CCP has posted a new developer blog which goes into detail about the major upgrades to NPC AI for wormhole NPCs in Apocrypha, the next expansion for EVE Online.

First of all, what I am going to describe is going to worry a lot of people, so DON'T PANIC!

We are not going to change 80% of the NPCs in the game. Your faction-fit Navy XXXX is still going to allow you to run LV 4 missions solo. We haven't changed the NPCs that spawn in belts, nor in any of the classic dungeons, but that may change in future iterations (post-Apocrypha).

So again DON'T PANIC!

One of goals we have worked towards is making PvE combat more like PvP combat. This has a few benefits. First, new players get a taste of what PvP is like while still doing PvE encounters. Second, they will have ship fittings that are more suited towards PvP, which means that when the victi... um, player gets jumped by another player he has a fitting that will allow him to fight back effectively, or at least run away. Lastly, it will make for more engaging combat that is both dynamic and feels alive.

Wormhole NPCs are meant to be scary and, as such, needed an AI that could demonstrate that. Without going into hard numbers, the new NPCs have very high damage output and incredible resists. That alone makes them harder but it wasn't enough...

Read How the AI Pew Pews the Player in EVE Online

Could this be the start of an optional "Raid game" in Eve?

Will PVE players actually be a valid form of player in the eyes of pvpers?

Will these new Npcs function as a unintentional pvp training bot program?

Will Carebears have teeth now that every one will know how to handle all types of pvpish scenarios as a group?

Will a fleet of pve players through this type of training have the skill and cordination to take down seasoned pvpers?

Will pvpers counter this with blowing every god damn pve player out of worm hole space before they could train with the NPCs?

Man this Xpac is gonna be good.

Edit: CCP decided Eve had too many tools in the sandbox so they Expanded the sandbox 46%, then added even more tools.

CCP

I'm not currently playing EVE but I must say that this sounds bloody awesome. It looks like all the clever people went to work for CCP. Its a shame all the other mmo developers arent as skilled as these guys.

Originally posted by neonwire

I'm not currently playing EVE but I must say that this sounds bloody awesome. It looks like all the clever people went to work for CCP. Its a shame all the other mmo developers arent as skilled as these guys.

Well if you take a look at the Tranquility game server cluster. That is just one unique piece of work really.

Every high qualified researcher or tech guy would want to burn his/her hands on it.

CCP has peeps like from Economy guru to Mathematics guru working there.

EVE Online is just the best and most impressive persisent ingame world and economy there is atm.

not for nothing eve is a lackluster game and I love sci fi and mmos but eve never really captured my interest.  Fantastic econmy and clans aside the game itself is bleh

Originally posted by cylon8

not for nothing eve is a lackluster game and I love sci fi and mmos but eve never really captured my interest.  Fantastic econmy and clans aside the game itself is bleh

You just called the most polished, complex and expansive game universe ever created Lackluster?

Even if you don't like certain aspects of the game (newbs mostly disagree with the combat mechanics or the heavy risk in the game) It's still a polished game.

Hell, im not a big fan of WoW but I would never call a game lackluster if I didn't agree with a feature in the game. you can clearly see that the game is polished and who the game is directed at.

As I understand it, wormhole space is going to be wide open PvP wise. I seriously doubt that most of the PvE player base is going to risk their expensive mods(ships can be covered by insurance) in the mad land rush that is certain to take place. Not to mention that wormholes are likely to be one way trips. One could end up stranded in a FAR distant system, with little opportunity for resupply/refit or repair.  It *might* be possible to find another route back. But that might require travel through alliance held space, or some other such road block.  It might be possible using a jump clone(to avoid losing implants) and an expendable explorer type ship.  Over all this looks like yet another of CCP's endless attempts to move PvE players over to PvP. Only time will tell how it works out.

I think you should wait before condemning this as an exercise to move everyone to pvp.   CCP has already said you won't get stranded in these systems.  Think about it, can you imagine the support nightmare for people in pods trying to get back to normal space.  Will not happen, I can guarentee that.  

Trying to maintain a permanent base in one of these systems is a logistic nightmare, not many will succeed.  There are also a lot of them, so chances of an encounter are lessened to a good degree.  I think the majority of players will go into the system as a group, extra tier 3 items and leave.  Because of the  new AI I don't think many will be soloing these systems.

I think instead of speculating it will be bad, just wait and see what CCP brings to the table.  It sounds to me that it might breath fresh life into the game, at least from a pve persective.

I think the PvP players are going to have a field day hunting PvE ships in Wormholes.

I think there is a possibility drones are going to be simply unusable. (There was a CCP reply indicating they are fixing the amount of threat drones generate - so crossing fingers since I am Gallente)

More then anything I think the Dev's completely missed the point. Sure PvE players want a smarter AI.... but more then anything they want PvE opponents to follow the same rules that real players follow.

I want the NPC ships to have limited Cap, resists, sensor strength, etc - just like me.

I want the NPC pilots to have limited skill points comensurate with their "level" within their faction.

I want the NPC ships to fight appropriately with whatever modules they have fitted.

Once the NPC pilots and ships look just like me... THEN go and improve the AI. Have them target and fight appropriately... I wanna see Ewar, Nuets, scramming, etc in every mission. I want them to switch targets when they are not breaking the tank... or to hold multiple targets and apply different capabilities at the same time.

I want them to fight better... once they fight like me.

The big problem isn't W-space... it will be when they apply this AI to existing NPC missions, it will really hurt young players who use level 3/4 missions as a way to catch up (ISK-wise) with experienced players who have great crafting/mining abilities.