I've pretty much spent the better part of the day in-game today...and damn, did I need it!
I've suddenly started to get some missions I've never seen before. The last one involved a force field that need to be taken down in order to reach the loot needed to complete the mission. This actually required some thinking through and strategy, though it wasn't especially difficult to figure out. I have to admit I liked the new missions. They were not impossible to complete, but fun and fairly lucrative...I've racked up about 4.5 mil ISK today...not bad for a few hours.
So, I guess I'm starting to see the Revelations 1.4 changes...and so far, I like. Right now, I need a high-interest diversion from RL and Eve has been exactly what I've needed. To be honest though, just sitting here writing about it is making me think about stuff that annoys me again so I'm going to go blow some more shit up now.
Til next time....
Friday, March 30, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Miss Me?
Hiya.
Yeah, I know it's been a while...longer than I'd anticipated, and it may be a while still before I'm again posting with the kind of regularity I started with. I can only plead an overwhelming amount of RL stuff to deal with. My new position still hasn't begun, though the launch is (hopefully) coming by the end of the month.
So, I finally had some time last night to fire up Eve and try to get back into it and pick up where I'd left off. This was fairly easy to do, and plus I had the added bonus of Drones V, Heavy Drones IV, and Battlecruisers IV, all of which I'd trained during my off-time. The one and only real advantage to having to take so much time off from Eve is that by the time I get back to it I'm more powerful and more capable than when I left.
During my off-time, Revelations 1.4 was deployed, as well as Eve Voice. To be honest, other than the lighter shade of grey of some of the information screens, I really haven't noticed the slightest difference thus far, but I've also just played for a couple of hours since the patch so I don't think it's really fair to judge that just yet.
Eve Voice, on the other hand, I do have something to say about. I think the idea of a built-in voice chat is a great idea, however, the way this has been offered to players frankly pisses me off. I've already invested over $150 in this game this year, and frankly, I think asking me and other players who make that level of investment in this game to then shell out even more for Eve Voice is not only unfair to players, but will ensure its failure.
After all, why should anyone shell out extra money for this when TeamSpeak is already in use in every alliance and once the server is paid for, is completely free to use? Where's the benefit here? Where's the incentive to switch? I wish someone would clue me in because right now I don't see any point in signing up for even a free trial of a voice chat system that few, if any, at least of those I've spoken with or read their thoughts in the forums on, have any intention of using.
The only way Eve Voice can possibly be successful is if everyone uses it, otherwise, no one will use it. In a nutshell, CCP is asking players to give up a free service that almost every corp or alliance which currently uses voice chat relies on, and instead take on a new, untried system that everyone will have to pay extra for. This thing is dead on arrival unless and until CCP realizes that most of the serious players of this game, the ones who continue to play (and pay) month after month and year after year, just aren't going to willingly shell out more money to replace a system that's not only already universally used in the game, but is free. Again, where's the incentive to switch, or even bother with a 30-day trial of a voice chat system most of their fellow players aren't going to be using when they go into battle because they've already got their TS servers up and running with easy and free access for every single member of their fleet? It just makes no sense for anyone who's really serious about this game to even bother with Eve Voice right now.
Eve Voice should be free, at minimum, to any player with six months or more paid time in the game (not actual chronological time playing, but paid up to that point or later). It's the only way it's even going to be seriously considered by any alliance now using TS or Ventrilio. No alliance leader with half a brain is going to risk using a new and relatively untested voice chat system in battle, especially one that requires players to pay extra for it. What would they do if some of their pilots flying ships critical to their fleets decide, for whatever reason, that they can't or don't want to pay for it? They'd be fucked and they know it, so they're just not going to risk it and will stick with the tried and true. That's just common sense and good leadership, and I'm frankly amazed that CCP apparently doesn't see that.
For myself and other players at my level, Eve Voice would serve no useful purpose other to facilitate casual voice chat at this point and that's just not a good enough reason to bother with it. I spend more than enough time behind a microphone in RL, thank you, and unless I've got a damn good reason, I'm probably not going to bother with in-game voice chat at all. Right now, I just don't see one. I'll save my 30-day free trial for when and if people actually start using this thing.
