The one constant in EVE Online is that things are always changing, but sometimes it’s not always clear why things are changing. In a recent dev blog, CCP Games hopes to shed some light on the intentions of changes being made in the interest of balancing the ecosystem of the sandbox.
For the most part, this balancing act is being done in order to achieve three goals: increasing veteran engagement, improving economic health and opportunity, and severely impacting cheating. Ultimately, the ecosystem of EVE has received some middle to low grades in terms of balance and progression, industry, and cheating, but CCP also figures that all three fronts are improving.
What’s next in order to keep things moving forward? According to some tables posted in the dev blog, a long-term roadmap is laid out which involves balancing risk and reward with payout adjustments to certain PvE activities and some element of risk or commitment to certain outlier activities, addressing the proliferation and survivability of capital and supercapital ships, and continued work on ship and module balance as well as new ships, modules, and capabilities.
On the economic front, the devs have finally shed a bit more light on the purpose of resource distribution efforts like basic mineral starvation for moon mining and null sec ore removal. By CCP’s reckoning, the current economy is unsustainable, with income levels being far too high for what is considered a healthy state. To counter-balance this, EVE Online will be undergoing a restructuring in three phases. The first is the current phase of shortage, with phase two involving redistribution to identify the limits of a healthy range, and phase three adding a dynamic distribution system that adjust rewards and distribution on the fly.
Finally, the devs take a moment to talk about anti-cheating measures, with continued focus on botting and another pat on the back for both its cheating task force and for players who filed reports of suspected botting activity. Once again, CCP Games is stating a commitment to keep cheaters of all stripes at bay.
