Playing Eve Too Long Or Just Tired?

Too much work, not enough sleep, and playing Eve Online can lead to some strange thoughts.  At work, my group is apparently a little bit short-staffed in the U.S. time zone and I was talking with someone who was reading through a bunch or resumes.  He explained some of the plans, and I thought, "can't we just hire Pandemic Legion in the meantime?"  Thankfully, I didn't say it out loud.

Fly Drunk - CCP Soundwave's Latest Eve Radio Interview

Eve Radio and DJ Funky Bacon's interviews with The Mittani and Dianabolic in the wake of the dismantling of the Band of Brothers alliance are probably what convinced me to take up Eve Online.  Not only because of the player-driven story, but I was amazed that Eve had a fan-run radio station.  I had to be a part of that world.

I've listened to a lot of music over the last two years and due to the influence of Eve Radio I no longer just listen to country music.  Lately, I'm getting a lot of my Eve Online news from listening to Eve Radio.  During the Monoclegate crisis DJ Funky Bacon had members of the CSM on for two Fridays plus put out a podcast with coverage of the press conference CCP held for Eve fan sites.  On Tuesday, Voices From The Void made its Eve Radio debut on its new 1600 GMT slot, giving Eve Radio a news show for the first time since I've been listening.

But the surprise may have been DJ RezRadgrif scoring an interview with CCP Soundwave on his show last Thursday.  DJ RezRadgrif booked the interview before the launch of Incarna, so this may have been a fortuitous occasion for CCP Soundwave to get out into the public again.  And with DJ RezRadgrif's main character flying with Dirt Nap Squad, we had an interviewer familiar with some of the issues in the game today.

I think that CCP Soundwave was a bit taken aback when DJ RezRadgrif asked him to introduce himself, but given some of the confusion I've read over his role, I thought the question was appropriate.  CCP Soundwave is the lead developer of the Flying in Space part of Eve as well as retaining the lead of Team BFF.  After the introduction, DJ RezRadgrif started taking questions from the audiance.

Since CCP Soundwave is the head of Flying in Space, no one asked him about Walking in Stations, right?  C'mon, this is an Eve Radio audience.  Of course they asked about Incarna.  When asked his opinion about Incarna, CCP Soundwave said he thought that Incarna was "really, really cool" but didn't really fit his play-style as he is not one of those players who obsesses for hours getting his avatar just right.  However, he is looking forward to establishments coming out so he can visit a casino and play poker or look at a corporate headquarters.

When asked about whether members of corporations or alliances under a wardec could fight in stations, the answer was no.  Physical fighting like that is kind of uncapsuleer-like.  Just having someone come in and shooting everyone would be "retarded".  Stations are gentlemenly space and outside the stations pilots can do whatever they want.

He also compared the changes coming to Eve to Radiohead.  He liked the group when they first came out, but now that he's old (about to turn 30) he doesn't really understand the latest music they publish.  That probably wasn't the greatest analogy, but his point was that games change over time and to expect that a game, especially an MMO, not to change is a bit unrealistic.

When asked by clothes are not destroyed when a player is podded, he turned to his dislike of the clone system in Eve.  "The clone system is a way to punish players who come home drunk on a Friday night and forget to update their clone."  Having to remember to take off your clothes before getting in your ship is in the same vein.  "It's just being dicks to people."  In other words, CCP Soundwave doesn't want to punish drunks.  Sounds like he endorses flying drunk, or, more likely, has flown drunk on many, many occasions.

CCP Soundwave also stated that CCP is not holding back any Incarna features to compete with the release dates of other games (i.e. Star Wars: The Old Republic).  The releases of other games don't really affect Eve so CCP has no incentive to do so.  New features will be released as they are ready.

Not all the questions focused on Walking in Stations.  He was asked about when we could see new ships like T3 frigates.  CCP Soundwave stated that while tech 3 is the obvious route to take with new ships, he did not have a time frame on when the next ship would appear.  At the end of the interview, DJ RezRadgrif asked a Dirt Nap Squad type question: would CCP consider a larger version of the stealth bomber based on a battlecruiser hull?  The answer to that was that such a ship should really be a battleship-class hull.  CCP Soundwave is thinking of changing the black ops ships to fit that type of anti-capital stealth bomber type role.

Another hot topic was engine trails.  Apparently CCP tried to get them into Incarna but the turret upgrade just took too much time.  He would be very surprised if engine trails did not make an appearance in the winter release.me in this winter.

When asked whether CCP and he personally had anything against hybrid weapons, CCP Soundwave revealed that he had been abused by hybrids as a child.  Turning serious, CCP Soundwave explained that changing hybrids was more difficult than just changing a characteristic or two.  He then expanded on the theme of balance, admitting CCP had been bad at balancing ships and weapons over the last few years.  He stated that with things like the upcoming changes to capitals and super-capitals and a Dramiel nerf that the winter release will contain more re-balancing than the game has seen over the past two years.

