Yoshi-P's Producer Live Letter 83 At The Tokoyo Game Show

Over the weekend Square Enix showed up to this year's Tokyo Game Show. For those Final Fantasy XIV players outside Japan the highlight was probably the Producer's Live Letter #83 broadcast live from the stage. With only 90 minutes to present the head of Creative Studio III, Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P), managed to pack in a lot of information to whet the appetites of players looking forward to patch 7.1. While the presentation was in Japanese, the sides, as usual, were produced with both Japanese and English text. For those outside the game, the FFXIV sub-Reddit not only has a Discord server but performs translation services for all presentations done without English translations.

The unofficial translation from the r/ffxiv translation team

The first bit of news is the name of patch 7.1, Crossroads, and the release date. Okay, Yoshi-P mixed up the name of the patch with a movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but from the screenshots I don't think we will meet aliens in the patch. The release date was listed as mid-November, but if all goes according to schedule, we will get to play on 12 November. Personally I bet on the 12th and took a paid day off from work to try to play the patch at launch.

Crossroads will have a lot of different quests. Besides the standard continuation of the main story questline (MSQ), those who complete all the role quests in 7.0 will receive a new role quest to do in the next patch. The role quest isn't just limited to combat jobs. Those who complete all the Wachumeqimeqi crafting and gathering quests will also receive quests, which Yoshi-P described as a finale for the business district.

As is usual, the developers are adding a new Allied Society, the Pelupelu. The quests associated with the standings grind are combat quests, as also happened in Endwalker. The Allied Societies back in the first few expansions were known as tribal quests for those who haven't played past the free trial. 

The new Custom Deliveries NPC will have players heading north of the bridge to FFXIV's version of the southwestern United States. Nitowikwe, a female Hrothgar, apparently will set up at or near the rail station in Shaaloani.

Oh, and the Hildibrand saga will once again appear in the game. Yoshi-P said during the presentation that 7.1 is sort of a prologue for the Dawntrail version of Hildibrand. 

Those who like doing combat related content hopefully will see the upcoming content and feel satisfied. First comes a new 4-character dungeon and 8-character trial for the MSQ. The savage versions of the content will probably release two weeks after the launch of Crossroads.

Next comes alliance raids. That's right, players will get more than one raid. The new regular alliance raid series is Echoes of Vana'diel. A cross-over with Final Fantasy XI, the 24-character raid will not follow the layout of its FFXI version. But then the developers also created a more challenging raid series, The Cloud of Darkness (Chaotic). The new type of Chaotic content is supposed to be more savage than extreme in difficulty. The Cloud of Darkness is also using a changed reward system that gives an incentive to repeatedly clear the content and help other players to do the same. A bit different than the current system that only allows one clear per week.

And finally the new Ultimate raid is based around Ryne and Gaia, Futures Rewritten. Expect lots of callbacks to the Eden series. The Ultimate will appear one or two weeks after the launch of Crossroads.

Yoshi-P also talked about two duty-related items. The first is the development team has begun adding non-MSQ duties to the Duty Support system. Expect to see the level 20 duty Halatali in the Duty Support list in Crossroads. But Yoshi-P warned not to expect the conversion of all the non-MSQ dungeons quickly. As in expecting the conversion to finish within the next 10 years. 

What I do wonder is if the effort to convert non-MSQ dungeons is related to the Grand Company dungeons. Halatali is the lowest level dungeon players can run with their Squadrons. I would think Yoshi-P would not want to maintain a second set of dungeons anymore.

The second development is adding an additional set of training missions at level 49. Currently players get a tutorial around level 15 to help teach about certain concepts before entering their first dungeon. Some of the mechanics confuse players when first encountered. A popular one is a new player getting a stacking marker and thinking they are supposed to run away from other players. An advanced tutorial showing mechanics introduced after A Realm Reborn would come in handy.

I should also point out the Dawntrail MSQ will become available in New Game Plus in Crossroads. Why weren't they added once completing the MSQ? I don't know. But I will finally use the feature to take a look back at Heritage Found, as the zone changes radically after the player has finished the MSQ in the area.

PvP won't receive any content love until patch 7.2 when the developers plan big updates for Frontline. Until then, each job will receive new PvP actions, except for the newest jobs added in Dawntrail. Also, changes to hit detection are coming in 7.1. Some attacks, like the machinist's limit break and warrior's primal rend, would register the effect of the attack before the animation completed. That issue is resolved, allowing healers to throw shields on their teammates more effectively.

The Gold Saucer is receiving an update to Doman Mahjong. Players will have the ability to purchase voiced reactions and commentary from the Scions for MGP. I understand a lot of Mahjong players signed up for FFXIV just to play Mahjong online. Yoshi-P said he was most scared of Y'shtola.

Finally come the housing updates. Players will now have the ability to select interior designs from different residential areas regardless of the location of the plot. Also, the developers are adding new interior designs without pillars. Players won't have to remove their interior decorations before changing the design of their homes, but will have to place everything back manually.

Coming in a later patch (not 7.1!!!) Yoshi-P plans on turning housing into TARDIS. That's right, if Yoshi-P can include Star Trek references in Stormblood (remember the Kobayashi Maru fishing area?), why not throw in a little Dr. Who as well? Owning a cottage will no longer mean not having the interior of a mansion. Yoshi-P warned utilizing the option will cost lots of gil, but in the future a housing plot will just represent the outside area available for decoration and holding events. But details are still forthcoming, such as any potential increases in item caps, etc.

Not bad for an hour presentation. Part 2 of the live letter will come when Yoshi-P is back in the office. At that time I expect a lot more details for not just Crossroads but the rest of the Dawntrail patches. Okay, perhaps teasers for patches 7.2 and beyond. But I have the feeling the upcoming content drops will peak interest in FFXIV, at least for a little while.

Will Throne And Liberty End A Cloud Imperium Narrative?

For those who haven't kept up on the news, NCSoft's new MMORPG, Throne and Liberty, is launching as a free-to-play game in the West though Amazon Games. While the global launch is on 1 October, the game launched in Korea back in December 2023. When I asked Copilot about the game's unique features, the first two items stuck out to me.

Throne and Liberty offers several unique features that set it apart from other MMORPGs:

1. Guild-Based Combat: Engage in epic battles against dozens to thousands of players and fantastic creatures in group battles and massive Castle Sieges¹².
   
   
2. Dynamic World: The game features a vast, seamless, and ever-changing world with towering cliffs, cavernous dungeons, and consequential day/night cycles that impact gameplay and abilities¹².

Sources: (1) The Official THRONE AND LIBERTY Website. (2) THRONE AND LIBERTY | Xbox. 

Castle Sieges sounded interesting so I asked specifically about the PvP feature.

Castle Sieges in Throne and Liberty are large-scale PvP events where guilds and alliances compete to control castles. Here are some key aspects:

Objectives

• Attackers: Their goal is to breach the castle defenses and seize control of the throne room.
• Defenders: They must protect the castle and repel the attackers¹.

Mechanics

• Siege Weapons: Both sides can use siege weapons like Golems and Gigantrite to gain an advantage¹.
• Hidden Entry Points: Attackers can use hidden entry points to infiltrate the castle¹.
• Respawn Points: Strategic respawn points are available to both attackers and defenders to keep the battle dynamic¹.

Strategy

• Coordination: Successful sieges require tight coordination and strategy among guild members.
• Tactics: Utilizing the environment, siege weapons, and morphing abilities can turn the tide of battle¹.

Rewards

• Victory: Winning a siege grants control of the castle, which can provide various in-game benefits and resources¹.

Sources: (1) Castle Siege War PVP Event Guide - Throne and Liberty - Maxroll.gg. https://maxroll.gg/throne-and-liberty/events/castle-siege-guide.

Although I'm a PvE player, I play games with large-scale PvP. So how big are Castle Sieges? In an interview with PcGamesN, Amazon globalization design manager Daniel Lafuente indicated in Korea the game had successfully supported a 1700 character fight. I managed to find a video of a 2300 character fight supposedly verified by NCSoft and another claiming over 3000 participants. I've included the hyperlinks for those wishing to see what large fights in Throne and Liberty look like.

I've also watched some quick reviews which indicate the server performance on the global servers now accessible during the current early access period is fast enough that few if any loading screens appear.

Back in July I wrote about the server meshing wars we would see emerge between Cloud Imperium, makers of Star Citizen, and Intrepid Studio's Ashes of Creation in October. Star Citizen even published a self-congratulatory video about how their success in developing server meshing technology.

