Well, my earlier predictions haven’t faired entirely well, though the game hasn’t ended yet (so to speak). The next expansion actually has the title “Dominion“, rather than “Burning Life”. As of yet, the expansion site itself doesn’t have anything beyond links to the Butterfly Effect video and the main site, plus an existing picture of the Orca.
It offers a complete overhaul of the current sovereignty mechanics… In addition, we’ll be adding some new epic arcs for pirate factions, offering the first iteration of the integrated social networking platform known as COSMOS, setting our artists free to rebeautify planets and more.
I definitely hope they fix the astronomical data on the planets (gravity, surface temperature, etc.) when they implement the new models and textures for these, by the way. It really grates on my nerves that they generated all that data, and it has no connection whatsoever to reality. Inhabited worlds with 0.06 Gs of gravity and surface temperatures of 26 Kelvin? I don’t think so.
Then CCP Fallout pointed us to a story on IGN about what CCP had to say at PAX 09:
According to [CCP Hammerhead], they are simplifying the way in which you claim space and attack people, and they are also letting alliances upgrade their space and invest in it…
Along with that, they are rebalancing the power of ships, making adjustments so that no one type of ship will be heavily favored. It’s always been thought that the outcome of a battle was more or less settled with the presence of a Titan capital ship, the largest ship in the game, as its doomsday weapon could potentially wipe out an entire fleet. However, in the expansion this weapon is being changed from an area-effect to a single-target one. On the other end of the spectrum, they are introducing fighter-bombers, small ships much like the current fighters but which can destroy capital ships. Also in the pipeline are so-called “speedboat missions” for smaller ships, as most of the existing PvE missions tend to focus on the larger battleships.
The article also mentions some tutorial and other New Player Experience upgrades, to include PVP and exploration! I’d heard about the latter but not the former, so this will hopefully steer people away from just jumping into mission running and mining as they begin their capsuleer career.
I don’t have much to say right now about the Titan changes, as I don’t have anything resembling expertise in that area. I have some interest in the fighter-bombers, though. Hopefully, this means a new tiny ship class for pilots, not just an extra-large drone type for carriers and motherships. I’ve long wanted to jump into, say, a tiny Einherji, maybe even deployed directly from another player’s ship! Balanced properly, this sort of ship could really provide a lot of fun for small-gang warfare.
The mission changes sound good, too. Up until now, mission runners basically just train up to Battleships, and maybe eventually Marauders or Command Ships, and mindlessly grind out missions in their Caldari Navy Raven or Dominix. I hope this means more level 4 missions designed specifically for assault frigates and heavy assault cruisers, where pilots actually have to fly instead of “grab aggro, activate tank, deploy drones, and go brew some coffee.” If they just implement more and more level 1 and 2 missions, they’ll disappoint a lot of pilots.
Also, last week CCP Ytterbium started a thread about their first set of factional ship changes. Right now, they’ve only given us substantial data on empire navy ships (Amarr, Gallente, Caldari, and Minmatar).
For the faction frigates, “we plan to turn them into an hybrid of interceptors and Assault frigate classes” (sic). They also will perform a balance pass on the existing navy tier 2 battleships (Apocalypse, Raven, Megathron, and Tempest), plus add navy tier 1 battleships (Armageddon, Scorpion, Dominix, and Typhoon). Lots of players have given lots of detailed feedback, particlarly about the Fleet Tempest, and CCP has indicated their willingness to listen and tweak. Later this week, I hope to delve into the frigate changes in more depth, if time and other events permit.
Hopefully, fleet cruisers will also get a pass, and they’ve strongly hinted about pirate factions, too. Perhaps some of my remaining predictions about the winter expansion will come to pass, after all.
Image credits bpw via Flickr and Bird of Prey.