CCP Soundwave was also asked about fixing low security space.  He replied that adding or modifying one single feature will not turn low-sec around.  He replied that CCP actually did not have any ideas in writing on what each zone (high, low, and null) was supposed to be.  So CCP started working on a rule set for null sec (that's the famous CCP Greyscale blog that hasn't been released) and we should see the results of that work on Tranquility this winter.  As for low-sec, "If we are going to make low-sec good we are going to have to put in the same effort we are doing for null sec now."  He did not make any promises but said that low-sec is the natural place to work on next.

As for those pesky ABC ores found in wormholes that the CSM is so worried about ruining the economy of New Eden, CCP Soundwave thought that the CSM overreacted a bit.  He also explained that while the CSM is important, not all of its ideas are enacted.

Finally, I found an answer to a question about what games CCP Soundwave plays interesting.  He plays a lot of League of Legends because he prefers playing games in which he competes with other players.  Until about a month ago, he used to play World of Tanks, but he didn't like the end game economy.  The fact that he needed to purchase a Löwe in order to compete at the highest levels ruined the game for him.

For those interested in hearing the interview, DJ RezRadgrif's July 21 show will remain on the Rewind page until July 28.  Just remember that you cannot fast forward the show so you will have to listen to the first 2 hours of the show before listening to the interview.  But I didn't mind; he plays a pretty good selection of rock.

Return To Bulgaria And Skill Queue Choices

Once again I get to go to Bulgaria for business.  Things are a little different than last year, but that's work and I really don't want to get into the details.  But it will affect my gaming, which is what this blog is really about.  As I've said in the past, I'm lucky to play Eve Online, where the preparation for a long trip in real life is just part of the game.

I'll just take the most obvious example: skill training.  Depending on how long I will stay in Bulgaria will determine what I'll train.  If I just stay the two weeks plus travel days, I'll have Rosewalker train Battlecruisers V.  But if I can somehow manage to arrange to stay a few extra days, I'll move my choice to Minmatar Battleship V.

For Wandering Rose, I have to admit Minmatar Cruisers V is looking really tempting as a choice, even though she isn't really a combat pilot.  Either training Exhumers or Transport Ships to V really makes more sense.

Right now my schedule looks like I won't get to stay for 3 weeks.  Not because I don't want to, but because of the situation at work.  Real life is greater than Eve. While flying around in a Prowler or Cheetah is more fun than sitting in an Airbus over the Atlantic, I can give up the game for a couple of weeks for some real life adventures.  Besides, I can always listen to Eve Radio.  Trust me, it's a lifesaver.

What Does A Pimped Out Ship Mean?

I didn't get a chance to buy a new Hurricane last night due, in no small part, to a slow freight train causing a delay in my train arriving in my station.  But that gave me a bit of time to think about what "pimping out" a ship really means.

First, I don't think PvPers really pimp out a ship unless it is a capital or supercap.  I think the majority of PvP pilots weigh the cost of expensive fittings vs. the risk of losing their ships.  So the people with the really pimped out ships tend to run missions.

That said, I think there are three types of pimping out a ship.  The first is when a pilot has a low amount of skill points.  At that point, tech 2 gear is a dream so a pilot will try to obtain meta-level gear.  As the isk accumulates in the wallet (and equipment falls off rats), players will want to maximize their capabilities by acquiring meta-level 3 and 4 gear.  In some cases, meta-level 4 gear is actually more expensive than its tech 2 equivalent.

I'm in a middle phase.  Now that I have the skills for most tech 2 gear, I want all my fittings to be tech 2.  I'm still not using tech 2 ammo in missions, but just about everything else except rigs are tech 2.  Tech 2 represents a lot of planning and is the carrot that is dangled in front of players.  Once you can have it, you want it.

The last phase is the over the top, top of the line equipment.  Those are the billion isk mission ships with billions of isk worth of faction fittings.  I'm sure if I ever get enough isk together that I'll wind up having one or two ships like that.  But having a flashy ship just isn't my style.  From playing a ranger in EverQuest 2 to flying Prowlers and Cheetahs in Eve, I prefer hiding in the shadows and striking when least expected.  Besides, I'd rather buy and equip another ship than get the faction fittings.  And I have a lot more ships I want to buy first.

Don't Drink And Fly

After my bout of drunken blogging on Sunday, I decided it would be a good idea to run a couple of level 4 missions.  No problem.  Then it got late (around midnight) and I decided to do one more.  Not such a good idea.  I ran into a Serpetis mission, which was bad for me since I am used to fighting the Angel Cartel.

I was doing pretty good until a couple of spider drones came out and webbed and scrammed Wandering Rose's Hurricane.  Oh oh.  Remember the part about me drinking?  I forgot to load drones in her ship.  That was bad.  And the drinking kept me from realizing what type of danger I was in.  Before Rosewalker's drones could come to the rescue, the Hurricane went "pop".

After killing the spider drones, Rosewalker continued cleaning up the first room, which was a nice piece of change.  But losing a Hurricane was annoying.  Annoying?  I hadn't lost a ship in 7 months.  But I am a long ways away from The Viper's Pit where I lost my last Hurricane.  Back then, I was just on the edge of being able to afford to lose a Hurricane.  Now?  I'm ready to pimp out a new battlecruiser.  After all, a CEO should fly in style, especially when I can afford to lose it.

