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New dev blog: The Ease of EVE

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Justin Cody
War Firm
#201 - 2012-02-21 10:01:45 UTC
Well in the graphics department...I would like to see noob ships made a little cooler looking. Yeah they are crap...but visuals are part of the enticement of the game.

game play: The tutorials..they are much improved from when I started in 2004 and COSMOS has brought a lot of interesting flavor. Continue to iterate and expand on COSMOS missions. Add diversity to missions and make missions more dynamic in general...i.e. not the same every time.

Game design: More default links in the IGB for eve resources so players have easy reference material
Iterate UI so we can have loadable UI settings like we do for the overview. Maybe that is too advanced.

more immersion in game play for role players, different flavor to missions than for grinders etc.

More penalties for sticking around in a noob corp than a 10% tax... jack that sucker to 35%.

Improve the mining experience...no I don't know how...perhaps give some % change for better mining yields.

but really...make noob ships a lil nicer.
Salpun
Global Telstar Federation Offices
Masters of Flying Objects
#202 - 2012-02-21 10:06:51 UTC
Justin Cody wrote:
Well in the graphics department...I would like to see noob ships made a little cooler looking. Yeah they are crap...but visuals are part of the enticement of the game.

game play: The tutorials..they are much improved from when I started in 2004 and COSMOS has brought a lot of interesting flavor. Continue to iterate and expand on COSMOS missions. Add diversity to missions and make missions more dynamic in general...i.e. not the same every time.

Game design: More default links in the IGB for eve resources so players have easy reference material
Iterate UI so we can have loadable UI settings like we do for the overview. Maybe that is too advanced.

more immersion in game play for role players, different flavor to missions than for grinders etc.

More penalties for sticking around in a noob corp than a 10% tax... jack that sucker to 35%.

Improve the mining experience...no I don't know how...perhaps give some % change for better mining yields.

but really...make noob ships a lil nicer.

noob ships are already been redone we will most likely see a video blog about it today.
All are better i like the original Gallente rooky ship better though.

If i dont know something about EVE. I check https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/ISK_The_Guide

See you around the universe.
Moonaura
The Dead Rabbit Society
#203 - 2012-02-21 10:37:10 UTC  |  Edited by: Moonaura
New ships sounds great, to be honest (I took a look at the early shots, great work CCP on the new designs. Ignore the haters ;-), it wouldn't hurt if there we're more frigate types in the game either. Ships are EvE's equivalent of a level up and CCP should continue to add ships, even T1 varieties of Frigates and Cruisers.

There is a real sense of excitement when you get and train for a new ship. Being given a ship by the tutorial you can't yet fly, I think is a great motivator and encouragement to keep training. Don't do less of that CCP Legion, do MORE of it and this creates a goal for players to train towards, and early goals are one of the things lacking in EvE as discussed already. Maybe set it up so that the Epic arc, results in getting a Cruiser, and another new Epic Arc gets them a free Battlecruiser... they have to work for it, and chances are they won't have the skills to fly it yet, but that is no bad thing, because it plants the seed of wanting to get in it. Tell the players that this is the reward at the end, and you'll see some real take up.

From time to time I find myself in the NPC corp on a Jita alt, and look to help out anybody I can see who is asking the right questions.

One thing I don't think is well covered by the tutorial is how the tanking works. The basics are covered, but it is a complex subject, but what what is missing from new players understanding I find is the role of capacitor in how the active tank works and how crucial capacitor is overall in the game.

Then they tend to mix up an active tank with a buffer tank, not understanding the role of plating etc. I know I did too when I started.

I teach them to focus on capacitor > resistances > active tank. And the feedback from those who carry on is one of utter joy as they suddenly find themselves able to play the game properly and crack on with the epic arc.

"The game is mostly played by men - 97%. But 40% of them play as women... so thats fine."  - CCP t0rfifrans 
CCP Legion
#204 - 2012-02-21 11:10:34 UTC
Darrow Hill wrote:

1) EVEMon is not optional.
2) Skill remaps, and the attribute system.

I don't know what the situation is regarding getting something like EVEMon in-game, but giving players more direction and help regarding their skill progression is something we can do. In the very beginning is it difficult to figure out what you should train and what is it that you need in the long term. This comes down to not being able to see how you can progress and what opportunities are out there for you and what you might need to tackle them.

