EVE: Equinox Patch Notes - PVE

EVE Online's Equinox expansion, set to launch on 11 June 2024, is the game's fourth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive and dense. I find reading lengthy patch notes rather boring, so I also like to go to other sources for information. For both the Viridian and Havoc expansions I wrote a series of posts based on the patch notes with other information added to hopefully make absorbing all the information less painful. This thirteenth post in the series for Equinox will cover additional changes to player vs environment content. 

For this post, I'll list the changes in the patch notes first and then give a brief explanation of the content involved.

Paragon Missions

• Added new Paragon Missions to request additional Frigates, Navy Frigates, additional Destroyers, Navy Destroyers, T1 Cruisers and Faction Ammo.

Paragon missions in EVE Online are a unique set of missions offered by the Paragon corporation, which reward players with EverMarks, the corporation’s loyalty points. The expansion of the types of missions affects players ability to access the new SKINR ship personalization system introduced in Equinox.

Incursions

• Mothership sites within High and Low Security space now have a minimum amount of time before they can appear. Null Security space is unaffected by this change.
  
  
• High-Security space: the Mothership will not appear until at least 3 days have passed.
• Low-Security space: the Mothership will not appear until at least 1 day has passed.

Apparently high sec incursion runners did not like outside groups completing the mothership site within the first day of the focus, which was seen as a form of griefing. High sec incursion runners preferred farming incursions as long as possible. The developers wound up agreeing with the incursion runners. 

Observatory Flashpoints in Pochven

• Activation range for the gate to the observatory has been increased to 25KM.
• Players present in the first pocket of the site when the site pays out will not receive a share of the rewards.
• NPCs will now take into account the presence of drones and prioritize them as targets.

Observatory Flashpoints are combat anomalies found in the Pochven region of EVE Online. They are designed to be tackled by fleets of up to 15 ships and are a continuation of the Observatory Flashpoints from Chapters 2 and 3 of the Triglavian Invasion.

C5 & C6 Cosmic Anomalies and Signatures

• A capital ship must be present in sites prior to the appearance of the Decloaked Transmission Relay to trigger the Arithmos Tyrannos spawn in C5/6 Cosmic Anomalies.
• Any escalation waves, including the Arithmos Tyrannos, will despawn if capital ships leave the site, or strays further than 100KM of a site’s warp-in point.
• Lancer Dreadnoughts will now trigger escalation waves in Cosmic Anomalies and Cosmic Signatures.

C5 and C6 cosmic anomalies and signatures are among some of the most profitable content in EVE Online.

Triglavian Minor Victory Systems

• Entropic Disintegrator Werposts and their deployment fleets will no longer consider players with 0 standing with The Triglavian Collective as hostile.
• Weapon damage ramp-up time for Entropic Disintegrator Werposts has been lengthened.
• Entropic Disintegrator Werposts now feature a bounty upon destruction
• Reinforcement fleets for Entropic Disintegrator Werposts have been scaled back in difficulty.
• The interval at which new Werposts will be deployed has been increased.
• The Triglavian Collective will no longer deploy Entropic Disintegrator Werposts at Stargates, Stations and Upwell structures in Minor Victory systems.

Triglavian minor victory systems are systems where the Triglavian Collective forces have established a permanent presence in empire space. These systems were won by the Triglavians during the third chapter of the Triglavian invasion but did not meet the criteria to become a Final Liminality system and be integrated into Pochven. A list of the systems can be found here.