Greetings,

We are conducting a mass test on the Singularity test server on Tuesday, 19 May at 17:00 UTC.

After polishing, we will once again test the new graphical update to the travel system with a focus on any gameplay implications it may have.

The test participants should pay attention to how the jump effects look and feel, and how readable the game information is for the tunnels. The team is on the lookout for any exceptions or tech issues that haven’t evidenced themselves during in house testing (bug reports from in-client most appreciated). We are also interested in gathering feedback in many areas, such as:

• Smoothness and timing of jump sequences
  
• Awareness of difference of tunnel types (e.g., Location, Security Level, Travel Method)
  
• Tunnel lighting and brightness
  
• Lightning brightness and intensity
  
• Queasiness or discomfort from using the tunnels
  
• Technical concerns (performance, camera edge cases, driver issues, crashes, etc.)

We would appreciate a variety of ship classes and sizes to be brought to the test, since the camera is repositioned by data inferred from the hull. Feedback can be provided in the official thread on EVE Online forums.

Accessing Singularity is very easy! All you need to do is change the server from Tranquility to Singularity in the bottom right corner of the launcher and log in as normal. More detailed instructions are available here (English only).

A new feature has come to EVE Portal, the official EVE Online companion app. Exclusively for players in Omega Clone state, the Jita PLEX Market will enable you to trade PLEX anytime and anywhere, directly from your mobile device via the EVE Portal app.

The Jita PLEX Market gives you the ability to trade PLEX for ISK and vice versa. All transactions go through the Jita 4-4 market where players can browse and create PLEX sell & buy orders. In addition, you can browse and modify/cancel outstanding PLEX orders and browse your PLEX transaction history.

The EVE Portal app is available for free for Android and iOS devices.

Dear EVE Online community,

17 years ago on the 6th of May 2003, a universe was born. I remember this day very well despite weeks of sleep deprivation. It was a bit of an unassuming moment after the armageddon that was the end of the open beta. At 17 years of age, if EVE was a teenager in Iceland we´d be celebrating it having achieved its pilot’s license! A remarkable occasion in so many ways, and my deepest congratulations and thanks to the millions of players and thousands of CCP Employees that have continued propelling EVE to new heights with each year that passes!

Just over a month ago, during the month of my 20th anniversary working for CCP, I wrote to you about the start of a new edition of the PLEX for GOOD program and gave you an update on CCP.

To celebrate EVE’s birthday, I wanted to give you another update on the PLEX For GOOD drive, as well as share more news on EVE and CCP with you.




As you saw in the most recent episode of the Pulse, the President of Iceland addressed EVE players and endorsed the fantastic work you have done so far on the PLEX for GOOD collection for COVID-19. The program will continue to run at least throughout June – this is longer than any other PLEX for GOOD campaign we’ve run in the past, but the nature of the threat is extraordinary. Virtual Masks are making their way into New Eden and will be a reward for everyone who donates. As on so many occasions before, you have exceeded everyone’s expectations – so far we’ve managed to collect over 100,000 USD for the fight against COVID-19! Given the current global economic situation, not everyone has the option to donate. With or without donating, we can all play an important role during these challenging times by following the advice of experts, protecting and thanking our healthcare workers, wearing a mask (when applicable), and flying safe.

We will also be adding another donation option for the overall collection, as it has been a popular request from the community. Donors can specify that their contribution should go to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (CHS) (in the description window when they create a contract). Given the wide and deep scope of the impact we are dealing with, we would love to hear suggestions from the community on a potential 3rd option.



On the topic of exceeding expectations and accomplishing amazing things, it's time to talk about Project Discovery again. The team at Massively Multiplayer Online Science has been our partner in Project Discovery since the beginning. In this amazing citizen science project we have, with you, tackled protein folding to help with the Human Protein Atlas in phase one, searched for exoplanets in phase two, and now we are hoping for phase three to contribute to the fight against COVID-19. We will be releasing more details as they are ironed out. In the meantime, you can join Folding@home like many of us at CCP are doing.




We are seeing both old and new players flock to EVE Online. EVE players have been extremely welcoming towards all the new Capsuleers coming in, and this has never been more important than it is now, with so many people from around the world having to stay physically distant from the rest of the world. Physical distance does not, however, have to mean social isolation, and the way in which Capsuleers have responded in the past weeks is the best birthday present EVE could ever have wished for.

We have also seen the veteran community come together and help each other during these difficult times. Tough times don’t last, tough people do. Use the resilience that you EVE players are renowned for to help the pilots around you.

