Introduction
At EVE Fanfest 2025, I sat down with CCP Rattati (Snorri Árnason), Executive Producer of EVE Online, for an in-depth interview on the Legion expansion and the vision behind the game’s next evolution. Set to launch on May 27, 2025, Legion was unveiled with an emotional keynote and trailer that hit hard for longtime players like myself. But what’s happening behind the scenes? We discussed the challenges the team faced. We also explored the philosophy guiding Legion’s development. Additionally, we talked about what it means to finally bring player-authored missions into the heart of EVE.
This conversation took place during my visit to EVE Fanfest 2025 — read the full recap here.
Table of Contents
Behind the Vision of Legion
Let’s talk about Legion. I saw the keynote, watched the trailer—it was incredibly emotional, as always. But I want to go deeper. What was the vision behind Legion, and what kind of challenges did you face in building it?
It’s been a long road. The journey really started by analyzing what players actually do in the game, and then designing tools around that behavior. We had to move past NPC-authored goals—things like the AIR Career program, daily tasks, and even the Corp Projects. All of those were basically prototypes. They were test beds to help us build the underlying engine.
Eventually, that led us to Freelance Jobs, which pushed things beyond corporations. These new tools are aimed at individuals and smaller groups—not just the big organizations.
What made this such a difficult problem to solve, from a technical perspective?
Visibility. It’s one thing to let players create content—it’s another to make sure the right people see it at the right time. You’re talking about player-authored missions scattered across a massive universe. We needed a system that could broadcast these jobs to the right audience. That meant building a system that understands who sees what, where, and when.
Legion introduces the key step in that process. Once it’s live, we’ll finally have a complete set of organizational tools inside the game. And then, honestly, we can step back and say, “Alright, we’ve addressed every major organizational challenge players have raised. Now let’s see what they do with it.”
Some groups already had advanced tools through APIs and third-party services. Was that part of your motivation?
Definitely. We’ve always known that the bigger alliances had incredible out-of-client tools. But this came from a fairness standpoint. Not everyone has coders or spreadsheets or infrastructure. We wanted to bring those tools into the client itself, so that everyone—not just the biggest groups—has access to the same power.
From Forum Posts to In-Game Missions
Some players might see this as just backend systems or UI updates. What does it really mean, in your view, to bring mission creation into the hands of players?
I get why some people might not instantly feel the weight of it. If you’re used to traditional MMOs, it might just sound like following instructions—“go kill ten dragons,” right? So it’s like, “Cool, whatever, tell me what to do.”
But in EVE, this is the core. This is us finally giving players the ability to shape the universe—not just by flying ships or building empires, but by setting the agenda. Creating objectives. Writing missions. And not in spreadsheets or forum threads—but right inside the client. That’s a massive shift. I think only EVE players will fully grasp how important this is.
Players have already been doing this for decades—just without the tools. We’ve had forum threads saying, “Can someone kill this guy?” or “I’ll pay ISK to clear out a citadel in highsec.” All that informal content—bounty hunts, revenge jobs, mercenary contracts—it was already happening. Now you’re bringing it into the game properly.
Exactly. We’re going to see bounties, highsec Wardec ops, revenge contracts—things that used to live entirely outside the client. Even renters, merc work… it’s all coming in. And we hope this finally bridges that gap between the player-driven universe we talk about, and what the game actually supports natively.
Building Player-Driven Systems
Do you have a vision where players can eventually create full storyline arcs?
Yeah, so “epic arcs” are really just chained missions. Like, finish one, then the next unlocks. It’s basically just a new condition and you could absolutely author a sequence of these missions like a chain of events.
And you can totally roleplay into it—anything that fits into the mission’s description text box, you can build your story with. You can write lore, backstory, even include hyperlinks: skill plans, recommended fittings, you name it. The text field is really open-ended, and you can make the whole thing feel immersive for players. It’s flexible—if you want to turn your missions into a narrative, go for it.
Can they link bookmarks or other content, like say “go here” or “in this region”?
