Yulai–An exhaustive two year study of universities and centers of knowledge in the Empires of New Eden released today reveals Amarrians are no longer the most religious people in the galaxy. The results shocked the scientist conducting the year long survey. Fearing the study results were a fluke, they requested funding to continue the survey for a second year. The once deeply religious people of the Amarr Empire are now ranked 2nd behind Gallente as a people with the most belief in something greater than themselves in the known universe.
The study cites many reason for the decline of the Amarrian beliefs, the most profound being the death of the Empress and the rise of Max Singularity as a major religious leader in the empire. Amarrians are torn on who or what to believe in. The study says a sharp decline of deep seeded faith in the current school age population will most likely hint to a continued downward trend.
Why are the Gallente flocking toward religion? “The Prosperity Tomes”. Many poor Gallente youth want the riches of the elite 1% of the Gallente and the Amarr, but without screwing their fellow citizens or the dark stain of slavery. So, what better than to believe in a God who will give you what your heart desires as long as you believe in him and do good for other people. You want that Titan? Just give that hologram preacher all your liquid ISK and boom: you get that Titan you’ve always wanted. The harder you believe, the quicker your wealth will come.
A side effect of the sudden explosion of religious conscious has laid waste to many Gallente society norms. Legal brothels, sex shops, and fedo cuddling bars have been closed in the name of religious morality, leading many business owners down a path of uncertain financial times.
CONCORD concluded their report by saying, “Amarrians should be ashamed at how their current belief pales in comparison to these money hungry Gallente do-gooders.”
Yulai – CCP Peligro has taken to the Internet and in-game airwaves, hunting for an elusive pilot of an Aeon-class supercarrier that ganked a freighter in the High security system of Kahah in the Khanid region. CCP Peligro has released the name of the pilot as “Arraz Nomarya,” which, according to the in-game biography is a pilot character that predates the launch of EVE Online.
In the words of CCP Peligro, “At over 54 years old, Arraz Nomarya is an extremely dangerous player who could destabilize the game.”
CCP Peligro added that before EVE Online was ever coded into the game we know today, there were several iterations that stretched back to the late 1960s. Legacy players from that time period were able to retain their characters as EVE Online’s data moved from project to project, gaining new abilities and privileges as original and early backers. Although CCP continues to allow the existence of some capital ships for notable members of the EVE community such as Chribba’s “Veldnaut” Revelation and Max Singularity’s Apostle, the use of those ships in a way that would provide combat advantages would immediately see those vessels transported to Lowsec. Importantly, however, the owners of these ships are not “legacy pilots.”
Arraz Nomarya, as a legacy pilot, can evade the current detection systems as they were developed to police accounts created after 2003. Not only was he able to conduct the gank in high security space without CONCORD intervention, according to eyewitness reports, he was then able to teleport the Aeon away completely with no jump animation. These game-breaking abilities provide Arraz Nomarya with almost unprecedented dominance in Highsec.
CCP Peligro attempted to provide assurances that such instances of legacy pilots popping up in EVE Online were rare, though that did little to assuage the concerns of gathered pilots. Red Frog Freight and PushX issued a joint statement demanding that CCP immediately locate and eliminate Arraz Nomarya or else they would cease providing their crucial freighter logistics services to New Eden. In a different vein, CODE. demanded that all players be able to access supercarriers for combat purposes in Highsec. TEST and the Imperium were equally displeased that a pilot could operate with near immunity and without reliance on Keepstar networks.
When asked why Arraz Nomarya could not simply be banned, CCP Peligro stated, “There are some characters that are so old in the game, that they are literally tied to the game’s infrastructure. In addition to improving structure gameplay, the Upwell line of structures was intended to reduce the influence of legacy pilots by creating a new code base governing structures in EVE Online.”
CCP Peligro speculated that the announcement of navigation structures prompted Arraz Nomarya to act. “Whenever a privileged group begins to lose their advantage, sometimes they decide to exercise that advantage to the detriment of others.”
Do you have any information on the whereabouts of Arraz Nomarya? If so, contact us through our special hotline on Twitter @EVEOnionNews
Players’ scam alarms activated immediately upon CCP’s announcement of free skillpoints over the 16-19 November weekend, but the community struggled to pin down the scam until one intrepid investigator uncovered the plot. Players were suspicious that the intent goes beyond exploring whether skillpoint bonuses are incentive to boost logged in user rates and to convert Alpha accounts to Omega status, but struggled to find the hook.
