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.

A Different View Of The EVE Economy

With EVE Fanfest starting tomorrow I'd like to go back to last Friday's dev blog and address a point.

Let’s talk PLEX - the primary currency of the NES, the backbone of player-driven trading, and, for many, a long-term investment vehicle. It’s no secret that PLEX plays multiple roles in EVE, and right now, those roles are colliding in ways that we believe deserve both attention and action.

I was a little surprised to find out PLEX is the backbone of player-driven trading. Either I'm way out of touch or the development staff speaks a different language than I do. I suspect the latter.

To me, EVE Online has a player driven economy so naturally all trading is player driven. And quite frankly I suspect that most players do not use PLEX to purchase ISK to buy ships, modules, and ammunition. But that is the non-RMT economy. I highly suspect the author of the dev blog was referring to the sale of RMT tokens and items from the cash shop.

Back in August 2019 I decided to take a look at the split between the value of non-RMT items vs items acquired with real life money like PLEX, skill injectors, and SKINs. Six years ago the breakdown was 50.9% to 49.1% in favor of the traditional game economy, although the null sec blackout was in effect. With all the changes that occurred starting in 2022 the ratio is probably reversed. If the ISK velocity data is any indication, the percentage of the economy consisting purely from PLEX sales I imagine is still running around 20-25%.

In context, of course the phrase was describing transactions involving the New Eden Store. After all, the title of the article was "Evolving the NES: Mastery Packs, Expert Systems, and a Smarter PLEX Economy". 

Still, I was a little surprised at the wording. Normally players can ignore how much of the economy consists of RMT tokens. I really didn't expect CCP would come out and remind people of reality, especially right before Fanfest.

EVE Online's Trinity Graphics Engine Receives An Upgrade

Yesterday CCP Games introduced a major upgrade to its Carbon Engine. The graphics engine, known as Trinity, now utilizes a GPU-Driven Rendering Pipeline in on EVE Online's global game shard known as Tranquility. 

Revenant just got a major update, and the evolution continues. New Eden now moves faster, flows smoother, and feels more vibrant than ever. The new GPU-Driven Rendering Pipeline is now live, boosting performance and unlocking a more responsive, immersive experience for DirectX 12 and macOS. Battles unfold with greater fluidity, your ship reacts with razor-sharp precision, and the vastness of space stretches before you with even greater clarity.

This is not just an upgrade – it’s evolution in motion. With an average of 10-30% higher FPS in busy scenes, every decision, every dogfight, and every daring escape is now sharper, faster, and more thrilling than ever. And this is only the beginning, paving the way for even more graphical enhancements in the future.

The concept of the GPU-Driven Rendering Pipeline was first introduced at Fanfest 2023.

At Fanfest 2023 a future vision for some of planned changes was presented. One of these features, known as a GPU Driven Pipeline, is a technical change in the way the CPU and GPU work together. Traditionally, rendering a scene involves the CPU figuring out what to send to the GPU, and then the GPU doing the work. While the linked presentation goes into more detail, a more modern rendering pipeline allows the GPU to do more of these calculations overall, reducing the CPU overhead. This is great for a few reasons:

• EVE is often CPU-bound, meaning the CPU is the limiting factor and not the GPU. Freeing up the CPU in these situations can be very beneficial.
• A modern GPU can render more frames with this approach – it’s just simply faster due to the advances DirectX 12 (Windows) and Metal (macOS) offer with modern GPUs.
• It makes adding or changing features in the codebase easier, allowing improvements to reach capsuleers faster. In addition, it simplifies processes for artists bringing new assets to the game.

I've also embedded the video below, which should begin at the 30:04 mark.

One usually has to do a bit of searching for how CCP came up with the computation of a 10%-30% higher GPS as the result of yesterday's changes. EVE players are usually interested in details like this.

When changes are made to Trinity, a dedicated tool called “EVE Probe” is used. It has one job: to allow testing of just the rendering and audio engines. It’s a lightweight application that excludes other systems needed to play EVE Online, such as UI, network stack, or even keyboard and mouse input! This approach enables reliable performance testing outside the chaotic live server environment.

One of our most popular test scenes is called the “Cube of Death,” which has been covered in previous dev blogs. In short, the test features 1,000 evenly spaced and stationary ships. They can also shoot at each other, resulting in mesmerizing visuals! It’s proven effective for clear before-and-after performance comparisons.

The dev blog also provided performance upgrades for a selection of computer setups.

One item I do wonder about. Would CCP have gone through the labor of upgrading the Trinity graphics engine if EVE Frontier, the blockchain game currently under development, weren't also using the Carbon Engine? With both Online and Frontier using the same game engine, did CCP manage to get the crypto investors to pay for an upgrade to the original game?

Going back and watching the clip from Fanfest 2023 was a reminder than the task took around a year longer than anticipated. Unless the coding was done and the developers took 9-12 months to test and tweak the graphics engine. I like the latter thought a lot better.

I'll conclude with the conclusion from the dev blog from two weeks ago.

The move to a GPU Driven Pipeline required significant refactoring of Trinity, but it sets EVE up nicely for the development of more features, unlocking better performance, and increasing graphical fidelity in the future. You may already have seen some of these improvements in mass tests last year, such as upscaling and raytraced shadows. Although not ready for release to Tranquility yet, these tests validated the approach taken. A huge thank you goes out to everyone who participated in the tests last year and this past weekend. Your contribution really helps!

With the GPU now used more efficiently, more situations in the client will be GPU-limited (even though the overall framerate is higher). Upscaling solutions will enable even higher framerates in these scenarios. More details on that will follow in future dev blogs.

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Planetary Interaction QoL Changes

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The eight and final post will feature on changes made to planetary interaction.

Compared to the original user interface for planetary interaction, today's user experience is the height of luxury. But the latest changes are finally out of beta and live on Tranquility. Hopefully the work lives up to the description in the news article announcing the update.

Planetary Industry Enhancements

Capsuleers managing planetary colonies will enjoy major quality-of-life improvements. UI enhancements, multi-select for schematics, and the ability to reset extractors make operations smoother than ever. Hotspots will still shift over time, ensuring active management remains key to maximizing output. One of the reasons this is now moving out of beta is thanks to feedback and participation from capsuleers.

