Eve Online: Trinity

[wautd]

By the end of the year a new free expansion of Eve online will come bringing new ships, content but most noticeble a brand new graphics engine.

And boy is it shiny

Eve Online Trinity Trailer
Quicktime Version at Gametrailers
HD version

Feature Page for more info


PS. Some may find it interesting that the interface (hated by many here) will be tweaked as well

[Hotfoot]

Do they change the hours and hours and hours of grinding for cash so you can do the "Fun Stuff(tm)"?

[wautd]

Do they change the hours and hours and hours of grinding for cash so you can do the "Fun Stuff(tm)"?

New players start with 2 million skillpoints these days, which allows them being competitive a lot sooner (the bastards). Since almost for a year now afaik.

Regarding cash, you can but don't need to grind to get some buck. There are more ways than just mining/npc'ing.

+ I'm near broke most of the time. I usually get bored when I have too much money

As an example, the latest annual PvP tournament has clearly shown that cheap tech 1 cruisers can still be a formidable force. So unless you're idea of fun is having the rarest and most expensive gear all the time, money isn't everything to have fun

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

New players start with 2 million skillpoints these days, which allows them being competitive a lot sooner (the bastards). Since almost for a year now afaik.

2 mil? I thought it was 800k?

[wautd]

New players start with 2 million skillpoints these days, which allows them being competitive a lot sooner (the bastards). Since almost for a year now afaik.

2 mil? I thought it was 800k?

Used to, it's been upped again since 2 the last large expansion. If you know what you're doing during character creation it's possible to start off with small tech II guns together with your racial frigate at level V.
Not to mention that attributes for the new bloodlines are better as well.

Bah, I've started with 20k skillpoints and the worst attributes for my playing style. But at least the implants have become more affordable

[PREDATOR490]

I have been playing on the test server a bit and the new additions dont seem so obvious to me but apparantly not everything is in it yet.
I really dont like the stuff they did to the drones and I dont mean the 'bandwidth' thing. THAT I can understand but the thing that bugs me are the new "features" with the drones like:

Keep at range
Orbit at range
Approach target
Guard Target <--- this one is the most reasonable of the bunch

Overall it just seems like they spammed in a load of crap for drones to attone up for the changes they were making and the new stuff is exactly that: CRAP.

Cant comment on the new ships yet but I dont see much appeal for the Marauders given the Battleship level 5 requirement. Although time will tell if they become useful or not. The UI seems darker and uglier than the current version with an annoying amount of transparancy. Still waiting for the new skins or LP store content they claimed to be bringing in.

[Hotfoot]

New players start with 2 million skillpoints these days, which allows them being competitive a lot sooner (the bastards). Since almost for a year now afaik.

Don't really care about skills, those were always silly because all you needed was time. Interesting they chose to go that route though.

Regarding cash, you can but don't need to grind to get some buck. There are more ways than just mining/npc'ing.

That hardly answers the question. When last I joined, the only way to get to the "Good Bits" was to join a player alliance out in 0.0 and those were always funded in bulk by large scale mining ops. Player Owned Stations were a HUGE waste of time, and the only ways to make any serious amount of money were grind-tastic.

+ I'm near broke most of the time. I usually get bored when I have too much money

So short answer, no. Bored with too much money means you do boring shit to get money in the first place, which of course means that doing the fun stuff (PVP), is of course still expensive as it ever was, which means the death penalty is still fucking insane.

As an example, the latest annual PvP tournament has clearly shown that cheap tech 1 cruisers can still be a formidable force. So unless you're idea of fun is having the rarest and most expensive gear all the time, money isn't everything to have fun

Now, when you say that, do you mean that 1v1 or 2v2 cheap tech 1 cruisers can stand up to more expensive tech 2 cruisers and win, or do you mean something else? Last I checked, T1 ships with baseline T1 gear was utter shit most of the time, and the only way to stay competitive was to get either named or T2 components and usually named was the way to go because it had lower requirements than T2 for the top-tier shit, but of course was so fucking expensive it blew your mind.

Meanwhile, let's not forget that even lowly Tech 1 cruisers are pretty fucking expensive. When I last played, the cheapest (and, naturally, worst) was around 3 million ISK. The baseline combat models, like the Vexor, Thorax, etc. were 5-7 million ISK. Components, of course, were more, and uninsurable, much like T2 ships.