For a company that has invested such a high level of planning and forethought into this game, CCP certainly doesn't seem to have given Eve Voice and its impact on the game and its players anywhere near the same level of consideration, and that's really a pity.
Yeah, I know it's been a while...longer than I'd anticipated, and it may be a while still before I'm again posting with the kind of regularity I started with. I can only plead an overwhelming amount of RL stuff to deal with. My new position still hasn't begun, though the launch is (hopefully) coming by the end of the month.
So, I finally had some time last night to fire up Eve and try to get back into it and pick up where I'd left off. This was fairly easy to do, and plus I had the added bonus of Drones V, Heavy Drones IV, and Battlecruisers IV, all of which I'd trained during my off-time. The one and only real advantage to having to take so much time off from Eve is that by the time I get back to it I'm more powerful and more capable than when I left.
During my off-time, Revelations 1.4 was deployed, as well as Eve Voice. To be honest, other than the lighter shade of grey of some of the information screens, I really haven't noticed the slightest difference thus far, but I've also just played for a couple of hours since the patch so I don't think it's really fair to judge that just yet.
Eve Voice, on the other hand, I do have something to say about. I think the idea of a built-in voice chat is a great idea, however, the way this has been offered to players frankly pisses me off. I've already invested over $150 in this game this year, and frankly, I think asking me and other players who make that level of investment in this game to then shell out even more for Eve Voice is not only unfair to players, but will ensure its failure.
After all, why should anyone shell out extra money for this when TeamSpeak is already in use in every alliance and once the server is paid for, is completely free to use? Where's the benefit here? Where's the incentive to switch? I wish someone would clue me in because right now I don't see any point in signing up for even a free trial of a voice chat system that few, if any, at least of those I've spoken with or read their thoughts in the forums on, have any intention of using.
The only way Eve Voice can possibly be successful is if everyone uses it, otherwise, no one will use it. In a nutshell, CCP is asking players to give up a free service that almost every corp or alliance which currently uses voice chat relies on, and instead take on a new, untried system that everyone will have to pay extra for. This thing is dead on arrival unless and until CCP realizes that most of the serious players of this game, the ones who continue to play (and pay) month after month and year after year, just aren't going to willingly shell out more money to replace a system that's not only already universally used in the game, but is free. Again, where's the incentive to switch, or even bother with a 30-day trial of a voice chat system most of their fellow players aren't going to be using when they go into battle because they've already got their TS servers up and running with easy and free access for every single member of their fleet? It just makes no sense for anyone who's really serious about this game to even bother with Eve Voice right now.
Eve Voice should be free, at minimum, to any player with six months or more paid time in the game (not actual chronological time playing, but paid up to that point or later). It's the only way it's even going to be seriously considered by any alliance now using TS or Ventrilio. No alliance leader with half a brain is going to risk using a new and relatively untested voice chat system in battle, especially one that requires players to pay extra for it. What would they do if some of their pilots flying ships critical to their fleets decide, for whatever reason, that they can't or don't want to pay for it? They'd be fucked and they know it, so they're just not going to risk it and will stick with the tried and true. That's just common sense and good leadership, and I'm frankly amazed that CCP apparently doesn't see that.
For myself and other players at my level, Eve Voice would serve no useful purpose other to facilitate casual voice chat at this point and that's just not a good enough reason to bother with it. I spend more than enough time behind a microphone in RL, thank you, and unless I've got a damn good reason, I'm probably not going to bother with in-game voice chat at all. Right now, I just don't see one. I'll save my 30-day free trial for when and if people actually start using this thing.
For a company that has invested such a high level of planning and forethought into this game, CCP certainly doesn't seem to have given Eve Voice and its impact on the game and its players anywhere near the same level of consideration, and that's really a pity.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Decision Made!
If you look on the top of the this page you'll see that what I decided the correct answer to the question about what the name of this blog would be was "D. Another option I haven't thought of yet (please specify).". By the way, you'll note that while the title of this blog has changed, the URL hasn't, so no need to change your bookmarks.