EVE China re-launched last month and has since been growing in players very quickly. In fact, it has been growing to such a degree that at this pace, the two servers might soon be at a similar size. We’ve also had to make some adjustments as some new player systems on Serenity have been experiencing TiDi!



We have seen an increase in the variety of countries that new players are coming from. This is one of the benefits of scaling up our marketing efforts this year, with new and unexpected sources of players being found. Just imagine all the countries and regions we can bring into our community. Territorial expansion through localization, marketing and support is another aspect of our strategy and it is starting to show results – as can be seen by our entry into the Korean market in November last year.

Regarding the long-term plan for EVE, the vision is to have EVE outlive us all. In order to accomplish that, we are setting EVE up to flourish in its third decade. That means investments in improving the early experience for new players, putting foundational and sometimes challenging work into the EVE ecosystem, investing in the technological infrastructure of EVE and continuously challenging our core with updates, delivered through the new Quadrant plan.



On that note, we are in the middle of the second Quadrant, Eclipse, and planning for Quadrant 3 is well underway. The Quadrant system has given us a solid framework to increase the speed of our releases and make sure that there is always something new happening in New Eden. The Invasion trilogy that started last year, both in New Eden when the Triglavians invaded known space, and when CCP invaded 9 cities in 9 countries in 9 months, will see the beginning of the end starting in May when the first part of Chapter 3 goes live.

The war on botting continues and has never been more decisive. We are hitting botters hard as ISK from suspected sources has been reduced by 90% since the Chaos Era kicked off last summer - and we see the impact we are having on RMTers. Detailed information can be found in the regular security blogs as well as many of the Pulse videos, which have been coming out at an increased cadence. If you buy illegally obtained ISK, you are a part of the problem, and we - or Sentinel, our anti-cheat detection tool - will come after you.



Our journey of improved first steps for new players continues. We have made great progress there, but this is a long journey with many different components. 2.5x as many people logged into EVE for the first time in the first four months of 2020 vs the same period in 2019. We are not only seeing the number of people trying out EVE for the first time increase, but their first play sessions are getting longer and longer as we improve the early game, and we are seeing more of them turn into hardened Capsuleers.



We are investing in the technological foundations of EVE. Transitioning EVE to be fully 64-bit was an important step, and I wish to thank all of you pioneers who helped make that happen. We are now working on recompiling the whole codebase of EVE, upgrading to Visual Studio 2019, and we are adding more hardware to increase the power of our servers.




On the CCP front, our preparations - as well as a healthy dose of luck - have resulted in no one at CCP contracting COVID-19 so far. Our team at the China studio have been back at the office since early March, lots of masks are being worn and hands are being washed as we are in full compliance with the local regulations.

CCP Iceland has been working from home since the beginning of April, and in the middle of all of this, we are also preparing for the move to our amazing new office building, Gróska, in June. Iceland has done a phenomenal job of testing for COVID-19, with 20% of the nation having been tested in recent weeks. In the past week, we have seen 0-3 new cases being reported each day. On May the 4th, some of the control measures that have been in place will start to be reduced.

CCP UK is hard at work from home and following UK guidelines. Great progress is being made on the “secret” project we are working on in London. We look forward to sharing more information with you on that later when the time is right.




EVE Online is going through a steep upward trend right now. Of course with the whole world at home, every form of entertainment is seeing a rise, but this is a trend we have been seeing since August last year and will continue to see as we invest more in the welcoming of new players whilst also providing ample challenges for veteran players. The technological investments will pay dividends now and well into the future, the war on botting will result in New Eden being the cruel but fair world it should be, and the economic changes will result in a healthy ecosystem for the foreseeable future.

Fly safe and continue to watch out for each other, after all, the best ship in EVE is friendship.

CCP Hellmar

Greetings Birthday Capsuleers,

It is coming up to an incredible 17 years since EVE Online launched! Thank you, incredible and adventurous Capsuleers, for the fantastic memories and for continuing to write the history of New Eden!
The birthday is rapidly approaching, so get ready for a new event called the Capsuleer Day Clash and a daily Capsuleer Day Celebration login rewards!




To further celebrate EVE's 17th birthday, the EVE Online: Starter Pack - 17th Birthday Celebration is now available on Steam at a 100% discount!

Full pack contents include:

• 3 days of Omega, ensuring double training speed and many more benefits
  
• 300,000 Skill Points, giving you a head start in skill training
  
• Skill and Damage Booster (Cerebral Accelerator)
  
• A stunning bundle of starter ship SKINs
  
• Blood Raider apparel

The discount is active for 48 hours, and after that, the pack will be retired. Act fast!

