Add to this the WS environment itself, which will affect player ships in different ways, much like -- and please forgive the geek-out factor, here -- the way that Kirk and Khan's ships were affected by the nebula in Wrath of Khan. No telling exactly what the effects will be at this point, but be advised: WS ain't your old backyard.

What's in it for the player who manages to win through and claim victory over the Sleepers? Tech 3! Longstanding players of EVE Online will rejoice at the addition of the new Tech 3 level of technology, which can only be harvested from Sleeper ships and structures. Of course, it's not quite as easy as simply picking up components and attaching them to one's ship. Tech 3 parts must be taken back to a starbase or player outpost, and reverse-engineered to gain their benefits. This is a new skill that must be researched before it can be used. After that, however, players will find that Tech 3 items are modular and offer a variety of uses -- which we'll leave to the players to discover.

There are also new graphical updates in Apocrypha, including a new particle system, shadows cast on ships (which may not sound like a big deal, but really looks great when you see it), and a new 'warp in' effect for ships. And they've not stopped there: citing CCP's desire to constantly upgrade the New User Experience, there will be new introductory movies per race, that explain in better detail how each race differs from the next. The ship fitting system will also receive an update, featuring immediate visual feedback on what the ship will look like after changes have been made.

EVE Online will also change the way that players have previously been forced to make certain advanced choices right out of the gate, feeling that this has served only to confuse new players at the outset. Helping in this will be the new skill called "Neural Remapping", which allows players to queue up a list of skills for their character to learn while not actively playing, limited by a 24-hour window of time. There will also be new Epic Arc missions, which will be less linear and offering more of a branching of possible storyline avenues. Both of these changes should help ease the sometimes rigid-feeling structure of EVE Online, and make the entire experience more user-friendly.

EVE Online: Apocrypha is available tomorrow in two flavors: Premium, and Premium Lite, which will be less graphically intensive for players with lower-level systems. Those of you new to the universe of EVE Online will find a great deal of incredible content to sink your teeth into. Those of you who already play can look forward to yet another amazing update to the game you already know and love in Apocrypha. Go get it now -- your ship awaits.

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