EVE Online News

In the rich universe of New Eden, many activities can be more fun, efficient, or offer a larger destructive power when performed in groups. The new Fleet Discovery update makes it easier for Capsuleers to find and create fleets with other players that fit their plans!

[h2]Better Fleet Discovery[/h2]

Soon, as a new pilot, you will be able to utilize the new Fleet Up tool located in the center of The Agency to find and join fleets that match your skill level and interests.



Are you looking to fleet up and do some mining? Sort by Resource Harvesting to view active fleets, read their descriptions, compare how far away from you they are operating and if they meet your criteria, then simply request to join!

The new Fleet Up tool also supports filtering for fleets that are new player friendly, so as a fresh pilot, you will have an easier way to spot groups that will help you on your journey in the harsh vastness of space and connect you to the content you're after!

[h2]Fleet Commanders Rejoice[/h2]

The added functionality in the Fleet Discovery update will also help Fleet Commanders (FCs) classify fleets more precisely, so you can recruit for Incursions, Faction Warfare, or seek out the experienced hot-droppers to help you achieve your grand plans much faster!

You can head over to the Singularity Test Server now to discover and try out all the functionalities of this new upcoming feature. If you do, please share your thoughts by joining the player discussion on the EVE Online forums, Twitter, or the EVE Online subreddit.

Fly safe, and fly together!

Cosmopolitan Capsuleers,

At the end of last year, we welcomed back the dedicated players from Japan by releasing a fully supported Japanese localized version of the game. With the influx of new pilots and the return of battle-hardened veterans, we must not forget that we are all pilots in the EVE Online universe united by a shared passion.

To revere this milestone for our ever-growing community, we will have a week-long United Eden celebration filled with daily rewards and challenges for both the Alpha and Omega pilots, that will run from 19 to 26 January!

Please be sure to log in daily during the event to claim exclusive items at both the Alpha and Omega clone levels. To claim the full series, you will need to log in 4 of 7 days during the event. These rewards include:

• Slasher, Tormentor, Kestrel, Tristan, and Capsule Zakura Hansei SKINs
  
• Skill Points
  
• Zakura Bazei Firework
  
• Men’s and Women’s ‘Saikadori’ Facial Augmentation
  

Please watch for daily challenges posted on your overhead display. These challenges reward skill points. You can use Skill Points to help you boost your skill training towards piloting better crafts, wielding better weapons more effectively and more.

Happy celebrations, pilots!

On Saturday 2 January, both sides of the months-long nullsec war in New Eden gathered for another showdown in the system of M2-XFE. The fight was supposed to be a follow up to the biggest Titan clash in EVE’s history, which occurred just two days prior. This battle did not unfold the way anyone expected it to. A large proportion of the attacking side experienced in-game issues, which resulted in devastating losses for them.

[h2]Unprecedented War, Unprecedented Battles[/h2]

The ongoing war in New Eden has seen some of the largest and bloodiest battles in EVE’s history. The war has already claimed two official Guinness World Records, whilst also breaking many other EVE records, including a record number of battleships killed in one battle, and a record number of Titans destroyed in another.

The second fight in M2-XFE was a next step in the evolution of these unprecedented fights. Three systems in Delve were the focus of the fight: 1DQ1-A (defender staging), T5ZI-S (attacker staging) and M2-XFE (battlefield). 1DQ1-A’s player count topped out at 4226, T5ZI-S hit 6723 and the player count in the target system of M2-XFE went the highest with 6739 pilots, breaking the Fury of FWST record of 6557. The three systems – which were each reinforced – saw a combined peak of 13,770 players around 23:23 EVE time. To put this in perspective, approximately 35% of all online pilots in the game were situated in just these 3 systems.

These numbers are unrivaled - and unrivaled numbers in New Eden lead to uncharted territories when it comes to performance. Neither side of the war, or CCP, can, could or will be able to predict the server performance in these kinds of situations.

[h2]Weird events during and after the battle[/h2]

Of the 3 nodes; attacker staging, defender staging, and fight; 2 were under heavy load: the T5ZI-S and M2-XFE nodes (since both had about 5-6k pilots). As pilots attempted to jump from one heavily loaded to another, they experienced odd and unresponsive game behavior. This was simply a brutal symptom of what happens when there is a great deal of activity between two heavily loaded systems.

