The Nosy Gamer
Monday, May 6, 2024
CCP Games Revenue Up 6.7%, Returns To Profitability In 2023
Thursday, May 2, 2024
April 2024 Activity In EVE Online
Jester's Average Concurrent User Graph |
Statistics from Dotlan Maps |
The next piece of information is measuring if the increased number of logged in accounts equates to more shooting of internet spaceships. Compared to April 2023, the answer is yes. I'll get to low sec a little later because the high sec and null sec activity is significant. The number of high sec player ships killed equates to many things, including insurance fraud. But the numbers also include new players as some of the tutorial and career agent missions require new players to lose a ship. The 29.0% increase does indicate something is happening.
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Cloud Imperium Games Sales Revenue Down 24.7% In April 2024
April continued a horrible sales year so far for Cloud Imperial Games. After suffering a 17.2% year-over-year sales decline in the first quarter of 2024, the CCU Game dashboard showed April sales at only $5.2 million. The 24.7% drop in revenue compared to April 2023 pushed the year-over-year decline down to 19.1% for the first four months of 2024. For the year, CIG's revenue from the cash shop recorded on the Roberts Space Industries funding page is $22.5 million.
Does the number of new users on the Roberts Space Industries website have any relationship to sales figures? April demonstrated the answer is no. Last month's increase of 25,000 users was a 73.6% decrease from the 94,703 new users recorded in April 2023. Either new players spend a lot more money than in 2023 or CIG mostly gets its revenues from veteran players.
Overall, the recorded sales tracked on the CCU Game dashboard is $679.9 million since the launch of the Kickstarter in October 2012. But Cloud Imperium has additional funding sources not tracked by the dashboard. Overall, the company has recorded $778.5 million in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2022 financial report) .
- Sales/Pledges: $679.9 million (through 30 April 2024)
- Subscriptions: $33.0 million (through 31 December 2022)
- All other sources: $65.6 million (through 31 December 2022)
In addition, the company has received a total of $63.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2022 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $837.0 million.
May will prove a key financial month for Cloud Imperium Games. The Invictus Launch Week, otherwise known as Fleet Week, is traditionally held in the final week of May. The event usually generates the second most revenue, after the Interstellar Aerospace Expo in November.
While an announcement for pre-orders for Squadron 42 is expected in October at Citizen Con, a poor showing this month may force CIG to begin taking pre-orders in 2024. The company is facing the prospect of the Calders exercising a put option for their 1,599,900 shares of Cloud Imperium stock in the first quarter of 2025. Ideally the company does well enough in 2024 to convince the father and son duo to hold off on exercising the option until 2028.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
What To Do With My Island Sanctuary After A Year
Over the weekend I completed another grind in Final Fantasy XIV. As grinds go, obtaining the Island Adenium mount from my island sanctuary wasn't onerous. I just needed to go to my island every Tuesday and ensure I would earn the maximum number of Felicitous Favors (7) from my workshops every week for 29 weeks. Honestly, apart from the necessity of stocking up on some inputs once a month, spending 10-15 minutes on my island each week wasn't a big deal. Especially since I am still hooked on the feature.
Island sanctuaries first came out in April 2023 with patch 6.2 and this weekend I thought I had just about finished the content, with the minor exception of not earning the Sustainable Sourcing III title. I decided to write a celebration post but while doing the research, I ran into a problem. I had more to do.
The big one is one more mount, the Island Perrifool, exists. The whistle to summon the mount is found in Sanctuary Materiel Containers which costs 10 Felicitious Tokens. Considering the maximum number of tokens one can earn per week is 7, that comes out to two or three chances to get the mount per month.
Then I looked up the loot table for the Material Containers. The chances of getting the mount within 3-4 months is probably slim. Some of the consolation prizes are not bad, however. For example, I see many minions available.
- Bombfish
- Bom Boko
- Castaway Chocobo Chick
- Dwarf Rabbit
- Ghido
- Hunting Hawk
- Korpokkur Kid
- Odder Otter
- Road Sparrow
- Shaggy Shoat
- Tiny Tatsunoko
Some are very common and some are rare enough I still don't have one. But continuing looking I found something more interesting. I've mentioned in the past how the island sanctuary is a good way to get some of the more rare dyes passively. But all of the dyes available from the cash shop are in the loot table for the Sanctuary Materiel Containers. I should add that the cash shop dyes are sellable on the market board, making the dye trade one of the legal ways to convert real life cash to gil.
