EVE Online's Viridian expansion, set to launch on 13 June 2023, is the game's second full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive. Instead of just composing a surface-level single post giving my thoughts, I thought I'd do a little experiment. Are people interested in perhaps a little deeper coverage? I'm about to find out, as this post covers some of EVE's new PvE group content, Homefront Operations.
Homefront Operations are viewed by CCP as the next step for players hesitant to make the jump to more dangerous space and wish to stay in high sec longer. At the same time, though, the devs hinted last week that the effects of factional warfare may creep into high security space.
However, Highsec may not always remain the oasis of peace as it has been in the past. The rising tensions between the empires will spread to highsec as the consequences of war will start being felt beyond the battlefield and behind the frontlines. These Homefront Operations sites will be populated by NPCs including forces from their opposing faction, pirates, and rebel groups. While flying around in highsec, you will also see new billboards and posters, as well as propaganda and in-station announcements that will communicate the atmosphere of rising tension in empire space.
At launch, Homefront Operations will consist of six types of adventure, optimized for about 4 to 5 players. Experienced capsuleers will be able to select newer capsuleers to join them for a variety of specific opportunities to play in a small group. Players can test out different roles in content that will take about 15 minutes to complete, meet other new players, and start flying in a fleet. New players can expect to get rewards from participating in these fleets that are more lucrative than doing anything else solo in highsec. This provides experienced players with another avenue to teach new players the ropes, get them up to speed and to a point where their skills and experience can be valuable to the organizations they wish to recruit for, all while having an adventure together.
The patch notes went into further detail, identifying 6 types of objectives. They are:
Abyssal Artifact Recovery: Valuable artifacts buried within asteroids have emerged from Abyssal rifts. However, they aren't all that has made its way to the cluster. Break apart the asteroids and grab whatever you can before the dwellers of the Abyss overwhelm you.
Suspicious Signal: Your target is protected by an array of specialized emitters. While they're active, it is invulnerable. Hack the array to temporarily disable these defenses and give yourself a chance to take out the target.
Dread Assault: An allied Dreadnought was dispatched to eliminate a target. Unfortunately, hostile forces are neutralizing its capacitor and preventing it from firing. Boost its charge, keep the enemy at bay, and the dread will take care of the rest.
Raid: An enemy base has been found containing items your empire would like recovered. Tackle and destroy any hostile haulers that attempt to escape. Bring a hauler of your own to aid in retrieving the items from their smoldering wrecks.
Emergency Aid: Hostiles are attempting to destroy an allied target. Repair any damage and keep the enemy at bay long enough to secure the site. The hostile forces cannot be allowed to complete their objective.
Metaliminal Meteoroid: An asteroid comprised of ore valuable to the war effort has slipped into Empire space. Your goal is to mine it out before it plunges back to Abyssal Deadspace. Be careful; hostile forces in the area will attempt to disrupt and delay your efforts.
Perhaps the most exciting feature, coming from a long time PvE player, is improvements to the UI.
Improved Objective System - We have vastly improved the objective system for agent missions and sites. The new objectives have modernized visuals, contain dynamic information, and include helpful interaction states.
These new objectives are featured in the Homefront Operations and we have also implemented them for all the Career Agent missions, making them much clearer and more accessible.
Hopefully this post has helped explained a welcome addition to EVE's player vs environment gameplay. Not only is the system designed as the next step after the career agents for new players, but promises short duration (15-20 minutes) content for 4-5 players comparable to dungeons in industry-leading MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV. In addition, the content may satisfy multi-boxing players with 4-5 accounts without resulting in an extremely high ISK faucet. But CCP has introduced potentially interesting group play in high sec before, so we will need to see how the latest content is received by players.
No comments:
Post a Comment