Yeah, anything the author can see in game, they can link. You can set regional conditions, system-wide conditions. What you can’t do yet is create your own spawns or custom dungeons—like design your own PvE encounter with new waves or mechanics. That part’s still out of reach.
Right now, it’s mostly task-based—kill something, mine something, maybe deliver an item?
Exactly. The actions are tied to the systems already in the game. But even that opens a lot of doors. Like, take the Faction Warfare complexes—that’s a condition. You can define something like “Clear this area,” “Complete this objective,” or “Act within this constellation.” You’ve got quite a bit of granularity in how you structure it.
Sounds like you’re allowing for regional targeting, too—like “do this in system X.”
Yes. That’s built in.
So you’re really giving players a framework to formalize things they were already doing informally. Like Ship Replacement Programs (SRPs)?
Hah, we actually used SRP as the blueprint. We asked, “How can we emulate this process?” So what we came up with is called Multiconditional Contribution Methods. It’s a system that allows mission authors to define conditions—“in X region,” “with X fitting,” “in this scenario”—and reward players accordingly.
What used to be a headache for corp logistics officers is now something you can automate. Before, only the largest groups had SRPs because it required spreadsheets, manual review of killmails, admin overhead. You needed someone spending their evenings reviewing loss mails and determining payouts.
We thought—why not make that tool available to everyone?
That’s really an issue of fairness, isn’t it?
Totally. Big corps had the advantage because they had the infrastructure, the manpower to process it. And the people running SRP? It’s thankless work. You’re not even playing the game—you’re basically the corp’s insurance agent. You’re digging through logs, checking fits, arguing about what qualifies.
With Legion, we want to eliminate that grind. We want to remove the bureaucratic layer and give people real tools. Let them focus on the fun, not the admin work.
When Ideas Go Wild: The Angel Dreadnought
Was there anything during development—maybe a moment or idea—where someone pitched something wild and you had to stop and ask, “Are we really doing this?”
Oh yeah. One moment that stands out: someone pitched the Angel Dreadnought. Not just a dreadnought, but one that’s Bastion-capable and has a Micro Jump Drive. We looked at each other and went—“Okay… that’s crazy.” But we said, why not? Let’s see what happens. People are going to try all sorts of insane stuff with it anyway, and if it turns out to be too wild, we’ll balance it later. It was one of those “go for it” moments.
Yeah, the keynote on a stage absolutely nailed that moment. When the slide dropped and the MJD was listed, I could feel the crowd react.
That was the moment. That dreadnought announcement hit hard. Everyone sat down instantly and started theorycrafting—how could this change fleet comps? What’s the best way to use it? It was exactly the response we wanted.
Even before the keynote ended, I saw people pulling out phones to check contracts and markets.
Yes! The LP shop for the Cartel spiked right away. People figured out which blueprints they’d need—especially for T2 Marauders—and the market moved instantly. That’s what makes EVE magical. The player economy reacts live, without needing us to script anything.
Allright, but why did you go with the Angel Cartel for this Dread? You could’ve picked another faction, like Sisters of EVE?
Honestly, sometimes it’s not part of some grand roadmap. The art team often works on longer cycles behind the scenes, and they might complete something before we even have plans for it. With the Angel Dreadnought, it was one of those moments where we asked, “Hey, what do we have ready?” and they said, “Well, we finished this one.” Turned out they’d dusted off an old concept and polished it up. Perfect timing—so we ran with it.
So was this one of those passion projects that started in the art team?
Yes and no. Honestly, a bit of a guilt project too. The Angel Dreadnought had been teased back in 2016 or 2017. When I joined, I made a personal list of old promises I wanted to finish—not because we had to, but because players deserved it. It almost became a meme for me: “Let’s fill in the blanks.”
Sisters of EVE implants were one. The Angel Titan and the pirate faction combinations—like Minmatar-Caldari for Deathless—were others. I came in asking, “Why don’t we have this yet?” And then I pushed to finally get them done.