I should add for crafters some of the materials to make special glamour items are also available from the containers. These include:
- Fireglass Leather
- Indego Cloth
- Seacloth
- Waterproof Cloth
Speaking of crafting, I still need to acquire three more landmarks. The Water Otter Fountain, Uncharted Course, and Aetherial Arbor all require expert crafted items to obtain. As just so happens, I finished acquiring my last Lodestar crafting tools two weekends ago. I really should use the tools to finish obtaining access to all the landmarks for my island.
And, of course, I still have not decorated my island beyond advancing the levels of my buildings. I tend to get caught up in the upgrades and fall behind in the game. For example, I still am in the patch 6.4 content of the MSQ after spending time to fix up my new cottage.
Honestly, I can't get everything done in the two months until Dawntrail launches. But if the next Island Sanctuary type feature doesn't come out until patch 7.2, I probably have the rest of the calendar year to finish up my island.
Friday, April 26, 2024
Another EVE: Equinox Advertisement From The Upwell Consortium
I think both myself and Wilhelm from The Ancient Gaming Noob are having a little fun with the Upwell Consortium's attempts to sell players on the Equinox expansion coming out on 11 June. First, they came out with a marketing brochure trying to sell the cluster on their system. The accompanying promotional video is so good I'm posting the video for the second time this week.
To make the point, I'm even including a transcription of the video.
To shape destiny is within all of us. With Upwell you can shape the universe. Unlocking the potential of the stars and planets you call home has been the unwavering focus of our finest minds. And now, we stand on the cusp of a new era.
Introducing Equinox. An unrivalled suite of solutions for a new age of colonization. Revolutionary structures that offer unprecedented systemwide control. All operated and maintained by an efficient and skilled workforce.
Embrace the freedom to shape space in your image and seize the dream of a star system entirely under your command.
Equinox.
Today, the Upwell Consortium came out with a new commercial plastered across Galnet (aka YouTube). The marketing department over at Upwell is doing such a fine job I decided to post and transcribe their latest effort.
Man in wheelchair: I always dreamt that one day I'd make it. Do something great. See the stars. But sometimes reality has different ideas. I remember those dreams starting to slip away. Those doors, they never opened for me.
Narrator: Until now. Because with Upwell, it's never too late.
We will give you a new life. A way to make a difference. Our cloning technology will provide you with a second chance. A fresh start.
Be the version of yourself you were destined to be and seize the dream of a future that you've chosen.
Upwell.
Does anyone trust Upwell not to create an army of clone slaves? I just want to remind everyone what CCP Burger was quoted as saying in CCP's press release announcing the expansion.
“EVE has always been defined by its players’ ability to forge their own destiny through economic dominance, political machinations and military conquest,” said Bergur Finnbogason, EVE Online’s Creative Director. “With Equinox, we’re taking that open-ended freedom to new heights by giving pilots greater agency over nullsec’s valuable resources - while challenging them with the moral implications about the cost of such ambition. We’re also extremely excited to see what amazing designs players will make with EVE’s new SKINR tool: the sky truly is the limit for personalizing your favorite ships.”
I like the part about the "while challenging them with the moral implications about the cost of such ambition." Given that the lore basically sets up "capsuleers" or "Empyreans" (i.e. players) as demi-gods, the moral implications might go ignored.
Given that the Upwell Consortium was formed over 8 years ago to "capitalize on the burgeoning capsuleer space infrastructure market", I'm not sure how the cluster should view the organizations expansion into clones. I'm all for not allowing the Amar to dominate the clone market. But is the Upwell Consortium just the lesser of two evils?
I'm going to end the post with a blast from the past. Yes, the first EVE Online video featuring marketing material from Upwell. And I really can't believe how fast time flies.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Did Revenue Problems Force Star Citizen's Patch Alpha 3.23 To Ship Without Features?
While stability concerns were the primary deciding factor, other considerations also played into the decision, such as the length of time to complete related cargo overhauling, revisions to kiosk UI and freight elevator design based on feedback, and personnel changes that required onboarding for developers.
