Initial Takaways From EVE Vegas

Check-out time at the hotel is in a couple of hours, so now is a good time to take stock of what happened in the conference rooms in Planet Hollywood. 

Alpha clone state looks promising. CCP wants new players to view the free-to-play, alpha clone state as a viable long-term option. CCP Rise gave a presentation based on his experience running around Tranquility in a character with the alpha clone skillset. Not only did he maintain a 67% kill efficiency, but he could afford to lost 35 ships while doing so. Admittedly, he was a long time player before becoming a developer, so the question is: can a new player with no experience survive and thrive in New Eden? That depends on the New Player Experience (NPE).

The New Player Experience looks promising. CCP Ghost presented a compelling case that the new NPE is a much better experience than the current content. Most current and former players will say that is a low bar to clear. The former Icelandic criminal investigator explained the importance of story to human learning and stepped through the logic of one segment of the NPE. 

Admittedly, I have not run through the NPE on Singularity, opting to wait until Ascension launches on 15 November. I still have a concern about the reaction of new players to the end of the NPE. Will new players feel they are the subject of a bait-and-switch once the voice acting ends and the sandbox begins? I think CCP realizes they need more of a transition, but I doubt a planned part 2 is ready enough for deployment in two weeks. Then again, perhaps that is reason for the one week delay in deploying the expansion. Game companies only get to introduce a free-to-play/freemium option once, so hopefully new players will stick around.

New Eden is getting more populous (and more dangerous). CCP presented some additional information about the increasing capabilities of EVE's artificial intelligence. The mining operations will act as much like players as possible, including DPS anchoring on a fleet commander and logistics (yes, logi!) trying to keep the main NPC fleet between players and themselves. The composition of response fleets will depend on the level of the player threat to the mining fleet. Then again, a player with good standings to the NPC corporation running the mining operation may even receive aid in case of attack from another player.

For the foreseeable future, the old dumb NPCs will co-exist with groups using the improved AI. But I expect that eventually, the new code (which apparently uses less server resources) to squeeze out the older NPCs. 

The Star Citizen vulnerability window is closed. Throughout 2015, I looked at the state of EVE and thought that the launch of Star Citizen could entice a large portion of EVE's player-base away from the game. Originally scheduled to launch in November 2014, the game promised better graphics, a world filled with NPCs that fought like players, and an economy made more vibrant using the actions of NPCs.

EVE Vegas showed that CCP has closed the gap on all of these concerns. The level of art detail in EVE has now reached the level of improved explosions and prettier wrecks. Smart AI is no longer limited to special bad guys like Sansha incursions, Sleepers, and Drifters. Finally, the world, both in the form of NPCs and additional players, will feel more alive than ever. If anything, Star Citizen will suffer in comparison based on the limited number of people who can play together at any one time compared to the hundreds that EVE can currently support. EVE might suffer due to players wanting the space-fighter or FPS ground combat experience, but on most other levels CCP will have caught up to Chris Roberts' vision, as far as I can tell, by the time Star Citizen officially launches in 2018.

Those are just some quick thoughts on the information provided here on the ground in Las Vegas. Now I have to finish packing and check out of the hotel.

A Quick Update About Skins Gambling

Interesting comments about RL casinos lobbying against gaming casinos on OC Vegas @noizygamer

— Niden (@Niden_GMVA) October 28, 2016

Last night I made a brief appearance on the Open Comms Show and apparently made some comments in regards to skins gambling I should develop into a full post or two. Some of my comments resulted from my real world belief that established interests lobby for government regulation in order to secure their economic position. One just has to watch the news for how taxi cab companies lobby against Uber and Lyft for examples. Similar regulatory efforts backed by the hotel industry are underway against AirBnB. In EVE, we call this Malcanis' Law.

Where skins gambling, the category of operation that EVE casinos fell into, is concerned, the established real world interests are the brick-and-mortar casinos. If large amounts of money are wagered outside the casinos, the gambling interests have an interest in getting a piece of the action.

Skins gambling, almost if not totally unregulated up until this summer, is such an activity. Up until the legal actions swirling around Valve, one of the leading experts in the field, Chris Grove of Narus Advisors, estimated to grow to become a $20 billion industry in the year 2020. Indeed, one site, CSGOLounge, handled $1 billion in bets in 2016 before Valve began issuing cease-and-desist letters in August. To give some perspective on the amount, in 2014 gambling casinos and other gambling activities run by native Americans generated $26.8 billion. So $20 billion is a lot.

I'm currently in Las Vegas attending the CCP event in Planet Hollywood, so I don't have a lot of time or access to my locally stored reference materials to flesh out the subject with the word count it deserves. Just know that, like EVE itself, a lot of action is occurring below the surface.

