Most of you by now should be aware that one of the main focuses of this years fanfest in Iceland was a new type of NPCs that will be coming to New Eden, alongside all the things that go with it. Otherwise known as the Triglavians.
With the introduction of these NPCs comes new modules, ships, weapon types and game environments. We sat down with CCP Burger at Fanfest to go into detail about the environment and how they compare to Wormholes, as well as the physical structures in the sites themselves. The key points from this discussion and the roundtable came out as the following:
Quick Triglavian Site facts:
-T1 Filaments. which will open an entry portal. will be seeded in NPC markets and can also be found in relic sites.
-Higher level filaments can be won as loot within the sites.
-The filaments can be activated almost anywhere. One of the few expected restrictions is a pilot may not open one within tether range of a citadel.
-The entry point will provide information about the site’s characteristics. However, once the filament is activated you will be taken into the pocket and not be able to refit.
-Only T1, faction, and T2 cruisers may enter the sites. Local chat will be disabled.
-There will be several types of “weather” within the sites which, while similar in concept to the changes pilots experience in wormholes, are much broader in scope.
-Weather affects both players and NPCs
-The NPCs the player will encounter inside will include Rogue Drones, Drifters, Sleepers, and the new Triglavians, all of which will be using the most challenging AI available.
-The rooms are limited in size. If a pilot wanders towards the edge he will start taking damage, similar to Alliance tournament rooms except the damage is applied incrementally.
-The NPC’s within WILL tackle and destroy your pod.
-The sites will feature a set camera view intended to enhance the graphical experience.
-T2 filaments can be won as loot in T1 sites.
-Your entry / exit point can be scanned down with combat probes.
-Warping, cloaking, refitting, and invulnerable timers are disabled within the pockets
-The sites should take no more than 10 to 20 minutes to complete.
-If a player dies inside there is no way to get the dropped mods back.
-After completing the site the player’s ship will reappear at their entry point
On the other side of this coin is the ships and modules themselves which will soon become part of the new meta play of New Eden. So why on earth would anyone want to run such a site when there’s a chance there will be bloodthirsty pilots out to murder them on exit? Well, because the Abyssal sites drop very interesting types of loot. The “Mutaplasmids”, blueprint sets for a range of Triglavian racial ships, and the “entropic dis-integrator” high-slot module, along with entry “filaments” to higher-tier abyssal sites. These new additions which will be introduced into the whole of New Eden could possibly lead to significant changes in ship fitting throughout the whole of eve. We interviewed CCP Rise, the lead developer for the new modules and ships for a detailed explanation. Some of the key effects from this discussion are as follows:
Triglavian Ships and Modules Quick Facts:
-Triglavian vessels will be able to fit one Entropic Disintegrator in a high slot.
-Entropic Disintegrators function most closely to Energy turrets.
-Each successive shot from an Entropic disintegrator will cause more damage with each succeeding round, up to a maximum increase of 50%.
-Several tiers of Mutaplasmid will be available
-Mutaplasmids can be applied to any meta-quality module they are compatible with
-T1, T2, faction, deadspace, and officer versions can be mutated.
-When Mutating modules, think of each Mutaplasmid cycle as a lottery.
-The meta-level of the base module will not improve the odds of a successful mutation. Each individual attribute could be changed and have no connection with the other figures. Higher-quality modules can have a greater outcome of bonuses in case of a successful mutation due to their higher baseline stats.
While a comprehensive analysis of what sort of cruisers and fits can best be optimised to run the Abyssal Pockets will have to wait until the sites are available on the Singularity test server, what we know so far opens up some interesting ramifications for PVP opportunities which, unlike the sites themselves, will differ between each area of space.
Unlike existing deadspace pockets, it will not be possible to follow pilots into the actual site, only to camp the exit point which can be scanned down. Pilots exiting an Abyssal Pocket will emerge with a suspect timer, which is very appetising for highsec PVP’ers because it means they can attack with zero risk of concord swooping in and blowing up their ship. Even a gang of Highsec Jita alts could build up a green killboard as well as maximum security and political standings if hunting Abyssal site runners.
The sites should take less than 20 minutes to complete, which means any gang containing a pilot with decent probing skills will be able to set up a camp outside the entry point with some time to spare. Since the pilot doing the Abyssal Deadspace site will be unable to drop a mobile depot to refit within the pocket, the only way to exit a site with a load of warp core stabilizers in the low slots would be to somehow cook up a fit capable of surviving the site because the fit you enter with will be the fit you come out in. The main difference when doing the sites in lowsec is, of course, that the majority of pilots residing there are actively seeking PVP, so there appears to be little incentive to run one in lowsec unless low security standings prevent the pilot from entering High-security space.
Whether doing the sites in Nullsec will be safer or more dangerous is very dependant on where the pilot will be doing them. If the player is part of a large nullsec alliance and has access to a large intel network, then it’s probably as close to “safe” as anyone could hope for in nullsec. Pilots living in more hotly contested regions could possibly expect dozens of warp-stop bubbles and campers all around the exit points.
While CCP CEO Hilmar Pétursson’s statement during the keynote speech that “Solo play is a big part of the game” was met with more than a little incredulity by members of larger player groups in the keynote audience, it’s a true statement for solo pvpers and accurate as far as non-incursion PVE activity goes. The Abyssal Deadspace sites to be introduced in the July expansion are focused on a more casual sort of gameplay, in which players can login, complete a site or two, and move on with their day after an hour or so. Whether or not this new (for EVE) playstyle will add to the long-term health of the game is quite dependant on the overall value of the Triglavian ships, modules, blueprints and mutaplasmids that are won as loot from these sites, which will in turn drive PVP content.
Let us know what you think about these proposed changes in the comments or via our discord server.
For further info on the Triglavian’s see the following links here and here.
Credit to this article goes to both Amymuffmuff and That Yossarian who were our reporters at this year’s fanfest event.
Image courtesy of CCP Press Pack