Victus Drake wrote:

Perhaps if there was some way to accelerate basic fitting skills training? Such as follow a certain training quest line and you get certain ranks in basic fitting skills automatically?

This is something worth probing into in the long run. However we don’t want players to completely skip from newbie ships to a Drake in a day. If it takes you 3 weeks to be useful in a WH corp, is that too long? There are other things to do in those 3 weeks to get to know the game better. You don’t go to high end raids in wow a week after you start either (unless you grind like mad).

Chokichi Ozuwara wrote:

Testing on one's wife isn't very useful, because she has a bias to try and take a higher level of interest due to IRL relationship, not to mention they are more likely to mask emotions like disappointment and frustration.

Whilst this does not give answers to all questions, it still gives an indication to the points where the user feels lost or doesn't understand what is asked or how things work. On its own it is nothing to act on, but it adds another source of feedback to the whole process. Also, my wife is very bad at hiding her emotions, so that really wasn't a problem ;)

Skye Aurorae wrote:
I find that a lot of new pilots come to the game with many misconceptions regarding gameplay, PVP, markets and other aspects so I put this video together to help educate players (and yes, get a few plex from buddy invites).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0M7jkv3xkQ
I keep planning to make more videos on the 'first days in eve', but it takes a lot of effort.

Very good video this.

Nova Fox wrote:
I always felt that the inspace tutorial epic mission arc could need some tweaking to help show players than even a small frigate can do very useful things.

Nice example of teaching important aspects of the game in a way which is fun and makes you feel like a baws.

@CCP_Legion | Producer
J Pascal
GiveMeURFace
#205 - 2012-02-21 11:22:51 UTC
Don't think EVE should get easier to play, 'cause IMHO it's gameplay as it is now and had been before makes it what it is - a game not like the others.Cool

Good decisions come from good judgements, good judgements - from bad decisions.. In Soviet Russia Veldspar mines you..
Bienator II
madmen of the skies
#206 - 2012-02-21 12:34:43 UTC
CCP Legion wrote:

This is something worth probing into in the long run. However we don’t want players to completely skip from newbie ships to a Drake in a day. If it takes you 3 weeks to be useful in a WH corp, is that too long? There are other things to do in those 3 weeks to get to know the game better. You don’t go to high end raids in wow a week after you start either (unless you grind like mad).

this is a fairly important point IMO. Far to many think that you have to wait (and pay) a decent amount of time until you can do anything interesting in game. And in fact there is nothing which communicates that this is not true if you don't join a corp from day 0. E.g the tutorial should mention (even though it seems quite obvious) that you actually *should* do something while waiting for skils :).

also: there are basically two main strategies how to skill
- you know exactly what you want and skill for it
- you try to skill as many skills as possible without reaching a high level (everything which sounds interesting of course)

i did the second and i don't regret it. I started specializing late, but was able to try out everything by myself.

how to fix eve: 1) remove ECM 2) rename dampeners to ECM 3) add new anti-drone ewar for caldari 4) give offgrid boosters ongrid combat value
Nomad I
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#207 - 2012-02-21 13:27:47 UTC  |  Edited by: Nomad I
Most 0.0 corps deny 0.0 access for noobs. I'm playing since 2006 and living since then in 0.0, but even the Goons are very restrictive accessing noobs. God corps are reserved for experienced players. So noobs are often frustred about bad corps and learning nothing. EVE is about playing together. It doesn't matter if you train for a carrier for 2 years. If you play well together it's the personal incentive. It's not about skills, it's about social interaction.

Reasons:
1) The hilarious bad access right system. Giving access to a cache of ships, ammo etc. is a real problem
2) There is no incentive for corps and alliances to train noobs and show them the mechanics.

There should be an incentive for player and corp to have a relationship that lasts longer than a month. This incentive could be less taxes or better standings to NPC factions.
Chanina
ASGARD HEAVY INDUSTRIES
#208 - 2012-02-21 13:47:35 UTC  |  Edited by: Chanina
A new player finishing the tutorials has some basics, a few ships and money to get some additional setups. But he also needs to know where to get this stuff best. Some newbie systems aren't well seeded with market orders so there should be list for new player for the common trade hubs where they can get their stuff at moderate prices.

