Pew-Pew...or P-U?

I've certainly been making up for lost time over the last few days. Without going to into detail, let's just say that I've got plenty of reason to be pissed off right now, and I've been taking it out on NPC pirates. At the rate this is actually working in terms of dissipating my anger, I'm very glad I chose to pre-pay for a year's subscription.

In all seriousness though, I've needed the break from RL, but one thing is really annoying me, something I'll call the "Sunday Mega-Lag Monster". I generally find it's only an issue on Saturdays late in the day and pretty much all day Sunday, where the lag gets so bad, I'm actually afraid to go into combat. Even worse, over the last two days, I've lost my connection to the server at least ten times. Since I doubt I've lost it ten times in all the time I've been playing Eve until that point, I have to believe the problem lies on the server end rather than on mine.

This is the single most annoying problem I find with Eve. Very often, my available playing time is limited these days, and when I want to play, I have to play when it's convenient for me to do so. When something like this happens and I have to think twice if I want to take my ship into combat, not because I'm worried about being outmatched, but because I'm worried about the screen freezing up as NPC's pound my precious and poorly insured Myrmidon into space dust, it's ten times more annoying that having to pass or give up on a mission because I don't think I can beat it.

To be honest, I have no idea what the answer to the problem might be...it's not my field of expertise. I only know that right now it's keeping me from playing, and in my opinion, anything that keeps players from playing should be eliminated from the game. I know, easier said than done, but given what I pay to play this game I think I have a right to bitch when things don't work the way they're supposed to.

I love this game. In addition to enjoying it just in terms of entertainment value, for me it provides a much-needed stress reliever that I've found invaluable, especially in recent days. When it doesn't work right, when I can't lose myself in that world for a while when I need to, annoyance becomes frustration and the stress reliever becomes a stress increaser...not good, especially on a day like today.

Of course, that's probably not going to stop me from trying again...soon. It would just be nice to be able to solely concern myself with whether my ship and I, and not the Tranquility server load, are up for the challenge.