Today CCP released a review of the third quadrant of 2021, Gateway. While we don't know the name of the next quadrant, the article gave the reader a preview of what is coming in November.
First, the new improved New Player Experience. The new introduction to EVE Online has increased the average length of a player's first play session in the game by 30%. Thankfully, the developers plan on iterating on the feature.
Since its release, the AIR NPE has seen a number of fixes and some polish – and in November, we’ll be introducing animated Aura, Vesper, and Balin for an even more engaging experience.
Work is underway to introduce a mining mission in the first half of 2022, introducing players to the fundamental cycles of the EVE Online economy - the first step in a longer plan to iterate.
Farther down the line, look forward to continued building on the narrative experience of the NPE through additional content, providing new players an engaging and enjoyable series of adventures!
I am used to CCP putting out a new NPE every few years, not liking it, then either reverting back or going to start from scratch. If the plan includes finally replacing the career agents with better content, I'll all for the effort.
The Skill Plans feature wasn't warmly welcomed by many. I have to admit I just update my skill queue and ignore Skill Plans altogether. Then again, my main characters have 262 million and 236 million skill points, so I'm not the intended audience. I do like the upcoming features.
In the November release, look forward to being able to drag ship fittings into a Skill Plan to automatically populate it with the fitting’s required skills. Corporation Skill Plans are coming to players in December, along with a new Skill Plan Manager role that enables corporations to create, save and share specialized plans with their members – providing a strong foundation and framework for new recruits. In addition, players will be able to import and export Skill Plans to and from the clipboard.
I was updating my skill queues today and wish I had the ability to aim to fly a particular ship. If anything, Skill Plans would become more like the EVEMon, but inside the client.
Remember the opportunities system? From reading the article, I think we will soon see machine learning added to EVE.
In November, another testing phase will begin building data for the purpose of bringing players individually personalized content recommendations based on their activities and preferences in the future.
New Landmark-based opportunities are also on their way, giving players opportunities to travel to and visit various interesting locations around New Eden and become better immersed in the world of EVE.
If CCP can figure out how to guide players, especially at the end of the NPE content, New Eden should see greater retention of new players.
The EVE Academy page is also receiving a revamp.
In November, look forward to the first phase in the revamping of EVE Academy, promising iterations on content and improved resources for all players – as well as the final Career video, focusing on PVP. The new Academy site will also see various new content, teaching players about a selection of specific ships, with a comprehensive page explaining the vital info that goes into flying your ship coming a bit later.
I don't really look at videos from game companies for any game. I'm stuck in the mindset of using Google when I run into a problem. But if the videos can help 90% of the people who view them, then the initiative is worth continuing.
Over the course of the year, I've felt CCP is going in the right direction. My big complaint is that CCP isn't producing a big expansion-sized release. I really think they need one. I see CCP continuing to go in the right direction with these planned additions to EVE.
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