Player Interviews: Leovarian of EVE

Our most recent interviewee is EVE player Leovarian of SSpectre, a long-time veteran of EVE. Keep reading for the full interview and his views on his corp the Azure Dragoons, Expansion and how importance balance is to gameplay.


1. Leovarian, so just what does your Nom De Guerre represent?

Leovarian is the portmanteau of the astrological Leo which represents self-centered, outgoing, passionate individuals and Variant, the synonym for exceptional.  The surname Lavitz was chosen to represent powerful leadership.  Leovarian Lavitz was created to lead nations.

2. What would you like to see in the realm of Web Functionality in Dust?

Dust should include all the functionality of the current EVE-Gate while also enabling the duster to view any active contracts, currently owned planets while giving any corporations’ CEO role and title management from the web interface.

3. You're an EVE player. That game's depth is legendary, but many consolers can't appreciate this; just how deep does the Rabbit Hole go?

There are many games that share the same genre as Dust514, Sci-fi first person shooter.  In those other games, there are many instances where the game tells the player that there is an epic battle raging in the periphery and yet many times the player has neither actual control nor interaction with that battle.  Those battles are scripted scenes and the player simply activates flags on the game to progress. 

In Dust, those ships are your friends and allies, who you may have known for years, perhaps even thrown back a beer.  This planet is not some generic battlefield where you run skirmish matches for some arbitrary score, no, this planet is yours, and you are fighting to keep ol’ pirate Tim, your most hated trolling enemy from another region from coming in and taking away all your hard work.  Every shot counts as you progress or lose clones.  This world could be lost to you and your corp.  You may lose billions of kredits in assets protecting your worlds, only to erupt in a massive counter attack to retake what was lost, and to have your EVE friends chase that guy until he finally flees, or they may recruit him.

And that was just one system. As your corp grows, you can take on more challenging tasks effectively.  Perhaps market manipulation is your game?  Maybe you were born to clandestine operations, planting starbases deep behind hostile lines to covertly strip the rarest moon minerals from its overlord’s hands without them ever noticing. 

The metagame is the cornerstone of EVE game play in my opinion.  Any action you take in game affects hundreds of thousands of players across the world.  Spies and cunning are heavily rewarded in EVE.  Any player may form friendships and rivalries which may last for the rest of their lives, and the game can be played in so many different ways.

4. You've been anticipating DUST for how long?

I have been waiting since the 09 Fanfest announcements.

5. Give us a brief description of New Eden.

New Eden is a vast galaxy ripened with intrigue and espionage, seasoned with lies and served cold.  Those who can stomach the first bite find themselves lost in an orgy of flavors and fine delicacies of human depredations.  The history of New Eden is vast ebony tapestry wrought with ruby text, accented with many fine moral grays.  The developers, CCP Games, have provided a large menagerie of short stories chronicling New Eden’s residents on their website.

6. FPS players from far and wide are expected to converge in Dust, what’s your take on this?

I predict that a vast majority of them will reside within the greater alliances and corporations within New Eden.  This presents an opportunity for lesser known corporations and alliances to attempt to make a name for themselves by constantly eroding the mega corporation’s edges via never ending struggle for their planets.

7. EVE tactics can be notoriously underhanded, what are some things to look out for?

Spies are second on my list.  Disgruntled corpmates are number one. If your guys are not having a good time, there is a fail-cascade awaiting you in your future.  Spies may steal your assets or abolish your corp, run you into traps, but as long as you are having a good time, the same group will push through and live.

8. What are some Combat/Corp elements you would like to see in Dust?

Well balanced gameplay, and iterated upon constantly.

9. You're in an established EVE Corp  www.sspectre.com tell us something about your organization's goals.

The Azule Dragoons, member and executor of Sspectre have several goals, the first major goal was achieved in 2009 with the founding of the alliance, currently their goal is rapid expansion and capital production in parallel to the black-ops operations they have going on.

10. Just as important as shooting people is the Social Aspect of a large scale game, what would you like to see on that front?

CCP to embrace the bounty of tools provided for the social aspect of eve.  Facebook, twitter, Google+, EVE-Gate, Raptr.  If these were all integrated, you could stay informed and thus socially glued to New Eden 23/7 if you wanted, which you do.

11. How will you know if DUST is successful?

When it launches without totalhelldeath and 200 page forum troll on eve.

12. While expansions are far off, the rhetoric has already begun. Could we see EVE and DUST players in the same 3rd Person Social spaces?

2015 is my best estimate for shared social spaces at the current rate.

13. We recently did a top 10 list of reasons to be excited about EVE, which speaks to you most? http://tinyurl.com/3jdhpqm

 #4 Climbing to the top of the mountain and staying there.

A vertical challenge is the best challenge.

14. A recent suggestion mentioned boarding ships and taking cargo or even the ships themselves? Could we see Pirate Corps in Dust 514?

Boarding ships and any auxiliary tasks related to it is something that requires heavy brainstorming and balancing.  Pirate corps are guaranteed to be in Dust 514, since the corps in dust and eve are the same.

Thank you for your time,

Leovarian Lavitz

Sspectre