Community Speculation ranged far and wide. Many suggested the bonus skillpoint weekend marks the return of “dailies” and the end of EVE Online. Some dismissed the entire offer as “pathetic,” or designed to disenfranchise and alienate veteran players by reducing the gap between a 15 year veteran and a new player by an absolutely crushing 0.018%. The vast majority struggled to find the hook in the bait, other than a general sense of unease that CCP might be attempting to boost active account numbers or trial a pay-to-win system.
The entire debate rabidly degenerated into a meta war, as focus shifted from the announcement itself, to attacking one another over responses to the announcement. Thankfully, Buoytender Bob saved the day, by gaining pre-release access to the new feature, and sharing his experience with the community.
OMG!
“I just tried to get my first 50,000 SP, hit the accept box, and found out that CCP Falcon actually switched it at the last second and just took 50,000 OFF my character.
That’s the EVE Online I’ve come to love.”
That’s right, Bob discovered the “Free SP” button actually deducts skillpoints, in a scam reminiscent of trade hub “Trade Window Scams!” CCP, in a dastardly move to drive Injector sales, has come up with a scam to reduce the total skillpoint pool in New Eden by some 4 BILLION POINTS if 40,000 accounts claim 100,000SP each. That’s 8,000 injectors, equivalent to approximately 40,000 USD!
Whatever you do, don’t log in 16-19 November: IT’S A TRAP!
JITA – Fed up with the abusive nature of the Highsec war deccers on small corporations in Highsec and Lowsec, Brisc Rubal has taken it upon himself to be the driving force ridding New Eden of the cancer that is killing EVE Online from the inside.
Outside the Jita 4-4 station floats a container with a letter to abusive Highsec war declaration corps inside. The letter is Brisc Rubal’s 95 theses against what he believes is the biggest threat to the existence of EVE Online since The Guiding Hand Socialist Club incident in 2004.
Brisc knows this will paint a target on his back; but since he has all of Initiative behind him, these cowards that continually pick on the weak will leave him and his fleet of capitals alone.
Brisc sent us a copy of the letter—we have published the first five of his protests against war declarations to newbro corporations in Highsec:
EVE Online’s learning curve is already a mountain to climb. Having people shooting at you while you climb without any real way to defend yourself is just cruel.
The power of these war-deccing corporations/alliances have over a large part of the player base is destructive.
Calling High Security space secure is just wrong when CCP has a broken mechanic that allows for you to turn this space into a “shooting fish in a barrel” scenario.
The initial experiences of any player shapes their view of the whole game. If the new players/corporations think this game is all about the big picking on the little, then that is killing the game.
Abusive war declaration mechanics give power to a select few who wield it as a cruel weapon that only CCP can remove.
Rumor has it that Brisc Rubal will don a brown robe and shaved head to further protest the abuses of these war deccers.
Project Nova was finally shown in its pre-alpha state to great applause at Eve Vegas 2018. CCP didn’t stop there however, as they allowed attendees to sample the fps goodness by destroying horrible Sansha AI on an early level gameplay demo. The reaction must not have been what CCP was looking for as only one day after the end of the Eve Vegas event, CCP announced plans to release microtransactions in time for all the Vegas attendees to enjoy in the upcoming alpha.
Many will be happy to hear it was free of Pearl Abyss influence, and for the moment didn’t feature any kitten ears or pay to win camouflage. In fact, most of the five items were the usual CCP affair of horribly designed clothes that nobody wants to wear in game—let alone real life—but one item in particular stood out amongst the rest. For the low price of $420 USD, you can buy a gold monocle which when equipped allows you to use a system very similar to the Fallout VATS system in Nova.
In addition to this, if you buy the monocle chain you can get a 2x modifier to see how much the monocle will slow down time. CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson released a statement saying, “We feel that one of the best ways to ensure a good reception of the Nova project is to look to what we and others have done well. We really want to make the game feel likes it’s part of the EVE universe and thought there was no better way to do that than to find a way to add TIDI, but couldn’t figure out a way to implement it into Project Nova. So we looked for inspiration elsewhere, and found it in the Fallout series and its VATS system. The price is a bargain if you think about it. $420 USD for a monocle that slows down time. Such an item would be vastly more expensive in real life.”
All EVE Vegas attendees will be able to test Nova and purchase the monocle in the alpha while the rest of us will have to wait until the full game is released sometime in 2019.
