Fanfest 2013 - 10th Anniversary, Odyssey, and DUST 514 Launch

Fanfest 2013 - 10th Anniversary, Odyssey, and DUST 514 Launch

Fanfest 2013 ran 25-27 April 2013 at Harpa in Reykjavik, marketed explicitly as the 10th-anniversary edition - EVE Online had launched 6 May 2003, and Fanfest fell less than two weeks before the actual anniversary. Over 1,400 attendees packed Harpa, the largest Fanfest to that point.

The headline reveal was the Odyssey expansion, scheduled for 4 June 2013: an exploration overhaul that gave every probe-launching ship a free initial scan of the system, redesigned the discovery scanner, rebalanced battlecruisers and battleships, and added the first wave of the modular POS replacement plans that would eventually become Citadels. Odyssey was deliberately framed as the "exploration renaissance" patch to contrast with the heavy-handed nullsec rebalances of Inferno (2012) and Retribution (late 2012).

The other big-stage moment was the official DUST 514 launch on PS3, following a long open beta. CCP had been promising DUST since Fanfest 2009; the Fanfest keynote and tournament finals served as the public launch event. (DUST would be shut down in May 2016, but in April 2013 it was the company's flagship cross-platform bet.)

A few weeks earlier in March, the in-fiction Battle of Caldari Prime / Operation Highlander had concluded - Tibus Heth's defeat and the Tikiona supercarrier crash - and Fanfest 2013 leaned into the lore moment with a stage commemoration and the launch of the annual 22 March observance.

Wednesday night before Fanfest opened, CCP held the first-ever full EVE Symphony at Harpa's concert hall - Realm of New Eden played live by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. It became a recurring tradition.