Drunk Blogging The May CSM Summit Minutes, Part II

This is the second half of my look at the CSM6 minutes from the May Summit held in Iceland.  As I did last week, I will finish up my reading of the minutes while attempting to achieve a pleasant level of intoxication.  I ran out of rakia last week and am hoping I do not suffer the same fate while drinking Jim Beam.  Hopefully I can keep the pain for those who are sober to a minimum.


As I did last week, I will make my comments in the order of the document and as I read them.

Team Gridlock: The War on Lag - Team Gridlock is turning into one of the more popular dev teams at CCP due to their efforts to make bigger fights more playable.  Some recent wins are:

* General load; CPU per user is down 50%.
* Missiles (Drakes suck less). Fixing missiles involved optimizing inventory operations, which also accidentally fixed Jita. Jita has not been at 100% since this fix deployed.
* The recent fix to Monikers reduced overall CPU load by 8%.
* Telemetry! Gridlock has implemented a new node monitoring system that lets them trace the execution of everything and zoom in down to the procedure call level. This has made finding new optimization targets much easier. Steps will be taken to elaborate on this further in public.
* In response to a question about the 30 second session timer, it was explained that this is a consequence of needing to allow enough time for various nodes in the cluster to settle on a consistent state (everyone agreeing on where you are and what ship you are in). When 30 seconds is not enough time, the infamous "black screen" is likely, so it is not anticipated that this can be reduced anytime soon.
A major cause of black screens when loading a lagged out system turned out to be the fetching of character names for chat channels, which was being done in an inefficient way. This has now been fixed.
* The Drone engage command was not doing what it was supposed to be doing, and other drone commands were doing things they didn't need to be doing. The drones have been given a stern talking-to. (p. 20)

But Team Gridlock's work is never done and they will be working on things like time-dilation, hot-remapping of systems to a reinforced node during fleet fights, implementing "Brain in a box", an improved skill-management system, and optimizing current resource hogs, such as Area of Effect weapons, Drones and Ship deaths.

ISD and Community Matters - Let's just say that things got a little testy as the CSM thought that the original subject was a waste of time.  Then some of the CSM were a little upset with the idea of direct democracy in game decision making by putting a voting method on the forums.  Yep, giving people on the forums a direct voice would probably be a bad idea.  Then I remember what happened a month after the summit with Monoclegate.  I'm still against the idea.

EVE User Interface Issues - This section actually goes 4 pages (pp. 23-26) and I haven't had enough to drink yet.  However, I expect many irate people to storm the barracades when the find out that UI changes in the spaceship game were delayed to work on the Walking in Stations game.  What's that?  The barracades have been stormed?  Well, then it is a good thing the minutes came out so late.

Here is the TL;DR version of this section.

"The basic design principles of the UI team are that the UI be; Recognizable (UI elements and their functions should be obvious), Layered (complexity is there, but hidden), Minimal (shows you what you need to see, and no more), User-centric (focused on what user wants to do, not what the interface can do), Human (fits itself to user's mental models), Discoverable (easy to explore), Consistent, provide Feedback, be Dynamic (giving relevant information), Real (support immersion), and Visual (death to numbers)." (p. 23)

If you really want to know about the issues (and there were a lot), read the minutes.  I need a refill after trying to digest this section.

POS Misery - This section apparently was requested by the CSM.  One big holdup is that art assets are tied up until next year.  It wasn't said, but I'm pretty sure that is due to Incarna and making items for the Noble Exchange (NeX).  Once again "Space Barbie" is affecting the development of the spaceship game.  In my personal opinion, it is all one game, but a lot a bitter vets will disagree.

Somehow jump bridges were discussed in this slot.  I got a kick out of this one.

"CSM pointed out that jump bridge passwords were stupid and a CSM with espionage experience showed CCP his list of every alliance's jump bridge passwords. Removing the need for these passwords was discussed, but no promises were made." [emphasis mine] (p. 27)

In other words, all your passwords belong to Goonswarm.

In one other matter, I have heard that it was the CSM that suggested the removal of null sec minerals from wormholes.  I'm not sure that this passage supports that claim.

"CCP talked about removing ABC (Arkonor, Bistot and Crokite) mining sites from wormhole space at some point in the future. This may be from all wormholes, or possibly from lower class wormholes only. It was claimed by some members of the CSM that a large fraction of the high end ore supply is produced through these sites, however the CSMs who were active in wormholes would not accept this claim without hard data to back it up." (p. 27)

However, I do believe the passage signals CSM support for such a move.

Feature Abandonment - Another section that received a lot of attention, wormholes once again received a call for a mineral nerf from the CSM.

"Based on comments by CCP Greyscale in a previous session, the subject of removing 'ABC' minerals from wormholes was raised by nullsec-resident CSMs, who were surprised to learn that WH space was nullsec and that ABC minerals were available in them. They favored entirely removing ABC from WH space -- or limiting them to C5 and C6 holes -- but the two wormhole-resident CSMs objected strongly, pointing out that exporting minerals from deep wormhole space was difficult, and much of it was likely consumed locally.

