Patch 7.25 - Still Doing Non-Combat Content

On Tuesday Square Enix dropped patch 7.25 for Final Fantasy XIV's current expansion Dawntrail. While I see a lot of content creators focusing on new combat content like The Occult Crescent, I am still grinding away at earning all the Cosmic Tools up on the moon. But the patch did drop something for me too: The Mamool Ja Society.

The starting area

The second of the three Allied societies planned for Dawntrail, the Mamool Ja focuses on gathering. To start talk to Gotall Ja in Yak T'el at (X:35.6, Y:32.0) to accept the Cultivating Hope quest. If playing a level 90 or above botanist or miner and the quest is not available, then play through the quest lines that begin with Aiming High and Lost and Powerless.

Going from Friendly to Bloodsworn status will take 27 days doing the maximum 3 quests per day. When I get off work today I'll achieve Trusted status. I didn't wake up early to get the extra day's worth of questing which is why some content creators are already showing off some of the new items available from the new store.

The quests are very quick to do which means I don't have to take much time away from the Cosmic tools grind. While we are about 8 weeks away from the launch of patch 7.3 I am currently working on my fourth tool. The 100% bonus I wrote about last week for having three Cosmic tools is really shortening the grind. I'm hoping to knock out the final two levels on the Cosmic Needle tonight as well.

I know I'm supposed to care heavily about getting relic weapons and running The Occult Crescent. But I have things I want to accomplish and unless they involve crafting and gathering or levelling my Blue Mage job I really don't have time. I typically only have an hour or two a night to play so I have to prioritize my gameplay to what's most important. And for now the top two priorities are improving my standings with the Mamool Ja and building a base on the moon.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Art and Audio Updates

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The thirteenth and final group of subjects addressed are art and audio updates.

Yes, the Legion in Focus dev blog did make reference to the art updates.

Visual upgrades also extend to the ships themselves. Five Tech I cruisers and many of their variants – 13 ships in total – have been redesigned and polished. With some of them also seeing improved geometry, texture fidelity, bespoke animation states, refined weapon platforms, and updated VFX. The accompanying balance pass ensures they don’t just look new – they fly new!

Art

Redesigned Cruisers:

Five T1 cruisers and their eleven variants have been graphically redesigned.

List of the redesigned cruisers:

• Amarr Maller and the T2 variants, Sacrilege and Devoter.
• Amarr Omen and the faction & T2 variants, Omen Navy Issue and Zealot
• Gallente Thorax, the pirate faction, special edition & T2 variants, Vigilant, Cybele, Deimos and Phobos.
• Gallente Celestis and the T2 variants, Arazu and Lachesis.
• Minmatar Scythe and the T2 variant Scimitar.

Audio

Updated audio for ship effects

Improved audio for the following ship modules:

• Armor Repairer & Remote Armor Repairer.
• Hull Repairer & Remote Hull Repairer (new effect added).
• Shield Booster & Remote Shield Booster.
• Armor Hardener.
• Shield Hardener.

1. Module sounds now play, loop, and stop correctly based on usage.
2. Fixed issues with sfx attenuation during camera zoom.
3. Remote module system improved to accommodate better audio integration.
4. Increased variation on repeating sounds.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Titan and Supercarrier Balance Changes

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The twelfth subject addressed the titan and supercarrier balance changes.

According to the Legion in Focus dev blog the titan and supercarrier balance changes are part of a larger change to the planned meta.

The capital meta is also evolving. Fighter salvos from bombers and heavy bombers are being extended by 50%, increasing their field time before reloading. Meanwhile, Space Superiority Fighters are seeing a decrease in damage to subcapitals – reinforcing their role as anti-fighter specialists, rather than general-purpose damage dealers. These adjustments aim to consolidate their identity and carve out more space for subcapital fleets.

Survivability is also going up. The rollback of the penalty to shield and armor extenders from the Surgical Strike update has been completed, now scaling up to 400% for supercarriers and 500% for titans. This is part of a broader effort to elevate supercapitals back into a more viable role, keeping pace with the rising power of faction and lancer dreadnoughts.

Directed doomsday weapons get a 20% damage bump, and the new Advanced Doomsday Operations skill book increases damage by a further 7.5% per level. This applies across the board, including bosonic weapons – but not to lancer dreads.

The patch notes gave additional insight into the developers' thinking.

Titan Doomsday weapons have not kept up with the metagame and have therefore been given a significant buff. The survivability of Titans and Supercarriers has also been increased with stronger Armor Plate and Shield Extender bonuses. Combined, there should be more opportunities for the game’s largest ships to take the field and make a difference.

Fighters will now be more sustainable during engagements, decreasing the time they spend being recalled and rearmed. Space Superiority fighters were applying too well to sub-capital ships and have therefor had their damage to these ships decreased without impacting their anti-fighter role.

Titans and Supercarriers

• Increased the damage of single target Titan Doomday weapons to 2,400,000 (from 2,000,000).
• Added a new skillbook, Advanced Doomsday Operation, which increases the damage of Titan super weapons by 7.5% per skill level. Note: This increases damage of single target DD, lance, reaper & boson, but does not increase Lancer dread lance damage.
• Increased the Titan Armor Plate and Shield Extender role bonus to 500% (from 300%).
• Increased the Supercarrier Armor Plate and Shield Extender role bonus to 400% (from 200%).
• Increased the number of salvos a fighter has as follows:
• T1 and T2 Light Fighters: from 12 to 18.
• Faction Light Fighters: from 15 to 20.
• T1 and T2 Heavy Fighters: from 6 to 9.
• T1 Long Range Fighters: from 2 to 3.
• T2 Long Range Fighters: from 3 to 5.
• Reduced the damage applied by Space Superiority fighters attacking non-drones and non-fighters to 95% (from 80%).

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Rollback Of Surgical Strike

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The eleventh subject addressed is the rollback of the Surgical Strike resistance nerfs.

I initially wanted to include this section of the patch notes with the Titan and Supercarrier changes because of the stated goals of the Surgical Strike patch that dropped on 15 April 2020.

Surgical Strike will bring Capital survivability more in line with the rest of New Eden, reduce the overwhelming power of logistics, make adjustments to some long-standing powerhouses in the Subcapital meta, and begin to establish more payoff for getting up close and personal with your enemies.

The patch notes previously mentioned buffs to logistics, rolling back some of the Surgical Strike changes. The ones highlighted in the Surgical Strike section of the patch notes are the resistance nerfs. The developers described the change back in 2020.

The biggest change coming in this update is a 20% reduction in the power of all modules that increase shield or armor resistances. That means energized plating, armor coating, armor hardeners, shield hardeners and shield resistance amps. This will lead to a drop across the board in effective hit points, but the more slots a ship has devoted to resists, the more important the change becomes. There is excitement here about this approach because not only does it lower Capital survivability, it also diminishes the overall power of logistics and will make modules focused on speed and damage a more attractive option. The hope is to see bloodier fights, less stalemates, and a huge cross-sectional shift in the fitting meta. This kind of shake up rewards those that adapt quickly, so get to theory crafting!

The Legion in Focus dev blog explained why the developers reverted the change in Legion.

Surgical Strike’s legacy is being revisited too. Resistance changes from that patch are being dialed back by 10%, making ships harder to erase with a single volley and giving logistics pilots a bigger window to intervene. Fights will feel more tactical and less binary, especially in mid-scale engagements where coordination and adaptability shine.

