We’re being told that 4.0 is going to be released before the end of the year, and it seems that CIG is cutting their own break-lines to make this headlong rush happen come Hell or high water. The SC Leaks Discord is pumping out updates gleaned from official channels several times a day, and they are all currently focused on the EPTU — the “experimental public test universe” which is a special layer of vetting where CIG should be expected and allowed to screw with things without the results being taken as the final implementation but let’s face it: this is the Internet and people aren’t always firing on all cylinders.

The Story So Far

Pyro is the new star system dropping in 4.0, bringing the game’s real-estate up to [check’s notes] two whole star systems. Pyro is a “lawless” system meaning that there will be no universal NPC response should players open fire on one another (eventually there will be faction retribution but that’s not on the release roadmap yet). As a result, there are many players on Spectrum — the game’s bespoke chat-slash-forum systems — who are vowing never to go to Pyro. There’s a lot to unpack there on it’s own but that’s not why we’re here today so let’s move on.

One of the new features of Pyro is called the “contested zones” which are PvPvE extraction areas because chasing its own tail is what the games industry does. Right now, the rewards for a successful extraction run the gamut from ship weapons to actual ships, although these items are not the same as pledge items, meaning that the items awarded behave as if players bought them in-game: if they blow up, they’re gone for good. Overall it’s pretty easy for PvE players to ignore this but there’s always FOMO and that’s where things start to get squirrly.

There are reports on Spectrum that CIG has taken certain ship components out of Stanton — the “more lawful” system — and moved them to be Pyro exclusives. These include things like shield generators, stealth-centric components, and weapons, among others. Components have both a segment and a grade, such as “military grade A” which is the best component although probably not the most efficient, or “civilian grade B” which is pretty good in the performance department but not as effective as a military version, depending on the component.

What Do You Need?

Many folks were already up in arms over contested zones being the only way to obtain specific rewards, which kind of makes sense, but also doesn’t make sense. There’s a lot of games out there that offer rewards based on what you do, like how you can only get specific gear sets by participating in PvP; if you want those gear sets for their appearance, say, then you have to PvP. Some games might allow players to put those items on an auction house so other players can obtain them. With Pyro, proponents are saying that if players don’t want to go into Pyro then they should accept that they won’t get that gear while others are suggesting that this opens an opportunity for “personal shoppers” to go out and obtain the gear on other’s behalf. Unfortunately there’s no way to perform a secure transaction right now, and the nature of Pyro assumes that shoppers will get screwed asking lawless players to go pick up their items.

It really does beg the question “do you really need the items that Pyro is offering, or is it just the fact that you feel something is being withheld from you?”. In the case of what they’re calling the “Executive Hangar” items — the ones obtained through the contested zones — that question is completely relevant and I’d suggest it’s the latter even though the “withholding” is entirely a case of the player not willing to engage in that kind of game-play (which I personally am not planning on doing on the regular, and I have made peace with that). In the case of items which were moved from Stanton to Pyro, I’d say it’s the former. In the case of contested zone rewards its a situation where people may want what they never had, but people absolutely lose their shit when things they once had are taken away. Do Stanton players need military grade A components? Well, there’s still PvE going on in Stanton, and there is also PvP going on in Stanton, so the answer may very well be “yes”. But this is also a “principle thing” where what players once had access to was removed to a more difficult location, and for what?

This Too Shall (Should, Hopefully) Pass

CIG has a vested interest in getting players into Pyro because they need to test everything it brings online. That include jump gates for getting into Pyro, the stations dotted throughout the system, the outposts and LZ’s on moons and planets, and the contested zones. 4.0 is more than Pyro, though. It’s server meshing which increases players-per-server counts, a reworking of the economy, the latest iteration of Numbers covering everything from health pools to weapon output to food buffs, probably. While a lot of this can be experienced in Stanton, putting the eggs in the Pyro basket is a firehose of testing, so yeah, it does make sense to try and get players to at least try what Pyro has to offer.

Players being players, it seems that most people on Spectrum who are complaining right now are treating this as the Final Word on where components are going to be available. They use the argument (rightfully so, IMO) that no corporation would ship their best products to a lawless market and leave a controlled system with their entry-level crap; if Pyro obtained high-end components then it should be because they “fell off the back of a truck” which insinuates smaller quantities shipping through the system from controlled system to controlled system. But game developers hate logic some times, which is why EVE Online’s best resources are located in low-sec systems…and for the same reason: to send players there to satisfy a “risk versus reward” mentality.

I cannot imagine a game world where the rigid structures currently surrounding component availability persist. Star Citizen is big on simulation and lore, and no, it does not make sense for the statistically best stuff to only be available to players who are willing to fight each other for it. I would fully expect military and high grade components to return to Stanton and other secure systems in the future, but maybe they could be gated behind faction mission rewards which would be acceptable; sensible people are asking for contested zone rewards to be made available to players outside of Pyro through lengthy, involved, and difficult PvE mission chains. And in that same future, I expect there to be a very good business for enterprising players to secure whatever unique items Pyro offers and transport them to Stanton or Terra for sale. In a recent video, one of the developers said that players should not be keeping their valuable stock anywhere in Pyro once base-building comes online, because Pyro bases are unsecured and can be raided or destroyed. Instead, players should make working facilities in Pyro and transport the resources to their bases in Stanton or Terra. On top of that, the plan is to allow players to securely buy and sell items from player-owned bases meaning that while someone might be a PvPer or even a pirate in Pyro, they can be a respectable business person in Stanton, selling all of those ill-gotten items to players who just don’t want to deal with that kind of game-play. But yes…those are nice promises to make, and the reality is that right now there’s no good way for PvE players unwilling to go to Pyro to get access to the same stuff that PvP players who are in Pyro have access to, and that level of inequality is rubbing folks the wrong way.