"An argument was made by some CSMs that the prices of ABC ores and refined products were being crashed by "daytrippers" mining in easily-accessible wormhole space; other CSMs stated that no nerfing of ABC minerals should take place without first obtaining detailed statistics about the balance of trade for each mineral and class of wormhole." (p. 29)

I was told that if I voted for Mike Azariah for CSM6 that the CSM would pressure CCP to take high-end minerals out of areas of null sec, and they were right!  The incredible thing is that so many people didn't realize that w-space was null sec.  I'm a carebear and I know that!

Reading the forums I have read a lot of paranoid people state that the cash shop will go to develop other games.  Well, here is some backing for that train of thought.

"In response to a question about how incremental virtual goods store income might be used to benefit EVE, Zulu replied that he is currently arguing for the addition of a full feature team, and that extra virtual goods income will give CCP more options; some of it will go to EVE, but other projects will benefit as well." (p. 30)

Now, before everyone pulls out the pitchforks again, some of those other games will contribute to Eve as well.

"It was also noted (again) that each CCP game provides elements that can be re-used in other games; examples given included:

* the WoD combat system being reused in Incarna.
* WoD has higher requirements in terms of number of Avatars in scene that EVE, so substantial work is being done by WoD teams to improve performance, all of which will help Incarna.
* Seamless transition between world-spaces (scenes in Incarna).
* The basic body models for Incarna came from WoD, with "certain features" edited out." (p. 30)

Okay, if the final scene in A Future Vision trailer could come true, would that be worth having the cash shop?

There is a lot more in the section that may interest you (pp 28-30), but I am trying to keep this short.  And too much typing interferes with the alcohol consumption.

Nullsec Industrialization and Risk/Reward - This is an area that might actually get me to actively try to find a way into null sec.  I like the idea of forming areas of industrialization in null sec.  And this idea would definitely get me to spend more time in low-sec.

"The CSM believes that nullsec needs to be more self-sufficient from hisec, at the industrial level. The CSM suggested that nullsec should be able to produce T2 goods at higher margins than in hisec. Many ideas were thrown around, such as making T2 production superior in nullsec compared to hisec as well as adding many more factory and research slots in nullsec outposts. The CSM suggested that high technology products come from nullsec - they can be done in hisec, but with better margins in null. The CSM was intrigued by the idea of allowing meta-level item production in lowsec, creating a continuum of t1 - meta - t2 across hi/low/null. Most of the CSM favored the idea of increasing invention chances in 0.0 compared to hisec." [emphasis mine] (p. 32)

 And with all the new blueprints available, a new isk sink is formed.

I'm sorry, but what is it with the null sec CSM members and wanting to nerf wormholes?

"The CSM, with the exception of two members, is irked at the idea of high value ores being mined in low-end wormholes distorting the market. CCP Zulu mentioned that he considers this ‘retarded’ and that this will be looked into. In Class 5 or 6 wormholes the position is more nuanced, and the CSM acknowledged that these minerals could be used for local production, and that they are too far from the market to distort it." (p. 31)

So the CSM wants null sec to be more independent economically from Empire, but wants to take such independence away from wormhole residents?  I'm a high-sec carebear, but I call BS on the CSM.

Incarna and the new NPE - To me, the presentation about the New Player Experience (NPE) is another indication (along with the partnership with Nexon) that CCP is looking at growing subscriptions instead of at the cash shop as the major area of future income growth in the near to mid term future.  I'm just going to post this following section because I think it is highly informative.

"CCP Flying Scotsman presented a dizzying array of statistics showing where the current NPE was lacking and where its strengths are. CCP analyzed the tutorial at each step to see at which points trial players would abandon the trial, and this was used to identify flaws. CCP considers a 10% boost to the current conversion rate, from trial accounts to paying accounts, will be the success threshold for the improved NPE.

"CCP emphasized that refactoring of the NPE won’t be a one-time thing, but a continual process to improve retention of new players.

"It was noted that players who get to the Career Agents in the tutorial have vastly increased conversion rates. CSM was very positive about Career Agents and wants the NPE to do a better job of guiding players to them; presently they are hidden away in the Neocom. In the future, Career Agents might be physically met by players in Establishments in Incarna, to allow new players to bump into each other and make friends at the location. The CSM thought this was cool." (p. 33)

EVE Art - After reading this, I now know why the art team is seen as a bottleneck.  Here is the timing to upgrade each ship in Eve to modern standards like the Maller or Scorpion.

"The CSM inquired about the ‘V3’ process, which is required to upgrade each ship to the new graphics system. It would take an entire release to do all of the ships; each individual ship takes 2-3 weeks of work to bring up to V3. The conversion process allows CCP to improve the aesthetics. It will take years to update each ship not merely to V3, but to modern aesthetic standards, like those on the new Scorpion and Maller. This requires further clarification: Moving a single ship over to the V3 shaders, with minimal texture work takes 2-3 days per ship. V3 with extensive fixing and texture rework takes 2-3 weeks per ship. Full renovation, which is to say brand new model and textures takes 5-7 weeks. The current V3 project would be the first option. Reason: 185 unique models, with their associated textures, which are then used to produce the over 300 ship variations in game." (p. 35)

The discussion (pp. 35-37) was fascinating to me and I didn't even notice my glass was empty.  Then I saw the next topic and figured I needed a refill.