All of the above just to give context for one line.

Surgical Strike

• Increased the resistances of Energized Membranes, Armor Coatings, Armor Hardeners, Shield Hardeners, and Shield Amplifiers by ~11%.
• Note: This is a full rollback of the Surgical Strike resistance nerfs.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Cruiser & Battlecruiser Balance Changes

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The tenth subject addressed is the balance pass concerning cruiser and battlecruiser hulls.

The Legacy in Focus dev blog indicated cruiser changes, but not battlecruisers.

Cruiser hulls also benefit from this balance pass. The Thorax gains speed and powergrid, making it more competitive in fast skirmishes. 

For some reason the Exequror Navy Issue change was not mentioned in the dev blog.

Cruisers

Thorax

We’re giving the Thorax a bit more thrust and making fitting it feel less tight by improving the powergrid output it has so it’ll be easier to fit higher caliber weapons and have an easier time getting in range for blasters.

• Powergrid Output improved from 820 to 860 MW.
• Maximum Velocity improved from 240 to 250 m/s.

Rupture

The Rupture felt too similar to the Stabber and was overshadowed by it in most cases, despite having two damage bonuses it actually dealt less DPS overall than the Stabber since the Stabber has a falloff bonus and the Stabber also had an additional missile hardpoint. So we’re slightly reworking the Rupture by replacing the projectile rate of fire bonus with a tracking bonus, and rolling the rate of fire damage bonus into the direct damage bonus it has. This should make the Rupture a more viable alternative to the Stabber when comparing short range AutoCannon fits by giving it a tracking advantage when brawling and improves on the existing strength that it had with artillery fits by improving the alpha and giving it a tracking bonus.

• Medium Projectile damage bonus per level of Minmatar Cruiser increased from 5% to 10%.
• Medium Projectile rate of fire per bonus of Minmatar Cruiser replaced with 7.5% bonus to Medium Projectile Tracking Speed per level.
• Drone Bay and Bandwidth improved from 30m3 and 30 Mbit/sec to 40m3 and 40 Mbit/sec.

Exequror Navy Issue

The Exequror Navy Issue is still overperforming and is still the most used navy cruiser hull even after adjustments in Revenant. So we’re giving it a small slap on the wrist now and will continue to monitor it.

• Damage bonus per level of Gallente Cruiser reduced from 20% to 17.5% per level.

Battlecruisers

Both the Myrmidon Navy Issue and Harbinger Navy Issue are still being flown much less than all other Navy Combat Battlecruisers even after a small set of buffs we made in Revenant so we’re giving them some more love. The Myrmidon Navy Issue had a smaller cargo-hold than many cruisers despite having a big focus on active tanking so we’re giving it room for a lot more cap charges or whatever else you might like, and adding some more hitpoints to web drones so they can’t be killed off so fast. The Harbinger Navy on the other hand loses the energy turret cap bonus from the regular Harbinger hull which can make it a lot more reliant on capacitor so by bringing the bonus back as an extra 3rd bonus we’re hoping it’ll be more attractive for both PVE and PVP.

Myrmidon Navy Issue

• Cargo Capacity increased from 400m3 to 560m3.
• Bonus to the strength of web drones now also grants a 10% bonus to web drone hitpoints per level of Gallente Battlecruiser.

Harbinger Navy Issue

• Added a new bonus, 10% reduction to the capacitor cost of medium energy turrets per level of Amarr Battlecruiser.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Remote Repair Balance Changes

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The nineth subject addressed is the balance pass concerning remote repairing ships, otherwise known as logistics.

The Legion in Focus dev blog explained the purpose behind the changes.

Remote repair gameplay is being retooled to reward risk and skill. Overheating remote repairers will now yield greater results, letting support pilots push their tools harder when the moment demands it. Logistics cruisers are receiving targeted buffs, while strategic cruisers’ support subsystems get additional powergrid to accommodate more defensive modules or higher strength remote repairers.

The changes will make ships more survivable in fleet fights by making logistics more effective. For example the diminishing returns formula for multiple logistics ships repairing a target changes in Legion.

Remote Repair Diminishing Returns Adjustment

• We’ve relaxed the diminishing returns formula so that the formula is now slightly less aggressive, and so ships will now receive a higher amount of HP per second when getting repaired by multiple logistics ships at once.
  
  
• Included below is a graph showing the updated formula in Legion compared to TQ. The graph shows total incoming HP per second for a ship which is receiving T2 Remote Capital Reps from a Triage’d FAX.
  
  
• As an example
  
  
• For a target getting remote repaired by 100 Capital T2 Remote Repair Modules (33 FAXes and some change)
• TQ = 78440 HP per second incoming.
• Legion = 97850 HP per second incoming.
• Which is an increase of just under 25%

Overheating remote repair modules is also receiving a buff.

Remote Repairers

• Added a +10% bonus when heating all Remote Armor, Shield and Mutadaptive repairers. (This is in addition to the cycle time bonus they currently have while heated).
• This bonus is improved to +15% on T3Cs with the offensive - support processor subsystem from the heat bonus with level 5 skills.

The changes even go down to implant sets.

Savior Implant Set

The Savior Implant set was powerful in some circumstances on some specific ships (Nestor and Zarmazd specifically) but was difficult to utilize on other remote repair support ships due to increasing the capacitor burden to maintain their remote reps and had too high of an opportunity cost since you were giving up other potentially useful set implants you could have in their place like Snakes, Amulets, Nirvanas etc. This should make them a more viable option on a lot more logistic ships.

• Now grants an equal amount of reduced capacitor need for remote repairers alongside the reduced cycle time bonus it already has. This will mean that Saviors will no longer increase the capacitor cost per second needed to sustain the higher remote repair throughput they provide to subcapital remote repair modules.

Of course, tech 2 logistics ships and tech 3 strategic cruisers received buffs as well.

Across the board, cruisers and Tech III hulls are being given enhanced remote armor repair capabilities, with the latter also receiving overheat bonuses, bringing new options for agile mid-scale engagements.

The changes even applied to Alliance Tournament prize ships.

Logistics Cruisers

• Oneiros:
• New Bonus - 15% reduction in Armor Plate Mass Penalty per level of Logistics.
• Base Velocity increased from 230 m/s to 245 m/s.
• Agility improved from 0.615x to 0.56x.
• Signature Radius reduced from 70 to 65.
  
  
• Scimitar:
• New Bonus - 15% reduction in Shield Extender signature radius penalty per level of Logistics.
  
  
• Basilisk:
• New Bonus - 7.5% bonus to Shield Hitpoints gained from Shield Extenders per level of Logistics.
• Base speed increased from 192 m/s to 205 m/s.
• Signature Radius reduced from 90 to 70.
  
  
• Guardian:
• New Bonus - 7.5% bonus to Armor Hitpoints gained from Armor Plates per level of Logistics.
  
  
• Zarmazd:
• New Bonus - 7.5% bonus to Armor Hitpoints gained from Armor Plates per level of Logistics.
  
  
• Etana:
• New Bonus - 7.5% bonus to Shield Hitpoints gained from Shield Extenders per level of Logistics.
  
  
• Rabisu:
• New Bonus - 7.5% bonus to Armor Hitpoints gained from Armor Plates per level of Logistics.
  
  

Strategic Cruiser Offensive Support Subsystems

In addition to getting more powerful overheating on remote reps, we’re also adding some extra fitting space to the Support Processor subsystems for T3 cruisers.

