EVE Online Creator Offers Mea Culpa For Outage

[Earnest Cavalli]

EVE Online Creator Offers Mea Culpa For Outage

To apologize for a recent service disruption, CCP Games is awarding all current EVE Online players 50,000 unallocated skillpoints.

On June 2, EVE Online, the world's premier spreadsheet management simulation, fell victim to a sustained denial of service attack. The effort knock out EVE's main server cluster (which also happens to be the cluster that supports CCP's first person shooter DUST 514), and resulted in what the studio describes as EVE's "longest downtime in quite a while."

In an effort to win back public support from its hordes of dedicated fans, CCP has decided that the best course of action following the outage would be to shower players in free stuff. Specifically, 50,000 unallocated skillpoints. If you're an EVE Online player with a functional account, there's no effort needed on your part; Just fire up your character, take a look at the skill sheet, and you should suddenly have a wealth of points to spend on upgrades.

Further (and because CCP doesn't want to leave anyone out), the company is also extending an additional 7 days of free gameplay to anyone who was enjoying the game's complimentary 7 day trial when the denial of service attack took place. If nothing else that should send a strong message about how highly CCP values the EVE playerbase and any potential new players the game might draw.

Despite all of this generosity, CCP is not always a kind and loving virtual deity. The Icelandic company also has a vengeful streak. In the announcement covering this 50,000 skillpoint gift, CCP also points out that its "PLEX for snitches" program is an ongoing effort that allows players to earn in-game rewards for dropping dime on anyone with plans to disrupt EVE or do anything else that might somehow harm the space-based MMO. Given the sorts of things that CCP considers fair play - massive corporate embezzlement plots, assassinations, pyramid schemes - this generally only boils down to people actively attacking the game's servers, but if you do happen to have specialized knowledge of that sort of thing CCP would love to reward your willingness to tattle on your peers with cash expressly designed for use in EVE Online and DUST 514.

You can find full details on the "PLEX for snitches" program on the official EVE website [http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/2384]. Nothing to report? Then simply enjoy your new skillpoints. You've done nothing to earn them, and that makes the reward all the sweeter.

Source: CCP Games [http://community.eveonline.com/news/news-channels/eve-online-news/skillpoint-gift-due-to-he-downtime-on-sunday-june-2/]


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[TiberiusEsuriens]

I wished I 1) played their games and 2) lived in Iceland so I could give them all hugs.

 

[Griffolion]

That PLEX snitching thing sounds like a great idea. Man I can't stand people who would want to ruin a game for so many people like that.

Still, 50K points is nice, but as I remember from my EVE days, this won't even dent the training times for the high level skills of their most dedicated fans. This is clearly aimed at newer players.

 

[Aeshi]

That's a..Unique.. approach to defending against potential attackers I suppose.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

A few things:

50k skill points is not really a wealth of points. It's about 1 day of training. Nice, to be sure, and it stacks fine with the down time, but it's not really a big deal if, like me, you're doing a 25 day skill at the moment.

This is the second time recently they've done this. They did it a week or so ago when the launcher broke as the deployed a new version of it, if memory serves. So, basically, they've handed out 2 days of training to players. That's really nice.

 

[sleeky01]

EVE Online Creator Offers Mea Culpa For Outage

Despite all of this generosity, CCP is not always a kind and loving virtual deity. The Icelandic company also has a vengeful streak. In the announcement covering this 50,000 skillpoint gift, CCP also points out that its "PLEX for snitches" program is an ongoing effort that allows players to earn in-game rewards for dropping dime on anyone with plans to disrupt EVE or do anything else that might somehow harm the space-based MMO. Given the sorts of things that CCP considers fair play - massive corporate embezzlement plots, assassinations, pyramid schemes - this generally only boils down to people actively attacking the game's servers, but if you do happen to have specialized knowledge of that sort of thing CCP would love to reward your willingness to tattle on your peers with cash expressly designed for use in EVE Online and DUST 514.

So really the only way someone might have any (provable)knowledge of a plan to disrupt the game would be to talk about it in open chat. Saying you heard about it over Teamspeak/Ventrillo I don't think would cut it.

So seriously, who would be stupid enough to do that?

