Yesterday CCP rolled a stick of dynamite into the crowd and we all got a chance to watch it explode. The long anticipated first round of changes arrived with a DevBlog from CCP Greyscale and BOOM CHAKKA BOOM!!
After essentially lying dormant for the past few years post-Incarna CCP finally exposed the beginnings of what is going to be significant changes to the "way-things-have-been" and have shaken the ant farm up a little bit. As you can imagine, this has not gone over well with the louder elements of New Eden. Especially those that have exploited the failings inherent within the established system for years. Those people are very mad bro.
If this heralds a return to a more pre-Incarna CCP then I for one welcome the return of our Overlords. While I've appreciated Tiericide and Small Changes and UI improvements and new ship skins and star flares and cloaking effects, it is also incredibly important for Eve to sometimes take giant leaps forward... or, at the very least, a big step in one direction or another. This is something that vital, growing, important and engaging games must do to stay relevant.
The great thing about Eve has always been an often overlooked fact of single shard, shared universes - rules apply to everyone. If your Dread fleet can't jump across the universe in five minutes, neither can the other guys. We all live under the same roof in this house and we all have to play by the same rules. It is a lesson the Wormhole players learned recently after getting so upset when it was their turn to eat the change bullet. As my WH guys said yesterday, we learned, we adapted, and we moved on. HTFU, it used to be Eve's un-official motto.
Having said all of that I'd also be the last person to tell anyone to just take and accept everything that CCP gives us. If you've followed this blog for any length of time you should know better. And there are things within the Dev Blog that concern me. And that we shall have to keep a close eye on as hopefully more and more details emerge. For one thing, I'm not sure the new fatigue system is the most elegant solution to a complex problem - not to mention yet another timer - but it does seem to achieve a certain objective.
After months and years of whining and complaining about Force Projection and Cap Proliferation ruining the Null experience - it shouldn't come as a surprise. CCP was, for all intents and purposes, obligated to make drastic changes to a region that has become rather bland, boring, predictable, and carebeary. If anything, those that have been willingly and knowingly exploiting that system for the past few years have no one to blame but themselves. Those of you that chose the easy way, that joined the herd for the sake of monetary convenience and safety - will get no sympathy from me. Those of us who have sat on the sidelines of Null have watched as one after another power-bloc gave up and gave in to the powers that be. CCP didn't do that, you did.
Personally I hope this is only the opening salvo in a long and determined string of changes aimed squarely at shaking up the status quo. And from all indications it is.
For those of us in Low Sec, WOOT! The proposed changes actually make me excited for a wide variety of reasons. Carriers using Gates? Doomsday in Low? Heck yeah, bring it on.
Suddenly Eve feels vital once again. This reminds me of the heady days leading up to Dominion and the hand-wringing that led up to the changes in Sov that have directly led us to this day. As Eve players we should know better than anyone how to adapt, learn and exploit any new system of rules that CCP throws at us. I for one look forward to figuring out what this all means, how to take advantage of it, and then how to explode all the other people trying to figure it all out.
This is good for Eve. This is good for us. Keep shaking CCP and watch as we scurry about rebuilding.
HTFU. Oh yeah.
PS: Let's all be honest with ourselves here, these changes alone are going to do nothing to break up Null, or fix the issues that Null may or may not have (depending on your perspective). They are an interesting first step and anyone who is rage-quitting over this is welcome to do so. How easy are you? Changes are coming!?!?? I friggin' quit man! Sheesh. What a pussy.