try to give myself a good base about the game is a good start. Right now I don't even possess a level of knowledge where I can ask intelligent questions about the game. That I am in the process of changing.

The other point is actually more relevant to the trip. If I come out and write nice things about Frontier, I don't want people to say I am bought and paid for by CCP Games to have the opinion. Well, I know that may happen anyway. After all, crypto-bros don't care about how much they have to pay for good reviews, right? But I want to make any such accusation as hard to stick as possible. Which means my trip to Iceland this year is a little more expensive than it otherwise might be.

For some reason I'm considered some sort of gaming journalist, at least by someone over at CCP Games. Possibly because I was on a list when I got a press pass working with Matterall and Talking In Stations at Fanfest back in 2018 and my name probably wasn't taken off. Out of date lists for the win!

I don't know how many people realize, but most game companies will pay for games journalists to attend events and CCP is no exception. But that caused a problem, because now that CCP Games is one of those evil corporations run by cryptobros, taking advantage of the practice would probably discredit any good things I might find.

I made the most of the situation. Instead of flying economy class for a 4-day trip, I'm flying out Saga Class for a 6-day trip. Back before the pandemic CCP had a deal with Center Hotel Plaza and their guests would stay there. Now with the move of CCP's offices out near the airport the company may be using, the trip to the venue might really be long and inconvenient. Instead, I am staying at Center Hotel Arnarhvoll. Right across the street from Harpa, the venue hosting the convention.

Along with a couple of other perks the media gets I'm abstaining from I think I'm inoculating myself from charges of being bought and paid for. However, if I do somehow wander into the press area and grab a blueberry muffin or bag of chips I'll make sure to record it as part of my experience. Although I'm pretty sure the price to purchase my integrity is a lot higher than that.

My EVE Fanfest 2025 Schedule

Things have definitely changed with EVE Fanfest. Gone are the days I was lucky to get a schedule of events a day in advance of the start of the convention. Today CCP released the on-site schedule so I once again get the opportunity to pick out my own schedule of what to view. Oh, all times are EVE/UTC. Funny how those times line up.

Thursday, 1 May

On Thursday, I have a tough choice of going out to breakfast and writing my traditional post about CIG's financial performance for April or going to see Rahne give the convention's first presentation, "Weaponizing EVE for Good!" From 10:00 to 10:45 she'll give a talk about some of the initiatives in which players help people. While I might go just to find out if Paragon SKINs provide the same combat benefits as store-bought SKINs, those new to New Eden might want to find out not everyone in EVE is a cold, cruel bastard.

I might attend the player-presented session at 11:00, "Third-party Tools, ESI, and You!". But then again I 

The first must attend session, "Upgrading CARBON to Python 3", occurs at noon. Given by CCP Apona, I as much want to find out when Tranquility will receive the upgraded CARBON engine currently powering EVE Frontier.

I then get a few hours to write until 16:00 and the "Black Holes" presentation. I know, the EVE Frontier Hackathon Results Presentation is occurring from 13:00 - 15:00. But that is on a live stream and I think I'll have time to watch later. But given the prominence of black holes in the formation of the EVE Frontier universe, I need to find out what is in the presentation.

Friday, 2 May

Now, all the presentations on the main stage of Harpa are currently scheduled to be streamed. That leaves me available to attend the EVE Frontier presentations.

10:00 - 10:45 - Eldborg - The Welcome Ceremony is first up. Since I am staying across the street from Harpa, I don't have much of an excuse to miss the opening ceremonies.

11:00 - 11:45 - Silfurberg - Frontier Economics: A Small Open Economy Perspective. Presented by CCP Kalihra, the talk is an overview of the Frontier team's learnings so far and the road ahead. "As we open the Frontier Economy we will open the door to new opportunities and face new challenges. We will discuss what theory can tell us about what to expect." I'm pretty sure the word "economy" doesn't exactly mean what gamers expect.

12:00 - 12:45 - Silfurberg - EVE NET - Presented by CCP Raudur & CCP Sondheim, the session will explain what is EVE NET and how it powers on-chain interactions, smart items, and player driven systems in EVE Frontier.

13:00 - 13:45 - Silfurberg - Carbon – Opening the Future: Our Journey to Open Source. I guess the title says everything about the presentation as the description only lists CCP Tuxford's name. I guess we're safe as long as no big red buttons are present.

14:00 - 14:45 - Silfurberg - Physics of the Frontier. CCP Wizard is presenting an overview of the physics engine used in EVE Frontier and how the engine differs from the one in EVE Online. Of all the Frontier presentations this is the one I hope winds up on YouTube. I have the feeling the notes I take won't be comprehensive.

15:00 - 15:45 - Break - Yes, I'm going to try to grab a bite to eat before the EVE Keynote.