Please note: this offer is only available for EVE accounts created on Steam. If you create a new account via Steam, the pack will be added to that new account.

The 17th birthday of EVE Online will be marked by daily Capsuleer Day Celebration login rewards! Running from 5 May to 19 May, rewards will include SKINs, apparel, Skill Points, Filaments and Boosters, with Omega Clone State Capsuleers receiving all the Alpha rewards, plus bigger and better Omega gifts too.

You must log in on 10 out of 14 days during the event to receive all items, and Capsuleers who upgrade to Omega during the event can retroactively claim all the Omega rewards they missed before the end.

In addition, to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Capsuleers in New Eden and earn goodwill with the independent pilots of the cluster, CONCORD, the Empires and Upwell are preparing a series of gifts for Capsuleers. However, a large-scale attack from the Triglavian Collective against their joint production and research facilities threatens to disrupt the celebration! CONCORD is requesting that Capsuleers seek out these besieged facilities in order to drive away the Triglavian forces and claim extra gifts.

There will be Capsuleer Day Clash event sites available from 7 May to 20 May throughout New Eden, restricted to allow Battlecruisers only, with more advanced sites all over Lowsec, Nullsec and wormhole space. Rewards will include new SKINs, limited time cerebral accelerators, limited time standings boosters and special limited time 10 pilot Needlejack Filaments!

You can further celebrate EVE Online's 17th birthday by grabbing one of the new Permaband Roadies SKINs for your Maller, Moa, Thorax or Rupture at only 17 PLEX each from EVE Online's New Eden Store! The sale will run from 11:00 UTC on 5 May until 11:00 UTC on 11 May, so don’t forget to head over and grab your ship the perfect birthday outfit!

The brand-new Dragon Phoenix Bundle is being introduced to celebrate the relaunch of EVE Online's Serenity server in China, and will only be available in EVE Online's New Eden Store until 11:00 UTC on 26 May! The bundle will feature the new Dragon Phoenix SKIN on selected ships, as well as the Men's 'Vermillion Dragon' Facial Augmentation and Women's 'Crimson Phoenix' Facial Augmentation,

The bundle's contents include the Dragon Phoenix SKIN for the Gila, Ishtar, Brutix and Cerberus at a cost of 440 PLEX, and you get the Facial Augmentation free with those SKINs! The Dragon Phoenix SKINs are also available individually for 110 PLEX each.

UPDATE: This event is extended until 11 May. This will give everyone a chance to get even more Skill Point Rewards and try their luck in the Abyss.

You loved the Skilling Spree, you loved the Chilling Spree, and you loved Skilling is Just a Means of Communication. Now, as part of the Eclipse Quadrant, it's time to dive back into the depths of the Abyss and take on whatever comes your way with the new Skillers in the Abyss event!

Log in between 11:00 UTC on 28 April and 11:00 UTC on 4 May and accept increasingly deadly daily challenges where you will have to kill either Abyssal Drones, Drifters, Sleepers or Triglavians in Abyssal Deadspace for Skill Point rewards.

To get started on your challenges, head over to the in-game regional market and acquire an Abyssal Filament, then activate it anywhere in space and you'll find yourself in Abyssal Deadspace!

If challenges remain uncompleted, they will be reset at the next downtime. They also do not need to be completed in order.

Happy skilling!

Greetings Capsuleers,

Coming 26 May, further improvements to the gameplay mechanics of structures will be introduced in the Forsaken Fortress update as part of the Eclipse Quadrant.

Since the introduction of structures with the Citadel expansion, thousands of structures have been built in New Eden. Many of these structures have been used for a variety of purposes by players, with some structures acting as Headquarters, key strategical beachheads, or even as logistical warehouses. For some of these structure deployments, their use may have dwindled over time to the point where they are no longer maintained by their owners. As a result, these forsaken fortresses proliferate space as ambitions, conflict, and entrepreneurs rise and fall in New Eden. Cleaning up your sovereign space by removing these abandoned structures can be a frustrating experience, a topic that has been brought up by the community and CSM alike.

In the continuing journey to frequently iterate, there will be changes made following the last structure update of Kicking Over Castles, from 10 December 2019. The Forsaken Fortress update will introduce a new structure state - 'Abandoned' - alongside the existing Full Power and Low Power states to formalize the mechanics of structures being abandoned. This will apply to both standard structures and FLEX structures. In the update, structures will transition from Low Power to the new Abandoned state if they have not consumed any fuel from service modules for 7 days.

