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Posted - 2013.09.26 19:23:00 -
[1] - Quote
So it has been a day of reading up on your comments throughout the forums and social media and I appreciate that many of you have been rational and reasoned in your views. As a result, we have looked at the situation and we will make some pretty significant changes to this prize structure which still allows players to gain something truly amazing but does not impact the overall history of EVE Online. Since I made my first post as a FAQ, I will continue that pattern and explain a little about the decision process.
Q1, So what are these changes you are talking about and why change it at all?
A1, Let me address the second question first. We grossly underestimated the impact of these historical legacy ships and how they would impact players, especially those who have been in our universe for close to a decade or more. We have taken this feedback on board and will amend the prize structure accordingly. The two prize items which really caused the most vocal dissent were the Gold Magnate and Guardian Vexor, a total of 5 ships. We have decided to remove these as prizes and replace them with a different option.
During the live presentation of our winter expansion announcement on Thursday, September 26 at 20:00 UTC we will be unveiling what players can expect to see with this release. Part of the expansion involves new models coming for everyone in the shape of a new cruiser and frigate. I will not elaborate on what they are just now but you can see them in all of their glory by watching our Twitch stream. What we will offer players as an alternative is as follows:
GÇó Prize 1 (previously a Gold Magnate) will now become the option of either [a unique variant of the new cruiser with enhanced stats and a different skin] or [an all-expense paid trip to Fanfest 2014]
GÇó Prize 2 (previously a Gold Magnate) will now become the option of either [the unique variant of the new cruiser with enhanced stats and a different skin] or [an all-expense paid trip to Fanfest 2014]
GÇó Prize 3 (previously a Guardian Vexor) will now become [the unique variant of the new cruiser with enhanced stats and a different skin]
GÇó Prize 3 (previously a Guardian Vexor) will now become [the unique variant of the new cruiser with enhanced stats and a different skin]
GÇó Prize 3 (previously a Guardian Vexor) will now become [the unique variant of the new cruiser with enhanced stats and a different skin]
These new cruisers will be unique assets that will be owned only by these players. We will not give these out again.
Q2, I still donGÇÖt get it. Why a third party to give this stuff away?
A2, Growing community initiatives is something which is very important to us. Some of our fansites and third party outlets have 10 followers while others have tens of thousands. What we want to do is look at opportunities to foster goodwill with a range of sites and allow situations where we can support them and help them grow. As a result, we will be looking at putting a process in place which allows individual sites to run promotions which are sponsored by CCP. This may not always be unique ships or Fanfest trips but could be some signed artwork to give away or PLEX to hand out.
We have looked at this as a trial version of a program we would like to develop over time. In this instance, we jumped the gun and went too far.
Q3, How do we know we can trust Fansites and third parties to operate fairly and independently?
A3, We have worked with a lot of third party sites in the past such as EVE Radio, BIG Lottery and SOMER Blink. These entities (and others of course) have demonstrated a solid history of trust and reliability. As a result, we can verify that they have been straight and true in their dealings and this should be encouraged.
Q4, So will you move all valuable in-game giveaways internally now?
A4, We want to address this in our upcoming process discussion surrounding 3rd party sponsorship. We want to provide as much support for our community as possible, and one of the most meaningful ways to do that is with special, rare or limited edition items on Tranquility. We need to investigate whether that approach is ultimately positive for EVE before we make a decision about whether future item giveaways should be done only directly from CCP.
Many thanks for all of your patience during this time and we hope this explains some of our thinking. We would also like to address the role of SOMER Blink in this change. They have had three years of constantly delivering on every blink, blast and bonk they have organized. Clearly, this is going to change in this circumstance and this is not their fault in the slightest. We are aware players have played blinks to get involved in the lottery and there is nothing we can do to reverse those transactions. We believe the replacement prizes are of such a high value as to be equal compensation.
CCP Navigator -Community Manager |