Tuesday, December 5th 2017

New 'Arms Race' Update Expands Gameplay Experience for EVE Online F2P Players

Today, CCP announced the launch of the Arms Race update for EVE Online, their in-depth and uniquely player-driven spaceship MMO game, which introduces even greater accessibility and wider gameplay variety to players with free-to-play accounts, known as Alpha Clones. Introduced in last year's Ascension expansion, Alpha accounts enable players to permanently join hundreds of thousands of established users in EVE Online's massive space sandbox for free. Now, CCP Games has opened up the ability for Alpha pilots to train many more skills, fly more impressive spaceships and equip more advanced weaponry.

"There has never been a better time to join the universe of EVE and begin your own unique space adventure, or re-join and continue your journey," said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CCP's CEO. "The increased flexibility and depth of the free Alpha Clone experience means that EVE is more accessible than ever. EVE players can return and fly their favorite ships for free, re-uniting with old corpmates or continue forging their own destiny to make their mark on the universe."
The Arms Race update immensely increases Alpha Clones' options for skill training, allowing them to pilot the mighty Battleship and Battlecruiser classes of vessel, as well as many ships from across all of EVE Online's stalwart Empires and infamous pirate factions, which represent some of the most popular ships in the game. To supplement this change, free access has also been granted to skills that allow for the use of upgraded weapons systems.

Alpha pilots will now be able to enjoy an even greater feeling of immersion and participation in the universe of New Eden. This update also provides a great incentive for any veteran pilots interested in returning to EVE Online, enabling them to fly powerful ships in their old player groups once again without a subscription.

The Arms Race update also brings a new training option for Alpha Clones, with the ability to accrue skillpoints on a daily, rather than monthly basis using Daily Alpha Injectors. While these injectors can only be used once per day, per Alpha character, they can be activated immediately to add 50,000 skillpoints into a pilot's unallocated skillpoint pool.

With the release of this update, EVE Online's players can enjoy an event catered toward the newfound power of Alpha Clones. Running from December 5 - 12, the Arms Race event celebrates free access to Battlecruisers and Battleships, and provides rewards themed around them.

In addition, the Arms Race update includes many other enhancements and refinements for EVE Online. The Resource Wars feature will see the introduction of a new role that allows players to fly as a support pilot, earning rewards by providing remote logistics to fellow players, plus vessels from the Empire that they support. Players will now take on an elevated threat, with Pirate Forward Operating Bases becoming easier to find and engage with. Furthermore, as part of CCP's ongoing commitment to keeping New Eden as visually stunning as possible, players will be also able to enjoy improved textures on structures found in missions and dead space areas.

The Arms Race update also sees the appearance of a new in-game monument to commemorate the efforts of all all the EVE Online players who contributed to real science through the development of the Human Protein Atlas as part of Project Discovery.
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6 Comments on New 'Arms Race' Update Expands Gameplay Experience for EVE Online F2P Players

#1
Vayra86
All I read here is 'Catch up mechanics' x10 :D

Still doesn't seduce me into diving into it, as much as I want my open space sim, the one time I did try EVE felt a bit like a fresh dive in X3... weird, uncanny, too much effort.
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#2
Totally
Vayra86All I read here is 'Catch up mechanics' x10 :D

Still doesn't seduce me into diving into it, as much as I want my open space sim, the one time I did try EVE felt a bit like a fresh dive in X3... weird, uncanny, too much effort.
As I see it, they're just dying slowly and trying to inject fresh blood into the cancer infested playerbase. The new player experience is not something I'd wish upon anyone eith the sheer number of trolls, griefers, and people with inferiority complexes that go out of their way to make things miserable for people weaker thsn them. So you are literally not playing the game for the first few months or year makes sense for a game with a paid sub. Less and less people are sticking around or have a habit of lighting their money on fire.
Posted on Reply
#3
Vayra86
TotallyAs I see it, they're just dying slowly and trying to inject fresh blood into the cancer infested playerbase. The new player experience is not something I'd wish upon anyone eith the sheer number of trolls, griefers, and people with inferiority complexes that go out of their way to make things miserable for people weaker thsn them. So you are literally not playing the game for the first few months or year makes sense for a game with a paid sub. Less and less people are sticking around or have a habit of lighting their money on fire.
They are dying slowly, its just a very long process :D Can't speak of the playerbase, but I've always considered this game a tad too serious for my liking. The immersion goes all the way into very human territory of cutthroat politics and adds all the unpleasantries of the internet. Its fun when you're on top the game, but I can surely imagine it being horrible when you're not.
Posted on Reply
#4
mak1skav
Vayra86They are dying slowly, its just a very long process :D Can't speak of the playerbase, but I've always considered this game a tad too serious for my liking. The immersion goes all the way into very human territory of cutthroat politics and adds all the unpleasantries of the internet. Its fun when you're on top the game, but I can surely imagine it being horrible when you're not.
Just join one of the 3-4 major corporations for new players and you will be able to learn the basics of the game in a quite safe environment.
Posted on Reply
#5
Totally
mak1skavJust join one of the 3-4 major corporations for new players and you will be able to learn the basics of the game in a quite safe
That safety is an illusion, pirates and griefers just don't care.

Only valid advice is don't fly around in anything you aren't willing/can't afford to lose. Even that only hold true for a while since time to time they seem to get bored and nothing is beneath them.
Posted on Reply
#6
Vayra86
mak1skavJust join one of the 3-4 major corporations for new players and you will be able to learn the basics of the game in a quite safe environment.
Nah I'll pass, there are way more interesting ways to spend time than EVE these days :)
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