EVE General Discussion

The new T2 modules

Just the warfare links, oh boy. You do realize that, for instance, now, instead of a -22.5% mining laser cycle time you can go up to -28.125% from any regular ship ? Or, if done in a deployed Rorqual, from -33.75% to -42.1875% ? It may not sound like all that much, but comparatively, that's a +29.03% to+39.13% mining yield for any ship, or +50.94 to +72.97% actual mining yield !
Similar but less shocking improvement for ship resists (shield/armor).
And don't get me started on the T2 siege modules, those make Dreadnoughts kinda USEFUL again.
Heck, the jump in convenience of T2 tractor beams, that alone is pretty nice for just about any NPC-popper.
All in all, the majority of new T2 items are pretty damn cool to have.

Player Owned Customs Offices and the PI taxation changes

After so many, many, MANY people kept complaining that "there's no reason to leave highsec", now they give you a reason to do so, and all you can think of is "waah, my PI income is ruined".
No, it's NOT ruined. It's TEMPORARILY STUNTED, even for highsec. As the market prices readjust.
And for those doing it outside of highsec... if you can keep your POCOs unpopped, you can tax yourself at zero and have it pay itself from other people's taxes, which is double win. Get some of your enemies to also use it at drastically increased taxes and it's triple win.
Oh, and by the way, FW LP has become more valuable again. You're welcome. So nice nobody mentions it.

Oh, yeah, and you also got far more upgraded links. You're welcome.

Freakin' engine trails and bloody decent shadows

After all that incessant whining of "bring'em back", now that they ARE back (and by the way, they look better than they used to), gee, what a silent welcome trails get.
And the shadows went from terribad to gorgeous. I actually kept them on this time.

Hybrid (and not only hybrid ammo) buffs, and by extension, the Naga

How long has everybody complaining that blasters suck ? Now that they no longer really suck, any appreciation ? A tiny bit, maybe, but that's about it. And come on, what the hell were Caldari people expecting ? An even bigger Drake ? Let some room for a tier 4 battlecruiser to handle that :P
Also, maybe the tiny extra speed is not THAT much of a big deal on blastery ships, but still it's something.

Autodock, autojump, loot all ?!?

Seriously, just the "loot all" thing is awesome enough on its own.
But now, you can also autopilot directly into dock !
Or set a destination and NO LONGER HAVE TO MANUALLY ADD A WAYPOINT AND RE-ENGAGE AUTOPILOT after every jump ? Manual fast travel just became so much more convenient...

New nebula/starfield

I didn't get a chance to see many, but overall, they look AWESOME compared to the drek we used to have.
We used to have mostly uber-bright backgrounds (where you could barely see the transparent UI buttons at times) with some little pitch-black areas, now it's far more natural. Could still be better, but it's a lot easier on the eyes than what we used to have.
Oh, and DO NOT get me started on the color banding on the OLD backgrounds. Maybe you guys on your wimply undercontrasted no-real-blacks cheapo LCDs couldn't see it, but I sure as hell could. Annoyingly so. Not anymore, not with these new puppies. Not yet anyway.

The host of other small but important things
Drag fit to market bookmarks, increased fittings number, increased player ship salvage drops (and especially T2 salvage, and barges now actually droping T2 salvage at all), MISSILE SHOWINFO showing the right data, DPS display in the fitting screen, no more CONCORD insurance payouts, destroyers DPS buff, drones trying to dock, reconnecting to drones, better looking map, better looking warp, better looking a lot of other things, the return of "still picture" option for hangar and quite a few other stuff.

The things still to come
Fuel pellets. Time dilation. BOTH awesome.


...

Yeah, the font thing is kind of a win some lose some deal, but... eh.

Yeah, I voiced my amazement over the new gang links in the help channel and some guy replied with "it's only .5% difference!"

Blasters are still not on par though, thing is that it's not something they should change in regards to hybrids but rather they should finally become fearless enough to admit that the optimal range on pulses + scorch is silly atm, just as silly as having TC/TE affect falloff while not adjusting falloff ranges on AC's (and/or ship bonuses) while giving them damage selection at the same time.

In order for hybrids to be better on par and for the blaster niche to work both lasers and projectiles need to lose some range.

Well people will adapt...

It was huge deal for me when I 1st saw it in SiSi, but it has been going to better direction all the time.
We just need to give UI department more time and enjoy they stuff you just mentioned...

Let's give this a time out for now and see how it looks after xmas or something.

boosting an Akita T thread.

This patch is good, many Russians and possible Germans already appreciate official forum and in game language support.

New and continuous strip miner noises are pretty epic in my opinion

New Jump functionality

One click navigation (well, two to be technically exact).
Undock, select gate, click Jump (or press D).
Sit back and relax.

Edit: Oh, nvm. You got it covered already .. heh

Nice post Akita. Thoroughly agree. Crucible contains many new exciting things that have been done well and well thought out.

I just hope they can maintain THIS level of improvement (or close to it) over the next couple of expansions too...

agreed

This patch simply has too many awesome little improvements to mention!

New solar system map background makes scanning in some systems much easier, earlier there were systems where you simply couldn't see things because of a bright, coloured background.

Of the already mentioned things:

Nebulas are just stunning, epic space beauty <3

I love the new font and the huge improvement to usability it brought. Judging by the comments, it might have some scaling/anti-aliasing issues on other resolutions/platforms, but on my setup (Mac client, calibrated wide-gamut H-IPS@1920x1200) it is sheer brilliance esthetically and practically.

PI changes were implemented perfectly to cut down pre-patch speculation. While it changes the way many people harvest easy money (myself included, I've been running lowsec PI for some time on an alt), this patch makes PI more like an MMO game feature where teamwork pays off like it should. Btw in some regions the price has already adjusted :)