From Extraction To Production: The Changes Coming To EVE Online In December

In the New Dawn Quadrant announcement on Tuesday, CCP teased news of upcoming changes to industrial and economic gameplay. Today the dev blog arrived with the changes. With the changes now on Singularity, the December patch release will introduce the end the Scarcity Era.

The changes are massive, so much so that the dev blog includes an associated Excel file. CCP provided a TLDR at the beginning of the article.

This update introduces more raw materials into New Eden, compression for gas, ice & moon ore, updates to mining & mining crystals, and a rebalancing of the Orca and Rorqual as well as other mining ships. While the Orca and Rorqual will no longer be the best solo-mining platforms, they are receiving a buff to their command bonuses and added new roles.

All the details here and in the support document are a work in progress and subject to change before release on Tranquility. This is a major update and getting your feedback is imperative. As of today, the discussed changes are available on the Singularity test server, so we encourage all Capsuleers to dive in, explore the changes, and join the discussion in the official forum thread.

For today, I plan to quickly review the highlights from the TLDR portion of the dev blog, which some may think is itself too long and didn't read. 

More Available Resources - CCP will double the resource quantity of:

• Ore in asteroids belts
• All Omber, Kernite, and Crokite quantities are doubled in sov anomalies
• Ice belts (on top of the previous 200% increase)
• Mykocerocin
• Cytocerocin
• Fullerine

In addition, Mercoxit quantities in sov anomalies will increase by 20%. The extraction rate for all moons will also double. However, the amount of basic minerals extracted will not double as CCP is introducing a mechanic called mining waste. The mining waste probability is "a chance per cycle for resources to be turned into space dust (in addition to what is going to the character’s inventory)".

Ship updates for gas and ice harvesting/hauling - Expedition frigates (Prospect, Endurance), mining barges, exhumers, and some T1 industrial ships.

• Adding new specialized gas and ice holds to
• T1 industrials (Hoarder, Kryos, Primae)
• Expedition frigates
• T1 barges
• T2 exhumers
• Increasing the resistance profiles of all exhumers
• Increase the base HP of, and adding mid slot to, Covetor and Retriever
• Adding new gas harvesters for all mining barges and exhumers

Mineral Compression - In addition to adding compression for moon minerals and gas, the Orca and Porpoise will also gain the ability to compress ore and gas in space.

• Introducing a new compact industrial core for the Orca.
• Adding new specialized gas and ice holds to the Orca, Porpoise, and Rorqual
• Adding compression for
• Mykocerocin
• Cytocerocin
• Fullerine
• Moon ore

In order to support the new gameplay, new modules and skills are being introduced. CCP will introduce blueprints and skill books into the game sometime in November so players can begin to use the new changes immediately.

The compression changes are important enough I'll list the highlights from farther down in the dev blog.

• Gone are the days of 'lossless' compression. From now on, when you compress resources, some amount will be lost during the process.
• Compression in stations will have a different efficiency depending on the type of resource that is being compressed, except moon compression will not be available. Compression will still be instantaneous but will be less efficient than in-space compression. Compression efficiency is as follows:
• Ore 90%
• Gas 90%
• Ice 79%
• Rorqual, Orca and Porpoise will be able to do compression in space but will require specialized modules for it. However, only the Rorqual can compress Moon Ore in space.
• Each compression module will be able to compress only a certain group of resources as defined by its tier.
• Gas compression modules for all gas types (Myko, Cyto, Fullerines) are being introduced.
• Moon ore compression modules for all moon ore types are being introduced. Moon ore compression will be unique to the Rorqual and will be only available out in space.
• Compressed types will now have the same portion size as their uncompressed counterparts. You can calculate the compression ratio by the difference of volume between the two types.
• Existing compressed types of quantities will be compensated due to this change, such that no loss occurs.

Reprocessing skill and mining crystal changes - In addition to the skills CCP is adding associated with the compression changes, the devs are also changing the existing reprocessing skills. As part of the change, mining crystals are also receiving a rework.