• Legion Offensive - Support Processor Subsystem:
• +75 Powergrid.
  
  
• Tengu Offensive - Support Processor Subsystem:
• +60 Powergrid.
  
  
• Proteus Offensive - Support Processor Subsystem:
• +75 Powergrid.
  
  
• Loki Offensive - Support Processor Subsystem:
• +60 Powergrid.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Pirate Faction Dreadnought Balance Changes

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The eight subject addressed is the balance pass applied to Pirate Faction Dreadnoughts.

The Pirate Faction Dreadnought balance changes weren't mentioned in the Legacy in Focus dev blog. I imagine the changes are to make the ships comparable to the newly introduced Sarathiel. 

Pirate Faction Dreadnoughts

• Reduced the LP and ISK cost of the Caiman and Vehement BPC offers by 50% from 25,000,000,000 ISK and 25,000,000 LP to 12,500,000,000 ISK and 12,500,000 LP.
  
  
• Caiman:
• Number of Fighter Tubes increased from 1 to 2.
• Number of Light Fighters supported increased from 1 to 2.
• Shield Hitpoints increased from 150,000 to 185,000 HP.
• Armor Hitpoints decreased from 120,000 to 107,000 HP.
• Fighter Capacity increased from 25,000 to 40,000.
  
  
• Chemosh:
• New Role Bonus Added: Capital Energy Nosferatu fitted to this ship ignores target signature resolution.
• Role Bonus for Capital Energy Turret Damage increased from 25% to 37.5%.
• Armor Hitpoints increased from 169,000 to 185,000.
• Structure Hitpoints decreased from 169,000 to 153,150.
  
  
• Vehement:
• Role Bonus for Capital Hybrid Turret Damage increased from 37.5% to 50%.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - New Ships

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The seventh subject addressed are the new ships introduced in Legion, the Babaroga-class marauder and Sarathiel-class dreadnaught.

The Babaroga and Sarathiel are logical choices as the developers continue their efforts to flesh out the ship trees of NPC factions. The Babaroga continues the effort to make the Triglavians the equivalent of the four empires: Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, and Minmatar. The Sarathiel gives the Angel Cartel a dreadnaught to match the Caiman, Chemosh, and Vehement.

In the case of these two ships I will match up the ship descriptions from the Legion in Focus dev blog with the stats in the patch notes.

New Triglavian Marauder - Babaroga

The Babaroga is the Triglavian answer to the empire marauders: ruthless, elegant, and terrifying. With boosted tracking, increased optimal range, and max spool bonuses, it delivers incredible disintegrator damage at a distance. Thanks to the ability to fit a bastion module for powerful offensive and defensive bonuses, the Babaroga is far more resilient than the Leshak, while also claiming the crown for peak potential subcapital ship DPS. 

Sharing the Leshak’s 5-4-8 slot layout, the Babaroga has the space to fit top-tier armor defenses, and enjoys all the utility high slot bonuses you’ve come to expect from the marauder class as well as the Triglavian faction. Blueprint Copies of the Babaroga can be obtained by performing Invention Jobs on Leshak blueprint copies.These ships are bound to be popular, so opportunistic industrialists may want to adjust their facilities to meet the demand and make a tidy profit! 

 

Babaroga: Skill Bonuses

• Precursor Battleship:
• 7.5 % Supratidal Entropic Disintegrator optimal range.
• 7.5 % Supratidal Entropic Disintegrator tracking speed.

• Marauders:
• 7.5% bonus to Armor Repairer repair amount.
• 20.0% bonus Supratidal Entropic Disintegrator maximum damage multiplier bonus.

Role Bonus:

• 100% bonus to Remote Armor Repairer range.
• 50% reduced Energy Neutralizer capacitor need.
• 50% reduced Remote Armor Repairer capacitor need.
• 50% reduced Smart Bomb capacitor need.
• 100% bonus to Tractor Beam range and velocity.
• 70% reduction to Micro Jump Drive reactivation delay.
• Can fit Bastion Modules.

Blueprint Copies of the Babaroga can be obtained by performing Invention Jobs on Leshak blueprint copies.

• The invention job requires High Energy Physics, Triglavian Quantum Engineering and Triglavian Encryption Method skills.
• Datacores Required for the invention job:
• 32 x Datacore - High Energy Physics.
• 32 x Datacore - Triglavian Quantum Engineering.
  
  

New Angel Dreadnought - Sarathiel

The Sarathiel, an Angel Cartel dreadnought, is a brutal addition to capital ship rosters. It features large bonuses to projectile weapon damage and falloff, allowing it to strike hard from across the battlefield. The Angel Cartel is known for designing ships with high mobility, and the Sarathiel is no exception. In addition to the usual warp speed bonus, it has a unique twist. While in siege mode, it has the ability to move and even use a capital micro jump drive.  

The Sarathiel offers a lot of versatility, with five high power slots, seven mid power slots, and six low power slots. Armor and shield hit points are distributed equally, and the powergrid is higher than usual, allowing for great fitting flexibility. Blueprint Copies of the Sarathiel can be obtained from the Malakim Zealots LP store, which can be found in Zarzakh or in the Angel Pirate Insurgency FOB.  

Sarathiel: Skill Bonuses

• Gallente Dreadnought:
• 10% bonus to Capital Projectile Turret falloff.
  
  
• Minmatar Dreadnought:
• 10% bonus to Capital Projectile Turret damage.

Role Bonus:

• Can fit a Siege Module.
• Can move at 10% velocity while in Siege mode.
• Can fit a Capital Micro Jump Drive.
• Can activate Capital Micro Jump Drive while in Siege mode.
• 25% bonus to Warp Speed and Warp Acceleration.
• 25% bonus to Capital Projectile Turret damage.
• 5x Penalty to Entosis Link cycle time.

Blueprint Copies of the Sarathiel can be obtained from the Malakim Zealots LP store, which can be found in Zarzakh or in the Angel Pirate Insurgency FOB.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Other Sovereignty / Equinox Changes

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The sixth subject addressed are Skyhook mechanics and Equinox blueprint conversions.

Basically the developers want to make sov warfare much less painful logistically by changing capture mechanics for Skyhooks.

Skyhook Cost of Conquest

Upon destroying a Sov Hub and conquering a system in Null Sec, players now have the choice to pay ISK to convert any remaining skyhooks within their newly acquired system for the first hour after claiming sov by selecting the ‘manage skyhooks’ option on the sovereignty hub.

For a while now, conquering a system has been very expensive as players must raze it to the ground and then build it back up from 0, and with Equinox, we added another layer to the rebuilding costs in the form of skyhooks. This is aimed to save players time and money to combat some of the rebuilding costs that they are incurring upon system capture.

The other change is a housekeeping item in renaming blueprints.

Equinox Blueprint Conversion

We are converting all old, defunct blueprints from Aegis Sovereignty to be updated with new blueprints applicable to Equinox Sov. This will happen automatically after downtime on May 27th.

The conversion list can be found below:

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Sovereignty / Equinox Upgrades

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The fifth subject addressed are sovereignty/Equinox upgrades.

The Legion in Focus dev blog gave a summary of the upgrades arriving in the expansion.

Meanwhile in nullsec, sovereignty continues to evolve. Legion introduces more flexibility and customization with three new categories of upgrades. New resource conversion upgrades give you more control over your resources, with the ability to generate workforce from power and vice versa. New system-wide modifiers let you lean into the strengths of your doctrine, offering bonuses to scanning, targeting, and specific combat styles.