Meeting with Hilmar - Given the events of the past month or so, I thought this section was short but informative.

"...When questioned about the CCP business model, Hilmar presented a view of Eve not only as a game but also a hobby – a hobby that doesn’t necessitate further investment but allows that means to exist.

"The jovial camaraderie between the CSM and the CCP staff seemed to relieve Hilmar, resulting in a roundtable discussion about spaceships. The primary focus was Incarna and micro- transactions, where Hilmar reassured the CSM that their continued feedback was valuable." (p. 38)

Some of the rage last month might have been averted if CCP had remembered this statement.  Judging from the reactions of the CSM, our player representatives did.

EVE Economics - I am going to take the opportunity to state that I was correct about CCP regarding Incarna as a major expansion that will draw in a lot of new players and increase accounts.  I now have proof.

"...It was noted that Tyrannis was, in CCP's eyes, a failed expansion in terms of expansion of the player base. There was a small bump in accounts which quickly leveled off. The pattern more recently has been steady growth, and the usually post-expansion "hangover" has been greatly delayed. They are also seeing the start of the expected jump in subscribers because of the upcoming Incarna expansion. The CSM felt that CCP’s subscription forecast was achievable. CCP Zulu believes that there is a lot of pent up demand for Incarna which will result in higher than normal post-expansion subscriber growth." [emphasis mine] (p. 40)

Another area I have received criticism for is looking at the PLEX market and expecting to see changes in the market too soon after the launch of the Noble Exchange.  If I read this right, CCP doesn't expect as big of an impact as the CSM does.

"There was a lot of discussion about Aurum's influence on the PLEX market as well as how previous programs that used PLEXes (such as PLEX for character transfer) influenced the PLEX market. CSM pointed out that those programs were much more limited consumers of PLEX than Aurum." (p. 40)

Ship Balancing - The final section!  I'm not all that concerned with ship balance, but then again, I'm a carebear.  If I become a more serious industrial carebear, then I should be concerned as ship balance will determine what is popular and what is not on the market.  The long and the short of it is that balancing ships in Eve Online is as difficult as balancing classes in MMOs like World of Warcraft and Rift.  The fact that CCP Tallest actually wants to do the task might say something about his sanity.  Either that or the ship balance dev gets to drink at his desk.  Given CCP's reputation, that is not out of the realm of possibility.

That concludes this look at the May 2011 CSM Summit.  If you made it this far without the fortification of distilled spirits, I salute you.

Drunk Blogging The May CSM Summit Minutes, Part I

The minutes for the CSM Summit held in Iceland in May are finally out.  I guess I should be fair and point out that the minutes were released withing two months of the end of the summit, but I can't help but wonder if the events surrounding Monoclegate would have changed if the minutes had been released before Incarna's launch.

As usual, I'm having a hard time finding time for my Eve Online activities, so I am going to drunk blog the CSM minutes as I read them.  Drunk blogging is a time-honored tradition among political bloggers when covering live events they might find distasteful.  While the minutes are weeks old, I have the feeling I might find things I don't like, so the principle is the same.  So armed with a glass of rakia, I'm going to go where no sober blogger should go.

The start isn't very promising.  Honestly, I decided to do the drunken blogging thing before reading this.

"The CSM wanted it noted that the meeting, being the first meeting of the summit and conducted at 9am, was not off to a late start because of late arriving CSM members. It is however recognized that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and thus this tiny, rocky start, was forgiven." (p. 1)

Team BFF & the Little Things.  Everyone loved CCP Soundwave until the Fearless newsletter was leaked, and his role in leading Team BFF was one of the reasons why.  The May Summit revealed that Team BFF's list of things to do has dropped from over 300 items to around 180.  One thing I learned is that there is a null sec revamp planned for this winter and all of the null sec items on Team BFF's list have been moved to a special list for being worked on.  CCP Soundwave would like CSM to give him a top 10 list of issues to work on and the CSM would like to make that top 10 list an on-going institution.

Did I mention that while rakia is supposedly odorless, the fumes alone will get you tipsy?  Back to reading the blog.

Oh, and we learn that anything in Eve can be explained by Jovians or nanobots.

Eve Flying in Space.  Okay, here's something for all you hard core null sec types.

"The presentation began with Team BFF representatives Soundwave and Greyscale introducing the plan for the execution of the Winter expansion. The plan involved releasing not just one large expansion on Christmas, but instead several moderately-sized expansions leading up to the main Winter expansion. The main theme of this Winter expansion, at least with regards to FiS, would be iterations on 0.0 space. Specifically: null-sec sovereignty related features, supercap proliferation and the rule of super-capitals, and various other 'Team BFF' tweaks." (p. 4)

I was more interested in the stuff associated with Walking in Stations than with Flying in Space, so this is for me.