A EULA Change Produces Deja Vu All Over Again

"We pay our writers 250 million ISK per article, podcast or video, and 150m for editing. Every article you see on CZ takes between three to ten man hours of work to produce. Outside of that, there is a large amount of administrative work and research that needs to be done, all of which allows us to offer an experience to our readers and listeners that far exceeds what any individual blog might provide."

Niden, Editor-In-Chief, Crossing Zebras

I should feel really good right now. Professionally, my boss went on paternity leave for three weeks, leaving me in charge. All emergencies handled, the servers didn't melt, and he sounded happy after I debriefed him on what he missed. Which is all good, because my review is coming up. Cha ching!

Outside of work, I land in Las Vegas at 9:10 am Thursday, local time. I'll spend four days talking internet spaceships with people I've met at previous meetups as well as with new people I don't know yet. Perhaps more importantly, I'll get to go to Holsteins and get one of their milkshakes. Yum!

Despite all the positivity in the air, I feel like a cloud has settled over my head. A cloud the likes not seen since the great ISBoxer meltdown of 2014-2015. CCP announced a EULA change taking effect on 8 November that bans EVE gambling sites. And just like with the enforcement of the rules involving input broadcasting and input multiplexing on 1 January 2015, a small segment of the EVE player base is up in arms over CCP's decision.

A feeling of deja vu struck me as I watched my Twitter feed yesterday. First came a post on Crossing Zebras wrapping "EVE media" in the community flag. One argument is that, "it’s time for some of these players that have amassed an incredible wealth to give back to the community." Really? Amassing wealth in a video game leads to social obligations to those who want funds? We play a video game, for Bob's sake. Anyone trying to guilt trip me over having a lot of virtual currency in a video game gets laughed at. Of course, I guess I need to have a lot of ISK first.

The second idea is even worse. The author wants CCP to run its own casino and distribute the profits to worth causes, like EVE media sites. I have to quote one paragraph:

"The rest could be used by CCP to sponsor external sites, like Crossing Zebras or like EN:24, which would be telling the stories of players to the world, act as a source of advertising for the game, as well as holding CCP accountable when they release new game features."

Seriously? Does anyone expect a news site paid for by CCP to criticize CCP? Eve News 24 couldn't even criticize I WANT ISK, a major sponsor, whenever the gambling site fell afoul of the EVE Online EULA. Besides, CCP is ending gambling in part due to a movement among governments to crack down on skins gambling done by third party sites. Is CCP going to risk running afoul of violating those same laws directly? I think not.

A little later, Niden's bleg appeared in my Twitter feed. Perhaps the first post from Crossing Zebras put me in a foul mood. Or perhaps the combination of the bleg combined with Niden's and Nashh Kadavr's appearance on Talking in Stations set me off. But I couldn't help but think of the reaction of ISBoxer users.

In some ways, the reactions of those who profited from the largess of EVE casinos is more egregious than that of hyper-boxers who used input broadcasting and multiplexing. In the case of ISBoxer users, they loudly proclaimed that they brought so much money into EVE that CCP needed to balance the game around them. The EVE media types and other content creators addicted to gambling money not only argue that CCP needs to balance the game around gambling, but the developers also need to take legal risks to allow them to continue their activities. And if CCP insists on banning gambling, then the developers need to replace the lost income somehow, or bad things will happen that will damage the game.

I still remember the months-long fights over the input broadcasting and multiplexing bans. I really don't want to live through another period like that. Something tells me that, since the EVE media has a much greater reach than ISBoxer users, I may not find an escape short of just abandoning all EVE sites.

In the meantime, I should look on the bright side. Holsteins has a special fall milkshake:

"Get your taste of fall at Holsteins with the Pumpkin Pie Bam-Boozled Shake, a pumpkin spice blend of vanilla ice cream, pumpkin vodka, pumpkin pie filling and graham crackers, garnished with vanilla frosting, a candy corn rim, whipped cream and a slide of pumpkin pie."

I can feel my mood improving already.

Preparing To Go To Vegas

Over the years, preparing my EVE accounts to go on a real life trip has changed. Back in the early days of playing the game (2010-2011), my only worry involved selecting a long skill to train until I got back home. Considering I spent two, and even three weeks, in Bulgaria on business, that sometimes wasn't easy. In the following years, I became involved in planetary interaction and during my first few trips to Reykjavik I also worried about keeping my colonies operating.

For my return to EVE Vegas, my preparations are pretty minimal, both in and out of game. I have to include out-of-game prep because the meta never shuts down. This year, I picked up a portable charger for my phone. One day at Fanfest this year my phone almost ran out of power. I figure I'd forestall that possibility this week. Twitter is a pretty valuable means of communications. I also picked up a couple of things to drop off with The Open Comms show crew broadcasting the night before the convention begins.