It came to me last night, while I was attempting my first level 3 combat mission in the Myrmidon. Interestingly, I believe I drew the same mission I nearly got vaporized on when I tried to do it in the Thorax. This time, I did quite well...in fact, I'm doing damage on this mission at much the same relative level as I was doing with level 2 missions in the Thorax. Once again, this game demonstrates how completely thought-out and well-planned each aspect of its gameplay is.
I just read about CCP's trip to the Game Developer's Convention. One thing that I found interesting was that they plan to hire over a hundred developers to fill out positions in the company. My brother is a computer graphic artist and developer (I know he did work some years ago for a game called "Evolution", which I never actually played, but the graphics demo sure looked nice), and so I know that this kind of thing, where a company suddenly announces they're hiring a bazillion technical people, is a fairly unusual thing. It's also a good indication that Eve is doing very well and, in contrast to the opinions of some of the doomsayers I've read on the official forums, not only isn't going anywhere, but will continue to develop, grow, and improve for a very long time to come. Struggling businesses don't hire a hundred new employees or acquire other companies, as CCP just did with White Wolf (a company that makes collectible card games (CCG's), similar to "Magic: The Gathering"). Yet another reason why I'm glad I made the investment in a full-year subscription to this game.
Also, I believe I was right when I said that as far as the BoB/Dev. thing goes, the game will fix itself. The incident has seemingly spurred what many are calling "The Great War", BoB and their allies versus pretty much the rest of the star cluster. Regardless of who wins (though it's my suspicion that this war will be raging for a while to come yet), there will almost certainly be a change in the balance of power among the major alliances in this game. That, I believe, is probably a good thing...but it's also possible that it might not be.
If BoB wins the war decisively, and maintains or increases the level of power and influence they have now, a lot of players will not be happy. Perhaps more importantly, if BoB becomes even more powerful and untouchable as a result of this war, a large portion of the player base will be furious and very likely a substantial number will decide that trying to be successful and potent in Eve is no longer an attainable goal for those not connected to BoB or one of their allies and just move on to other games.
Now, of course, from my perspective as a player at this point, it all means less than nothing. I've never even seen 0.0 yet. I do plan for the future with that move in mind, but I also believe that to try to make that move now, while I'm still learning and progressing and don't have a lot to fall back on should I get my ship blown up and/or myself podded, would be foolish in the extreme.
That said, it's also true that I have a battlecruiser now, a reasonably well-armed one, in fact, and I've been starting to think that maybe it's time I starting pushing the envelope a little bit more. I have to be careful because right now I really have no margin for error, but once I've got a little more ISK in my pocket I have a feeling I'll be getting that wanderlust...
And so, it's Monday, the day my big RL career move was supposed to happen, but it's been delayed a week to the 19th. It hardly thrills me to have to wait another week, but I did get at least some time to play Eve this weekend that I didn't expect to have. I didn't get a chance to finish that mission last night, but I might jump in later and try it again...we'll see. It'll be seven extra days before the big launch, but work somehow has a way of expanding to fill the time available, so nothing's carved in stone by any means.
Still, at least I've got that title thing worked out...
It came to me last night, while I was attempting my first level 3 combat mission in the Myrmidon. Interestingly, I believe I drew the same mission I nearly got vaporized on when I tried to do it in the Thorax. This time, I did quite well...in fact, I'm doing damage on this mission at much the same relative level as I was doing with level 2 missions in the Thorax. Once again, this game demonstrates how completely thought-out and well-planned each aspect of its gameplay is.
I just read about CCP's trip to the Game Developer's Convention. One thing that I found interesting was that they plan to hire over a hundred developers to fill out positions in the company. My brother is a computer graphic artist and developer (I know he did work some years ago for a game called "Evolution", which I never actually played, but the graphics demo sure looked nice), and so I know that this kind of thing, where a company suddenly announces they're hiring a bazillion technical people, is a fairly unusual thing. It's also a good indication that Eve is doing very well and, in contrast to the opinions of some of the doomsayers I've read on the official forums, not only isn't going anywhere, but will continue to develop, grow, and improve for a very long time to come. Struggling businesses don't hire a hundred new employees or acquire other companies, as CCP just did with White Wolf (a company that makes collectible card games (CCG's), similar to "Magic: The Gathering"). Yet another reason why I'm glad I made the investment in a full-year subscription to this game.
