The End of Scarcity Foreseen in EVE Online in Q4 2021

Or should that be Q4 of YC123?

CCP dropped a July Update post on us earlier today.

An update… because July I guess

They don’t do regular monthly updates, so the suspicious part of my mind thinks this is really the “we’re all on vacation in August” update to get us a last up note before the company goes into light hibernation until some time in September.

And much of the update could be categorized as “reminding us about things we already knew.”  There is a lot of self-congratulation about updates so far this year and an insistence that they have been listening to the community… at least over the last few weeks.  As they say, “odd flex” but whatever.

So the post includes a tour of 2021 from Quantum Cores to the return of the Alliance Tournament.  They did get some things done in 2021 so far.

Then there are the two future items.  The first is the releasing of the reserve bank keys, which we’re all pretty sure will be this Tuesday, so file that under “things we already knew” as well I suppose.

And then there is the economy.  This is the news that everybody has been waiting for… and it manages to be at once both exciting and disappointing.

Scarcity firmly ends in Q4 2021

-July Status Update

That’s exciting.  I don’t know if that means October 1st or December 31st, but at least we have a target of sorts at which point CCP plans to ease the economic squeeze they have had the New Eden economy under for over a year.  CCP marks the start of this with the redistribution phase, which is certainly where things kicked in hard, but they had been after mining and ratting with the nerf bat for at least a year before that.

They even have some bullet points as to what they are looking into:

• Increased quantity of all resources across New Eden
• Introduction of moon goo and gas compression
• A balance pass for all mining ships
• Additional specialized holds for gas and ice
• Rework of the industrial index including greater choice over the distribution of resources

That all sounds good, and if you want resources broken out by regions then moon goo and gas compression are essential to make transportation viable, because right now it is a huge pain in the ass.

There is also a mention of ratting in the post, with a pass on anomalies expected:

Later this year will see planned updates for existing Nullsec anomalies, including the addition of capital anomalies. A new high reward Nullsec PvE feature to get capitals back into space to trigger exciting player escalations is also being worked on. As mentioned before, you will get more detail and discussion on these topics as their release draws closer.

Once again, sounds cool in theory.

What this all lacks is any detail.  There is no sense of how far CCP really plans to go in relaxing the restrictions on resource harvesting.  And they haven’t renounced their flawed tenants of economic interdependence.  We’ve been beaten so hard by the scarcity stick that it is tough to trust that things will get much better, and anybody that thinks we’re headed back to the “good old days” is destined for disappointment.

So color me, and probably many others, a bit hesitant to cheer too hard after the long haul of privation.

I am happy that CCP is looking to dial back scarcity and that they’ve actually take a moment to communicate with the player base in a more general fashion, and I certainly hope CCP has a real plan to get capital ships to undock again, because everybody loves blowing them up.  Whether they can walk the line between keeping the economy in check and getting back to expensive ships blowing up is to be determined.

Related:

• CCP – Dev Blog
• CCP – Forum Discussion Thread
• Reddit – Dev Blog Announcement and Comments
• INN – CCP’s 2021 Roadmap!

Friday Bullet Points from a Leading Smoke Exporter

Fires have begun burning on the west coast of the US as predicted, thanks to droughts, record heat, and dry lighting strikes.  But the smoke from the fires, which in past years has settled in on top of the SF Bay Area where I live, has decided that it too wants to travel this summer and has been hazing up sunsets back east.  So while we’re sending out smoke I thought I would cover another set of things that I didn’t want to work up a full post around.

• Blizzard Blows Up

Already foundering for being unable to bring home a win with retail WoW and the 9.1 update, causing many players to head for Final Fantasy XIV, the company took another body blow this week when the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued the Activision Blizzard for creating a hostile work environment.  While Activision got most of the headlines, the complaint is full of examples of how Blizzard specifically let a wide range of egregious behavior go unchecked and failed to respond to complaints.

Singled out in the complaint was Senior Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi, who had been with the company since 2004 and who had left quietly last summer.  He is referenced in WoW in a number of places, including as Field Marshal Afrasiabi out in front of Stormwind.