The patch notes provided a list of changes. The items with the small handshake icon are suggestions from players incorporated by the developers.

• 🤝 It’s now possible to restart extractors for a planet from the Planetary Industry window.
• To do this, the extractors need to have finished their cycle already, it cannot be done to refresh an ongoing extraction which hasn’t completed yet.
  
  
• PI Templates are no longer an opt-in feature preview and have been added as a feature for everyone.
  
  
• Several improvements have been made to the filters for PI Templates.
  
  
• Improved the search function for PI Templates.
  
  
• It’s now possible to rename PI Templates.
  
  
• Using a PI Template with a higher command center level than your character has, will now just upgrade it to your max skill level and try to add as much as it can from the template before running out of resources.
  
  
• 🤝 We now store the height of the window for each tab, so we are not constantly shrinking the windows when you switch tabs and back to them. This applies only to those tabs that do not have max height.
  
  
• 🤝 The sort order of templates is now alphabetical.
  
  
• 🤝 It’s now possible to select multiple pins by holding shift and then swap multiple schematics at once.
  
  
• The routes tab shows the short names for the pins.
  
  
• The text for the transiting routes in the 'Routes' tab is now using a secondary color.
  
  
• Added origin/destination to the 'Routes' tab.

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Factional Warfare And Pirate Insurgencies

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The seventh in the series will feature on changes made to factional warfare and pirate insurgencies.

As always, the news article provided a quick overview.

Factional Warfare: Seagulling Fix & Anti-Pirate Incentives

A critical fix is coming to Factional Warfare battlefield sites: payouts now require active participation, eliminating passive “seagulling” rewards for those who linger without engaging. This change is being tested on Battlefield sites before expanding to other areas. Additionally, anti-pirates can now claim new rewards, including valuable loot from Forward Operating Bases and roaming NPCs, increasing the stakes in Pirate Insurgencies.

Now, I think the news article may have exaggerated the changes just a tad. The changes, as short as they are in the patch notes, don't look bad.

Factional Warfare & Pirate Insurgencies:

• The Pirate FOB will now drop 1.5 billion ISK in average in loot.
  
  
• Regular pirate insurgency roaming NPCs now have a small chance to drop scorched navigation log items which can be turned in at FW LP stores in conjunction with some ISK and LP for a crate containing blueprints for new navy scanning upgrade modules.
  
  
• Rebalanced the number of pilots that get paid when completing multiplayer reward complexes. The new Schema is as follows:
• Scouts and Smalls are now NVY-2 / PIR-2
• Mediums are now NVY-3 / PIR-3
• Larges are now NVY-4 / PIR-4
• And Opens remain at paying up to 5 players before splitting the rewards.
  
  
• Players will now need to be inside a FW Battlefield site, and within 200km of the entrance beacon to the site for at least 3 minutes to get paid LP.
  
  
• Moved structures which were very close to the Amarr FW warp in for the Minmatar Battlefield so they will no longer bump off from it if trying to approach the central capture point.

I just want to point out the anti-seagulling features are just a test and may not last, or even work as intended.

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Mining Sovereignty Upgrades

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The sixth in the series will feature a subject that received a very long dev blog at the end of February: Mining Upgrades for the Equinox sovereignty system.

The news article gave a summary of the changes.

Mining Sovereignty Upgrades

Nullsec mining operations are seeing major boosts. Tier 1 and 2 mining sites now provide more ore from fewer but larger asteroids, reducing travel time and inefficiency. A new Tier 3 mining site, designed for capital-scale operations, offers enormous asteroids rich in resources. Mordunium refinement has been buffed to improve Pyerite availability, while Mercoxit yields increase across nullsec. Additionally, a new ORE deep core strip mining laser enhances efficiency for barges and exhumers, giving industrialists a powerful new tool for mining Mercoxit.

A new set of sovereignty mining upgrades were introduced in today's patch.

• New Tier 3 sovereignty mining upgrades have been added! The tier 3 mining locations are designed with Rorquals and large mining fleets in mind, with smaller numbers of asteroids but all of them are very high in volume. Each site contains just under 4x the total ore overall compared to the tier 2 mining sites.
  
  
• Tier 3 sites have a 10 hour respawn timer.
• Power Cost: 1800
• Workforce Cost: 18100
• Blueprints are available for purchase for 1 billion ISK.
  
  
• Large Veldspar Deposit
• Total site ore volume = 17,000,000 m3
  
  
• Large Mordunium Deposit
• Total site ore volume = 25,000,000 m3
  
  
• Large Kylixium Deposit
• Total site ore volume = 13,000,000 m3
  
  
• Large Griemeer Deposit
• Total site ore volume = 13,000,000 m3
  
  
• Large Nocxite Deposit
• Total site ore volume = 13,000,000 m3
  
  
• Large Hezorime Deposit
• Total site ore volume = 23,000,000 m3
  
  
• Large Ueganite Deposit:
• Total site ore volume = 16,000,000 m3

The pre-existing Tier 1 and Tier 2 also received buffs in the patch.

• The Power cost of Tier 1 and Tier 2 upgrades have been reduced by approximately 10% each.
• Tier 2 Power Cost reduced from 1350 to 1220
• Tier 1 Power Cost reduced from 500 to 450
  
  
• The Tier 2 nullsec sovereignty hub mining upgrade sites, such as the Grimeer Deposit, have been refactored so that approximately 40% of the asteroids in each site have been removed and their ore contents added to existing asteroids in the site, we have prioritized removing the lower quantity asteroids and tried to make sure there is at least one very large asteroid in each site, we’ve also compacted the asteroid belts to move more asteroids closer together.
• Additionally, after this refactor, the amount of ore in the Tier 2 sites has then also been increased by approximately 10-15%.
  
  
• This means that now, the average asteroid size in all of the sites has been significantly increased.
  
  
• The Tier 1 mining upgrade sites have also had their ore contents increased by approximately 10%.
  
  
• Increased the chance of getting the mining escalation from Tier 2 mining sites by 1.5x

Mining escalations are important and miners in player-owned null sec should be happier with the patch in that regard.

• The new Tier 3 sites have approximately 2.5x chance over the improved Tier 2 mining sites to get the mining escalation.

The devs also worked to address the mercoxit supply issues in the economy.