And how do you prove it was an actual conspiracy to disrupt the game, and not just being an asshat?

 

[Earnest Cavalli]

Then why is it such a high number? CCP just compulsively adds unnecessary figures to everything?

Short answer: Inflation.

 

[Chadling]

This is a nice deal and all but I can't help wondering...

A few things: 50k skill points is not really a wealth of points. It's about 1 day of training. Nice, to be sure, and it stacks fine with the down time, but it's not really a big deal if, like me, you're doing a 25 day skill at the moment.

Still, 50K points is nice, but as I remember from my EVE days, this won't even dent the training times for the high level skills of their most dedicated fans.

Then why is it such a high number? CCP just compulsively adds unnecessary figures to everything?

Training in EVE Online has heavily diminishing returns over time. Every level of training takes an exponentially longer amount of time than the previous level. For example, to train a basic skill up to 80% completion (level 4 out of 5), it might take a day. To train it to 100% completion (Level 5), it will take about a week. And to make matters worse, that last level of training often unlocks further advanced skills, like an advanced skill that further improves the performance of a specific type of gun.

So... for new players, 50K skill points is a nice little something that will let them unlock a whole bunch of levels at once, but for old players who are flying around in ridiculously advanced cruisers and capital ships (some of which can take literally years to train the skills just to be considered effective), this is not much at all.

 

[Griffolion]

This is a nice deal and all but I can't help wondering...

A few things: 50k skill points is not really a wealth of points. It's about 1 day of training. Nice, to be sure, and it stacks fine with the down time, but it's not really a big deal if, like me, you're doing a 25 day skill at the moment.

Still, 50K points is nice, but as I remember from my EVE days, this won't even dent the training times for the high level skills of their most dedicated fans.

Then why is it such a high number? CCP just compulsively adds unnecessary figures to everything?

To many, that will be a high number. From what I remember, 50K skill points will get you the first few levels of a fairly common skill instantly. However, if you're looking at less common skills, like Titan Class Ship piloting, that may not even dent level 1. It's all relative, really.

 

[Overquoted]

And Dust 514 players are just left with nothing. I have a lot of clan members who lost boosters due to this; I had a 30-day active, so I just lost time on it rather than an entire booster. The message from customer service? You signed a EULA, tough. No extension of boosters, no offer of free skill points, nada.

On the plus side, every single Dust player is going to remember this the next time we think to drop money into the game. And we'll have the good sense to spend it elsewhere.

 

[Strazdas]

So basically i got back the skills that got lsot due to downtime. Yay i guess?
still i feel they should have no need for compensation. they were attacked. it was not their fault their servers were attacked, thus they didnt "fuck up". if anything they hnadled it quite gracefully.

I wished I 1) played their games and 2) lived in Iceland so I could give them all hugs.

you coudl always ask any one of us for a 21 day free trial (its 14 days if you go solo, 21 if invited) and start.
as for moving to iceland i dont know...

If they want people to rat other people out for actual real crimes, then they should probably try offering actual real money.

They do. Plexes are basically game time extenders. by recieving a plex you can add 30 days of gametime to your account, which basically means you just saved 10 Euros that month not to buy gametime. now it is not sure how many plexes they give out, but you get the picture.

Then why is it such a high number? CCP just compulsively adds unnecessary figures to everything?

Not really.
depending on skill you train and your augmentation/neural remap skill trianing speed varies, but assuming maximum efficiency setup (best remap/augmentation geared towards skill training) you train at 0,77 SP per second. over a day it adds up to 66.528 SP. Skills there vary from 50.000SP to millions of SP in requirements to train, based on what your researching. There are skills as fast as 8 minutes of training and as long as 90 days. you cna at any moment freeze current trianign and start/continue on another skill your training. this is usefull whne you lack "this oen skill to fly this ship" and you just put it in to trian fast and then continue on your trianing plan, for, say, blueprint invention skills. most Sirius people actually plan how they will train their skills for years ahead.

And Dust 514 players are just left with nothing. I have a lot of clan members who lost boosters due to this; I had a 30-day active, so I just lost time on it rather than an entire booster. The message from customer service? You signed a EULA, tough. No extension of boosters, no offer of free skill points, nada.