Now, you get shit money and risk-return for piracy, 0.0 Alliances are jumpy as hell about new members they don't know for obvious reasons, mining is boring as hell and just doesn't pay well in secure space (not even ice mining, because, at least when I played, POS's sucked ass). Running NPCs could lead to crazy cash, but only if you got and sold higher level implants all the time, and that took impressive amounts of grinding. If you managed to luck out and get a good high-tech blueprint, you could make gobs of cash...IF you grinded the fuck out of the needed base materials needed to build the thing, or if you MAYBE sold BPCs (but they gimped that a while back, hooray limited research slots with increasing costs). Sure, you could do the "instances", which got retarded after a point because they spawned so many ships the game couldn't actually HANDLE the combat without lagging to a halt, and of course were prime targets for PC pirates. Running asteroid belts could work, of course, but the really good shit, again, was out in 0.0, which of course was dangerous as fuck.

Of course, judging by your comment about being constantly broke and your other one focusing on cruisers, I'm guessing you have maybe a battleship to do some Level 4 missions with in secure space so you can fund playing with cruisers on a regular basis.

[PREDATOR490]

Making money in EVE is rather difficult and the death toll is expensive. I have been on it for around 5 months now and just got my battleship to do level 3s in. Still working on getting it fully equipped due to the high expense.

The prices of equipping my Megathron are something like:

Base Ship = 90 Mil (31 Mil Insurance)
6 Prototype 425mm railguns = 15 Mil each
2 Arablast Cruise Missile launchers = 6 Mil each
1 Target Painter = 1.5 Mil
1 Fleeting Web = 3 Mil
1 Optical Tracking Computer = 1 Mil
1 Cap Recharger II = 2 Mil
1 Large Vestment Armor Reparier = 2 Mil
1 Damage Control II = 2 Mil
2 Armor Hardners = 2 Mil each
1 Passive Hardner = 2 Mil
2 Cap Power Relays = 2 Mil each
5 Heavy Attack Drones = 100k each
1 Capacitor Control Circuit Rig = 20 Mil
2 Armor Rigs = 15 Mil each

Rough overall cost = 250 - 300 Mil

It took me around 1 - 2 weeks to get the 90 mil for the Megathron alone and that was through corporation high sec mining ops so basically the fact is that EVE is extremely time extensive if you want to fly the big ships.

I havent went to 0.0 myself due to the inability to cope with the losses I would likely incur. You dont just risk losing your ship but your implants which can set you back more than any ship lose due to the inability to train skills so fast and they cost a fortune.

Due to the high cost of Low sec though it is apparantly common for people to fly cruisers and battlecruisers there to do the asteroid NPC killing. A good cruiser will most likely set you back up to 100 mil depending on how your fitting it so it isnt exactly an ideal place to charge into PVP.
Even with a fully equipped ship you will often find yourself screwed in low sec due to the amount of people running around in Carriers or the larger ships that have months to years more skills than you.

Grinding is as much a part of EVE as it is in any other MMO. The difference with EVE however is the grinding is more money based than skill based and skills require money to acquire. This coupled with extremely harsh losses on death can make EVE a brutal place to play in when your the underdog unable to afford the Carriers, Titans and Battleships but thats sorta what makes having these thing so much more impressive.
Ideally, the best way to survive in EVE is to work with friends. That way a proper group of T1 ships can take out vessels much more expensive than themselves.

[wautd]

New players start with 2 million skillpoints these days, which allows them being competitive a lot sooner (the bastards). Since almost for a year now afaik.

Don't really care about skills, those were always silly because all you needed was time. Interesting they chose to go that route though.

Subjective. I for one like the EvE system over the kill NPC's for marginal XP increase

Regarding cash, you can but don't need to grind to get some buck. There are more ways than just mining/npc'ing.

That hardly answers the question. When last I joined, the only way to get to the "Good Bits" was to join a player alliance out in 0.0 and those were always funded in bulk by large scale mining ops. Player Owned Stations were a HUGE waste of time, and the only ways to make any serious amount of money were grind-tastic.

Missions are more worth while. Exploration has (and will more) increased in profits. Invention opened a new market (+ enabled cheaper tech 2). Rigging opened a new market. I myself made my latest fortune with hacking. These are all also available in empire space by the way

+ I'm near broke most of the time. I usually get bored when I have too much money

So short answer, no. Bored with too much money means you do boring shit to get money in the first place, which of course means that doing the fun stuff (PVP), is of course still expensive as it ever was, which means the death penalty is still fucking insane.

Don't really know what you mean here. I don't find the death penalty insane at all, but maybe I've gotten used to it.

