Playing The Interstellar Convergence: The EVE Online x Doctor Who Crossover Event

On Thursday EVE Online began the 18-day crossover event between the EVE Online and Doctor Who universes. I began playing on Thursday and through four days amassed 325 event points. Since I have a little experience with the event, I thought I'd post my initial thoughts.

Progress through Sunday night

The concept of the event is simple. Players explore and hack into special relic sites to find clues in the form of building material and blueprints. The clues are put together using industry to create filaments. The filaments are then used to travel to exploration pockets, where more clues are found. Eventually we encounter the Daleks and combat will occur, but I haven't progressed that far. I'm currently searching for clues to access the third level of exploration pocket. 

The sites don't just drop blueprints and building material. They also drop Peculiar Data Collections which sell for 10,000 ISK each to NPC buy orders on the market. The cans players hack can also drop Doctor Who themed items like sonic screwdrivers (Inactive Sonic Multitool) and jelly babies (Bag of Gelatinized Confectionary). I also found cerebral accelerators to speed up training.

Through four days, I have not had the opportunity to engage in combat with the Daleks. I hear the combat occurs in an arena, with players able to instantly travel to the other side by crossing the arena border. I do know that access to the arena is limited to tech 1, non-faction cruisers.

The challenges found in The Agency provide additional structure to the event. In addition to providing points to obtain prizes, the challenges encourage players to place items up for sale on the market. Not only does that provide a reminder to new players to get some ISK, but helps jump start an event-based economy.

I have to mention the technical difficulties I encountered along the way. On Thursday, a certain material required to build Curious filaments, which provide access to the first level of exploration pockets, did not drop in the game. The only source for the item was from event packs sold in the game's cash shop. The issue was resolved with a patch.

On Friday, an issue arose with the challenges. The challenges did not auto refresh, so only three challenges could be played. The bug was fixed at downtime with a patch.

On Saturday I experienced a very painful bug. I created an Enigmatic filament, but did not receive credit for completing a challenge. What I discovered is that using a blueprint where the items and output both point to a container does not count. Learn from my mistake. Make sure that all manufacture of items points to your item hangar.

Would I recommend participating in the event? Depends on the player. Anyone who really likes the probing and hacking mini-games should definitely participate. Other players, however, may find the content very grindy. I have described the event as "a bit of a slog". Also, I think brand new players will find the content very challenging at higher levels, which could add frustration to the grind.

I have to say I like the overall structure of the event. I plan on completing the event just to see what is at the end. Hopefully I get to destroy the Dalek menace and save Gallifrey. I'd also like to find a scarf along the way. I already found some jelly babies.