In game, the extended skill queue introduced in Phoebe means I don't have to worry about picking out a long skill. I still, however, have to worry about my training time. The Crimson Harvest event gives out cerebral accelerators and I spent part of the weekend collecting them for my three characters currently training. With Biology V, the accelerators give a +10 bonus to all learning attributes for 48 hours. I gathered enough to keep the bonus going until Friday evening Las Vegas time. Unless my laptop magically can run EVE now, I can't use the accelerators while at Planet Hollywood. But I can use them until 2 November, which means I should try to get three more accelerators to use immediately once I get home Monday night.

Finally, doing all the things to prepare for EVE Vegas put a crimp into my quest to build a Nestor. I managed to meet the nocxium requirement, so all I have to do is mine enough ore to refine 8,500 units of zydrine and 3,600 units of megacyte. The zydrine I get from mining hedbergite in low sec and the megacyte from arkonor in null. Yes, I know just taking my Prowler to a trade hub and buying off the market is faster and easier, but I set up some rules for my quest for the great white battleship and this close to the goal I'm not about to abandon them.

I have a couple more days of work before I land in Vegas on Thursday morning. The event should prove interesting if nothing else, especially since I know where the Starbucks is now. I hope I can use my stars for free coffee. I think I'll need it.

Rising PLEX Prices And The End Of Gambling

As part of my research into real money trading in EVE, I keep track of the price of PLEX in Jita. The average price of 30 days of game time reached 1.2 billion ISK yesterday. Since CCP shut down I WANT ISK on 12 October, the price of PLEX increased by 4.3%. Therefore, CCP's crackdown on RMT activity within IWI, combined with the directed denial of service attack that forced Eve Bet to shut its doors, is the reason that the PLEX price is rising, right?

I took a look at the 7-day rolling average of both the average price of PLEX and daily volume of sales and found the theory is probably not true. Since the second week of September, the price of PLEX has steadily risen. The recent rise in price looks like a part a longer term trend, not a reaction to a black swan event.

What draws my interest in the market is the demand for ISK. Players exchange game time for virtual currency. Even with the recent drop from the high demand peak on 8 October, the 7-day rolling average of the amount of ISK exchanged for PLEX still was 19.4% higher on 20 October than on 1 September.

Perhaps in the long run the closing of the gambling sites will result in a reduced supply of PLEX on the market. But at this point, I don't see the closing of two of EVE's largest casinos affecting the markets that much. And with the upcoming introduction of Alpha state clones, we may never have the data to know for sure.

Valve Responds To The Washington State Gambling Commission

The ongoing drama involving skins gambling involving CS:GO continued Monday when Valve responded to the Washington State Gambling Commission's demand to explain what the game maker intends to do to stop vacilitating gambling. The WSGC published the 3-page letter yesterday. Due to the format of the file, I have to do some typing, but pages 2 and 3 are below:

Your letter demands that Valve "stop facillitating the use of 'skins' for gambling activities through its Steam Platform." In-game items, such as virtual weapons, music packs, or decorative stickers, are common features in computer games. CS:GO customers can purchase skins, or receive them as random drops during game play. They are part of the game.

There are two Steam servfices that skins gambling sites appear to use. First is the exchange of skins. Steam allows exchange of various virtual items on Steam, by Steam users for the entertainment of Steam customers. They can take items that they have purchased or acquired via gameplay and trade them with Steam users for other items that they may enjoy more, or sell them for Steam Wallet funds to spend on other Steam purchases. Valve enables the exchange of skins on Steam in one of two ways: through the Steam Marketplace where Steam customers offer Steam Wallet funds to purchase a skin from other customers, or through Steam trading where a Steam customer makes an offer of trade for in-game items directly to another Steam customer. Valve makes receives a small transaction fee in Steam Wallet funds for Marketplace transactions, but Valve does not receive any compensation for trading. Impoertantly, Valve does not allow Steam customers to cash out skins or Steam Wallet fund for real world money. Valve does not charge any fees for user to user trades of skins.

Second is authentication of Steam users. Steam offers authentication using an open internet standard known as OpenID. OpenID allows a Steam customer to identify himself on a third party website by association with his Steam account, without having to give his Steam credentials to the third party site. OpenID services are ubiquitous on the internet, as many other internet services, such as Google and Facebook, offer OpenID for their customers as well.

None of these activities are illegal in Washington or any other jurisdiction, and we do not believe the Commission contends to the contrary.

WHAT VALVE HAS DONE AND CAN DO

The Commission's letter publicly threatens Valve with criminal prosecution for gambling on third party sites. We do not understand the legal or factual reasoning supporting this position, from the Commission's letter or from our conversations with the Commission. We are also unsure of how you propose we do this. If there is a specific criminal statute or regulation you believe Valve is violating, please provide a citation. We are not aware of any such law that Steam or our games are violating.