16:00 - 17:00 - EVE Keynote - Eldborg - Presented by an ensamble cast (CCP Okami, CCP Burger, CCP Hellmar, CCP Orca, CCP Rattati, and CCP Collins), the EVE Keynote is always a must attend event. 

The past, present and future of New Eden. Join CCP Games developers live from EVE Fanfest for the latest on EVE Online - including an exclusive first look at this summer's expansion - plus exciting updates on EVE Vanguard, EVE Frontier, and EVE Galaxy Conquest.

Saturday, 3 May

I'm going to leave myself time to write and eat breakfast on Saturday morning and begin my convention day with the EVE Frontier Keynote.

11:30 - 12:15 - Norðurljós - EVE Frontier Keynote. Presented by CCP Goodfella, CCP Overload, and CCP Jotunn. The session is advertised as:

Get your first look at EVE Frontier, a new experience in the EVE universe. In this keynote-style presentation, the team will lift the curtain on the game's setting, core ideas, and the vision behind the project.

12:30 - 13:45 - Eldborg - EVE Summer Expansion Keynote. Presented by CCP Okami, CCP Mercury, CCP Nomad, CCP Tiger Shark, and CCP K1P1, the description of the session reads [REDACTED]. This is probably the biggest session next to the EVE Keynote.

14:00 - 19:45 - Break - I know CCP is holding two sessions for attendees to ask questions about the summer expansion, but those sessions usually are painful to attend. If I go back to my hotel room to write I can watch them there. Plus, dinner and probably a nap are in order before the final event.

20:00 - 01:00 - Party at the Top of the World - I'll be at the party for an hour or two as I always want to see the company's employee band. 

A pretty jam-packed time. Honestly a lot better schedule than the last 2 or 3 Fanfests I attended. Perhaps the big change is wanting to attend as many EVE Frontier sessions as I can. Now all I need to do is get to Reykjavik without getting lost. As this is my 8th Fanfest, I should manage.

My First Day In EVE Frontier's Cycle 3

When the subject rolls around to EVE Frontier, I maintain that for the project to succeed, Frontier must be a good game that happens to use blockchain technology, not a blockchain game. One day I will explore the difference, but not today. Over the weekend I blocked out a little time to play in the alpha's third cycle.

My goal for this cycle is to learn how to build bases and use the structures provided in the game. No more searching out an NPC station shortly after I log in. I'd actually learn to use the game mechanics and systems. A task made much easier by a player who came up with a relatively comprehensive guide to getting started. At least, comprehensive enough for me to get started.

The game in its current iteration places the player in space in a ship in front of an asteroid. Of course, this is a trap as I haven't figured out a way to return to that starting location. Oh, did I mention one of the differences between EVE Online and Frontier is the lack of bookmarks in Frontier? So I filled up my cargo hold with ore and searched out a place to build my structures.

According to the guide, players should build structures intended for long-term use at either a planet, moon, or some other type of celestial like a star gate. But a very important note is to write down the location where the base is built. The UI does not contain an Excel spreadsheet identifying all the  objects located on grid, much less the solar system. Which explains how I lost my first structures. I couldn't see them as I scanned my camera around. So I warped off to another moon and had success. The moon is easy to remember for any EVE veteran, planet 4, moon 4.

I wanted my base to perform three functions before I logged off Sunday: manufacturing, reprocessing, and ship fitting. The first two were addressed in the starting write-up. At least in this cycle, filling up my cargo hold with the ore staring me in the face when I first entered the game provided enough material to construct reprocessing and manufacturing facilities. That was fast!

My next two immediate concerns were fuel and mining crystals. Unlike in Online where ships operate on energy generated using advanced technology indistinguishable from magic, ships in Frontier operate on fuel. Thankfully my little starter ship runs on fuel produced by water. And, water is a plentiful side-product of the reprocessing process.

Mining, well at least the basics, work the same for brand new players. Take ship, fly up to a rock, and start up the mining laser. The differences end there. For one, new players in EVE have civilian-grade mining lasers. The brand new player in Frontier gets a laser with 5 mining crystals. And if everything works correctly a new player doesn't have to suicide in order to get to an NPC station to get a new rookie ship.

A big difference in Frontier is that building a reprocessing and a manufacturing structure near an asteroid is the efficient way to mine quickly. The steps are simple.

1. Start mining laser
2. Transfer ore into the reprocessing structure
3. Reprocess the ore
4. Move the water created into the manufacturing structure
5. Make fuel if needed

That's right, a brand new player can reprocess and manufacture things in a belt. And reprocessing the ore and removing the water is effectively the same as using an industrial command ship in EVE to compress the ore to make it easier to transport.

After filling up my cargohold, I wound up warping back to my moon base. Unlike in EVE, I had to use the in-game map. I zoomed down to the planet my moon orbited, selected the moon, and warped to my base. Landing 7-10km away is a bit tedious, but my starter ship is pretty zippy and doesn't handle too badly. I think the handling is partially due to Frontier utilizing a 1/4 second server tick compared to EVE's 1 second server tick.

