News From EVE North

Before I leave Toronto, I thought I would mention some of the news generated from EVE North. I probably will miss some things, or not get some of the details exactly correct, as I am working off my notes and not the VOD of the streams.

First, the CSM 14 election results. I'll break this down further in another post, but 5 out of 7 incumbents won:

• Aryth
• Merkelchen
• Innominate
• Killah Bee
• Steve Ronuken

Steve retained his seat by defeating fellow incumbent Sort Dragon by 11 votes. The new members are:

• Dunk Dinkle
• ExookiZ
• Gobbins
• Olmeca Gold
• Vily

Wormholers got their representative, null sec didn't sweep, and the Imperium ballot is back to only securing 3 seats. Last year's 4 seats was a fluke due to the disqualification of Creecher Virpio after the voting had begun.

On the subject of the new Triglavian invasion content, players are racking up the kills, with an impressive 59:1 kill ratio. I'm not sure exactly who that is impressive for, the players or the new AI behind the Triglavian NPCs. By the time I post this article, the number of NPCs killed will have reached 1 million. Player losses, on the other hand, exceeded 1.4 trillion ISK. To but that in perspective, the amount is the equivalent of 700 months of game time.

CCP also provided an update on the war declaration changes. As of 19 June, New Eden had 480 wars declared:

• 96 mutual wars
• 112 wars with no HQ (existed before the war dec change)
• 272 wars with HQ declared

The wars without an HQ will sunset on 13 August, but the new mechanics should allow for the renewal of the wars seamlessly. The 272 wars were begun using 70 unique HQ structures, with one Astrahus serving as the HQ for 44 wars. That structure, interesting, was not the P I R A T in Piak destroyed on 21 June. CCP also revealed that 49 wars had ended due to the loss or removal of the attackers' HQ structure, a figure expected to increase sharply with the destruction of the Astrahus in Piak.

Last, but not least, comes news on CCP's War On Bots and Illicit RMT™. CCP Falcom provided the following ban statistics for 2018:

• 9502 accounts banned for hacking
• 20643 accounts banned for botting
• 14678 accounts banned for RMT related activity

In addition, CCP Burger noted during the keynote address that over 9.2 trillion ISK was confiscated in 2018.

CCP also announced alpha account changes to help combat botting. The cap on Heavy Drone Operation drops from IV to III, Medium Drone Operation from V to IV, and Drone Interfacing from IV down to III. The EVE University Wiki indicates alpha accounts will face the following effects:

• No longer able to use Tech 2 and Augmented medium drones
• Heavy drone damage drops by 5%
• Medium drone damage drops by 5%
• 10% drop in all drone damage

In addition, CCP announced plans for a revamp of the venerable Vexor Navy Issue. The VNI is used for AFK ratting, with the drone mechanics making the ship the obvious choice for null sec ratting. Also, of botters. From CCP Fozzie's presentation, I get the impression the ship itself won't receive an overall nerf. Instead, the ratio of drone to gun DPS will shift more in favor of guns. The current ship bonuses granted for each level of Gallente Cruiser are 5% to Drone tracking speed and 10% to Drone hitpoints, damage and mining yield. The new bonuses will grant the ship a very high gun tracking bonus and a bonus to active armor repair. Did I mention botters prefer shield tanking? Apparently CCP noticed as well.

The above is not a comprehensive review of the news released at EVE North. Here are a few other bullet points of news I heard in Toronto:

• The 64-bit client beta ends within the next week and 32-bit client support ends by the end of 2019.
• DirectX 12 development to begin, which allows for depreciation of DirectX 9.
• The phase-out of POS in the next few months.
• A new tether state called "mooring" may be introduced.
• Plans to improve the UI & user experience to aid retention (and help existing players).
• We overloaded the scientists infrastructure with our Project Discovery activity.
• The next Aether Wars test to occur at GamesCon.

I now have to pack up and head to the airport. I enjoyed my stay here in Canada, but I'll be honest. I'm looking forward to returning to Reykjavik in 2020.

