This is not CCP Games' first attempt at having Eve Online have some kind of interaction with another game of theirs. On the surface, I like the idea of two different kinds of playstyles playing in the same universe in different games. Only time will tell if this one ends up panning out.
Recently, the Nemesis event started, which takes part in both Eve Online and Eve Vanguard. The cool thing is you can earn points for the event in Eve Online by doing objectives in Eve Vanguard. Things players do in Eve Vanguard also influence Eve Online.
Events like these get their usual daily log-in rewards. There are ten days of rewards and two weeks. Giving players ample chances to get all the rewards from the daily login. I rather like it when they give players in games with these kinds of events some breathing room in case you can’t log in every day.
While many are after the skins or even the boosters from the daily login rewards. I'm mostly after the skill points. It might sound crazy after all the years of playing Eve Online, but there is still an endless amount of skill training I want.
For the main part of the event, it’s all about getting points for some further skins and canisters that can be turned in either for further skin-related items or a single small skill injector.
There are three main ways to earn the points. One is just killing NPCs. Every 25 NPC kills allows you to finish that task, which is on repeat. You then get 25 points. So, in theory, for only killing 2,400 NPCs, you could finish the entire event. The truth is, you usually don't claim right away, so it’s going to be a lot more kills than that.
I rather like the fact that they gave a viable option for those who don’t want to play the FPS Eve Vanguard in the first place. When it comes to two games having an impact on them, CCP Games has always wanted to ensure that even if one game fails to live up to what it needed, the other game can still move forward. So, I see this option as being that.
The second way to earn points is from killing Squalls' spawns. Now these spawns only happen three at a time. They are also dependent on enough Eve Vanguard players finishing objectives in Eve Vanguard to fill up the progression meter to spawn the next wave of them.
This part I was a little disappointed by, since there are only three spawns at a time. In my experience, trying to chase after the Squalls in Eve Online that require combat probes to find. They are usually too far away for you to do anything about, or they show up close, but in a populated area where they are dead by the time you get to that system.
I had one instance where one of the spawns appeared just a couple of jumps away from me. By the time I got there, the system had around 30 players, and it was no longer showing up on the map.
These things are supposed to drop some great loot like Plex and other items. I will never know. Unless I want to risk going into low sec, where they sometimes stay up for quite some time. Even then, I'd need a spawn that was still within a dozen or so jumps of where I usually am.
While I think this is a somewhat cool idea. There is just not enough loot to go around. I also have no idea how hard or not these convoys are. Most of the time, they are 30-50 systems away from me. Along with so many players, all just wanting to see what it's about. There really is no chance. So, after chasing after this part of the event twice. I’ve just given up.
This leaves the last way to get points and perhaps the more interesting one. Going and playing Eve Vanguard. Sadly, not every mission you run in Vanguard is going to count. They also don’t count as a group, so unless everyone you play with in a group is on the same assignment accepted from the expedition map page.
Doing these in a group kind of defeats the purpose unless you luck out with someone just needing NPC kills and another person needing a mission that has NPCs that you kill on the same planet as the other person's mission. You could also just play only with people who all stop playing at the same time to keep everyone on the same assignments. That, however, does not really work out well.
While I can understand CCP Games wanting to get Eve Online players involved in Eve Vanguard. That has not gone great in the past when it comes to getting Eve Online players to play their other long-forgotten FPS. At least for a couple of days, Eve Vanguard was made available for free to try out.
One thing I also noticed, and I'm not sure if it's intended. I am not only getting credit for the expedition assignment in Eve Online once I finish one on my main character. My two other characters on the account are getting it as well.
So not only is running these assignments in Eve Vanguard the best way to earn points in Eve Online. You could be tripling that effect. You just have to remember to log into Eve Online every five assignments that you have finished to click claim. Otherwise, any extras you do are just being wasted.
As far as Eve Vanguard itself. I’ll be creating a separate post looking a bit deeper into the game itself. As far as the assignments themselves go. They can at least be done solo or in a group with two other players. They don’t take that long to finish one off once you realize what you need to do.
You end up deploying to a system that exists in Eve Online. So, there is a bit of a crossover on that. This is almost a way for people to get to see what being on an actual planet in Eve Online would have been like. Expect these things to be worn and torn.
One mission I had. I needed to break into a container that had contraband in it. Defeat a bunch of NPCs that were spawning. Take the contraband from one area and drop it off in another.
My biggest issue with a lot of the missions is that they are not that intuitive in what you are supposed to be doing. While they give a general location on the map. I had no idea where I was supposed to find the mission object to bring back. That is also a huge issue with a lot of missions that require you to find the right items to craft a needed object.
My thoughts about that have also been rather confirmed by seeing how other players act once they get to a mission spot. In this instance, there are two other players here not shooting at each other. They were running around confused.
After I realized where and how to get the contraband that was needed. Suddenly, I had a string of players following me out to the contraband location. Looting contraband for themselves and doing the turn-ins.
Thankfully, we all decided without saying anything not to shoot at each other. While there is VOIP, there seems to be a lack of a way to communicate otherwise. With the people I ended up playing Vanguard with. I just used Discord.
Once you get enough points, you get the Sealed Projects Container back in Eve Online. You need to look at them for all the possible locations where the vendor that you can exchange items with is. Then find one that is the closest to you.
There will be a beacon in that system listed that you can warp to. You then must find the trader. You don’t talk to them. Instead, you have to click on them and hit “access.” It’s a bit strange if it’s your first time turning in items from an event like this before.
I like the fact that if you don’t want to play Eve Vanguard or go chasing after NPCs, you will almost always and forever not be quick enough to get. That you can still earn points in this event from just doing something a lot of players do every day. It’s like a little bonus for just playing the game.
I do kind of wish there were other things to do. I do know that in the past, some of these events ended up having many different stages to them. I have no idea if this is just the start of something bigger that could be going on, or if this is just a one-off thing. It will be interesting to see what other collaborations between the two games end up coming out down the road.
New to Eve Online or a returning player? Use my recruit a friend referral link and get 1 million skill points on signing up or logging into your Eve Online account (can only be claimed once per account). Disclosure: I might receive in-game rewards.
Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about Eve Online and Eve Vanguard.