The Commissions main argument seemed to be "Valve could stop this, so it should." We do not want to turn off the Steam services, described above, that skin gambling sites have taken advantage of. In-game items, Steam trading, and OpenID have substantial benefits for Steam customers and Steam game-making partners. We do not believe it is the Commission's intention, nor is it within the Commission's authority, to turn off lawful commercial and communication services that are not directed to gambling in Washington.

Steam does, however, provide warnings to customers about using Steam trading and OpenID. Furthermore, Valve has taken action itself against skins gambling. As the Commission knows, in July 2016, Valve announced its intent to disable the Steam accounts of skins gambling sites for breach of Steam user agreements. http://store.steampowered.com/news/22883/. We followed this announcement with cease and desist letters of our own to over forty skins gambling sites that we were able to identify, and we shut down the Steam accounts of these sites. However, we do not know all the skins gambling sites that may exist or may be newly created, and we are not always able to identify the "bot" accounts that particular skins gambling sites may use to try to effectuate Steam trades. Cleverly designed bots can be indistinguishable from real users performing legitimate trades and their methods and techniques are constantly evolving. A bot account that is blocked can easily be recreated with a new identity almost immediately.

Valve can enforce its user agreements against the Steam accounts of skins gambling sites, where we can identify the site and identify the corresponding account. In fact, we would be happy to cooperate with the Commission, if it is able to identify more skins gambling sites that are illegal in Washington and the Steam accounts through which operate. We welcome the chance for further communication with the Commission, if it would like to clarify the legal allegations against Valve, or alternatively to work with Valve to identify offending Steam accounts of gambling sites.

TL,DR. We haven't done anything wrong. We are not currently doing anything wrong. Prove us wrong or go away.

The more I look into skins gambling, especially the circus surrounding CS:GO, the more I become convinced that if Valve had just enforced its own terms of service from the beginning, the situation would never have reached this point. Instead, Valve allows a website, OPSkins.com, to operate, converting virtual items into real life cash. I believe the WSGC looks at that relationship as the reason it states Valve "facilitates" gambling. Close up the RMT shop, and the issue probably becomes less problematic. But without skins gambling, the CS:GO eSports scene isn't as popular and skin sales go down.

Looks like the story won't go away anytime soon. I wonder what the WSGC will do next.

Valve Receives A Delay

The changes to the EVE Online EULA banning sites like Eve-Bet and I Want ISK may seem like big news, but the current focus in the greater video game gambling world is on the state of Washington. How does Valve plan to satisfy the Washington State Gambling Commission's order to stop facilitate skins gambling?

The world will have to wait a little longer. The WSGC issued the following statement yesterday:

New Information: October 17, 2016

Washington State Gambling Commission Headquarters, LACEY, Washington – October 17, 2016.

At the close of business on October 14, 2016, a representative of Valve Corporation notified Commission staff that the company is still working on a reply to the Commission’s Letter and a reply will be provided Monday, October 17, 2016.

Director David Trujillo said “I am disappointed that Valve Corporation missed Friday’s deadline, but encouraged that they have committed to responding today. I look forward to reviewing their response in detail.”

The Commission previously told Valve Corporation to stop allowing the transfer of virtual weapons knows as “skins” for gambling activities through the company’s Steam Platform. Valve Corporation had until October 14, 2016 to respond and explain how it is in full compliance with Washington’s gambling laws or risk having the Gambling Commission take additional civil or criminal action against the company.

Commissioner Chris Stearns said “The type of approach Valve decides to take will be very important.”

The Washington State Gambling Commission was created to protect the public by ensuring gambling is legal and honest.

Chances are, whatever comes out of Washington will have a huge impact on how the industry moves going forward, at least in the United States. I'd rather write about that than some of the gambling drama currently swirling around EVE.

The Rabbit Hole: Associations

"In chaos theory, there's a concept known as sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Most people call it the butterfly effect. In EVE, we call it the sandbox."

- The Butterfly Effect trailer

One of the benefits of writing for yourself is the ability to go back and reflect on the past as well as the future. On Wednesday, CCP explicitly declared gambling websites based on CCP's intellectual property and utilizing EVE's in-game assets as violations of the game's End User License Agreement. Back in July, news emerged about skins gambling in Counter Strike: Global Operations that could affect the EVE Online gambling scene, but I thought the chance of any significant change in policy was slight. In the first post I tagged with the gambling label, I began my exploration of the subject with the following paragraph:

"Among the interesting developments in EVE Online is the growth of online gaming sites utilizing in-game currency and virtual goods. I don't think that popular sites like EveBet and I Want ISK really worry about real world gambling laws. After all, the money wagered is internet spaceship bucks and not convertible to real world currency without violating the EVE Online End User License Agreement and Terms of Service. No need to worry about lawyers or governments intervening, right?"