This shows that salary costs increased in both territories: 6% up in the Rest of World and 16% up in the US. Development and G&A headcount increased in the Rest of the World by 18%, although a lot of that was at entry-level positions in G&A and Quality Assurance, required as Star Citizen progresses with added features, content, playability, and players. Also, performance-related bonuses in 2022 were not as high as in 2021 and thus the increase in Rest of World salaries did not match the increase in people, despite generous pay awards designed to help cope with the rising inflationary pressures felt throughout the economy.In contrast, the US salary costs increased by 16% despite a reduction in development headcount and a moderate increase in G&A headcount, but additions were at the opposite end of the staff seniority spectrum with highly experienced personnel in each discipline being added to the group, and regarding development with senior experienced people often replacing the more junior roles that were vacated. Also, cost and wage inflation levels were high in both US office locations, which we aimed to keep pace with. [emphasis mine]
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The EVE Online: Equinox Announcement Mashup
At downtime today, CCP Games announced the next expansion for EVE Online, Equinox coming out on 11 June 2024. They did so through a trailer on YouTube, a press release on its corporate website, an Upwell website touting the advances coming from that megacorp, and a more traditional web page for the expansion. I thought I'd try to mash up the information known to ordinary folks.
First was the premier of the expansion trailer. I spotted the premier announcement on YouTube so alarm-clocked to see what CCP was up to live. Friday's The Scope video teased an upcoming announcement from the Upwell Consortium. I thought the announcement would concern new ships, not a new expansion. The trailer is below.
I transcribed the script of the trailer.
To shape destiny is within all of us. With Upwell you can shape the universe. Unlocking the potential of the stars and planets you call home has been the unwavering focus of our finest minds. And now, we stand on the cusp of a new era.
Introducing Equinox. An unrivalled suite of solutions for a new age of colonization. Revolutionary structures that offer unprecedented systemwide control. All operated and maintained by an efficient and skilled workforce.
Embrace the freedom to shape space in your image and seize the dream of a star system entirely under your command. Equinox.
Auviken, The Citadel, YC 126.04.23 – Today, the Upwell Consortium is proud to announce Equinox, an unrivaled suite of solutions that is sure to revolutionize life in null security space. Set for deployment on YC 126.06.11, Equinox marks a monumental stride toward the future of space colonization and infrastructure development with innovative new structures that will allow enterprising nullsec organizations to harness and manipulate new resources from planets, customize their space, and gain access to a highly skilled and efficient workforce.To learn more about the Equinox product suite, navigate to upwellconsortium.com.“Equinox marks a monumental stride toward the future of space colonization and infrastructure development,” said an official representative for the Upwell Consortium. “It offers revolutionary new technology and structures to harness resources from planets and moons, as well as access to a highly skilled workforce. Equinox marks just the beginning of a new age of unprecedented capsuleer control over sovereign nullsec space – the first step in a broader vision for this vast region with endless possibilities. More developments are on the horizon, as Upwell continues to pursue more evolution, expansion, and excellence.”
The summary of the expansion came from CCP Burger. For those trying to put a face to the name, he's the CCP employee most likely to cosplay at Fanfest.
“EVE has always been defined by its players’ ability to forge their own destiny through economic dominance, political machinations and military conquest,” said Bergur Finnbogason, EVE Online’s Creative Director. “With Equinox, we’re taking that open-ended freedom to new heights by giving pilots greater agency over nullsec’s valuable resources - while challenging them with the moral implications about the cost of such ambition. We’re also extremely excited to see what amazing designs players will make with EVE’s new SKINR tool: the sky truly is the limit for personalizing your favorite ships.”
EVE: Vanguard, CCP's first-person shooter module for EVE, also received a mention in the press release. The CCP employee quoted was CCP Rattati, who's been involved in leading CCP's FPS efforts since the days of DUST 514.
“This expansion marks the continuation of EVE Vanguard as the ultimate evolving sci-fi sandbox FPS. Our process of collaboration with the community is a unique opportunity for players to become closely involved with the game’s future direction, and we thank our founders for contributing towards our shared vision of a compelling shooter in the EVE Universe,” said Snorri Arnason, EVE Online’s Game Director. “With a dangerously beautiful new map, adaptive weaponry, and new ways to play we can’t wait to see the chaos that the Vanguard will inflict on its shores as their impact grows across the ongoing conflicts of New Eden.”
Now for the interesting information from the expansion's websites. First, I liked the overall description found on the expansion website.