• Condensing all reprocessing skills from 19 individual skills to 6
• Refunding up to 13,568,000 Skill Points to be optionally re-allocated into the new categories (11,776,000 Skill Points)
• ISK will also be refunded at the base price for the deleted skill books (both in the inventory and injected to characters)
• Condensing all mining crystals into the following categories:
• Common
• Uncommon
• Rare
• Superior
• Abyssal
• Mercoxit
• Adding new variants for each mining crystal
• Standard yield
• Higher yield, high waste, less reliable
• Lower yield, very high waste, very unreliable

Just from a personal level, I am glad about the condensing of mining crystals. I found having to carry so many different types of crystals around a bit of a pain. Sometimes when moving around New Eden, I wouldn't have the proper crystal in my cargo hold. I also like knowing I can hold off on training some processing skills for a month and use the time to train other industrial skills.

I am also glad for the ability to compress ore in high sec. Back when the Scrapmetal Processing skill was nerfed in 2014, the thought was minerals moving from high to low sec would move via compressed ore instead of 425mm railguns. However, trying to compress the ore was a pain and I personally never bothered to do so. Now, I have the ability to compress the ore in my Orca and sell it on the market the way CCP would prefer I do.

Blueprint material changes - Finally, the developers are reducing some of the planetary interaction materials for some items. The big changes CCP highlighted are:

• Core Temperature Regulator: Water changes from 2500 to 1250
• Capital Core Temperature Regulator: Integrity Response Drones changed from 150 to 100, Self-Harmonizing Power Core changed from 150 to 100
• Enhanced Neurolink Protection Cell: Genetic Safeguard Filter changes from 200 to 100

Now that I have recorded my initial thoughts I'll go ahead and watch the take on the changes from the talking heads in the EVE media. I'm interested to see what I missed.

Pearl Abyss Q3 2021 Earnings Call

Yesterday Pearl Abyss hosted an investors' call covering the company's performance for the third quarter of 2021. For the first time since the first quarter of 2020 Pearl Abyss posted increased quarterly revenue. Unlike previous quarters, I won't dive deeply into the numbers as the call provided a significant look into the company's business plans going forward. The key phrases during the call were "play to earn", NFT, and the metaverse.

First though, a look at the present and recent past. Most of the news about the Black Desert IP concerned Black Desert Mobile. The executives on the call boasted of BDM utilizing AMD FSR technology. Pearl Abyss loves their graphics quality so I found an explanation of what AMD FSR adds to a game.

AMD Fidelity FX Super Resolution (FSR) is a type of rendering technique that looks to boost framerates in games and enable quality high-resolution gaming. It’s also a rival to Nvidia's DLSS, though the two differ quite a bit in how they function. FSR works by rendering frames at a lower resolution and then using an open-source spatial upscaling algorithm to make the game look as though it's running at a higher resolution. DLSS uses an AI algorithm to accomplish similar results, but it only works on Nvidia's RTX GPUs, some of the best graphics cards right now. FSR in contrast will work on just about any GPU — we've confirmed it runs even on Intel integrated graphics, for example. 

Pearl Abyss also explained about the current activity leading up to launching Black Desert Mobile in China. Pre-registration for the game began in August with a focus group test completing in October. The game is currently undergoing a technical test to determine compatibility with the wide range of devices in China. The test is scheduled to end on Friday.

For EVE, the focus on the recent past focused on the new player experience in the third quarter. In addition to the  and programs to integrate new players into the game introduced in EVE Online in the third quarter. PA also pointed to the new tutorial introduced in EVE Echoes.

In the third quarter, Pearl Abyss revenue grew by 8.9% compared to the quarter before. After a quarter with an operation loss, PA returned to profitability with a ₩10.2 billion ($8.6 million) operating profit and ₩26.8 billion ($22.6 million) net profit. 

When looking at IP revenue, Black Desert experienced an increase of 2.3% in Q3, earning ₩70.9 billion ($59.8 million). Year-over-year, Black Desert revenue fell ₩25.3 billion ($21.4 million), or 26.3%.

The EVE IP did better, with revenue up 3.9% quarter-over-quarter, or ₩700 million ($591,000). Revenue was down YoY by ₩2.5 billion, or 11.7%. The EVE IP result was expected as in Q3 2020 not only did EVE Echoes launch, but the quarter was the first full quarter following the relaunch of EVE Online in China.

Now for the subjects Pearl Abyss seems to see as future drivers of revenue. The first is the concept of "play-to-earn". An analyst actually brought up the term and noted that EVE Online is a perfect platform for such a game. According to an article from CryptoPotato, play-to-earn is a business model where users play a game and earn cryptocurrency while doing it.