• We have a created a new ‘Enormous Mercoxit Deposit’ site which has 4x the amount of Mercoxit in it than the Large Mercoxit Deposit, and much larger asteroids.
• Total site ore volume = 960,000 m3
  
  
• Tier 3 mining upgrades will give a guaranteed Enormous Mercoxit Deposit into the system with a 12 hour respawn time.
  
  
• Tier 2 mining upgrades now will also give a guaranteed Large Mercoxit Deposit into the system rather than it being a chance-based spawn, which has an 8 hour respawn time.
  
  
• Tier 3 mining upgrades now also give a chance to spawn the ‘Large Mercoxit Deposit’ in addition to the guaranteed Enormous Mercoxit Deposit site.
  
  
• Tier 2 mining upgrades now also give a chance to spawn the ‘Average Mercoxit Deposit’ in addition to the guaranteed Large Mercoxit Deposit site.

The devs have also introduced new mining equipment specifically aimed at mercoxit.

• Added a new faction ORE Deep Core Strip Miner module which has 0% waste as an option for mining Mercoxit with mining barges and exhumers. It can be obtained from ORE corporation LP stores.
• Cost/Materials to Purchase:
• 37,500,000 ISK
• 56,250 LP
• 1x Modulated Deep Core Strip Miner II

Null sec will also produce more pyerite though a reprocessing change for a null sec ore.

• Increased the amount of Pyerite that Mordunium gives when reprocessed.
• Mordunium: 80 → 84
• Plum Mordunium: 84 → 88
• Prize Mordunium: 88 → 92
• Plunder Mordinium: 92 → 96

Two other items of interest.

• To help allieviate pressure on R4s and increase the value of Athanors - The magmatic gas fuel cost per hour for a Metenox Moon Drill has been increased from 110 units to 150 units.
  
  
• Most Mining sites spawned by upgrades will now persist their respawn time across downtimes (i.e. they won’t always respawn at downtime even if they were mined out at 10:59).

And finally a note from CCP Okami from his mining dev blog.

Notably we are not touching ore density of our newer Nullsec ores at this time. While we are aware of the feedback and understand the complaints with it, it’s a more complex lever to pull that touches both on reworking many of the sites from a content perspective and also puts some risk on stockpiles as well. Will this fix everything all at once? Being totally honest? Probably not. There’s no silver bullet here. And I can’t promise that this is going to be the magic change that gets it all right. However, since there are a large number of changes going out the door all at once, I want to see how these land and what their impact on our simulated universe is. I promise to be looking at data and check in with you guys every 2 weeks on the official EVE Discord. We’ll examine what levers and things we may need to keep adjusting on a monthly basis. Tending to this is an iterative thing and I think we can keep moving towards a healthier equilibrium.

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Filament Changes

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The fifth in the series will feature another nerf to fast, long distance travel through the use of filaments. 

The news article gave a very brief explanation.

Pochven Filament Changes

Tactical retreats through Pochven just got harder. Filaments now feature a spool-up time, preventing instant extractions. Additionally, their activation leaves a detectable trace on D-Scan and can be probed with combat scanners, allowing pursuit and counterplay. This is the first step in a broader look at Pochven travel mechanics.

The patch notes were equally brief.

Filaments have long been a powerful tool for both fast travel and escaping dangerous situations. The addition of a spool-up timer and scannable traces aims to add risk and enable counterplay.

The patch notes didn't reveal a complex system. Hopefully the desire for needless complexity is behind us all.

• A spool-up timer has been added to all travel filaments (Triglavian Space, Needlejack, and Ice Storm).
  
  
• A Filament Trace will appear next to the travel filament’s owner on activation:
• Nearby fleet members without capsuleer log-off timers will become linked to the trace as it appears.
• Characters will unlink from a trace if they cloak, change ship, or go beyond 30km of the trace.
• A link cannot be reestablished once broken.
• If the filament’s owner unlinks from the trace, it immediately closes.
• Traces can be scanned with combat probes or d-scan.
  
  
• After the spool-up completes, the filament’s owner can jump all characters which remain linked to it:
• Warp disrupted players will not be jumped.
• Filament owners will be given a confirmation prompt if characters will be left behind.
• Traces will close after 15 minutes have passed since it first appeared.
  
  
• Travel filaments can no longer be used on a deadspace grid.

The patch notes did provide a table with the spool-up times for filaments:

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Ship Balancing

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The fourth in the series will feature balance changes to specific ships and classes of ships.

According to the news article announcing today's patch, address complaints for nerfs to your favorite ships to the Council of Stellar Management.

Following discussions at the latest CSM summit, several ship balance adjustments have been made. Heavy interdiction cruisers can now fit cynosural field generators, adding new strategic options for fleet commanders. Also, ECM burst jammer restrictions have been tightened to prevent unintended abuse.

In addition to listing the changes, the patch notes also explained why certain ships received the nerfs or buffs in today's patch.

Eos

We’re making some adjustments to the Eos to specifically target the amount of damage and tracking that it has with sentry drones, while avoiding nerfing regular drone fits. This makes it more similar to the Ishtar which also has lower bonuses for sentry drones.

• 10% bonus to drone damage and hitpoints per level of Gallente battlecruiser has now been split into 2 separate bonuses.
• 10% bonus to heavy drone, medium drone, and light drone hitpoints and damage.
• 5% bonus to sentry drone damage and hitpoints.
  
  
• 7.5% bonus to drone tracking per level of command ships has now been split into 2 separate bonuses.
• 7.5% bonus to heavy drone, medium drone and light drone tracking.
• 5% bonus to sentry drone tracking.

Orca

The Orca had a higher align time than the Rorqual, so we are correcting this by giving it a significant buff to agility which should have it now be more comparable to the Rorqual and a reinforced bulkhead fitted Bowhead. We need to be careful not to obsolete Freighters, Deep Space Transports as hauling platforms but we feel like we can make this change now since both of those classes are also receiving warp speed boosts at the same time.

Taking into the account the 25% warp speed buff that it is getting, it should feel significantly more mobile when travelling between systems and mining locations.

• Agility multiplier improved from 2.6x to 2.0x

All other changes

• Heavy Interdiction Cruisers
• All HICs can now fit the regular Cynosural Field Generator.
  
