EVE Online News

Industrious capsuleers,

Ever since the Uprising expansion went live on 8 November, there’s been a lot happening and a lot to do in New Eden. Factional Warfare activity has significantly increased, the arrival of new capsuleer communities in New Eden has been celebrated, new settings for EVE’s trusty overview have entered testing, Black Friday offers have gone live, and you can participate and benefit from absolutely all of that and more this weekend!

[h2]FACTIONAL WAR ROOM[/h2]

Following the release of Uprising, Factional Warfare (FW) has heated up with over 5,300 new pilots enrolling in faction militia groups to participate! As a result of increased FW activity, the map of New Eden has changed – and continues to change – based on player activity. Whether Alpha or Omega, recruitment drives have been active across the cluster, with players of all experience levels being employed across a variety of activities.

With the updated ship restrictions on the various capture sites, all sides are testing new ships to find the right balance. The all-new Battlefield sites are creating exciting challenges as pilots rush to cash in on incredibly lucrative rewards. There’s a role for everyone, from frigate to battleship - so there’s time to join up! If PvP isn’t your thing, there are new exploration sites with valuable components necessary for the war effort. Miners, haulers, and industrialists of all types are needed to keep the war machines running and the supply lines equipped!

Join up to support your faction, add to the 15,000+ kills and 490+ billion ISK destroyed in FW so far since Uprising launched, make new connections, and take part in the ever-changing landscape of New Eden as empires wage war, invade systems, and harvest new technology. Who knows what they’ll use this cutting-edge technology for, but in New Eden there’s always a profit to be made in something new!

If you’re hesitant about going at it on your own, there are a long line of player corporations ready to recruit you! Head on over to the EVE Online Discord and see what will be the best fit for your playstyle.



[h2]SPANISH CAPSULEER CELEBRATION – DAILY REWARDS[/h2]
Having celebrated the Spanish-speaking capsuleer community of New Eden on 22 November with CCPTV streams, fleet roams, and a fireworks extravaganza at Jita 4-4, you can continue to bask in the revelry by claiming daily login rewards such as an exclusive new capsule SKIN, many thousands of Skill Points (up to 245,000 for Omega pilots!), fireworks, and more SKINs for the new navy issue ships until 1 December!


[h2]EVOLVING OVERVIEW – TEST NOW![/h2]
EVE Online has new overview settings for you to try on the Singularity test server now, including a new default overview based on the popular Z-S Overview Pack, and long-anticipated multiple overview settings as part of the ongoing Photon UI improvements being made! The Photon UI updates also include settings for window margin size, updated security colors, and an auto UI scaling option. Be sure to check out the Photon UI blog for full details.



[h2]SPACE TURKEY TURMOIL - ABYSSAL PROVING GROUNDS[/h2]

Hugely popular last year, the 4-player Prophecy FFA Abyssal Proving Grounds event returns for this Thanksgiving weekend, so there’s no better way to celebrate than to load up a hefty space turkey and generously dispense firepower upon your fellow capsuleers! This event begins at 11:00 UTC on 25 November, and runs until 11:00 UTC on 28 November. Check out the full details on rules and restrictions for this event, then tuck in!



[h2]HANGARS EVOLVED[/h2]

Have you checked out the upgraded Upwell hangars in EVE yet? You can experience the audio and visual immersion of the new Upwell hangar environments from any number of public access citadels across all of New Eden, including highsec systems adjacent to popular trade hubs!



[h2]EVE DOWN UNDER[/h2]

The annual AUTZ EVE player get together is happening this weekend between 25– 27 November at the State Library of Melbourne, featuring a chat by CCP Larrikin at 13:30 AEST on 26 November. Make sure you get yourself there if you’re local – or even if you’re not – for the meet & greet, EVE trivia, player presentations, AMAs, and of course a pub crawl! Grab a ticket now if you haven’t already.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]BLACK FRIDAY DEALS[/h2]

Head to the EVE Store from today until 28 November and you´ll find all Omega packs at 20% off with free navy battlecruiser SKINs & Dramiel Sariel’s Flame SKIN included with select Omega packs. If you already have any Omega time active, the Omega you get in the packs will extend your time by the purchased amount. In addition, the in-game New Eden Store is offering 50% off pirate Hex SKIN bundles and 60% off the Redclaw Sable Bundle which includes 7 SKINs. Act fast and take advantage of these blazing offers!



