There’s no hiding the fact that it’s interesting times in the world of EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone right now. But you know what? We’ve been completely overwhelmed by all of the support that’s been flooding in from the community, not just online but in the real world as well.

The next few weeks are going to be amazing for the EVE: Valkyrie Community, so we reckon it’s high time we gave you a bit of an update. Here’s what’s going down!

We think you deserve a bit more information about the upcoming Winter Update. That’s right, we’re still working hard on it, it’s coming December 12th, and we know you’re going to love it.

There’s much coolness within, and we’ll go into more details over the next couple of weeks, but like a perfectly formed pineapple here are the bits that really stick out:

Community tools

We announced that we had begun working on community tools at EVE Vegas and we had a great roundtable where we discussed the addition of these tools with attendees and remotley with our community via discord, and I’m delighted to announce that come December 12th, these tools will become a reality.

Built for your pleasure…

First up is the long-awaited introduction of custom matches. This has been a community request from day one, and we’re delighted to be able to make it a reality. No longer will you have to get what you’re given in the game rotation – if you have your heart set on a game of Extraction in Cathedral, you can set one up and invite your friends. And there’s a lot more to custom matches than that; we’ll take you through all the exciting options really soon.

Another feature that’s lined up for the Winter Update and something that has come up in many a community round-table is Spectator mode, because sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy an epic space battle rather than have to strap yourself in and flex your trigger fingers. Spectator mode lets you do just that, but it also enables you to get cinematic and turn your spectator sessions into video shoots.
We’ve been putting a lot of thought and work into getting this right, and we can’t wait to see what you do with the tools we’re lining up for you. We even have a video creation competition coming up to encourage you to get your directing pants on; look out for more information soon.

Keeping things refined.

There’s a new map coming, too! If you’ve been following what’s happening in the larger EVE: Online universe, you’ll have heard of the Lifeblood expansion. Amongst other things, Lifeblood adds moon mining to EVE: Online, and our new Moon Refinery map reflects this latest development. We’ve had an absolute blast building it; there’s some incredible stuff in there, and we’re certain it’s going quickly become a firm favorite for all of you.

Tobii or not Tobii, the choice is yours.

Also winging it’s way into the Warzone on December 12 is Tobii and Track IR support. This community request evens the playing field for non-VR pilots by allowing head tracking while playing EVE: Valkyrie on a flatsceen monitor. The Valkyrie will be able to use comfortable head gestures to survey the battlefield like a VR player, without negatively impacting their ability to control their craft.

In addition, on December 12th, non-VR players will be able to take advantage of the head-tracked ‘look-to-lock’ missile functionality present in the VR experience of the game, meaning players can feel the gameplay enhancing benefits of VR along with the graphical fidelity and accessibility of flatscreen gaming. VR or not, the control will be yours.

There’s more to come in the Winter Update, but we don’t want to give everything away too quickly. Come back next week and we’ll be ready to spill. :slight_smile: