CCP has announced details of the next expansion for EVE Online. EVE Online: Apocrypha will add a number of major features that were announced earlier this year at EVE Fanfest, including Tech 3 modular ships, a reworked New Player Experience, Epic Mission Arcs, wormholes and new regions of space to explore and exploit. EVE Online: Apocrypha is scheduled to launch in March, when the game's boxed version is also set for release.

Reykjavik, Iceland January 8, 2008- CCP, one of the world’s leading independent game developers, today announced the launch of the tenth free expansion for EVE Online, its popular science-fiction massively multi-player online game (MMOG). EVE Online: Apocrypha is the most ambitious EVE expansion in the game's over five year history and it coincides with the March 10th, 2009 release of EVE Online as a boxed product through a partnership with Atari.

The fabric of space itself will be transformed as vast, unpredictable wormholes open to connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden. The seeds of advanced new technology await inside of these cosmic anomalies for those brave enough to explore them. This infusion of technology will enable production of the most dynamic vessels ever – Tech 3 modular ships with an astounding amount of customizability that can fill any role from skirmish muscle to industrial support.

Furthermore, NPC agents in EVE Online: Apocrypha will be authorized to assign Epic Mission Arcs to the pilots of New Eden. These branching, far-reaching mission strings are full of meaningful stories and more intelligent and deadly adversaries.

In addition, we are offering an entirely reworked New Player Experience for those joining (or rejoining) the game – giving them better insight into how to thrive in a truly limitless universe. We’ve already launched EVElopedia—a great repository for information on all things EVE where our players are also building their own living history of the previous five years of Alliance warfare, political intrigue and nostalgic recollection

“Just this past week we broke our concurrent user record with 45,186 people flying unbound in the same game world at the same time—a huge percentage of our quarter of a million current subscribers and a true testament to EVE in our sixth year of operation,” said EVE Online Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson. “Today is an unprecedented time to start playing, as you can get ahead of the curve before Apocrypha releases in stores and our hard work hits the server cluster. It’ll be easier than ever to get ‘lost in the wormhole’ that is EVE with what we have planned for the future of our expanding universe.”

Read more here.

Holy Crap!!!!

my head is going to explode.

Bring on Apocrypha!!!! woot!

oh now that im catching my breath. This freaking expansion is going to be just the shot in the arm Eve needs to massively increase the games sub.

This expansion combined with Ambulation (walking in stations) later this year is going to have the sub numbers jumping off the charts.

Freaking Eve servers are going to Explode!

Tech3, New player experience Eve Finally brining missions to the quality of the rest of the game.

WoW im having a joygazm!

yeh man I must say, CCP is only getting better

wow!

I'm a little worried about all this... Tech III sound alot like increasing gear grind rather than really expanding a game... New Player Experience sounds frightening when I enjoy the current player experience... but we shall see.

[holds breath]

Originally posted by dterry

New Player Experience sounds frightening when I enjoy the current player experience... but we shall see.

From the article:

"In addition, we are offering an entirely reworked New Player Experience for those joining (or rejoining) the game – giving them better insight into how to thrive in a truly limitless universe."

It's referring to the experience for new players, not a new experience for all players. Speaking as someone who just started playing, this is something very much needed.

 Dont worry ,EVE devs may make mistakes but they arent retarded,new player experience means just what it means ,it will add a better experience (probably even more in depht tutorials and such) to the players new to EVE.

 Anyway ...cant wait for fucking awesome T3 ships ... beware of my ultra-fast 40 hi-slot battle cruiser (exagerating abit)... just cant wait to build up my own unique ship (well semi unique if it becomes fotm).

While they are calling the ships tech3, they are not better than existing ships, just modularized so you can basically build your own design to meet whatever needs you desire.  CCP knows that adding another level of ships better than tech II would just make the gap bigger between new players and older ones.  That is not the intention of tech3.  

I would sign-up for this game so damn fast if it wasn't for their "real-time-you-will-never-catch-up" leveling system.  I know it's an old complaint that many vets try very hard to convince everyone is not important but I wonder how many of those same vets would embrace any significant change to the leveling system.  It'll never happen.

Originally posted by raykor

I would sign-up for this game so damn fast if it wasn't for their "real-time-you-will-never-catch-up" leveling system.  I know it's an old complaint that many vets try very hard to convince everyone is not important but I wonder how many of those same vets would embrace any significant change to the leveling system.  It'll never happen.

Dont worry about "Catching up". Its the most common mistake every new player who joins EVE do!

Yes, you will not catch up on base of raw numbers! But Raw numbers are just imaginary!

If you have a level 5 in Gallente Cruiser - which takes aprox. 50 days to learn from level 1 to 5, you will fly that ship just as good - if not better! - then a 2003/beta tester player!