The Trip To EVE North

Once again, I turn The Nosy Gamer into a travel blog as I attend the EVE North convention in Toronto, Canada. Who would have thought that playing a video game would get me out of the house and jetting around the world?

This year, I started off with a couple of handicaps. I've been ill and need surgery on my sinuses, which is scheduled for July. In the meantime, I have to do a couple of things in preparation, which led to carting around some prescription drugs. I discovered that is really no big deal, at least where the TSA is concerned. I also took a pretty bad fall a week ago and my bruised and scraped up my knee. No serious damage, but my knees are creaky anyway and the fall didn't improve things.

Yesterday started with finishing the packing I should have done Wednesday, but was too busy yakking on Talking in Stations about the CSM election. I was picked up from home around 11 am and whisked off to the airport. It was my first flight on American Eagle and I was impressed with the concourse for the minor operators. The bar was practically 20 steps away, but due to the medications I was taking, I couldn't order a cold one. Thankfully, I finished that prescription this morning, so I'll be able to drink starting tonight.

The flight was uneventful once we took off. Boarding, of course, was an adventure, as the flight attendants had to do the dance of finding enough room for everyone's bags. Due to the problems I have with my knees, I chose a seat in row 1. Lots of leg room, which meant I could stretch out my bad leg. Also, checked bags for business class are free, while the rest of the plane gets charged $25. Considering the difference in price each way was $50, a little cost that was totally worth it.

When we landed in Toronto, the skies had let loose with a credible impression of Niagara Falls. Did I mention I forgot to pack an umbrella? First world problems a resourceful blogger can overcome! But first, I needed to get to my hotel.

The process for transportation was standard. Find the end of the queue at the taxi stand and wait. While waiting, I met up with an expat from the UK who had flown in from Philadelphia. The poor guy was stuck in Philly for a day due to weather, and he had theater tickets. Turns out his apartment was right on the way to my hotel, so we shared the cab. I know Americans might find this hard to believe, but US currency isn't taken in Canada. So he gave me $40 of the useless (to him) paper, which saved him the trouble of exchanging the bills to real money. The ride, including the tip I gave, came out to $85 CAD. Basically, I spent $25 USD for the trip, as my credit card doesn't charge me for foreign transaction fees.

I'm staying at the One King West Hotel & Residence instead of the Marriott Delta Hotel where the event is taking place. I chose the One King West due to its location within the city, as I plan to catch a few of the sites around Toronto. Good thing I did, because while my flight arrived on-time, the storm created quite a traffic jam. By the time I checked into the hotel, most of the stores had already closed. Apparently, a lot of Toronto shuts down at 7 pm, and I really needed to pick up some distilled water (don't ask).

I received an upgrade

First, though, my room. The lady at the reception desk gave me an upgrade with a better view and better amenities. When I walked in the room, all I thought was, "Wow!". I have a kitchenette, complete with a microwave oven, dishwasher, and washer/dryer unit. The microwave comes in handy for warming up the water. I'm just not sure what I am going to do with two televisions, as I don't watch TV, even at home.

My work area

But no matter how nice the room, my life was going to become a little more miserable if I didn't acquire some distilled water. Fortunately, a quick Google search located a 24-hour grocery store an easy 5 minute walk away from the hotel. A real, honest-to-goodness, huge grocery store. So I went down to the concierge desk to borrow an umbrella, and off I went.

I bought a 4-liter bottle of distilled water plus the Canadian equivalent of Hot Pockets (because I have a microwave) and settled in for the night. The store had a sign stating "We sell beer", so I guess package liquor stores are a thing in Ontario, but as I couldn't drink last night, I passed on the opportunity.

The next step after hitting the publish button is to head over to the Delta and register for the event. I've already did a little walking around, including going a block past the Starbucks to go to a Tim Horton's. After a decent breakfast, I'm ready to do a little exploring.

Op success! pic.twitter.com/BMFyqtsrSz

— Noizy (@noizygamer) June 21, 2019