One of the CIG developers even stated, "I don't think we could have done this anywhere else. Nowhere else would have the patience to really develop this kind of tech on the promise of something that might happen." Another opined, "I don't think there is another game company on the planet that can do what we're doing. We can take risk to produce amazing technologies that other game companies simply can't take. I'm pretty convinced that this couldn't be done anywhere else."

And that is where Throne and Liberty comes into the picture. NCSoft is using Unreal Engine 4 to create EVE-sized PvP experiences. Not the mega battles that set records, but still 2,000 character fights is nothing to sneeze at. Ashes of Creation is also touting its ability to also support large scale fights and seamless open-world experiences using their proprietary game engine built around Unreal Engine 5. The Alpha 2 tests will utilize what sounds very close to what CIG calls dynamic server meshing as Intrepid already uses a static server mesh for its game worlds. As for Star Citizen, CIG's CryEngine-based Star Engine is struggling to support 500 players in current testing.

And this is where the Cloud Imperium narrative goes off the tracks. I've heard so many Star Citizen content creators parrot the CIG line that CIG is not only at the leading edge of the tech to make large-scale virtual worlds possible, but the only ones who think doing so is worthwhile. And yet, here is NCSoft producing a game that currently vastly outperforms the server capacity of Star Citizen. Even worse for the narrative, Intrepid Studios is also working on the problem using Unreal Engine 5, the technological successor to UE4. 

Meanwhile, CIG is stuck using a customized version of CryEngine, which gaming companies have abandoned in favor of UE5. Perhaps for single-player games like Squadron 42 the Star Engine will work wonderfully. But as for massively multi-player games, CIG may have chosen to follow a technological dead end.

Crimson Harvest 2024 Confirmed To Launch On October 3rd

Today CCP announced the Crimson Harvest, EVE Online's longest running seasonal event, will once again run for a full month. The event begins next week on a Thursday, 3 October, and ends on 5 November. While the modern CCP may shy away from the event's beginnings, I always go back to watch the original Scope video introducing the event.

While available in every area of space, the choicest areas to engage with Crimson Harvest sites will be Derelik and Blood Raider-occupied Delve. Perhaps the next major war in that area should bear the name Omar's Blessing instead of a Goonswarm-inspired name.

While no patch notes are yet available, I did find some good information on the special event website. The basic overview hasn't changed much over the years.

• Pick your side in the bloody conflict between the Blood Raider Convenant and the Order of Tetrimon.
  
  
• Look for horrific combat and hacking sites throughout highsec, lowsec, nullsec, and wormhole systems, as well as Pochven.
  
  
• Combat sites will appear as anomalies in the probe scanner.
  
  
• Hacking sites will appear as cosmic signatures that require scanning down using a probe launcher and scanner probes.
  
  
• Scavenge the remains of your wrecked rivals for improved loot drops.

Something new to the event are components for the SKINR system will drop. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if SKINR items were handed out to visitors to CCP's studio in Reykjavik.

The season of slaughter brings budding SKINdustrialists a cornucopia of design elements to bring their most twisted creations to life, including the Brutal Splatter pattern, Steel Violet, Ritual Gourd Satin, Savant Carmine Satin, Anointed Dead pattern, and much more. Log in every day, complete brutal challenges, and loot the wrecks of your victims to uncover each component.

And of course, CCP will provide streamers in the EVE Partners program with Twitch drops.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the daily login rewards. The dev blog didn't go into great detail, but the event site is showing Omega (subcription accounts) can receive:

• Astero Deathglow Remnant SKIN
• Avalanche Deathglow Remnant SKIN
• Harvest Anti-Disruptor Booster II
• Crimson Harvest Fireworks Crate
• 26,500 EverMarks
• 650,000 Skill Points.

At this time the information about the rewards for points timeline is not available.

I can remember a time when players thought the Crimson Harvest was a dumb idea and no one would ever take to the idea of a developer driven event. Nine years later the war between the Blood Raider Covenant and the Order of Tetrimon continues on. Sometimes EVE players really do adapt and accept new ideas if the ideas are sound in the first place.

Upcoming Updates To EVE Online's Orbital Skyhooks

Today CCP published a dev blog without dropping a corresponding patch for EVE Online's Tranquility shard. The subject of the dev blog are a set of upcoming buffs to orbital skyhooks. I imagine the word is coming out now so players can adjust to the changes, as some may impact the markets. Also, I have the feeling the developers may include the beginning of this year's Crimson Harvest in the same patch that implements the changes to orbital skyhooks.

The Upwell Consortium has closely monitored the performance of its revolutionary Equinox suite, and following extensive feedback from power users, significant enhancements are set to be rolled out in an orbital skyhook security update coming in early October. A certain vulnerability to raiding will be addressed, taking some of the advantage away from attackers seeking to raid skyhooks. These changes will bolster the attractiveness of the structures by improving their output while also reducing the logistical burdens placed on their owners. 

The first two changes listed in the dev blog will address vulnerabilities to raiding. First, the developers have cut down the window owners of the structures will need to worry about defending the basis of their infrastructure.

To address the imbalance in raid dynamics, orbital skyhooks will only be vulnerable to raids during specific windows that are visible to all pilots. These periods are based on the structure owner’s preference, but feature a significant randomized offset, introducing an element of unpredictability. As a result, defenders will have better opportunities to plan their defenses, while raiders must operate within tighter, more strategic timeframes. This shift will reduce the constant pressure on skyhook owners, who will no longer need to be on high alert around the clock, while still preserving the opportunities for intense, tactical conflict. 

Next, raiders can't take all the contents of orbital skyhooks, thus allowing sov holders a minimum level of supply for their infrastructure needs.

An important adjustment to orbital skyhooks coming with this update is the employment of a dual storage system that splits resource output between a secure bay and a surplus bay. The secure bay will ensure that half of all produced reagents (magmatic gas or superionic ice) are protected, available only to the owner and their approved access list, or upon the destruction of the skyhook. This ensures a stable flow of resources for owners without overwhelming loss to raids. Meanwhile, the surplus bay will hold the other half, which will be vulnerable during the raiding windows. Attackers can claim the entire contents of the surplus bay, which has a 100% drop rate during raids, offering significant rewards while maintaining the competitive drive in nullsec. 

I'd heard that some sov holders had taken to raiding their own skyhooks to ensure they had at least some supplies for their infrastructure. I wonder if the two-bay system will impact that. Given the min-maxing that occurs in null security space, I'm highly skeptical.

As I don't live in null sec I really don't follow these items on the market, but apparently the devs have decided the reagents must flow.

Another important aspect of these skyhook enhancements will result in greater efficiency, leading to a significant increase in the amount of reagents extracted and, therefore, flowing into the market, directly impacting the entire economy of New Eden. The streamlined system will reduce operational friction while boosting overall productivity. Alliances operating in nullsec can expect more consistent resource yields from their orbital skyhooks, as well as less logistical work, making them an even more valuable asset for holding territory and fueling war efforts. 

That last part confuses me. I thought Equinox sov was based around the amount of resources an alliance could extract using their orbital skyhooks. No need to sell the structures given the ending of the dev blog.

With the upcoming enhancements to skyhook operations, this is a great time to adopt the Equinox sovereignty system. These updates will significantly reduce the daily burden of managing orbital skyhooks while offering greater output, making them more valuable to owners and alliances alike. 

In addition, the Upwell Consortium has announced that on 29 October, transitioning to the new system will become mandatory for all capsuleers. Those who have yet to make the switch are encouraged to do so before this deadline to ensure a smooth transition and avoid disruptions. 

For those not living in null, the last paragraph is perhaps the most important. That gives us an idea of when the winter expansion will hit Tranquility. The only question is how long CCP will give the late adopters of orbital skyhooks to get used to the new system. I'm betting Crimson Harvest ends on 7 November with an expansion launch on 12 November. But if CCP is in a rush, I can see the expansion launch on 5 November.

In Space, There Is No Atmosphere To Have An Airdrop

Last week I visited the EVE: Frontier Discord and found an announcement I found puzzling.

As those who have registered via https://community.evefrontier.com/ will know, there is currently a raffle and points system in place as part of the registration process for PHASE IV.

!!!  To be clear !!!