"Soundwave then spoke briefly about the non-FiS aspects of the Winter expansion and how they would relate to walking in stations. Establishments, the progression of Captains Quarters introduced with Incarna 1.0, would also deal with smuggling contraband and boosters.

"Soundwave and Greyscale reviewed the current game mechanic wherein NPC customs officers are responsible for confiscating contraband. The change that they envision would see this enforcement fall into the laps of players. A vague mechanic was discussed with the CSM about how the players would scan and enforce “the law”. The CSM response was positive, emphasizing that corruption and bribery amongst player-enforcers should be a viable mechanic. CCP agreed." (p. 4)

Oh, and for those who were worried that a CSM dominated by the big null sec alliances would focus on null sec issues at the expense of other areas of the game, you don't have to worry anymore.  It's true.

"CCP then brought up Supercaps, and the CSM were basically on the same page. Supercarrier changes were discussed, with everyone agreeing that a fighter- or bomber-only drone bay would be a welcomed change. The CSM agreed that Titans in their current state are fairly balanced, and that the focus should be placed on the Supercarrier. Soundwave and Greyscale noted that the coding involved in such a change would represent a large portion of resources that could otherwise be used for several smaller changes. Given the importance of SCs, the CSM suggested that it was well worth the resources to focus on this one thing and it seemed as though CCP agreed." (p. 5) [emphasis mine]

Of course, I don't know what the changes that won't be made are, but as long as the smuggling works right, I really won't care.

Eve Future.  This started sleepy.  Yada yada yada, ENGINE TRAILS!  Yada, yada, yada CHANGES TO LOCAL!  What?!  Pay attention to this part.

"Conversation then took a bit of a tangent, and Arnar mentioned that local as we know it is going to change in a Winter expansion. The CSM was taken aback by this and let fly a torrent of questions about this new “no local”. Local, as it was explained, had to change because of changes to EVE’s infrastructure needed for future Incarna development. However, it would be replaced by a new, yet-to-be-designed intelligence gathering tool. Local would not simply just “turn off” and turn into delayed mode, such as in wormhole space. It is worth a repeat – local will NOT be simply turned off and/or turned into delayed mode. Arnar and Torfi both emphasized the importance of not feeling alone in space; they reasoned that the game has fifty thousand players and that it shouldn’t feel as though you’re alone. The CSM will be kept in the loop regarding this design when more is known." (p. 7)

Local is changing because of Incarna/Walking in Stations.  People are going to flip over that!  And with that news I need a refill.

The Eve/DUST Link.  The big thing for me is that DUST players will not be destroying my planetary interaction installations.

"The linkage between EVE and DUST could end up being stronger than most people anticipate; DUST players will be members of EVE corporations, and there will be new planetary surface command centers (distinct from PI) that players can build and destroy. These installations will produce some as-yet-undetermined materials that will feed into the EVE economy.

"DUST will have multiple game-modes, so that DUST players do not have to depend on EVE players in order to fight, gather resources, build their weapons, etc."  (p. 9)

Eve Marketing.  Now for something to explain why The Mittani sounded smart during the press conferences following the emergency CSM Summit.

"CCP is introducing Aurum and vanity virtual goods to reduce EVE's reliance on the subscription business model. The intent is to expand the business model, not replace subscription income with virtual goods income; the objective is primarily risk mitigation as opposed to increasing income.

"The games industry is currently moving heavily towards microtransaction models, and the risk that the subscription model that EVE depends on will become obsolete is of great concern. Thus, having experience with microtransactions and having the infrastructure in place to move to them should that become necessary is important. That said, CCP does not have any immediate plans to move away from subscriptions as their primary source of income." (p. 10)

Okay everyone, as much as I've been amazed reading the minutes up til now, here is a shock.

"Regarding the power of virtual goods, CCP Zinfandel revealed that he not only plays World of Warcraft (shock!) but that he paid a substantial amount of money on eBay for a Spectral Tiger mount (horror!). He was immediately mocked by the entire CSM." (p. 10)

As well he should!  I really need to go back to Darrin Love's (late of Shut Up, We're Talking and Common Sense Gamer, currently of Catholic Gamer) position on the $10 dollar mount.  Hmmm ... my glass is empty and I'm out of rakia.  Time to switch to Jack & Coke.  I do need to go into work in the morning.

"However, Zinfandel made the point that some people treat MMO's like a videogame, and some people treat them like a hobby. Hobbyists both desire and look for ways to invest in their hobby, and virtual goods are a way to satisfy this desire.

"'I get a great deal of pleasure every time I pull it out,' said Zinfandel about his large sparkling pussycat. He pointed out that buying it increased his identification with the game." (p. 10)

So if Zinfandel understands the whole buying things increases indentification with the game, why couldn't CCP provide clothes in the NeX that were priced decently?  But I'm not bitter.  Really.

Here is an interesting tidbit.

