From the CSM meeting notes regarding Rapid Content Delivery:
• CCP also needs to convey more information in patch notes instead of leaving it for a debate whether a change is intended or a bug. For example, MER is released without any context as to how CCP feels about the metrics. CCP agrees.
The old Quarterly Economic Newsletters provide a wonderful reporting template. Preparing it in this format took time, and CCP decided to let players pick and choose what was worth commenting about by simply publishing raw data and charts. The economic team could have spent a day or two writing about various subjects, but one topic of highest player interest rises to the top every time: “look at that mining and ratting in Delve.”
CCP MARKETING should champion the return of the QEN. Some players printed the QEN, handed it to other gamer friends, and said “look at how seriously CCP takes internet spaceships.”
It was wonderful fodder for player debate about metrics chosen and observations such as this, from Q3 2009.
SHIP TYPES IN USE
In Q2 there was a significant change in the most popular ships used. The Raven fell from first place to sixth, and the Hulk took over as the most popular ship. This big change is attributed to the Unholy Rage campaign against RMT operations in EVE, since RMT mission runners were heavy Raven users.
During the last quarter, the number of characters piloting motherships (soon to be renamed to Supercarriers with the release of Dominion) broke the 400 mark, with 426 characters in motherships when this snapshot was taken. The number of characters in dreadnoughts declined considerably, from 1,125 to 767. One plausible reason might be lower interest in territorial warfare since the announcement of sovereignty system changes in Dominion. That would also explain the increased general interest in industrial ships, as corporations and alliances shift from war mode to production mode in preparation for Dominion. We have seen similar behavior prior to the release of other expansions.