This last weekend, hundreds of eve players descended on Amsterdam for the 5th annual EVEsterdam event, organised by Diedra Vaal.
As I have just said farewell to the last stragglers at the airport and boarded my flight home, it seemed the perfect time to write a retrospective. (Also because I really hate flying so this passes the time)
Coming less than a week after CCP announced heavy restructuring, there had been uncertainty about the planned presentations and general atmosphere at the event.
As it turned out, both devs and players were able to leave broader concerns at the door (for the most part) and have a productive and fun weekend.
CCP Guard opened the weekend with a presentation on the present and future of EVE. He began by addressing the events of the previous week.
@CCP_Guard tackling the elephant in the room before it even got in decently #evesterdam #tweetfleet pic.twitter.com/BpvA3ISVsY
— Jorg Ian Floren (@jorgianfloren) November 4, 2017
Whilst CCP have heavily reduced their number of staff, no core EVE devs have been affected, and CCP are refocusing on EVE.
Much of the rest of his presentation was a recap of the Vegas presentation from a few weeks back, showcasing the last year in EVE. This included several player events in-game and artistic upgrades.
Moving onto the future, much of this is already known, such as structures 2.0(Q1 2018) and alpha changes (December patch).
In terms of previously unknown information, there is going to be an overhaul of graphics for industrial ships, and the new Caldari designs were shown.
These appear to be going to a modular design similar to t3 ships.
#evesterdam maby the new industrial. I like it pic.twitter.com/JgqVE1qdN4
— mellissus (@mellissus) November 4, 2017
There was a tinfoil moment when the designs appear to show a T3 indy. This was brought up at the CCP Q&A, where the response was that it was merely a default setting for the graphics dept to have a folder for that regardless of whether or not there is a T3 version.
Station interiors are also due an overhaul, and concept art was shown similar to some of the features from cq with scope video playing, a market ticker etc. It also had improved lighting and interactive undock button as well as an agent hologram.
@CCP_Vertex is working on some holographic ui in station #evesterdam #tweetfleet pic.twitter.com/4krOoI50rG
— Jorg Ian Floren (@jorgianfloren) November 4, 2017
Up next from CCP was CCP Lebowski with a walkthrough of the development cycle for a feature from a QA perspective.
This was an informative presentation and gave some insight into the inner workings of a CCP Dev team, and the process behind getting a feature out.
CCP Lebowski also had a sneak peek of the new bubble graphics, which will prevent the whiteout effect currently observed on TQ when 50 bubbles are launched at once.
Left 50 old bubbles, right 50 bubbles in the new system #evesterdam #tweetfleet pic.twitter.com/JN5GeC8Aca
— Jorg Ian Floren (@jorgianfloren) November 4, 2017
New stuff – warp disruptor bubbles #evesterdam #tweetfleet warp disr pic.twitter.com/BlFlpALKtX
— Jorg Ian Floren (@jorgianfloren) November 4, 2017
He had some stats on the new moon mining with him too. So far, 76% of extractions set up have been in nullsec, with 24% in lowsec. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of these are 6d duration at the moment, with under 1% being 56d duration. This will presumably change over time, as players settle into the new system.
Oh, yes, one other thing, Goonswarm had a very good turnout this year, even with all the confusion of people being spread over 3 different locations and the difficulties in co-ordinating people getting on trains in the morning after a night out.
A part of the Sunday goons…. We are missing 40% lol @Evesterdam #tweetfleet #goonies #groupie #evesterdam #worldwidegoonies pic.twitter.com/NFok2nncge
— Mystic Darkangel (@Myst1cDarkAng3l) November 6, 2017
All in all, it was a great weekend, and if anyone is around Amsterdam next autumn, I highly recommend going along to EVEsterdam 2018.
