Beitrag von: Aura am September 28, 2013, 04:01:07 Nachmittag
I watched the expansion announcement stream. I may not be currently logging into EVE Online, but I am curious about development direction. I don't rule out returning someday, depending on where EVE Online heads.
The Expansion Name
Unless the idiom "Crossing the Rubicon" has retained its meaning over 20,000 years of EVE Online history, the name itself doesn't have much connection to the lore.The obvious meaning though is that CCP Games has committed itself to the five-year roadmap or three-year plan (or maybe it's vice-versa.) Rubicon is symbolic of that point-of-no-return. CCP is now on the road it mapped out for itself in very vague and foggy terms at Fanfest 2013. Being all foggy, we're not quite sure what CCP has committed itself to. But Rubicon suggests that they've committed themselves to something and that there is no turning back.
Given the recent Blink-CCP scandal, one might say that CCP has crossed the Rubicon of player-organization favouritism. Who knows what special treats Somer Blink will receive in the future. I can hear CCP Navigator now "The Chribba die has been cast." (You know, because Somer Blink uses Chribba's random number generator API and that was Caesar's quote as he crossed the actual Rubicon in 49 BCE.)
However you want to interpret Rubicon is up to you. I don't mind the name, personally. It's evocative of CCP crossing over something and heading somewhere. One day we'll know what those things are.
Highsec POCOs
This is already functionality that has existed in-game for two years, in lowsec, w-space and nullsec. With respect to the development effort turning it on for highsec, next to nil. Basically, flipping a switch (allowInHighsec = true.)In terms of gameplay, perhaps some exciting times ahead for highsec residents. It certainly ups the conflict ante. Highsec gets their own version of mini-sovereignty. Alliances controlling small customs office empires. Already RvB has thrown down the gauntlet and intends to control every planet in The Forge. How that works out for them? I don't know. Depends on whether they can keep their membership interested enough in the grand plan after the twenty-fifth structure shoot (and with no end in sight.)
Either way, alliances and corporations controlling and taxing access to planets is going to create friction and animosity between groups. And that will lead to stuff blowing up.
Space Yurts
These are small, specialty units, meant for quick deployments. They're meant (at the moment) to be transient. Pick up and go units. Obstensibly for quick in and out operations. So I'm going to take a page from Mike Azariah's book and call them Yurts. Six of you will know what the hell is a yurt is. The rest of you can head to Wikipedia.
This is the part of the program where I wonder if CCP is thinking ahead. They are releasing four Yurts with Rubicon, and no doubt there will be more with every expansion going forward. If CCP is thinking ahead, then this Yurt platform becomes the perfect replacement for current POSes down the road. Yurts become the modular POS system that Greyscale described at Fanfest 2012. Though, only if CCP is indeed thinking ahead. The units do have a vaguely hexagonal shape to them, which is a design that lends them to future modularity.
The first Yurt described is a siphon. Basically it steals resources acquired from moon mining operations. Park one outside a POS and it will steal from it. How well this will work, I don't know. If the moment it activates, it sends a "You are being robbed" notification to the POS owner, but it takes the siphon eight hours to fill its cargo bay, then it's going to be a complete waste of time and nobody will use it. If it takes eight hours and does its dirty deeds stealthy-like, then its going to find a lot of use. On the other hand, if it only takes thirty minutes to fill its cargo bay, it should send a theft notification to the POS owner; it will then also function as a potential conflict driver. I also wonder how many siphons can be placed outside a POS? Place eight, for instance, to entirely strip a silo clean in X amount of time?
The second Yurt is called the depot. Basically it's a mobile storage bay and allows fitting services. This is going to be hugely popular in wormhole space.
The third Yurt will be a favourite with mission and deadspace runners. An auto-tractor beaming and looting module. Basically it will tractor beam all wrecks into a single location and then will loot them. (Salvaging wrecks is still done by the player, though now more conveniently since all the wrecks are tractored to a single location.)
The fourth Yurt is a single-use short-range cyno jammer, with a range of around 70-100 kilometers (CCP is still deciding on the exact distance.) Something like this will put a major crimp into Pandemic Legion lowsec hotdrops.
Sisters of EVE Ships
Not much to say here, except that I really quite like the ship designs. They have a Star Wars Episode III feel to them.
They're intended to be exploration ships with a combat bent. They can use T2 cloaks. I wonder though if they make redundant/useless ships like the Helios? This might be an example of power creep entering the game. We'll have to wait to see final stats, though.
Certificate Revamp
When I was a new player, I made a lot of use of the certificate system to help me figure out all the different support skills, as well as helping me decide on my skill queue. The Core certificate category was especially useful in this regard.But the certificate system is kind of clunky, and it does feel outside of the rest of the character system. So CCP will be redesigning it. And it will mirror skills more closely, now rated at levels I through to V. It looks like a fairly slick system and while most players won't give a shit about it, it will be beneficial to new players. I'm always in favour of new mechanics, systems and UI that help out the newbies. Anything that can increase retention.
That said, I would like to see some customization available. So that alliances and corporations can create their own certificates for members (and prospective recruits) to follow.
There is also an Interbus Ship ID system that will overview every ship in EVE and show you how well you can fly each of them, which in turn should help players identify their skill weaknesses and strengths in piloting and PvP.
Warping, New Ships, and Other Stuff
Ships being tackled for rebalancing will be the interceptors, electronic attack frigates, interdictors, and marauders. I don't really get too jacked up about ship rebalancing, so won't go into it. Lots of other folks are writing about it all, though.Warp acceleration will finally be a function of a ship's warp speed. (Previously all ships accelerated into warp at the same rate.) This will allow faster ships to catch (and pass) larger ships more easily, especially on short warps.
The character selection screen is also changing for some reason. I'm not sure anybody has had problems logging into a particular character in the past, so I'm at a loss what needed improving here. Almost seems like one of the teams had nothing to do, and somebody gave them this make-work project. I suppose we'll have to see the new character selection screen to decide if it was time well-spent by CCP.
And twitch.tv is being integrated into the client. I suppose that's okay. I would like to see YouTube integration too.
***
So that's about it. Not a hefty expansion by any measure, but it builds some foundations. Especially Yurts. If CCP is thinking ahead, thinking the long-game, then these could very well be a complete replacement for the old, out-dated POS code somewhere down the line.
Source: Crossing the Rubicon (http://)