The Equinox expansion is the first step towards a radical re-invigoration of nullsec space. Capsuleers will gain access to new Upwell structures allowing for planetary resource harvesting, automated moon-mining, customization of sovereign space, and more. Daily Goals are getting enhanced with a monthly reward track, Corporation Projects see more variety alongside a corp window overhaul, and the SKINR tool empowers creative capsuleers to design their own personalized ship SKINs. June also sees a major update to EVE Vanguard, introducing new activities and objectives, adaptive weaponry, persistence between sessions, and a brand new map!
After reading the web pages, I really feel I need to mash up the Upwell site with the general expansion site. First, the subject of harnessing planetary power.
Equinox marks a monumental stride toward the future of space colonization and infrastructure development. It offers revolutionary new technology and structures to harness resources from planets and moons, as well as access to a highly skilled workforce.
Can you tell some Upwell marketing drone put that description together? The expansion page gets down to the gameplay elements. Equinox introduces means to extract and exploit a wealth of new resources:
- Power: Harvest energy directly from suns and volatile atmospheres of plasma and storm planets.
- Workforce: Gain access to a highly skilled populace across temperate, oceanic and barren worlds, directing the flow of labor throughout your empire, thanks to revolutionary new cloning technology.
- Reagents: Essential to manage your colonies through the new sovereignty hub, these are sourced from the harsh environments of ice and lava planets.
Right off the bat we see three new systems including a new sovereignty system. Also, an effort to make all types of planets valuable for more than just planetary interaction products.
The next item, the orbital skyhook, is a staple of science fiction. Upwell's description is more sales oriented.
A marvel of engineering allowing direct access to a planet’s resources, the orbital skyhook is central to Equinox. Anchored near planets within sovereign nullsec space, these skyhooks provide access to power, workforce, and reagents necessary for the empire-building aspirations of nullsec organizations.
What the Upwell salespeople don't mention is the new PvE activity described on the expansion website.
In addition, skyhooks bring new content in the form of Pirate Orbital Blockades, NPC encounters with the potential to attract officer-level enemies, pirate dreadnoughts, and even titans. A prototype orbital skyhook is now ready to view in the Auviken system.
The next item might excite many of the bitter vets who left EVE. Called automated resource harvesting, passive moon mining is back.
Another revolutionary innovation introduced through Equinox is the Metenox Moon Drill, an automated resource extraction structure allowing organizations in nullsec and lowsec to streamline in-system operations and focus on expansion and strategy, rather than manual harvesting. Like the orbital skyhook, these structures are robust and resilient, able to withstand most dangers, allowing industry leaders to rest easy.
In fact, the following passage from the expansion web site reads like the author rather liked the old battles over moons.
Ownership of these moon drills and skyhooks can determine control over the valuable resources of a system, making them prized assets that rival factions can contest, which is sure to spark new waves of conflict and excitement. While orbital skyhooks are only available in nullsec, moon drills can be deployed in lowsec as well.
New Eden is about to experience a cluster-wide building spike with the introduction of sovereignty hubs.
The new sovereignty hub promises to become a new cornerstone of territorial dominance. With upgradeable options depending on the star system’s topology and the planets within, it offers a nuanced approach to sovereignty that reflects each star system’s physical characteristics, allowing you to shape space in your image.
One of the sovereignty hub upgrades that the null sec alliances will acquire en masse is the Pirate Detection Array. I wonder why the Upwell marketing people didn't mention this?
The Pirate Detection Array upgrade for the sovereignty hub will allow the detection of exceptionally impactful anomalies with lucrative pirate encounters, an even more challenging anomaly, new escalations, and the possibility of officer spawns. Make the most of your space by scanning for high-stakes battles.
But I really wonder why only the Upwell Consortium referred to the workforce and not the expansion website. Those clone facilities we've seen referenced in The Scope videos? Those are not for Vanguard.
Equinox is spurred on by a scientific milestone in cloning technology, ushering in a paradigm shift in how populations can be mobilized and utilized across the vastness of space, empowering the colonial aspirations of nullsec leaders with access to a highly skilled workforce.
The Upwell portion of the expansion announcement concludes by announcing new ships. Everyone is excited about getting new industrial ships, right?
The Equinox suite further empowers the capabilities of capsuleers in this new era of space colonization by introducing four new ships, specialized in the transport of planetary resources, and capable of being fitted with defensive weaponry. Tailored to navigate the new dynamics of resource gathering and sovereignty, the unveiling of these new vessels underscores Upwell’s commitment to revolutionizing nullsec operations.