Whether you’re fleeting up for factional supremacy, testing the new overview features on Singularity, logging in for valuable Skill Points and new SKINs, hitting the Proving Grounds, meeting up down under, or just admiring your ships in an Upwell hangar, this weekend has got something exciting for all capsuleers to participate in. Let the hostilities commence!

[h2]Why Photon?[/h2]
Photon is a massive undertaking to overhaul the EVE User Interface. The current UI is functional, so many players have asked why we chose to embark on a large project like this.

During its twenty year development, EVE has seen many features, all with specific user interface needs. Some of these features have pushed the UI into new territory, exploring new ways to improve the interface, but not always with an established design language in mind. This has made parts of the UI less than cohesive, even confusing, and difficult to master. In addition, maintaining many UI styles is ineffective, leading to increased development time.

Last year saw the formation of a dedicated User Experience team, whose primary responsibility would be the in-space experience of EVE Online. As EVE’s user interface allows access to nearly every feature while in space, there was a lot to consider. Efficiency and sustainability need to be considered, not only from a development and technology point of view, but also on a user experience level. This is all a part of EVE Evolved and setting EVE Online up for the third decade.



At this point, all the different UI styles needed to be realigned so the actual UI improvements would build on a solid foundation. This was particularly important given that we would be touching up the interfaces of many more features in the future and tackling one of the most complex aspects of EVE Online’s interface: The HUD (which would include the Overview). The different UI styles implemented in certain features over the years were all pulling in different directions, not only complicating design decisions but also causing confusion and frustration for players.



The goal is to make the UI more intuitive, accessible, and coherent while crafting an inspiring sci-fi user experience. As such, a solid design system for the UI was needed and thus Photon was chosen as the first big project. A design system is more than a style guide for designs. It also involves looking at the UI framework and improving the underlying technologies, resolving or limiting any technical debt, and removing as many inconsistencies as possible.



It was apparent that a new way to engage with players to gather feedback was needed, as the UI must serve a multitude of different playstyles and situations, not to mention the vast array of hardware we support. Ultimately, the UI is for the players, and it was important to us to co-develop with them. We therefore felt it was imperative to get the ideas into players’ hands as quickly as possible. Test servers are usually only used by a small portion of the user base, in EVE and the gaming industry in general, so we decided to allow players to opt in to test the new features on the actual live server, using their main characters and going about their normal, daily activities. This new approach was formalized into the Feature Previews System, and Photon was released as an opt-in beta in early May.

The adoption rate of Photon UI grew steadily, while valuable feedback was gathered from forums, social media, and many customer surveys and interviews. Based on this, many improvements were made over the summer. In September Photon reached 17% opt-in adoption by the user base, which was substantially higher than expected for an opt-in feature. However, because the UI is such an important and complicated subject, more feedback from a wider audience was needed. In October, we therefore moved to an opt-out approach for Photon, allowing those players who still preferred the classic UI the ability to switch back, but also getting Photon into the hands of users that may not even have been aware of its existence. 



Photon has come a long way since that first opt-in release. Here are some highlights:

• A full re-skin of all the UI’s base components.
• All the design elements such as buttons, tabs, and window headers converged into a single, coherent style.
• Updated font style and the rules for how it is used.
• A new and more UX-focused color library, with new color themes
• Enhanced sci-fi experience with transitional screen animations
• Compact Mode for all "combat" windows
• Many quality-of-life improvements across various feature windows, e.g. Drone window, Inventory Window

At the end of the first day of Opt-Out on 11 October, 84% of players ended their sessions with Photon UI enabled. This number has grown steadily ever since and currently 91% of players have switched to using Photon UI. But we are not done yet!
[h2]Multiple overviews are coming![/h2]
On 13 December, the Multiple Overview will be available along with a variety of other updates, including settings for window margin size, updated security colors, transparency controls and an auto UI scaling option.



The Overview has been and remains the go-to tool to extract tactical information from your surroundings to stay ahead of the game, and this crucial window is now getting a respectable update.

The headline feature is beyond doubt the new ability to have multiple Overview windows open at the same time, allowing you to tailor the tactical information presented to your playstyle much more precisely than before.

