The Wizards of Technology

Recently you may have experienced some issues with client latency and response times, particularly in fleet fights. As we take this issue very seriously our engineering team has been in high-gear working on fixing the problem and we think we are close, but we need your help.

We have a few potential changes that we think will fix the problem, but we want to put these changes through a few proper fleet fights to see which one works best. To that end we will be running a series of fleet fights on our main test server, Singularity. These tests are already under way, but the more people who show up, the better. We need at least 50 pilots, preferably 200+.

Test schedule (this week):

• Wednesday - 11:00 GMT
• Wednesday - 15:00 GMT
• Thursday - 11:00 GMT
• Thursday - 15:00 GMT (Pending results of other tests)

If you want to help us by joining, please do the following:

1. Make a copy of the current Tranquility (TQ) client.
2. Visit the Singularity patch page.
3. Patch the copied client to the Singularity build.
4. Login to the singularity test server.
5. Join the in-game channel "TanisFleet".
6. Fit yourself with a battleship, close range setup with drones and use weapon grouping.
7. Listen for instructions and ask questions in-channel. 

Please check this forum thread for updates and discussions regarding the testing.

To address performance issues in EVE we are making some changes to the EVE Mail system in Quantum Rise 1.0.1. You will now be able to fetch up to 1000 undeleted EVE Mails, however, EVE Mail number 1001 and beyond will not be fetched, whether it has been read or not. To gain access to those EVE Mails, you must delete newer EVE mails. In addition to this all EVE Mails sent by NPCs that are older than 3 months will be deleted.

Please post your feedback in this forum thread.

The Buddy Program has been updated with new incentives for all parties involved. Players can now invite friends to EVE for an extended 21-day Trial, and for each trial user that becomes a subscriber, the person that invited them will get an extra 30 days of game time added to their account. Invite form and detailed information can be found on the Buddy Program page in Account Management.

  » Each Active Subscription Account (trial accounts do not qualify for this promotion) can send Buddy Program invites.
  » Only accounts created through this emailed invite are valid for this offer. Be sure your friends use the invite to create their account in order for you to earn your game time when they subscribe to EVE Online.
  » Eligible subscription activations can be funded by any payment method except EVE Time Codes.
  » Trial accounts must subscribe within one week following the trial expiration to qualify for the promotion.
  » Please note that once your friend purchases an EVE Online subscription, your 30 free days may take up to 24 hours to be applied.
  » Buddies must activate their 21-day trial no later than December 1st.
  » Buddies must purchase a subscription to EVE online within 7 days of their trial expiring, in order for your free 30 days to be awarded.

Offer valid until December 1st. Don't miss out!

Through the tireless work of our video crew, we are able to bring you the major events from Fanfest 2008. We've sifted through over 30 hours of raw video and have been adding them here.

The Teaser video captures the spirit our players brought to the event.

The World Domination keynote is not to be missed--the focal point of all major EVE announcements.

The CCP Panel is back again, braving unedited player questions from the crowd.

The ever popular EVE Quiz Show pits dev versus dev

The Cutting Edge talk outlines some of our future graphics and tools from, yes, the "cutting edge" of gaming.

The Alliance Panel brings the movers and shakers of the EVE playerbase front and center.

Enjoy!

We are extremely pleased to announce that Audiosurf is featuring EVE Online's excellent soundtrack on Audiosurf radio this week. Audiosurf is a music game where you can "ride your music."

We recently featured Audiosurf during our infamous Quiz Show segment of Fanfest 2008. You can watch the videos by clicking one of the links below:

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here. -->

More excellent Fanfest videos can be viewed here.

There is currently a phishing email circulating that claims to be sent from EVE Customer Support. This email claims that we had a database issue and lost some customer information and it asks you to login to make sure your information is still there. They conveniently provide their very own login link. This is of course not true; we have not lost any account information.

We'd also like to add that our knowledge when it comes to English grammar and spelling is far better than what is in the phishing email.

The play's the thing, or rather: a Starkmanir, a Nefantar and a Thukker walk into a bar. All joking aside, three formerly lost Minmatar tribes have returned to the fold while war wages in New Eden. As refugees, the tribesmen spend their time in a myriad of stations waiting to be reintegrated into the republic. "Beasts of the Field," Abraxas' newest Chronicle in play form, takes us to some unnamed bar in some unnamed Minmatar mining colony, where we listen in to three refugees as they discuss their past and their futures.

This is a new EVE Chronicle. They are short-stories written by CCP Abraxas, published every other Monday, and intended to examine the various aspects of life in New Eden. The entire list is contained here.

You may discuss the new Chronicle here.

The EVE Online: Quantum Rise patch will be deployed this Tuesday, 11th November. Tranquility will be down from 02.00 to 02.00 GMT. The downtime will affect the forums which will be unavailable for part of the time.

Quantum Rise consists of hundreds of fixes and changes to all aspects of the game and it also includes new content, changes to speed, Certificates and Medals and much more.

Expansion notes are now available. Patch Notes and all changes are also currently deployed on Singularity. Updates to the notes may be added should any further items be cleared through the Quality Assurance process. These updates will be highlighted with green text.

Expansion discussion may be found in this forum thread.

On 10 November 2008 between the hours of 0100 and 0800 GMT our account services will be down for scheduled maintenance. During this period, credit card transactions cannot be authorized. We apologize for the inconvenience.

