The state of capital ships in EVE Online has been perhaps the most hotly debated topic discussed in recent memory, with the possible exception of nullsec sovereignty reform. From the overwhelming dominance of “slowcat” carrier fleets, to the large supercarrier fleets maintained across nullsec and lowsec, capitals have played a significant role in almost all major conflicts over the last few years. However, despite this historical precedent, capitals are becoming obsolete as their old roles of grid dominance and structure bashing have been abandoned in the more mobile warfare that the new Aegis sovereignty system demands.
CCP undoubtedly understands this, having announced its intentions early in 2015 to make capitals viable, and enjoyable in the current EVE meta. The date for the public exhibition of these planned changes was set for EVE Vegas, where CCP developer CCP Larrikin presented an exciting future for capitals, with brand-new fighter control concepts, new Fleet Auxiliary carriers, and a plethora of new titan doomsdays.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the capital rebalance announced by CCP Larrikin, was that a select group of players, especially those who have extensive capital knowledge, would play a role in the final crafting of the capital rebalance. The sign-up post for this capital focus group amassed 80+ applicants. Experienced capital pilots from nullsec, lowsec, and wormholes all posted their qualifications. The initial roster of candidates selected by CCP can be found here.
Interestingly, the activity of this focus group will not be conducted under the normal secrecy that CCP has historically mantained through the CSM. Instead, the capital focus group has since created a restricted sub-reddit, which allows only designated capital focus group members to post, while remaining viewable to the public. With this sub-reddit, the capital focus group and CCP have begun to work together to make these coming changes as beneficial to the game as a whole as possible. So, if you own a capital, and are curious as to what the future holds, take a look over at r/evecapitalfocusgroup , as most if not all of the aspects of the capital rebalance will be explained and debated for the next few months.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Sven Tekitsu.