  
• Interdictors
• Reduced the web strength of the Stasis Webification Probes launched by Interdictors from 40% to 20%, to reduce how effective they are against brawlers and sig tanking fleet compositions.
  
  
• Burst Jammers (ECM Burst)
• Can now only be fitted to Battleship Hulls, Hauler Hulls and Command Ships.
  
  
• A009 C13 Wormholes reduced lifetime from 16h to 4.5h.

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Warp Speed Changes

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The third in the series will feature changes to warp speed affecting nearly all ships in the game.

The news article about the update gave a brief description of the change. 

Warp speeds across ship classes are being standardized for more consistent travel mechanics and better fleet balance. Heavy assault cruisers (HACs) will see a slight warp speed reduction to align with their Tech I counterparts, while specialized ships will retain their warp bonuses where appropriate for their roles.

The patch notes went further into why the developers made the change.

Overtime, we’ve adjusted and rebalanced different ship class warp speeds, most recently in 2019 and they are now fairly inconsistent with some ships like Heavy Assault Cruisers having the same warp speed as Stealth Bomber Frigates and Tech 1 Destroyers, while industrial ships such as haulers and mining barges which are also the same size (M) are slower than some battleships.

This can make it difficult for new players to understand the relationship of warp speeds between different size classes of ships and Tech II ships currently have faster warp speeds than Tech I ships, even when it doesn’t always make sense for their specialized role, like the above-mentioned heavy assault cruisers warping faster than regular cruisers. Tech II ships from the size above are also competing with the tech I and navy size below for warp speeds, which makes it is harder to justify bringing smaller classes of ships. This also contributes to unhealthy ‘force projection’ since stronger, more powerful ships, are also able to cross the universe faster.

I also suspect that the reduction of 13 ship categories down to 7 might help the game code run more efficiently, but that's just a guess.

Warp speeds - new vs old

• Grouped up all ships based on their size, such as Small, Medium, Large and Capital. Removing the 10% or +0.5AU/s bonus from Tech II ships.
  
  
• Ships that are slightly bigger than this size category, such as Destroyers for small, Battlecruisers and Haulers for Medium etc. are placed in a plus sized group.
• This leaves us with just 7 base warp speed tiers rather than the current 13!
  
  
• Tech II ships which need the increased warp speed for performing their specialization, such as Interceptors and Interdictors, have been given role bonuses to warp speed to keep their current warp speeds about the same while making these ships easier to identify for new players.
  
  
• The Net result from these changes are that Titans, Freighters, Mining Barges, Exhumers, Haulers will now warp 10-15% faster, The Porpoise and the Orca get improvements of 25-30% and most Tech II ships which are not specialized will warp slightly slower.
  
  
• Additionally, Capsules will now warp at 4.0 AU/s to match cruisers, which is what they did before the 2019 warp speed increase for Cruisers.
• We are not buffing the warp speed of corvettes at this time, which still warp at 3.0 AU/s, to make sure we do not obsolete shuttles and tech I frigates as travel options.

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Ansiblex Gates And Force Projection

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The second in the series will feature changes to Ansiblex Gates designed to affect force projection.

The news article about the update gave a brief description of the change.

Force Projection Adjustments

Ansiblex jump gates are becoming more vulnerable, creating new strategic opportunities for those looking to disrupt enemy logistics. Capsuleers using these gates will now land closer upon arrival, making them easier to intercept. Additionally, Ansiblex gates will no longer auto-repair and must be actively repaired like Metenox moon drills. Warp disruptors and interdiction bubbles will now prevent gate use, further limiting force projection and making nullsec movement more tactical.

The description in the patch notes was a bit more expansive.

We’re making a number of changes to Ansiblex Bridges to limit their force projection power. We’re doing that primarily through giving players more agency by making them more difficult or dangerous to use in contested space, removing the damage cap and requiring them to be manually repaired just like Metenox Moon drills, and requiring new Ansiblex bridges to be placed off grid from stargates to make scouting from the gate harder, rather than introducing new systems or mechanics which limits their use such as jump fatigue.

Our goal with these changes is to make sure nullsec line members and sov holders are still able to use Ansiblex bridges to access the core space that their alliance controls, so that they can still efficiently do daily activities such as mining, ratting, PI, Mercenary Dens, refueling and logistics work without impeding them with a system like fatigue. While opening up more gameplay options to counter force projection, such as delaying responses and fleets with defensive Interdictor and bubble usage, making them more dangerous through increasing the ability for players to setup traps like bombing runs and pipebombs, and to give more options to raiders and roaming gangs by making them easier to camp, and increasing the burden of maintaining distant Ansiblex gates outside of the alliances core space.

I was wondering if anyone would mention the fatigue mechanic introduced in the Phoebe release. If not for fatigue, Phoebe would have gone down in history as the release that brought players the expanded skills queue.

Since the developers went to great lengths to explain the changes I'll just conclude with the details from the patch notes.

Ansiblex Gates & Force Projection:

Ansiblex Jump Gates

• It’s no longer possible to use an Ansiblex while warp disrupted or inside a bubble.
• Ansiblex Jump Gates have been renamed to Ansiblex Jump Bridges for more clarity on not being able to use them while warp disrupted anymore.
  
  
• Reduced the Radius attribute on the Ansiblex Jump Bridge from 13,000m to 7,000m.
• This will mean that it now takes up much less volume/area in space and will be easier to camp with warp disruptors and bubbles.
  
  
• Ansiblex Bridges no longer auto-repair, no longer have a damage cap and now use the same reinforcement flow as Metenox Moon Drills.
• Ansiblex HP values and resistances have been rebalanced following this change, to provide an increase to their total EHP while giving them higher resistances and lower flat HP to make them easier to remote repair for logistics pilots.
• Shield HP and Armor reduced from 750,000 HP to 500,000 HP.
• (Note: These are increased by 4x when it is high power).
• Shield and Armor Resistances increased from 20% to 75%.
• Structure Hitpoints increased from 3,000,000 HP to 12,000,000 HP.
  
  
• Ansiblex Bridges can no longer be placed closer than 100,000km to stargates.
• Existing Ansiblex Bridges will be grandfathered into their current locations, but once destroyed, they will need to be placed at least 100,000km away from the nearest stargate to be replaced.