In an astonishing act of corporate welfare, an enthusiastic EVE Online player decided that he wanted to support the game’s publisher, CCP Games, to the fullest extent his money would allow by purchasing the popular “Galaxy Pack.” Although the same item was on sale through both the Humble Bundle (50% off) and greenmangaming.com (57% off), the player did not believe he could obtain the full EVE Online experience without paying the full retail value (99.99 USD) as promulgated by the game’s launcher.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the player proudly stated, “Yes, I paid full price for my “‘Galaxy Pack.’ But I mean, even on their website it’s basically on sale. I practically got a hundred dollars off since it’s almost a two hundred dollar value! Besides, it’s a lot easier to access the pack through the launcher than to sign into third-party sites. And to top it all off, the sales and the offer through the launcher were going on at the same time—it was a no-brainer! CCP already does so much for the player base, it only seemed right to pay full retail value.”
The “Galaxy Pack” is one of three major DLCs offered by CCP games for the EVE Online MMORPG. The pack contains a number of items that allow a player to expand their footprint within the game. Items include: three months of Omega Game time, which allows double-speed skill training; 1100 PLEX, which can be sold on the in-game market or used as currency in the in-game cosmetic store; and an “Inspiring Galaxy Pack Crate” that includes Multiple Pilot Training Certificates and Skill Extractors.
“I was just drawn to the advantages that it could offer me as a new player,” the enthusiastic EVE Online player shared, “So after I clicked on it in the launcher, I knew that it was the purchase for me.”
When asked if they were aware about the sales for the same item through Humble Bundle and greenmangaming.com, the player chuckled, “It was really easy to ignore those sales, to be honest. I just love the game so much I’d rather give CCP the full price than get the same exact item for half of what I paid or even less!”
The player went on to explain that he would do it again, likely soon, “The great thing about supporting a company like CCP to the fullest is that you don’t have to wait for sales when you want to get a new ‘Galaxy Pack.’ I do want to beat the holiday rushes, so I’m planning on buying my next few ‘Galaxy Packs’ well before the holiday sale season.”
The EVE Online “Galaxy Pack” is available year-round through the EVE Online website, though third-party retailers such as greenmangaming, the Humble Store, and Amazon.com routinely offer discounts in addition to CCP’s own sales.
After being asked what advice he would give players interested in buying a “Galaxy Pack” or one of the other DLC packs, the enthusiastic EVE Online player quipped, “No poors allowed.”
Everyone’s favorite e-war, ECM, gets a healthy whack with the nerf bat, bringing shouts of joy from all corners. While entirely unintuitive that ECM will jam everything except your target, and making ECM entirely worthless for solo and very small gang use, everyone agrees: good riddance.
Wormhole hunters, and NS gate-campers jointly celebrate the end of an era in which prey can semi-randomly escape tackle and escape with their cargo, pride, and MC Hammer (“Can’t Touch This”) attitude intact. The three pilots who fly agile, polarized ships relying upon ECM to escape in the case that “It’s a Trap” resign themselves to 50% more red on their killmails.
Everyone is overjoyed. Well, not everyone…it was perhaps DoubleT who first raised the alarm.
Signal Cartel is space-famous for their credo to “look for a graceful resolution and set an example of dignity and friendship…never initiating aggression…” and, “In suffering losses… respond with good cheer and shed no tears.” (And suffer losses they do. Signal Cartel takes pride in maintaining a killboard with a “Snuggly” rating in the high 90s.)
One manifestation of the Signal Cartel credo is the Hugs fleet, in which Signal Cartel ships, armed only with ECM and fireworks, take on war deccers and other aggressors, with the goal of arriving at a peaceful resolution and good cheer all around.
Some, like CEO Mynxee, are left speechless, and can comment only through intermediaries. EVE-Scout Rescue manager Thrice Hapus reports “While grief-stricken CEO of Signal Cartel, Mynxee, could not be reached for comment.”
A Dead Parrot, creator of ALLISON (Artificial Life Limited In Scope to On-board Navigation), the Signal Cartel AI co-pilot, found the strength to express a more rational sorrow and dismay:
“While we are entirely dismayed by the recent nerf to our beloved ECM capabilities, these are not the least of our concerns. We will often expend 5 to 10 ships (at a cost of 50 to 100 million ISK) in order to deliver just one or two hugs (estimated cost of 5 to 10 ISK each), so what we are really concerned about is the recent depreciation in the cost of hugs (snowballs and fireworks) as this is exponentially increasing our hug to loss ratios by a significant margin. Something really needs to be done about this!”