On the plus side, every single Dust player is going to remember this the next time we think to drop money into the game. And we'll have the good sense to spend it elsewhere.

You console peasants will have to endure the happiness of space gods.
Im joking of course, yeah seems they forgot DUSTers. maybe they will still compensate them alter on and the system is simply not as worked out (not the first time they add this to eve, fisrt time they would ahve to compensate to dusters)

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Then why is it such a high number? CCP just compulsively adds unnecessary figures to everything?

Short answer: Inflation.

Well, a bit of a simple explanation: roughly it's like this: one second = one skill point. So, if you got a skill like Battle Cruisers V that takes about 1.5 mil SP to train that means that it'll take about 25 days. So 50k isn't a whole lot in that perspective. However, had you asked me when I started a few months back I'd have been thrilled at the prospect of getting a days worth of training for free.

So it's basically a matter of how old your character is. It's the same with money. For a new player 1 mil ISK will feel like a space fortune while for a vet it's hardly worth their time. I've had corp members casually throw 100 mil at me because I lost a boat and they didn't really have anything else to do with the money. So, yea, again, a matter of perspective. I'll bet you 10$ that when I reach the currently staggering sum of 1 bil ISK I'll be going: "Eh, I need more money. 1 bil isn't that much.".

 

[Product Placement]

-snip-

Well, aren't you a bundle of sunshine.

Here's a question? Have you actually tried contacting the company and ask if they're willing to reimburse the wasted boosters instead of telling us about how much they fail at life?

No, really. Try writing them about this issue and report back, what they say. I'm curious to see how much of an assholes they turn out to be:

[email protected]

 

[Overquoted]

Well, aren't you a bundle of sunshine.

Here's a question? Have you actually tried contacting the company and ask if they're willing to reimburse the wasted boosters instead of telling us about how much they fail at life?

No, really. Try writing them about this issue and report back, what they say. I'm curious to see how much of an assholes they turn out to be:

[email protected]

Look, I understand that CCCP has a lot of fans, given how long EVE has lasted. But that doesn't mean CCP won't pull the same kind of crap EA and friends will.

I said, specifically, that customer service said no. Why? Because I contacted them looong before I posted on this forum. I got a much more vague reply than my friend, but it was still a no.

From CCP:

Hello,

We can certainly understand your frustration regarding the unexpected server downtime. For more details on the subject, please visit this link:

http://dust514.com/news/2013/06/tranquility-downtime-on-sunday-june-2-and-monday-june-3-1/

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and thank you for your patience in this matter.

Please contact SONY Customer Service for a refund on any in-game add-on:

https://support.us.playstation.com/

Should you have any further questions regarding DUST 514, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Best Regards,
GM ArchDuke
CCP Customer Support | EVE Online | DUST 514

To be fair to CCP, I first asked them to extend the booster. A few days later, still experiencing problems and booted off (when they finally pulled the server offline, but before I was aware they had), I asked for a refund. I was irritated and somewhat tipsy. Truth is, I didn't want a refund, I just wanted the boosters extended by the time lost. But he addressed my first post to the ticket (asking what was going on) by directing me to the forum post, then ignored the request for an extension.

And the passive boosters were also screwed up since I spoke to someone who actually keeps track of his SP and booster time. After the downtime, the booster had counted down, but his SP had stayed the same. (Or so he says.)

And again, EVE players have received SP. Dust players, paying or not, have received nothing.

[EDIT] I messaged them again, asking them to clarify their position on boosters. I got a 'we'll be figuring out ways to compensate EVE and Dust players' message. And since they sorted EVE players out already but haven't even announced what they might compensate Dust players with (paying or non-paying), I really doubt their word on it.

 

[direkiller]

That PLEX snitching thing sounds like a great idea. Man I can't stand people who would want to ruin a game for so many people like that.

Still, 50K points is nice, but as I remember from my EVE days, this won't even dent the training times for the high level skills of their most dedicated fans. This is clearly aimed at newer players.

it's about a free day it's nice but it's not going to cut into anything major,
and yea if you been playing for years this is by no means the weirdest thing that has happened so your not going to stop playing over this.