Revenant Major Update Patch Notes: Mercenary Dens, Industry, And Taxes

I woke up this morning to find when CCP Games labels something as major, they are not joking around. Today's Revenant Major Update for EVE Online features quite a few topics that deserve their own posts. The first in the series will feature industry topics, including one not mentioned in the news article.

The developers gave a brief description of the changes in the introductory news article:

Industrial Overhaul

Manufacturing capital ships and Tech I battleships is now cheaper, reducing the resource strain and making fleet deployments more feasible. Lower costs mean less risk when bringing these hulls to battle, reinforcing their role in fleet warfare.

One item not mentioned explicitly outside the patch notes is the rise of the sales tax from 4% to 7.5%. Sales taxes are automatically deducted after an item is sold, but are mitigated by the Accounting skill. For each level of Accounting learned, the sales tax is reduced by 11%, meaning at level 5, the sales tax is only 3.4%. For those who sell PLEX to fund their PvP habit, I'd advise training Accounting to 5 if the skill is not already at that level.

Mercenary Dens received the following changes during downtime today:

• Mercenary Dens base Infomorph generation has been lowered from 80-115 (avg 100) to 65-100 (avg 82.5).
  
  
• MTOs now only give 350 bonus infomorphs instead of 500 when completing a MTO for a max development mercenary den.
  
  
• Existing MTOs which have already been generated will still give 500 bonus Infomorphs.
  
  
• The Development levels of Mercenary Dens have been decreased to the following:
• Development 1, 5%.
• Development 2, 10%.
• Development 4, 15%.
• Development 5, 20%.

Tech 1 Dread production just became less resource intensive. The following reductions should show up on all blueprints.

Revelation:

• Capital Propulsion Engines required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Armor Plates required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Ship Maintenance Bays required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Turret Hardpoints required have been reduced from 20 to 15.
• Capital Siege Array required have been reduced from 20 to 15.

Phoenix:

• Capital Propulsion Engines required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Shield Emitters required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Ship Maintenance Bays required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Turret Hardpoints required have been reduced from 20 to 15.
• Capital Siege Array required have been reduced from 20 to 15.

Moros:

• Capital Sensor Clustes required have been reduced from 4 to 3.
• Capital Armor Plates required have been reduced from 4 to 3.
• Capital Propulsion Engines required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Ship Maintenance Bays required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Turret Hardpoints required have been reduced from 20 to 15.
• Capital Siege Array required have been reduced from 20 to 15.

Naglfar:

• Capital Shield Emitters required have been reduced from 4 to 3.
• Capital Computer Systems required have been reduced from 4 to 3.
• Capital Propulsion Engines required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Ship Maintenance Bays required have been reduced from 5 to 4.
• Capital Turret Hardpoints required have been reduced from 20 to 15.
• Capital Siege Array required have been reduced from 20 to 15.

Tech 1 battleships also received a 25% decrease to input materials.

• Tritanium required has been reduced from 8,000,000 to 5,200,000.
• Pyerite required has been reduced from 4,000,000 to 2,600,000.
• Mexallon required has been reduced from 600,000 to 390,000.
• Isogen required has been reduced from 200,000 to 130,000.
• Nocxium required has been reduced from 24,000 to 15,600.
• Zydrine required has been reduced from 6,000 to 3,900.
• Megacyte required has been reduced from 3,000 to 1,950.
• Auto-Integrity Presevation Seals required has been reduced from 200 to 150.
• Life Support Backup Unit required has been reduced from 100 to 75.

In addition, the tech 2 Scorpion also received a 25% decrease to input materials.

• Tritanium required has been reduced from 6,000,000 to 3,900,000.
• Pyerite required has been reduced from 3,000,000 to 1,950,000.
• Mexallon required has been reduced from 450,000 to 292,500.
• Isogen required has been reduced from 150,000 to 97,500.
• Nocxium required has been reduced from 18,000 to 11,700.
• Zydrine required has been reduced from 4,500 to 2,925
• Megacyte required has been reduced from 2,250 to 1,463.
• Auto-Integrity Presevation Seals required has been reduced from 150 to 112.
• Life Support Backup Unit required has been reduced from 75 to 56.

All capital ships, not just dreads, also receive a manufacturing buff as the input materials for Capital Components also decreased by 25%.

Finally, two additional updates I couldn't categorize.

• Combat Battlecruisers and Attack Battlecruisers have had their reprocessed materials updated to the same inputs as the blueprint, so they will now have more accurate (higher) insurance payouts.
  
  
• The Estimated Item Value for multiple items in the game in the manufacturing cost breakdown should now more accurately reflect the value of the finished product.

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.

A Look At The Active ISK Delta In February 2025

On Friday CCP Games released the February 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.

Economic Summary

• Production Value has seen a significant increase (11.2%) in February.
• Mining Value has been steady during the February Period, after 3 months of strong growth.
• Bounties has seen a 16% increase over February, while the commodity ISK faucet has been steady.
• The MPI has been steady!

As noted on Friday, February only has 28 days compared to January's 31 days. One would think, all things being equal, all the numbers should have declined. Unless, of course, the summary above is based on daily and not monthly numbers.

Month over month comparisons of explosions by security band

The month-over-month rise in bounties combined with a 7.9% decrease in NPC kills (7.1% in null sec) indicates bounties received a pretty big buff. No wonder players were moving from mining to ratting in null sec.

But while bounties increased, the Active ISK Delta recorded a historic figure, at least in terms of raw ISK. The 80.4 trillion ISK removed from the EVE economy due to the net departure and returning to the game of players was the 4th most since January 2017.

All months with Active ISK Delta value less than -75 trillion ISK

But as I mentioned last month I need to look at the Active ISK Delta differently as the money supply has more than doubled over the last 8 years. So when I look at the percentage of the money supply due to players leaving and returning to the game, I see a different picture.

All months where Active ISK Delta was 5% or more of money supply

The 3.3% of the game's ISK exiting the money supply last month placed February 2025 in 27th place out of the 98 months I have records for the Active ISK Delta since January 2017.

Using the percentage of the money supply removed produces a bit of a different analysis. For example, year-over-year the Active ISK Delta changed from 75.3 trillion ISK removed from the economy in February 2024 to 80.4 trillion ISK removed in February 2025.