"The first ship-related virtual good will be the Ishukone Watch Scorpion. As with other virtual goods, this will be a unique item; the cost will be some amount of Aurum plus a regular Scorpion. However, this will not be available in the immediate future." (p. 11)

I don't remember if the CSM summit occurred before or after CCP was going to sell the Ishukone Watch Scorpion without paying a Scorpion to get.  I think it was after.  Thankfully, this item was pulled before Incarna launched.

Quality Assurance.  CCP has started outsourcing some of its QA functions.  I'm in a business where some QA functions are outsourced to a third party.  In my experience, when the shift occurs, things slip through the cracks and quality suffers. These are called growing pains. The third party does get better over time.  Having good management is key to making the switch as painless and seamless as possible.  When done correctly, the effect is just like expanding staff internally by hiring new employees.  In other words, quality doesn't drop very much and the drop in quality doesn't last very long.  I just hope that CCP is doing this move right.

In an unrelated note, I'm finding that Jack Daniels is no longer my favorite adult beverage.  Now I need to find a source for rakia.  On the plus side, the Chicago area has the largest Bulgarian community in the United States, so I should be able to find more rakia.

Game Mastering – Policies, Petitions and Large Fleet Lag.  Since I never go to null sec and participate in the large fleet fights, this didn't interest me, even fortified as I am.  For those interested, the discussion occurs on pages 15-16.

EVE Security Task Force.  As anyone who has followed The Nosy Gamer over the last few months knows, I'm really interested in this topic.  And I wasn't disappointed.  This is confirmation of some of the things speculated about on the botting forums.

"Detection methodologies include (but are not limited to): behavioral (looking for activity over time that a human simply cannot perform), signatures (patterns of activity associated with particular bots) and technical detection in the client." [emphasis mine] (p. 17)

The minutes suggest this, but the "operation targeting a particular bot and the website that supported it achieved significant results" was RoidRipper.  Because of the success against RoidRipper, more resources will be allocated to do repeat this success.  And here is something that botters will REALLY hate.

"In addition, more resources will be devoted to protecting the client. As part of this, ESTF is considering disallowing the use of virtual machines with the EVE client as metrics indicate there are very few players using virtual machines for legitimate purposes." (p. 17)

Read it and weep botters!  But wait, that's not all.

"Another new program will encourage players to report botting programs, RMT, and exploits. The current name for this program is "PLEX for Snitches", and it has been running informally for a while; there are plans to make it formal. The goal of this program is to encourage responsible reporting of security issues." (p. 18)

Forget the satifaction of getting a kill mail.  Now you get money.  Report 4 botters and you could get a monocle!

Just from reading this part of the minutes, I need to write a separate blog entry just about this section on the War on Bots™.  But after reading 19 pages of the minutes, I really need to do my planetary interaction work and then get some sleep.  I will continue this tomorrow Monday with some more alcohol fueled analysis.  Because quite frankly, I don't think I would have gotten this far without it.

The Summertime Blues

Last night something happened that hasn't happened in awhile.  I wasn't excited to either play or write about Eve.  I needed to visit some of the systems while doing my planetary interaction work and so got to fly both the Probe and the Prowler and felt, meh.  Then I finished up the session by flying to a station and finding out my invention efforts had produced two 2-run Vagabond blueprint copies.  I was excited for a little bit, but not enough to run any missions afterward.

I'm not going to blame the whole situation that occurred with CCP's launch of Incarna.  I made my peace with that while Monoclegate was going on.  Eve is a sandbox and just because CCP changes the rules it won't affect the way I approach the game.

Nope, I'm blaming real life.  Again.  Some things are happening that have lead to some long days, which isn't so bad but this time it has led to earlier starts of the work day.  Less sleep means less excitement when I do get some time to play because I just want to get some sleep.  That's what happened last night.

I'll probably write a little bit about what is happening in the upcoming weeks because I think I can get a couple of gaming related posts out of them.  Hey, I accept most types of inspiration for posts.  In fact, writing a post about basically nothing just gave me an idea for a post.  So tune in tomorrow for something more interesting.

Another Look At The Probe

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I actually find time to play Eve Online.  But I do.  Sometimes I even get a chance to think about more than scandals like Monoclegate.  Over the past week I took another look at one of the ships players receive doing the tutorial missions: the Probe.

For new players, I think the Probe is a wonderful ship.  A Minmatar frigate with nice scanning bonuses useful for ninja salvaging, the ship's cargo capacity leads some to prefer the Probe over the Burst despite the lack of mining bonuses.  For me, that cargo capacity makes the Probe an attractive ship for my main combat character Rosewalker, a nearly two-year old character.

Part of the problem I have is that I have no room in Rosewalker's skill queue to fit the skills to fly a Prowler.  I really love the Prowler and I've spent hours with Wandering Rose flying around doing courier missions or darting in and out of low sec picking up or dropping off blueprints or blueprint copies.  While Rosewalker can fly a Cheetah, the covert ops frigate only has a 200 m3 cargo hold and I'm not going to do anything disgraceful like fit expanded cargoholds in it.

Occasionally I need to make some cargo runs that Wandering Rose can't make, mainly to pick up datacores.  I've found that the Probe is a real good ship for making those high-sec runs, especially when I neglect to pick up the datacores for a couple of months.  Oops!