I'm not exactly sure why the developers waited so far down the patch notes to discuss these new features. The first change involves installing upgrades in sovereignty hubs.

Sovereignty / Equinox Expanded

• Upgrades that you can install in a sovereignty hub are no longer limited by the maximum potential power in the solar system. This means that you could for example, have all 7 mineral type upgrades installed now, and swap between them through re-prioritizing or offline/onlining them, rather than needing to destroy them to install new ones.

The next comes additional exploration options in player-held sov systems.

New Exploration Upgrades

We are introducing a new sov upgrade that can generate undetected relic and data signatures.

• Exploration Detector 1, 2 and 3.
• These three tiers of Exploration Upgrades will have a combination of data and relic sites and will be available from the Angel Cartel, Blood Raiders, Guristas Pirates, Sansha Nation, Serpentis and Rogue Drone factions.
• These exploration upgrades have a guaranteed chance to spawn several exploration sites between 0 and 5 jumps from the solar system where the upgrade is installed.
• Exploration sites spawned from the sov upgrades all have a small chance to escalate to a brand-new data and relic escalation with the potential for high rewards.
• Exclusive rewards from the data escalation include blueprint copies for the powerful new “Xarasier” storyline modules for micro jump drives, reactive armor hardeners, ancillary shield boosters and armor repairers, the new hacking focused ‘Wedge’ implant set and the triplot scan acquisition array.
• The higher tier upgrades have an increased number of sites and faster respawn times.

The expansion will also introduce additional upgrades to generate colony resources.

Resource Generation Upgrades

We are introducing two new sov upgrades that can generate colony resources by utilizing other colony resources.

• Workforce Mecha-Tooling upgrade, available in 3 tiers, which costs power and generates workforce.
• Power Monitoring Division upgrades, available in 3 tiers, which costs workforce and generates power.
• Upgrades are mutually exclusive and it’s not possible to have both workforce and power upgrades installed at the same time.

And finally Legion grants the opportunity to bring Abyssal deadspace effects to player-owned null sec.

System Effect Generator Upgrades

We are introducing a new type of upgrade with Legion which players can install in sovereignty hubs to provide a set of bonuses to all ships in the solar system. The upgrades have a very low daily upkeep but a very high onlining cost to discourage swapping them out and toggling them on/off frequently.

• Electric Stability Generator
• This generator produces system-wide effects similar to those encountered in Electric environments within Abyssal Deadspace.
• All ships in system: 25% bonus to Capacitor recharge rate, +25% targeting range and Directional Scanner range.
  
  
• Exotic Stability Generator
• This generator produces system-wide effects similar to those encountered in Exotic environments within Abyssal Deadspace.
• All ships in system: +25% scan resolution, +2 AU/s warp speed.
  
  
• Gamma Stability Generator
• This generator produces system-wide effects similar to those encountered in Gamma environments within Abyssal Deadspace.
• All ships in system: +5% Shield HP, 5% Shield Booster Effectiveness, +10% Capacitor capacity.
  
  
• Plasma Stability Generator
• This generator produces system-wide effects similar to those encountered in Plasma environments within Abyssal Deadspace.
• All ships in system: +5% Armor HP, 5% Armor Repairer Effectiveness, +10% bonus to the benefits of overloading modules.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - New Eden Map

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The fourth subject addressed is the New Eden map.

According to the Legion in Focus dev blog the in-game map is receiving a major overhaul over time.

The map is getting a major overhaul. A long-term project has begun to bring the new map up to parity with the classic experience and third-party tools. This first iteration will make it easier to apply and switch between filters, share filter sets in chat, and adds a view mode toggle as well as new quick action buttons to identify both your location and home station at a glance.

I do wonder if some of the planned improvements require an upgrade of the Carbon engine to use Python 3.12. But for now the patch notes list the changes.

New Eden Map

The New Eden map has received a usability update focused on making its features easier to access and interact with. Filters are now quicker to reach, map tools are more visible, and new quick action buttons have been added to streamline common tasks. While more changes are planned for the future, this iteration aims to improve day-to-day interaction with the map, reduce friction, and update the underlying UX foundation to better support future improvements.

What has changed:

• Filters can now be accessed through a new Filter Bar located at the bottom center of the map, replacing the previous dropdown menu in the map header.
• Players can now add filters to their favorites and quickly access or switch between them.
• The filter bar can be customized by right-clicking it and selecting Manage Filter Categories, letting players choose which filter groups are shown.
• Two new Quick Action buttons have been added to the bottom right of the map. Players can use them to instantly refocus the camera on either their current location or their home station.
• A View Mode toggle (shown as a circled "A" icon) lets players switch between the standard 3D view and a more abstract, flattened view of the map.
• A new Layout Panel in the bottom left corner gives players more control over how the map is displayed. Options include:
• Grouping the map by system, constellation, or region.
• Highlighting connection lines between systems at different levels.
• Choosing which jump bridge links are visible on the map.
• The selected location is shown at the top center of the map. From there, players can focus on a higher-level location or quickly set destination and add waypoint using new quick action buttons.
• The map interface is now responsive, with improvements to how it behaves in minimized, floating, or fullscreen modes.
• The Pointer Window now allows players to browse available filters and share them in chat with other capsuleers.

I will admit I do not use the in-game map due to how horrible the map is to use. The creation of Dotlan Maps in 2010 meant I didn't need to learn to use the map.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Omega Benefits Window

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The third subject addressed is the Omega Benefits Window. 

Honestly the feature is pure marketing. I imagine plenty of players will complain on Reddit once they log in for the first time. Here's the patch notes.

Omega Benefits Window

A new look at Omega - Know your clone status

Introducing the Omega Benefits Window giving Omega a fresh new look designed to help Capsuleers understand and take full advantage of the Omega Clone State.

• A detailed breakdown of Omega Benefits.
• A streamlined offers section, where you can view and purchase Omega time and subscriptions, whether it's real currency or PLEX.
• Your clone state status, so you always know where you stand.

Omega in Neocom

A direct access to the benefits window from the Neocom.

This will be visible to:

• Alpha clones, as a persistent reminder of what Omega can offer.
• Omega clones nearing expiration, giving a timely reminder.
• Fully subscribed Omega Capsuleers can still access the benefits window through the Neocom menu.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Corporation Pallete

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The second subject addressed is the corporation pallete.

The corporate palette is a way to pick colors to represent a corporation. According to the Legion in Focus dev blog:

The key to corporate success and domination is a strong brand with a powerful identity. Legion, introduces the corporation palette which lets brand managers define up to three official colors using the full RGB/HEX range. Later this year the corporation logo editor will also receive a major upgrade. Out go the preset color swatches, replaced by a full-featured color picker. 

I don't know how much rebranding will cost. The initial steps appear free.

Corporation Palette

Tired of blending into the void? This is the time for your corporation to stand out above all. Introducing the Corporation Palette - the first steps into allowing corporations to bring their unique identity into New Eden.

• Brand Managers will be able to assign between 1 to 3 custom colors to represent their corporation.
• These colors will be represented in two key places: Corporation Window and Freelance Jobs (only those created by corporations).
• A new Brand Management section in the Corporation Window. You'll find anything related to your corp's visual identity here: logos, structure SKINR, and now Corporation Palette.

Whenever a reference to the Paragon Hub is made, some sort of monetization is involved.