When a structure enters the Abandoned state, the following structure abilities will no longer be available to it:

• No Reinforcement Phases - The structure will have no reinforcement phases, meaning it can be destroyed in one session (Damage caps will still be in effect. If a structure is currently in a reinforced state at the moment the abandonment timer expires, then that reinforce timer will operate as normal but no new reinforcement phases will be allowed).
  
• No Tethering - The structure will not provide any tethering assistance.
  
• No Asset Safety - Items will not be put into asset safety when the structure is destroyed (Wormhole located structures will continue to operate with no asset safety for all states).

Onlining a service module in a structure that is in the Abandoned state will return it to Full Power, restoring its abilities provided that the structure is not damaged, as service modules cannot be onlined for a damaged structure. If a structure survives through a Hull Vulnerable repair cycle and transitions back to the Shield Vulnerable phase, then the service modules will automatically attempt to re-online themselves, provided there is fuel available to do so. This is important in order to ensure that a Full Power structure with sufficient fuel cannot be prematurely forced into the Abandoned state by pushing it through a hull reinforcement and then allowing it to repair.

Two diagrams are included below that detail the new flow of structure states (Full Power, Low Power, Abandoned) and the phases (Shield, Armor, Hull Vulnerable).

Standard Structures:



FLEX Structures:



As mentioned earlier, this update to structure mechanics follows the topics and discussion in the community from the previous update to structures - Kicking Over Castles. As the journey in 2020 with EVE in Quadrants continues, it is hoped that these regular balance changes, game health improvements, and permanent meta changes continue to excite you and bring about further discussion to engage in.

These changes will be coming live to the Singularity test server soon, so keep your eyes peeled for further communications on that from the EVE social media channels.

Until then, Capsuleers, fly safe o7

Last month a five-day lowsec PvP killing spree took place from 26 to 31 March. During this period, alliances and independent corporations vied for the coveted title of Champions of Lowsec. Over those five days the indomitable capsuleers who inhabit lowsec space indulged in a brutal carnival of violence, and the results are in!

Before we go on, let’s briefly recap the rules:

• The duration of the contest is from when Tranquility comes back online on Thursday 26 March until downtime on Tuesday 31 March.
  
• The winner will be the alliance or independent corporation that accrues the highest ISK value of ship & pod kills during that period. Structure kills will not be counted.
  
• The alliance or independent corporation of whoever receives the final blow on the killmail will be credited with the full value of the kill.
  
• The ISK value credited will be equivalent to value of the hull and items destroyed on the killmail. Dropped items won't be counted.
  
• Only kills made in low security space (0.1 to 0.4 systems) will count.
  
• Only kills of other players will count. NPC, CCP, ISD or GM kills will not be counted.
  
• All kills which adhere to these guidelines will count, regardless of the circumstances surrounding them.

When the dust had cleared, only one group could emerge as the true Champions of Lowsec and it was: Snuffed Out who destroyed 136 billion ISK in ships and pods! Congratulations for taking out the top spot and the glory that comes with it. As per the announcement dev blog, as the winning alliance they will be receiving:

• Their flag displayed prominently at CCP’s new HQ for a month.
  
• An in-game billboard advertisement celebrating their lowsec supremacy which will run for an entire month and be seen by every capsuleer in New Eden.
  
• Medals from Mordu’s Legion awarded to every member of the alliance who showed up on a killmail in lowsec during the contest period.

We would also like to acknowledge some of the other fierce competitors who were in the hunt for the title. Following close on Snuffed Out’s heels was Pen Is Out who came in second with 116 billion destroyred, followed by Test Alliance Please Ignore in third place with 62 billion destroyed.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the statistics from the event - you sure got busy!

• During the contest period, 38,719 ships were destroyed throughout all lowsec space.
  
• The most dangerous system overall was Tama with 5,033 ships and pods destroyed.
  
• The killingest ship was the Gnosis with 5,992 kills during the contest period.
  
• The dyingest ship was, well, capsules, with 8,254 omelettes made. As for actual ships the most common victim was the Tristan with 1,240 destroyed.
  
• The most expensive kill was an Avatar class Titan which Snuffed Out very fortuitously happened upon and destroyed!
  
• The most dangerous pilot during the contest was Niara Amatin who bagged 105 eligible solo kills.
  
• The pilot who bagged the most expensive solo kill overall was Captn Michonne who picked off a very shiny Gila.

Work is now proceeding on the fulfillment of the winners' rewards. The in-game items will be delivered soon™ however the flag display will have to wait until we’re able to return to work properly, since like many people, CCP is currently working from home amid COVID-19 precautions.

