20-23 January 2015 Winter Summit Minutes Day Three – January 22 Contents: * Page 2 – Lowsec * Page 5 – Ship/Module Balance * Page 9 – Localization * Page 12 – Structures * Page 14 – Sovereignty & Nullsec * Page 16 – EVE Merchandise Session: Lowsec CCP Attendees: * CCP Leeloo * CCP Fozzie * CCP Delegate Zero * CCP Bettik * CCP Masterplan * CCP Scarpia * CCP Explorer * CCP Affinity * CCP MannBjorn CSM Attendees: * Ali Aras * Sion Kumitomo * progodlegend * Sugar Kyle * Xander Phoena * corbexx * corebloodbrothers * DJ FunkyBacon (remote) * Gorski Car (remote) * Mangala Solaris (remote) * Steve Ronuken (remote) * Mike Azariah (remote) Sugar Kyle opened the session with some feedback from players. In general she describes that people have come to her generally happy with the state of lowsec meta post Phoebe. Her concern is that low sec continues on this path of increased health and that potential problems from changes over the last six months are caught early. The goal of the session is a health check, some general questions and requests and then several topics about Faction Warfare. Next she requested to look at several stats in an attempt to create a general health check for low sec. She also brought up that when looking at metrics, she would like to be able to see CCP able to look at non-faction warfare space versus faction warfare space, as at the moment most stats show a combination of both. Currently those metrics can only be separated through some extra effort and she feels it is important to obtain a clear reflection of low sec's vitality. CCP Fozzie responded that CCP could look into that. They then stated going over the current stats. Population was down over the summer, but has rebounded and there is a small increase from its previous average. Mining amount in Lowsec is historically low overall and prone to bouncing around, but overall stable across an extended period of time. Steve pointed out that some ideas for mining have been proposed on the internal forums between CCP and the CSM. NPC kills had a spike in Kronos with the introduction of new sites and NPCs before dropping back, but is still higher than pre-Kronos. There was a discussion about moving more content to the belts and the pros and cons for hunting belt ratters and the future of asteroid belts in general and as a place for content. CCP Fozzie then went over the Factional Warfare (FW) membership. Membership has been slowly increasing from the implementation of FW. There are obvious spikes when large alliances have joined for a short period. Militia numbers have been on the increase. Kill per logon minute is also increasing. Sugar and Steve both requested industrial stats in low sec post-Crius. That request will have to go through the analysis team. Sugar Kyle also brought some feedback from players that farmers appear to have decreased in population after the last round of NPC changes inside of complexes. FunkyBacon also concurred with this assessment. Sugar commented that the decrease in farming has had other effects on war zone control and doing complexes. Sugar Kyle then asked if they could look at ship type usage and loss in lowsec, especially Carriers and Battleships and hopefully Supers and Titans due to the changes in Phoebe. While CCP didn't have the numbers broken down by sec status on hand, CCP Fozzie reported that battleship usage overall remained healthy. Sugar also brought up that there was a lack of combat anomalies appearing in Faction Warfare space. CCP Fozzie explained this was a deliberate change made in the past in order to reduce clutter. Sugar requested that some be added back into the space to see how it goes. It is something that can be looked into. Progod brought up a few unique features for lowsec such Mordu's Legion rats, Tags for sec, etc. He asked what the usage numbers of this unique content was. CCP Fozzie reported that it was getting used quite well. Progod also asked if there were any other changes they were thinking of adding for lowsec that were not combat sites namely more static resources that large groups can sustain themselves from. He would like to see alliances of several hundred able to do well in low sec and have the resources they need available. Sugar strongly disagreed and brought up that she was actually worried about increasing the proliferation of large fleets in low sec and wanted to see how the current changes and increases in fleet size play out with small gang and solo pilots. There was some discussion between CSM members as to fleet battles. Steve asked about whether there was a clone bonus replacement for FW stations. CCP Fozzie responded that while there has been discussion nothing has been settled. Sugar Kyle asked whether the new NPC tools might be able to help with redoing NPCs in FW missions to give them a balance pass. CCP Affinity responded that they need to really make sure the tool works properly and fully explore it, but it's definitely something they can look at it. Gorski then asked about Assigned Fighters. This started an energetic discussion about assigned fighters and their use in all areas of space. CCP Fozzie responded that there are some defects they need to fix such as the owner getting the weapons timer instead of the assigned fighter user. They are watching fighter usage and usage trends. Progod asked if it would be possible to just remove assigned fighters in lowsec. CCP Fozzie responded that it's possible but