Welcome to Stormwind baby!

The disturbing nature of the issues detailed in the complaint was topped by the company’s response to the suit.  With the Blitzchung affair they didn’t seem to know what to say, but this time around they lashed out immediately (text at the end of this post) at the state agency, decrying government overreach and complaining about unaccountable State bureaucrats driving companies from the state, very much politically motivated talking points.

Otherwise the company statement claimed that while some of the things detailed may have been true in the past, the company is all better now, everything is fine, and nobody needs to be held accountable for anything.  They want to have it both ways, saying both that the state is wrong and that they’ve fixed everything in any case.  It is usually better if your statements don’t tend to contradict each other.

Any adult that has worked for a big company knows that corporate culture doesn’t change quickly.  It takes a lot of effort, and the word is that the company hasn’t gone there yet.  That references to Afrasiabi remain in the game is a testament to the lack of progress they have made.  And the internet is compiling testimonials about the company’s problems.

Anyway, the Q3 2021 Activision Blizzard financial report ought to be a real charmer after this.  Massively OP, in their coverage, rehashed the litany of problems the company has been facing in recent years.  It ain’t pretty.

• A New World Beta

Amazon’s MMO New World went into what is supposed to be a final, pre-launch beta this week.  I don’t think they’ll yank the game back from the precipice this time around, but you never know.  I have been interested in the game and was in one of the big early NDA protected test runs a couple of years back

Just how new is it at this point?

I liked what I saw back then… it seemed like what H1Z1 ought to have been before they went all-in on battle royale, but I guess John Smedley being at Amazon Games now might explain that.  I did not pre-order, so no beta invite for me, but Bhagpuss seemed happy with how things looked.

The one thing that seems to be dominating the press coverage is a problem where high end video cards seem to be failing in the beta.  We’ll see how that works out.

• EverQuest and the Ghost Collector’s Editions Past

EverQuest pretty much lives on nostalgia, with their retro and special servers keeping a good portion of their players invested in a $15 a month subscription.  But they have to farm the live servers as well, so they get an expansion every year an a cash shop that is always looking for something new to sell.  Now they are trying to farm a bit of nostalgia from the live server players by offering a pack that features items from the collector’s editions of no longer available expansions.

Missed out? Fear not!  But act fast or you WILL MISS OUT!  AGAIN!

For just 7,999 in Daybreak Cash, which is about $80 in real world cash depending on your purchase quantities, a selection of no longer available items can be made available to you.  It is like nostalgia for fear of missing out!

• Path of Exile Expedition

I have something of a checkered past with Path of Exile.  On paper I should enjoy it, and I am always into it when I start out.  But something… network performance, bugs, no knowing what to do next… always seems to stymie me.  But I think about it every time the offer up a new expansion, and one if launching today.

Play the Expedition Expansion Today

This one is interesting in that Grinding Gears Games has decided to try and roll back player gear and power in an attempt to revitalize the feel of the game and to give it an overall more satisfying experience.  But it is always a risky move, taking power away from players.  Destructiod’s headline about the expansion is an illustration of that risk:

Path of Exile is nerfing everything, and players are unhappy

We shall see how it plays out I suppose, but a power reset might be a good time to jump back in.  Maybe? I took a look at the patch notes, which are a freaking book, but can’t tell either way.

A New Monument in Molea

Out in the Khanid region, in the Amdimmah constellation, is the system of Molea.

On the route from Amarr to the null sec regions of Catch and Querious, many capsuleers no doubt pass through the system every day, warping from gate to gate on their journey.

But in the system, at the second planets only moon, there is a POS tower anchored.  Around it are many small secure containers within the sphere of where the force field would be, if the tower was fueled.

You might have to use the right overview setting to see them, but they are there.

Containers revealed

That is the Molea Cemetary.

Each container has an inscription, the name of a fallen capsuleer.

