http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/34639 - interview with a dev about FW[A] lot of players say, "I'd like to try PvP, but I'm really intimidated, basically. Everyone's really good, and I'm going to get ganked by a bigger ship, and I don't know anybody," and so on. There's a big barrier to entry between the two areas of the game. We're trying to bridge that gap.
The system seems very rad for those like me who are into PvP but not so much the commitment that defending a 0.0 territory would entail. Lots of fights, plenty of smaller ships, and still some ways to make money (which was clearly lacking in lowsec before this). Get the Steam trial for 21 free days; $15 gets you 21+30=51 days played. Of course, I'll keep you in ships and gear, no shopping trips required, and you can join UGH (which is 26 laid back guys, mostly professionals and students on the pacific coast, some australian/ east coast US in there too). We use voice comms and know how to fight.
Also, there's embedded reporters:
http://www.massively.com/2008/06/10/eve ... ont-lines/