Looking at the Active ISK Delta with seasonal effects and inflation minimized

Using percentage of the money supply as the metric, the Active ISK Delta actually improved YoY, from -3.6% in February 2024 to -3.3% last month. Don't get me wrong, ideally for those wishing for more people to play with, the higher over the average line shown in the above graphic, the better. While the trend is not spiraling into a failure cascade and the heat death of the EVE universe, the devs do have reason to try to make changes like the upcoming "Revenant Major Update" due to release on Wednesday.

I haven't completed all my conversions to the percentage of the money supply yet, but hope to have all my charts updated in time for the March MER. I realize I'm only looking at 8 years of data out of EVE Online's 22 years of existence. But even during that time the money supply has grown approximately 140% and I need to try to account for the effects of that monetary growth if I wish to make comparisons stretching back more than 2 or 3 years. 

Also hopefully readers won't mind too much if I use this post to address issues other than the Active ISK Delta. The AID is just part of the overall money supply and the summary in the February MER did point to news affecting the growth of ISK in the game. And unless I come up with additional posts about the MER, posts about the Active ISK Delta are just the most relevant form I have to discuss the MER.

A Look At EVE Online Activity In February 2025

February has come and gone and EVE Online is still running. A positive result given CCP Games spent the past month posting about all the technological changes the company made over the past year or so. But is the news the developers are still working hard to upgrade the game translating to increased player activity? Or at least, not hurting?

As always I begin with a look at Jester's average concurrent users chart. The seven-day moving average dropped below 22,000 average users at the beginning of the month but rose up to around 23,000 average users by the end of February. The 30-day average reflected the increased login activity by a small amount indicating a positive mid-term trend. But does that mean players out in space or are they just spinning their ships in the station having forgotten where to find the undock button?

The raw totals are misleading

The raw totals might leave one who doesn't look at the calendar to believe activity really fell off in February. But observant readers will note February had 3 fewer days than January this year. Taking the daily average instead of monthly totals, we can see EVE is not dying any faster than normal.

The daily average totals for February

The average number of NPCs killed by players, while down from historical measures, did rise by 2.9% month-over-month. 

Year-over-year data from Dotlan Maps

Next I looked at the year-over-year data and found something concerning. After 8 months and two null sec heavy expansions, yes player ship losses are up 5.1% YoY. But the number of NPCs players are killing is down 3.3% compared to February 2024. Sure, last year February had one extra day, but we were told in a dev blog last week that the mineral price index skyrocketed due to players abandoning mining for ratting.

The number of rats killed in null sec has decreased since July

The Equinox sov system launched in June 2024 with the Equinox expansion. In the launch month an average of 7,275,132 NPCs exploded in null sec at the hands of players each day. Last month, the average had fallen to 6,360,389, or a 12.6% drop since the launch of Equinox sov 8 months ago.

Perhaps I am not looking at the same statistics as the game's designers. If the mineral price index jumped because of the sov changes, I would expect the number of NPCs exploding in null sec to increase, not decrease. 

For now I want to read Wilhelm's take on the February monthly economic report before going any further. Of course, he announced he was going to cease looking at the destruction numbers, but maybe he'll have other insights on ISK faucets like NPC bounties that will help me make sense of things. Because I really don't want to conclude that CCP is back to the bad old days of misinterpreting the data.

What Went Wrong With EVE Online's Equinox Sov Mining

On Friday CCP Games published a dev blog about mining. In recent years the company moved away from putting an individual employee's name on a dev blog in an effort to avoid a hostile player base descending on the author blaming them for all the game's ills. But the mining dev blog was published under the name CCP Okami. I did a little research and confirmed that CCP Okami is a real individual and not an artificial construct designed to attract fire away from the rest of the developers. Although drawing player anger may indeed be included in the duties of the Game Design Director on EVE Online. Here are the duties the job encompasses:

• Collaborating with the Creative Director: They work closely with the Creative Director to understand and translate the design intent into actionable work for the team.
• Leading the Design Team: They lead a team of system, technical, mission, and level designers, ensuring the quality and timely delivery of documentation, levels, UI changes, gameplay tuning, and balancing.
• Maintaining Communication: They maintain communication and consistency with art, audio, and feature teams to ensure a cohesive game design.
• Incorporating Feedback: They incorporate feedback from Live Ops and Production teams to align with the Creative Director’s vision.
• Working with Monetization Team: They integrate monetization designs into core mechanics.
• Ensuring Quality: They are responsible for driving high-quality feature implementation within the game vision and desired game “feel”

CCP Okami started working at CCP Games in February 2024, meaning they are the veteran of two expansions, Equinox and Revenant. An important note as the mineral price index spiked with the launch of Revenant in November 2024.

From the January 2025 Monthly Economic Report

I want to address what appears a terminology issue. Equinox is both an expansion and the name of the feature set the developers implemented to drive gameplay under "Equinox sov". I believe during the dev blog CCP Okami is referring to the entire sovereignty gameplay system.

So, what happened to produce that big spike in the mineral price index with the launch of Revenant? One factor was the developers' wish to bring flexibility to player-owned null sec. Some of the goals included:

• We wanted to give Nullsec more flexibility and choice. 
• We needed to make sure that more flexibility was balanced against the rest of the universe. 
• We needed to account for different play styles. 
• We wanted to make beautiful, science fiction space rocks for you to enjoy. 

The goals sound nice. The implementation possibly left something to be desired. According to CCP Okami, the devs made the following changes to implement flexibility.

• We introduced Tier 1 and Tier 2 mining Upgrades that allowed Sovereignty system owners to choose which ore types spawned in their owned space. 
• We made more ores available in Nullsec, with greater amounts of flexibility and choice via. Sov Hub Upgrades. 
• We introduced new ores in these sites that were curated for Equinox’s flexibility. 
• The sites had more asteroids with lower amounts and low to medium volume. 

At this point I think CCP Okami was a bit confusing with the use of the terms ore and minerals, which might have resulted from the editing process. For years the devs worked to make each security band dominant in certain minerals. With Equinox sov mechanics that separation disappeared, at least for player-owned null sec. The minerals removed from ores in high and low security space would not return at the same time. So in theory, the mineral supply should increase. So what happened?

