Drifter Crisis: Race for the Hives Patch Notes And Lore

All hell has broken out in EVE Online's lore. After letting the Drifters run amok, 10 NPC factions (yes, 10!) are now prepared to attack the Drifters in their home wormholes. After a pair of strikes in Tabbetzur on Thursday, the Republic Fleet and allied capsuleer forces barely emerged victorious over Deathless Circle and Drifter forces. But the story may now proceed.

Today's patch brought another major one-time event to New Eden. In an event lasting until Sunday, 16 March, players will race to turn in resources to their allies. Ten factions are competing for the opportunity to learn more about (and exploit) Drifter technology. 

Harmonics Boost Competition Over Drifter Wormholes

Interested parties throughout the cluster have begun reaching out for the newly available Harmonics. The items' only function is to provide remote access to the Warden. This Warden access is believed to be a significant advantage in the race for a sustainable foothold in Drifter wormholes. As the Deathless Circle has ceased deploying these structures, those discovered so far may be the only copies in existence.

ATTENTION: The Scope has consulted with experts and they believe that only items received by the end of YC127.03.16 will be of use to the interested parties. After that point, the Deathless Circle will have been able to reroute their remote connections and the Harmonics will be of no value.

The ten factions are:

• Amarr Empire via the Ministry of Internal Order.
• Angel Cartel via the Archangels or Guardian Angels
• Caldari State via the CEP or House of Records.
• EDENCOM via the DED.
• EverMore via Paragon.
• Gallente via the Federal Intelligence Office.
• Minmatar Republic via the Republic Security Services.
• Society of Conscious Thought via the SOCT and Genolution.
• Triglavian Collective via the Convocation of Triglav, Perun Clade, Svarog Clade, or Veles Clade.
• The Upwell Consortium via Ytiri.

Today's announcement gave an overview of the event.

Fight for Your Faction

A seasonal challenge and reward track has been introduced, giving capsuleers the chance to score points for one of 10 factions as they push back against the Drifter threat. While they share a common goal, these factions are not allies. They are rivals, each seeking to claim power, resources, and strategic footholds in the war, as they race for the Drifter hives...

By completing event challenges, you will earn points that can be assigned to your chosen faction. At the end of the event, the top five factions will launch the next phase of the war by directly occupying Drifter wormhole systems.

Of course, the developers listed the rules for the event in the last place anyone would think to look: the patch notes.

Drifter Crisis:

The Race for the Hives has begun!

• 10 factions are vying for Drifter Wormhole control.
  
  
• Pick your favorite and complete challenges on the reward track.
• Gain points by completing challenges relating to Drifter Crisis sites.
• Claim volatile boosters, Drifter SKINR components, and the Drifter Plugsuit.
  
  
• The Top 5 will occupy a Drifter Wormhole system at the event’s end (11:00 UTC, April 3rd, 2025).
• Note: Points gained after the reward track is completed will continue to be tallied for your chosen faction.
• Stayed tuned to the New Eden News to learn how well, or how badly, your faction is doing.
  
  
• Warden Connection Harmonics can now be turned in to LP stores as an alternative to NPC buy orders:
• Search for 'Gratuity for Warden Connection Harmonics' within LP stores of the relevant corporations.
• These gratuity items can then be sold to NPC order for the standard price.
  
  
• Drifter Crisis Field Rescue sites and Salvage Research Homefront Operation sites have been rebalanced:
• Wrecks are now significantly easier to salvage.
• Note: This should be most noticeable for players with lower salvaging skill levels.
• The number of wrecks within a site has been increased to 30 (from 18).
  
  
• Drifter Crisis Lancer Counter Offensive sites and Dread Assault Homefront Operation sites have been rebalanced:
• Focused neutralizer NPCs will no longer respawn after being destroyed.
• Focused neutralizer fleets are now weighted towards Cruisers.
• Additional focused neutralizer fleets will spawn during the first and second Dreadnought siege cycles.
• Target structure EHP values and allied Dreadnought damage values have been increased to make directly damaging the structure less viable.
  
  
• NPCs equipped with ECM have been added to Drifter Crisis Lancer Counter Offensive sites.

For those who might have some trouble picking one of the 10 sides, the lore team thoughtfully provided some background.

The Four Major Factions (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Minmatar)

Intelligence operatives from the four major factions have begun searching for information on how to achieve this new technological development. The Republic Security Services, Ministry of Internal Order, and Federal Intelligence Office have all made enquires on the behalf of their respective governments. In the Caldari State, the House of Records and direct representatives of the Central Executive Panel have done the same.

The Angel Cartel

The Angel Cartel is known to use Jovian tech as inspiration for their unique ships. Recent arrests believed to be tied to the Guardian and Salvation Angels indicate a key interest in seizing Drifter technology.

EDENCOM

Formed to fight against the Triglavian invasion, EDENCOM has recently begun training on Sleeper drones instead. Shifting focus from the Triglavians to the Drifters could be seen as a natural extension of EDENCOM’s remit. It is believed that EDENCOM is collaborating with the DED who would act as a proxy for their interests.

EverMore

A household name, this corporation’s manifesto is to “bring all things to all people”. EverMore has framed itself as a cutting edge technology developer. Their subsidiary Paragon hosted the above-mentioned scientific talks recently, and acts as their parent company’s capsuleer liaison group.

Society of Conscious Thought

The Society has been vocal in its belief that they should be the stewards of Jovian technologies. Through their own corporation and Genolution they will likely be glad recipients of any new technologies.

Triglavian Collective

The Triglavian Collective is believed to be in the midst of a full-scale conflict with the Drifters inside Abyssal Deadspace. All Clades and the Collective itself have begun reaching out within Pochven for technologies that would give them an advantage over “The Ancient Enemy Azdaja”.

The Upwell Consortium

The Consortium is known for its advanced infrastructure technologies, from megastructures to unique cloning techniques. Ytiri, one of the consortium’s member corporations, has recently begun making enquiries about Drifter Wormhole technologies on the Consortium’s behalf.

I imagine the event is relatively short as to allow a longer event occurring in Drifter wormholes. Fanfest is only seven weeks away and I have the feeling CCP would like to announce something big for the finale of the storyline at the company's big event at the beginning of May.