Defensive weaponry that isn't a gimmick? Here are the four new ships.
- Squall – Entry level reagents hauler.
- Deluge – Hauler with covert ops cloaking capability, high warp speed and mobility, and immunity to cargo scanners.
- Torrent – Tough deep space transport vessel with micro jump drive capability.
- Avalanche – Massive freighter with a huge reagent hauling capacity.
That is all from the Upwell marketing department, but the expansion contains more. CCP is adding the following features to the SKINR system
Design at your fingertips: The new SKINR interface introduces a robust palette of design elements, consisting of basic and metallic nanocoatings as well as patterns, alongside five customization slots for each SKIN design, four for nanocoatings, and one for patterns. Use your creations to express your unique identity and share them with other capsuleers.
Sequence and share: Gathering design elements and sequence binders allows capsuleers to sequence ship SKINs, for themselves or to sell to other pilots. Sequencing costs are based on a tier system and calculated in PLEX based on the rarity of design elements and complexity of the SKIN, and your creations can be sequenced in bulk for your own fleet or your corp.
Organized collection: A new cosmetics collection makes it simple to keep track of SKINs, components, and emblems. Applying SKINs and filtering through your collection will be easier and more enjoyable than ever with the new updates.
The Hub awaits: Visit the Paragon Hub to buy, sell, and trade SKINs and components. A platform to showcase designs or discover the perfect look for every fleet, the Paragon Hub offers an easy-to-navigate interface and opportunities for budding designers to make a name for themselves, not to mention untold riches.
The expansion is also bringing improvements to corporation tools.
Corporation window overhaul: A streamlined and intuitive UI makes navigating and utilizing the corporation window easier than ever for corp leaders and members alike. Enhanced with icons, tooltips and a consistent navigation structure, managing roles and understanding the hierarchy of content is more straightforward than ever, paving the way for future enhancements.
New Corp Project Engagement Methods: Expand the ways members can lend their hand to corporation projects through new avenues such as ship loss (enabling the automation of ship replacement programs), salvaging wrecks, and earning Loyalty Points. Each new corporation project type has several options allowing leaders nuanced control over the incentives provided to members, making them more accessible and rewarding.
Performance improvements: Managing and contributing to your organization’s growth is more streamlined than ever before as corporation projects see smoother and faster interactions.
CCP is continuing its efforts to retain new players by extending some of the tools and systems used to guide them after they complete the career agents.
AIR Monthly Progress Track: Expanding AIR Daily Goals, Equinox introduces a long-term monthly progress track rewarding meaningful activities, clearly showing goal progress, upcoming milestones and rewards. Alpha and Omega pilots get distinct rewards along the way, and better spoils the further along they get. At the end of the track, there is a significant cache of SP on the line for finishing all the monthly goals.
New goals and rewards: Engage and get rewarded for two new activities: earn Loyalty Points and salvage wrecks.
New types of rewards: Get rewarded for reaching milestones with PLEX and SKINR components, enriching your experience and offering valuable assets for customization.
Ship progression and UX improvements: Experience the thrill of unlocking a new ship with immediate notifications and get clear understanding on ship roles and prerequisites with the redesigned skill requirement panel. Elevate your initial interaction with new vessels with informative new ship cards and enhanced UX for boarding and naming ships.
And finally, EVE: Vanguard is adding a new map to the monthly playtesting. For completeness sake, I'll add in the entire description of what is coming to the FPS module in June.
In the biggest update to EVE Vanguard since the first playtest in December, a major iteration coming this June will introduce a brand new map, featuring an archipelago among polluted waters, the ruins of a provisional facility to explore and loot, emergent activities and diverse challenges, the ability to modify your weapons and bring items and fittings in and out of combat, and more.
- June Deployment Dates: Mark your calendars for the next major Vanguard event, from 20 June to 1 July. Experience the latest Vanguard updates firsthand and provide valuable feedback to contribute to the ongoing development of the game.
- Brand new planetary world to explore and conquer: The June update introduces a new and different map ready to be explored and exploited. Experience a completely different environment in an archipelago with the wreck of a starship, other-worldly flora, and polluted waters.
- Enhanced capabilities: Customize your arsenal with adaptive weaponry. Experience new options and strategy through the ability to modify your instruments of destruction and bring items and fittings in and out of combat.