It’s [play-to-earn] a very powerful psychological model because it combines two activities that have been driving mankind since the dawn of time – making money and entertainment.

The key component in this model is to give gamers ownership over certain in-game assets and allow them to increase their value by playing the game actively. Usually, in the crypto world, defining the ownership and even transferring it is possible through the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

We have an in-depth guide on what NFTs are, and you can check it here.

By taking part in the in-game economy, players create value for other players in the ecosystem and for the developers. In turn – they receive a reward in the form of potentially appreciating in-game assets. These assets can be absolutely anything ranging from appealing characters with variable scarcity to a certain type of cryptocurrencies.

From the definition of play-to-earn we get to the subject of NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Pearl Abyss will look for opportunities to introduce them in both Black Desert and EVE. The presentation pointed out that EVE's currently running Alliance Tournament is providing NFTs. In fact, EVE's tournament scene is Pearl Abyss' first effort to profit off of NFTs. The presentation disclosed to the analysts that Pearl Abyss is partnering with Tezos for this first effort.

Pearl Abyss told analysts that they had participated in blockchain technology since 2019. In discussing future plans, PA stated:

In the case of CCP Games, our subsidiary, as the currently ongoing alliance tournament, as a reward we have been offering cryptocurrency, and we are reviewing many diverse business opportunities. However, there are different regulations for different countries and these are vastly changing so we are going to be reviewing actively the related risks and we will be sharing with you our ongoing procedures.

Finally, Pearl Abyss is looking at the Metaverse. The concept seems a very nebulous concept that means different things to different people. Wikipedia explains:

The metaverse (a portmanteau of "meta-" and "universe") is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. Metaverses, in some limited form, are already present on platforms like VRChat or video games like Second Life.

Current metaverse ambitions are centered on addressing technological limitations with modern virtual and augmented reality devices, as well as expanding the use of metaverse spaces to business, education, and retail applications. Numerous entertainment and social media companies have invested in metaverse-related research and development.

The metaverse has come to be criticised as a method of public relations building using a purely speculative, "over-hyped" concept based on existing technology. Information privacy and user addiction are concerns within the metaverse, stemming from current challenges facing the social media and video game industries as a whole.

Pearl Abyss stated they are developing DokeV to connect into the Metaverse. Such a plan could explain why the company decided to not make DokeV an MMO. As part of the company's move into the Metaverse, Pearl Abyss invested $3 million into the metaverse entertainment company Hyperreal, as part of a $7 million round of funding last week. 

With the versatility of the HyperModels, Hyperreal is unlocking a new expanse of opportunity for talent and brands.  HyperModels are interoperable across digital platforms including mobile, interactive applications, augmented reality, virtual reality, social media, and immersive screen displays. HyperModels also are capable of becoming “living” NFTs that are animated, adaptable and customizable.

"Hyperreal has proven its industry-leading expertise with its HyperModels, and we believe this strategic partnership will help provide a more immersive experience for our players in the Metaverse," said Kyle Kyungyub Kim, Head of Investment for Pearl Abyss.

EVE Online's Fourth Quadrant: New Dawn

Today's patch introduced EVE Online's next quadrant, New Dawn. The next quadrant will concentrate on economic factors. In addition to what I wrote about last Friday, CCP will introduce changes to mining, compression, and resources as well as new exploration sites. 

The details of the economic changes will come in a dev blog on Friday. CCP teased the changes as follows:

The journey to strengthen the health and foundation of EVE's ecosystem began nearly two years ago when three phases were laid out in the Ecosystem Outlook article: shortage, re-distribution, and dynamic distribution.

During this time, there have been significant updates to the distribution of resources in the universe, and equally significant changes to how ships are manufactured. Come December, New Eden will move into the next phase of this original plan, as discussed back in 2020.

New Dawn will bring increased resources throughout the universe, extensive updates to mining, a comprehensive rebalancing of EVE's mining ships, and equally significant updates to resource compression.

As much as I follow the news, I'm a little confused. Hopefully the end of phase 2, the redistribution phase, is over and the final phase on dynamic distribution is about to begin. As a review of the phases of the plan, they are:

1. Shortage Phase

The main goal of the Shortage Phase is to get the economy to the left side of the "Healthy State" on the income line. Even though it is a moving target, there is confidence that the data and tools to evaluate the situation (and then move on to the second phase) are in-hand.