Also, I believe I was right when I said that as far as the BoB/Dev. thing goes, the game will fix itself. The incident has seemingly spurred what many are calling "The Great War", BoB and their allies versus pretty much the rest of the star cluster. Regardless of who wins (though it's my suspicion that this war will be raging for a while to come yet), there will almost certainly be a change in the balance of power among the major alliances in this game. That, I believe, is probably a good thing...but it's also possible that it might not be.
If BoB wins the war decisively, and maintains or increases the level of power and influence they have now, a lot of players will not be happy. Perhaps more importantly, if BoB becomes even more powerful and untouchable as a result of this war, a large portion of the player base will be furious and very likely a substantial number will decide that trying to be successful and potent in Eve is no longer an attainable goal for those not connected to BoB or one of their allies and just move on to other games.
Now, of course, from my perspective as a player at this point, it all means less than nothing. I've never even seen 0.0 yet. I do plan for the future with that move in mind, but I also believe that to try to make that move now, while I'm still learning and progressing and don't have a lot to fall back on should I get my ship blown up and/or myself podded, would be foolish in the extreme.
That said, it's also true that I have a battlecruiser now, a reasonably well-armed one, in fact, and I've been starting to think that maybe it's time I starting pushing the envelope a little bit more. I have to be careful because right now I really have no margin for error, but once I've got a little more ISK in my pocket I have a feeling I'll be getting that wanderlust...
And so, it's Monday, the day my big RL career move was supposed to happen, but it's been delayed a week to the 19th. It hardly thrills me to have to wait another week, but I did get at least some time to play Eve this weekend that I didn't expect to have. I didn't get a chance to finish that mission last night, but I might jump in later and try it again...we'll see. It'll be seven extra days before the big launch, but work somehow has a way of expanding to fill the time available, so nothing's carved in stone by any means.
Still, at least I've got that title thing worked out...
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Just a Girl and Her...Myrmidon?
I dunno...to be honest, I'm still deciding.
Not about the Myrmidon itself, mind you. I've got it about 90% fitted enough the way I want it, enough to try taking on a level 3 mission and seeing how it goes. The components I had in the Thorax filled out the Myrmidon nicely for the most part. I had to buy a few things like a medium armor repper and a couple more guns, but I had the whole thing fitted to the point where I was comfortable taking it out of dock while spending only about a million or so ISK to do it.
Of course, then I had to insure the thing. I took the best I could afford, the Standard level insurance. It only pays 60% (24m ISK), but since I don't have a spare 20 mil lying around for the Platinum level insurance and I don't plan on doing level 2 missions in the Thorax for another two weeks to get it, it'll have to do. I probably shouldn't jinx it, but I haven't had a ship blown up on me in a couple of weeks now, so I'm hoping the streak continues at least until I can do some level 3 missions and bank some more ISK.
So, the Myrmidon is now spaceworthy, and, presumably, missionworthy, even if there are a few tweaks I'd like to make once I have a bit more ISK to play with. Of course, at this point the missionworthy status is total supposition on my part...I spent a few hours flying it around Gallente space tonight acquiring a few things I needed, but I still haven't fired a single shot in combat with this ship yet.
And yet, I still have that most challenging of all Eve-related conundrums to answer: Should I change the name of this blog to fit what I'm flying now?
I've actually been giving this a lot of thought. I'm a writer (gee, could ya tell?) and to my writer's sensibility, "A Girl and Her Myrmidon" just doesn't seem to roll off the tongue (or the keyboard) the way "A Girl and Her Thorax" does. I dunno, maybe it's the extra syllable but it just seems "off" to me, if you know what I mean.
Of course, this is purely about aesthetics and has no bearing on what I write here or on my gameplay whatsoever, so I'm going to toss the question out to you.
Should I:
A. Change the name of the blog to fit the new ship and each successive new model ship I fly as I put them in space.
B. Change the name of the blog to fit the new ship this time, but reconsider the question each time I upgrade my ship.
C. Keep it "Just a Girl and Her Thorax" in perpetuity.
D. Another option I haven't thought of yet (please specify).
Please post your thoughts in the comments...thanks!