not something they want to do. Sugar brought back a topic from the Summer Summit about the ability to tax LP which has been requested by some FW corporations. CCP Fozzie responded that this would not be possible without a rework of LP entirely. The current system is not a monetary system but is a player reward. It would be a substantial rewrite of the entire LP system to make it happen. A discussion was held about the need for FW to receive attention across many areas to improve livability, fix mechanics, and make it more robust but the large scope of it would not be something taken on until other current, large projects were finished. Sugar asked about removing the contract restriction from boosters. She asked if it was good game play that added value. Fozzie said it's something CCP would like to look at. Smuggling and contraband was discussed at this point. Sugar Kyle brought up a suggestion about looking at the Loyalty Point (LP) payout in FW. The LP needed across the tiers was discussed. One suggestion to improve PvP rewards was pegging the PvP LP payouts at Tier 5. They cannot go higher. Gorski commented on how slow battleships are in the low sec meta and their struggles. Sugar Kyle also brought up that with the tug of war it was very penalizing when one side has control of the war zone. The other side may have an extended period of recovery due to how hard it can be to recover. CCP Fozzie brought up that they don't necessarily want to mechanically enforce the balance of the warzone. FunkyBacon brought up that Missions have the best LP payouts and have no tangible affect on the warzone at all. He also asked if it would be possible to make the missions actually matter to the warzone, but CCP Fozzie responded that they're way too easily farmable at this stage, but if they redo them then it might be possible. Gorski Car brought up the topic of Level 5 missions. He asked if there was any concern about some players who are very efficiently farming them with a setup of multiple carriers in multiple systems. CCP Fozzie said he's not particularly concerned at this stage as there are very few people doing it at that level and they still are exposed to risk. Gorski summated all missions in EVE, namely "The issues with missions is that they are so scripted and easy to abuse triggers to blitz them". The topic of general mission rebalancing was addressed in the Team Space Glitter session. Sugar Kyle asked about the material they're gathering from hacking sites, and noted that some people are worried they're collecting junk. CCP Affinity replied that it's not junk, and will be useful. FunkyBacon suggested giving FW missions missile spam to help deal with farming Stealth Bombers. Sugar discussed creating a list of direct changes to the FW mission mechanics that the PvE team can look over to see if they can work any into their development time. CCP Rise brought up that in many ways he sees Faction Warfare space as being a place for solo players to go. Sugar Kyle agreed to an extent with complex restrictions helping, but noted at this stage escalations of multiple players are also very common. She also pointed out that the rule differences in Faction Warfare and Non-Faction Warfare space make the play styles very different. Solo and small gang are there but making sure they have opportunities matters. The general state of medium complexes was discussed. Medium complexes allow a broad range of ships into them and their meta has changed again with Recon changes. Sugar mentioned that changes to Recons was mentioned as something that must be closely watched. It was discussed that it is too early to look at the metrics on Recons to see how they are affecting low sec. Progod asked if CCP has been monitoring the use of lowsec for nullsec logistics and have they thought of adjusting space to make some areas easier to reach. CCP Fozzie replied that for the most point they're not doing so, but he's reasonably confident that players will find the optimal routes. Session: Ship/Module Balance CCP Attendees: * CCP Leeloo * CCP Fozzie * CCP Delegate Zero * CCP Rise * CCP Terminus * CCP Masterplan CSM Attendees: * Ali Aras * Sion Kumitomo * progodlegend * Sugar Kyle * Xander Phoena * corbexx * corebloodbrothers * DJ FunkyBacon (remote) * Gorski Car (remote) * Mangala Solaris (remote) * Steve Ronuken (remote) * Mike Azariah (remote) CCP Rise started off by sharing some changes to how CCP can view ship metrics. He started by showing a new visualization of Ship PVP damage they can use. He also explained that they have pages to easily compare total damage across groups. There are also filters for removing things like people smartbombing NPC rats or Rancer activity that throw the numbers off. Progod replied that overall, ship balance seems to be in a good spot other than Strategic Cruisers, specifically the Tengu. Xander agreed with the Tengu being too good. CCP Fozzie agreed that Tengus are too strong at the moment. He elaborated that they're penciled in for a rebalance in the next few months. There is a desire to put emphasis on the customizability more. Corbexx brought up that making all sub-systems viable is important, and CCP Fozzie agreed. CCP Fozzie also wanted to remove the lock-in from rigs, either by allowing the rigs on a T3 cruiser to be removed or by removing them and balancing them around a lack of rigs. CCP Fozzie also added that the Effective Hit Point (EHP) affecting