Player interaction is the most important part of this game and with the corp finder tool you already provide a good platform to corps to advertise them self. What I would like to see is a system for players who have joined a corp through that advert can rate the Advert and the corp. (1)
They should have the option to state something like "the first impression", how close is the advert to reality and maybe some other values like PvP orientation, PvE orientation, Industrials, team play etc. to be rated. The first one can be done during the first week after the player joined the corp and after a month or two a second survey is called where he can adjust his statements.
All ratings will last finite (lets say 6 month) so it will be harder to cheat the system and a corps reputation won't be ruined after some bad ratings.

Increasing free stuff for new players like more ships or more SPs is not necessary what they need IMO is the knowledge about a fitting and how to align your training queue to it. If you plan out things right at your first gaming evening you can sit in an AB fitted tackling frigate the next evening and join your friends in your newly discovered player corporation. (Maybe this skill plan won't work out because of some high dependencies like electronics IV, if that's so this issue should be tackled soon)
If you start the game with the impression "only flying a titan is really funny" you obviously have a lack of imagination.Blink

Nomad I wrote:
...

Reasons:
1) The hilarious bad access right system. Giving access to a cache of ships, ammo etc. is a real problem
…


This is a very good point. Even if the crowd sourcing was compromised by some entities, we NEED a better corporation management. Yes there are only a few people who handle this tool but this few people decide who much fun they can provide a corp and how much paperwork there is to do before you can have fun. It is ridiculous that there is only the options HQ, based at and others for division management. You can't store anything accessible to everyone without opening the door wide for a lot of security issues.

(1)Obviously there must be some restrictions prevent cheating. Something like "trial accounts don't count", "only one char per account can rate". Leaving the corp and just rejoin won't give you another vote. You must be at least 5 month out of corp. A rating only lasts for 6 month or until the member leaves which ever occurs first.
If a new player friendly corp does its job right they will get voted up and may increase in popularity. Keeping the players choices private will be hard in small corps which only recruits 2 or 3 members but in large corporations with a steady flow of new players joining in it could be more anonymous by just collecting a 5 to 20 surveys and update the data in a block at a random frequency.
Indahmawar Fazmarai
#209 - 2012-02-21 13:59:50 UTC
Flamespar wrote:
Rather than focus on what knowledge we need to impart to new players. I thought I would talk about how the NPE should make players feel. You will find that the way players feel (excited, terrified, confused) is far more important for getting them to invest in the game than the quality of the knowledge we seek to impart.

Generally the new player experience should begin in a simple environment with which a player is already familiar (avatar) and then guide and acclimatise then to their new environment (flying in space).

My suggested approach is to use different environments to acclimatise players. Hence the first environment they encounter (clone vat room) should be about movement and meeting Aura. Beginning the game in the clone room helps to teach players the most important lesson of EVE, which is: you are going to die. Death is such an important part of EVE that you want new players to understand that it is a normal part of game play from day one.

Another way of making this point could be to begin the game with the players first death, when they discard their original body and join the ranks of the immortal capsuleers. You could do this with a video (similar to the awakenings video) after the player has created their character. Perhaps you could show a Caldari character shooting themselves in the head as a test of military resolve and as a display of their dedication to the state. An Amarr character may sip poisoned water as part of an religious ceremony. A Gallente character may die in a laboratory at the end of a needle. A Minmatar character may die to escape a prison.

Showing this 'first death' in this manner, is an opportunity to establish the 'feel' of EVE, and also to begin to show how the four empires differ in their attitudes.

Once players have exited the clone room, they then learn how to connect to other players and NPC corporations in the captains quarters (or in a multiplayer establishment once they are implemented). This is important for two reasons. Firstly because player are more likely remain subscribed if they are part of a social group, secondly because EVE is about social interactions (even when conducted down the barrel of a gun). They key concept to convey to new players, is that if they want to be successful, they need to connect to other players.

The next step is to get them into space. Getting their first ship should feel like an exciting moment. Don’t just have it sitting in the hanger already. Have it granted to them by an NPC as the final part of their induction into the ranks of the capsuleers. The player is about to exit from the safe confines of the station into the limitless expanse of space. It should feel like a big exciting moment. They should feel like the world is starting to really open up before them.

Players first space based missions should be about instilling a sense of wonder. A sense that there is already something else to discover. Have them unexpectedly come across a wormhole during a seemingly routine mission. Have them encounter the Sansha during a courier mission to a customs office. Introduce them to the pirate factions by a note slipped under their door in the CQ.