Funny enough, I actually guessed the dreadnought back in February. I saw the signs, tracked the hints, and it just made sense. Some capsuleers really hate anything that looks vaguely ‘anime girly’, so I made this image of the Sarathiel Dreadnought turned into a shield in a warrior’s hands. Sadly, it got buried by Reddit’s auto-moderation back in February, so hardly anyone saw it. But my guess turned out to be spot on.
You should’ve bet money on it! That’s impressive. It turned out beautifully—totally fits the Angel aesthetic hehe
The Dream of Deep-Space Mobile Headquarters
I live as a space nomad—using cloaky black ops, recons, and blockade runners, traveling through wormholes and setting up covert cynos for forward ops. I’ve always dreamed of a capital ship that fits that roaming lifestyle. So my wild theory was: could we finally see a Sisters of EVE capital? Something cloaky, mobile, with roomy hangars—built more for fleet support than combat. Is that something you’ve discussed internally?
You weren’t far off. We’ve talked about a Sisters of EVE carrier for years. The theme fits—long-range, deep-space ops, and wormhole adventures. The idea’s definitely floated around more than once.
There are plenty of small corps, trying to explore, but they’re not ready to commit to big infrastructure like Citadels. So they rely on Orcas, but those ships aren’t really made for that kind of life. They’re bulky, space-limited, and mainly for mining. You can fit a couple of cruisers and frigates in them, but forget about a battleship. Orcas are a workaround, not a solution.
Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about that—something like a forward operating base. A mobile ship that can unpack, operate as a sort of mini-station, and then pack up and move on. The idea is a roaming fleet with a home that doesn’t anchor. The fantasy is really strong: a carrier that’s your mothership, your base of operations. It’s not just a structure—it’s a ship that becomes an outpost.
It’s like Mass Effect—the Quarian Migrant Fleet, or even the Normandy. It wasn’t a station; it was a ship—but it was still home.
Exactly. Carriers, in the real world, are meant to be far from home. In the Pacific or the Red Sea, they’re fully self-sustaining. That’s the kind of sci-fi military fantasy this fits into. And it’s something that personally resonates with me a lot. We talk about many things internally, but this is one of those ideas that sticks. You could deploy, conquer, move on. It’s not just a fantasy—it could have tactical value too.
We can expect a New Role for Carriers?
I’ve been pushing this idea for conquest scenarios too. It always bothered me that in EVE, you can just drop a Keepstar next to another Keepstar. It’s like going to France and building a castle beside another one. That’s not how real wars work. You should need a foothold—a siege position—before taking a fortress.
Exactly. In medieval wars, you’d build wooden outposts near the castle. They weren’t strongholds, but they let you attack and hold the field.
That’s the same idea—a forward operating base. Whether you’re a massive alliance or a solo explorer, this ship could serve different purposes: siege for the big guys, survival for the little guys. It bridges both worlds.
I even made a little joke during the keynote—after T2 Dreads, what’s next? Obviously, carriers. They’re due for a rework, and I think it’s time we give them a new role. Right now, they’re a bit undefined. There’s huge potential for something meaningful, especially with this kind of nomadic or support-focused design space.
Final Thoughts
As our CCP Rattati interview wrapped up, one truth stood out: Legion isn’t just another expansion—it’s a turning point in how players shape their experience in EVE Online. After more than two decades of “go fetch” missions in space, the arrival of Freelance Jobs opens up something entirely new. For the first time, players can build their own missions and narrative arcs—pulling corpmates or complete strangers into custom objectives, personal goals, or even story-driven campaigns.
From revenge contracts and buyback or Replacement programs to logistics outsourcing and item delivery missions, Legion puts player-driven content front and center. And yes, the same tools could easily be turned toward ganks, traps, and scams—because of course they will. That’s EVE. But they also unlock new freedom for lone wolves, mercenaries, and explorers—those who want to engage without being tied down.
During the interview, we drifted into dreams—about a different kind of carrier. A ship that might one day act as a mobile base, a foothold in hostile space, or a support hub for small, nomadic groups. Something built not just for conquest, but for off-grid living. Nothing was promised—but the ideas, the what-ifs, the shared passion for sandbox possibilities? That felt real.
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