Raffle tickets and points will not allow you to earn any fiscal rewards: you will not earn or obtain any EVE Tokens from acquiring them 

Raffle Tickets and Points will only be applicable for the following prizes:

• An EVE Frontier Gaming PC
• $500 Icelandair Vouchers
• Fanfest Tickets
• PHASE IV Posters
• Other fun things

Of course, my confusion came from not knowing something about crypto and the practices surrounding crypto projects. Apparently some crypto-related website decided to link to the EVE: Frontier registration page listed above and tell all the crypto-bros around the globe that CCP engages in a practice known as airdrops. CCP immediately posted otherwise.

Now, if I didn't know better, I'd think an airdrop was something like a Twitch drop in which people are rewarded for watching a Twitch channel for a period of time. So pulled up Copilot and started down the rabbit hole known as the crypto world. According to Copilot:

A cryptocurrency airdrop is a marketing strategy used by blockchain projects to distribute free tokens or coins to members of the crypto community. The main goal is to raise awareness and encourage adoption of the new cryptocurrency¹².

Here are some key points about airdrops:

• Distribution: Tokens are sent directly to users’ wallets, often for free or in exchange for small promotional tasks like retweeting a post or signing up for a newsletter¹².
• Types: There are different types of airdrops, including standard airdrops (where users express interest and provide a wallet address) and exclusive airdrops (targeting specific users based on their existing holdings or activities)¹.
• Purpose: Airdrops aim to increase the visibility of a project, create a wider distribution of tokens, and incentivize users to engage with the project²³.

While airdrops can be a great way to get involved with new projects, it’s important to be cautious as some airdrops may be scams attempting to steal personal information¹.  

In the interest of full transparency (and because I'm too lazy to edit the html code) I've listed Copilot's sources below.:

(1) Cryptocurrency Airdrop: What Is It and How Does It Work - Investopedia. 
(2) Crypto Airdrop: What's an Airdrop and Why Crypto Airdrops Are Issued. 
(3) What Is a Crypto Airdrop? - Binance Academy
(4) What are Crypto Airdrops?

Investopedia, a source I'm already familiar with and trust! I looked to see the pros and cons of cryptocurrency airdrops listed in the Investopedia. The pros raised an eyebrow.

Pros

• Rewards early adopters or people engaged with a project with a stake in the project
• Raises awareness of a project due to the marketing aspect of an airdrop
• Encourages the use and adoption of a newly issued token
• May distribute tokens across holders in a manner that would not have naturally happened in an open market

I would think in the context of creating a video game, and especially marketing a game to non-crypto enthusiasts, those pros aren't really positive aspects. And the negatives were worse:

Cons

• May pose security threats if wallet holders must connect wallets to suspicious sites to claim airdrop
• May prove to be "pump-and-dump" schemes
• May dissuade some investors from participating if they prefer different ways of distributing tokens
• May prove to be worthless if the token does not have liquidity on an exchange

Investopedia seemed to call the first point a "dusting attack", so I asked Copilot to provide a little more information.

In a dusting attack, small amounts of cryptocurrency, known as “dust,” are sent to numerous wallet addresses. The primary goal is to track these addresses and potentially de-anonymize the wallet owners¹².

Here’s how airdrops can be involved in dusting attacks:

1. Distribution of Dust: Attackers use airdrops to distribute tiny amounts of cryptocurrency to a large number of wallets. This “dust” is often so small that it goes unnoticed by the wallet owners¹².

2. Tracking Transactions: Once the dust is in the wallets, attackers monitor the blockchain to track the movement of these small amounts. By analyzing the transaction patterns, they can link different wallet addresses and potentially identify the owners²³.

3. Privacy Invasion: The ultimate aim is to invade the privacy of the wallet owners. By linking wallet addresses, attackers can gather information that might be used for phishing scams, cyber-extortion, or other malicious activities²³.

To protect yourself from dusting attacks, it’s important to regularly check your wallet for small, unexpected deposits and avoid interacting with them. Using privacy-focused wallets and mixing services can also help maintain anonymity.

Sources: (1) Gemini; (2) Cointelegraph; (3) BeInCrypto

I also looked at the second con. I know about "pump and dump" schemes and that I never want to fall victim to one. I turned to Investopedia once again for an explanation.

According to the Journal, crypto pump-and-dump schemes operate in a fashion reminiscent of the early days of the stock market. During that time, a group of traders wreaked havoc in the markets by manipulating prices through purchasing in groups.  

A similar dynamic exists in cryptocurrency markets. A horde of traders drum up enthusiasm for a coin by evangelizing it on multiple channels, including social media. Subsequently, they instigate a coordinated purchasing frenzy for it. As the coin’s price climbs, other traders, unconnected to the pump-and-dump group, also latch onto the buying spree, further boosting its price. The coordinated action is repeated, except this time around, in selling the coin when it reaches a certain price target. This causes a sharp decline in its price. While the pump-and-dump group makes profits, other traders who purchased the coin based on false promises are left holding losses.

The favored medium of communication for traders involved in pump-and-dump are messaging apps Telegram and Discord. Traders form groups on both platforms. Such groups charge between $50 to $250 for membership. In some cases, traders can choose to evangelize the service to others and become members. Binance, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, is a favorite for such operations because it lists small coins with low liquidity that makes them ideal candidates for manipulation. 

I asked Copilot to fill in how airdrops fit into pump-and-dump schemes.

Airdrops can be misused in these schemes in several ways:

1. Creating Hype: Fraudsters distribute free tokens to a large number of people to create buzz and excitement around the cryptocurrency. This can attract more investors, driving up the price artificially.

2. False Sense of Value: By giving away tokens, scammers can create a false sense of legitimacy and value for the cryptocurrency. New investors might believe the token has real potential and invest more money.

3. Dumping Tokens: Once the price is sufficiently inflated, the scammers sell off their large holdings of the token at the peak price. This sudden sell-off causes the price to crash, leaving other investors with worthless tokens.

I pretty sure I know why CCP made such a point to quickly knock down the effort of that random cryptocurrency related site. If EVE: Frontier becomes associated with any shady or illegal activity, the game is dead before launch. From what I see, airdrops come too close for comfort.

The Siege Of Zarzakh Is Over, Bring On The Crimson Harvest

The Drifters have been unsuccessful in the Siege of Zarzakh. Horizon Siege Point sites and roaming Drifter/Sleeper fleets will no longer appear.

EVE Online patch notes for 2024-09-24.1

In today's patch notes for EVE Online, I noticed the Siege of Zarzakh had ended with the removal of Horizon Siege Point sites. An hour or two later I saw CCP publish a summary of the two-week event along with the next step in the story.

Subsequently, a shrouded structure of unknown origin, possibly the target of the siege, has appeared in Zarzakh without explanation. Intercepted messages indicate that something of note is set to occur soon, although the exact timing is currently unclear. 

Capsuleers are invited to investigate the mysterious structure in Zarzakh for themselves, but as of yet, no official explanation for its sudden appearance has been offered.  Furthermore, rumors are circulating that Thukker ships are preparing for maneuvers in the Altrinur system.

Is the Thukker gathering in Altrinur, a system in Metropolis three jumps from the trade hub of Hek? Or are players about to experience the launch of the Crimson Harvest? An annual event dating back to 2015, the event ran around Halloween and was the first seasonal event in EVE. Last year the event was extended to run an entire month, from 5 October to 6 November. For those wondering, the event started on the first Thursday of October. If last year's timing holds, then the Crimson Harvest will begin on 3 October. Given the popularity of the event, I expect login numbers to jump.

So we have the possibility of two live events running at the same time in October. The first is the popular seasonal event Crimson Harvest and the other is the continuing storyline leading up to the winter expansion.

With the good news I have to issue a note of caution. If we see the Crimson Harvest launch this week, that's a bad sign for CCP. An early launch of the seasonal event, along with all the associated sales in the cash shop, means CCP isn't meeting their quarterly revenue goal of ₩20 billion announced to investors on the Q2 earnings call. Yes, it's unfair our overlords in Anyang publicly set the EVE universe a revenue goal at its historical high while giving the declining Black Desert IP a pass, but as the saying goes, "It is what it is."

Dawntrail Diary: More Gathering Content

Another week has passed and I still have not completed the main story questline (MSQ) in Final Fantasy XIV's latest expansion, Dawntrail. But as I continue my journey of levelling Thancred, Estinien, and Y'shtola to the end, will I gain enough confidence to take on the final trial? Or will all the unfinished content distract me from the ultimate goal of watching the credits roll down my computer screen?