Some inscriptions

Some have fallen in game, others in real life.  If you wish to read them, it is probably easiest just to get on grid with the tower by warping to planet II, moon 1 and doing a minimum range directional scan.

Easier to read in the dscan window

Started by capsuleer Azia Burgi more than a decade back, it is another example of a player initiative that gained a life of its own.  The POS tower became necessary when a game update made it possible for the dead to despawn.  Being within the POS force field radius prevents that, a solution that served for many years.

And then came the Onslaught expansion in November of 2018, which moved the final remaining functions from POS modules to Upwell structures.  The days of the POS, the Player Owned Startbase, seemed numbered and there was talk of giving the troublesome code base a viking funeral.

A concern that came up, back when talk of the end of the POS was being discussed, was what would happen with Molea.  Without the POS tower in place all the markers would eventually disappear.  CCP promised to look into that.  Since then, we had not heard much, though the venerable POS remains in the game, even becoming an aspect of the current war in the southwest of null sec.

Then, earlier this week, CCP unveiled their plan.

After downtime on Tuesday a monument appeared in Molea, the Fallen Capsuleer Memorial.

Anchored below the POS tower, it features three bassalt wings centered on what appears to be a golden cyno beacon.

The new memorial in Molea

A light shines up from the beacon towards the POS tower, illuminating a capsule which features two capsuleers, freed from its embrace, yet still attached, able to gaze out upon the stars with their own eyes.

Atop the memorial

The new memorial has the effect of keeping anything within 200km of it from despawning, so even if the POS tower goes away the containers and their messages will remain floating in space so long as the servers remain up.

Related coverage:

• CCP Announcement
• EVE Travel  (An early look at the capsuleer cemetery)
• INN
• EVEOGANDA
• PC Gamer
• A Missioneer in EVE

Faction Fortizar Throw Down in Sujarento

At least my efforts in moving that Naglfar across New Eden were rewarded.

Liberty Squad deployed north over the weekend, and after the structure shoots in Tribute our FCs were clearly looking for some blood.  From the moment we arrived at our new staging in Frarie we were out trying to provoke a fight with Snuffed Out and their local allies.

It started with some reinforcement timers in Frarie.  We have citadels there and so do they.  But when, on Sunday evening they declined to show up for one of them after we had formed, Thomas Lear and Cainun led us out to Sujarento, about 8 gates away, to reinforce a faction Fortizar owned by one of Snuff’s allies Pen Is Out.

They gunned the Fortizar for that, which made it a busy time for our logi wing as our Abaddon fleet set the first timer.

Hanging around the Fortizar

With the timer set to come out in less than 24 hours we had effectively scheduled the next big op, all while only losing a single Augoror.  Of course, then we lost five Abaddons on the way home because the locals formed a small fleet to catch stragglers and we apparently cannot all align.  You cannot spell “Abaddon” without “bad” I guess.

You don’t tell me where to align!

Anyway, the blood lust was on us.  Pings went out to get people on.  We were going to take this fight.  And, the next evening, at 23:00 UTC, we were piling into fleet while it was reported that the Snuff and allies had about 200 people logged into their staging system.

Low sec still has local.

Once we got a pile of Abaddons together, along with some Leshaks, Cainun had us undock.  The call was for battleships ahead of logi, so I left my filthy Guardian in the hangar and went with the fat boys.  I trained up lasers ages ago so I like to use them when I get the chance.  So pretty.

An Abaddon blob undocking

We had battleships together, which were bridged in a group to the target, and dread alts on standby, logged in, in the fleet, and insurance windows open, ready to go if the fight escalated as we expected it might.

When we arrived we aligned to the target, which had already begun its 15 minute repair cycle.

The Pen Is Out Fortizar

Snuff had a Machariel fleet waiting for us, which was what we had hoped to get stuck into.  We got on grid… maybe a little too close, since we the station PDS was hitting us… and the Leshaks began hitting the Fortizar while the Abaddons began engaging the Machs.  That was a fairly busy time, especially for our logi wing again.  But even in the Abaddons there was much to do, including capacitor management.  The fit isn’t cap stable and when the station is throwing void bombs at you that drain your cap… cap you need to fire the guns and keep your hardeners going… you spend some time feeding in cap boosters and turning things on and off just to get another shot in.