A major problem was the creation of the new Equinox mining upgrades. The design challenge was to make cherry-picking the valuable ore and leaving the lower-value ores until last a memory. With the seven sets of sites the dev team created for Equinox sov they had two design priorities.

1. They needed to get the majority of their value from a single mineral type, as their site was meant to be a specific Upgrade choice an organization made for their system. This could mean being 100% made up of that one mineral or being mostly made up of that mineral with a few traces of some others. 
   
   
2. They needed an appropriate ISK/m3 value to be placed in large quantities in sites that would spawn in large numbers (ie. they needed to be a fairly standard ore, not a super special jackpot ore) 

I do want to point out that CCP hired CCP Okami in February 2024, long before the resource distribution update of 2020 which divided minerals into security bands. So instead of putting minerals back into ore, the developers created five new types of ores specific to spawned sites in null security space. I guess the designers were focusing on improving null security space and forgot actions in one area of space impact the entire game. CCP Okami's rundown of the issues that cropped up leads me to that conclusion.

The first is that we couldn’t fully anticipate the correct distribution and choices of Upgrades and sites across the universe and what total percentage of maximum ore volume generated by the sites per day would be mined. That had a significant impact on how the overall value of these sites was being calculated and has led to a clear impact in how minerals are being mined. Next, many of these sites were actually balanced to be more valuable than previous sites. However, due to how the rocks were distributed and placed in the sites it meant that there was also an increase in micromanagement, effort and labor which leads to both a tangible felt decrease in value and a shift in paradigm that’s been regarded as a confusing change. This was done to both try and support a broader variety of playstyles and also for some aesthetic factors.

I want to state that the design goal, in a broad sense, to support a broader variety of playstyles succeeded. But mining playstyles? Not so much.

Another unintended challenge that arose is that effectively when it comes to choosing an activity in Nullsec, the ISK/hour and relative effort of ratting makes it an obvious choice in comparison to mining which has higher labor and, in some cases, offers lower ISK/hour. This has driven more people away from mining and into ratting, which means that our estimates on mining value are off even more, since we weren’t accounting for this shift in work.

The change in the size of asteroids highly contributed to the increase in labor. From my perspective from mining in low sec for years, the smaller asteroid size also means paying more attention to the mechanics of mining and less to things like observing the environment and detecting possible threats. Not an issue for fleets, but for solo or small-gang mining, possibly an issue.

My well-known allergy to bubbles kept me from thinking of the final issue EVE's Game Design Director mentioned.

Finally, we’re able to start measuring the real impact of the Metenox in the game ecosystem more thoroughly, which highlights some unintended side effects and challenges. The high ROI of Metenox's in lower and mid-tier moons, combined with its inability to extract regular ores, has contributed to the current increase in the Pyerite price, as moon mining is no longer able to supply the market with that ore.

A funny thing about the mineral affected by the 2020 resource distribution play: pyerite and mexallon. They were not included in the redistribution, at least not directly.

How the devs rearranged distribution in 2020

Is there an institutional disregard for pyerite as a common mineral? I also don't know if the 2020 changes removed ore from null sec high in pyerite, meaning the Metenox change had a far greater impact than it would in pre-2020 New Eden.

CCP Okami also addressed another issue: messaging.

I also want to touch on our messaging. I want to acknowledge that we didn’t do a great job of conveying the vision of Equinox to you all and leaned in on things like “rejuvenating” or “more wealth”, which is confusing when things don’t feel like they’re lining up that way for the average person playing out there. Our goals were more around flexibility and self-sustainability, as well as creating long-term systemic levers that we could develop onto for years to come. We definitely learned a lesson here, and we’ll work on better rolling out and being transparent with our feature visions in the future. 

I will admit I like the idea of developers striving to produce better communications. I can recall other times, like during the Chaos Era, where providing information to players about development goals was considered a bad thing. Perhaps I've spent too much time playing Final Fantasy XIV and listening to Yoshi-P try to keep the player-base informed about upcoming developments. But I really prefer openness in development where possible.

Finally, I'd like to end with a conclusion CCP Okami came to about the whole experience.

Hindsight is 20/20 and we can totally see where we made our missteps. While the intention was sound, our hypotheses and estimates didn’t work out and lead us to our high MPI that we have today. I personally have a lot of learning around how to better work with you folks around messaging our intentions around big, systemic reworks and I’m going to be way more in touch with you all as we roll out changes and updates like this. 

The Drifter Crisis Of 2025 - Updates To The Patch Notes And Lore

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

- Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

I'm a little disconnected from events in EVE Online. I just tend to my planetary industry, carryout public courier contracts when available, and play the Project Discovery mini-game. Other PvE content does exist, such as the current live event in EVE called "The Drifter Crisis". We are three weeks into the event so perhaps an update is in order.

One of the elements I appreciate, even if I don't participate, is the mixing of game changes into the lore. So, for example, a player victory over a Vigilant Dreamer in Tash-Murkon resulted in an upgrade in player capabilities.

Using telemetry gathered during the Vigilant Dreamer’s destruction in Tash-Murkon, the Society of Conscious Thought has been able to synthesize new upgrades for Crisis response fleets. Targeting computer modifications and improved hyperspace tracking methodologies will ensure Vigilant Dreamers remain available for assault as long as they are in a system.

Okay, the reality is probably a little different. The devs probably needed to adjust some timing features to give players more time to engage the big bosses in the fights. But the lore spin makes the adjustment sound cooler. Especially since the players involved in the Tash-Murkon battle are now enshrined in the lore.

Three weeks into the event and New Eden has changed, at least in Empire space. First, the patch notes from 5-12 February concerning the event.

Patch Notes for 2025-02-05.1

Balancing: Drifter Crisis

• Influence has been adjusted:
• Removed Influence loss when failing certain Crisis sites
• Increased Influence gained when completing Crisis sites
• 'Crisis Resolution: Vigilant Dreamer' sites will only appear if at least 2 days have passed within a Crisis system
  
  
• Greatly increased the number of Observatory Spectrography items found within 'Crisis: Observatory Infiltration' sites
  
  
• Added a 30-minute failure timer which will start during a lockdown if the short lockdown timer modifier is not active within a 'Crisis: Observatory Infiltration' site
  
  
• Roaming NPCs within Drifter Crisis systems will no longer attack capsules

Patch Notes for 2025-02-06.1

Drifter Crisis:

• Added a Patient Beacon which will spawn within a 'Crisis: Observatory Infiltration' site when the lockdown defense fleet modifier is active.
• This object can be hacked to disable the defense fleet from appearing during a lockdown.
  