sub-systems are also going to be toned down. CCP Fozzie added that medium rails are a bit too strong at the moment as well, so it won't just be the case of hitting the Tengu with a nerf bat. Progod asked if it would be possible to reduce the EHP bonus on the Tech3 defensive subsystems in the next possible patch to a 5% bonus. CPC Fozzie responded it might be possible. Sion also brought up that one of the strengths of T3s is that they have great synergy with logistics, and asked whether there were any thoughts around changes to that. Progod brought up that there were some ideas that have been brought up in the past to help deal with logistics, and asked whether there was any more thought in that direction. There was some discussion about how reps are used at this time and how they could be used. The current state of the Nestor was discussed. Gorski asked if CCP could explain their process when they decide when and what to rebalance. CCP Fozzie explained that a large part of their work is looking at metrics and listening to the community. They're also being guided by things like CCP Yttiberium's tiercide initiative. Xander brought up that Black Ops pilots feel that they've been hit too hard by the jump fatigue changes. Sugar Kyle brought up that current torpedo volume makes it difficult to bring a proper set of missiles with an active tank. CCP Fozzie said that it was doable. Decreasing torpedo size would touch several other areas as well. Progod said that it would buff stealth bombers and asked if increasing the cargo hold of missile battleships would be possible, with CCP Fozzie replied it would be easier. Sugar ended that an adjustment that allowed more torpedoes would be acceptable. Sugar Kyle then brought up the topic of cynos and asked if there had been any thinking about any changes to make to it. The CSM9 Summer Summit discussed that cynos have not changed since implementation. With the changes after Phoebe she was curious if they have been revisited. CCP Fozzie said there hadn't been discussed. Sugar Kyle then brought up the idea of a T2 exploration cruisers. There was a discussion that it would be a very niche role ship and that T3's currently fill that position as well as the Sisters of EVE Ships. There was a short discussion about the expansion of exploration sites that do damage and need combat abilities and how it may open up a future place for the idea. Xander asked how Combat Battlecruisers are looking, saying that most people feel they're underpowered. CCP Rise explained that they're doing alright, having 7th highest damage overall, and CCP Fozzie added that there are a few battlecruisers that need some love. To continue the discussion of Combat Battlecruiser discussion, Sugar Kyle asked if it would be possible to see how much MJDs are being used. The statistics showed that there was some usage. Progod commented that fitting one on a Battlecruiser is incredibly painful and a bit more power grid would make a huge difference. Gorski pointed out that the Drake is a joke compared to what it used to be. CCP Fozzie replied that of course it was a joke compared to where it used to be, since it used to be incredibly dominant. He said that the current meta is geared towards speed and that penalizes battlecurisers and battleship usage for small gangs and solo, but that not every ship needs to be balanced into every prevailing meta. Progod asked about Sentry Drones. CCP Rise replied that he's looking at it, and rather than just straight nerfing them or Ishtars that he would prefer to try and expose the weaknesses of drones. Progod added that the issue with sentry drones is that you get great damage projection but the tradeoff isn't being really felt (i.e. limited drones). He suggested reducing the drone bay to 250m3. CCP Fozzie replied that this is something they have been considering, but they were also thinking of a highly delayed drone reloading system to go with it, mainly because of concerns about roaming. Progod countered that not all ships are made for roaming. He also added that it's not just a problem with the Ishtar, and that people would likely use the Rattlesnake or Dominix instead if the Ishtar was nerfed. The idea of a small range AOE weapon to attack drones and drone specific Ewar was brought up. Progod asked if CCP has a change that they're leaning towards, with CCP Rise replying that they haven't yet settled on an approach. The topic then moved to Fighter assists. Ali highlighted the issues with Fighter assist stemming from a carrier in high safety assigning fighters to another ship and greatly increasing their DPS. Progod brought up that in some cases he likes how it encourages combat on multiple grids but does see issues. CCP Fozzie also added that there are some parts that are just bugs such as the assigned ship not getting any aggression when attacking with them. The ideas of creating exclusion zones (such as around stations or POSes) or making assigned fighters not getting bonuses were discussed. Xander asked about the long term plans for supers and whether or not simply removing them and refunding SP was an option. CCP Fozzie confirmed they had no concrete plans for the moment and that deleting them and refunding SP was something they would like to avoid. The topic then moved to Stealth Bombers. There was some discussion about cloaked ships decloaking each other. CCP Fozzie said they might reconsider adding it if a mechanism