Welcome to the Fulcrum
Before CCP Hellmar took to the stage, CCP narrative designers Delegate Zero and Demiurge (aside Convict and Fozzie) presented the focal starsystem of November’s expansion, Zarzhak. The new system, having its entrances distributed all over New Eden, revolves around the Deathless, a new faction allied with the Gurista and Angel pirates. This system is designed to be a very dangerous area of space due to gravitational effects of a black hole limiting movement to a few safe pockets, mostly around intact Jovian structures. The system contains an incredibly large station, the Fulcrum, which is the only dockable structure in Zarzhak and currently requires +10 Deathless standings to dock. The system is also designed to bridge a gap between Low and Null security, according to CCP Fozzie, with new “gate guns” and other mechanics coming soon.
At the planet’s sun – an A0 Star, which they underlined as significant – the developers showed an intact Jove Observatory and a Deathless shipcaster that is presumably going to be used to sling pirate-aligned players into the new activity types introduced in the upcoming expansion.
The next few weeks will see more narrative events spinning up in this system, leading up to the Havoc expansion on November 14.
Like The Pyramids of Giza: The Monument Levelled Up
Channeling his conviction for “EVE Forever”, CCP Hellmar heralded EVE’s Third Decade by revealing that the Monument now shows 765,000 capsuleer names, and touched on a few key points:
- The technical frameworks the team are working on are called Carbon (client-side) and Quasar (server-side).
- Project Awakening, CCP’s Blockchain game, has raised 40 million dollars in external funding. CCP want to explore blockchain ecosystems, which – as CCP Hellmar points out – they want to completely isolate from EVE Online and Tranquility (which might or might not have to do with a reasonable amount of player backlash). NFTs remain Not For Tranquility.
- EVE will be updated to Python 3, alongside introducing a system they’re internally calling Genesis 2.
Additionally, Hellmar shares the mission statement for the third decade: “To bring you adventures with deeper immersion and emotional impact. We will lead in the adoption of new technologies and techniques.”
Connected Games, Empowering Eve Players
CCP Orca, the company’s VP of publishing, takes to the stage to look beyond the boundaries of EVE Online and into the wider IP options.
- EVE Galaxy Conquest is a new mobile-first game, being released later that year. It is shown as a 4X Strategy PVP Game that will first be released on Android and iOs, with a later PC client planned.
- EVE Echoes, the mobile game, has now been played by more than 13 million people (compared to EVE Online’s 60 million) and will see an expansion later this year that introduces Black Ops battleships and a new area of space.
- The EVE Board Game, which is being developed with Titan Forge and is currently being kickstarted, will see playtesting at Fanfest.
Additionally, Orca was very emphatic that CCP will continue to empower EVE Online players.
- T’amber, a player creating skins for EVE as a hobby for more than a decade, has now partnered with CCP. They will introduce some of his SKINs into the game. Check out his first SKIN in the 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition.
- The EVE Online Partnership program has levelled up, with Twitch Drops being enabled, and partners being given exclusive advance access to Singularity, which was previously free for players to test, to produce content.
- PLEX for good will become a permanent fixture, with bigger community involvement to determine worthy causes to donate to.
- Next year, CCP will run Alliance Tournament XX. In addition, CCP will “continue” to actively back player run tournaments and give access to tournament tools. Tournaments recently had a few years of being in a notably bad state, with the tournament tools being unable to host player tournaments, with a number of short-notice cancellations and a significant dearth of engagement from CCP in the tournament scene. This history is something CCP are still working to rebuild trust around, so we’ll be waiting with bated breath on this claim.
- Next year, Project Discovery will focus on cancer research, looking at cell flow cytometry and how we can
More Applause, Please
CCP Orca hands over to CCP Burger and CCP Rattati who step on stage to subsiding applause, and whose attempt to solicit more excitement was met with middling success.
This year has seen 23.3 Trillion ISK destroyed in faction warware, making the latest expansions a success in their view, since the overall destruction since its introduction (in 2008) is 288 Trillion ISK.
Havoc To Release On November 14
EVE’s pillars, we learn, are “The Future of War”, “Strong Organizations”, and the “Ultimate SciFi Experience”.
CCP Emerald presents the expansion trailer:
- Align with Guristas or Angel Cartel, “Cast to The Warzone from Zarzhak and corrupt the Empires Effort for your own gain”
- Pirate Insurgencies: New Loyalty Points for Objective Completion in Faction Warfare, Will Have access to a pirate station in the warzones
In addition, Angel and Guristas will gain new ships:
- Mamba and Mekubal destroyers
- Alligator and Khizriel battlecruisers
- The Angel Cartel will also gain a new faction titan, first presented as a concept at EVE Down Under in 2017
Boots on the Ground in New Eden
CCP Rattati introduces CCP Joker and CCP Collins, who give an introduction to the new FPS set in the EVE Universe: EVE Vanguard. Intricately linked to the new Deathless faction and some newly discovered Jovian “war clones”, players will be able to engage in PvPvE combat on battlefield-style maps.
Following their mantra of “One Game, One Community, One Team”, Vanguard is branded as a module in EVE Online that will be economically a “new habitat” in New Eden, and in which Enforcers, Explorers and Industrialists will all have a place. We can expect to be able to play a limited-time “First Strike” Founder Access version as Omega players in December. There is also a live pre-alpha gameplay demo to watch as part of the CCP livestream.
The Friendship Index
Mutual kills and exchanged contracts are measured with the internal “Friendship Index” that is one of the many metrics used by CCP to indicate the performance of their measures. In order to further strengthen this index, CCP will revamp Corporation Projects to be more accessible, and add some quality of life features such as payouts, copying of projects, and additional goals.
To further track resources, CCP will also introduce Evermark and Loyality Point transaction logs (but remain silent on a possible ESI endpoint). The SKINR tool will be expanded to include patterns and emblems, and they teased customizeable Ship SKIN Design.
Aspirational Goals
Rattati and Burger closed the Keynote with teasing some additional goals that the changes they are attempting will – or could? – lead to. These teased options include:
- Your corporation missions
- Automatic SRP for corporations
- Conquering Space will matter more, as alliances could use “Stellar Transmuters” to terraform systems
They also sort of tease, but this time do not promise, logistics players on killmails (again?).
CCP Hellmar then takes to the stage, again, requesting a “temperature check” on this schedule of changes and new games, in the form of an enthusiastic “HELL YEAH”. Looking at the stream, I would say: Lukewarm, yet hopeful.