Paragon Hub

Base Sequencing Times in SKINR are temporarily set to 10 Minutes. These are still affected by Skills. Times will go back to their original times on June 16th.

EVE Online: Legion Patch Notes - Freelance Jobs

EVE Online's Legion expansion, set to launch on 27 May 2025, is the game's sixth full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. As usual at this point I intend to go through the patch notes and bring in some context from other sources. The first subject addressed is freelance jobs.

The freelance jobs content feels like an idea the developers wanted to do but needed a business case to justify the cost. So someone came up with the time-worn reason of new player retention. From the Legion in Focus dev blog.

Legion builds on the foundation laid with Corporation Projects, adding Freelance Jobs to further empower corporation leaders, and creating a free market for jobs – introducing a gig economy to New Eden. This is a great way to outsource and a fantastic opportunity to attract new members to your corp.

Freelance Jobs are a real boon to new pilots, offering a player-driven source of ISK and experience, as well as guidance and purpose during their first steps. Through Freelance Jobs, corporations can initiate connections with promising recruits, removing a potential barrier to entry, as new pilots may find the prospect of applying to a corp intimidating. Where they might lack the confidence to approach a new corporation, Freelance Jobs allow them to take on fun activities and potentially get recruited, feeling valued and empowered to become a contributing member.

With the heavy emphasis on new players I was reminded of Malcanis' Law:

Whenever a mechanics change is proposed on behalf of  ‘new players,’ that change is always to the overwhelming advantage of richer, older players.

My reading of the patch notes makes me think null sec alliances and factional warfare groups may actually benefit more than anyone.

Freelance Jobs

A new way to earn ISK, explore gameplay, and get on the radar of powerful corporations— Freelance Jobs are now available across New Eden. Freelance Jobs are tasks created by player-run corporations which are open to pilots outside of their own ranks.

Finding your perfect job

• Available through AIR Opportunities and the Corporation Show Info window.
• Capsuleers can browse nearby jobs in the Opportunities window (jobs are visible from up to 5 jumps away from the job’s broadcast locations).
• In the Corporation Show Info window you can see all active Freelance Jobs issued by that corporation.
• Real-time updates as new jobs become available in range.
• You can have up to 3 freelance jobs active at the same time, but you can resign from them at any time and accept new ones.
• After accepting a job and contributing to it, you earn the ISK rewards assigned by the job creator automatically.
• Earned rewards need to be claimed from the Rewards tab in Opportunities or from each job’s details view.

Creating and Managing Freelance Jobs

• Job Creation
• Job creation interface similar to existing Corporation Projects.
• Project Manager role required for job creation.
• Corporations can have up to 100 Freelance Jobs active at the same time.
• For your job to be visible in the Opportunities window, you have to set the job broadcast location to one of your corp’s offices. The Job will be broadcasted within 5 jumps of your office.
• Each job can have up to 20 broadcast locations.
• Issuing a new job has a cost of 100,000 ISK per day of job’s duration
• Broadcasting a new job has a cost of 150,000 ISK per day per broadcasting location.
  
  
• Administrative Controls
• Removing capsuleers from jobs.
• Participant view to track contributions.
  
  
• Job Lifecycle Management
• The minimum job duration is 15 minutes.
• The maximum job duration is 1 year.
  
  
• Security and Access Control
• Age-based restriction - you can restrict your job so that only characters of a certain (EVE) age can access it.
• This is useful for creating jobs that target new players for recruitment purposes or only older characters if needed.

Available contribution methods:

• Ship Insurance
• Mine Materials
• Damage Capsuleers
• Capture FW Complex
• Defend FW Complex
• Destroy Non-Capsuleers

I think when a lot of people first heard of freelance jobs they imagined corporations would set up recruiting stations in high security space. But with the types of freelance jobs available, the type of players attracted will be playing in low and null sec.

High BPO Research Costs And An Old FW Loyalty Point Exploit

Sometimes in a long-running software project new people come in and make changes that don't quite work as expected. I heard of one such example today in an interview The Oz did with CCP Rattati in a preview of the Legion expansion next week. In the interview The Oz asked about the high cost to research supercapital BPOs. Apparently the formula changed to include the expected item value calculated by the game. I smiled as I heard CCP Rattati blame a factional warfare exploit for expected values not being calculated correctly. 

The great FW exploit of 2012. Here's an explanation of what actually occurred almost 13 years ago with the launch of the Inferno expansion. The results of the investigation by Team Security were published as a dev blog.

Here's a fairly high-level explanation of how the exploit functioned and some background. With EVE Online: Inferno we released a change to the Factional Warfare system in order to encourage and reward PVP. What the change entailed was that we essentially decided to award people with “Loyalty Points” for killing other players rather than just awarding them for activities such as missions. The amount of LP rewarded is determined by the value of what is destroyed. The number we use to determine that is the “Average Price” value of each of the items destroyed which is calculated by taking an x day rolling average of how much the item was purchased for every x days. This is handled by a scheduled database job.

This system becomes exploitable when a player is capable of dictating a disparity between the actual value of the item on the market and the average price we use to calculate LP. This is most easily accomplished using items that are virtually never traded, as one or two major purchases can change the average, but it is not a requirement that the item be rarely traded in order for manipulation to occur. The most common method of doing so is that once the price has been manipulated enough it becomes possible to generate LP by simply buying the manipulated item, killing yourself with an alt in the opposing militia, then buying another one and killing yourself with it repeating infinitely. LP in this regard functions as a separate currency which can be converted back into ISK (Interstellar Kredits - the main currency of EVE Online) at a profitable rate. This can be compared to foreign exchange manipulation.

Team Security even provided a nice graph to show the impact of the exploit although the title was not-exactly accurate.

The impact of the Inferno FW exploit

And as CCP Rattati stated, the developers introduced some changes to the code to prevent the disparity between actual cost and "Average Price" in items in the future. But apparently the fix put in during Inferno was removed in Havoc. CCP issued an exploit notification at the end of November 2023.

Since the release of Havoc two weeks ago, it has become apparent that certain player groups have utilized both market manipulation as well as repeatedly destroyed their own characters (in some cases hundreds of times) in order to farm large amounts of Malakim Zealots Loyalty Points (LP) way faster than intended. Warnings have already been issued to the groups that were the biggest offenders along with confiscation of the LP and Blueprints that was acquired in this way.

Any groups that are found to be manipulating the market to increase the amount of LP gained from destroying friendly targets, or repeatedly farming large amounts of friendly targets, will be punished in accordance with our exploit section of the EVE Online Terms of Service.

Likewise, this exploit is now once again included in our Known & Declared Exploits list.

So I don't know if the Inferno code was put back in to stop the exploit. Looking at the known exploits list I see the LP exploit is still listed. Perhaps the exploit is still listed because who knows if someone else will remove the exploit fix in order to fix the pricing issue. After all, on a 25-year old software project like EVE Online who knows when someone who "knows better" undoes something preventing a huge problem.

What Is An Open Economy In An Online Game?

Last week CCP Games released an EVE Fanfest 2025 presentation titled "EVE Frontier - Open Economies." One of the four EVE Frontier presentations on Friday, I encountered a problem when trying to compose a review of the session. I didn't understand several of the terms used in the presentation. Instead of just passing along a summary I only half-understood I decided to look into the concepts of which I was unsure. The first question I encountered was: what is an open economy?