The manufacturing structure I could build as a 5-minute old player only can produce one object at a time, but after a couple of minutes I had more mining crystals and enough fuel to avoid having to worry about running out.

I needed two different types of ore to do my base building, so I travelled to another belt and set up the process again. Well, not immediately. Seems the beginner ore I used isn't found in the second belt. So I wound up warping back to the first belt, filling my cargohold with the required ore, then travelled back to the new belt.

The end of completing this first objective of building a base at a moon was rather anti-climatic, to be honest. I misread something and instead of mining enough for 8 steel plates, I mined enough for 800.  I wound up chuckling in real life and built the refuge, the object that allows ship fitting in space.

I should add that learning how to effectively mine, locate bases, build ship, etc., isn't just a good idea. Players basically need to learn how to do all these tasks to escape the starter constellations. The starter constellations, at least in this cycle, appear rather safe. Perhaps all the experienced people are already out in the wider galaxy leaving me a constellation all to myself. But while I didn't see another player in my few hours time playing on Sunday, I did see the remains of a base someone had built.

I think for now I'm just going to stay in my nice little relatively safe location and learn the mechanics of the game. After all, the game is still in early alpha and the universe will wipe regularly. Why go out and build up material possessions that CCP can take away when I can build up knowledge that the developers can't.

I Have My Ceremonial Healing Set

Last week I poked through the gear wall in Dawntrail's patch 7.2 with drops from The Underkeep. On Sunday I smashed the wall as I finished crafting the Ceremonial healing set, the IL 740 crafted gear used by Final Fantasy XIV's raiders to begin running patch 7.2 raid content. Given all the running around I had to do, I'm happy I managed to acquire the gear only 5 days after all the hardcore raiders did.

The set consists of 11 pieces: a weapon, 5 main pieces (head, body, hands, legs, feet) and 5 accessories:

• Ceremonial Wand
• Ceremonial Hood of Healing
• Ceremonial Tunic of Healing
• Ceremonial Gloves of Healing
• Ceremonial Hose of Healing
• Ceremonial Thighboots of Healing
• Ceremonial Earring of Healing
• Ceremonial Necklace of Healing
• Ceremonial Bangle of Healing
• Ceremonial Ring of Healing
• Ceremonial Ring of Healing

The materials for crafting fell into three main categories: existing gatherables, patch 7.2 gatherables, and duty materials.

The first group was easy since I'm a pack rat and had most of them lying around the cottage. The list consisted of:

• Levinsilk (5)
• Gargantua Hide (16)
• Acacia Bark (4)
• Raw Black Star (6)
• Magnesia Powder (8)
• Claro Walnut Log (20)
• Yak T'el Spring Water (6)
• Pearl Grass (6)
• Wind Parsley (6)

Next up is a sub-section of the existing gatherables, the aethersands:

• Mythloam Aethersand (5)
• Mythroot Aethersand (3)
• Mythbrine Aethersand (3)
• Sungilt Aethersand (6)

Aethersand is acquired in two ways. The first is through an advanced gathering mechanic known Aetherial Reduction. The other is through going to a vendor and purchasing them using orange gathering scrips. The Sungilt Aethersands cost 100 orange scrips while the others cost 200 orange scrips each. All told, that's 2800 orange gathering scrips, or about 3 weeks worth of scrips from doing the custom deliveries for Nitowikwe and Margrat.

Up next were the new materials gatherer from the new Folklore nodes introduced in patch 7.2. Each node only spawns once every 12 game hours at a time. Oh, and to unlock the botany or mining legendary nodes for each region requires 1600 purple scrips, or 9600 total scrips including the fishing spots. Never forget fishing because a lot of the top crafting and gathering food includes a hidden out-of-the way fish as an ingredient. Gathering isn't that painful as one node will appear every 5 minutes in real time. Just be prepared to spend either a lot of gil or a lot of aetheryte tokens zipping from zone to zone.

The five new materials required were:

• Cochineal Pigment (40)
• Shaaloani Coffee (36)
• Raw Rhodochrosite (24)
• Cordia Log  (12)
• Octahedrite (10)
• Fulgurite (8)

And finally, the last group of materials required. I know running the duty roulette is a much faster way of obtaining Allagan Tomestone of Heliometry, but as bad as I am at running dungeons I hid away from the world and ran The Underkeep 17 times in order to get the 1360 tomestones I needed to purchase the materials. Each one cost 20 tomestones.

• Diatryma Pelt (20)
• Cronopio Skin (18)
• Neo Abrasive (12)
• Hydrophobic Preservative (10)
• Shaaloani Coke (8)

And this is what I had to do in order to advance in the MSQ. Well, it is if I want a decent shot at getting through Recollection without frustrating everyone in my party. Now, if real life will just let up a bit so I have an hour or two solid time to try running the new trial.