2. Redistribution Phase

In this phase, the location of the Healthy Range limits will be declared, and then the necessary changes to place the income within that range will be made. As it is not a static state, there are many moving parts and attributes that establish this range and their relative contribution.

3. Dynamic Distribution Phase

With the findings of the Redistribution Phase, it will be possible to create a dynamic system that self-regulates and adjusts accordingly, based on player inputs and universe outputs.

The new exploration sites are combat sites that may require hacking skills. The four new types of sites will provide capital and supercapital construction components. They are:

The AEGIS Capital Ship Security Facility is scattered throughout Lowsec, and features a heavily-guarded security vault, ripe for ransacking. Covert Ops pilots will find much to plunder here.

Disrupt the Rogue Drones as they tend their nurseries in Triglavian-held space by pillaging them as part of the Overmind Nursery Groves sites, found throughout Pochven. Scan, salvage, and cloak your ships for this encounter.

In the AEGIS Secure Transfer Facility*, found in Lowsec and wormhole space, EDENCOM oversees the logistics of capital and supercapital production. Track down the transport ship ferrying VIPs in order to learn the location of the EDENCOM construction facility. Strategic cruisers fitted for scanning, combat, and hacking are recommended here.

The AEGIS Secure Capital Construction Forges* escalation site is revealed to players who complete the AEGIS Secure Transfer Facility site successfully, and it is fiercely defended. Bring significant firepower with your marauders and dreadnoughts to have any hope of looting this factory!

Only the AEGIS Capital Ship Security Facility and Overmind Nursery Groves sites are live on Tranquility at this time. The patch notes provided more details.

• Up for the taking, are the following items (plus additional loot): Electro-Neural Signaller, Counter-Subversion Sensor Array, Nanoscale Filter Plate, Nano Regulation Gate, Meta-Molecular Combiner, and Enhanced Electro-Neural Signaller.
• AEGIS Capital Ship Security Facilities are scattered throughout low security space, and feature a heavily-guarded security vault. Those who can manage to find their way through to ransack the vault will be rewarded with capital construction components.
• Overmind Nursery Groves can be found throughout Pochven, and are tended to by Rogue Drones. Scan, salvage, and cloak your ships for this encounter to come away with some supercapital components.

Also in New Dawn will come the Winter Nexus holiday event. 

The Volatile Ice Storms will once again travel through a freshly-invigorated New Eden, providing pilots with Wightstorm combat sites, hacking sites, and ice mining sites. Gather your Ice Storm Filaments and overcome these challenges to unlock new festive ship SKINs, rare faction modules, and more!

The mysterious Yoiul Clones will also make their return, stronger than ever, and even more brilliantly brought to life with additional animations. There’ll also be bonus daily login rewards, daily challenges, and the snowball-flinging fun of the Chilling Spree!

One feature I am looking forward to involves our access to EVE lore.

A new storytelling hub, EVE Universe, launches on 11 November! Replacing the current fiction portal, EVE Universe will offer an extensive repository of the stories and lore behind the game. As for the stories themselves, you can expect richer narratives and plenty of intrigue as New Eden continues to flourish in the future. Who knows what tales await?

The article also teased "...a new EVE lore-inspired series, coming in December in partnership with some old friends." Does this mean another graphic novel series produced by Dark Horse?

Finally, we have a series of promotions announced in the article.

• 9-16 November: A special 25% offer on select ship skins recommended for exploration sites, including skins on the popular T3 cruisers.
• 11 November: A two-for-one sale on Alpha Injectors and Skill Extractors.
• 26 November: A special Black Friday sale.
• 29 November: A Cyber Monday sale.

Honestly, I was hoping for something bigger. The economic features mentioned might hold players, and even bring some players back. I know that other changes to the new player experience mentioned last week would help hold new players' attention longer. But I still think EVE needs a big, expansion-type patch to attract new players and try to grow the player base.

Endwalker Delayed Until December 7th

Last night at the beginning of the presentation of Live Letter 67, an emotional Naoki Yoshida, producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV, announced the delay of the Endwalker expansion. His announcement was also posted to The Lodestone. 

