Few would have ever guessed that on the eve of EVE’s 15th birthday, CCP would unleash a cataclysm of a patch. A small update to most, it would seem innocent enough if not for one simple thing: Within the ‘arms race’ event is the ability for NPC’s to “print” ships out of thin air.
Thirty minutes worth of effort (or merely parking a Vexor and watching Netflix) can net you not only a free Battlecruiser of random make and model, but a free Battleship as well. Lo and behold, our doom! Fifteen years of trial and error, ups and downs, all beset by the slow tide of change (and not for the better).
First, the Resource Wars update allowed for players to “unbox” whole Battleships. Now, players are merely given the box with the Battleship in it. Some might say “what’s the problem”, but we’re faced with the fact that these ships are not made by players.
For roughly fifteen years, ships have been crafted by hand and manually cobbled together by players. Crafting a vehicle takes more than one person generally and in the past, it often involved more than three for even cruisers.
Now? We have boxes that just make ships out of thin air.