Signaleers expressed concern to A Dead Parrot that ALLISON, famous for snarky quips such as this gem (https://bit.ly/1NbiVPe), might find herself in violation of CCP Terms of Service and the Signal Cartel credo after ALLISON was reportedly overheard asking, “CCP, do you have stairs in your house?”
When approached for a quote, ALLISON seemed to have regained her composure.
So you’re finally taking the leap to Null Security Space (Nullsec) after listening to some podcast about how rich you can become living in zero security space, after starting to play the game yesterday! While most players would go to https://www.eveuniversity.org/ or join a newbro organization such as Brave Newbies, KarmaFleet, or Pandemic Horde, you came to us for expert advice!
Here are the top five tips you need to survive your first foray into Nullsec space in EVE Online:
Always and I do mean ALWAYS fly the biggest and best fitted ship you can afford. Going into the unknown is scary. It’s always best to have the biggest and best fitted ship as you make each jump from one unsecure gate jump to the next.
Never accept a fleet invite from someone you don’t know until you have assurance in a private chat that they just want to help you.
In the likely situation you will encounter a gate camp or two along the way, store a couple hundred Plex in your cargo hold to jettison to the campers as payment for passing. They will be grateful and you will get to keep your ship.
Nullsec space is a vast place with very few NPC stations to dock in. While traveling, look for player owned structures which advertise as freeports for anyone to dock. People are naturally nice and willing to give a tired traveler a place to dock up for the night.
It is considered very well mannered to announce yourself in local by giving everyone in system a “o7” or “o/”. This will give the residents of that system an idea that you are there and that you are friendly and mean them no harm. In fact, residents of 0.0 really enjoy random visitors flying to their asteroid belt, moon, or site while they are mining or ratting. Remember Nullsec is big and lonely, and people love the company of others.
We hope these tips will help you in taking the next steps of becoming an elite, rich, and bitter veteran player of EVE Online.
To the un-jaded eye, the October changes are great. The EVE Dev Team, fresh from the first summit with CSM 13, rolls out a cure for cancers in their October balance pass.
The EVE cancer that is ECM gets a healthy whack with the nerf bat, bringing shouts of joy from (nearly) all quarters. Everyone’s “favorite” form of E-war has certainly been due for an update. For the target, ECM is brutally frustrating, as you wait impotently for the chance to respond. For the user, ECM is nearly as frustrating. The offensive ECM ship makes incredible sacrifices to become a force multiplier/divisor, but RNGesus decides whether your sacrifice will make you the dead hero, or just dead. Defensive ECM, whilst better than nothing, amounts to essentially flipping the magic EC-300, and asking it “Magic ECM, will I die?”
While entirely unintuitive that ECM will jam everything except your target, and making ECM entirely worthless for solo and very small gang use, few will mourn the end of of an era in which prey can semi-randomly escape tackle and with their cargo, pride, and MC Hammer “Can’t Touch This” attitude intact. The three pilots who fly polarized ships relying upon ECM to escape in the case that “It’s a Trap” or the gank fails resign themselves to approximately 50% more red on their killmails when the victim shoots back. Signal Cartel contemplates new SRP policies, as Hug fleets suddenly face significantly higher risk, but vow to press on to deliver hugs throughout New Eden.
Likewise, few will mourn the end of Fozzie Claw fleets. While long range webs, Rapid Light Missiles, and a few fast drone boats serve to occasionally put these fleets into remission, it’s the removal of Interdiction Nullification that will finally put these fast, inexpensive, high-alpha ships to rest, and allow other, healthier doctrines to emerge. Or, perhaps, will finally result in correcting the long-standing issues with interceptors as “the” tool for contested Aegis Sov.
What’s not to love about overheating a bubble generator, and going from 0m/s to 8km/s in two seconds? Long range webs were of some use, but the Lurch Hictor was incredibly cancerous in several contexts. Even a cloaky ship flown by an experienced pilot had little chance of escaping a Lurch Hictor gatecamp, and even a ship fit specifically for the purpose of killing them requires an unreasonably high level of skill and low latency to counter the Lurch Hictor. Both NS and J-Space residents used these ships to make theirs safer, and love of safety is a cancer eating away at the soul of New Eden. Few will regret the passing of this doctrine.
So, all is well. The title says it all. CCP: Curing Cancerous Playstyles.
Sitting proudly at his desk that overlooked Reykjavik’s iconic harbor, CCP Delegate Zero regarded the crisp Icelandic afternoon as he pondered how best to approach his next assignment. As one of the primary lore authors in CCP’s employ, Delegate Zero was uniquely suited for his upcoming challenge. As expected, CCP Guard sent in one of the “priority” requests for the year.