We were exchanging when my turn came up to be primary.  Logi was busy so many of us were letting our armor sit unrepaired until it got critical, so when I saw the yellow boxes light up on my overview it seemed unlikely that I would get enough reps in time.

Sure enough, my ship exploded.

I was floating around in my pod, nobody had time for me at the moment, when Snuff began jumping dreadnoughts into the fight.  As soon as that happened Thomas called for our dreads to insure and undock.  I swapped windows, dragging my main over to the second monitor and my alt onto the main, and undocked the Naglfar.  We jumped into the fight, sieged up, and began hitting targets.

I think was the third time I had used a dread in combat, which pretty much means I had little idea what I needed to do beyond going into siege and shooting the broadcasts… and hitting the emergency hull energized when I became primary.

You know how this ends… Fortizar visible in the background

By the time my number came up Snuff had dropped titans on us.  I lasted long enough that I had a titan on my kill mail.  That might be another first for me.  The hull energizer kept me alive for a little bit longer, which may have saved somebody else as people had to keep shooting me for a bit.

After that I was sitting around in system in two pods.  At that point I realized that my main actually had implants and that maybe I shouldn’t let him just sit around.  I gated him safely home to our staging.

My alt was implant free however, so he stuck around on grid taking screen shots of the unfolding fight, some of which I put in a gallery at the end of the post.

Once the titans were on grid the battle was decided.  Dreadnoughts were as far as we could escalate, so after a few more targets people who could jump out did.

By any reasonable measure, we lost the fight.  We failed the objective, lost more ships, lost more in ISK value.  But it was the battle we had been aching for.  I, for one, had been dragging that Naglfar around with me since March waiting to drop it into a desperate fight.

I tried to do a battle report, but as I always say, low sec is strange.  Low sec groups can be as clannish as any null sec coalition, so it is difficult to tell who was there with Snuff and who was just there, so I sorted the header into Imperium and everybody else.

Battle Report Header – Click to Make Legible

That was a lot of people in system during the fight.  Enough to help make Sujarento the most violent system in the last 24 hours per DOTLAN.

Most Violent Winner of the Night

And lest you wonder, the vast majority of that violence occurred during a pretty tight time frame.

That peak, that is us

However, despite the pile up of players in system over a short duration, there was no time dilation invoked that I saw.  Maybe somebody had the foresight to reinforce the system.  There have been times in low sec where just gating a group of 60 ships have brought tidi into play.

Anyway, we have introduced ourselves to the locals by throwing them a nice party.  We’ll see how things develop from there.

Related Items

• Cainun’s AAR on Reddit
• Gallery of screen shots from the battle

Selected screen shots from my pod.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Aquatic Update Issues in Minecraft

The Minecraft Aquatic update finally hit the shores of the Minecraft Java Edition late last week, and I was ready to dive in.

Minecraft under the sea

As I noted in my post about the update, I was able to quickly run out and find some kelp and a sea turtle or two.  But what I really wanted was to mount an expedition to a distant shore in order to find fresh waters… because newly spawned waters are the only place where you can find the stuff that came with the update.

I needed to travel to get to a promising location, so I got on board a mine cart and started rolling around the great rail loop.  It was there I started running into problems.  As I rolled on down the line the cart would occasionally stop and the game would freeze and eventually I would get kicked out of the game with a time out error.

Then I wouldn’t be able to log into the game for a while.

When I could log in, I would be close to where I timed out.  So I would start my journey again, only to hit the same problem a little further down the line.

I figured Minecraft Realms was having an issue, overloaded servers or what not… and that might well have been the case… so I went away for a while.  When I got back later I was able to ride the rails without a problem and ended up at the dock I was looking for.

Sailing out I found myself in one of the two new ocean biomes, a cold ocean.