For those pilots who are unable to warp to Fanfest this year, we are pleased to announce that we will broadcast t0rfifrans's and Oveur's keynote addresses live in-game. Those of you who would like to listen in should join the "Live Dev Blog" in-game channel on Saturday, 8 November 2008 at 15:00 GMT.

See you there!

On the heels of Oveur's recent (and epic) blog post, we're pleased to announce that Quantum Rise, the 9th free expansion for EVE Online,  will be coming your way on Nov. 11th. The press release is available here.

You can learn more about EVE Online: Quantum Rise by visiting the feature page.

Feel free to discuss our newest expansion in our forums here.

With EVE Fanfest 2008 approaching we decided to let you ask the Fanfest organizers some questions. Murinae and Krisnitori will join us this evening and Whisper will be asking them your Fanfest related questions. This event will take place on Thursday, 30th October, in the in-game channel "Live Dev Blog". It starts at 20:00 GMT and lasts for about one hour.

To ask your questions, head over to this forum thread and post them!

Update: We have resolved the network issues outlined below and apologize for any inconveniences experienced during this time.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the issues tonight, we had problems with our core switch causing network communication issues which we have worked around and Tranquility is now up and running. We have experts looking into the problem to find a solution and meanwhile we are monitoring the server around the clock. Once the experts have found a solution we will inform everyone on exactly what happened, what the problem was and the resolution to these problems through a dev blog or a similar venue.

A week ago we announced some fantastic limited-time offers from Icelandair for those still looking to book their flights to FanFest 2008. Several of those offers have been extended until the end of the month, so we wanted to give our fans another heads up on some of the great deals still available. The locations listed below all have promotions that have been extended to the 31st of October.

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Denmark
• Norway
• Holland

Remember that this year's FanFest will have all the great events of previous years, plus an exclusive hands-on presentation of Walking in Stations. Time is running out to get in on the fun, so jump on these great deals fast!

What is a formerly deposed leader to do? Once a well-hated ruler whose people revolted against him, Articio Kor-Azor, heir to the throne of the Amarr Empire, is once again in power. A little wiser and a lot more caring, Kor-Azor is faced with a planet on the verge of rebellion. Will he show himself to be a capable ruler, or will his inner demons come to the fore?

This is a new EVE Chronicle. They are short-stories written by CCP Abraxas, published every other Monday, and intended to examine the various aspects of life in New Eden. The entire list is contained here.

You may discuss the new Chronicle here.

As we announced in a Dev Blog a while ago, we planned a forum revamp with the goal of making communication easier. This revamp included merging some forums, creating some new forums and removing other forums. Today those changes have been carried out with the exception of the EVE Technology Lab which will remain although the original purpose have changed to player created tools, applications and the EVE API.

It may take some time for some of the changes to take effect and due to some changes it may be a bit confusing at first. If you had a thread that has disappeared due to these changes, for example if the forum no longer exists, please contact us by creating a petition in the Other Issues - Forums category. Please include a direct link to the thread in question if you have one, otherwise you have to include as much information about the thread as possible to help us find it. The name of the forum, the name of the thread and anything else you can remember would be very helpful.

It's time for another Live Dev Blog and this time we're introducing CCP t0rfifrans. CCP t0rfifrans started as Lead 3D Artist but is now the Senior Producer for EVE Online and will answerall your EVE related questions and as always the Live Dev Blog will be hosted by Mindstar. This event will take place on Thursday, 23rd October, in the in-game channel "Live Dev Blog". It starts at 20:00 GMT and lasts for about one hour.

To ask your questions, head over to this forum thread and post them!

Update: Unfortunately we just heard that CCP t0rfifrans is unable to make it for this Live Dev Blog. CCP Zulupark, Associate Producer and Content Director, will take his place. As CCP Zulupark reports directly to CCP t0rfifrans he will be able to answer all your questions just as well.

The EVE Online: Empyrean Age 1.1.2  for the Mac will be deployed this Tuesday, 21 October during the normal Tranquility downtime.

Patch Notes are available for review and the update will resolve issues affecting graphics, keyboard layouts, patching and stability amongst other things.

This patch will only affect Mac users and no additional downtime will be required. Mac users will be asked to update their version when they launch the EVE client again after downtime. Please note that this patch does not affect Windows or Linux users in any way.

Patch discussion may be found in this forum thread

Three years ago this week Jumpplanner, a wonderful tool designed to help capsuleers in their massive capital-class ships plot their jumps, was launched. In honor of Jumpplanner's anniversary, ICSC has announced the Jumpplanner Anniversary Giveaway.

Entering is quite simple. Either register a new account on the site, or log into your existing account. Doing so between 18 October and 1 November 2008 will automatically register you for the drawing. Prizes include game time, the EVE: The Empyrean Age novel, a t-shirt, and a mouse pad.

To learn more about the giveaway, point your browsers here.

If you're thinking about heading to FanFest but haven't made travel arrangements yet, an interesting silver lining on the cloud of recent events may just work in your favor. According to this CNN report, the combination of the Icelandic Tourist Board working to attract tourists and the current drop in the price of the Krona has made the island a very affordable vacation spot. Be sure to visit the IcelandAir website for more information on the limited time packages being offered.