Turning the game economy into an open economy

I turned to Copilot for answers. Using the Frontier white paper and a dev blog as the base for the answers, the AI assistant came up with the following description.

In EVE Frontier, an open economy means a fully player-driven and interoperable economic system where players can create their own markets, currencies, and trade assets freely. Unlike traditional MMOs with fixed in-game economies, EVE Frontier allows for real-world economic interactions, meaning its economy is not isolated from external markets.

The game uses composability, meaning all items, currencies, and objects can be combined and interacted with dynamically. This allows for unpredictable outcomes, as player actions shape the economy rather than developer-imposed constraints. Additionally, energy and risk play a crucial role—every action requires fuel, ensuring that automation and botting have diminishing returns compared to human decision-making.

EVE Frontier’s economy is designed to be open-ended, meaning developers do not dictate trade volume or impose artificial constraints. Instead, the economy evolves based on player-driven trade, value creation, and market speculation. The game even incorporates real-world economic theories, with experts analyzing inflation, pricing behaviors, and resource distribution to maintain balance.

Okay, what Copilot provided sounds in-line with what I heard at Fanfest. Of course, the next question is: what is a closed economy?

In an online video game, a closed economy refers to an in-game economic system where all transactions occur within the game world, without external influences like real-world currency or player-driven markets. This means that players can only earn, spend, and trade in-game currency through predefined mechanics, such as completing quests, selling items to NPCs, or purchasing goods from in-game stores.

Unlike open economies, where players can influence market prices or trade with real-world money, closed economies are tightly controlled by developers to maintain balance and prevent inflation or exploitation. Some games with deep economic systems focus on player-driven economies, where supply and demand dictate prices, but these are different from closed economies.

Interesting. So basically any game with real money trading, whether sanctioned or not, has some sort of open economy. The question I had was to what degree. But that's a topic for another post. Moving on, where does EVE Online fit on the closed economy to open economy scale?

EVE Online is a fascinating case because it operates as a player-driven economy, meaning most goods and services are created, traded, and priced by players rather than NPCs. This makes it more of an open economy, where real-world money can influence in-game wealth.

One key aspect of EVE Online’s economy is PLEX, a premium currency that players can buy with real money and trade for ISK (the in-game currency). This creates an exchange rate between real-world money and in-game wealth, allowing players to purchase ships, equipment, and services using funds from outside the game.

Additionally, EVE Online has market hubs, such as Jita, where players engage in large-scale trading, speculation, and even market manipulation. The game’s developers monitor the economy closely, even employing professional economists to ensure balance and prevent extreme inflation.

I'm not so sure about the professional economists in EVE Online. If so, I want to attend a presentation at the next Fanfest. Now we have player-driven added to the mix. Player-driven and open economies are related concepts. So I asked Copilot to explain the difference.

A player-driven economy and an open economy are related concepts, but they focus on different aspects of in-game economic systems:

Player-Driven Economy - This refers to an economy where players dictate market prices, production, and trade. Instead of developers setting fixed item values, players create, buy, sell, and determine the worth of goods based on supply and demand. A great example is EVE Online, where nearly all economic activity is controlled by players—corporations manufacture ships, raw materials are mined and sold, and market speculation influences pricing.

Open Economy - An open economy is a system where real-world money can influence the in-game market. In games with open economies, players can purchase in-game currency with real money, trade items for real-world value, or participate in official marketplaces that allow real-world transactions (like purchasing premium currency). EVE Online qualifies as an open economy because of PLEX, which lets players trade real-world funds for in-game wealth.

A game can have a player-driven economy without being fully open. For example, Runescape has player-controlled trading, but its economy remains mostly closed because real-money transactions are restricted. Similarly, some open economies still have developer-controlled elements, such as price caps, restrictions on trading, or marketplaces only accessible through in-game mechanics.

In short, EVE Frontier's economy plans to push boundaries by embracing open-ended player agency, while EVE Online maintains a structured yet dynamic economic framework that still reflects real-world markets in a contained environment.

The meta-level differences in the economies of Online & Frontier

The differences between EVE Online & EVE Frontier led back to the picture with which I led off this post. The quote I wish to highlight is:

Blockchain integration turns a closed economy into a (proper) open economy.

Those parenthesis did a lot more work in the quote than I originally realized. EVE Online is, in many respects, an open economy. But more of a hybrid economy than the one planned for EVE Frontier. The developers and designers on the Frontier team want to make an economy that is fully decentralized, allows the creation of customizable player-created currencies, completely player regulated with open-ended integration with the real world possible.

Asking a simple question resulted in a thousand-word post. But on the subject of EVE Frontier I still need to explore a lot of concepts.

Cosmic Exploration: The Journey To Botanist And Mining Cosmic Tools

I've waited until I have my new tools for botanist and mining to write another post about Final Fantasy XIV's Cosmic Exploration feature. As always I started with those two tools because I gather a lot more than I craft. I also discovered I have a different mentality to those making guides to help players finish the tool grind as fast as possible. One might say I took a rather casual approach.

The beginning

First I want to address a complaint I heard when Cosmic Exploration was first launched. A lot of people wanted to be present every time an upgrade to the moon base happened. So far I think I managed to be present for one of the nine upgrades. Indeed, three upgrades happened while I was in Iceland attending EVE Fanfest. Would I like to have seen all the upgrades while they happened? Sure. But I'm satisfied with the option to go back and see what the moon looked like at the beginning of each phase.

The development timeline so far

Perhaps I'm just old school. Maybe playing EVE for so long warped my outlook. But Final Fantasy XIV is an online world that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes a player just misses out on an event. I missed plenty of events in EVE over the years. I'm used to listening to the stories of those who can claim, "I was there."

Next, are the tools really worth the effort? I think so. The base stats on the Cosmic Hatchet and Cosmic Pickaxe are the same as those on the high quality Everseeker's Hatchet and Everseeker' Pickaxe. The difference comes with the ability to meld. The stats on the Everseeker's tools are greater (with the exeption of gathering points) than on the Cosmic tools after melding. The Cosmic tools make up for the lack of melding by granting an increased chance to trigger Collector's Intuition by 20% when gathering collectables. Oh, and grants a lunar credit bonus of 35%.

The Cosmic Pickaxe

Is the bonus worthwhile? I think so. Before patch 7.2 dropped I was still using the old Lodestar tools from Endwalker when farming for orange gathering scrips. I can't wait to see how much more effective my orange scrip farming is when using the updated tools. As for the lunar credit bonus, the bonus really came in handy when doing red alerts. When I started running out of lunar credits the bonus on the tools helped a lot even with lower levels of the tools.

Speaking of gear and melding, I wound up pentamelding my gathering gear and tools. I was using the 7.2 Mid Tier set from TeamCraft which left a lot of over-melding slots unused. When doing the gathering missions a big concern is running out of gathering points. So I wound up buying enough Gathering Grasp IX materia as I could and then filled out the rest of the slots with Gathering Guile IX materia. Not only did the extra GP help but materia is generated faster if all equipment is pentamelded.

Preparing to board a mech

Playing through the grind I grew to appreciate the Mech Ops and Red Alert content. One of those events occurs every 20 minutes and participating allowed my GP to regenerate. After the initial few days I could usually find an instance with under 25 players making winning a spot piloting a mech much more sure. I still haven't won anything but a Big Bang ticket for the roulette game but I'm still trying.