What is most important, is that you don't want them to finish the NPE and think 'is this it?'


Wow, that would be absolutely too awesome. Shocked

So I don't count on CCP and their petty nullsec whiners takign that road... Lol
Nova Fox
Novafox Shipyards
#210 - 2012-02-21 14:54:23 UTC  |  Edited by: Nova Fox
CCP Legion wrote:


Nova Fox wrote:
I always felt that the inspace tutorial epic mission arc could need some tweaking to help show players than even a small frigate can do very useful things.

Nice example of teaching important aspects of the game in a way which is fun and makes you feel like a baws.


Should warn players that capsuleer ships are much more efficent and dangerous than non pod captained (NPC) ships and that finding allies amogst other capsullers is recomended.

Also I will leave it to mission designers to figure out how many missions the starting player actually needs break down the lessons into smaller bite sizes if nessecary such as the probe launching one. Sure this arc is a bit of hand holding but you're getting information from a person who supposivly has more knowledge than you. Who then recommends getting help from other capsulleers as our dear ol starship captain who's walking you though these missions isnt one himself.

If the resources ever allowed for it you could make a split point where the pilot could decide to go pirate and attack the battleship captain, and the player would be shuffeled off to a pirate station.

Dust 514's CPM 1 Iron Wolf Saber Eve mail me about Dust 514 issues.
Miliolida
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#211 - 2012-02-21 15:49:26 UTC
CCP Legion wrote:

This video is an example of something I would like to see in the actual tutorial experience. There are more specific ones coming as well and hopefully at some point we can indeed show things more visually within the game, instead of just text.

well since you already have the ability to play Bink video on your screen in the quarters you could probably have the player start off looking at the big-screen and have a video run . No idea if your engine allows videos in space , or if the server can trigger a specific videos to play, but it would look cool :P , also a bit more immersive then "close eve, goto youtube, watch video , come back".
Maybe then have a replay button that just opens up a little window with the video in space, or people can click their screen and replay the videos on that.


But meh. I think eve should go back to its roots. "click here to shoot, click here to fly, have fun in eve. btw your ship is crap" ahhh good times :P
Rek Seven
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#212 - 2012-02-21 16:21:26 UTC  |  Edited by: Rek Seven
EVE is the first and only MMO that i’ve played and it was my first real PC game. I got bored with console games as they were growing increasingly over simplified and lacked any real innovation when it came to online/multiplayer gameplay. In the beginning, i saw EVE as the challenging and rewarding game i was looking for but now I feel it’s just unnecessarily complicated, and in many areas, lacks the tools that a new player needs.

Firstly the UI is terrible. Your screen is full of windows and there is too much reliance on using drop-down boxes to control your actions and the gameplay mechanics are never explained to you... But we all know about EVE’s problems so i’m not going to go on about it.

As a new player you are expected to read walls of text in the tutorial missions, use the wiki or wade through the spam in the help channel to learn how to play. For many people this is unacceptable and turns them off straight away.

I think that the new player experience needs a sort of single player experience where the basics are explained through missions that simulate how EVE is played on a day to day basis. The player should not be expected to read through walls of text to, instead all communication should be done through audio format (if the players wants) during this tutorial stage and the players should be shown videos that quickly explain security levels, how to fit your ship, how to manoeuvre, etc.

Tutorials should be treated like school also. When you finish a tutorial in a given career path you receive a certificate. When you find a career you like you can choose the higher education rout to specialise and gain more certificates. For each certificate in your chosen career, you should be given skill points that can be used on skills relating to that profession. For example, explorers would be able to improve their basic scanning, cloak or frigate skills. Once educated, the new player would be able to search for a corp who is actively recruiting people with those certificates.

TL;DR – completely overhaul the UI, add tutorial video and audio that explain how EVE is played.

The wishlist is pretty much complete...
Aphoxema G
Khushakor Clan
#213 - 2012-02-21 16:46:52 UTC
What might help the transition from lonely newb in a newb corp full of a bunch of newb jackasses (Why should we expect a new player to appreciate other new players?) is to set up a simple way for corporations to choose to specifically take on new players.