I was scared of that? - I didn't have a lot of time to play the game last week, but I managed to level my merry band of Trust NPCs to 97, putting The Skydeep Cenote in the rear view mirror. In fairness I was wearing iLvl 710 gear (gear doesn't sync) and eating iLvl 690 food for buffs. But what kills characters in FFXIV duties is failing to handle the mechanics. But my final three runs of the duty were as clean as I could have hoped for.

On Monday, the group did its last run with the Trust NPCs at level 95 and I only died once to the last of the three bosses. I made a silly mistake and was knocked off the platform but still finished the duty in under 35 minutes. My runs on Wednesday and Friday with the gang at level 96 were performed with no deaths. I did fumble around with the keys because I didn't quite have the thumb buttons working perfectly but I felt good when not only the NPCs reached level 97 but I completed the run under 30 minutes. Maybe I'm not hopeless after all.

That wasn't too bad, I guess - Next I had to try Vanguard, the first duty of the second half of Dawntrail's MSQ. I'm not going to lie, the zone is a combination of Allagan tech combined with Power Rangers clad NPCs. The experience went a lot better than my first run through The Skydeep Cenote.

First off, the NPCs I fought were a lot tougher and hit harder than those in The Skydeep Cenote. Of course they did, The Skydeep Cenote is a level 95 dungeon and Vanguard is level 97 content. But perhaps the biggest difference is that the Trust NPCs are also level 97, so I expect the final two runs when the gang is level 98 to go much smoother.

Next, the level designer gave me a false sense of security with the first boss, Vanguard Commander R8. With a name like that I really should have killed the boss with no deaths the first time I encountered it. The toughest boss of the three, though, was Protector.

Looking back, if Vanguard is the gateway to the glowing dome, then Protector is the murder pit at the entrance to old castles in which attackers have to run a gauntlet of burning oil and arrows to attack. At times the floor is covered in telegraphs, made worse by little half walls that get in the way of dodging all the attacks. But the attack that gave me the most problems involved a timer. I wound up unmarking Y'shtola in order to make my way through the telegraphs and wound up doing a little dance with Estinien to finally figure out the mechanic. I died 5 times to Protector though.

Zander the Snakeskinner, the final boss, somehow killed me three times. The circular attacks aren't really that difficult to avoid. I wound up looking for Y'shtola again because as a black mage she's so immobile she gets to safe spots early. And yes, Zander turns into a snake in phase 2, which caught me a little by surprise. Still I finished with only 8 total deaths and in under 49 minutes. A lot better than my first run of The Skydeep Cenote.

Collecting Folklore -  I still can't gather everything in Dawntrail. I am still missing 5 of the 9 Tomes of Regional Folklore books. I have all the Alexandria books and the fishing book for Xak Tural. I started fishing for purple scrips but the grind is a bit slow. The Custom Deliveries reset on Tuesday and if I only do my Custom Deliveries for the week I should have enough to get two more books.

A New Gathering Mount - While I have a use for the purple gathering scrips, I didn't know what to spend my orange scrips on until last night. I did not know Dawntrail has a mount for gatherers: the Rroneek. Sure, the mount costs 100,000 scrips. But if I just stick to doing Custom Deliveries I can get the mount next September. Knowing how I sometimes get obsessed with a goal, I may complete the grind much sooner.

Return to the Future - One of the activities I neglected during Endwalker was keeping up with the Custom Deliveries. I didn't do the final one, Margrat. I'm currently at satisfaction level 4 and hope to finish off the quests over the next two weeks. At that point, the scrips will flow into my hands a little faster.

An Island Update - I have my island sanctuary in maintenance mode at this point, perhaps only spending 20-30 minutes setting up the activities for the week. Speaking of mounts, I'm still trying to get the final mount from the island, The Island Perrifool.

I probably need to collect a few items that are getting low. I haven't done any gathering on the island since before the launch of Dawntrail some three months ago. My sash of sea cowries dipped down to 350,000 during my recent melding and overmelding spree and I need to prepare for the next wave. I managed to get back over 400,000 last week.

I did manage to obtain a minion I didn't have, the Ghido. My total haul was:

• Ghido
• General Purpose Pastel Pink Dye
• Craftsman's Command Materia X
• Garden Creek
• 2 x Mobile Garden Stairs

The dye is a version of the cash shop dye available in game and players can sell it on the market. The Garden Creek and Mobile Garden Stairs are outside decoration items for houses and the island sanctuary. Those normally I sell off for 57 gil to a NPC vendor due to the commonality of the items.

A Retainer Army Update - My botanist retainer I began levelling before the launch of Dawntrail is now level 89, meaning I now receive approximately 300,000 gil per week from my 9 retainers not including gathered items. I also now can gather 1800 crafting crystals every two hours for 15 ventures. 

My levelling of the Trust NPCs wind up boosting my retainers. I wind up getting approximately 200 ventures for every three times I run through the Endwalker dungeons by handing in the dropped items as expert deliveries. I'm currently back up to over 1300 ventures, or 150 or so below what I started the expansion with.

I haven't really spent a lot of time selling items on the market but I'm back over 147 million gil in my pocket. 

EVE Online September 2024 Patch Notes: Oops We Forget About Blueprints

I took a day's break yesterday and CCP managed to slip in another patch. I don't know if someone just slipped up with their decimal points or the developers heard some feedback from EVE Online's industrialists. So on Thursday, the rest of the industry changes introduced on Wednesday made their way to Tranquility.

Features & Changes:

Industry:

In Yesterday’s patch, we reduced the inputs and outputs of the Genetic Safeguard, Genetic Lock Preserver, Genetic Structure Repairer and Genetic Mutation Inhibitor blueprints by a factor of 20, but did not change the blueprint manufacturing or copying attributes, which may have unintentionally throttled the construction of these items more on job time. We are, therefore, making the following changes:

• Genetic Lock Preserver Blueprint
• Max Runs for blueprint copies increased from 40 to 400.
• Manufacturing time reduced from 16000 seconds to 1600 seconds.
• Copying time reduced from 12800 seconds to 1280 seconds.
  
  
• Genetic Safeguard Filter Blueprint
• Max Runs for blueprint copies from 10 to 100.
• Manufacturing time reduced from 32000 seconds to 3200 seconds.
• Copying time reduced from 25600 seconds to 2560 seconds.
  
  
• Genetic Structure Repairer Blueprint
• Max Runs for blueprint copies from 40 to 400.
• Manufacturing time reduced from 16000 seconds to 1600 seconds.
• Copying time reduced from 12800 seconds to 1280 seconds .
  
  
• Genetic Mutation Inhibitor Blueprint
• Max Runs for blueprint copies from 40 to 400.
• Manufacturing time reduced from 16000 seconds to 1600 seconds.
• Copying time reduced from 12800 seconds to 1280 seconds.

Before continuing on with the rest of the changes and fixes I just want to make an observation about CCP's patch deployment abilities. Over the years the company has worked extremely hard to reduce downtime for players. Yes, we have a 5-10 minute downtime each day, but when I started playing in 2009 the daily downtime was one hour.

Nowadays, we expect major patches like Equinox to deploy in half that time. I compare expansion deployment downtimes my current main game Final Fantasy XIV. For major expansions like Endwalker the servers are down worldwide for 24 hours. A patch like we experienced on Wednesday would undoubtedly take at least 5 hours of downtime to deploy. So, hats off to CCP's infrastructure team for all the work they've put in over the years to make the deployment of new content and bug fixes much less painful.

As for the project managers and team leads, just because you have the ability doesn't mean you have to use it. In other words, just because the infrastructure team can deploy fixes lightning quick doesn't mean you should become dependent on the capability. I'm pretty sure the players would appreciate getting all the content deployed in one patch.

Now for the rest of the patch notes. The first is an additional change to the content deployed in Tuesday's patch. For this change, I have the feeling the issue wasn't trying to rush a content pass and just forgetting how EVE players think.

PVE:

• Only characters within 100km of the Horizon Breach Engine will be considered eligible for payouts in Horizon Siege Point sites.

And finally defect fixes. I noticed for Wednesday's patch no defect fixes mentioned for the user interface. I guess the plan had been to deploy fixes at the first opportunity and not add them to what turned out to be a significant content drop.

Defect Fixes:

User Interface:

• Fixed an issue which could cause the Zarzakh Emanation error message to show an incorrect, incredibly high number when trying to use a gate you’re not locked to while having an Emanation timer.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where Structure SKINR licenses were not being displayed on the Corporation Administration page for the Structure SKINR.