I won a cosmo suit in the roulette

The Red Alert content was really good for generating lunar credits useful for buying opportunities to pilot mechs. Also, for levelling the last level of research to upgrade to a Cosmic tool.

The research bonus really helps

Another feature I really like is the research bonus for acquiring cosmic tools. I've seen some conflicting information about the bonus, but the one I think holds is:

• 1-2 cosmic tools - 50% research bonus
• 3-4 cosmic tools - 100% research bonus
• 5+ cosmic tools - 150% research bonus

Acquiring 11 tools is quite a grind so I appreciate any bonus I can get. I'll update everyone when I finish the research on my frying pan.

Current development

Yes, I'm going to switch to crafting and save getting my fishing pole until I get the 150% research bonus. I hear the RNG is pretty bad for the fishing missions so I figure I'll wait until I can make the fishing grind as painless as possible. Besides, I'm doing the Cosmic tool grind for the benefits outside the content. I do a lot more gathering than I do fishing.

The Press Embargo For EVE Frontier's Fanfest Debut Is Over

Before attending EVE Fanfest this year I wrote about how I paid my own way to the event. Then while in Iceland I didn't participate in any of the activities arranged by CCP Games for the games journalists attending the event. Those events included exclusive interviews with development staff, a briefing on the contents of the event before Fanfest began, things like that. The press embargo for EVE Frontier content ended today

What is a press embargo? A press embargo is an agreement between a source and media outlets that restricts the publication of certain information until a specified date and time. It is commonly used in journalism and public relations to allow reporters time to prepare accurate and detailed coverage before an official announcement is made.

Press embargoes are often applied to major product launches, government policy announcements, or scientific discoveries. They help ensure that multiple media outlets release the news simultaneously, maximizing its impact. However, breaking an embargo can result in a loss of trust and restricted access to future information.

By not participating in any of the special briefings I was free to write about the Frontier content at Fanfest. Of course, I had to attend the Frontier presentations to the public themselves. The advantage was I could publish my thoughts on the game without worrying about breaking the press embargo.

I would have written more but a lot of financial news broke. First came the publication of Cloud Imperium Games' financial report for 2023. Then a few days later Pearl Abyss Iceland's 2024 financial filings became available to the public. And, of course, yesterday's Pearl Abyss earnings call for Q1 2025. By the time I finished writing about all of that my effective exclusivity window had closed.

Of course, not knowing the embargo was still in effect left me wondering where was all the coverage? I'm really interested in how the press will cover the project. I'm writing this post before the embargo ended so I don't know. But if anyone wants to know why the dearth of coverage, look to CCP's public relations making a deal with the press.

Pearl Abyss Q1 2025 Earnings Call

On Tuesday in South Korea, Pearl Abyss held its earnings call for the first quarter of 2025. The company experienced a quarter-over-quarter decrease in revenue of 20.4%, from ₩95.7 billion ($68.5 million) in Q4 2024 to ₩83.7.7 billion ($57.7 million) in the first quarter. Year-over-year the company's first quarter revenue decreased by 2%. 

For the third time out of the last four fiscal quarters Pearl Abyss ran at an operating loss. The ₩5.2 billion ($3.6 million) loss in the first quarter of the year puts the operating losses at ₩18 billion (-$12.9 million) over the last 12 months. Pearl Abyss did manage to pull off a net profit of ₩500 million ($300,000) in the first quarter.

In non-gaming revenue Pearl Abyss saw a drop of revenue from Pearl Abyss Capital of ₩4.4 billion ($3 million) due to lack of activity. The large net profit in Q4 2024 was a one-time event due to FX (foreign exchange) gains plus a revaulation of some of the company's assets. The drop in net profits in the first quarter were the numbers retreating back to the norm.

But the biggest decline in revenue was due to the ending of the Black Desert Mobile service in China. The contract with TenCent to operate Black Desert Mobile in China was supposed to run until 26 April but due to poor performance TenCent and Pearl Abyss ended service for the game on 27 January.

While the company removed platform data this quarter, the earnings call PowerPoint presentation still had revenue breakouts by region. While North American/EU (+2.2%) and Korea (+1.8%) experienced small gains, the rest of Asia region experienced a quarter-over-quarter decline of 32.8%, a drop of ₩8.9 billion ($6.9 million). Pearl Abyss no longer breaks down revenue by game franchise but one can assume most if not all the revenue decline is due to the ending of BDM service in China.

Finally on the subject of profits, the company's CFO did point towards CCP Games' development of two games, EVE Frontier and EVE Vanguard, as another reason for the quarter's operating loss.

The analysts on the call were told of various initiatives designed to increase revenue. Black Desert Console is expected to finish work on porting the game to the current generation of consoles (PS5 & XBox XIS) and release the updated game on 26 June.

For EVE, while the presentation did tout the upcoming Legion expansion, Pearl Abyss chose to make EVE Frontier a bigger focus than normal for a game from CCP. I think progress on a blockchain game is supposed to make investors forget some of the pain surrounding Crimson Desert.

According to the C-Suite members on the call, development of the long-delayed game is in the last stages of preparing to launch. These steps include final voiceover work and certification for consoles. Expect full scale marketing efforts to begin in June to include a new demo build to use at game shows.

Note: The conversion of the QoQ revenue loss in the rest of Asia has been corrected from $11.5 million to $6.9 million.

A Look At The Active ISK Delta For April 2025

On Friday CCP Games released the April Monthly Economic Report (MER) for EVE Online. As this post will look at a major influence on the New Eden money supply I want to take a quick look at the developers' main takeaways from last month's MER.

• The daily average mining value saw a slight decline of 2.5%, following higher activity levels in March.
  
• Null Sec mining activity appears to have stabilized at 56% of total mining value, potentially establishing a new baseline share—up from around 50% observed over the past few months.
• Increased player activity during Capsuleer Day contributed to a positive active ISK delta.
• The rise in Sleeper Components faucets is linked to the Capsuleer Day-themed item Sleeper Protocol Subverter.
• A notable spike in ISK velocity was observed, primarily driven by transactions related to skill training items.
• The Mineral Price Index (MPI) has decreased by 6.9% since March.
• Module prices dropped by 1.6%, while ship prices declined by 2.7% compared to March.
• A new ore type, Tyranite, has been introduced and is now included in mining reports.

The Capsuleer Day events saw a peak daily average concurrent users hit over 24,000 in the middle of April according to Jester's ACU graph. As noted, the event affected the month's Active ISK Delta.

The Active ISK Delta is the net effect on the money supply of players leaving and returning to the game, including all GM actions. In April, the Active ISK Delta went from the 2nd biggest ISK sink in March to the game's third largest ISK faucet in April. For the second time over the last 7 years the economy recorded a positive Active ISK Delta, this year at 1.4% of the month's starting money supply.

I didn't have data for April 2018 so the historical average Active ISK Delta in the chart above only covers the years 2019-2024. For the second month in a row, the Active ISK Delta percentage of the money supply was greater than the historical average. Last month's 1.4% increase to the money supply due to player movement is greater than the average decrease of 1.3%.

I'm sure CCP would like to also credit changes to the code that manages site distributions and respawning. The most visible effects of the changes were that Rogue Drone combat anomalies spawned randomly in highsec and Mercoxit mining sites spawned from sovereignty prospecting upgrades will both cluster in unvisited systems less often than before. But the changes occurred on 9 April and the Capsuleer Day spike occurred on 15 April.