Here is what I fit for the outgoing trip when I'm not carrying any cargo.

[Probe, Probe - Cargo]

Low:
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Inertia Stabilizers II


Mid:
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Small Shield Extender II

High:
Salvager I
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

Rigs:
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I

With my current skill level (I am just 21 days away from completing my Elite Core Competency certificate), my align time with this fitting is 2.5 seconds with a maximum warp speed of 7.2 au/second.  Mimatar Frigate V gives me a cargo capacity of 400 m3 without cargo expanders.  I carry 2 Expanded Cargohold IIs with me, which boosts my cargo capacity to 650 m3 at the cost of increasing my align time to 3.2 seconds, which is still pretty good.  I put the shield extender on just as a buffer in case someone tries to take a potshot at me.  It probably wouldn't help, but you never know.  And the reason for using an afterburner instead of a microwarpdrive is the increased warp range.  Hey, every AU counts.

I'm sure someone will find something wrong with this fitting.  But that's okay.  I just want a frigate for some quick cargo runs and this setting does the job, with a couple of additions just in case I run into something interesting.

A Look At The PLEX Market After Incarna's Launch

I think players in Eve Online generally agree that the launch of the Noble Exchange (NeX) was, to put it kindly, less than optimal.  One of the objectives of the Noble Exchange was to reduce the amount of unused PLEX in New Eden by offering items that players would want to buy for the new Aurum currency that is only obtained by breaking down PLEX.  So I thought I'd looks at the PLEX market again almost 3 weeks after the launch of Incarna.

Just as a reminder, at the end of May the price of PLEX hit 410 million ISK in Jita and around 400 million in the other major trade hubs of Amarr, Rens and Dodixie, apparently due to an influx of players chasing too few available PLEX.  Once the spike of players dropped, the price of PLEX dropped down to the 370 million to 390 million range, depending on the market region.

The market saw a speculative bubble occur on launch day (21 June) and then a steady decline until Saturday (26 June) during which time the leaks of both the Fearless newsletter and the leak of the Hilmar internal email occurred.  The PLEX price stabilized and then rose a bit (at least in Jita) following the announcement of CCP calling the CSM to Iceland for an emergency summit.

The price of PLEX actually fell again on 1 July after a joint statement from CCP and CSM failed to materialize.  Did the uncertainty in the future of Eve cause the drop?  I don't know, but after the joint communique and video blog appeared on 2 July the prices stabilized.  On 9 July, prices again began to fade after CCP issued a dev blog on 8 July explaining the pricing strategy of the Noble Exchange.  I am guessing the market was as impressed as I was at the marketing strategy.

Is a lack of demand causing the price drop?  A look at the numbers shows that demand has not decreased.

The 7-day rolling average of the number of PLEX sold each day in New Eden's four major trade hub regions shows that while the sales have dropped almost 6% since 1 June (3405 to 3203), that number is not really indicative of the direction of the market since that figure includes the bubble that occurred at the end of May that coincided with holidays in both the U.S. and U.K.  A better indicator of the effect of Incarna is looking at the number on 20 June, the day before Incarna launched.  Even with the events called Monoclegate leading to players leaving Eve, the number on 9 July is still up slightly over the day before launch (3184 vs 3203).

So if demand is constant, why the drop in prices?  Supply.  I started taking snapshots of the PLEX market in the four major trade hub regions every Sunday and found that the supply of PLEX for sale had risen by 29.5% from the Sunday before Incarna launched to yesterday.

While I don't have the ability to look at the numbers throughout all the regions, CCP can.  I believe this growth rate in the PLEX supply is the reason that the PLEX reward for the Buddy Program was discontinued on 7 July.  After all of the talk about the need for improved communication, I am a bit surprised at the language in the announcement.

"The PLEX reward option for the Buddy Program will be going on temporary hiatus as of July 7, 2011. This means no new PLEX based invites can be sent after that date. This is a planned part of the experiment to measure the effects of the program on the PLEX market and to find new ways in which we can evolve the Buddy Program for our players. The program looks to be very successful initially and will likely return within a few months.

"Players can still send Buddy invites normally after July 7, but the only reward option will be 30 days of game time; as before."

Perhaps CCP Fallout was referring to the increase in numbers that I keep referring to that occurred at the end of May.  In that case, yes, the program succeeded.  But at a time when CCP is attempting to remove PLEX from the economy, a program that adds them does not help matters.  Maybe the program will return if the Noble Exchange gets its footing and starts attracting all the PLEX hanging around New Eden.  However, with the current pricing structure where even a mid-tier outfit costs about what I normally where to work each day, I really don't see that happening.

Looking back at my last article on the PLEX market, I think I'll forgo making any predictions.  Here is what I posted back on 20 June.

"I really have the feeling we are about to see the price of PLEX rise even higher in the near term future.  But time will tell.  That's what makes Eve fun.  You never really know what to expect next."

Given the contents of this post, I think I'll chalk that up as one prediction that didn't come true.