Over the course of the last three months, gambling regulatory bodies declared the type of gambling operations conducted in EVE Online as gambling that falls under real world laws. On 16 September, two YouTubers in the United Kingdom who operated a website dedicated to FIFA 16-related gambling were charged with promoting a lottery and advertising unlawful gambling, along with inciting individuals under the age of 18 to gamble. The pair pled not guilty on Friday and face a hearing on 6 February 2017. Looking at a white paper published by the U.K. Gambling Commission in August 2016, my analysis indicates that the type of games run by EVE gambling sites fall under the purview of the UKGC. At the very least, in order to comply with U.K. law to operate within the U.K., EVE gambling sites needed to obtain an operating license from the UKGC.

On 5 October, the Washington State Gambling Commission issued a press release announcing it had given Valve ten days to present a plan to stop facilitating the operation of skins gambling sites, which the WSGC declared violated Washington state gambling laws. In the press release, WSGC chairman Chris Sterns stated:

"In Washington, and everywhere else in the United States, skins betting on esports remains a large, unregulated black market for gambling. And that carries great risk for the players who remain wholly unprotected in an unregulated environment. We are also required to pay attention to and investigate the risk of underage gambling which is especially heightened in the esports world. It is our sincere hope that Valve will not only comply but also take proactive steps to work with the Commission on future measures that will benefit the public and protect consumers."

In effect, regulatory bodies declared unlicensed gambling sites, even if only dealing in pixel money, were illegal. At that point, all of the EVE gambling sites were openly in violation of point 7 in the Terms of Service.

7. You may not violate any local, state, national or international laws or regulations.

The change in the EULA just made the violation explicit.

I recounted the events over the past few months in order to discuss a major topic of conversation among EVE's chattering & entertainment classes over the weekend. What happens to those content creators who relied on casinos to fund their activities? But I have a slight twist on the subject.

What responsibility did people doing business with EVE's gambling sites have in vetting these organizations that turned into their business partners? Admittedly, I am a bit paranoid, but I questioned the longevity of any gambling organization, even one as respected as Eve-bet. I should add I've always wondered what would happen if CCP cracked down on gambling.

I divide the EVE gambling sites into two categories. In the first, the organizations have a clean record with CCP and apparently no integrity issues. I put websites like Eve-bet and Eve Online Hold'em into that category. Those sites ran for years with few, if any, issues. Aside from the association with gambling, which is rather important for at least one sub-segment of content creators. While I think those content creators were naive in believing the gambling gravy train would go on forever, I can at least understand any confusion and bewilderment.

The second category consists of sites that throw up red flags, such as CCP taking disciplinary action against the site or an association with sites that violate the terms of service of some games, such as G2A. The biggest example, of course, was I Want ISK. When CCP takes action against an organization for RMT multiple times, any content creator taking that money has to know the source of the funding could dry up at any time. Quite frankly, anyone who complains that CCP shuts down such a questionable source of funding deserves any ridicule he receives.

I do need to add a special section for Twitch streamers. The Twitch Rules of Conduct include the following prohibition:

Breaking the LawYou must respect all applicable local, national, and international laws while using our services. Any content or activity featuring or encouraging illegal activity is prohibited.

I'm pretty sure that urging people to use a service that violates laws in some jurisdictions, such as an unlicensed gambling website, violates Twitch's Rules of Conduct. If I were a Twitch streamer, I would hesitate about putting any advertising at all on my home page, much less tell my audience how great a gambling service is. Streamers can rage at CCP all they want, but the developers can only restrict the flow of ISK and assets. Twitch can cut a streamers access to the platform.

I have to admit I don't really have a lot of sympathy for the content creators crying about losing their funding. The sympathy I do have is a result of CCP allowing the situation to continue for so long. CCP decided they would rely on content creators to advertise their game and all of a sudden the rules changed. Those who tried to work with reputable people probably feel betrayed. But those who took money from the likes of I Want ISK? Time just ran out.

EVE Online Bans Gambling Sites

With the introduction of Alpha clones and a switch to a freemium business model, changes to the EVE Online End Users License Agreement to take effect in November were predictable. I don't think anyone really expected a change to Section 6B of the EULA.

An Uneventful Patch Day

I set aside some time last night to play EVE. I normally don't do anything special during the week, but I'm attending a wedding Friday out of state so if I wanted to play around a little with the 118.9 update, I needed to do so before travelling.

The patch didn't really add a lot to the game. A big complaint for some people was the removal of the in-game browser. I hardly ever used the IGB, even when using Tripwire. I never play in full-screen mode, so I always have access to an out-of-game browser. Personally, with as much screen real estate as the UI takes up, I couldn't see taking up even more space with a web browser.

One change I jumped on right away was the introduction of the command burst charge blueprints. I went out and purchased the BPOs for the skirmish and shield burst charges. The skirmish and shield blueprints I found in the Minmatar Republic. I have the feeling I'll need to do a little travelling to collect them all. But I'll have a good start on researching them. When I get back from the wedding, I'll have the material efficiency maxed out on the BPOs I have. Then I can begin ice harvesting.