- More impact with new activities: Face brand new challenges, focused on deeper espionage, asset recovery, and direct engagement with enemy factions. This update aims to diversify your in-game experiences, providing more ways to interact with the world and your fellow players.
- Ongoing improvements: The commitment to enhancing and developing EVE Vanguard with the community continues with bug fixes, gameplay balancing, and the introduction of tiered participation rewards. Compete for a place on the leaderboard to win PLEX rewards and contribute to either suppression or corruption, shaping New Eden with your actions.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Finally Have My Crafting Best In Slot Gear From Endwalker
Over the weekend I buckled down and ground out the Splendorous Tools for my last two crafting classes, Alchemist and Armorer. I mentioned my final grind on Twitter Sunday and was told that since I was crafting, I could just use macros. A perfect example of the "Tell me you don't have a crafting Splendorous Tool without telling me you don't have a Splendorous Tool" meme.
The final two Splendorous Tools in Endwalker a crafter needs to obtain requires crafting expert recipes. With the Splendorous Tools equipped, and fully pentamelded crafting gear, I can probably go back to the Shadowbringers expert recipes and use a macro. But for current content, players must perform the crafts manually. So at the top level, players have to perform the tasks themselves.
The way the quests work, players have to craft high quality collectable items and turn them in for a special material that the quest giving NPCs turn into a higher quality tool until the player obtains a Lodestar tool. I probably averaged crafting 25 expert recipes for each of the last two sets of turn-ins per crafting tool, or 50 recipes per crafting class. With 8 classes, I probably performed around 400 expert crafts in total. And these were just what was released in patch 6.5. A new tool was released in each of the previous point patches that was challenging to make, but not like the expert recipes.
How long did it take to do the expert craft portion of the questline? When working on my first Lodestar tool, I probably spent 8-10 minutes per craft. But on Sunday, I was down to a little less than 5 minutes per craft. Overall, I probably spent 35-40 hours just crafting expert recipes.
I can just imagine the rather rational question readers may ask. Dawntrail's release is in a little more than two months. Was the effort worth it? If Dawntrail is like Endwalker, the answer is maybe. In Shadowbringers, I obtained two of the Skybuilders' tools and pentamelding the other main tools. With all my crafting gear pentamelded, I was able to get to level all my crafting classes to the level cap and create level 90 gear for my white mage job without obtaining new gear and tools. Gear that isn't outdated the moment an expansion launches? What a concept, right?
But I did say maybe. The special ability of Lodestar tools is that increases to quality receive are 175% higher if the material condition is Good. I have the feeling that bonus will come in handy, but I know some people really rely on macros and the ability would be wasted on them. Making decisions based on material quality is something important to those crafting by hand to make their crafting more efficient. Those relying solely on macros might want to concentrate on pentamelding a regular tool for the stats.
Now that I have best in slot for all my crafting and gathering classes, I can return to finishing the main story questline. I will, of course, craft a new set of white mage gear. Right now I can make iLevel 640 gear. Not only will that make the rest of the expansion content easier, but should get me a good way into Dawntrail as well. I didn't start replacing my adventuring gear in Endwalker until I reached level 84.
Maybe not the most exciting blog post, but I put in a lot of hours reaching this point. A lot of content creators bemoaned the lack of a grind in the Endwalker post-patches. But for me, I'm glad my crafting grind is finally over, at least until the next expansion.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
EVE Online's Capsuleer Day Now A Month-Long Event
When I started playing EVE Online almost 15 years ago, Capsuleer Day was a one-day event marking another year of the game's operation. By last year the event extended to 28 days (2 May to 30 May). Players chose who to run sites for, the Society of Conscious Thought or the Guri Malakim pirate cooperative. In a move I approve of, not only has CCP extended the event an additional two days, but mixed up the content as well.
In the 20th anniversary event, players chose their faction and then proceeded to interact with 4 sites, 2 combat and 2 hacking. The combat sites limited ship sizes to battlecruiser or smaller. According to the news article I saw on the launcher, the developers expanded the ways players can engage with the event.
For the entire month of May, New Eden will be brimming with exciting adventures. Log in daily for exclusive SKINs, boosters, and a trove of Skill Points. Engage in a spectrum of seasonal challenges—combat, exploration, hacking, manufacturing, and market trading—to accrue points for even more unique and lucrative rewards. Beyond this bounty, Omega pilots gain access to further riches: over 650,000 Skill Points, 26,500 EverMarks, and coveted SOCT ship hulls, among others. Omega status unlocks the full depth of the Capsuleer Day event’s offerings, enhancing your capabilities and ensuring the richest haul of rewards from the abyss.
