You wouldn’t routinely consider checking a weather report for flying in space, but EVE Online players should probably consider doing precisely that when Metaliminal Storms arrive to the space sandbox, which are described as “chaotic storms of abyssal energy” that will “move around nullsec space slowly like hurricanes.”
The eye of these storms will always originate in nullsec space, but the outer bands can reach out to lowsec or even highsec space depending on where a storm spawns. These storms will move at a cadence between 24 and 48 hours, with a random walk algorithm that should prevent it from circling back on its previous trajectory unless there are no other movement options, meaning that players should be able to roughly predict where a storm is going. This also could mean that players will get to be space meteorologists, in case anyone was hungry for that in-game profession. You can have that idea for free, Capsuleers, though you probably already thought of it.
The effects of these storms will be similar to those found in wormhole space and abyssal deadspace, with the impacts getting stronger the closer players move to the storm center. For those who would fly into a swirling vortex of abyssal energy, there will be additional spawn sites for players to venture into to reap rewards. CCP Games is planning on having eight storms roaming around nullsec at once: two each from four storm “types,” with plans to adjust the number of storms and cycle out and add in new storm types to keep things fresh.
Metaliminal storms are expected to start appearing at some point next month and arrive to the test server soon. More details on these storms and their effects are outlined in the announcement post.
