Monday, May 21, 2012

Eve Online Inferno Patch Notes!

The Inferno patch notes have been released and wow is that a lot of text.  I'm only going to have a few items here but the full notes can be found here: http://community.eveonline.com/updates/patchnotes.asp

Ship Changes:
It will be nice to fly more than just a Rifter for frigs now.  I really love my Rifter though
  • Inferno will be the first-step taken into removing the Tier system out of ship classes; please refer to the Dev Blog, 'Rebalancing EVE, one ship at a time' for more details.
  • The first batch of changes affect the Tormentor, Punisher (eeeeeeeeee!), Merlin, Incursus and Rifter frigates


Faction Warfare Changes:
Too many to list really, some that caught my eye though
  • Destroying enemy player ships will give LPs to the player giving the final blow (Unless in a fleet)  
    • I take this to mean that if a player is not in a fleet but gets the final blow on a carrier kill, they get all of the LP.  This is kind of a terrible feature to have.  It may be equal parts skill and luck to be able to get the final blow but , in my opinion, this shouldn't even be a factor.  It may be difficult to do but when it happens for the first time, there are going to be a lot of angry people.  Note: If the final blow happens from a fleetmate, the fleet splits the LP
  • Holding and upgrading Factional Warfare systems now have an impact in a faction success as a whole. Number of systems and upgrades hold in the same War Zone (Amarr/Minmatar or Caldari/Gallente War zones respectively) are counted as part of points, then used to unlock War Zone Control tiers
    •  I've had a small issue with this since I heard it.  It would be nice to either see the losing side get an okay bonus or no one get a bonus/nerf at all.  We will have to wait and see what is more profitable, being on the losing side or the winning side.  As the LP cost of a ship goes up, so will the isk price.  200 Million Navy Omens?  It's not out of the realm of possibility
  •  It is now possible to upgrade a solar system owned by your own faction by spending Factional Warfare Loyalty Points (LPs) into the respective Infrastructure Hub
    • Without the Cyno Jammer upgrade, I could care less about this feature.  Hopefully we'll see that soon.
  • All stations located in enemy Factional Warfare systems will now deny docking to the opposing militias. Neutrals are not affected by this change and can still dock anywhere they please
    • The shot heard round the world...  I'm rather happy for this change.  I just wish that they would have changed the victory points per Plex with the last patch when this change was announced.  I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Minmatar knew about this a long time ago with how obsessed some were with capturing Plexes when it meant nothing.
New Modules:
  • The Reactive Armor Hardener : A low slot module that adjusts resists according to incoming damage. You can only fit one, but it lets you fight lazy!
    • I have high hopes for this mod, this could change the game of armor tanking as we know it
  • Extrinsic Damage Amplifier: A low slot, drone damage module which allows your drones do more damage
    • Hoestly, I'm terrible with drones.  It's easily the weakest part of my PvP game.  I pretty much launch them and send them off to die.  We were in a fight recently vs a Dramiel and a Crow in my mission Drake with Flyinghotpocket in a Hookbill (Which didn't turn out too well for FHP but I was able to get out, ty FHP!).  I had no idea my drones were even under fire until my Drones window vanished...  Time to start flying more Arbitrators, make me focus on drones a lot more.
New missile launchers and launch effects: 
If you have seen these, I really don;t have to say anything.  For those few people that haven't seen them, they're freaking awesome!  I really like the new bomb explosion graphics, unique for each damage type.

Unified Inventory
The inventory change has been needed for a long time.  I started in 2009 and I have been frustrated with the inventory system ever since.  Searching is nice and all but why can't I just view all modules and not every single laser crystal that has had one volley shot through it and now can't be stacked?  Now, I totally can!  (Hopefully)

Overall
All in all, a damn good looking expansion.  I just hope that this isn't the last time they will look at Faction Warfare.  I can see a few things being terribly broken and they really haven't addressed the bugging of plexes (which I have witnessed on several occasions).  Even though some of the changes aren't optimal, at least it's change.  And change is good for the soul.