Yes, I know the event description contains a pitch to upgrade to a paying account. But the last time I can remember manufacturing and market trading being part of one of the major, non-storyline events was the Dr. Who crossover event back in the beginning of 2022. The devs tried introducing a market component into the event, but the crossover appeared in the middle of the unsuccessful effort to convince players that introducing NFTs, blockchains, and play-to-earn mechanics into EVE was a great idea. The idea fortunately failed, Pearl Abyss coincidently named a new CEO in March 2022, and Hilmar's cutting edge ideas were shifted to Project Awakening instead. So a little push for paying players, in comparison, is not so bad.
Over on the event page, CCP gave an overview of the event. I found a couple of hints in the description.
Massive energy discharges emanating deep from within Abyssal Deadspace have prompted The Society of Conscious Thought to raise a call for daring pilots bold enough to venture into the abyssal unknown to recover valuable data and technology. Explore newly surfaced Collapsed Conduits, take on Triglavian or even Drifter enemies for the chance to recover priceless loot and filaments from the battlefield to dive deeper into the abyss.
- Perilous adventures for capsuleers of all experience levels
- Exciting new combat, exploration & manufacturing challenges
- Earn blueprints and rare materials that give access to Abyssal Battlefields
- a random Agency dose
- a random Quafe booster
- a random Starsi booster
- a random Antipharmakon booster
- 650,000 skill points (125,000 for alpha accounts)
- 26,500 EverMarks
- Zirnitra Capsuleer Day XXI SKIN
- Maller Capsuleer Day XXI SKIN
- A variety of boosters
- Capsuleer Day Fireworks
- Seasonal challenge rewards include a Glamoreux Booster crate, boosters, SKINs and Filament crates
- Loot includes Capsuleer Day boosters, new Capsuleer Day SKINs and more!
- Snag glorious fireworks on the Alpha DLI reward track
- Omega rewards include EverMarks, SKINs, SoCT ship hulls, and boosters
- Filaments, SKINs and boosters found in loot drops from NPCs can be sold on the market
- Amazing new Capsuleer Day XXI SKINs await!
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
New Blacklist Functionality Coming In Dawntrail
I'm a few days behind catching up on the 80th Producer Live Letter Final Fantasy XIV Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P) presented on Saturday morning's (midnight counts as the next day, right?) live stream. Even with the presentation in Japanese, US-based bloggers like myself have no excuse for falling behind as the Final Fantasy XIV sub-reddit has an official Discord server which does real time translations of events. Okay, the Discord does have a link to Pandemic Legion, but I'm not worried about spy activity as I never was into EVE Online's null sec political play.
One of the last topics from the PLL is one I want to address first: improvements to FFXIV's blacklist.
The areas of improvement |
I don't really like to have too many rules myself, an example would be supported game pads, I think players should have the freedom to chose their own environment. We have so many players now that use this game as sort of a second world. And I think it is time we implement for features to protect everyone's experience.
In addition to the blacklisted character's messages, their character model will now also be hidden. This will apply to all characters tied to the blacklisted character's service account. This new feature is applicable to characters registered from 7.0 onwards. The blacklist will distinguish between characters blacklisted before and after 7.0.
Blacklisted characters will be displayed in certain situations where visibility is necessary, such as when partied together in a duty. Even when their character model is visible, their name will display as "Unknown" in the party list and on their nameplate. Furthermore, a notification will indicate when they speak during duties, and players may elect to temporarily see what they've written via the subcommand menu.
The mute list will hide a muted character's chat messages. The feature is applicable to characters blacklisted prior to 7.0. The mute list applies to all characters on a muted character's service account. Muted characters' names will display as normal. When in the same party or alliance during duties, a notification will indicate when they speak, and players may elect to temporarily see what they've written via the subcommand menu.
I believe a lot of a persons time and life is switching towards a virtual world and will keep going towards that direction. I've always been wondering and thinking about how these features will look like in a virtual world. I've had a lot of philosophical thoughts about these features and personally I would hope people don't feel the need to use them, but I absolutely understand when it gets to a point where you have to.