I wanted a warm ocean, where coral grows, but you get what you can find.  And a cold ocean has its charms I suppose, including ice floes and polar bears.

Polar bear as I row by

While I was denied coral I did find a shipwreck.

Shipwreck in shallow water

Shipwrecks have chests in them, including one map chest per wreck.  In turn the map chest contains a buried treasure map.  I was happy to have stumbled upon one of those so quickly.

Looking for buried treasure close by

You can also get them from cartographers, but it was nice to find one while I was out and about.  Of course, I’m not sure I get how they work yet.  I went to the X and dug a 6×6 grid all the way down to bedrock and didn’t find anything.

Happy with my immediate find and having setup a little camp, I decided I needed to go back to the mainland for supplies.  Among other things, my diamond pick needed repair.

Sailing back however turned out to be a problem.  I would sail up to the edge of a chunk and it wouldn’t load.  I would appear to be in danger of sailing off the edge of the world.

Living on the edge

Then, as had happened earlier with my rail journey, the game would kick me with a time out error.  When I could log back in I would be back a ways from my last position.  Attempting to move forward would just result in the same problem, and sailing off the edge didn’t help anything.

I knew this would end badly

But if I went back to my camp I could hang around and do things without issue.  So I started looking around for problems with the 1.13 update and Minecraft Realms.

Over on Reddit I found a FAQ about the update, including a section about server problems.

One of the things the update did was change the file system for worlds.  When old worlds get launched by the 1.13 server they are not fully converted, they are just changed enough so that they will run.  Instead, each chunk is converted to the new file format as it loads for the first time.  This, of course, taxes the server.  And in our old, complicated, over-build in places world, the conversion seemed to be bogging down while trying to update on the fly.

This might indeed have been a Minecraft Realms problem as lots of old worlds were eating up processor cycles converting on the fly.

But there seemed to be an answer.  You can use with Minecraft client to force a world update across all chunks.  You can do that on the server as well with an admin command, but I was afraid that Realms was having problems and this might make everything worse.  So I downloaded a copy of our world, then opened up Single Player and found the save on the list.

Choose the World

From there I selected “Edit,” which gives you a list of options.

Some choices…

The one I wanted was “Optimize World,” which would update the whole world to the new file format.  Selecting that warns you about making a backup.

Choose wisely

I felt I knew what I was doing… after all, I could just download another backup and start over… so I chose “I know what I’m doing!” and off we went.

After that not much happened and then I got an error about the client having run out of memory.  I hadn’t restarted it or anything after numerous crashes, so quit the client and started over again.  This time things moved along.  It started to convert.

Commence!

Actually, it just sat there for a while at 3 skipped chunks and I thought maybe it was going to die again.  Our world is pretty big and, as noted, complex after a few years of building.

Eventually it kicked off and started its run.  With almost 600K chunks to go, and with things starting off so slowly, I thought this might be an over night operation.  I told Panadar, who had been seeing similar problems, to check in the morning to see if things went okay.

But once it started going it plowed on through the chunks, converting the whole batch in about an hour.

Almost done about an hour later

The time stamp on the screen shots show it started at 9:09pm and finished up at about 10:16pm.  Not the way I planned to spend my Saturday night, but you do what you need to do.

I was a bit worried about the “Skipped chunks” for a while, having had problems with corrupted chunks back in the day, but then I decided that those were probably chunks that had already been converted as Panadar and I moved around the world after the update.

Then came the long bit, uploading the world back to Minecraft Realms.  That was the all night part of the venture, but when I got up in the morning it was complete.

I logged in and slowly rowed back the way I came, watching chunks slowly load before me.  I hit the shore I had been aiming for and moved along it until I found the dock from which I had departed.  Tentatively it looked like the problem had been solved.

Along the mesa biome from which I had started

Back to exploring.  I still need to find a warm ocean.

We shall see if the file new file system improves performance.  Size wise it made our world a little bit bigger, going from 2.83GB to 3.27GB. And, of course, my map mapping utility is probably dead for now with the new format.