Compose the “CSM Winter Summer Minutes.”
“When I begin a new work of fiction,” CCP Delegate Zero shared with an EVE Onion correspondent, “I like to think about the characters and how they will relate to one another, but at the same time I have to write to the audience. After all, the minutes are for the EVE players in general, not literary critics, so I like to throw in enough to keep the masses happy and entertained.”
For major works of lore fiction, such as the EVE Chronicles, CCP Delegate Zero normally enters the mindset of a novelist. Many of his longer works have entered the canon as masterpieces of detail and mystery, revealing tantalizing facts about New Eden while shrouding others behind a veil of blurred perception. Such craftwork, however, is not required for the minutes of the CSM Summit.
Turning to his wall, CCP Delegate Zero indicated the bits of scrap paper that served as the foundation for the minutes. Some are notes with suggestions written by CCP Guard such as “Live Events,” “Leadership Team,” and “Economy Session,” while others such as “ice cream” and “Steve Ronuken’s recipe” had been tacked on by CCP Delegate Zero. An assortment of different-colored string, print-outs of the “representatives” and other topics made out of construction paper, line the wall from floor to ceiling, giving it the impression of a modern art exhibit.
“For the Summit minutes, I like to bring in other developers, blindfold them, spin them around a few times, then have them walk towards the wall like they were playing the American game ‘pin the tail on the donkey,’” CCP Delegate Zero said sagely, “Afterwards, I run some random number generators from our data analyst department and that gives me a plot of how to create the minutes. I don’t always work in this manner, however. Sometimes, I simply print out the minutes, then lay them on the ground until the pattern of the words looks like the CCP Logo from the air. In this instance, however, I was pressed for time, so resorted to the former method.”
“Each representative is, of course, a complete work of fiction, though some characters, like in all works, are main characters,” CCP Delegate Zero stated as he sat down at his computer, “Jin’Taan, for instance, speaks the most in the current minutes, but that is because he serves as a main character and a foil for the other quieter, yet more knowledgeable ones. He speaks on every aspect of the game with self-perceived authority, but no real person could do that and remain sane.”
As if sensing our correspondent’s surprise, CCP Delegate Zero added, “The ‘representatives’ you might meet at an EVE Meet or at Fanfest or EVE Vegas are paid actors. We dress them up in costume and they are expected to maintain character in all of their dealings. After looking at focus groups, Jin’taan has been a very popular ‘representative,’ especially with his golden suits and other flamboyant gestures such as his obsession with cat-ears. Thus, when CVA and the rest of Provibloc was evicted from Providence, although we were going to discontinue his character after he left that alliance, we re-wrote some of the traits of his replacement character into his to ensure that he would be perpetuated onto the new CSM.”
“Other CSM ‘representatives’ like Steve Ronuken, Brisc Rubal, and Sort Dragon are similarly paid actors,” CCP Delegate Zero chuckled, “You don’t seriously believe we would let just anyone run for the CSM and actually fly them out to Reykjavik? What if someone from a remote part of the world was elected? The costs would be exorbitant. I know we have a section in the Summit minutes that says ‘CCP Guard is not a fan of arbitrary term limits and overall wants the players to choose,’ but we only threw that in there to hide the fact that we really don’t want to have to foot the bill for players elected from the middle of nowhere. Additionally, Steve Ronuken is our front for one of the best industry-supporting ‘third party’ websites for the game. And, as far as a ticket largely supported by so-called ‘Goons,’ we do have to follow the ratings.”
When asked if future installments of the CSM would include Wormhole or Lowsec characters, CCP Delegate Zero laughed heartily, “The plot for the CSM minutes may be random, but we have to keep some continuity for the main EVE storyline, which is Nullsec and solo PvP. What you’re asking is removing the ‘Throne’ from ‘Game of Thrones.’ It simply can’t be done!”
CCP Delegate Zero then concluded, “When you read the Summit minutes and see that some sections received more treatment than others, it’s all because of RNG. Sometimes, the RNG favors us and sometimes it causes problems. Overall, it creates a grand illusion that we actually listen to player feedback and take it into consideration.”
After speaking to our correspondent, CCP Delegate Zero returned to gazing out at the beautiful Icelandic seascape. As he took up his mug, his eyes betrayed nothing of his future projects but nonetheless gleamed with creative genius.