I am incredibly sorry to share this so close to launch, but I have decided to postpone the release of Endwalker. The original release date was scheduled for Tuesday, November 23, 2021, but I have decided to delay the release by two weeks. As such, the expansion pack will now be released on Tuesday, December 7, 2021.

There are several reasons for the postponement, but as I’m the one overseeing all aspects of the title as the head of the project, the responsibility falls solely on me. Allow me to convey my sincerest apologies to our players, our Warriors of Light around the world who have been looking so forward to the release of Endwalker. I am truly sorry.

Usually when a company makes an announcement like the one Yoshi-P delivered, it is usually very general and the person in charge doesn't make the statement live. Last night Yoshida explained his personal culpability.

However, as we neared the end of development and I played through everything—from quests to battle content and the like—I just couldn’t contain my desire to further improve Endwalker’s quality, specifically because this expansion pack marks the first major culmination of events in FFXIV so far. Even as we look beyond Endwalker, the FFXIV story will continue for a long time and we hope to deliver many more enjoyable experiences in the game. However, it was precisely because Endwalker concludes the first major saga that I felt our team needed to push ourselves to the “limits” that I envisioned.

As a result, we remained firmly resolved to adjust down to the smallest nuances and ensure our writing covers even the finest points of the vast and intricate story that has spanned these past 11 years since the original FFXIV to ensure that everyone can fully enjoy their adventure in Endwalker. Unfortunately, the consequence of this was that we ended up in a situation where we cut into the time required for final quality assurance checks due to this time spent on additional improvements.

At this rate, there was a bigger risk of us reaching the release date without ensuring “stability” as one form of quality, and for that reason, I have decided to postpone the release at this time. As we also anticipate large amounts of congestion across all game Worlds, I felt that even in this respect it wouldn’t be right for us to release the expansion while lacking adequate “stability.” I am truly sorry.

I watched the stream live while logged in chatting to my FC mates. The reaction ranged from people saying Yoshida had nothing to apologize for to others who were crying watching him. And the support for Yoshida grew as he ended his statement.

Once more I would like to convey my sincerest apologies for the inconvenience caused to our players and colleagues due to my own shortcomings. I sincerely apologize for this decision.

We will continue to do our utmost to bring you the best experience not only in Endwalker but also through further updates and content that will follow, restoring your trust one step at a time.

The new key dates for the expansion now are:

• Official Release: Tuesday, December 7, 2021
• Start of Early Access: Friday, December 3, 2021

• Patch 6.01 Scheduled Release: Tuesday, December 21, 2021
• Patch 6.05 Scheduled Release: Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Patch 6.01, I learned, is the release of Endwalker's raid series Pandaemonium, with the savage versions becoming available with patch 6.05.

Unfortunately, I now have to address business, particularly competition with World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment dropped patch 9.1.5 on Tuesday bringing many changes to a game that experiencing a significant drain of players to FFXIV. One of the items of patch 9.1.5 I saw some of the content creators wonder was why the five week delay between the start of the patch and the beginning of the Legion Timewalking event, running from 7 December to 20 December?

Some thought the start of the event was no coincidence. If Square Enix had launched on time, the Legion Timewalking event would have launched the same day as the launch of the first tier of Pandaemonium. 

Honestly, I think that Blizzard is chasing monthly active users (MAU). Launch the patch at the beginning of November and then Legion Timewalking & The Mage Tower the beginning of December to keep the numbers up. If that also stepped on the hype for FFXIV's first expansion raid tier, I'm sure no one in Irvine would shed a tier.

Now though, the shoe is on the other foot. The launch of Endwalker now falls on the launch of the Legion Timewalking event. I imagine the expected MAU's Blizzard leadership is hoping for will not meet the target.

I want to make one final point. I don't believe Yoshida moved the release of Endwalker to step on Blizzard's schedule. The man wears his emotions on his sleeve and he clearly did not want to delay the expansion's launch. If anything, I think the man just needs a hug.

What Is Coming To EVE In The Fourth Quadrant Of 2021

Today CCP released a review of the third quadrant of 2021, Gateway. While we don't know the name of the next quadrant, the article gave the reader a preview of what is coming in November.

First, the new improved New Player Experience. The new introduction to EVE Online has increased the average length of a player's first play session in the game by 30%. Thankfully, the developers plan on iterating on the feature.