Ranting aside, I hope people find this rundown of what is hopefully the last patch of the week helpful.

EVE Online September 2024 Patch Notes: Modules, Communications and Pochven

By now two EVE Online patches in a week should no longer surprise me. Today's patch is huge, affecting both the Equinox sovereignty system and industry. While the road to the winter expansion has begun, the developers still have unfinished business concerning the Equinox expansion. I'm not a null sec resident, but today's patch plus the activity I've tracked over the summer leads me to believe players are not adapting to the new sov system with the speed CCP wishes.

I have a practice of combining dev blogs with patch notes to try to provide a comprehensive look at the latest changes. I'll do so again with today's dev blog but I have to do so in three posts. The final post covers module changes, communication UI changes and Pochven.

Smartbombs are the highlighted module change in today's patch as they received a full balance pass. I don't know if the dev blog description is a flowery way of saying "we screwed up." Will players react positively to buffing all the things instead of nerfing EM damage smartbombs?

A comprehensive balance pass has also been applied to all smartbombs, bringing them up to par with the current EMP smartbomb stats. This rebalance not only ensures consistency across damage types but also encourages more strategic decision-making with faction and officer-level smartbombs. These new options provide capsuleers with enhanced customization possibilities for their combat setups and bring more diversity to the battlefield.

The patch notes are less flowery but more detailed.

Smartbombs have undergone a full balance pass. All smartbombs in the game have been brought up to parity with the current EMP Smartbomb stats, which were better than the other damage types.

• Meta "Named" Smartbomb modules are now 'Compact' and use less powergrid.
  
  
• All compact meta smartbomb damage types now use the same 20% reduced CPU requirements that EM Smartbombs have.
  
  
• Added Storyline variations for the Kinetic and Thermal Smartbomb damage types which were missing before.
• Players can obtain blueprint copies for these smartbombs from exploration content such as Data Sites, like most current storyline module blueprints.
• Explosive Storyline Smartbombs have been buffed to now have the same values as the EM ones.
• Storyline Smartbombs have received very small fitting buffs to keep them as the easiest to fit modules with the changes to Meta Smartbombs becoming the Compact variation.
  
  
• Faction and Officer smartbombs of non-EMP damage types have had their stats brought up to parity with EMP stats. We aim to not only bring the other smartbomb damage types up to par with EM, but to also make more interesting choices between the smartbomb damage types at Faction and Officer levels. Thus, after bringing them up to parity, the following changes were made:
• Thermal Smartbombs: +20% range, -20% damage.
• Explosive Smartbombs: +20% damage, -20% range.
• Kinetic Smartbombs: -20% capacitor cost, -20% CPU cost, +20% cycle time.
  
  
• There now are 36 new Mutaplasmid types available to further customize and modify Smartbombs.
• Smartbomb Mutaplasmids can modify the damage, range, cycle time, capacitor cost, CPU and powergrid requirements of Smartbombs.
• Players can obtain these Mutaplasmids by completing regular Abyssal Filaments. The type of Filament that drops each Mutaplasmid type is based on the damage type associated with that Filament.
• EMP (EM) Smartbomb Mutaplasmids - dropped in Electrical Filament Abyss.
• Plasma (Thermal) Smartbomb Mutaplasmids - dropped in Firestorm Filament Abyss.
• Proton (Explosive) Smartbomb Mutaplasmids - dropped in Gamma Filament Abyss.
• Graviton (Kinetic) Smartbomb Mutaplasmids - dropped in Exotic Filament Abyss.
  
  
• We will keep a close eye on the balance of missile "firewalling" strategies, Interdictor Bubble hitpoints for tackling Supercarriers and Titans, PVE Smartbomb balance, and Smartbomb gatecamps following these changes.

But smartbombs are not the only modules the developers worked on. 

Increased Drifter activity in the Abyss and known space has brought as many as ten new high-ranking pirate officers out into the open, potentially dropping over 50 new modules. There are reports of rare officer frigates in highsec asteroid belts and officer cruisers in lowsec belts, providing both a challenge and an opportunity to acquire powerful new equipment. 

Frigate and Cruiser Officers and Officer modules

• New Officer Frigate and Officer Cruiser NPCs have been added to the game.
• Officer Frigates can appear incredibly rarely in 0.5 rated high security space asteroid belts.
• Officer Cruisers can appear incredibly rarely in 0.1 and 0.2 rated low security space asteroid belts.

50+ New Officer modules have been added to the game.

• 1mn and 10mn Afterburners
• 5mn and 50mn MWDs
• Small and Medium Energy Neutralizers
• Small and Medium Energy Nosferatus
• Small and Medium Armor Repairers and Shield Boosters
• ECM modules and Signal Distortion Amplifiers
• Micro Auxiliary Power Cores
• 200mm and 425mm Autocannons, Light and Heavy Neutron Blasters, Small Focused and Heavy Pulse Lasers, Rocket and Heavy Assault Missile launchers.
• Assault Damage Controls
• Warp Disruption Field Generator
• And more!

But wait, there's more! Those who like to shield tank their frigates, destroyers, and cruisers (and tech 2 variants) will probably appreciate some more standardization.

Gistii B-type and Gistum B-type shield boosters

• Increased shield boost amount so that they now bridge the gap between C-type and A-type, rather than barely being better than the C-type while using more capacitor. This means they now follow the same precedent set by the large and x-large shield boosters.
• Gistii B-type Small Shield Booster shield boost amount: increased to 48 from 41.
• Gistum B-type Medium Shield Booster shield boost amount: increased to 144 from 124.

Something mentioned in the dev blog turns out to involve an improved user interface.

Effective communication is at the heart of strategic planning, relationship building, and successful trading in New Eden. Recognizing the importance of chat as a tool for information sharing and social interaction, several new improvements have been introduced to give you greater control and to refine the overall user experience.

User Interface:

• The tabs stacked in one window can now be reordered with drag & drop.
  
  
• Chat window improvements
• The hierarchy of the context menu has been improved to indicate settings applicable to the specific channel and to all channels.
• The context menu is now available from both the chat options menu (three dots) and the chat tab right-click menu.
• It is now possible to automatically hide messages containing specific phrases by using filters.
• Multi-line chat messages can now be automatically collapsed if longer than the chosen number of lines.
• The following chat channels no longer allow referral links:
• Local chat in starter systems.
• Local chat in Career Agent systems.
• Corporation chat for NPC starter corporations.
• Premade channels, e.g. Rookie Help, Spanish Recruitment.
• Minimized chat windows will now remain minimized after restarting the client.

Pochven also received some changes, including the ability to drop a specific structure.

Capsuleers operating in Pochven will now be able to deploy the mobile observatory. This structure, once deployed and having completed its automatic activation process, will periodically scan the solar system for cloaked objects with a chance to reveal them. This increases the chance of revealing hostile capsuleers engaging in espionage in the system and eradicating the threat or discouraging it in the first place. 

Pochven:

• Mobile Observatory deployables can now be deployed in Pochven.
  
• Rebalanced the web strength of several Minmatar EDENCOM NPCs which had stronger than 100% webs.

And finally, believe it or not, no bug fixes deployed. I guess yesterday's patch addressed those.

EVE Online September 2024 Patch Notes: Industry Changes

By now two EVE Online patches in a week should no longer surprise me. Today's patch is huge, affecting both the Equinox sovereignty system and industry. While the road to the winter expansion has begun, the developers still have unfinished business concerning the Equinox expansion. I'm not a null sec resident, but today's patch plus the activity I've tracked over the summer leads me to believe players are not adapting to the new sov system with the speed CCP wishes.

I have a practice of combining dev blogs with patch notes to try to provide a comprehensive look at the latest changes. I'll do so again with today's dev blog but I have to do so in three posts. This second post covers the industry changes.

I have the feeling these changes indicate more of the CSM telling those in charge of the in-game economy, "I told you so."

Today also sees updates aimed at refining capital ship production, balancing smartbombs, and expanding the range of available modules. These changes are designed to provide capsuleers with more streamlined processes, new strategic opportunities, and diverse options for outfitting their fleets.

Capital ship manufacturing has been optimized to simplify the process for constructing capital and supercapital ships. By adjusting the material requirements and workflows, capsuleers can now build these powerful vessels more efficiently. This update is expected to make capital ship production more accessible, allowing smaller builders to specialize in making certain capital sub-components with less concern about resource requirements. Additionally, the costs for Tech I battleships have been significantly reduced by halving the Isogen requirements, which have been replaced with Nocxium. This adjustment eases some of the mineral dependencies and lowers the overall cost of Tech I battleships, providing more opportunities for capsuleers to build and field these ships in greater numbers.