Both during and after the fight, players experienced things that don’t happen under normal circumstances. Things like ships disappearing, ships reappearing, ships not appearing in the right systems – even after going through the jump tunnel, ghost killmails, duplicated ships/mods where a wreck with loot was in M2-XFE but the fitted ship was in T5ZI-S, bridging Titans getting moved to the system it was bridging people to, among others.

Many of these unusual events have not happened in recent times (although some veterans will remember that they have been seen before), and that is largely because the increasing size of large battles has been more gradual over the last 10 years. However, this fight dwarfed any previous engagement in New Eden. Had every player who was trying to get into M2-XFE successfully done so, it would have nearly doubled the current Guinness World Record for concurrent players in a single fight with approximately 12,000 players.

[h2]Population cap and players entering the system[/h2]

There has been an ongoing discussion regarding a “population cap in M2-XFE.” The only system in the game that has a population cap is Jita - to avoid the system going into Time dilation. There was no population cap set for M2-XFE.

The table of systems which have population caps set, of which there is only one.

What players were seeing in their client call log was a standard call that is an everyday occurrence. The client will call every jump – and when logging in - to check if there is a population cap on the destination system – in this case it was not receiving a reply from the heavily loaded system (the population cap being one of the different calls it was not receiving back).

While there was no population cap, players did have trouble entering the system – which was an unfortunate symptom of the sheer scale of this fight. This caused a great deal of unexpected outcomes, and has, understandably, been the cause of great frustration for many players.

Another discussion has revolved around whether all players could have loaded given enough time. Due to the unprecedented circumstances, any discussion on that is theoretical – what can however be said is that we’ve received reports of players that waited for their jump tunnels ended up traveling, but to the same system as they originally were in.

[h2]Reimbursement[/h2]

As per our usual policy Customer Support won't be reimbursing any losses or moving players between systems. It is our policy to not get involved with fleet fights, and that policy has been upheld during this war – for both sides.

We will be intervening as little as possible in the repercussions of this battle. We will not be taking away any insurance payouts for ships that are still alive, removing looted duplicated modules, or going into hangars to destroy ghost titans that survived. We will only consider moving players who are completely unable to log into the game, if there are any such cases. Players that can log into the game will have to move themselves.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

CCP and the pilots of New Eden have long been engaged in a perpetual arms race. Players push the envelope of what is possible, and we continue to improve performance with improved hardware, software, and changes to the mechanics of the game. As EVE players continue to create larger and larger wars, with bigger and more epic battles every week, these battles continue to bring the game into unknown territory. We salute all the players for their efforts and their ambitions – this ongoing war, which at times has had unfortunate moments for both sides, is continually reshaping the landscape of New Eden and adding new and exciting stories to the history of EVE Online.

A new Abyssal Proving Grounds event is now live in EVE Online, so make sure you have your Proving Filaments handy either from Abyssal Deadspace loot drops, or from the in-game market!

Until 11:00 UTC on January 19, you can engage in 4-player Tech 1 Cruiser free-for-all combat, meaning that the permitted hulls for this event include the Arbitrator, Bellicose, Blackbird, Caracal, Celestis, Maller, Moa, Omen, Rupture, Stabber, Thorax, Vexor - limited to meta 5 modules (no Faction/Deadspace/Officer/Abyssal modules). Pirate implants are also restricted.

Don't forget, you can keep track of Capsuleer performance and prowess in this event using the leaderboards!

Highly active Capsuleers,

You still have time to celebrate all of your achievements and activities in EVE throughout 2020 and create your own, unique, "My Year in EVE" video! In a year of broken records, landmark achievements, great changes, and vast amounts of activity in New Eden, you can choose elements of your exploits in space to feature in the video alongside the core information and statistics.

Whether you've spent your time basking in combat glory, exploring the mysterious depths of wormhole space, making a killing in industry, or all of the above, active Omega pilots are eligible for a "My Year in EVE" video. You will be able to choose which character to feature on your account, but keep in mind that only one character per account will get a video.

Get started and create your video today, share it with your friends and on social media using #MyEVE2020, then revel in their adoration! Or just do it purely for bragging rights. Whatever you do, don't miss this opportunity to immortalize your victories and milestones from a great year in EVE!