Not simply an option to check in recruitment, as this doesn't offer a lot of sincerity and still requires the new player to make an effort based on knowledge they don't yet have. How am I suppose to know ice cream is awesome if I never tried ice cream? Is it my job to try out everything I'm wary of despite being evolutionarily crafted to not eat the bright red berries sticking out of the bushes?

To minimize the voluntary effort a new player has to take to take, corporations could opt in into "New Player Recruitment" and all these corporations could share in an employment application similar to the normal one. Any of these corporations could grab a new player when they're properly prepared for it without having to consider and damage in just ignoring an application.

Griefing could be mitigated by limiting how many players a corp can accept over a duration relative to how many corporations have volunteered to take on new players (If there's only one corporation around to accept apps, there's no point in not letting them accept them all). So, a corporation that is 50% of the volunteering corporations could accept 50% of applicants in a time, maybe a day. Each corporation should count as 1, as going by the number of members defeats this and favoring smaller corporations risks neglect.

Corporations found to abuse this system could simply be banned from participating.

If a corporation goes too long without accepting new players, it can just be assumed that they forgot to check on it or they stopped caring. Then they can be automatically removed from the list of volunteering corporations until they choose to opt-in again.

Occasionally, players in an NPC corp could be offered the newb-friendly corp recruitment window with the option to never be offered again. This should probably only show after completing or choosing to dismiss the New Player Experience.

To help the corporations in their selection process, the new player could answer a small set of questions to guide them to the fitting corporation.

This solves two problems with the current recruitment/application system. New players don't know what they value yet, so Recruitment can be intimidating with too much information that they don't know if is important. The application process requires the new player to already know it exists, already knows the corporation would be interested in them and to pursue joining a corporation without understanding the benefits in it.
Hakaru Ishiwara
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#214 - 2012-02-21 16:58:39 UTC
Realah wrote:
Personally, I would like to see a no-kidding, definitive, exhaustive electronic "instruction manual" for EVE. I hate having to sift through outdated Evelopedia pages, Community sites, forums, etc to get answers regarding some of the finer aspects of the game. Ideally, immediately after the roll-out of a new patch, this single definitive source is IMMEDIATELY updated with any game changes. For example, it's great that a new hotkey was added in such and such patch, but how's a player supposed to know it exists if they haven't read all of the previous patch notes? When a patch changes an aggression timer, for example, the aggression timer section of the guide should be updated immediately with that new information. A change to faction warfare in an upcoming patch? Change the faction warfare part of the game manual. See what I'm getting at? Tutorials and guides are nice, but there should be a single, trustworthy, thorough source for the game mechanics, and that doesn't exist right now AFAIK.

I've been a subscriber since 2007, but after taking a break from the game for any period, it's daunting trying to catch up with all of the changes. Is it really acceptable for me to have to go through page after page of patch notes? No, I should be able to go to THE definitive game manual and get all the answers I need.

Also, I want to be clear that a definitive game manual should NOT include things like "fitting guides." It should ONLY cover the basic mechanics of the game, and the development of player "guides" should be taken care of elsewhere. All other sources of information should be derivatives of the actual game manual. Growing up, I was the type of kid who bought that new Sega Genesis game, read the manual, and then I played the game... but maybe I'm just getting old.
This is making a big assumption that CCP documents all changes. The EVE patch notes are notorious for leaving out various aspects of code and feature changes.

I have ranted elsewhere that CCP needs to get its house in order and publish comprehensive patch notes, but that requires a serious culture change with the project management, quality assurance and development staff. Not going to hold my breath for that one.

+++++++ I have never shed a tear for a fellow EVE player until now. Mark “Seleene” Heard's Blog Honoring Sean "Vile Rat" Smith.
Shandir
EVE University
Ivy League
#215 - 2012-02-21 17:29:27 UTC
CCP Legion wrote:
Darrow Hill wrote:

1) EVEMon is not optional.
2) Skill remaps, and the attribute system.

I don't know what the situation is regarding getting something like EVEMon in-game, but giving players more direction and help regarding their skill progression is something we can do. In the very beginning is it difficult to figure out what you should train and what is it that you need in the long term. This comes down to not being able to see how you can progress and what opportunities are out there for you and what you might need to tackle them.