First, the changes to capital ship manufacturing.

Several adjustments have been made to Capital Ship Manufacturing. The goal of these changes are streamlining capital manufacturing so that it’s easier for smaller producers to get involved as well as a slight reduction to the cost of building capital ships.

• Fulleroferrocene, PPD Fullerene Fibers, Fullerene Intercalated Graphite, Methanofullerene, Lanthanum Metallofullerene and Scandium Metallofullerene have been removed from Capital Construction Components.
  
  
• The amounts of Isogen and Mexallon required for construction of Capital Clone Vat Bay, Capital Doomsday Weapon Mount and Capital Jump Bridge Array have been reduced by 10%.
  
  
• The amounts of Fulleroferrocene, PPD Fullerene Fibers, Fullerene Intercalated Graphite, Methanofullerene, Lanthanum Metallofullerene and Scandium Metallofullerene required for the manufacture of FTL Interlinks have been significantly increased.
  
  
• Reinforced Carbon Fibre, Megacyte, Zydrine, Fullerides, Noxium, Isogen, Tritanium, Mexallon, Pyerite, Phenolic Composites and Racial Carbides have been removed from the manufacture of FTL Interlinks.
  
  
• The amount of Auto-Integrity Preservation Seals and Life Support Backup Units needed to manufacture Titans are increased by 100%.
  
  
• The amount of Trigger Neurolink Conduits needed to manufacture Titans are increased by 50%.
  
  
• The amount of Capital Core Regulators needed to manufacture Titans is increased by 25%.
  
  
• Genetic Lock Preserver Blueprints, Genetic Structure Repairer Blueprints, Genetic Mutation Inhibitor Blueprints and Genetic Safeguard Filter Blueprints have had their input materials reduced to 5 and output reduced to 1 (reduced by a factor of 20 for both) to make it easier to create them in smaller batches.

Next come changes to producing Tech 1 Battleships. No changes for pirate and navy ships. One of the nice parts of the patch notes are the goals of the change is described in greater detail.

A small amount of tweaks has been made to Tech 1 Battleship Blueprints to bring down their current costs to make them more affordable, reduce the current Isogen bottleneck (which currently makes up almost 50% of their cost), and also make them more cost efficient than Navy Battleships which currently cost only 20-25% more than Tech 1 Battleships.

• Adjustments made to Tech 1 Battleships (does not include Navy or Pirate blueprints)
• The amount of Isogen required is reduced from 400,000 to 200,000.
• The amount of Nocxium required is increased from 12,000 to 24,000.
• This represents, at the time of writing, an approximate 75 million ISK reduction to the cost of producing a Tech 1 Battleship from a ME:0 blueprint in an NPC station.
  
  
• Adjustments made to the Scorpion
• The amount of Isogen required is reduced from 300,000 to 150,000.
• The amount of Nocxium required is increased from 9,000 to 18,000.

The dev blog didn't mention Marauders and Black Ops, but the Tech 2 Battleships also received some attention.

We have also made some adjustments to the cost to produce Marauders and Black Ops. The main intention here is to keep their current price mostly the same or slightly higher, since both Black Ops and Marauders are incredibly strong right now and we don't want to unintentionally make them even more powerful by lowering their price. We are, therefore, increasing the amount of Reactor Units used in their blueprints, to make it so that they use primarily more R64 moon materials. This means that controlling valuable moons is more important for the production of Tech 2 Battleships.

• Adjustments made to Marauder Blueprints
• The amount of Reactor Units required is increased from 225 to 675.
• This represents a cost increase of approximately 60 million ISK at the time of writing these patch notes.
  
  
• Adjustments made to Black Ops Blueprints
• The amount of Reactor Units required is increased from 150 to 450.
• This represents a cost increase of approximately 40 million ISK at the time of writing these patch notes. Note that because the cost reduction of the Tech 1 Battleships used for production, the cost should remain roughly the same. It is possible that higher demand or market speculation for R64 materials may increase the costs in the future.

The final industry item concerns a new source of blue print copies for Navy ships.

LP Stores:

• New LP Store Offers have been added for military corporation LP stores - offering Navy Ship BPCs in exchange for LP and Nexus Chips, rather than LP and ISK.

EVE Online September 2024 Patch Notes: Sovereignty Transition

By now two EVE Online patches in a week should no longer surprise me. Today's patch is huge, affecting both the Equinox sovereignty system and industry. While the road to the winter expansion has begun, the developers still have unfinished business concerning the Equinox expansion. I'm not a null sec resident, but today's patch plus the activity I've tracked over the summer leads me to believe players are not adapting to the new sov system with the speed CCP wishes.

I have a practice of combining dev blogs with patch notes to try to provide a comprehensive look at the latest changes. I'll do so again with today's dev blog but I have to do so in three posts. This first post looks at changes to the Equinox sovereignty system.

The first passage gives away the developers' impatience with the rate of adaptation of the Equinox sov changes.

To further simplify the process of adapting the sovereignty system, the requirement for alliances to pay off outstanding bills before transitioning has been removed. This allows alliances to focus more on strategic decisions and operational planning rather than on managing finances.

I get the feeling the members of the Council of Stellar Management were telling the people in charge at CCP a lot of "I told you so". Then again, those making the decisions over in Reykjavik probably thought the null sec members on the body were just trying to give themselves an advantage and an easier time. Yes, I covered the CSM long enough to become that cynical.

Another issue addressed is the value of nullsec anomalies.

The new update also brings enhanced value to nullsec anomalies. The Major Threat Detection Arrays, a core feature of the upgraded sovereignty system, now provide better-value anomalies across all levels of truesec. This adjustment ensures that alliances, regardless of their location in nullsec, have more lucrative options for combat and exploration, creating more opportunities for both solo pilots and large fleets to benefit from improved PvE content.

Here are the changes according to the patch notes.

Major Threat Detection Array 1 & 2

• We've increased the number of sites provided by the level 1 and level 2 upgrades, especially for low truesec bands. See the tables below for the exact changes

Anom changes, hopefully in a more readable format

Miners also received some love, although I should hesitate to say so until miners get some experience with the changes.

Mining operations in nullsec have added versatility with the introduction of a new tier of mining upgrades. This new tier is significantly less expensive but also less efficient, offering a flexible option for industrialists who prefer smaller-scale mining activities or who wish to balance mining output with other strategic goals.

New Sovereignty Mining Upgrades

• 7 Small Mining Upgrades have been added, one for each mineral type. These new upgrades cost significantly less Power and Workforce than the current mining upgrades, making them far more flexible. They also respawn significantly faster, with 1 hour long respawn times, and they utilize the same mechanics as the Equinox Combat Upgrades where they can respawn instantly if the time between the last spawn was long enough. These new upgrades provide about 1⁄8th of the ore of the existing upgrades, and do not escalate to the Mining Escalation which is being kept as an exclusive for the existing mining upgrades.
  
  
• Tritanium Prospecting Array 1 - 500,000 m3 of Tritanium providing ores.
• Pyerite Prospecting Array 1 - 1,000,000 m3 of Pyerite providing ores.
• Mexallon Prospecting Array 1 - 375,000 m3 of Mexallon providing ores.
• Isogen Prospecting Array 1 - 325,000 m3 of Isogen providing ores.
• Nocxium Prospecting Array 1 - 325,000 m3 of Nocxium providing ores.
• Zydrine Prospecting Array 1 - 750,000 m3 of Zydrine providing ores.
• Megacyte Prospecting Array 1 - 500,000 m3 of Megacyte providing ores.
• Power Cost: 500
• Workforce Cost: 6400
  
  
• Additionally, several asteroids added in Equinox have had their 3D model sizes increased so they look more impressive.

Next, sovereignty upgrade costs received a balance pass null sec accountants will probably like. As usual I'll start with a passage from the dev blog and conclude with the details from the patch notes.

The costs associated with sovereignty upgrades have been rebalanced to make the new system more accessible. First, the manufacturing costs for building orbital skyhooks have been reduced by 25%. Second, the workforce and power consumption required for each upgrade has been reduced, along with the magmatic gas and superionic ice requirements for those upgrades that utilize them. These changes reduce the resource strain on alliances looking to expand their influence, allowing for more streamlined and sustainable growth. With these adjustments, the path to asserting control in nullsec becomes less about overwhelming economic power and more about strategic planning and smart decision-making.

