EVE Online's Equinox expansion was billed as a way to "reinvigorate" nullsec space. Yet, after a month since its release, the players who make up the population of EVE Online's nullsec haven't really been feeling it. One of the major points of contention is centering on the feeling that we've entered another "scarcity era," with players feeling the pinch as the devs try to provide reasons for large fleets to engage in the types of fights the MMO is known for.
Scarcity 2.0
Just a few years back, EVE Online entered what was called its "scarcity era." This was when CCP Games was intentionally adjusting the MMO's resources to reintroduce scarcity and give players something to fight over. At its core was the idea that abundance breeds complacency, while scarcity will bring war back to New Eden.
In the past few years we've seen massive player wars rage in Nullsec, we've had a reinvigoration of lowsec space thanks to factional warfare, especially with Havoc, and even a recent Wormholer War (which I'm still trying to fully wrap my head around to finish an article I started on back in March). It wasn't an easy time, but eventually, scarcity left EVE, which is why some of the new changes to nullsec have felt, in many players' minds, that Scarcity Era 2.0 was back in EVE.
In a post on Reddit, players discussed their feedback to what Equinox brought to the table, with one thread breaking it down "good, bad, and ugly" style. While there have been bright spots, from the new industrial ships both looking cool and filling actual needs in fleets, as well as the new Doomsday effects giving "new combat roles for Titans," many of the changes fell flat. Scarcity got a specific callout.
This was reiterated in an open letter posted to Reddit last weekend by Asher Elias, the leader of the Imperium. His open letter, while stopping short of being a list of complaints, does lay out some of why nullsec players are upset, especially as scarcity was reintroduced.
Many newer null players, Asher points out, have never known anything by scarcity, especially if they've joined in just the last five years.
"Some people, like me, have been playing for many years and we remember the plentiful times, but a nullsec player who joined this game five years ago has never lived through a buff to nullsec that was not reversing a prior nerf. Any positive change has always been passed on with a large dose of negatives. If you wonder why nullsec players seem so jaded it may be because a big chunk of the active playerbase has never lived through any ‘good times’, if all you know is famine it’s not surprising to have a famine-mindset."
Asher, like many players since Equinox launched, pointed to the new mining mechanics. Ore became more scarce, with smaller asteroids added into the mix that do not feel good or compelling to mine at all. In a separate post on the EVE subreddit, user Goninzo broke down how Equinox, as it stood then, was Scarcity 2.0, but "for good." When talking about mining, that post also points to the smaller rocks with less ore and incredibly long respawn times (with many clusters now requiring five hours to respawn), and thanks to smaller rock sizes, it requires more clicking to fully mine the site.
When I spoke to CCP's community developer Peter "CCP Swift" Ferrell earlier this week about the pushback from players, he acknowledged that the "overall output is meant to be dialed up," but that overall the team still has work to do to get it there.
"I think there's a little bit of that," Swift tells me when I ask about the scarcity era feeling like it's back. "So this new system is meant to just be flat out better and more advantageous than the other systems, right? There's going to be more granularity between systems. But overall the output is meant to be dialed up, based on what it was before. We're not gonna go back to the era where there were like a ton of Rorquals, that kind of era people kind of look for. But it is meant to make the entire system that much better, and we do see a little bit of glimpses of it; obviously, we want to keep working on it - and that's what we're going to do."
This return to scarcity has also come alongside a shift in what seems to be the way nullsec is meant to operate, moving into a meta where it's more a rush to spread as wide as possible to capture as much space as you can, with much that space just not as valuable as it once was. Asher mentions that shift also includes destroying the current "ihub" because the way the new sovereignty hub is setting up it's "so useless it's just bricking" enemy space. He mentions that this "act of conquest permanently destroys value."
"It feels like the design goals at CCP were to make space more fragmented but after seeing the revert to anom respawns and how incredibly poor the mining anom “upgrades” are the only logical conclusion that every nullbloc can draw is that the mechanics demand we take as much space as possible and sprawl till we fill every corner of the map to get anywhere close to parity on what we can do right now in a region or two. It’s no coincidence that the meta in null has immediately changed into “destroy the current grandfathered ihub because the new shub is so useless it’s just bricking their space”. The act of conquest permanently destroys value, breaking a key gameplay loop."
This shift in the way systems are seen, and how nullsec is conquered is covered really well in The Ancient Gaming Noob's article on the subject, specifically bringing up the old "farms and fields" design mechanic of EVE's past. It's definitely worth a read on its own, as it comes from the mind of someone who is directly impacted as a nullsec player.
Null Power Blocs Align Against Equinox Changes
I've been trying to follow the Equinox changes and how players are responding to them since launch, but I'll admit I didn't expect to see a massive open letter from one of the MMO's largest alliances lay everything so bare. So when I brought it up to Peter on our call (the open letter had only been live for about 16 hours at that point), I was equally surprised to hear that some of the bitterest of in-game enemies came out and publicly agreed with Asher's take on the situation.
Gobbins from the Pandemic Horde, Noraus on behalf of Fraternity, and even DECOY, which is a smaller alliance jumped in to offer their support. While the growing pains for some of the larger alliances might be easier to cope with over time, smaller alliances like DECOY are feeling the pinch even more it seems, according to BJKerridge. In the post, BJKerridge provides some clear examples of why EVE Online: Equinox makes DECOY worse off, namely with the sovereignty changes.
