On June 19, CCP Falcon released a devblog clarifying the CONCORD ship releases. These had caused some controversy when they were released on June 14. The original assumption was that one Pacifier would be given to everyone who attended Fanfest, along with one Enforcer for those who booked early enough.
When the ships were finally released, over two months after Fanfest, one was given to every account belonging to those who had bought the Fanfest tickets. As a result, some people were eligible to receive several hundred ships.
This, combined with the high level of frustration that Ghost Training had not been declared an exploit yet (It was declared an exploit the day after the CONCORD ships were released), led to an outpouring of anger on Reddit. This was further compounded by the initial replies from CCP, which underestimated the level of anger that players had. The ships on the day of release were selling for upwards of 500m for the Pacifier, and 1.4b for the Enforcer. CCP Falcon later made some additional posts which went some way to reassuring players that CCP were aware that the release of the ships may have been handled badly.
It is worth mentioning that the initial devblog on June 14 stated that in the near future, the ships would be available from in-game activities. This was enough to put many would-be speculators and investors off of buying into the Pacifier and Enforcer, but the prices still held at around 1.5b for the Enforcer and 500m for the Pacifier.
Explaining and Clarifying
In the devblog today, CCP Falcon explains why they gave one per account:
Given the delay between Fanfest and the distribution of the hulls, and the fact that these hulls will soon be available more widely, these were awarded on a per account basis as a bit of an extra thank you for the wait that occurred before they were gifted.
He also restates that any ships or the ISK from selling them that belong to accounts that used Ghost Training will be confiscated.
There is also an explanation of how handouts of future event rewards will be handled
Going forward, any mass rewards gifted as part of ticket sales or other events will be issued via a one-time redeemable code delivered either via email or as a physical card.
The CONCORD Marshall Battleship, to be given to those who attend both Fanfest and Eve Vegas, will be handed out via these one-time codes.
In-game availability
The BPCs for the Pacifier and the Enforcer will be available through the second Project Discovery activity. This launches in the July patch (July 11), and involves assisting in the search for exoplanets. The addition of these to the Analysis Kredits store will give something of more interest to the wider Eve community than the current offerings, which are clothing and boosters. Given the limited interest in the current rewards, there are players with millions of AK, which, if transferred to the new Project Discovery, will mean there is likely to be a good supply of the BPCs from day one.
They will also be available later as drops in events.
The Marshall will be limited to attendees of Fanfest and Vegas until December when it will also be added to the Project Discovery store.
