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.