As an example, the latest annual PvP tournament has clearly shown that cheap tech 1 cruisers can still be a formidable force. So unless you're idea of fun is having the rarest and most expensive gear all the time, money isn't everything to have fun

Now, when you say that, do you mean that 1v1 or 2v2 cheap tech 1 cruisers can stand up to more expensive tech 2 cruisers and win, or do you mean something else?

Indeed

Last I checked, T1 ships with baseline T1 gear was utter shit most of the time, and the only way to stay competitive was to get either named or T2 components and usually named was the way to go because it had lower requirements than T2 for the top-tier shit, but of course was so fucking expensive it blew your mind.

T1 ships got a bit buffed
Tech 2 prices dropped to way more affordable levels thanks to invention

Meanwhile, let's not forget that even lowly Tech 1 cruisers are pretty fucking expensive. When I last played, the cheapest (and, naturally, worst) was around 3 million ISK. The baseline combat models, like the Vexor, Thorax, etc. were 5-7 million ISK.

Which really is quite cheap, especially considering you can insure those ships for 99% of the value

Components, of course, were more, and uninsurable, much like T2 ships.

True, and fine by me. Inflation is a bad thing and money sinks are needed.

*snip long rant*

Ugh, don't tell me about alliances. Been there, done that 2 years ago and while it was fun at the start, there were some really annoying things as well (POS warfare, cowardly members, spies,...).
Joined an anti-alliance corp since then which I enjoy a hell of a lot more. Move in their territory, create carnage and kill their carebears, see it dry up for targets, move out to rince and repeat someone else

Of course, judging by your comment about being constantly broke and your other one focusing on cruisers, I'm guessing you have maybe a battleship to do some Level 4 missions with in secure space so you can fund playing with cruisers on a regular basis.

While I like my Thorax (speedy glass cannon of Doom), I'm more of a command ship/HAC guy and I got an expensive habit of pimping them more than needed.
I'm usually broke simply because I can't keep money (I want to fly every ship I can and if possible, pimp them out for the hell of it). And I tend to get "sloppy" when I don't care loosing shit.
Most of my income is currently from 0.0 ratting, level 4 missions or hacking (yay for jumpclones) but I only do that when I feel like (I usually got more ships then money in reserve). Occasionally killing a faction fitted target helps your wallet as well.

[Darmalus]

I've had EVE for several months, but I never really had a chance to properly "play" it, because my ship kept going out to sea, so I have scads of skills up to 5 but no real idea how to use them or what they do. Well, that and just level 1 missions but some money cause I mine while I do homework/die horribly in WoW honor grinding in AV.

[Yogi]

EVE's trailers always look nice, but they LIE. This particular one was just showing off the graphics engine, so it isn't so bad, but in real gameplay you hardly get ships flying in a nice formation together, especially with frigates going at the same speed as a capital ship.

Plus, there's a reason why no combat scene in an EVE trailer lasts more than five seconds at a time.

I like EVE, but please don't think the trailers are anything like the actual gameplay.

I've had EVE for several months, but I never really had a chance to properly "play" it, because my ship kept going out to sea, so I have scads of skills up to 5 but no real idea how to use them or what they do. Well, that and just level 1 missions but some money cause I mine while I do homework/die horribly in WoW honor grinding in AV.

Find a cheap frigate, load it up with whatever weapons you can, then start warping from asteroid belt to asteroid belt in high security space, shooting NPC rats. For a new player, that's the easiest way to make some fast cash. Once you have enough money to afford a Cruiser . . . continue to fly a frigate and instead go into low security space and try out PVP. Also look through the forums for ship setup guides.

[Spyder]

Every now and then I'm tempted to go back to Eve, then I remember how it was basically a second job that didn't pay anything.

[Stark]

Every now and then I'm tempted to go back to Eve, then I remember how it was basically a second job that didn't pay anything.

Depends how you play it, but it's always more-or-less boring. For me the fun part wasn't the game, but the metagames: the combat is boring and everything else is WAY MORE boring, but the freeform universe, open market and corp shit was really neat.

I liked it, and I'm too action focused to do anything but PvP, ratting and the more interesting missions. One of my mates is a tradelord who makes more money per time than me, but he stares at fullscreen market windows his whole time so I think I'm ahead.

[Spyder]

Every now and then I'm tempted to go back to Eve, then I remember how it was basically a second job that didn't pay anything.

Depends how you play it, but it's always more-or-less boring. For me the fun part wasn't the game, but the metagames: the combat is boring and everything else is WAY MORE boring, but the freeform universe, open market and corp shit was really neat.

