First Strike February Playtest

At the ready Vanguard, 

Once again, the battlefield calls and legions of warclones will answer. The latest First Strike playtest kicks off at 12:00 UTC on 22 February and runs until 12:00 UTC on 26 February, opening the doors to EVE Vanguard for the curious and competitive around New Eden. As in previous First Strike events, the playtest is open to all Omega players as a part of Founders’ Access. 

ONWARD AND UPWARD 

As warclones take to the frontlines in droves to do the Deathless’ bidding, rest assured that not only are you doing your part to spread corruption in New Eden, but also contributing to the ongoing development of EVE Vanguard, which is very much a collaborative effort.

Already, our Founders have been instrumental in providing valuable insights into areas for improvement, which are being implemented in current and upcoming builds of the game. We will continue to collect feedback from players to improve and build upon a solid foundation.

Push to talk (PTT), a much-requested quality-of-life feature with a mappable shortcut key (default is left ALT) has been added (for now it needs to be reset for each session), along with the following updates and improvements to this build: 

• The ability to remap the sprint command to a different key has been implemented (for now it needs to be reset for each session). 

• An issue causing players to reload after firing one shot has been fixed. 

• An issue causing the client to crash when characters died has been fixed.  

• An issue that saw dropped loot boxes spawning underground when placed on the metal floor has been fixed. 

• The ability to add players on the same squad to favorites is now available. 

• Reduced issues where security tools / ISPS prevented players downloading the client

We look forward to seeing your rampage on the battlefield and receiving your post-deployment feedback to further improve EVE Vanguard. 

SOW CHAOS, REAP REWARDS

Just like in previous playtests, there are serious rewards on the line for industrious warclones. Depending on your activities on the ground, you may walk away with impressive spoils. Vanguard who eliminate 50 threats (which include NPCs, other Vanguard, or turrets) as part of a squad of two or more, will receive the Atron Arkombine Arisen SKIN. Any kills made by a squad will count towards the total for each member, but should any warclone in the squad die from friendly fire, all progress in the deployment will be void. 

Collecting 2,000 units of biomass will earn players the Talwar Arkombine Arisen SKIN, but keep in mind that your progress will be void if you attempt to collect biomass by shooting one of your squadmates. 

Additionally, Vanguard who reach the top 10 leaderboard for most contracts completed with successful extraction during the event, will be handsomely rewarded with PLEX. 

Also, completing the challenge of eliminating 50 threats with the help of your squad mates counts toward a longer-term challenge which will culminate in unique rewards later this year. In the December playtest, it was enough to simply launch the game, and in January, you needed to complete a deployment as a squad member. To unlock the big reward in June, you need to complete at least four of six challenges, so make sure you don’t miss out. 

BECOME A FOUNDER 

As in the previous First Strike playtests, the doors to Vanguard will be open to players with Founders’ Access, meaning the only requirement to join the event is to have Omega. For those who haven’t already, this is the perfect time to upgrade, as both the EVE Store and the New Eden Store are offering a bundle including 14 days of Omega access and the Astero Arkombine Arisen SKIN for a limited time, giving anyone interested in jumping into EVE Vanguard an unmissable opportunity. 

SEE YOU PLANETSIDE 

EVE Vanguard is a collaborative effort between developers and players, and your participation on the battlefield is invaluable. We look forward to seeing you in the First Strike February playtest, and continuing to work with you toward the creation of the ultimate FPS experience within the EVE Universe.  

Make sure you tune in to CCP TV at 16:00 UTC on 22 February as EVE devs will be going live to talk about all things Vanguard, and join the Q&A on the Discord server at 16:00 UTC on 23 February. In addition, the Live2Feed stream from 14:00-16:00 on Friday 23 February will feature EVE Vanguard, so stay tuned for that.