Looking ahead, will May finally be the month when the recorded Active ISK Delta is positive for two months in a row? Not only did the finale of the Capsuleer Day event launch on 6 May but the Legion expansion launches on 27 May. If EVE is going to experience a longer than usual return of players who have "won" EVE, now is as good a time as any.

The Board Of Directors' View Of Pearl Abyss Iceland's 2024 Consolidated Financial Reports

On 7 May the financial accounts for all the companies making up CCP Games made their appearance on the website of Iceland's taxing authority. The company under which all others fall is Pearl Abyss Iceland ehf. Since Croda has already done a two-part analysis of the numbers I thought I'd look at the text of the endorsement of the board of directors for Pearl Abyss Iceland. Since the board is headed by a Pearl Abyss employee I thought I would use the endorsement section of the 2024 Consolidated Financial Reports to provide a 30,000 foot view of the numbers inside the document.

First off, what is Pearl Abyss Iceland ehf. In their own words:

Pearl Abyss Iceland ehf. is a holding company established in 2018. In October 2018 the Company bought all issued and  outstanding shares in CCP ehf. CCP ehf. designs, develops, markets and operates immersive virtual worlds and games  accessed over the internet. The Company is headquartered in Iceland and owns and operates subsidiaries in the United  Kingdom, China, and the United States.

I'll add in CCP Games description of itself from the CCP ehf 2024 financial statements.

CCP ehf. designs, develops, markets, and operates immersive virtual worlds and games accessible over the internet. Our mission is to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life. Headquartered in Iceland, the Company operates subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, China, and the United States.

Yes, creating virtual worlds more meaningful than real life isn't just a slogan pulled out for press interviews and Fanfest.

The next paragraph covered the totals that get the most coverage in the press: revenue, profits/loss, and employee headcount.

In 2024, The Group generated revenues of USD 60.2 million, compared to USD 56.0 million in the previous year. Notably, game revenue increased by USD 4.5 million (8%) year-on-year, reflecting strong ongoing engagement across EVE Online and the launch of new titles including EVE Galaxy Conquest. However, the Company reports a net loss of USD 19.5 million, compared to a USD 18.8 million net loss in 2023. This result is primarily due to deliberate and increased investment in multiple active development projects — including EVE Frontier, EVE Vanguard, and the Carbon open-source platform — which are scheduled to enter key release phases from mid-2025 onwards. These investments, while impacting short-term profitability, are central to the Group’s strategy and position the Group for strategic and sustainable growth in the years ahead. As of year-end, shareholders’ equity stood at USD 89.2 million, with an equity ratio of 40.2%, and total assets of USD 221.6 million. The Group employed 412 people at year-end, compared to 381 at the beginning of the year.

The headline numbers are:

• Revenue up 8% ($4.5 million)
• Losses increased to $19.5 million from 2023's $18.8 million
• Headcount increased 8.1% (to 412)

The losses are racking up while CCP works to develop two major on-line games one of which is a first-person shooter while developing Carbon. Sounds a lot like 2011 except CCP has a larger financial cushion as Pearl Abyss provided PAI a $50 million loan in 2023. So, no danger of the company collapsing in 2025.

I won't follow the document in order. Instead, what was said about the two EVE Online expansions, Equinox and Revenant? First, the summer expansion.

The year saw a major expansion in the Group’s portfolio and platform capabilities. In June, Equinox launched for EVE Online, introducing expansive changes to nullsec sovereignty warfare. It added new Upwell structures, enabling capsuleers to efficiently harvest planetary resources and customize territories. New industrial hulls and enhanced defensive capabilities arrived alongside the SKINR personalization tool, empowering capsuleers to express themselves through ship design. These innovations sparked renewed engagement across the landscape of New Eden.

A little later on the winter expansion received a summary.

Meanwhile, Revenant, the second major EVE Online expansion of the year, launched in November. It introduced new SKINR upgrades, Corporation Projects enhancements, and powerful ships themed around the enigmatic Deathless — a faction that now plays a pivotal narrative role across CCP titles. In early 2025, Revenant received a significant post-launch content update, deepening both narrative and gameplay layers.

Notice the first item listed for the winter expansion was the new SKINNR upgrades? I had some thoughts about CCP introducing a feature that would increase demand for PLEX at a time with low supplies of the currency. The prominence of place in the report leads me to believe the SKINNR system is a top priority for the company.

After EVE Online came news of EVE Vanguard.

EVE Vanguard, the Group’s sandbox FPS module set within the EVE Universe, advanced rapidly throughout 2024. Player feedback during the limited-time Solstice event and public playtests helped shape the game’s direction, culminating in a detailed roadmap for the Solstice Era. The team emphasized direct collaboration with our Founders Access community as we build toward launching into Steam Early Access.

As we found out at Fanfest, Vanguard will reach Steam Early Access in July 2026. Expect more development work throughout 2025.

Next came a description of the latest game launched by CCP Games, EVE Galaxy Conquest.

In October, EVE Galaxy Conquest launched worldwide on iOS and Android. This mobile-first 4X strategy title, developed by the Group’s Shanghai studio, blends diplomacy, territory control, and epic-scale fleet battles to deliver the power and politics of New Eden to handheld devices. The game continues to evolve with post-launch content and live operations.

Speaking of mobile games, EVE Echoes is not mentioned in the board of directors summary. Perhaps the fact that NetEase only licenses the intellectual property from CCP doesn't make the game worth noting.

Then we get to EVE Frontier.

September saw the official reveal of EVE Frontier, the Group’s ambitious new hardcore survival MMO. With Founder Access underway and Early Access planned for June 2025, Frontier challenges players to survive and thrive in a fractured cosmos overrun by rogue AI. Featuring a single-shard server architecture, emergent construction via Smart Assemblies, and deep player-driven economy systems, EVE Frontier extends the spirit of EVE into a fresh new genre space.

While not showing up in the PAI financial reports, we have a pretty good idea of spending on Frontier's development by looking at CCP ehf's financial statements. Since 2022 Angelice Prime Foundation has paid CCP ehf a total of $39,980,542, including $10,187,021 in 2024, for "supply of services". 

This money does not show up on PAI's statement as Angelice Prime Foundation is listed as a related party. From one of the footnotes:

Because the Group has power to direct the relevant activities of Angelice Prime Foundation through contractual arrangements, the Group has control over Angelice Prime Foundation and its subsidiaries even though the Group doesn't have any ownership interest and voting rights in Angelice Prime Foundation.

Is this what is known as a creative accounting practice designed to lower tax liability or perhaps gain a tax credit? Because when taking the payments from Angelice Prime Foundation to CCP into account, PAI's loss drops from $19.5 million down to $9.3 million. And 2023's $18.8 million loss is reduced to $1.6 million. I am not an accountant so I'm not sure if I read everything correctly. Just one of the reasons I'm trying to stick to the text of the board of directors' statement.

Finally we get down to a specific technical project.

In March 2024, the Group announced its intention to open-source the Carbon Development Platform. This initiative provides developers with access to the Group’s proprietary game engine and tools, supporting a more open and collaborative ecosystem for game creation and experimentation.

Last but not least, we get down to dividend payments.

The Board of Directors does not propose dividend payments to shareholders in 2025. With regard to the allocation of loss and changes in the equity of the Group, the Board refers to the Notes attached to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

At the beginning of the year-end and at year end 2024 Pearl Abyss Corp. is the sole shareholder in the Company.

Not surprising that Pearl Abyss does not want to pay itself a dividend.