Here’s a prettier and more thorough round-up of the statistics from the event:



Congratulations once more to Snuffed Out! There can be no argument going forward as to who are the true Champions of Lowsec!

In closing, on behalf of Mordu’s Legion CEO Muriya Mordu, we would like to extend special acknowledgement to the following Snuffed Out capsuleers who distinguished themselves during Champions of Lowsec:

• Admiral Panzer
  
• Adri Todako
  
• Albert Erata
  
• Aleks Ohmiras
  
• Aleksia Volt
  
• Alex Champ
  
• Alex DeWalker
  
• Alex Kosmos
  
• Alexandria d'Alchemia
  
• Alyssa Severasse
  
• Alyssa Utama
  
• Atom Captain
  
• austin Askiras
  
• Barbara Gabel
  
• Batschi Aideron
  
• Bdeogale
  
• BiiG FooT
  
• Bionicle
  
• Bloodraven83
  
• BobbaPhett
  
• BorisThe Blade
  
• brother stud
  
• Bubba12
  
• Cassius Chrome
  
• Chris Bector
  
• Conaildo
  
• Crying River
  
• Daedalus Perditor
  
• Dark comet
  
• Dawn Jenkins
  
• deadlymessenger
  
• Desertwolff
  
• Dexter Spacemen
  
• Doom Hammerr
  
• Drealar
  
• Eat My Ascii
  
• Fatrick
  
• Fud Face
  
• Futhark Kais
  
• fx one
  
• guloz
  
• Havoc Torquemada
  
• Haxa
  
• Himura Row
  
• Hy Wanto Destroyer
  
• I'm not Sappi
  
• Insane Buddy
  
• Iplowgirls Bigjohnson
  
• James Gabel
  
• Johnie Stark
  
• Jolly Archer
  
• k4rl
  
• KaiLeeder
  
• kell thorus
  
• Kiagon Fiero
  
• korean hacker
  
• L0-0natiK
  
• Lara Abyssinian
  
• Lavina Tsutola
  
• Lukas Koennel
  
• Mal Raylar
  
• Martok Kahless
  
• Mayonesick
  
• Militia Ostus
  
• Mishi Shahni
  
• Mor Baako
  
• Morrokvendi
  
• Mr Panzer
  
• Mrs Panzer
  
• nanhua college
  
• NanoCore
  
• Natalia Atharmos
  
• Niara Amatin
  
• NishikinoMaki Ciny
  
• Nylar Todako
  
• Ognak Belvar
  
• Palpatine Sheev
  
• Peasant Otsolen
  
• pennzoil
  
• Phyre Nova
  
• vpopetown
  
• Princess Cynobitchia
  
• Quetzalcoatl FortyTwo
  
• Richard Jomshof
  
• Rookie Zero
  
• S810 Jr
  
• Saken Ernaga
  
• Sappi Amatin
  
• Sara Kerrigun
  
• Sayler
  
• Serebras
  
• Sharisa Menhit
  
• sheepy01
  
• Shoogman
  
• smarnca
  
• Snorbett
  
• Spike Warp 0ff
  
• Stella Aivoras
  
• Stella MacTavish
  
• Stephen Heimly
  
• T imeLord
  
• Taraas Enko
  
• Tau AD
  
• Terry Lee Collins
  
• That Ender
  
• The Suicide Apostle
  
• Thi0ridazin
  
• Tinator
  
• TwoPac Amaru Shakur
  
• Ultroth
  
• Unst Auru
  
• Urdnot Wrecked
  
• useless fat nerd
  
• Vergina Magnet
  
• Vio Core
  
• Vrye Thellere
  
• wlsd 32
  
• Wrathraker
  
• YaTaMaN
  
• Yeska Enaka
  
• Yeske Enaka
  
• Yesong
  
• Yonis Pserad
  
• Yukikaze Jiang
  
• Zerling Rush

The Surgical Strike update is now live! It contains massive changes to Capital survivability, resistance modules, and more.

Bold changes are being made across EVE in the quest for diversity and new exciting options for Capsuleers. Surgical Strike will accomplish a number of things, including bringing Capital survivability more in line with the rest of New Eden, reducing the overwhelming power of logistics, introducing adjustments to some long-standing powerhouses in the Subcapital meta and more.

Check out the full details in the Surgical Strike dev blog!



In addition, there will be 2-for-1 offers on two sets of Avatar SKINs in EVE Online's New Eden Store, running until 11:00 UTC on 28 April. The first set includes the Oasis of Faith and Raata Sunset SKINs, and the other includes the Khanid and EoM SKINs. Both sets of SKINs are only 250 PLEX each!