EVE Evolved: Apocrypha expansion preview
by Brendan Drain 
Mar 2nd 2009 at 7:30PM
Filed under: At a glance, Sci-fi, Galleries, Screenshots, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, Previews, PvE, Hands-on, EVE Evolved
As March 10th draws ever closer, EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion is coming more and more into focus. Information on the new game mechanics and content is being released in the form of developer blogs and the official expansion page complete with screenshots and artwork is already up. Most importantly, a test version of the expansion is live on Singularity, EVE's main test server. Like any good journalist, I took my camera crew onto the test server to get some pictures of Apocrypha in action. What I found blew me away, literally.
In this gallery article, I take a visual sneak peak at parts of the impressive new Apocrypha expansion with a whopping 37 screenshots. In each screenshot, I talk about all of the new additions to the game.
Brendan "Nyphur" Drain is an early veteran of EVE Online and writer of the weekly EVE Evolved column here at massively.com. The column covers anything and everything relating to EVE Online, from in-depth guides to speculative opinion pieces. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at brendan.drain AT weblogsinc DOT com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tyranor said on 7:46PM 3-02-2009
Great preview...congrats on single handedly getting me to reactivate my EvE account :P
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Brendan Drain said on 7:50PM 3-02-2009
*adds one to the list*
After reading about the new expansion, three friends in real life and my brother decided to resubscribe too. In combination with the box copy being sold in stores, I can see the population of EVE skyrocketting very soon before the usual summer lull in activity.
Conquests said on 7:49PM 3-02-2009
Hey what gives, where's the ambulation system, who cares about technical blah?
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Brendan Drain said on 7:52PM 3-02-2009
Apocrypha is one of the biggest expansions in terms of content and new game mechanics that they've ever released, possibly the biggest. Ambulation is well underway but would have been too much work to get ready by the summer. Instead, they decided a long time ago to release this expansion now and push ambulation back.
With any luck, ambulation will be the winter expansion. Fingers crossed!
Firebreak said on 8:19PM 3-02-2009
Everyone I know that plays EVE or use to play EVE is very excited about this expansion. I imagine that they will get a number of people re-subscribing.
I don't know how many people they will actually be getting from Ambulation. The game is about space ships and even when you can walk around on stations it will still be about space ships. If you wanted something different then you will not re-subscribe when it comes time.
So I think that this is a better expansion when everything is said and done.
James Taylor said on 9:12PM 3-02-2009
*drool*
Can't wait to pick up the box copy. Going to drop my preorder tomorrow actually.
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Pacey said on 7:11AM 3-03-2009
After trying out the t3 ships on Sisi last night, I can say it's the only thing about the expansion Im disappointed in. I understand they are keeping a tight lid on bonuses, changes in fitting, etc. to keep the playing field level for after the M10 release but they are hard to test.
The damage output from them seems much lower that T2 cruisers (at least on gallente) but their tank seems to be much harder.
It made me think that maybe they'll be of more use in w-space since they'd be able to tank against the sleepers longer, but their weak damage output would make it hard to kill even a couple sleeper cruisers before your killed.
The rest of the content is, quite simply, nothing short of amazing. All the new turret and rep graphics, the new fitting screen, scanning... its all pretty amazing work.
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Brian Newton said on 2:20PM 3-03-2009
Kind of disappointed that none of this covers the reworked new player experience, the new character creation and the new player missions. I'd say that's the most significant part of this update. It's all well and good that stasis fields look a little better, but considering Eve's greatest barrier to its success is its niche nature, I think the long overdue overhaul to making the game more new player friendly has been getting far too little attention.
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Brendan Drain said on 2:31PM 3-03-2009
In my opinion, it would have been a mistake to cover the new player experience in a few images in this gallery. It deserves its own dedicated feature post when the expansion is released. Remember we're not just talking about a few new missions and a change to skill training, there's an entire new epic mission arc for new players that introduces them to each area of the game.
briannewton said on 2:36PM 3-03-2009
No intended offense Brendan, I appreciate the exposure. I do think at least the character creation could have easily been served in terms of screenshots. I do agree it's a big and broad enough change that it deserves its own feature. I guess I'm just antsy to see how effective those new player changes are, since even though I've played EVE on and off since its release, I've never gotten beyond the newbie stage simply because of how complex and inaccessible the game is.
briannewton said on 2:38PM 3-03-2009
I also have been somewhat frustrated by the extreme amount of new content CCP has put into the game and how very little amount of attention has been paid to the new player experience and the complexity of UI in general. Conceptually it's pretty much everything I want in an MMO and I think who don't yet play would agree, but the complexity and obtuseness alone turn people away I think 90% of the time.
Brendan Drain said on 2:43PM 3-03-2009
I woudn't want to cover the new player experience until release of the expansion anyway as parts may be changed before release. The patch isn't very far away, why not wait until then and give the free trial a go to see what the new player experience is like first hand?
Yoh said on 3:00PM 3-03-2009
Good work as usual Brendan.
Between the tournament and Apocrypha has gotten me the itch to re-sub back to EVE.
This is the power of EVE, its not only it strong and dedicated community, but its ability to evolve and change into practically a new game each year/6 months.
EVE has the future of space sim/sci-fi MMO's in its back pocket.
And while I'm keen on Jumpgate:Evolution making a good impression with me, there would be nothing stopping CCP from incorporating a more action orientated combat system into EVE, and blow them out of the water. (unless Jumpgate can evolve in a similar means, then we could see an arms race)
Only time will tell.
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wickedpheonix said on 11:38AM 3-04-2009
Hey Brendan, you forgot to put the skill queue in there somewhere :)
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Brendan Drain said on 12:07PM 3-04-2009
Wish I could have! It wasn't exactly working on the test server so I couldn't get a screenshot of it in action but it's an awesome new addition, isn't it?
wickedpheonix said on 12:09PM 3-04-2009
It was working at some point earlier on, I haven't been on the test server recently though. The skill queue is definitely a game changer for me though and if I was un-subbed at the moment, I would re-sub just for the skill-queue.
James Egan said on 3:39PM 3-06-2009
Fantastic job on this Brendan. A very comprehensive look at what's coming in Apocrypha.
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