Rebalanced Sov Upgrade Resource Costs

As part of this update, we're also making significant changes to the Equinox Sov Upgrade costs, almost all upgrades are being reduced in Colony Resource costs.

Overview of the changes:

• All Previously Existing Mining Upgrades (Now Prospecting Array 2)
• Power cost reduced from 1750 to 1350
• Workforce cost reduced from 14000 to 12700
  
  
• Major Threat Detection Array 1
• Power cost reduced from 450 to 400
  
  
• Major Threat Detection Array 3
• Power cost reduced from 1450 to 1300
• Workforce cost reduced from 8700 to 7300
  
  
• Minor Threat Detection Array 1
• Power cost reduced from 270 to 200
• Workforce cost reduced from 1890 to 1800
  
  
• Minor Threat Detection Array 2
• Power cost reduced from 550 to 500
• Workforce cost reduced from 3850 to 3800
  
  
• Minor Threat Detection Array 3
• Power cost reduced from 850 to 700
• Workforce cost reduced from 5950 to 5400
  
  
• Advanced Logistics Network (Enables Ansiblex Gates)
• Power cost reduced from 1250 to 500
• Workforce cost reduced from 25000 to 18100
  
  
• Ice cost per hour reduced from 40 to 25 units
• Startup cost reduced from 2750 to 1770 units
  
  
• Cynosural Suppression (Enables Tenebrex Cynosural Jammer)
• Power cost reduced from 500 to 250
• Workforce cost reduced from 5000 to 4500
  
  
• Magmatic Gas cost per hour reduced from 2480 units to 205 units
• Startup cost reduced from 170,000 units to 82600 units
  
  
• Cynosural Navigation (Enables Pharolux Cyno Beacon)
• Magmatic Gas cost per hour reduced from 1095 units to 205 units
• startup cost reduced from 75000 units to 62000 units
  
  
• Supercapital Construction Facilities
• Superionic Ice cost per hour reduced from 145 units to 90 units
• Startup cost reduced from 10000 units to 5305 units

Finally come changes to Equinox sov that didn't fit neatly into other categories.

Miscellaneous changes

• Players no longer need to pay existing Sovereignty bills to transition their Sovereignty Hubs to the Equinox Sov mode.
  
  
• Reduced the amount of Structure Acceleration Coils needed to manufacture a Skyhook from 2 to 1. This represents around a 20% cost reduction for the manufacturing costs for Skyhooks.
  
  
• Increased the signature radius on the Metenox Moon Drill, Skyhook and Custom Office types from 14,000m to 32,000m so that all supercarriers and capital weapons can apply full damage to them.
  
  
• Supercarrier Close Range Fighter Missile Abilities will now apply full damage to Skyhooks, Metenox Moon Drills, all existing FLEX structures, Custom Offices and the forcefield/control towers in the new Equinox pirate/infested starbase escalation.

The dev blog also announced changes coming in October, although no date or real details included. I guess someone wants to encourage me to write a large patch note post next month as well. Or at least alert me one is incoming.

In October, the Upwell Consortium will bring further enhancements to their Equinox suite, iterating on the orbital skyhook mechanics to maintain their conflict-driving elements while making them less intensive to maintain and defend. The new design will increase the amount of reagents produced, decrease the maintenance workload, and ensure that conflict is still meaningful. This will reduce the ease with which attackers can exploit skyhooks, making the raiding less one-sided and making the structures more attractive for alliances and less intensive to maintain and defend.

EVE Online Patch Notes: Horizon Siege Point Changes And Other Fixes

Looking at today's patch notes for EVE Online, I see one main theme: Horizon Siege Points. This limited time content is associated with the current live event, The Siege of Zarzakh. I imagine the siege will continue up until the release of the winter expansion so fixing pain points is probably worth the development effort.

The first change is increasing the rewards Horizon Siege Points hand out for fighting the Drifters.

Features & Changes:

Gameplay:

• Increased the meta levels of Officer modules dropped from Horizon Siege Point sites.
• Increased the bounty values of named Drifter NPCs in Horizon Siege Point sites.

I know that 2 of the 3 defect fixes associated with the user interface are associated with the event. I'm guessing that the desyncing issue is also, although if the fix applies to all timers I'd say the fix is very welcome.

User Interface:

• Info Panel objective timers will now take time dilation into account and no longer become desynced with the server.
• Allecto's Modified Medium Multispectrum Smartbomb will now appear within the Officer section of the market.
• Fixed meta level and group information not appearing correctly for Officer modules dropped from Horizon Siege Point sites.

I'm not sure the developers really wanted to fix this next issue as it proved EVE does indeed have sound.

Audio:

• Very loud jumpgate atmo is no longer sticking to users' ships.

The next fix concerns an issue with the Metenox Moon Drill. Considering the amount of traffic I receive from people looking up the feature, this fix is probably very welcome to logistics players in null sec.

Gameplay:

• Fixed an issue which would prevent Metenox Moon Drills from being successfully anchored on incredibly large moons.

And finally we come to fixing an issue with Homefront Operations. I wonder if the issue arose from the Deepflow Rifts event.

Homefront Operations:

• The mine objective no longer appear during the initial set-up timer in Abyssal Artifact Recovery sites.

Dawntrail Diary: Revisiting The Skydeep Cenote

I didn't get to play much last week due to real life on one hand and breaking gaming news on the other. But I did get to revisit a controversy from the launch of Dawntrail: the difficulty of the MSQ dungeons. Although looking back, a lot of complaining was done by those who thought the post-MSQ dungeons were too tough. But since I fall into the first group, that's how I will look at the controversy.

Still haven't finished the MSQ - That's right, I still haven't finished the MSQ. The Interphos is still out there taunting me, but after my experience struggling with the dungeons leading up to the final trial, I'm not going to attempt the content until I've conquered my fears.

In the rearview mirror - I had to complete one final run of Worqor Zormor, a level 93 duty, in order to level Thancred, Estinien, and Y'shtola to 95. And once again I did not have a clean run, dying once to the first boss Ryoqor Terteh. I must have a mental block because once I die once, the second time is easy. Overall, I had one clean run where I did not die, although Thancred and Y'shtola did.

In the glamour farming, I managed to pull two left side items to complete my gear for the Zormor set. As for the right side jewelry, I'm still missing the earrings. But as the outfit comes with a turban, the earrings aren't that important.

The scene of the controversy - For those who mainly do the duties and trials because they gate the content we really want to do, I think The Skydeep Cenote was the real beginning of the difficulty curve. From a story perspective, I understand why the developers made the difficulty so hard, especially the final boss. Basically the third boss, Maulskull, is the final boss before Wut Lamak wins the contest and becomes the Dawnservant. The fact that Maulskull is a wall boss taking up an entire side of the platform makes the case obvious in hindsight. 

My first run was, to put it mildly, a disaster. I managed to die only once to the first boss, Feather Ray. The boss shoots out bubbles. Lots of bubbles. The trick is to either totally ignore doing damage and concentrate on mechanics or, as a healer, only use instant heal spells which do not interrupt movement.

For the second boss, Firearms, I died twice. The secret to success with Firearms is to be totally alert and kind of jump some of the mechanics in order to reach safe places. I was a bit slow doing so. Reaction time and knowing the fight really helps.

Now for the final boss. I am used to needing one or two attempts to defeat a boss. But for me, Maulskull brought me back to Therion, the third boss in Shadowbringers' final 5.0 duty Amaurot. I just could not handle the mechanics of Therion, and I thought Maulskull would do the same. On Saturday I died at the hands of Maulskull 9 times. The run was so frustrating I called a stop to running the duty for the night.

But, the run was different than when I ran through the dungeon on my playthrough the MSQ with Wuk Lamat and Krile. I actually started seeing patters to the attacks and spent more time trying to read Maulskull's tells. On Saturday my mindset was different. When running through the content back in early July I just wanted to get through the duty because I was never going to do the content again. This weekend I was making the first of six runs through the content in order to level up my group of Trust NPCs. Because I cared about the content, I learned.

The learning paid off on Sunday. Once again I died once to Feather Ray and its bubbles. But I killed Firearms along with my NPC companions cleanly. Perhaps most amazingly of all, in my latest effort I only died to Maulskull once. I need to remember not to panic at the very beginning and not move until Maulskull knocks the group back toward the back of the platform. I forgot the circular damage markers on the characters don't execute damage for a good 3 seconds after the knockback occurs. Plenty of time to move away from the others.

