PAX 09: EVE Online: Dominion
EVE's 11th free expansion features an overhaul of the game's sovereignty mechanics.
by Marissa Monera
US, September 5, 2009 - We visited the CCP booth at Penny Arcade Expo and got to chat with EVE Online Lead Designer Noah Ward, a.k.a. "Hammerhead",on their recently announced expansion "Dominion". Slated for release in November 2009, this is EVE's 11th free expansion and it features an overhaul of the game's sovereignty mechanics. According to Noah, they are simplifying the way in which you claim space and attack people, and they are also letting alliances upgrade their space and invest in it.
Along with that, they are rebalancing the power of ships, making adjustments so that no one type of ship will be heavily favored. It's always been thought that the outcome of a battle was more or less settled with the presence of a Titan capital ship, the largest ship in the game, as its doomsday weapon could potentially wipe out an entire fleet. However, in the expansion this weapon is being changed from an area-effect to a single-target one. On the other end of the spectrum, they are introducing fighter-bombers, small ships much like the current fighters but which can destroy capital ships. Also in the pipeline are so-called "speedboat missions" for smaller ships, as most of the existing PvE missions tend to focus on the larger battleships.
As social networking seems to be the buzzword of the new millennium, EVE steps up to the plate by introducing COSMOS, a social networking framework that allows players to create Facebook-like pages for their EVE characters, allowing them to maintain friend lists, write blogs, update their status, send each other messages and upload pictures. E-mail sent ingame can be read by the recipient through the website. Corporations and alliances will also have their own page.
But, according to Noah, this is only the beginning of where they want to take this feature. Eventually, they want players to be able to access all sorts of ingame information from this website and even update their skills or buy and trade goods from the market without logging into the game, possibly even from their mobile phones. All the data that goes into the social network will also have API support, which will be valuable to fansites once they start putting in features like the calendar and market data. EVE currently supports an ingame web browser that's a little dated so this functionality will also be upgraded so players can access the website from within the game.
With the expansion, they are introducing more tutorials for advanced stuff like PvP and exploration. These tutorials are optional, meant for players who think they might need a little bit of help before they venture out into the cruel world. Planet graphics are being revamped so each planet will be unique and truly beautiful. Also, players will now be able to gift other players with Pilot License Extensions (PLEX), which are game time cards that can be purchased from the EVE website and that can be traded ingame.
We asked for an update on "Walking in Stations", the highly anticipated feature that will allow players to control an avatar while their ship is docked at a space station, and according to Noah, it is still in development. "It has been a lot bigger undertaking that we had thought," he said.
