“Creation is so precious, and greed is so destructive – your choice will make a difference, because all these worlds are yours.”
So ends the narration of the latest trailer for CCP’s next expansion for Eve Online now due out May 26th, 2010 with full implementation of planetary interaction delayed until Jun 8th. For those of you who haven’t heard news of the delay, here is the announcement which can be read here as well .
Esteemed capsuleers,
We regret to inform you that deployment of our upcoming expansion Tyrannis has been pushed back by one week to May 26th, and that market seeding of Planetary Command Centers is pushed back to June 8th.
In our regression testing, we have identified scalability issues with the Planetary Interaction feature, which led to code refactoring that then needed further testing before being launched to Tranquility. Planetary Interaction is a unique feature in the sense that it is available to almost all players in the game providing opportunity for manufacturing for the masses, so ensuring that it runs smoothly on our cluster is of great importance to all.
EVE Gate will also be released on May 26th, with its web access to EVE Mail, Calendar and revamped contacts, both in-game and on the web.
Planetary interaction functionality is playable on Singularity, our public test server. A significant number of players have helped us by testing the game play and providing valuable feedback and we are grateful for that assistance. But the majority of EVE Online players have not yet had an opportunity to learn how to benefit and profit from the natural resources of the planets. This gives some players a slight advantage and we have chosen to take steps to somewhat level that playing field.
On release, you will be able to view resources on planets, buy and train skills pertaining to Planetary Interaction, discuss your options with your corporation and allied corporations and scout out the planets. We will be releasing a tutorial video in advance of the expansion deployment to help you learn the system as well, but actual manufacturing and extraction of commodities will only be available when we seed the Planetary Command Centers. We are giving players two weeks to familiarize themselves and make their decisions. During that time, our engineering team will be working behind the scenes to test and ensure stellar performance of said Command Centers. Mark your calendars: the great land rush begins when Tranquility opens after our normal downtime on June 8, 2010.
With thanks for your support and patience,
Torfi Frans Olafsson
Senior Producer of EVE Online
The biggest innovation in the next FREE expansion is, as Eve fans know, something called “planetary interaction.” The concept is simply, as the videos we have found and featured in early articles have shown, even beginning players will be able to establish mining colonies (in the isometric view so common to RTS games). In preparation for this some of the goods normally sold by NPCs in the game are no longer being produced, with the exception of few places in the Eve Online universe. This, of course, opens the door to those same goods being provided by yes…you guessed it…
Those same “carebears” upon which so many pvp participants heap scorn and abuse.
Here let’s be perfectly clear. I enjoy pvp, I always have. I participate in pvp in just about every game I play – except Eve (at least not any more). The dividing line for me is where corporate wars start and piracy ends. Corporation vs. corporation is great if you can afford it (and believe you me friends that is one big IF considering the “lose everything” death penalty in Eve Online). Still, the voices of dissension coming from the pvp community in Eve Online are a bit odd (if not silly) considering the “Anything goes” attitude CCP has always had toward their game.
Typical of those for whom the glass seems to be “half empty” are excerpts from player comments below:
“…and i don’t like doing carebear and missioning if that what you are asking me to do in high-sec. Why do theyhave to invest in planet-interaction and walking in station and DISU512 when the real EVE is lagging when we need to it to run…”
“… I think this whole thing is going to turn into a near complete failure, just as Dominion has. VP is the bottom line of this game. Dominion has ground this to a near hault in 0.0. Without PVP the game is dead. “
Many, like myself, are anxiously awaiting June 8thand the opening land rush of planetary interaction. There is little doubt that the corporations that ply the routes of 0.0 security space will be rushing to develop the same resources… and busy trying to defend themselves at the same time. There will, of course, always be those in the Eve universe who feel that the good folks at CCP can’t live without them. But that’s the interesting aspect of any given market. Individually no one is indispensable from the president of a corporation right down to the individual player – it is only collectively that we all matter.
So this lone voice crying in the wilderness of the Eve Online universe would like to loudly applaud CCP for taking steps to expanding the Eve Online universe, and addressing the desires of ALL the players…collectively.
See you online,
Julie Whitefeather
(posted for Julie Whitefeather by the Webmaster)
Side Note:
Here is a small excerpt from one of the more unusual ways I have ever seen anyone praise Eve Online (see below). Syncaine’s article is certainly worth the read (agree or disagree Hardcore Casual is always entertaining). Head on over to Hardcore Casual for the full article.
I’m starting to hate it because it makes all other MMOs look like crude kids toys, like silly side activities you dabble in before getting back to the ‘real’ game. It makes events that happen in other MMOs look like droplets in the ocean that is EVE’s history.
“Those same “carebears” upon which so many pvp participants heap scorn and abuse.”
Actually it’s very few.
I think there are relatively few pvpers who lose their tempers and certainly not when ganking people. Pvpers are very rarely rude, there’s a small minority who use smack talk to enrage people into fighting when discretion ought to be the better part of valour.
It is, perhaps, a case of what I call the “unsilent minority” but other than those in my immediate corporation I have, on the whole, seen mountains of abuse heaped on those of us whom have been deemed “carebears”. I do not doubt that there are some kind hearted pvp’ers hiding out there somewhere but I have never met any.
I have,however, met ALOT of nasty pirates…at least virtually.
Julie
I’m a null sec dweller, and you know what I am more than happy with the changes PI will bring.
I think you are right though, it is the vocal minority, that whine when anything is done that they can define as “carebear”, in fact to me PI is an attempt to make more of the economy player based, by the removal of more NPC supplied items.
How that can be described as anti-pvp is beyond me, as it gives us alll something else to fight over (at least in 0.0, where I believe sov is required)
I was in a 0.0 security corpration back before you had to set up equipment to mark your system. For me, the “death penalty” cost was just too high…boom, lose it all. Insurance helps but only part way, and with T2 ships like the Hulk not at all.
The gist of the complaint that I see is that people who pvp feel that the game itself now lags preventing enourmous player battles (100 on a side, 1000 on a side). Others simply say “its your computer”. Said individuals feel that CCP should address the “lag” issue before anything else.
As for planetary interaction, to consider it only aimed at those who chose not to go past the high security/low security wall is foolish. After all, as the trailer says…
ALL these planets are yours.
Thanks for the comment.