Tyrannis release delayed

Esteemed capsuleers,

We regret to inform you that deployment of our upcoming expansion Tyrannis has been pushed back by one week to May 26th, and that market seeding of Planetary Command Centers is pushed back to June 8th.

In our regression testing, we have identified scalability issues with the Planetary Interaction feature, which led to code refactoring that then needed further testing before being launched to Tranquility. Planetary Interaction is a unique feature in the sense that it is available to almost all players in the game providing opportunity for manufacturing for the masses, so ensuring that it runs smoothly on our cluster is of great importance to all.

EVE Gate will also be released on May 26th, with its web access to EVE Mail, Calendar and revamped contacts, both in-game and on the web.

Planetary interaction functionality is playable on Singularity, our public test server. A significant number of players have helped us by testing the game play and providing valuable feedback and we are grateful for that assistance. But the majority of EVE Online players have not yet had an opportunity to learn how to benefit and profit from the natural resources of the planets. This gives some players a slight advantage and we have chosen to take steps to somewhat level that playing field.

On release, you will be able to view resources on planets, buy and train skills pertaining to Planetary Interaction, discuss your options with your corporation and allied corporations and scout out the planets. We will be releasing a tutorial video in advance of the expansion deployment to help you learn the system as well, but actual manufacturing and extraction of commodities will only be available when we seed the Planetary Command Centers. We are giving players two weeks to familiarize themselves and make their decisions. During that time, our engineering team will be working behind the scenes to test and ensure stellar performance of said Command Centers.  Mark your calendars: the great land rush begins when Tranquility opens after our normal downtime on June 8, 2010.

With thanks for your support and patience,

Torfi Frans Olafsson

Senior Producer of EVE Online