"The entry-requirements for sov has increased (Destructable Skyhooks + Upgrades) yet the reward for holding systems has decreased (fewer PvE anoms, powerless systems)."
One paragraph stood out to me, however, describing the very reason why nullsec probably needed to be reinvigorated to begin with: what is the purpose of staying there when everything you can do in null you can do better elsewhere?
"Alliances grow by being able to provide a range of activity all under one flag. Our PvE anoms cannot compare to Pochven, our Mining anoms cannot compare to lowsec, our markets cannot compare to highsec, and our safety cannot compare to wormholes. We accept these sacrifices if it means playing with our friends, yet players stand to individually benefit by leaving their flags behind and doing their own thing when it's convenient."
CCP has been taking on feedback since Equinox launched, as they acknowledged back in the Director's Letter that released in early July. Yet something this public also required a response from CCP themselves.
On our call, Peter mentioned to me that CCP Games had seen the letter, the feedback, and the wild sight of bitter Nullsec enemies agreeing with each other, and that the team planned on a communication addressing some of the issues.
"We're absolutely taking that on board," Swift tells me when he highlighted the letter in our discussion. He went on to say the team has been having conversations with the Council of Stellar Management, which this year happens to have the lowest amount of Nullsec players on the CSM (though it's still just over half the delegates), and they are giving CCP feedback on the type of changes they are hoping to see to the sov system as it transitions fully over the course of the next few months. During those months, CCP also has a "lot of wiggle room" to tweak and respond to feedback as well.
"Obviously, because of the way that we're doing the transition, these groups have until November to fully move everything over. So there is a lot of wiggle room in there. There is a lot of time for us to take on some of the feedback."
As far as players wanting to know exactly what CCP is planning, why they are making the decisions they are making, and such, Swift acknowledges that players' feelings are definitely valid here. While some of the pushback can be attributed to the fact that this is a very, very big change to one of the more complex regions in not just EVE, but MMOs in general in the way that it operates, Swift conceded that the team at CCP can do a better job communicating things.
"I think part of it is obviously that it's a change. But they also have a very valid point that they want to see the overall vision. They want to understand what's in our brains as developers, and we have to communicate that a little bit better."
Making Changes, And Building A Foundation
CCP told me on Monday that they would communicate with players, acknowledging the feedback and where they are going form here. This happened on Thursday, with the team putting out a news post and a new patch today addressing the feedback.
"We want to acknowledge the concerns expressed by the community and CSM regarding the Equinox expansion and associated game changes. We share your passion for EVE Online and we know that everyone has the best wishes for the game at heart. We hear you loud and clear and appreciate the honesty and feedback provided. We have been and continue to actively monitor and discuss the feedback, within CCP and with the CSM, to refine, plan and prioritize the next steps."
CCP states that the "focus with Equinox was and remains making nullsec exciting and desirable," and changes were made to start addressing these issues. Anomalies were "underwhelming" in their original iteration, and CCP has removed some of the pain points - one of which were the small asteroids that made things more tedious than it needed to be. The amount of ore output in anomalies has also increased. Mining escalation also saw an upgrade, with the "total volume increased significantly," and the yields themselves even more valuable thanks to the lesser asteroids being replaced with, well, better ones.
Combat anomalies are also getting a look, with the number of anomalies that spawn increased, while players will see a benefit in the spawn time for a site being reduced if they decide to commit "larger ships and more optimized setups."
This doesn't address everything, however. The issues with the sovereignty hub still remain, which is a core issue that could have a lasting impact on nullsec overall into the future. However, CCP does promise that there will be "more to come in the weeks ahead."
The reaction to the changes on Reddit has, unsurprisingly, been mixed, with some players saying it's a step in the right direction, while others aren't quite there yet.
Yet, Equinox feels like a foundational expansion, much like what we saw with Uprising and Viridian, both of which led into the excellent Havoc launch. It feels almost as if this update is the first salvo for what's to come, though the foundation here is a bit creekier than the other two. Common complaints with Equinox is that it's just buggy, especially the Skyhook, and that needs to be addressed bigtime before it gets out of hand.
Peter states in our chat that Equinox is definitely foundational, and that this simply isn't a "one off." The developers, apparently, have plans beyond just this initial shake-up.
As a former hardcore nullsec player himself, Peter brings an interesting perspective when talking about how EVE players think and will react to decisions the team makes. He mentions the "really fun, very nerdy conversations" he has with developers at lunch or around the office about the vision, design and more of what the team is working towards.
"So being able to network with developers here and give them a little bit of perspective on how These groups think and like the challenges that they're going to face. And the questions that they're going to have, is really vital here. And it's a really neat opportunity not only from myself, but there's like a lot of experience the players on the on the EVE teams kind of spread throughout, not only on in the community team, but also in QA and game design. Really, really fun, very nerdy conversations happen. And that's kind of the part that I wish we could share a little bit more with the players is just because I can see from like, design documents and chat with developers at lunch, and you know, being invited some of these meetings, I can see where the vision is, because Equinox isn't just a one-off."
The reinvigoration of lowsec "wasn't just a one and done," Peter explains. The reinvigoration of nullsec appears to be following that same path. That foundation needs to be strong, though, otherwise the rest will simply fall flat. However, building that strong foundation is all part of the team's plan, with the goal for players to flourish in nullsec and create their own stories once again.
"That's what we want to do with nullsec as well, right? We want to start off with a strong foundation. Yeah, we're going to shake things up a bit. We want to build on top of that, give you more tools to create these amazing stories that we know players [want to do]."
