Everything went smoothly for me (no boot.ini problems, I have my game on a separate hard drive :). I am a little surprised I still get frame rates of 70fps in space, with HDR on and normal shadow with low bloom.
Most ships look a lot better of course, though not as spectacular as in the trailers, but I am not too happy with the Caldari ships (‘cept the Manticore as you can see above). They look like big metallic blobs and when you’re in a somewhat darker system, the look like black flying blob. The raven is a lot more detailed but looks very boring and the CNR is even worse, it has a sort of camo green color now.
Most Amarr ships do look very nice though. The Apoc still has it’s golden glow. My Zealot somehow turned into a greenish shiny thing though. Was a bit weary to see the Gallente ships, but they turned out alright. The blueish tint could have been a bit darker but all in all very nice.
Not quite sure what I think of the Minmatar ships. They are much more detailed now, but they have also lost their ductape feel, which makes them loose their unique character somewhat.
I am wondering though whether this all makes the game more enjoyable. I think it’s more aimed to get more people in, it doesn’t really add much to Eve. And the improvement isn’t that spectacular that you want to play the game more or longer.
More thoughts on the patch / expansion later ;).