Since its release, the AIR NPE has seen a number of fixes and some polish – and in November, we’ll be introducing animated Aura, Vesper, and Balin for an even more engaging experience.

Work is underway to introduce a mining mission in the first half of 2022, introducing players to the fundamental cycles of the EVE Online economy - the first step in a longer plan to iterate.

Farther down the line, look forward to continued building on the narrative experience of the NPE through additional content, providing new players an engaging and enjoyable series of adventures!

I am used to CCP putting out a new NPE every few years, not liking it, then either reverting back or going to start from scratch. If the plan includes finally replacing the career agents with better content, I'll all for the effort.

The Skill Plans feature wasn't warmly welcomed by many. I have to admit I just update my skill queue and ignore Skill Plans altogether. Then again, my main characters have 262 million and 236 million skill points, so I'm not the intended audience. I do like the upcoming features.

In the November release, look forward to being able to drag ship fittings into a Skill Plan to automatically populate it with the fitting’s required skills. Corporation Skill Plans are coming to players in December, along with a new Skill Plan Manager role that enables corporations to create, save and share specialized plans with their members – providing a strong foundation and framework for new recruits. In addition, players will be able to import and export Skill Plans to and from the clipboard.

I was updating my skill queues today and wish I had the ability to aim to fly a particular ship. If anything, Skill Plans would become more like the EVEMon, but inside the client.

Remember the opportunities system? From reading the article, I think we will soon see machine learning added to EVE.

In November, another testing phase will begin building data for the purpose of bringing players individually personalized content recommendations based on their activities and preferences in the future.

New Landmark-based opportunities are also on their way, giving players opportunities to travel to and visit various interesting locations around New Eden and become better immersed in the world of EVE.

If CCP can figure out how to guide players, especially at the end of the NPE content, New Eden should see greater retention of new players.

The EVE Academy page is also receiving a revamp.

In November, look forward to the first phase in the revamping of EVE Academy, promising iterations on content and improved resources for all players – as well as the final Career video, focusing on PVP. The new Academy site will also see various new content, teaching players about a selection of specific ships, with a comprehensive page explaining the vital info that goes into flying your ship coming a bit later.

I don't really look at videos from game companies for any game. I'm stuck in the mindset of using Google when I run into a problem. But if the videos can help 90% of the people who view them, then the initiative is worth continuing.

Over the course of the year, I've felt CCP is going in the right direction. My big complaint is that CCP isn't producing a big expansion-sized release. I really think they need one. I see CCP continuing to go in the right direction with these planned additions to EVE.

CCP Added A Captcha To The EVE Online Launcher

I went to log into EVE Online this morning and found something I hadn't seen before: a captcha. The scary part was, I needed four tries to finally reach the character selection screen.

No, I'm not showing you my personal and computer information

Thinking about the matter for a few minutes, I realized I have four accounts I have logged into using my current computer. CCP wouldn't have made me do all the CAPTCHAs at once for all accounts, would they? If something like that was instituted into the launcher, I'm pretty sure the EVE sub-Reddit would resemble the burning pits of hell with all the outraged posts. Yet, I saw nothing when I looked.

Once I logged in my first character, I didn't see any further CAPTCHA for the other two characters I logged in. I'm glad I took a screenshot or else I might have thought I was imagining things. But I did have to make a post because CCP is still making security improvements. I have a couple of botting forums I can visit to see if botters start complaining about this latest measure.

The World Of Warcraft Community Council

As someone who has covered EVE Online's Council of Stellar Management for years, the news that Activision-Blizzard was forming a "World of Warcraft Community Council" immediately caught my attention. I thought to myself, "There is no way this could work like the CSM." A quick review shows a couple of big differences.

First, the members of Activision-Blizzard's council is picked by the company. With the Council of Stellar Management, CCP organizes an election and players pick the members. One can argue which method is best. The WoW team announced a more specific goal than CCP.

One of the key goals with this program is to encourage discussion with players from a wide variety of different playstyles. To help ensure this, part of the application process will involve sharing your areas of interest and expertise. Whether it’s cutting-edge raiding, playing alts, completing achievements, accessibility, or collecting transmog, we want to know your perspective and ensure you’re heard. Therefore, after one year in the program, we plan to unflag Council members and open the application again. All WoW players will be free to apply at that point.

