Brave capsuleers,
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.
The focus with Equinox was and remains making nullsec exciting and desirable, not just as a battleground, but as a dynamic homefront ripe with opportunities that will enhance the value generated from sovereignty systems (for corporations and alliances as well as for individuals).
Today sees updates to various aspects of Equinox. Below is a high-level overview of these changes, with further details in the . This is just one of many steps forward, as we will continue to refine and adjust in the weeks ahead, with changes planned for Skyhook raiding and improvements to SKINR for ships, and AIR Daily Goals.
Since Equinox launched, we’ve received valuable feedback on the new sovereignty systems and have made several changes with the aim of making them more lucrative and exciting.
While the ability to select mineral types was an improvement, the sites themselves felt underwhelming, both in terms of the social experience of mining and in their overall value. A few steps have been taken to address this; first, the smallest asteroids have been removed and the minimum asteroid size has been increased such that it can accommodate multiple strip miner cycles. Additionally, the overall volume of the sites has been significantly increased with the Hezorime (Zydrine) and Mordunium (Pyerite) anomalies seeing the largest increase. For asteroid size, we wanted to make sure there was an improved experience compared to old Colossal spawns. The Hezorime deposit will now include significantly larger asteroids, with a single 600k m^3 behemoth asteroid and several dozen with a volume larger than 100k m^3.
The mining escalation has also become a more significant objective to take on and complete. The total volume has increased significantly, and the less valuable asteroids have been replaced with spodumain, various Abyssal asteroids, and mercoxit, greatly increasing both the mineral yield and value. You’ll also be seeing them more often, as the escalation rate has been increased significantly.
Mining anomalies are only part of the equation, as combat anomalies are also being reevaluated. The number of anomalies the threat detection arrays spawn has also been increased, allowing groups to maintain a larger population for PVE, even while running hyper-optimized blitzing setups. To reward those pilots committing larger ships and more optimized setups, the spawn time has been reduced by 40%. This still utilizes the new spawning paradigm, meaning that in all cases the new sites will respawn significantly faster.
We want to thank everyone who has taken the time to express their feedback and assure you that we are actively listening and taking it into account as we work on upcoming changes in close collaboration with the CSM. Today marks a step forward on the ongoing journey of evolving the new opportunities that Equinox brings, with more to come in the weeks ahead.
Fly safe.
o7