Now, I need to make a point about my gear. When I ran though The Skydeep Cenote during the MSQ, I was using the iLvl 710 Archeo Kingdom Armor crafted set. I know the armor was adjusted down to iLvL 640, but perhaps the Broccoli and and Spinach Saute helped with my vitality (i.e. hit points). I guess just call me Popeye.

I should add another reason for the difference between my MSQ run and Sunday's effort. During the MSQ playthrough I entered The Skydeep Cenote as a level 95 white mage. On Sunday my level 100 job was reduced down to level 96. Level 96 is interesting because white mages get their Medica spell upgraded from Medica 2 to Medica 3. Was the additional 25 cure potency per tick significant? I did have a couple of times where I barely survived a mechanic. So I did have an easier time running the dungeon on Sunday than I did back in July.

A retain army update - My retainer army continues to march on, supplying my character with everything needed. After three months I still have 146 million gil, which is kind of impressive considering how much I've spent so far in Dawntrail. My one retainer I started the week before the launch of the expansion has hit level 86 and is contributing 4500 gil per day plus Shadowbringers crafting material. However, I really need to put the army on the backburner while I work on levelling my Trust NPCs and work up the skill (and confidence) to face Dawntrail's final boss.

Project Awakening Is Now EVE: Frontier

Yesterday the Web3/blockchain game under development by CCP Games reached an important milestone. That's right, Project Awakening received a real game name, EVE: Frontier. The Pearl Abyss-owned company issued a press release on its corporate website.

In EVE Frontier, CCP Games is creating a deep player-driven sandbox for a new era. Cast into a cruel and brutal cosmos, you have been lost to time and lost to light. To survive, you will need to explore, exploit and expand in the face of perpetual annihilation. The Frontier is a shattered region of space, warped by the presence of supermassive black holes gravitationally bound in a macabre dance. Rogue AI infests its depths; corrupting and consuming the remnants of what still stands.

With all players on one single-shard server, death and opportunity lurk in equal measure. Awareness is power: your skill as a pilot and strategic choices determine the outcome of every encounter, whether you favor hit-and-run tactics, stealth, or all-out warfare. Exploit the Frontier’s natural resources to upgrade your ship with vital technology and acquire new capabilities. Obtain fuel, the lifeblood of your journey, to power your travel as you overcome its dangers. A community-driven and dynamic economy allows you to create custom currencies, establish markets, and trade assets, services, and reputation in a truly open environment.

Rebuild civilization from its ashes by using Smart Assemblies, an open-ended platform, to construct and program infrastructure within space. Expand your influence through defenses, trading posts and multiple types of functionality, each imbued with a programmable layer that links the world of the Frontier to the real world outside of it. Develop your own ideas or address the needs of others: from mission systems to private economies, Smart Assemblies unlocks third-party development with a toolkit for creators to build beyond a virtual world.

“EVE Frontier redefines the survival genre by fusing intense space survival gameplay with the limitless emergent potential of a player-driven, persistent sandbox universe,” said CCP Games CEO, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson. “From exploiting space itself to shaping entire economies, every decision ripples across this dark and uncompromising expanse. We welcome you to join us in building this next step in our history; awake eternally.”

The next closed player test, Phase IV, runs from 27 September to 7 October and registration is currently open at the game's website. According to an FAQ supplied to the media as part of the press release's press kit, the test is the last closed invite-only test. I received an invite to the next test period since I participated in Phase III back in May and June. I'm not exactly sure how much more I can say about my experiences at this time, so I will err on the side of discretion. 

I wrote a few posts about Web3/blockchain games back in May and June. In exploring the question, "Are blockchain games a good advertisement for blockchain games?" I came to the following conclusion:

As vehicles for entertainment, blockchain games don't sound very appealing. For those who want blockchain games to reach mainstream audiences the games can't concern themselves primarily with the mechanics of creating and distributing real world wealth. Instead of identifying themselves by the technology they contain, perhaps the developers and fans of the genre just make good video games that incidentally contain blockchain and other web3 technologies. Because after looking up 5 blockchain games I'm not interested in playing any blockchain game. The games I looked at just don't serve as a good advertisement for the entire genre.

CCP seems to think the same thing. In the corporate press release, the words "blockchain" and "Web3" do not appear once. In the first dev blog, blockchain was mentioned.

We have much more to share with you, but we also wanted to mention what has been on many of your minds over the past year as we head into the future together: yes, EVE Frontier uses blockchain technology and it is important for us to be transparent about this. If you’d like to learn more about this aspect of the game, please read the first iteration of our whitepaper. You can also join the conversation on Discord.

The media FAQ does go into greater detail.

Does EVE Frontier use blockchain technology?

Yes, players can edit aspects of the game world and server in real-time, giving the community the power to add their own functionality to the game through Smart Assemblies. This feature lets players program the infrastructure they deploy into space.

Smart Assemblies utilizes Redstone: https://redstone.xyz/, an L2 blockchain designed for permissionless and open software, and MUD: https://mud.dev/, a framework for building on-chain open applications.

Combined with Carbon, these tools are the foundation of our persistent and programmable game server at universe-scale: one server, one universe, evolving through players forever.

In addition, the economy of EVE Frontier is an open environment: any and all transactions are allowed, using in-game currency built on ERC-20 token standards. 

These solutions are environmentally friendly: all technology used to develop and operate EVE Frontier has the same energy consumption as EVE Online’s infrastructure. 

Now, over the years I've heard people claim EVE Online is not a sandbox game because players don't really have the ability to change their environment. Apparently building space stations and space highways isn't enough. According to the dev blog, players will have a greater ability to shape the world.

To rebuild civilization on the Frontier, we are giving you the ability to not only construct in-game infrastructure but fully configure it to your own needs. This means each structure has a programmable layer. We call this feature Smart Assemblies, and it includes defenses, trading posts, industrial units and a wide variety of other types of facilities to construct your own personal space complex. You can develop your own ideas or address the needs of others: from mission systems to private economies, Smart Assemblies will unlock third-party development with a powerful toolkit for creators to build beyond EVE Frontier’s virtual world.

I do need to address the issue of Smart Assemblies as at least one editor of a gaming publication has stated the use of the term Smart Assemblies is a sneaky way to mention blockchains without using the word blockchain. I'll even post the entire paragraph so the words are taken in context.

Indeed, today’s press release touts CCP’s transparency but mentions blockchain only once, the video doesn’t mention it at all, and the website uses phrases like “smart storage units” and “smart assemblies” as euphemisms for how creators will interface with the blockchain. But there’s no great secret here: This is just another explore-and-exploit sandbox.

At this point the developers have provided so much information I could easily go down several rabbit holes. But I'll just quote from the Builders' documentation about Smart Assemblies.

EVE Frontier is designed as an open environment - a sandbox with a heightened level of player agency. With a complete unlock of third-party development, the game world will evolve with the community - not just through their in-game actions, but by allowing it to be edited server-side by players in real-time. Through enhanced base-building (Smart Assemblies), players can code functionality into infrastructure placed in space such as turrets, trading posts, storage facilities, and more. Develop your own ideas or address the needs of others: from mission systems to private economies, Smart Assemblies unlocks third-party development with a powerful toolkit for anyone to build beyond a virtual world.

Smart Assemblies uses the Solidity programming language to configure in-game infrastructure. With Solidity, you can define the rules and behavior of decentralized applications (applications that can have no single owner, known as DApps) that exist within the programmable layer of Smart Assemblies infrastructure. Learn about Solidity and get started: https://soliditylang.org/

Smart refers to all the things that can be connected outside of the game through a programmable layer that links the virtual world of the Frontier to the material world outside of it.

And yes, Smart Assemblies do allow player developers to interact with the blockchain.

Using Solidity, players can code functionality through smart contracts (on-chain code) and connect infrastructure to decentralized applications (DApps), programs through which you can modify how that infrastructure functions and behaves.

I honestly didn't expect to write a nearly 1500 word essay on the topic. I will probably post several more articles about EVE: Frontier, if only as part of my coverage of Pearl Abyss' financial situation. But I do have the feeling some game studio will create a successful Web3/blockchain game one day. I would prefer if the game were a good game that happens to use Web3 technology instead of using the thought of blockchain riches to attract players. After all, games are supposed to let people escape reality for awhile, not become a paying job.