Update News - Monday 30th September 2013

Hello Space Pilots,

We would like to update you on some of the changes we are currently working on, and specifically in relation to issues brought to our attention through the community.

The sudden disappearance of the name change feature is probably on top of the list for most of you right now. The option was deactivated when we introduced the new Secure Account System (SAS) back in August, since one important part of this feature is a fixed account name. It helps stop account theft by preventing hackers from editing your account name to circumvent the recovery process.

This is also the reason why the re-implementation of the name change function is taking longer than expected. We can’t just re-enable the option, but rather have to develop a completely new pilot feature that allows users to change their pilot name — the one displayed in the game and on the Pilot Bio page — while keeping sensitive account data fixed and not publically accessible.

Development is nearing completion and we hope to be able to release the pilot name change function very soon.

(At the time that the OA was written we still expected the name change to take a few weeks to be ready but we have put a priority on this feature and are positive that we can already release it with this week’s sync.)

We have also received a number of reports that the infamous Battleray is missing and no longer spawning on 5-3. Our investigations determined that the Battleray is actually alive and well but being misused by some players, who pulled it deep into the Pirate labyrinth and then farmed it for its juicy Interceptors.

Rather than changing the game mechanics of an obviously popular NPC we decided to add dynamic behaviour for the Pirate symbol in the minimap so it shows the Battleray’s current position at any given time. We hope that this will promote the Battleray as an interesting target to kill while adding some nice opportunities for PvP.

Lastly we looked into some concerns over the Spearhead’s viability, and specifically the Ultimate Cloaking skill. While we still believe that it is a very useful skill for scouting and retreat purposes, the shield drain associated with the cloaking ability put the Spearhead at a disadvantage as soon as EMPs or similar were used. As a result our game designers agreed that the shield drain should be removed so that Ultimate Cloaking will be more helpful.


Regards,

Your DarkOrbit Team

Originally posted 30.09.13