  
• Added a minimum amount of contribution capsuleers will need to meet to be considered for a 'Crisis: Observatory Infiltration' site's payout.
  
  
• Added an Info Panel objective which states if the site is in lockdown within the acceleration gate area of a 'Crisis: Observatory Infiltration' site.

Patch Notes for 2025-02-11.1

Drifter Crisis:

• Remove the failure timer from ‘Crisis Resolution: Vigilant Dreamer’ sites.
  
  
• Decreasing the rate of Influence decay over time within high-security Crisis systems.
• Influence can now be gained incrementally within certain Crisis sites.
  
  
• For example, successfully hacking a Drifter Collection will now give a share of that site’s influence rather than all on completion.
  
  
• Only players within 100km of a Crisis site’s focal point will be considered eligible for payouts. The focal points are as follows:
• Crisis: Field Rescue — The celestial beacon.
• Crisis: Observatory Infiltration — The Unmoored Jovian Observatory.
• Crisis: Deathless Research Outpost — The Wormhole Research Outpost.
• Crisis: Lancer Counter Offensive — The Destructive Scrutinizer.
• Crisis Resolution: Vigilant Dreamer — The Vigilant Dreamer.
  
  
• Increasing the maximum number of sites available within each Crisis system.

And what does the lore say about the major players in the event?

Amarr

Following the player's victory in Tash-Mukon, the home system of Empress Catiz I, the factions had the following reactions. First, the Empress:

“Almost nine and a half years ago, my predecessor was assassinated by a fleet of the same profane monstrosities that plague our heavens once more,” The Empress began, “They dared to try usurp our Lord’s will and challenge our faith. Well, the faithful have risen to that challenge like a righteous flame! In these skies, as in Kobam and in Anath, we have proved that none can stand against us!”

Next the opposition, which in typical Amarr fashion is all the other royal houses:

Lord Tunir Tash-Murkon, heir and head of House Tash-Murkon, welcomed the empresses' words, adding his gratitude for the support of the other Heirs during this trying time. The other Royal Houses have historically held mixed sentiments towards the Tash-Murkon. Their Udorian heritage and pragmatic economic approach have caused some members of the Holder caste to join militant terrorist organizations like the Disciples of Purity (formerly Purity of the Throne) rather than acknowledge Empress Catiz Tash-Murkon I as their ruler. Today, not a single negative sentiment could be found in print regarding the House as people took to the streets to celebrate across the Empire. Lord Arim Ardishapur even went as far as to call their victory “a sign of divine purpose”, going on to say that “in this time of conflict, we are blessed to have an Empress from such a resilient people.”

Caldari

The Caldari did suffer a setback in Fuskunen but chose to focus on their successes.

Chairman Akimaka Saraki has once again commended State forces and capsuleers alike for their successes in Ichinumi, Silen, and Ruvas. “Swift in their response, our loyal ships were the first to force a Drifter retreat. A unified and disciplined response with capsuleer support has proven once more to be the key that unlocks triumph.” Megacorporations Lai Dai, Sukuuvestaa, and Hyasyoda joined the chairman in his praise as their stations within the affected systems were able to return to business as usual. Saraki commented that, “When faced with an outside threat, there are no factions, only Caldari.”

Minmatar

The Minmatar system of Hadozeko was hit hard by the Drifters. While the factional warfare facilities survived relatively unscathed, the tribes on the system's planets were not so fortunate. The overall political impact of the Drifter attacks was rather muffled compared to those of the Amarr.

Despite their initial lack of preparation, an incredible effort by Minmatar forces and their capsuleer allies was more than enough to defeat the Drifters first in Geffur, then in Nein. Sanmatar Maleatu Shakor has cited these victories as “proof of the importance of tribal unity.” Thukker Chief Ennar Aeboul who has been openly critical of the Republic’s response declined to comment.

Gallente

I don't want to say anything about the way Gallente fight, but I really wouldn't take a drone boat in against Drifters. Then again, perhaps my way of thinking is archaic.

The first to warn of the coming Crisis, the Gallente Federation has suffered most greatly as it unfolds. The systems of Hare, Niballe, and Gererique all experienced significant losses despite capsuleers' best efforts. President Celes Aguard has called once more for capsuleers to “join us in standing up for liberty. These invaders openly call themselves tyrants, they must not be allowed to harm our citizens. Even now they attack us once more in Nausschie, Ravarin, and Uphene. It is up to us to secure the future of our democracy, our liberty, against these aggressors.”

Then again, perhaps the uproar over an “irresponsible” Niballe mindclash tournament whose fans disrupted evacuation efforts shows the Gallente sometimes don't have their priorities in order.

Society of Conscious Thought

The SoCT took over the Jove's role as the provider of advanced technology years ago.

Using telemetry gathered during the Vigilant Dreamer’s destruction in Tash-Murkon, the Society of Conscious Thought has been able to synthesize new upgrades for Crisis response fleets. Targeting computer modifications and improved hyperspace tracking methodologies will ensure Vigilant Dreamers remain available for assault as long as they are in a system.

The Drifters

And as players wouldn't have direct knowledge of Drifter plans and motivations, the Society speaks for them through their intelligence network.

At the same time, however, SOCT intel indicates that Drifters are committing to more persistent Vigilant Dreamer deployments. Dreamers are now expected to remain in system until they have completed their task or are destroyed in the attempt. This will mean no more retreats by Drifter forces as long as their Vigilant Dreamers remain operational.

The SOCT has also observed a spike in Drifter hyperspace communication traffic throughout the Amarr Empire simultaneous with drops in traffic throughout Gallente space. These changes followed the recent successes against the Drifters in Amarr space, along with uninterrupted streams from Drifter sites in Federation space.

At the end of January the number of players logged into EVE was in decline. When Jester's next ACU graph is published I'll be interested to see if these changes had any effects on the activity in New Eden.