EVE Online News

Thrill-seeking Capsuleers,

The Abyssal Proving Grounds are open again for battle, and this time the focus is on 4-player free-for-alls exclusively featuring the mighty Prophecy battlecruisers. This special event runs from 11:00 UTC 26 November to 11:00 UTC 30 November.

Based on the design of an ancient Amarrian warship once used in the founding days of starship combat, Prophecies initially served as artillery support battleships, but over time have evolved from modestly sized gunboats into powerful drone boats. Pitted against one another in the Abyssal Proving Ground, these distinct ships promise to deliver one-of-a-kind, thrilling combat.

The following arena effects will be in place throughout the event:

• +100% bonus to the benefits of overheating, other than EWAR
• +200% Turret and missile damage

Pilots that join this Proving Grounds event will be restricted to Meta 5 modules, and must respect a limit of two local repair modules (for shield or armor) per ship.

Additionally, sensor dampeners, weapon disruptors, shield power relays, shield flux coils, and core defence field purgers are banned across the battles for this Proving Grounds event.

Finally, this Abyssal Proving Grounds event happens to take place at the same time as unmissable Black Friday offers are made available across EVE. There are discounts on PLEX, free SKINs, daily rewards and New Eden Store specials. You can learn more about EVE’s Black Friday deals here.

Joining in with the Black Friday spirit, this Abyssal Proving Grounds offers a special challenge that rewards the most devastating combatants with ISK. Enter any of this round of Prophecy free-for-alls, and in each instance where you do at least 7,000 damage to your opponents, you will gain 30 million ISK. It’s a repeatable challenge, meaning every time you join a skirmish, it’s a chance to top up your ISK.

To join this round of combat, grab your Proving Filaments and head to the Abyssal Proving grounds from 26 November. And, as ever, the Proving Grounds leaderboards will allow you to track Capsuleer performance throughout the timeframe in which the free-for-all is live.

Dear Capsuleers

In June 2016, we announced that we would be starting work that would eventually phase out DirectX 9 support for EVE Online. Originally released 19 years ago and supported by Windows 98, it was the perfect solution for the retail CD release of EVE Online!

However, continuing to support DirectX 9 has become a significant development cost that is impacting our ability to improve the graphical fidelity of EVE Online. With less than 1% of players being limited to using DirectX 9, the time is right to end support in 2022.

For the last few years, we've been investing in foundational improvements of EVE, such as with the transition to a 64-bit client to set EVE up for a thriving third decade. This is the next step in that journey and it will happen on 11 January 2022. After this date, we will no longer provide a DirectX 9 capable client.

We encourage all existing DX9 players who are capable of running the DirectX 11 client to go to their Launcher settings and under 'Game Client' ensure that "Run game clients with DirectX 9" is not ticked.

This will ensure the EVE client uses DirectX 11 rendering. On 30 November, we will be moving all existing players to DirectX 11 if it is supported by the GPU. You will be able to switch back to DirectX 9 temporarily if you are unable to play, however, we strongly suggest reaching out to Customer Support (choose 'Technical') so we can identify the reasons you have chosen to not use DirectX 11. The option to switch back to DirectX 9 will not be available after 11 January.

As a result of DirectX 9 deprecation, we will be increasing the minimum specification to need a DirectX 11 (feature level 11.0) based graphics card. For Nvidia, this will be a GeForce GT 420, while AMD users will require a Radeon HD 5450 GPU. The first DirectX 11 GPUs are over 10 years old, so this change should not impact most people’s ability to play.

Minimum System Requirements:

• OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit
• CPU: Dual Core @ 2.0 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB or higher
• Video: Video: AMD Radeon 5450 or NVIDIA GeForce 420 or better with at least 1024 MB VRAM

If you have a very old GPU, you can manually check your DirectX version by pressing CTRL+F to open the FPS window in-game. This will show the current rendering mode in the bottom left:

Players on MacOS will not need to worry about this change as our new Native Mac Client utilizes Metal and not DirectX.

DirectX 9 has served us well, but to enable a more performant and immersive experience in the future, we must say goodbye. Removing technical debt such as older graphical APIs and utilizing more modern rendering methods such as DirectX 11 gives us a better foundation to bring amazing visuals to all pilots in EVE.

Bargain-hunting Capsuleers,

As Black Friday nears, New Eden’s pilots will soon be able to take advantage of several limited-time Black Friday deals – with up to 25% off select PLEX packages, some of which include eye-catching free SKINs!

There will also be daily rewards available, and a special offer on hand-picked Omega and MCT packages over in the New Eden Store. All Black Friday offers are available from 11:00 UTC on 25 November until 11:00 UTC on 30 November.

[h2]Up to 25% Off PLEX[/h2]
Across the official EVE Store, the Epic Games Store, and Steam the following discounts will be available throughout EVE’s Black Friday sales period:

• Up to 25% discounts on select PLEX packages, plus free SKINs with select items at the EVE Store.
• Up to 25% discounts on select PLEX packages at the Epic Games Store.
• Up to 25% discounts on select PLEX packages at the Steam store.

All stores will feature generous discounts on a variety of packages containing anywhere from 110 to 15,400 PLEX. Exclusively at the official EVE Store, larger PLEX packages not only come at the reduced price, but also include free Copper Lightning SKINs.


[h2]Daily Rewards[/h2]
All pilots will receive rewards for each day they log in from 25 to 30 November, up to a maximum of four. The rewards for Alpha pilots focus on a quartet of powerful combat boosters, while Omegas can secure a combination of boosters and Skill Points. Remember to log in 4 out of the 5 days to receive the maximum number of rewards. Alpha pilots can upgrade to Omega at any point during this timeframe to claim the Omega rewards!

[h2]New Eden Store Deals[/h2]
There are equally tempting Black Friday deals over in the New Eden Store, where you can grab free SKINs when you purchase 30 days of Omega or Multiple Pilot Training Certificates. Just be sure you get them between 11:00 UTC on 25 November and 11:00 UTC on 30 November.



There’s not long until Black Friday now. Make sure not to let these remarkable deals slip through your fingers!

Budding Capsuleers,

As part of the ongoing efforts to improve the new player experience, some small changes have been made to career agents and new player Skill Plans. This includes the renaming of career agent paths to be cohesive with the four main career paths in EVE and as outlined in EVE Academy.

The new names are as follows:

• Enforcer (was Military)
• Soldier of Fortune (was Advanced Military)
• Explorer
• Industrialist - Producer (was Industry)
• Industrialist - Entrepreneur (was Business)

In addition to being renamed for clarity, each career agent will offer a new Skill Plan pulling from the initial skills available for new Capsuleers, so your corresponding empire skill plan for each career agent comes at no cost to you. These beginner Skill Plans give you a grounding in the skills needed to thrive when embarking on the adventures provided by the relevant Career Agent.

The Skill Plans are accessible from the description panel for each career agent as well as in the skill plan interface. As another stepping stone towards the adventures that await in New Eden, these changes will streamline the process of growing as a Capsuleer.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/8500/EVE_Online/