Are you eager to deliver some payback in your favorite spacefaring MMO? Executive Producer Jon Lander and Lead Game Designer Kristoffer Tuoborg take us through their packed winter 2012 expansion.

Ships, Stories and Social Tools

Mechanics and systems are one thing, but it’s the ships that are the big deal. Lander told us there were web campaigns asking “where have the frills gone from my Vagabond?” He later mentioned that feedback on some early pictures of the new model had been very good. And yes, the Salvage Drone announced at EVE Fan Fest earlier this year will be arriving in Retribution. 

The team has also been looking at the 2nd tier of Tech 1 Destroyers, adding a new version for each of the main races that act as missile or drone platforms. Even though the final stats haven’t been decided, Lander’s excited to try them out. “We’ve always found that, whenever we throw new ships into the mix, our players immediately start theory-crafting about the best way to use them, the best way to fit them, the best way that they fit into the ‘scissors-paper-stone’ gameplay that we have.”

Tuoborg’s also been looking at ship rebalancing, with Frigates, Destroyers and Cruisers getting updated. He felt that the range was missing a dedicated Frigate for new players to get into the mining and industry game, so the team’s looking to add one designed for blockade running and ninja-mining. He thinks that Battlecruisers made Cruisers slightly obsolete, so his solution was to develop proper roles for both classes of ship. He also intends to maintain this division as the remaining ship classes are rebalanced in future updates.