The effective onboarding of curious yet noncommitted first-time EVE Online players is a conundrum that developers Fenris Creations, formerly CCP Games, have been trying to solve for decades. Many are enticed by the MMORPG’s purely player-spun tales of espionage and military adventure, only to bounce off its dense hull of complex economic spacemaths and a sandbox occupied by oft-unpunished pirates and con artists. Perhaps the game’s next big expansion, Cradle of War, will have more luck when it launches on June 9th.
Revealed today at EVE FanFest (in which I was sat among hundreds of superfans, quietly hiding my own failure to complete the tutorial), Cradle of War is as heavy on fighting as it sounds, promising unique, objective-based military campaigns for each of its four major empire factions. But it’s the peaceful network of newbie-friendly systems, named Exordium, that may be the expansion’s most impactful addition. As originally revealed in April, Exordium is a "truly safe space" for fresh accounts, where PvP is fully disabled (as opposed to the current starter systems, where it’s merely heavily policed) and rookies can more gradually learn the basics of ship movement, trading, and PvE combat across a series of "staged sandboxes" before stepping out into New Eden proper.
As someone who finds EVE too impenetrable, I should be rejoicing at a change that specifically pokes me-sized holes into it, though Exordium also kind of seems like it risks becoming the least EVE-like place in the galaxy. In a game where risk and unpredictability are rather the point, this sounds like a corner of DayZ’s Chernarus where guns don’t exist and the zombies aren’t allowed to bite you. That said, a more forgiving breaking-in period probably would help with keeping players around, and simply living out your days in the Exordium creche doesn’t sound particularly viable, long-term. It’ll apparently be rubbish for mining and trades will be heavily taxed, so there’ll be incentives to graduate and go find a real job.
The mercenary business, for one, will be booming in Cradle of War. The expansion’s narrative returns focus to its central squabbling empires, and willing players can sign up to fight their battles in distinct military campaigns built upon EVE’s existing Freelance Jobs framework. In keeping with the game’s enthusiasm for backstabbery, mercs can pick and choose which faction’s missions to take, without necessarily having to stick with just one. Not every empire can come out on top, though, so expect corporations and alliances to clash in service of a favoured faction. Hope you like news articles with "...destroys $XXX,XXX worth of ships" in the headline.
Speaking of ships, Cradle of War is awash with them. There are eight new boats in total, split between a series of faction-based Navy Destroyers and some Tech 2 Command Carriers. The latter I assume to be a much-requested feature, given they received the most deafening cheer of FanFest’s entire keynote. To be fair, these are intended as the "ultimate support ships", and I generally like ultimate things too.
If owning a, ahem, Tech 2 Command Carrier (yaaaaaaaay) proves an inadequate source of prestige, Cradle of War will also introduce achievements (which are exactly what they sound like) and titles. The latter are earned through the former, and will adorn your character as a symbol of your cheevo-besting prowess.
All of that’s to come this June, and as with previous expansions, Fenris have already scheduled an accompanying Cradle of War Major Update to arrive a few months – in September, specifically – after the main event. Details for this are altogether scarcer, though the update will include a significant balance change aimed at reducing the ability of corps/alliances to "project" the power of large fleets "over long distances". Oooooh. That sounds like it would have drastically changed most of the battles described in the six-hour EVE Online documentary I watched before flying out here.