Tonight was the latest expansion for Eve Online released. This not only brings improvements to pirate bases and other changes, but above all the new ones Rights for FreetoPlay players.

FreeToPlay Players, i.e. the free accounts that do not pay a monthly fee, have so far been extremely limited in their options. With the update you can now control larger ships including Battlecruiser, Cruiser, Destroyer and Frigate and have access to more skills. In terms of skills, access to the small and medium-sized T2 weapons is particularly important.

Eve Online - Even as an F2P player, you can help decide big battles

FreeToPlay players can also use the great battles of Eve Online play a significantly larger role. Also in the PvE area there are so many new missions open that were previously not possible.

After the announcement of the changes, there were also negative voices from older players who opposed the additional rights. This meant that the players called FreeToPlay or "Alpha Clones" had too many rights and actually the Alpha clones were only intended as a test mode, not to really play Eve Online permanently.

But obviously the developers were able to help CCP do not accept this argumentation and have implemented the changes with the current patch. At a time when there are almost no online games with monthly fees, it is extremely important for a company to attract new players and keep the entry barrier as low as possible. And in the long run all players benefit from it, because without new recruits the Eve Online universe could at some point be so empty that it will be switched off.

The detailed patch explanation with the details of the many changes can be found on the CCP topic page on "Arms Race" being found.