I think you misunderstand, we don't expect you to replicate all of EVEmon's functionality in game - EVEmon already does that. We just think you should actually point new users towards it, as they have to ask around currently, which means they need to know that they need 'something', by which point they could probably find it themselves.
You probably should tell new users that goth EVEmon and EFT exist, and are very helpful tools.
Kordran Ke'Azir
Evil Laugh Enterprises
B.E.A.R.S.
#216 - 2012-02-21 18:06:17 UTC
I have a friend who is in his first week of playing. I've helped him a lot and explained a lot of the things missing from the tutorials.

Things I'd add/change:

1. A Skills tutorial would be invaluable. Explaining which skills will help and affect your basic support skills, i.e. "To improve your capacitor and help you complete those long AU jumps, increase your skill in....."

2. A tutorial/explanation of how pirates/gankers can kill you without getting concordukened. There's nothing more frustrating or more likely to make someone quit the game they've JUST started playing than having some douchebag destroy their first hard earned ship because they didn't understand the concord mechanics.

3. 'Specialisation' - That if you want to be *really* good at something (PVP/Mission running/Trading/etc) then specialisation is the way to go since the skills to be able to do something need far more focus to be an -expert- at something.

4. Corporation tutorial. A tutorial on the advantages & disadvantages of joining a corporation/Alliance.



There ya go, just my .02 isk. Hope it's helpful!

For helping people stay in game, I personally think that (2) is the most important.

Kordran
Rek Seven
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#217 - 2012-02-21 18:25:43 UTC
In addition, a combat simulator or arena would help teach people what 90% of them joined eve to do - fly spaceships.

The wishlist is pretty much complete...
Aphoxema G
Khushakor Clan
#218 - 2012-02-21 18:28:32 UTC
Rek Seven wrote:
In addition, a combat simulator or arena would help teach people what 90% of them joined eve to do - fly spaceships.


Seriously, we already have this by going on Sisi, something a little more practical would be nice.
Rek Seven
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#219 - 2012-02-21 21:04:40 UTC
Aphoxema G wrote:
Rek Seven wrote:
In addition, a combat simulator or arena would help teach people what 90% of them joined eve to do - fly spaceships.


Seriously, we already have this by going on Sisi, something a little more practical would be nice.


Because asking a new player to spend a further 3 hours downloading a separate client to test the crap ships he could fly last month isn't totally unreasonable or anything...

If gaining access to SISI was as simple as switching severs via a drop down box on the main eve client log in, you might of had an argument.

A combat arena could benefit old and new players in multiple ways.

The wishlist is pretty much complete...
Alain Colcer
Nadire Security Consultants
Federation Peacekeepers
#220 - 2012-02-21 21:44:50 UTC
The problem with helping new players to deal with eve is more related to understanding its vast set of complex mechanics rather than just socializing.

Socializing has been a supportive tool to close the gap between those who have the knowledge and those who dont. Also, you don't want to engage the newbie into a long and ardous process to get up to speed with a veteran on even terms, that gap needs to exist in the first place. What you certainly need is a short process for the newbie to get the most basic aspects right and then where to find the rest.

Therefore i propose:

Instead of being "born" in a starting system, now players are thrown into a starting constellation that houses the 3 types of NPC schools and the various Career agents. The stations and services available are specifically tailored for the tutorial missions.

Aura tutorial arc -> very much like its current version, a set of missions designed to get comfortable with the game client and it's various screens.

Career Agents:

Split and adjusted so the first tutorial arc includes 3 agents with 5 missions for combat, then 5 missions for trade/business, then 5 missions for manufacturing (no research/science).

This group of 15 missions provides plenty of useful skills, t1 frigs and other goodies to keep the newbie engaged and unraveling the basics of what you can achieve in the game. These basic career missions will get you to travel around the newbie constellation and various landmarks to get used to the aspect of traveling from system to system and having an HQ base.

Then various specific and high-grade specialization agents, which could span as much as 20 missions or as short as 5 depending on the topic, examples could be:
-Exploration
-Adv combat
-Science and Research
-Corporation finding (find a prospect for yourself)

Finally
The current Newbie Epic Arc should only be triggered when you complete the basic set of 15 missions
Add a new "empire faction" epic arc that rescues the circle agent functionality and the datacenter agents into a single platform so you can get faction standing and open several NPC corps for you to work with.

Along the way, numerous references to Evelopedia, Help Channels and other venues that exit in eve (roleplaying even). All with the idea of providing the newbie with the set of tools that will help him survive, rather than train him up to veteran status.