And I have seen soooo many examples in EVE that new players have been wreacking havoc among old vet corporations!

You see, in eve its experience that is the favoured, highly sought after and preferred! And if you get the experience, which comes only through gameplay, by damn, you WILL compete with the elders! And you have catched up with them!

I have played EVE for a loong time! So please believe me when I say this!

Originally posted by raykor

I would sign-up for this game so damn fast if it wasn't for their "real-time-you-will-never-catch-up" leveling system.  I know it's an old complaint that many vets try very hard to convince everyone is not important but I wonder how many of those same vets would embrace any significant change to the leveling system.  It'll never happen.

Niccolado's right:

(a) It is still fun as a newb

(b) you don't have to fight older players if you really don't want to

(c) It doesn't take long to get skilled at the lower level stuff, at which point you are competitive against older players.  Not as good obviously, but not miles off either.

(d) 14 days free trial and you still won't try it. Dude 

Originally posted by Niccolado

Originally posted by raykor

I would sign-up for this game so damn fast if it wasn't for their "real-time-you-will-never-catch-up" leveling system.  I know it's an old complaint that many vets try very hard to convince everyone is not important but I wonder how many of those same vets would embrace any significant change to the leveling system.  It'll never happen.

 

Dont worry about "Catching up". Its the most common mistake every new player who joins EVE do!

 

Yes, you will not catch up on base of raw numbers! But Raw numbers are just imaginary!

If you have a level 5 in Gallente Cruiser - which takes aprox. 50 days to learn from level 1 to 5, you will fly that ship just as good - if not better! - then a 2003/beta tester player!

And I have seen soooo many examples in EVE that new players have been wreacking havoc among old vet corporations!

You see, in eve its experience that is the favoured, highly sought after and preferred! And if you get the experience, which comes only through gameplay, by damn, you WILL compete with the elders! And you have catched up with them!

I have played EVE for a loong time! So please believe me when I say this!

This is very nice, but still.... I tried to play, i decided to be miner, i trained some of my skills and mined, got some ISK but nothing good to spend on, i needed to wait like 5days before i get better ship, and still i would only spend some of my gathered ISK. It just seemed I need to pay for 3 month play, when i could afford pretty good ship. Yes I know that in end i would need to grind for months to get best ships, but i am not paying just to login once a weak to put my skills in training.

mattatt: a) you will have fun only if you wanna fight. Mining is no fun till bigger ships,  with big ships and good mining equipment you just can see ISK flowing to you :D

 Ahh Eve, the game that I wish I could enjoy so badly, but every time I return, the ending is always the same. Too many days micromanaging, not enough pew pew or goals outside of personal advancement. Such a fickle mistress. 

Originally posted by ElendilasX

Originally posted by Niccolado

Originally posted by raykor

I would sign-up for this game so damn fast if it wasn't for their "real-time-you-will-never-catch-up" leveling system.  I know it's an old complaint that many vets try very hard to convince everyone is not important but I wonder how many of those same vets would embrace any significant change to the leveling system.  It'll never happen.

 

Dont worry about "Catching up". Its the most common mistake every new player who joins EVE do!

 

Yes, you will not catch up on base of raw numbers! But Raw numbers are just imaginary!

If you have a level 5 in Gallente Cruiser - which takes aprox. 50 days to learn from level 1 to 5, you will fly that ship just as good - if not better! - then a 2003/beta tester player!

And I have seen soooo many examples in EVE that new players have been wreacking havoc among old vet corporations!

You see, in eve its experience that is the favoured, highly sought after and preferred! And if you get the experience, which comes only through gameplay, by damn, you WILL compete with the elders! And you have catched up with them!

I have played EVE for a loong time! So please believe me when I say this!

 

This is very nice, but still.... I tried to play, i decided to be miner, i trained some of my skills and mined, got some ISK but nothing good to spend on, i needed to wait like 5days before i get better ship, and still i would only spend some of my gathered ISK. It just seemed I need to pay for 3 month play, when i could afford pretty good ship. Yes I know that in end i would need to grind for months to get best ships, but i am not paying just to login once a weak to put my skills in training.

 

mattatt: a) you will have fun only if you wanna fight. Mining is no fun till bigger ships,  with big ships and good mining equipment you just can see ISK flowing to you :D

I don't know about that When I first made my industrial Alt (miner/hauler) I used a bantam (frigate) to mine and just mined in a can. It was actually pretty fun cause I devised this sick little plan to have my two buddies hang out with me in .4 space with two stealth bombers.

Man it was goodtimes watching Idiot newb pirates try to kill me while they basically got insta poped.

Also you don;t need to just log in to change a skill, you still need to farm isk and get into a corp so you could actually get a whole fleet setup and mine with ur corp. theres more to mining then sitting solo watching TV while waiting for ur cargo to fill and skill to train.

