Rumor mill time!
No one knows anything about it yet, except for CCP, and they won't say. I'll collect some rumors and stuff I find on SiSi and elsewhere.
There was an interview somewhere (lost the link) where CCP said that Incarna won't be ready for winter, so don't expect that. But some features from Incarna might make it in - for example, there are rumors that they are adding the character editor already, which might mean reworked character portraits for all of us (yay :-/).
Then there was a
recent devblog about developer time, stating (emphasis mine):
CCP Zulu Wrote:The feature team has chosen to work on a PVE related iteration. In short, they‘ll be expanding and iterating on PVE in EVE, bringing together players for immersive and engaging group content. The art/effects team will be finishing up on left-over work all the way back from Apocrypha and on some level even Trinity, where we have not fully taken advantage of new features of Trinity 2.0. This will mean prettier effects that perform better, especially in fleet fights.
Now, there's another leak. In the discussion to said blog, CCP Soundwaves mentioned
"we're going to bring you Invasion" - which he quickly corrected to
"we're going to bring you a new flying in space feature."
Rumor time up to you, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's related to certain Sanshas.
Next rumor: It's not the Sansha, it's the Jovians.
From the CSM5 meeting minutes (
http://www.eveonline.com/council/transcr..._2010.pdf)
Quote:11:30-12:30 Summer Point Release and Winter Expansion
CCP Attendees: Erlendur – CCP Explorer, Arnar – CCP Zulupark
The summer point release is entirely focused on technical issues, with upgrades to Python and underlying code in general.
The winter expansion will focus on polish of existing features, mainly planetary interaction, and preparation for coming expansions. The aim is to include new character modeling, which involves new technology and new artwork.
Players will be required, when the new character creator will be released, to recreate all avatars in the new system [snip, char avatar creation discussion]
13:30-14:30 Winter 2010
CCP Attendees: Kristoffer – CCP Soundwave, Guilhem – CCP Ytterbium, Kristjan Blondal – CCP Bettik
This session discussed an as-yet undisclosed new feature to be included in the Winter 2010 expansion. In general, the CSM was skeptical about the necessity and potential success of this expansion. A number of concerns were raised, potential impacts identified, and alternate ideas suggested.
The inclusion of such an expansion appears to conflict with what was said in the previous session regarding the focus of the Winter Expansion.
...
11:30-12:30
Future of PI
CCP Attendees: Arnar – CCP Zulupark, Ian D – CCP Pleognost, Rory – CCP Solomon
This session was basically a brainstorming meeting about how to improve PI.
In the immediate future, CCP plans to improve player control, move away from the annoying click-fest, and enable personalization upgrades and progressing pins over time.
The CSM asked about the depletion of planets’ resources. The mechanic is designed such that the depletion depends on all usage on the planets. CSM mentioned some improvements that could be made on the basic PI structure such as a schematics browser and filtering capabilities.
There was a short discussion on how to make market transactions via PI more accessible - for example a type of trading pin or buy orders through the Customs Office. CCP did not confirm that this would be done but would be taken into consideration.
CSM wants PI to be a deeper feature, not a click-fest. CSM strongly emphasized that competitive elements between players should be present in all aspects of PI; CCP devs present agreed that this was in the spirit of EVE and that they would look for opportunities to incorporate it More interaction between players (not just planets) related to PI was strongly encouraged—particularly PvP interaction. Related to PvP, CSM brainstormed ideas such as more aggression opportunities in low and null sec (e.g., being able to disable/destroy the customs offices), corporations banding together in PI, moving materials between players at the Customs Office, being able to highlight other players’ colonies to get a list of colony owners on the planet (perhaps in the Overview).
Bolding was me...
My completely unsubstatianted opinion... "invasion" is planetary assault? That would be more PI development and involve a fly in space feature... everyone to the drop pods
It would also tie in with providing conflict points in PI...
The bit about the trading pin might contradict dev comments previously about getting interaction between players on the same planet, or it might just be their "maybe, maybe not" response because they've not designed it yet...
EDIT: oh there is also a snippet about rolling Incarna out in parts, so part 1, the avatar editor...
Actually, according to a CCP rep at a local con a couple of weeks ago, not even CCP knows yet what will make it in. They have a couple of confirmed things, and in addition a list of stuff, some of which will make it but not all.
(Marketing, apparently, gets a confirmed list only about a month before release.)
That makes sense. Because nothing invites the wrath of players like a feature announced and then delayed or scrapped. I think this is why they are smart to keep their mouths shut on what exactly Incarna will do.
For all I care PI, it can burn, I was pretty excited about it before the release, and now I feel its a dead end. However Character Avatars!!!eleven!oneBBQ! That would be pretty damn sweet!
I like to think of PI as the first experiment of CCP's new development style to see what they can make of it...
I suspect the devs have the "big" things lined up, by that I mean the bits that have to be put in to get incarna/dust in somewhere near to on time, but they'll keep the smaller stuff fluid until just before release. PI has to have something on it seeing as they've said several times a whole team is staying on it and the idea of the scrumm sprints is to choose something you can deliver and actually deliver it.
We've all seen the posts a week or two before a big patch saying "we tried to get feature x in, but we ran out of time to get it done properly and will be included sometime else...", wonder if that will change with the scrumm approach?