On March 8, CCP released the patch notes for the March 2019 release. This patch is slated for a March 12 deployment, and the patch notes contain a number of interesting comments, including a further change to income from Null-Security space. Also, for those who still have audio enabled within the Eve client, you should now be able to hear distinctly different communication chatter from the different NPC Pirate factions. Also, to help understand the time needed to repair overheated or damaged modules, a tooltip will now display the time remaining until it’s fully repaired.
Level 4 and 5 agent missions are now only accessible by Omega accounts. This can be seen as a nerf to Null-Sec burner missions, as a number of burner runners use a collection of alphas to accept, bookmark and complete the missions while using omega alts to run the mission. As a result, many individuals have been able to create significant income without an equivalent PLEX cost. Additionally, this will noticeably affect Courier Mission bots, who will no longer be able to easily complete high-value NPC missions in High-Sec without paying for that privilege.
The second hit to Null-Sec PVE is a further adjustment to the respawn rate of certain nullsec anomalies, as a part of CCP’s ongoing adjustments to Conquerable Null-Sec PvE environments. This is likely to be another nerf to the respawn rate of the related Havens and Sanctums. However, CCP could also be adjusting the mining belt respawn rates in order to passively nerf Rorquals. As CCP is keeping their cards close to their chest, we will have to wait and see what effect these changes have.
CCP are also adding the ability to purchase EVE’s core skills directly from the character sheet, though these skills will come with a 30% markup to their base cost. It should also be noted that other skill book prices are being looked at and adjusted. More information can be found in this dev blog.
There has also been an update to fix exploits as a part of the war dec system. “To prevent exploits surrounding wars, it is no longer possible for a defending corporation to join an alliance that has an offensive war against their aggressor.” During any war cool-down, period either side of the old war can choose to declare a new war instantly, if both sides are war eligible. Also, any new wars started during the cool-down of an old war that involves the same parties will immediately end the old war and begin the new war with fighting enabled, without any 24-hour spool-up period. Any new war is still subject to the same billing and eligibility requirements as any normal war.
One aspect that stood out for me is the lack of any event for March. This might be due to the upcoming Amsterdam Invasion World Tour event, which takes place on March 23-24. My prediction is that we will see a new live event on the Tranquility Server following that. Failing such an event, I’m sure the Gurista faction are due their Easter event , and I look forward to the future possibilities.