While I agree mining isnt the most fun aspect of the game, it can be pretty cool if you meet some good people to hang with. Never Ever try to just come into the game and play solo all day. you wont last the week. and if u are a solo player uninstall eve cause the game isnt for you.

Edit: what do you  mean you had nothing good to spend your isk on? a miner starts in a mining frig, then moves to a cruiser then a mining bardge then a Exhumer. all this time training to these bigger ships You need to train up ur indy skills so you can fit tech II items and then you need to skill train to use tech II sheild defenses and drones, not just mining but combat drones also so you can protect urself. all these items and skill books require Isk.

I find it funny that you didnt have anything to spend your money on. Did you have a mining cruiser? tech II mining lazers? Solid defense fits? hell did you try to get ur self a hauler so you can haul ur own can when cropmates arent on?If not you didnt play the game longer then a week.

One of the points of EVE to keep in mind:

A 2 month nOOb has the ability to kite a 3 year vet'.

Let's look at this. Here I am... In a Fleet op.. No one stepped up to take on the role of tackler, so I fit out a cheap frigate with a micro-warp drive and some warp jammers and webifiers so I can help hold down the targets. Up high I might have a couple light missile launchers or small turrets... Nothing that's going to cause much damage, but just enough to pew-pew with.

At this point, I'm no stronger than anyone else in a frigate, and I'm certainly no stronger than anyone else in a bigger ship. Maybe my skills allow me to use better micro-warp drives, or allow me to "use" my equipment more efficiently. Maybe I'll get a few more points of CPU or Powergrid, or Cap'.

But really, I'm still in a frigate... I'm still _very_ squishy, and if I'm not paying attention anyone will be able to take me out, be it another 3 year vet' or a 2 month nOOb in a ship of their own.

Try making that claim in an XP-grinding, "level-based" MMO.

Go ahead and put a level 10 warrior up against say a level 50 or level 80 warrior in your basic Hack'n'Slash game. The vet' could stand in an open field nekkid, with no armor and no weapons, and that poor level 10 player would never be able to kill him. And even weaponless and armorless that vet' would most-likely 1-hit-dead or 2-hit-dead that level 10 player.

Even though I have an Ishtar and great drone skills if I ever want to do some missions, most of my EVE time is doing day trading in a few regions, then logging off. Sure it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I have fun with it.

19days 4hours 23 minutes and 15seconds until I can fly the 400,000,000  isk t3 ship.

---

Originally posted by dterry
I'm a little worried about all this... Tech III sound alot like increasing gear grind rather than really expanding a game... New Player Experience sounds frightening when I enjoy the current player experience... but we shall see.
 
[holds breath]

---

Err what game are you talking about?

EVE has never ever had a 'gear grind' at all. In fact it's frighteningly easy to afford things these days. Hell... I can solo my way to a Titan in just a few months if I really wanted to (you can easily make ~2bil a week just doing level 4 missions) and I'm by no means an expert at making isk. There are folks who make 1bil a day.

Yes EVE has it's pros and cons... but gear grind? Really? Since when? I can buy any T2 sub-BS ship in 1 days missioning... fitted... if I had/wanted to. For a T2 BS it'd take me maybe 3 days to get the funds for one.... For a Carrier? About 2 weeks given how I make isk.

Seriously don't get where people think EVE has any sort of "grind" to it. The only grind is the 'faction' grind to get to the level 4 agents in any given corp. And even that isn't really all that bad if you train the right skills.

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Originally posted by raykor
I would sign-up for this game so damn fast if it wasn't for their "real-time-you-will-never-catch-up" leveling system.  I know it's an old complaint that many vets try very hard to convince everyone is not important but I wonder how many of those same vets would embrace any significant change to the leveling system.  It'll never happen.

---

Obvious troll is obvious.
This has been asked and answered thousands of times on the EVE forums. There is absolutely no need to catch up. And by the time you've been in the game a year you're "older" than half the pilots in the game anyway.

"catch up" is a myth spawned by people too lazy to figure out the game mechanics and why "catching up" is irrelevant.

Originally posted by Taram

 

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Originally posted by raykor
I would sign-up for this game so damn fast if it wasn't for their "real-time-you-will-never-catch-up" leveling system.  I know it's an old complaint that many vets try very hard to convince everyone is not important but I wonder how many of those same vets would embrace any significant change to the leveling system.  It'll never happen.

---

 

Obvious troll is obvious.
This has been asked and answered thousands of times on the EVE forums. There is absolutely no need to catch up. And by the time you've been in the game a year you're "older" than half the pilots in the game anyway.

"catch up" is a myth spawned by people too lazy to figure out the game mechanics and why "catching up" is irrelevant.

/QFT