Of course, I had to do a little work on my quest for the Nestor. I went to low sec and spent about an hour mining hedbergite in a Procurer. I have a couple of belts with a lot of bookmarks laid out so I can almost always stay aligned. I was afraid that with two strip miners running, I might move out of range of the asteroids before I finished off the rock. Thanks to the Higgs Anchor Rig, I can fly slowly enough to stay in range of the asteroids. I completed collecting the isogen I need and managed to get about 40% of the required nocxium. I still have a long ways to go to meet my zydrine requirements, but I got a good start.

All in all, an uneventful night. Sometimes a person just needs to go out to low sec and do a little relaxing mining. I do need to kick the rust off my Prospect and find some Arkonor or Bistot, but that can wait for another day.

ISK Buyers Banned

More than 100 people just got banned for buying ISK from hackers. Please don't support the people who steal your stuff. #tweetfleet

— CCP Peligro (@CCP_Peligro) October 10, 2016

Remember: >30% of hacked accnts were involved in RMT before they got hacked. You buy from bad guys and become a victim yourself! #tweetfleet https://t.co/9dDUhMVM88

— CCP Bugartist (@CCP_Bugartist) October 10, 2016

Yesterday CCP Peligro tweeted out a ban wave involving over 100 players who bought ISK off the black market. I use the term "black market" because the ISK came from hacked accounts. In EVE, players wishing to purchase ISK can do so by buying PLEX from CCP and then selling the 30 days of game time to someone for ISK. Purchasing ISK from a third party results in a 7-day account suspension for a first offense or a permanent ban for a second offense.

We are less than 30 days away from the launch of Ascension, the latest EVE Online expansion coming to Tranquility on 8 November. The introduction of free-to-play elements to online games usually attracts RMTers, botters, and yes, hackers looking to make a quick buck. EVE experienced a huge uptick in illicit RMT activity in February with the introduction of skill injectors and I expect a similar, but smaller, increase in November. If you want to buy ISK, please go through account management or an authorized PLEX reseller to buy PLEX in order to obtain ISK on the market. Going on the black market just isn't smart.

The Porpoise And The Orca

In the November expansion, players will see a major revamp of the dedicated mining boosting ships in EVE Online. I'm not interested in the changes to the Rorqual because I don't fly the ship and will never live out in null sec anyway. I don't think my opinion matters too much, either.

Before continuing with a discussion about the Porpoise and the Orca, I should mention a couple of very important changes. First, Mining Director V is no longer required to fit tech 2 mining foreman links. The requirement drops down to Mining Director I. The second is the merging of the capabilities of the  Harvester Capacitor Efficiency link into the Mining Laser Optimization link. The merging of a reduction in both the cycle times and capacitor use of mining lasers, strip miners, ice harvesters, and gas harvesters allow the introduction of a new mining link, Mining Equipment Preservation. I don't know how much boosting charges will wind up costing, so seeing a savings in a reduction of wear and tear on tech 2 mining crystals might come in handy.

The reason for the change is the new ORE mining support ship, the Porpoise:

The Porpoise-class Industrial Command Ship is the most affordable and mobile mining foreman platform ever released in New Eden. This new ship fills the hole at the bottom of the mining foreman ship progression line. Although it shares a group with the larger and more expensive Orca, the Porpoise is as cheap as a tech one battlecruiser.

Thanks to ORE’s tireless work advancing hull materials technology to reduce mass, the Porpoise is light enough to travel through small-ship wormhole connections.

This new ship should be perfect for mining operations in more dangerous space where lower cost ships minimize exposure to loss for the operation. It’s improved agility and warp speed also make it the best choice for providing coverage of mining groups at multiple locations with one ship.

The description of the Porpoise describes the ship as a tech 1 battlecruiser equivalent. The comparison even goes down to the ship's warp speed (2.7 au/sec). Defensively, the ship is much weaker with only 4 mid slots and the standard Primae-hull resist profile. Some of that deficiency is made up for with the ship's raw hit point amount rating out someplace between a regular and faction navy battlecruiser.

The ship can standardly fit 2 command burst modules in its 4 high slots, meaning that the merging of the two mining links will give the Porpoise similar boosting capacity to the current Orca. The pilot of the Porpoise has an option to fit either bonused remote shield boosters (400% bonus to Remote Shield Booster optimal range) or tractor beams (100% bonus to range, 50% bonus to velocity). The ship also receives a 2% bonus to Mining Foreman burst strength and duration per level of Industrial Command Ships trained.