Other improvements include:

• Column visibility, order, and width are now configured and persisted per tab, instead of globally before.
• “Presets” have been renamed as “Filters”, in hope that the clearer terminology helps people better understand how the Overview works.
• Improvements to how Filters are authored in the Overview Settings window.
• Improved Overview right-click menus.

The improved Overview is already available on Singularity (test server). To begin with, the feature is being offered as a separate opt-in (if you have Photon enabled), which you simply enable through the Escape Menu’s “Feature Preview” panel (as with Photon, but no reset of the client is required for this feature).



Other notable updates and additions coming with the December release are:

• Window Margin Size - A setting that allows you to change the size of the margin and header on all windows. This option can be found in the General Settings section of the Settings menu.
• Security Colors - The Security colors have been updated with higher contrast so that they are more distinct from one another.
• Auto UI Scaling - An option in the UI Scaling dropdown that when selected will automatically update the UI Scaling each time the resolution of the client is changed.
• ’Light Background’ Transparency Controls - Separate controls for the transparency of windows set to ‘Light Background’
• Window Resize Indicators - Indicators in the Photon UI style that become visible when hovering over the edge of a window, which makes it easier to adjust the window size.   
• Updated Scrollbar - The scrollbar in Photon UI is now static and no longer expands and collapses when hovering over it.

These updates are aimed at addressing some of the main areas of improvement pointed out by the community. Thank all of you that have been a part of this back-and-forth process, as it is an integral part of the process of developing a kick-ass user experience. As always, any and all feedback is appreciated!

o7

Please Note: Due to the number of changes and improvements made since the Opt-Out release in October, we will be resetting the Opt-Out state of all clients on December 13th. If you still wish to use the Classic UI instead, you will need to opt out again. We hope that you give the new improvements a try and then give your feedback on our forum: Multiple Overviews Feedback Thread

Socially minded Capsuleers,

A spread of striking new EVE-themed items has been added to the Points Shop.

That means you can customise your Steam profile with new backgrounds, avatars, animated frames featuring Empire logos, and more – each inspired by the world of New Eden.



Released to coincide with the debut of the new Uprising expansion, the new Points Shop items let you show off your devotion to EVE to all Steam users. Equally, they allow fellow EVE players over on Steam to know where your loyalties lie, and who you are fighting for.

How does the Steam Points Shop work? Every time you shop over on Steam [you earn points that you can trade in for cosmetic items that you use to personalise your Steam Profile, or even award others. You can also earn points by contributing to the Steam community in various ways.



The new EVE items added to the points shop consist of animated Empire logo frames, animated avatars, profile backgrounds, and mini profile backgrounds. You can check out some examples below, or head over to Steam now to see the full range.

Insatiable capsuleers,

The season of giving is upon us, and there’s no better way to celebrate than to load up a hefty space turkey and generously dispense firepower upon your fellow capsuleers in the next Proving Ground event!

This event begins at 11:00 UTC on 25 November, and runs until 11:00 UTC on 28 November.

The ruleset is as follows:

• Only the Prophecy may enter this event.
• 200% bonus to turret and missile damage.
• Overheat bonuses for turrets & missile launchers as well as tackle, propulsion, repair, resistance, and energy warfare modules are doubled.
• Pilots receive 30 million ISK payout per match where they deal at least 7000 damage.
• Sensor dampeners, weapon disruptors, and shield boost amplifier, recharger, power relay, and flux coil modules cannot be fitted.
• Maximum of two local repair module per ship (shield or armor).
• Modules and implants are restricted to meta level 5 and below.

Load up on stuffing, munitions, and Proving Ground Filaments (found in Abyssal Deadspace, Pochven, or the in-game market), and prepare for poultry pandemonium as you cook the competition, climb the leaderboard, and earn special rewards!

Greetings music loving capsuleers,

We are beyond excited to announce the long-awaited arrival of Permaband, CCP in-house rockers, and pioneers of the “Thukk Rokk” musical subculture, to Spotify and beyond. Four of their popular songs, HTFU, Killing Is Just A Means, Warp To The Dance Floor, and Wrecking Machine are now available to everyone for free, on all major streaming platforms.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Permaband was the CCP in-house band, and their soaring sound should be known to anyone who has attended EVE Fanfest. The band’s music videos have been fan favorites for years, and now music loving capsuleers will finally be able to add them to their daily music rotation.

Click here to check Permaband out on Spotify.