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

Jeff Woleslagle: And apart from the tutorial, will players be directed somehow to the start of the epic mission arc? And is the epic mission arc soloable from start to finish?

Arend Stührmann: Yes, apart from the tutorial, the content division has created some missions that will be put into the EVE rotation for all other agents out there in the EVE universe. And regular players, more experienced players will get these missions pointing them towards the agent who hands out the epic mission arc.

Of course as we add more epic mission arcs, and our content department is hard at work crafting some more of those to be launched soon, we’ll be pointing people towards the other agents that hand out the missions for other levels. The thing to add is this first epic mission arc really is aimed mainly at newer players, so it does start out as sort of a level 1misson and end up at level 2 difficulty. Whether you’ll be able to solo the whole thing on your own? Well, some of those missions might require you to get in touch with some other people that are hanging out in the same system, and maybe band up to them. But you’ll be made clearly aware of that in the mission briefing.

Jeff Woleslagle: And you could argue that no game discourages rolling alts, at least on the same account, than EVE online where any player can learn anything and playing a new character means potentially losing years’ worth of experience. That said, should players check out the NPE just for fun? And how will NPE effect long-term players aside from a yearly respect?

Arend Stührmann: Well long term players will certainly gain from the NPE because I believe that our new and revised NPE actually will lead more people to stay with the game. That is, after all, it’s intention. So long term players? Well, the more people we retain, the more potential allies, the more potential enemies there are in the universe. And because we’re still a single shard game and a sandbox environment, the more people that are flying around and contributing to the economy, the politics, the market; it can only be of benefit to everyone.

Jeff Woleslagle: Do you expect to open a whole new avenue of trade from salvaging sleeper wrecks, mining and marketing the loot to craft Tech 3 ships? And being that Tech 3 is a whole new branch of manufacturing, will players start out on a level playing field when it comes to training these new manufacturing skills?

Arend Stührmann: There’s of course always going to be a market that will develop from the Tech 3 components just like we see a new market develop from the Tech 3 ships. And the expectation is probably that at the start it’s going to be a highly profitable one because rarity does play a part in this. And as more people start using, start exploring, start salvaging and start putting these items on the market we’ll see the price stabilize over the long run.

The manufacturing side of it, you do need a specific structure, or Caldari research articles to do the reverse engineering part of the Tech 3 production process, so that’s going to be a small barrier to entry. So a brand new fledged industrialist will have to work up towards that. But in terms of getting the raw materials, and getting them back to known space and putting them on the market - because wormholes are accessible from everywhere in the known universe – if you can make your way in there and survive the experience and get back home, then you stand to make a good deal of profit.