EVE Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

The Crucible expansion is one of the best EVE Online expansions for new players, ever. Which is all well and good, but what about the long-lost veteran players that left during EVE Online's four-expansions-long dark age? This is a guide outlining why those players should consider coming back to EVE Online. Like all EVE Online expansions, Crucible is free.

10. Goodbye Supercapital Dominance

It's the saddest story in EVE Online: a player decides to finally take the plunge and try PvP. He has heard all the horror stories about the learning cliff, the minimum skills for entry being only slightly less than the maximum skills possible, and the profundity of gate camps clogging up low- and null-security space. He has heard of how thrilling PvP with for-keep stakes is, and how the only way to learn is by doing it. Undaunted by naysayers and ghost stories, he fits out a drake and bravely ventures forth into the uncharted vastness of space beyond CONCORD's protective grasp... only to die ten minutes as the first thing he sees opens a cynosural field that teleports a fleet of supercarriers right on top of him.

No more, I say! More importantly, CCP is saying the same thing. Supercarriers have had their survivability nerfed to an incredible degree, in that they have had a hit point cut and, more importantly, they can no longer log out to disappear before a fleet can assemble to kill them. If supercarriers drop on lone ships in low-sec after Crucible, they will eventually find themselves on a PvP corporation killboard. Even more importantly, the effectiveness of supercarriers against sub-capital vessels (like battlecruisers) will be pretty much ruined. After Crucible, Nyx supercarriers and their ilk will be for killing starbase structures and capital ships, not little guys trying to find careless travelers to kill.

When the ramifications of these changes seize hold of the consciousness of EVE Online players at large, the supercarrier hot drops will slow to a trickle. That means more fun for pretty much everybody, since it will once again become possible to PvP in low-sec without a death wish. Well, without such a strong death wish. Veteran players that quit EVE Online because of a lack of accessible, symettrical PvP will rejoice. I know I am.

9. Capital Modules

Though supercarriers have been nerfed in their general applicability, the dreadnought and carrier classes of ships have received pleasing improvements that especially favor veteran players. There are now tech II versions of the all-important siege module and triage module. If you haven't been around since they introduced the triage module, it is essentially lets carriers enter a siege mode in which they can remote repair extraordinarily well, but at the cost of committing to the battle for set periods of time. The new modules make these ships extraordinarily effective.

But what to do with dreadnoughts? I mean aside from shoot endless amounts of sovereignty structures so that some alliance fat cat can buy an extra titan. Simple: grind some customs offices for yourself. As we have documented in other guides, the new player-owned customs offices can be killed and replaced by enterprising players. It should take a decently skilled dreadnought less than an hour to kill an NPC-owned Interbus customs office, or to put a player-owned office into reinforced mode. That's a long while to stick your neck out in a dread by yourself, but not so bad if you have even a few friends backing you up.

Capital ships and warfare are one of the few areas in EVE Online that are really veteran-centric, and having more stuff to accomplish with them that does not necessarily involve staying up until 4AM on a weeknight should excite every EVE veteran that misses the epic thrill of capital ships wailing on things.