CCP's EVE Online is a spacefaring MMO held in reverence by its players, and a certain amount of respect/fear by those who haven't played it. One thing that both groups seem to agree on is that EVE isn't something to be taken lightly. Word of its complexity has spread among those who don't generally play MMOs, and even the game's developers sometimes refer to the learning curve as more of a Learning Cliff, which tempts the unwary with promises of gameplay riches, Facebook Poker Chips  only to dash them to the rocks below.

With that in mind, we were hoping that our recent interview with Noah "Hammerhead" Ward, Lead Game Designer for EVE Online, would provide some clarification. Is EVE as hard as everyone says? How can new players manage the overwhelming number of features? What can players look forward to in the upcoming expansion, Apocrypha? What follows is all the information we could extract from Mr. Ward, gotten in much the same way as one might extract ore from an asteroid. See? You're learning already!

Gallery: EVE Online: Apocrypha

Apocrypha is the name of the newest expansion pack due for release on March 10th, on both CCP's site and on popular digital download service Steam. And for the first time in a long time, EVE Online will be available as a boxed product, to be found in retail stores, starting in the US on the 10th and everywhere else on March 12th. From the sound of it, CCP has crafted something that will please players who complain that EVE's cosmos is, for all of its seeming empty space, nevertheless contained and crowded. The way this will come about is by the introduction of wormholes, portals to new, uncharted territory. Players will have to use their probes to scan areas of space they suspect might contain a wormhole. These wormholes will be somewhat graphics-coded per risk level, so players will know on sight whether or not it's for them. And interestingly, none of the wormholes will be instances, Facebook Poker Chips meaning that it's possible for other players to enter the same space you occupy, if they've scanned and found the same wormhole as you have.Players will find that Wormhole Space (WS) contains more than just a new area to explore -- there's also a new race to discover. Known as "The Sleepers", this mysterious race has entered hibernation, and protects itself from meddling with a system of drones of varying abilities. Players will find that these drones are noticeably different in structure than anything they've experienced up to this point in EVE Online. For one thing, they have a very sleek, insectoid look to them that makes them seem menacing, even at rest. For another thing, they're very protective of their resting charges; to the point where they'll attack anything that comes near. And once they do, players will discover that CCP has outfitted these ships with a new type of AI -- one that behaves quite differently than the other NPC ships they've encountered in the past.

Sleeper drones are smart enough to recognize which attackers carry the greatest threat, and will switch targets to acommodate. Rather than, say, typical pirate behavior, Facebook Poker Chips in which enemies simply orbit a player ship and keep attacking until destroyed, Sleeper ships will actually call for reinforcements and retreat when they have to. They'll even "heal" each other when needed, making them much more dangerous adversaries for even the staunchest combat-ready veterans. Sleeper ships will also deal different types of damage, requiring that players have a flexible strategy in place that can be updated on the fly (so to speak).