Yeah, the universe itself was really neat. I would have liked it better if there was more interaction on space stations and planets ect rather then everything being menu driven.

I liked it, and I'm too action focused to do anything but PvP, ratting and the more interesting missions. One of my mates is a tradelord who makes more money per time than me, but he stares at fullscreen market windows his whole time so I think I'm ahead.

Yeah, that was the kind of thing I was talking about. I'm clicking around trying to find which places have the best prices for whatever mineral I'm carrying, trying to work out what I should do with a bunch of other stuff I'd collected and whatnot, then it occured to me that I'd be having just as much fun doing a real job.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Yeah, the universe itself was really neat. I would have liked it better if there was more interaction on space stations and planets ect rather then everything being menu driven.

Supposedly they're working on actual character avatars the space station interiors you can walk around in. I saw a video of the work so far awhile back and it looked pretty nifty.

[Coaan]

That trailer does look damn pretty, regardless if it's not the whole picture of how the graphics engine works.

I havent went to 0.0 myself due to the inability to cope with the losses I would likely incur. You dont just risk losing your ship but your implants which can set you back more than any ship lose due to the inability to train skills so fast and they cost a fortune.

You would not believe how much isk you can make from ratting down in 0.0 though. It can more than cover your bills, especially if you luck out and manage to hit a faction spawn, because then you get loot that someone is bound to want AND a fair sized chunk of isk.

Caoimhin and I took a different approach to 0.0, with regards to replacing our losses....we made it a point to make most of what we need. Ships, rigs...you name it, we have started making it. This, coupled with the rats helps keep cost down and isk up. It is far cheaper to operate when you can just make a new ship to replace your losses. (or make them before you lose ships, that way you have something waiting)

As for ship vareity in 0.0 space...most people do use battlecruisers and battleships, I've found. This hasn't to do with apparant costs....it has to do with the ships used being so ridiculous. Let me give you an example. I recently fitted a drake to be transported down to our new 0.0 home.

Loadout was thus :

7 heavy missles II's
1 Named invunerability field
2 shield recharger II's
3 Large extender II's
3 Shield power relay II's
1 Ballistic control system II
3 Core Defense Purger Rigs

The ship and the rigs cost nothing effectively. We made them.

It cost at most, 30 million to outfit a ship that can and will manage to tank 3 or 4 player owned battleships at once, for long enough that your allies can show up and lend a hand.

The returns from pvp can be bloody good. You just have to be prepared to lose ships, because inevitably you will. Nil sec space can be very lucrative if you are prepared to properly tool out for it though.

[wautd]

Also, the average 0.0 space a lot safer than lowsec really. The most dangerous points are the bottleneck systems (always scout with a suicide alt) and the main station systems, but most of the systems are pretty quiet to rat in peace. Just always keep an eye in local or you don't want to rat in pieces. If you're on you're own, the hardest part is logistics (getting stuff out, getting ammo in) if nothing else. 0.0 regions with NPC stations help for the lone players/small groups as well.

[wautd]

As for ship vareity in 0.0 space...most people do use battlecruisers and battleships, I've found. This hasn't to do with apparant costs....it has to do with the ships used being so ridiculous. Let me give you an example. I recently fitted a drake to be transported down to our new 0.0 home.

Hell, you can even use assault frigates or interceptors to kill 0.0 rats, and they are even cheaper. And inties in particular are slippery eels, making them perfect for punch trough gatecamps or outrun a hostile gang.
I used a blasteranis to kill Serpentis for quite some time. The added advantage is that it could solo some other player ratting battleships as well (since they rarely fitted a webber and never a warp scrambler).
Hell, one time I nearly solo'd 2 noob battleships at once (the NPC's kept them scrambled so I could warp in and out every time I needed to recover ). Sadly, a third not-so-noob-and-anti-intyfitted-battleship eventually helped them out and blew me to smithereens. Good fun tough, skirmisch took a whole 15 minutes

[wautd]

Yeah, the universe itself was really neat. I would have liked it better if there was more interaction on space stations and planets ect rather then everything being menu driven.

Supposedly they're working on actual character avatars the space station interiors you can walk around in. I saw a video of the work so far awhile back and it looked pretty nifty.

This one?