I should note three final items of interest. First, the Porpoise receives mining drone bonuses, meaning that the maximum mining yield is similar to a mining barge, while using a flight of medium drones could result in a max dps of approximately 400. Second, the ship has the 50,000 m3 ore hold the Orca currently possesses. With a fleet hangar of only 5,000 m3, a miner cannot just dump a cargohold full of ore into the Porpoise like a mobile container. However, unlike the Orca, the ore hold of a Porpoise is affected by skills, growing 5% per level of Industrial Command Ships trained. Finally, the Porpoise, can fit into shattered wormholes, finally providing ice miners a support ship with boosts and an adequate cargo to haul the ice out.

The Orca is a ship I already use in high sec. I'm glad I already have one as the ship is receiving a major buff. The ship is gaining 3 high slots along with a 400% bonus to remote shield booster optimal range, 250% bonus to tractor beam range, and 100% bonus to tractor beam velocity. The devs also increased the maximum number of locked targets from 2 to 7 in order to allow for pre-locking of multiple targets.

The drone changes to the Orca are a bit crazy. Not only does an Orca receive a 10% bonus to drone hitpoints, damage, and mining yield and a 10% reduction in drone ice harvesting cycle time per level of Industrial Command Ships, but also a role bonus of 100% bonus to drone damage and mining yield and 25% reduction to drone ice harvesting cycle time. The drone bay is also increased to 200 m3, meaning the ship can hold several flights of light and medium drones. The dev blog indicates the ship can obtain mining yields similar to an exhumer or approximately 800 dps in a combat role.

Defensively, the Orca received a big upgrade, with a 176% increase in base shield hitpoints as well as gaining a 5th mid slot. In addition, the ship receives a 1% bonus to shield command burst strength and duration per level of Industrial Command Ships trained. The shield command bursts come into play as one of the changes to boosts is that a boosting ship can always give boosts to itself. What that means is that a Orca can run 3 command burst modules and give itself bonuses, thus making ganking attempts even more difficult.

For support, the Orca maintains the ability to standardly fit 3 command bursts with a 3% mining foreman burst strength and duration per level of Industrial Command Ships trained. The ship also has a 50% bonus to command burst area of effect range. Perhaps the biggest change, though, is in the ship's hauling capacity. The ore bay is increased from 50,000 m3 to 150,000 m3. Also, like the Porpoise and unlike today, the Orca receives a 5% ore hold size increase per level of Industrial Command Ships trained. That might even hold all the ore from a high sec belt.

All in all, I expect a lot of miners are happy to see these changes. I know I am. I don't think I'll use any of the ships in low sec, but I'll feel more comfortable moving the Orca around high sec. I have the feeling that CCP foresees players needing massive amounts of minerals in the year ahead. I have the feeling we will need to wait until Fanfest next year to find out why.

Valve Threatened With Sanctions For Skins Gambling By Washington State

In September, the U.K. Gambling Commission made news for charging two men for operating a FIFA 16 gambling site. Now, the state of Washington announced that Valve has until 14 October to stop skins gambling via Steam. The Washington State Gambling Commission issued a press release Wednesday concerning the situation:

He's Going To Vegas

Hashtag activism is alive and well in the EVE community. CCP's resident punster, after a long campaign waged on his behalf on social media, is going to Fanfest this year.

You asked to #GetAvalonToVegas and that's exactly what you'll get! If you haven't got your #EVEVegas ticket, get one before they run out! https://t.co/Lkl2wUSqRq

— Baldvin | CCP Avalon (@CCP_Avalon) October 6, 2016

Okay, maybe not as cool as players treating all of CCP to pizza, but another indication EVE players are a little different.

Oh Look, The Primae Hull Is Back

Real life got in the way last night, but I had to write a brief post involving yesterday's dev blog, Mining Foreman Revolution. The newest ship in the EVE universe is the Porpoise.

"The Porpoise-class Industrial Command Ship is the most affordable and mobile mining foreman platform ever released in New Eden. This new ship fills the hole at the bottom of the mining foreman ship progression line. Although it shares a group with the larger and more expensive Orca, the Porpoise is as cheap as a tech one battlecruiser.

"Thanks to ORE’s tireless work advancing hull materials technology to reduce mass, the Porpoise is light enough to travel through small-ship wormhole connections.

"This new ship should be perfect for mining operations in more dangerous space where lower cost ships minimize exposure to loss for the operation. It’s improved agility and warp speed also make it the best choice for providing coverage of mining groups at multiple locations with one ship."

The Porpoise, coming to an asteroid belt near you

A pretty good looking ship, and a good color scheme. A lot of people will notice the resemblance to that old standby ORE ship, the Noctis. The dedicated salvaging ship has seen hard times as players migrated away from the ORE industrial ship's powerful tractor beams in favor of Mobile Tractor Units. I think a lot of people will welcome seeing the hull more frequently in space.

