Commonality

What do the upcoming features Ambulation (aka Waling In Stations for the Brain-Impaired), Certificates, and Custom Medals all have in common?

They won't do a damn thing to change actual ship performance. They are all about improving the depth of the game around the game.

In my humble opinion, this is a good thing. Here's why.

Eve at its base is all about the ship you are flying and the ships you are shooting at or flying with. In of itself it is a deep and engaging gameplay but it can also be very spartan at times. Joining a corporation often doesn't change much in terms of gameplay except give you a chat channel not filled with chattering masses of strangers and a corporate hanger to check out and see what tabs you don't have access to. If you're lucky, you get an alliance channel as well.

Of course their is the corporate activities, wars, hostiles, POSes, etc. But the basic gameplay is pretty much the same.

Ambulation will open up a new avenue for interaction and customization, as well as a vast new area for future features to explore and entice players into the game. Entire worlds to explore in the long run if done right.

Certificates fill two purposes: the "collection" / 'gotta-catch-em-all" drive is addressed in a more structured manner for those people who care about those things, and it gives an easy way to show others your abilities at a glance without having to analyze their hundred plus skill tree.

And custom medals for corporations to give to pilots is a HUGE improvement in corporate structure and will encourage corporate cohesion and camaraderie. It will not only encourage corporations to make internal goals and rewards, but pilots to work for them.

I applaud the developers goals to flesh out the game around the combat and look forward to these and other improvements.