[Keevan_Colton]

Also, the average 0.0 space a lot safer than lowsec really. The most dangerous points are the bottleneck systems (always scout with a suicide alt) and the main station systems, but most of the systems are pretty quiet to rat in peace. Just always keep an eye in local or you don't want to rat in pieces. If you're on you're own, the hardest part is logistics (getting stuff out, getting ammo in) if nothing else. 0.0 regions with NPC stations help for the lone players/small groups as well.

Also anyone from SD.net looking for a home is welcome to sign up with Coaan and me, we've got a little corp of our own with 0.0 access negotiated. It's just the two of us but we manage to cover most of the logistics just fine and another friendly face or two wouldnt go amiss.

[Keevan_Colton]

As for ship vareity in 0.0 space...most people do use battlecruisers and battleships, I've found. This hasn't to do with apparant costs....it has to do with the ships used being so ridiculous. Let me give you an example. I recently fitted a drake to be transported down to our new 0.0 home.

Hell, you can even use assault frigates or interceptors to kill 0.0 rats, and they are even cheaper. And inties in particular are slippery eels, making them perfect for punch trough gatecamps or outrun a hostile gang.
I used a blasteranis to kill Serpentis for quite some time. The added advantage is that it could solo some other player ratting battleships as well (since they rarely fitted a webber and never a warp scrambler).
Hell, one time I nearly solo'd 2 noob battleships at once (the NPC's kept them scrambled so I could warp in and out every time I needed to recover ). Sadly, a third not-so-noob-and-anti-intyfitted-battleship eventually helped them out and blew me to smithereens. Good fun tough, skirmisch took a whole 15 minutes

That's very true, but do you want to risk being too low on the DPS front when that Officer BS spawn suddenly turns up? They can survive the rats just fine, it's also a matter of how fast they can kill them. I've spent a fair bit of time in 0.0 in good old tech 1 cruisers and frigates, the suicide Kestrel and it's bigger cousin the suicide Caracal...even managed to score a few PVP kills with them. A lot of folk obsess over DPS and so on for PvP, but while it's important, just plain being smarter than your opponent counts for a lot more. I've evaded groups of 20 or so hostiles in 0.0 trying to catch me just through being smarter than they are

Just dont get caught in a bottleneck system like that

[Keevan_Colton]

Yeah, the universe itself was really neat. I would have liked it better if there was more interaction on space stations and planets ect rather then everything being menu driven.

Supposedly they're working on actual character avatars the space station interiors you can walk around in. I saw a video of the work so far awhile back and it looked pretty nifty.

Yeah, that seems to be part of what they're getting from the merger with White Wolf.

[Keevan_Colton]

I've had EVE for several months, but I never really had a chance to properly "play" it, because my ship kept going out to sea, so I have scads of skills up to 5 but no real idea how to use them or what they do. Well, that and just level 1 missions but some money cause I mine while I do homework/die horribly in WoW honor grinding in AV.

If you want a hand getting the ropes then just let me or Coaan know and you can kick about in game with us. We're both old hands at it these days and more than happy to help out.

[wautd]

As for ship vareity in 0.0 space...most people do use battlecruisers and battleships, I've found. This hasn't to do with apparant costs....it has to do with the ships used being so ridiculous. Let me give you an example. I recently fitted a drake to be transported down to our new 0.0 home.

tes

That's very true, but do you want to risk being too low on the DPS front when that Officer BS spawn suddenly turns up? )

With my luck? I've only managed to find one officer in years while some corp members seem to have one every month
They're tough indeed, but a blaster fitted taranis can do an ungodly amount of damage for its size, but I'm also doubting for the other inties



Also

Reykjavik, Iceland – November 28, 2007 – CCP, one of the world's
largest independent game developers, today announced that the highly
anticipated EVE Online: Trinity expansion for its popular massively
multiplayer online game (MMOG) will be available on December 5, 2007.
Available as a free online download for all EVE subscribers, Trinity
features a next-generation graphics engine that sets a new aesthetic
standard for online games. This expansion comes on the heels of
another important milestone: more than 200,000 players now subscribe
to EVE Online.

[Coaan]

So if your computer survived the daft typo in the boot ini file for eve's premium content installer, Eve : Trinity is now upon us.

From what I've been able to poke through so far, they appear to have added alot of functionality for various different parts of the game, as well as adding different ships (tech 2 battleships finally, amongst others) and a whole bundle of stuff.

The new graphics content...well..

All I can say is it's gorgeous. It kills my FPS to run it, but it's gorgeous.

I haven't really gotten around to the new ships yet though, my skills are rather lacking to fly them unfortunatly.

Dev fuckups aside, it's looking great so far.