Rhea, the latest patch in CCP’s rapid release cadence, is now upon us and it is impressive to say the least.
Rhea is the largest of the new patches, weighing in at a hefty 1.51GB. The devs promised a LOT for this release. Thus far it seems they have delivered on those promises. Yes, there are some bugs, but for such a large patch its bugs have been minor at worst; no boot.ini fails this time around!
Why do I think this patch has “Breathed new life” into EvE Online? The jump changes in Phoebe marked the threshold of a new era in EvE, but one still saddled with the chunky and clunky UI which had been in use for several years. With a new UI, a new map and new rendering technology, EvE now has a fresh and frosty visual feel. Combined with the reintegration of Lore into the actions of New Eden, players’ love for the Lore of EVE has been reignited with Rhea. Look for my article on this subject in the coming days.
When CCP announced their new development cadence, I was excited, but that glow was quickly doused after Oceanus, whose content was lackluster at best. The new cloaking effect was the best thing about it, in my opinion. However, with the most recent pair of patches I have been thoroughly impressed. Rhea especially. The visuals have created a new identity for EVE, showing that we have left the days of old and now are moving into a new era of the game, which is now in its second decade. I have spent hours searching through wormholes, trying to find the new ones and have parked myself in these new Unidentified Structures for an hour while I write this, waiting to see if anything would happen to myself, my ship or my surroundings. My corpmates and I spent a while dazzling over the new looks of various ships, particularly the Pilgrim. And my god that map! The new map, if you haven’t seen it yet, is amazing. With the ability to snap it around the screen, the colours and the music that flows out as it opens (yeah EvE has sound,) Rhea has once more got me buzzing about the game, and I cannot wait until the next patch to see what they do next.
But, and there is always a but, the new rendering, although fantastic on medium and high settings, is nothing greater than featureless crap in the lowest settings, looking like pre-Trinity ships. For those, such as myself, playing EvE on lower end machines, this patch leaves behind a bit of a sour taste because you lose visually over what we already had. Some tough decisions by people on the low end of the hardware scale will need to be made; whether you shell out for a upgrade, overwork you machine a bit more to go to low medium settings like I have or simply put up with the reduced vitality of the game.
So what’s your favorite part of Rhea? The map? The UI? Or the WASD flight controls? No Clone grades? If you didn’t like it what don’t you like?
For me, its the Map, just. The whole mysterious Sleeper thing is very interesting, and it’s sparking debate on the lore of EvE with people I thought had no interest in the subject.
Rhea has launched EvE into a new age where the dim outlines and distant glimmers of the content the players have been dreaming of has finally begun to show. Of course, the bittervets will cry ‘EVE IS DEAD!’ but honestly these last two patches have put EvE on the right track to recovery. There’s always a certain amount of interest when a new patch is announced by CCP. Now, rather than the typical “what will they break next?” chatter, the players may have a legitimate reason to be excited, and perhaps more importantly, a plausible expectation that CCP will deliver ‘t3h awesomes!’