The other is the lack of a non-disclosure agreement. Unlike CCP, Activision-Blizzard does not plan on discussing any unannounced future plans with their player council. I need to point out something I believe might get forgotten in the future.

Please note: this program is focused on sharing current and past game experiences; it will not provide access to unannounced game information.

Before continuing, I should point out what the WoW team plans on happening.

Once players are selected, they’ll be given the ability to post in a new discussion forum that is publicly visible to everyone.

• In this new forum, we’ll ask members to share their experiences and perspectives on anything in the game, and some topics may be started by Blizzard developers and community managers.
• Responses and updates from Blizzard will be posted there so they can easily be discussed by the entire community.

A private discussion will also be setup for Council members to encourage direct interaction between members.

Separate conversations between smaller groups of members and Blizzard developers will be encouraged to ensure players with differing perspectives are being heard.

This sounds a lot like the Council of Stellar Management. I think the last point means there actually be private conversations between council members and developers. The CSM also does the same. However, all the CSM conversations are covered by an NDA so any accidental slips are covered and the player base wouldn't expect the information to come out. What happens if a developer slips up and reveals information the WoWCC shouldn't hear? Something to ponder.

Cloud Imperium Games Records $8 Million In Sales In October 2021

Early this morning in the U.S., Cloud Imperium Games reached $395.5 million in sales for virtual products for Star Citizen and Squadron 42. The figure represents $8 million in sales for the month of October.

Overall, CIG has raised $515.1 million since 2012 according to information published by the company. In addition to the funding page, the below list includes information from the 2019 financials report.

• Pledges/Counter (thru Oct 2021) - $395.5 million
• Subscriptions (thru Dec 2019) - $18.1 million
• Other Income (thru Dec 2019) - $38.3 million
• Outside Investment (thru Dec 2019) - $63.25 million

I only recently began tracking CIG's sales figures, but I remember that in November 2020 the amount raised was in the double-digit millions of dollars. With the big Intergalactic Aerospace Expo 2951 event running from 19 November to 1 December, I expect CIG to earn another $10-$15 million in November.

I do want to add one final note. With the revelation that Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. paid an 86 pence per share dividend in 2020, I am no longer going to refer to the total on the funding page as a "donation" or a "pledge". If a company is paying out dividends, language suggesting the company is some sort of non-profit organization does not seem appropriate.

The Crimson Harvest, 2021 Edition

Sometimes events are small and brief. EVE Online's Crimson Harvest event is not one of them. The event usually runs for two weeks, with this year's event running from downtime on 28 October to downtime on 9 November. CCP has wrapped the Crimson Harvest into a broader set of events called Halloween Horrors. Here are the details I've gathered.

First, the login rewards. Over the 12 days of the event, players can earn 9 sets of login rewards.

The day represents the number of days a player logs in to EVE, not the day of the event. A quick glance shows CCP added new boosters for the event. In addition to the Harvest boosters, CCP also added another set of boosters called Tetrimon boosters. Here is a list of the different types of boosters I found.

• Harvest Anti-Disrupter: boosts resistance to disrupter effects.
• Harvest Damage: increases Energy Turret damage
• Harvest Nosferatu: reduces nosferatu module cycle time
• Harvest Webifier: increases webifier range
  
  
• Tetrimon Anti-Drain: increases energy warfare resistance
• Tetrimon Capacitor: increases capacitor capacity
• Tetrimon Precision: increases Energy Turret optimal range and tracking speed
• Tetrimon Resistance: increases armor resistances

This year, players get to choose whether to support Omir Sarikusa's Blood Raiders or The Order of St. Tetrimon, an Amarr religious order dedicated to the preservation of the scriptures of the faith. As a Minmatar player, I saw the choice and had trouble deciding which bunch of religious fanatics to support. For purely blogging purposes, I have a character in each.

The rewards players can earn are based on which faction they choose to support. Here's a handy chart to help.

Players, as usual, earn points by running special combat and exploration sites associated with the event. The patch notes indicate players should fly heavy assault cruisers, battlecruisers, or battleships into the combat sites. If I read the patch notes correctly, friendly fire against the NPCs in the faction you choose to support won't result in penalties.

