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[orange]

CCP Falcon got the dubious honor of announcing that the changes to Industry are being pushed to the right six weeks! (What is this, a rocket launch?)

Greeting entrepreneurial capsuleers!

Let’s talk about Industry!

It began with a blog

Just before Fanfest we opened the floodgates on our ambitious plans for everything relating to Industry, starting with 6 blogs that would fundamentally change everything you could expect from Industry as you know it. You can recap by reading through them here:

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1.    ✓ Reprocess all the things!, where we explained the overhaul to the reprocessing formula, skills, starbase reprocessing array and compression in general.

2.    ✓ Building better worlds focused on manufacturing system changes, mainly damage per job, extra materials, slot removal and starbase improvements.

3.    ✓ Industry UI details the journey of discovery in figuring out the new Industry UI

4.    ✓ Researching the future explained changes to blueprints, namely refactoring the research system to use more sane levels and changes to copy times.

5.    ✓ The price of change explained the cost scaling system, which is one half of the industrial landscape shaping.

6.    ✓ Team up tells you about teams, the other half of the landscape shaping.

The discussion and community feedback to these changes has been very involved and really exciting for the development teams to witness as the debate spread through the player base. You have highlighted areas for improvement while also bringing forward your own new ideas on how we can improve the Industry experience. Industry is one of the most complex collections of systems in the game and we are committed to following through on doing it right the first time.

Continued with Fanfest

We followed up the discussion at Fanfest with multiple round tables and panels, all the while gathering your feedback from the blogs, the CSM and across social media.

At Fanfest during the EVE Keynote, which you can watch here, CCP Seagull (Senior Producer of EVE) announced a change in how we update EVE Online, moving away from two expansions a year to 10 releases. CCP Seagull outlined a world in which the EVE development teams would be able to more easily ship when ready, slotting into a date that provided the highest level of confidence in delivering quality features without having to wait for the next EVE expansion which was often six months away. Ultimately it means more regular updates to EVE for you, with the flexibility for the development team to release when we have full confidence a feature is good to go out.

Due diligence

As things settled post Fanfest, we began reviewing our internal plans to release on 3 June with Kronos.

We ran the numbers, pored over feedback, assessed the risk of the changes we were attempting, and together with the remaining work that had both been discovered and remained to be completed, we made a very important decision. To get enough time on the public test server Singularity and enough time to respond to any issues with this massive change to EVE Online, we are moving the industry features into the next release after Kronos -- the Crius release on 22 July.

However, this only applies to the Industry features and you can still expect a Kronos release on 3 June that will include new Mordu's Legion ship, a plethora of balance changes, sound customization, and everything else revealed at this year’s Fanfest and in previous blogs.

The Industry revamp includes some of the most ambitious and risky systems changes to the game to date. Industry is the beating heart of EVE, so we are taking the necessary time to give it all the love and attention that's needed to assure a quality release and smooth adoption of the new systems.

The new schedule will not only allow us to address a number of the concerns raised by you and finish to a high level of confidence the remaining technical work, but also deploy to Singularity, our public test server, for a prolonged period of player testing following the Kronos release. We expect to be on Singularity as soon as possible after Kronos ships on the 3 June. With the additional time we’ll be monitoring and reacting to your feedback as you get a good long look at all the changes we have made to Industry.

In summary

Moving the industry features to the Crius release on 22 July is an example of our new release model in action. To find out in more in detail how the new release model works, please read this dev blog from CCP Seagull about it.

We hope you understand why we are making this change, and look forward to your continued feedback once we hit the test server. Until then we have a super exciting release scheduled in Kronos for the 3 June, which will contain all the other features announced at Fanfest.

Fly safe! o/

CCP RubberBAND

I am a little disappointed, as my corp is already preparing for the transition (which was probably needed anyway).  I will need to spend some time on SiSi in June to figure out what changes are planned.  Overhauling industry really requires some intense testing for people to figure out how things break.

[PracticalTechnicality]

I feel similarly to you by the sounds of it; initial disappointment followed by a shrug and a quick reversion of plans that hinged on a clear deployment date. 

The irritation remains, but let's hope they can stick to this new date.  About the only thing that sticks in my craw is the #tweetfleet celebration as if this is some sort of organisational revolution.  Announcing dates and being unable to deliver isn't the end of the world, but I haven't seen this much spin since the Blair administration.  Has anyone seen CCP Rumplestiltskin?

To close; good on them for attempting to get it right, the adaptable are the only ones that thrive in EVE anyway so if we can't survive a little patch disruption, our various businesses probably weren't going to live long anyway. 

[Milo Caman]

As someone who remmebers rather vividly the days of 'release and be damned', the fact that they're now delaying releases so they can actually finish them is rather welcome. 

[PracticalTechnicality]

As someone who remmebers rather vividly the days of 'release and be damned', the fact that they're now delaying releases so they can actually finish them is rather welcome. 

So long as they become equally realistic with their announcement of 'probable' dates of delivery, I will likely join you in the crowd of those pleased with the change.  The ability to rectify mistakes before they become a release-issue is a boon, but they have a long way to go to increase their reliability.

Good first steps to that eventuality are on show.  Let's do more than hope they keep walking in the right direction.  Quiet, constructive, yet visible criticism is needed to push them in the right direction.  That being responsible development practice (which they are now embracing) married to responsible disclosure (use of careful language and only releasing dates with exceptionally high probability of delivery). 

[orange]

When I read most of the Research and Production (Blueprint oriented work), I was left concerned that the Dev Team lacked actual experience with Industry beyond T1 ship and module production.  Even ignoring a desire to include new Starbase modules or rig changes, details about how existing manufacturing and research tools and installations would be impacted were not presented.

I lack confidence that the six-week delay will actual result in a complete product for the Industry adjustments.

I also do not see it as the industry overhaul many see it has.  There is an UI update, some Blueprint/Item changes (which previously have not even been in Patch Notes), and the availability and cost of installations (and how they are calculated) is changing.  Teams are just another cost introduced, almost gimmicky, which failed to address an actual MMO challenge - social/group industry.

The bigger impact to Industry is actually the refining changes.

[Alain Kinsella]

Interesting development, but for now I agree with Milo and see this as a good sign.

In some respects this may be better for my own plans.  After watching most of the FanFest footage regarding these changes (and my recent waning interest in my last MMO), I have decided to give Eve another go later this summer.  I'll probably still re-start within the next couple weeks, but now it gives me time to re-acclimate and catch up on two years of changes.

This idea of the 'combat Skiff' (that was mentioned a few times) had me evilly curious for some reason.