is provided to allow friendly cloaked ships to see each other. Xander asked if there was serious consideration for removing fleet warp. CCP Fozzie replied that yes, it was something being considered but that nothing had been decided. Some CSM members expressed support and some expressed opposition. Sion brought up that this could make it a lot more difficult for fleet commanders and CCP Rise and CCP Fozzie responded that it would also have the potential of moving some responsibility from the fleet commander to the fleet members. Session: Localization CCP Attendees: * CCP Leeloo * CCP Bellabee * CCP Tara * CCP Shadowcat * CCP Explorer * CCP Manifest CSM Attendees: * Ali Aras * Sion Kumitomo * progodlegend * Sugar Kyle * Xander Phoena * corbexx * corebloodbrothers * Asayanami Dei (remote) * Mangala Solaris (remote) * Steve Ronuken (remote) CCP Bellabee opened the meeting by going over the changes that have gone on in localization over the last year. Localization is not only responsible for in game content, but also for localizing marketing and trailers. They're also experimenting with working with the communities a lot more. An example of this is using a specific community member from the German community as the new voice of Aura in German. Sugar Kyle asked how that went, with CCP Bellabee responding that it went well overall, but there were some issues from the community now that it was out. CCP Shadowcat pointed out that CCP sees this as an experiment and will work on resolving the issue and continue in that direction in the future. CCP Bellabee outlined that biggest project last year was the release of EVE in French. Sugar Kyle asked if there are ISD teams for each language forum. CCP Leeloo responded that there is only a recently established Russian division on the forums, though their work encompasses much more than that. They also help players in-game via the Russian Help Channel. Russian ISD are involved with some translations, but CCP still sees this as an experimental project. Corbexx brought up the topic of going on podcasts in the other language communities, with CCP Tara responding that she's actually going on a French podcast soon. CCP Leeloo also outlined that they're planning to outsource more localisation support for the CSM elections. Corbexx then asked if the CSM minutes are going to be localized, with the response being that there are no plans from CCP do so themselves and it is rather problematic to use localized ISD departments for this as rewards have to be appropriate to the amount of work and CCP hasn't yet established a solid system for that type of effort. Sugar Kyle asked about the Chinese and Japanese localisation. CCP Bellabee responded that all the Chinese localisation is done in the Shanghai office, and that the Japanese translations are completely outsourced. Customer Support still maintains Japanese speaking GMs to help Japanese players. Sion asked whether there are current plans to add more languages to the game. CCP Bellabee explained that they're more focused on consolidating their work at this moment. Progod brought up Spanish as being a good option as he doesn't see a proportional representation of Spanish speakers compared to the size of the Spanish speaking countries. CCP Bellabee also added that they can see what countries people play from, so CCP can appropriately target the next localization opportunity. Corbexx asked if the language specific GMs are separate from the localization department, with CCP Leeloo explaining that they are. They do however work with them when issues are reported by players through support tickets. Sugar Kyle asked if they can see what languages people are using in their clients. It was also asked if people switch between client languages, with CCP Shadowcat explaining that some German players switch back to an English client when they join very large alliances and groups. CCP Shadowcat also touched on the bilingual functionality they've been building into EVE that allows some links posted in one client to show up with the localized name in another language client. Corbexx asked about the reporting process for incorrect translations. CCP Bellabee and CCP Tara explained that it's just the regular bug reporting process. They also talked a bit about the debate and discussion around the release of the French client with a number of translations, and how this is an ongoing topic even among the other longer established communities. They also added it's definitely something they pay attention to and participate in. Sugar Kyle also asked if they had noticed more localized community meetups. CCP Logibro responded that this falls under community's work, not localization. CCP Explorer also added a comment regarding the close relationship between Localisation and UI, as UI often needs to leave more blank space when using English as other languages take up more space (German and Russian are somethings 30% longer, Chinese characters are taller) Some communication problems occurred part way through this session, with remote attendees being disconnected thanks to the notoriously fickle nature of external use of Microsoft Lync. Session: Structures CCP Attendees: * CCP Leeloo * CCP Yttirbium * CCP Fozzie * CCP Scarpia * CCP Delegate Zero * CCP Mimic * CCP RubberBAND * CCP MannBjorn * CCP Arrow * CCP Seagull CSM Attendees: * Ali Aras * Sion Kumitomo * progodlegend * Sugar Kyle * Xander Phoena * corbexx * corebloodbrothers * Asayanami Dei (remote) * Mangala Solaris (remote) * Steve Ronuken (remote) Some possibilities were discussed about the current CCP designs for structure changes. CCP Ytterbium then took a step back and covered the overall goals of the changes: it should support and enhance existing gameplay, should be accessible, feel like a home, make combat more exciting, be visually aspirational, be extensible and future proof, create more interesting locations in systems, be as simple as possible, and create relationships between all space structures. A lengthy discussion ensued, which will be revealed after an appropriately-timed devblog once the systems have been solidified a bit more and are ready for player feedback. MOST OF THIS SESSION IS HELD UNDER NDA, AS A NUMBER OF DEV BLOGS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN COMING MONTHS WHICH WILL REVEAL WHAT WAS TALKED ABOUT. IN THE MEANTIME, HERE IS A PICTURE OF CCP KITTEH RELAXING: Session: Sovereignty & Nullsec CCP Attendees: * CCP Leeloo * CCP Seagull * CCP Fozzie * CCP Mimic * CCP Delegate Zero * CCP Scarpia * CCP Yttirbium * CCP RubberBAND * CCP Sharq * CCP Chimichanga * CCP Masterplan * CCP Bettik * CCP Rise * CCP Manifest CSM Attendees: * Ali Aras * Sion Kumitomo * progodlegend * Sugar Kyle * Xander Phoena * corbexx * corebloodbrothers * Asayanami Dei (remote) * Mangala Solaris (remote) * Mike Azariah (remote) * Steve Ronuken (remote) CCP Fozzie opened the session by going over some statistics regarding the current state of Nullsec. Overall CCP is happy with results of the Phoebe changes. Progod added that he currently takes a while to find opponents due to the changes. He noted that this isn't necessarily a bad thing though. The rest of the double-length meeting was spent in discussion of a work in progress sovereignty design, with the goals including spreading fights over a larger area, and removing the requirement for hitpoint grinding. With the meeting coming to a close, Corebloodbrothers asked whether CCP was happy with the progress in this meeting, and CCP Fozzie responded that he was. CCP will now continue design work and deliberation with the CSM, before preparing public communication about the design direction. MOST OF THIS SESSION IS CURRENTLY WORK IN PROGRESS DISCUSSION WITH THE CSM, AS SUCH IT HIS HELD UNDER NDA UNTIL DEV BLOGS ARE PREPARED FOR RELEASE ONCE FEATURES ARE FINALIZED. In the meantime why not check out the following bars while in Iceland for fanfest, they’re all pretty awesome! * Dillon - Laugarvegur 30, 101 Reykjavík. * Boston - Laugavegur 28B, 101 Reykjavík. * Dubliner - Hafnarstraeti 4, 101 Reykjavík. * Hresso - Austurstræti 20, 101 Reykjavík. * Bar 11 - Hverfisgata 18, 101 Reykjavík. * Lebowskibar - Laugavegi 20a, 101 Reykjavík. * The Celtic Cross - Hverfisgata 26, 101 Reykjavík. Session: EVE Merchandise CCP Attendees: * CCP Leeloo * CCP Falcon * CCP Spitfire * CCP Isabella * CCP Manifest CSM Attendees: * Ali Aras * Sion Kumitomo * progodlegend * Sugar Kyle * Xander Phoena * corbexx * corebloodbrothers * Asayanami Dei (remote) * Mangala Solaris (remote) * Mike Azariah (remote) * Steve Ronuken (remote) CCP Spitfire introduced himself and CCP Isabella who, along with CCP t0rfifrans, are in charge of EVE merchandise. He explained that CCP's goal is to create merchandise that would allow players to "show their colours" – express their feelings for the world of EVE. He then went over some previous interaction with the CSM regarding the EVE Second Decade Collector's Edition, and that how they now have more time to focus on other merchandise. He went over some problems with the current system, namely high product and shipping costs. CCP Falcon elaborated that Musterbrand does lots of very high quality items that cost a lot of money, and he feels that the items are priced a bit too high for most players. Corbexx then brought up the Second Genesis card game, and asked about whether there were any plans to introduce one. CCP Spitfire indicated there were no plans at this time. Manifest stealth edited these minutes to say he would bring at least one box of unopened Second Genesis to Fanfest for a secret purpose so anyone there interested in it should find him and chat. CCP Spitfire gave a quick update on some of the items announced last Fanfest. The Art of New Eden book will be going out on schedule in March, there will be more limited edition copies and orders will be shipped from Europe and the US. CCP Falcon then showed some examples from the Art of New Eden. CCP Falcon also briefly went over an idea as well to create a technical backstory book for ships in EVE next year. CCP Spitfire also elaborated that CCP will again only be controlling the distribution of the Art of New Eden Limited Edition, and that the Standard edition will be distributed by Dark Horse. CCP Spitfire then covered the ship models announced at Fanfest 2014. He then covered the TV series. He indicated that there is nothing to announce at this stage, but it is progressing. No significant resources are being expended inside CCP, and the project was always intended to be a long term project. Xander asked what the story was going to be based off, either the lore or the player stories. CCP Falcon indicated it was too early to confirm. CCP Spitfire and CCP Falcon then went over the CCP Mystery Code being handed over to community, and how they are going to be putting out more items over time.