The hull, however, didn't originate with the Noctis. The first ship of the class was the Primae. Introduced in the Tyrannis expansion in May 2010, CCP intended the ship to work with the new Planetary Interaction feature.

"The Primae is a repurposed ORE design intended to ease the task of extracting resources from planetbound environments. Initially devised as a deep space salvage vessel for large-scale ore retrieval from destroyed ORE fleets in pirate-occupied areas, its previous incarnation was made all but obsolete by the arrival of capsuleers on the interstellar scene. Realizing that the ship could, with a few minor modifications, be made into an efficient resource harvesting aid, ORE wasted no time in revamping the design.

"A low signature radius (a holdover from its earlier manifestation) adds a layer of defense to the Primae's already decent plating. In addition, the ship's two large bays have been re-engineered to hold equipment for planetside resource extraction and processed materials, making it an especially useful complement to any planetside harvesting endeavor."

The Primae had two strikes against it's widespread use. The first was the Primae was a limited run ship, given out to each account with the launch of the expansion. The second was a ridiculously small 1000 cubic meter bay for holding PI products. Using any other tech 1 industrial at the time not only meant less risk, but more efficiency as well. Capsuleers finally got a decent dedicated planetary interaction hauler when the Iteron Mk. III was converted into the Epithal during the Odyssey expansion in June 2013.

I have to say I'm excited about the mining boost changes coming to EVE in the November expansion. The dev blog is massive and I couldn't devote the time to do a proper write-up last night. However, I couldn't let the introduction of another Primae hulled ship pass without an early comment. I really look forward to flying a Porpoise now.

First Attempt At Fitting A Nestor

I am procrastinating just a little in mining the last of the minerals needed to build my Nestor. Instead of running out to low and null sec this weekend, I opened up Pyfa and theorycrafted a couple of PvE fits. To add to the degree of difficulty of my Nestor quest, I might try to build all of the modules for the Sisters battleship as well. That's not an absolute goal, though. Just something floating around in the back of my mind.

CCP's Runup To EVE Vegas 2016

Sometimes playing EVE is not that exciting. Interesting, yes. Exciting? Not so much. Over the weekend, I spent a good amount of time theorycrafting a fit for a Nestor once I finally finish building the battleship. Yesterday, I reworked the skill plans for two characters and spent about 250 million ISK on skill books. I hit the 50 skill limit in the client and will need to continue loading skills later this week. On my third account, between the time this post is published and the time I wake up on Sunday, the character will learn 40 skills. All of that while watching EVE NT's coverage of the first weekend of the Alliance Tournament, which usually guarantees I do not do much in the game for three weeks.

I don't mind too much because we now have the runup to EVE Vegas. Last week we saw not only the release of the CSM Summit minutes but a new video by EVE Online's Executive Producer, Andie "CCP Seagull" Nordgren.


I'm excited about the prospect of getting a schedule of events three weeks in advance so I can plan out which events to attend as well as identify blocks of time I can head over to Holsteins and pick up a milkshake or two. The usual standard at the last few Fanfests was to receive a schedule when I was already in Reykjavik, if not when I arrived at the Harpa.

Between the CSM minutes and CCP Seagull's video, we know a few details about some of the subjects CCP will unveil at EVE Vegas. The New Player Experience (NPE) is receiving a major rework, including the addition of voice acting. Procedurally generated PvE content is no longer just a pipedream but will see its first introduction on Tranquility in the November expansion. Also in November, players will see the introduction of a new type of structure, engineering complexes. The introduction of the engineering complexes should come as a pleasant surprise to those players disappointed with the thought that CCP did not intend to release any additional structures until drilling platforms sometime during the winter. Of course, no buildup to an event is complete without the mandatory tease of the introduction of a new online store to buy real world EVE items.

Based on CCP Seagull's statements in the video as well as the sessions redacted from the CSM minutes, I expect at least three dev blogs to come out between the launch of the 118.9 release on 11 October and the start of EVE Vegas on the 28th. The summit contained two sessions, "Team Genesis" and "Beyond NPE", that CCP could combine into one dev blog. Team Genesis is the development team in charge of working on the New Player Experience. I definitely look forward to CCP Ghost's presentation in Las Vegas on the topic.

The second is the session on "Mining and Industry". I assume that the upcoming dev blog will cover the new structures, but I wonder what other surprises CCP has has up their sleeves.

The final one involves Team Size Matters, the dev team involved in monetization-related features. With CCP inviting so many people to play EVE without paying a subscription fee, the game company will look to lure the new Alpha clone players to part with some of their money somehow. The upcoming dev blog and presentation in Vegas should prove quite interesting.

Normally attendees consider EVE Vegas the more social of CCP's two big yearly player gatherings. But this year, with a major expansion and the introduction of the clone states, players may want to catch CCP's Twitch stream for coverage of the event. They may learn something of value besides which devs can function perfectly with killer hangovers.