Both the Blood Raiders and the Order of Tetrimon are willing to reward capsuleers who attack their foes. Each character can choose between two options for the Agency challenges and reward track for this event. You will receive points for shooting the oppsoing side to the one you choose in the agency, and you will receive a reward track themed around your chosen faction. Be aware that although you will only receive agency challenges and points for shooting the opposing side to the one you choose, there is no penalty for shooting both sides and taking the loot from both their sites.

Those looking for special advanced sites will need to travel to low security systems in Derelik as well

As CCP has done in the past, during the event PvP drop rates will rise from 50% to 90%. The increased drop rate will come in handy during the new 4 player free-for-all Abyssal proving grounds running from today until downtime on Tuesday, 2 November. 

A new 4-player free-for-all Destroyer Proving Ground will be running Halloween weekend, from 29 October to 2 November, in celebration of the Crimson Harvest, with an arena effect providing an increase to Stasis Webifier range, Nosferatu and Energy Neutralizer strength, and Laser turret damage! Only the Coercer, Dragoon, Cormorant, Corax, Catalyst, Algos, Thrasher, and Talwar-class Destroyers may enter, with modules limited to meta level 5 and pirate implants restricted. Demonstrate your fervor and quench your thirst for blood in this special event!

Of course, I have to mention the business side of the event.

Yes, CCP is holding a sale until 3 November on subscription time. I tend to look for long term deals and the 15% off of the 12 month subscription was too tempting to pass up, especially since one of my accounts would run out in a couple of weeks.

CCP is also giving out Deathglow Hunters SKINs with the purchase of PLEX packages as well. The packages/SKINs are:

• 240 PLEX: Cormorant Deathglow Hunters SKIN
• 500 PLEX: Vexor Deathglow Hunters SKIN
• 2860 PLEX: Oracle Deathglow Hunters SKIN
• 7430 PLEX: Hurricane Deathglow Hunters SKIN

Finally the Malagrin Marshlight SKIN series returns to the New Eden Store along with 8 never before released Marshlight SKINs. The Headhunter SKIN line has also returned to the NES. I did not see any indication of a removal date for either line of SKINs.

Due to the nature of the faction choice I wish I had been able to publish this post yesterday. Hopefully people will find the information useful.

CCP Adds Changes To The CRAB Along With The Crimson Harvest

The big news today in EVE Online is the introduction of Halloween Horrors which includes the popular Crimson Harvest seasonal event. While writing up the event I noticed some changes to the new CONCORD Rogue Analysis Beacon (CRAB) mechanic. According to the patch notes for 2021-10-28.1, many of the changes (marked with a 🤝) were a result of player feedback. While I don't play with capital ships, I figure I should note the first set of changes to the feature introduced on 19 October.

Gameplay:

🤝Increased Rogue Drone Mutaplasmid drop rate from the CONCORD Rogue Analysis Beacon (CRAB). The frequency of mutaplasmid drops has been increased, resulting in higher chances of multiple mutaplasmids dropping from each successful CRAB run.

Missions & NPCs:

🤝CONCORD has significantly increased (20%) the wanted bounty for each of the new Rogue Drone threats discovered by CRAB deployments

Rogue Drones summoned by the CRAB have been observed to exhibit a change in tactics.

• Rogue Drones will be keeping inside the scanning perimeter of the CRAB, and also remembering which ships have been threatening them such that any new ships arriving at the CRAB will be less likely to garner their attention.

Structures & Deployables:

🤝 Reduced Bill of Materials for the CONCORD Rogue Analysis Beacon:

• 1,316,000 x Tritanium (previously 2,416,000)
• 402,000 x Pyerite (previously 502,000)
• 183,100 x Isogen (previously 310,400)
• 2440 x Zydrine (previously 2,840)
• 420 x Megacyte (Unchanged)
• 2 x Broadcast Node (Unchanged)
• 1 x Self-Harmonizing Power Core (previously 2)
• 1 x Sterile Conduits (Unchanged)
• 1 x Wetware Mainframe (Unchanged)

User Interface:

• The icon for Solar System Interference has now been moved to a mouse-over tooltip of the Solar System name in the location info panel.
• Added an icon for the Link Bonus Effect that appears in the status bar when linking to a CRAB.

One of the most common complaints historically is CCP will introduce a new feature and wait a few months (or years) before iterating to fix problems. Hopefully the devs' reaction will quell some of the complaining I've seen.