Snow is falling and with it the EVE landscape is starting to look a lot different. After some expected initial "technoculties" following the new expansion, EVE now has more game content and more players than ever before. So read on to learn about what has been happening and what will be happening.
Online version can be found at: http://www.eveonline.com/community/newsletters/vol004.html

On 24th of November, EVE Online: EXODUS, previously codenamed Shiva, landed on Tranquility with a big bang. This is our largest release to date and during its deployment volcanoes started erupting in Iceland, giving some indication of the size and impact of the expansion. EVE Online: EXODUS marks the beginning of a new chapter in EVE, and is packed with new features and improvements.

The most noticeable new features are Starbases which allow for tactical outposts, deep space refining and moon harvesting for Tech Level 2 materials.

We also added our own space version of classic “dungeons”, named after the natural phenomena in which they reside, Deadspace. Inside Deadspace no warp drive can operate, creating strategic isolations points were massive Complexes have arisen that are now prey to the pilots of EVE. Also new are level 4 Agents and an agent loyalty system which rewards you with unique factional ships and named items only available to the agents faction or corporation. Various User Interface improvements and changes, in addition to performance enhancements and three entirely new ship classes, the Mining Barges, Destroyers and Battlecruisers!



The EVE Online web site has received a face lift, a tummy tuck, and a chinbone implant. The overall design has been changed, menus have been shortened and reorganized, and pages placed in the more appropriate categories than before.

New sections have also been opened up:
» Alliance pages
» Item database
» Player Guide



The new Player Guide is now available on our web site in HTML format. This will allow us to keep this document live and make changes easily and add new chapters. So dive in and take a look. We hope this will make it much easier to start your live in EVE.

A special thank you to the many players, volunteers and CCP staff that supplied either text or their time to make this guide a reality.

No doubt thanks to Hellmar´s feverish praying for his beloved SETI program, a small wormhole opened up in his office, dispensing a small stash of Quafe from a Gallentean warehouse twenty thousand years in the future. We could have gotten more, but had to focus our efforts on dragging the kicking and screaming Oveur away from the wormhole. Get this limited edition Quafe in the EVE Store now.



The first chapter of Ruthless, an EVE Online novella has been released. This six-chapter story tells the tale of Otro Gariushi, current CEO of the powerful Caldari corporation Ishukone. The illustrated novella will be published one chapter at a time over the course of six weeks.

Join young Otro on the cold streets of the ice planet C8-CHY VII as fate catapults him into a life of crime and piracy. How could a seemingly helpless boy in a remote mining outpost become a major driving force in the Caldari economy and one of the most influential leaders of current times?

» Download chapter one of the novella





With thousands of players already signed up through their respective corporations, the Gallente presidential elections promise to become a spectacle the Federation can be proud of. In the coming weeks, players will be able to complete missions for their chosen presidential candidate, amassing prestige for their corporation. The winning corporations will then get to nominate one of their members as a candidate emissary, as well as reaping great rewards for their success. Player's actions can matter much as the future course of the Federation depends in who the winner is.

» Would you like to know more?





In recognition of the changed landscape brought on by recent CONCORD legislation in addition to terrorist acts at certain qualifiers, the Caldari State has been biding its time with the announcement of the much-hyped COLOSSUS sporting event's final race. Now that the qualifier season is officially over and the spaceways have begun to settle down, it's time to get the show on the road. Each corporation's teams have been filled with daring speed demons ready to vie for glory in the climactic COLOSSUS contest, set to take place at a to-be-announced date in Mid-January.

» Would you like to know more?





Sunday, November 28th at 20:40:00, EVE Online broke the 12,000 simultaneous user barrier when 12.258 players were on at the same time. This record comes at the heels of EVE's latest expansion - EXODUS.

To better support the influx of new and old players following EXODUS, considerable hardware upgrades were done to the Tranquility cluster following EXODUS, these upgrades have now been completed.



 

We all know how fun it is to get your friends into EVE, take them to 0.0 and then POD them. Now you can do that for longer than ever as the Buddy Trial has been extended to full 14-days! Imagine the fun you can have antagonizing your friends for full 2 weeks - Priceless!

That is not all, in January we will start rewarding those that bring in players. Prices will be given out each month for the period of that promotion. For each player you get converted (or have already done so) to a full member of the EVE universe you will get one raffle ticket, so maybe podding them more than once is a not such a hot idea! Prices will be announced later, but they will be pretty darn good.

P.S. We are trying to talk TomB into having the first price a weekend at his home. Imagine waking up, turning around and have him smile right back at you!


As mentioned here above, Quafe has entered the real world. The EVE Store now offers both a single bottle of Quafe and a 12 pack of Quafe. Please note that as these items are shipped from Iceland, the cost of sending increases as the items get heavier.

If you are looking for something light and versatile, then you can't do much better than the EVE HAD

Also new in the EVE Store is the EVE Online: Gallery CD. This is a promotional CD containing the latest version of EVE Online, EVE trailers, EVE screenshots and a no hassle 14 day trial. So look no further for the perfect Christmas gift for your friends ;-). The CD is free of charge. Shipping and handling is $9.95 to anywhere in the world.



EVE Online's first FanFest was held in Reykjavik, Iceland and was a smashing success. Nearly 300 players attended the gathering of players, Devs, GMs and Volunteers from around the world, even coming from South Korea and Australia. The first two days of the FanFest were all about settling in, meeting fellow players, mingling with the Devs informally and, for over 150 of the attendees, seeing Reykjavik for the first time.

Saturday, the FanFest was under full power. Presentations by Hellmar, LeKjart, t0rfi, Oveur and Solaris filled the morning and ended the day with a 60 minute 'live" Dev Chat. Highlights included the release of the the Exodus Trailer, and a proof of concept demonstration of atmospheric flight forthcoming in the expansion code named Kali. Various prizes were awarded in a seat raffle and the player traveling the furthest distance to attend the FanFest received a nice prize package. Another opportunity to mingle with the CCP staff occurred, then it was time to break for dinner. Some of the best was yet to come.

Everyone gathered at Club Felix for the crowning of the Quafe Queen and world release of Quafe. The Fedo Hunt ended with the awarding of more prizes, including one of the pre-production Megathron models. Quafe was poured (and mixed with copious amounts of vodka), Eva Katrin was crowned Quafe Queen (based on the online poll at the EVE Online website) and the FanFest spilled out into the streets and spread across Reykjavik when Felix closed for the evening.

Sunday was the day of post-party recovery and departure. All the attendees started their journeys home with expectations of the next FanFest. What will CCP do for FanFest 2005? If you have comments or suggestions, please send them to FanFest2005@ccpgames.com.




The Interstellar Services Department is a group of dedicated pilots that work with the development team assisting the population of EVE with Bug Hunting, Communications, Events and assisting new pilots in their first missions. ISD is looking for new blood, do you think you are up to the task?

» Send in an application here!