Right now, it's 7am eastern time, the beginning of the daily Eve downtime. The stress of preparing for this new position has been fucking with my sleep patterns, and so I find myself at the computer, as awake as ever, with a cup of hot coffee at my side after a sleepless night...and
I can't even load up Eve to jump in and play when it's still early enough that the phone won't start ringing for at least a few hours (lucky me, I'm in New Jersey, but the network's main studio and my boss are in LA...I generally don't have to start fielding calls and dealing with work-related issues directly until at least noon my time). Yes, there's a reason why after sparse and fairly short posts for the last few days you're suddenly getting this monstrosity.
So, perhaps in exactly fifty more minutes as I write this, I'll go do some more cruising in my new toy...and maybe break in that new fitting on some level 3 NPC's...
Not about the Myrmidon itself, mind you. I've got it about 90% fitted enough the way I want it, enough to try taking on a level 3 mission and seeing how it goes. The components I had in the Thorax filled out the Myrmidon nicely for the most part. I had to buy a few things like a medium armor repper and a couple more guns, but I had the whole thing fitted to the point where I was comfortable taking it out of dock while spending only about a million or so ISK to do it.
Of course, then I had to insure the thing. I took the best I could afford, the Standard level insurance. It only pays 60% (24m ISK), but since I don't have a spare 20 mil lying around for the Platinum level insurance and I don't plan on doing level 2 missions in the Thorax for another two weeks to get it, it'll have to do. I probably shouldn't jinx it, but I haven't had a ship blown up on me in a couple of weeks now, so I'm hoping the streak continues at least until I can do some level 3 missions and bank some more ISK.
So, the Myrmidon is now spaceworthy, and, presumably, missionworthy, even if there are a few tweaks I'd like to make once I have a bit more ISK to play with. Of course, at this point the missionworthy status is total supposition on my part...I spent a few hours flying it around Gallente space tonight acquiring a few things I needed, but I still haven't fired a single shot in combat with this ship yet.
And yet, I still have that most challenging of all Eve-related conundrums to answer: Should I change the name of this blog to fit what I'm flying now?
I've actually been giving this a lot of thought. I'm a writer (gee, could ya tell?) and to my writer's sensibility, "A Girl and Her Myrmidon" just doesn't seem to roll off the tongue (or the keyboard) the way "A Girl and Her Thorax" does. I dunno, maybe it's the extra syllable but it just seems "off" to me, if you know what I mean.
Of course, this is purely about aesthetics and has no bearing on what I write here or on my gameplay whatsoever, so I'm going to toss the question out to you.
Should I:
A. Change the name of the blog to fit the new ship and each successive new model ship I fly as I put them in space.
B. Change the name of the blog to fit the new ship this time, but reconsider the question each time I upgrade my ship.
C. Keep it "Just a Girl and Her Thorax" in perpetuity.
D. Another option I haven't thought of yet (please specify).
Please post your thoughts in the comments...thanks!
Right now, it's 7am eastern time, the beginning of the daily Eve downtime. The stress of preparing for this new position has been fucking with my sleep patterns, and so I find myself at the computer, as awake as ever, with a cup of hot coffee at my side after a sleepless night...and
I can't even load up Eve to jump in and play when it's still early enough that the phone won't start ringing for at least a few hours (lucky me, I'm in New Jersey, but the network's main studio and my boss are in LA...I generally don't have to start fielding calls and dealing with work-related issues directly until at least noon my time). Yes, there's a reason why after sparse and fairly short posts for the last few days you're suddenly getting this monstrosity.
So, perhaps in exactly fifty more minutes as I write this, I'll go do some more cruising in my new toy...and maybe break in that new fitting on some level 3 NPC's...
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Checkin' In...
So, I popped into Eve for about ten minutes last night to set my next skill training (on the advice of Lucas, I just finished training Drones V), and hey, big surprise, the launch of the network I'm going to be working for has been delayed a week, until the 19th (not really, this is like the fifth or sixth time it's been pushed back), but I doubt there will be any more delays after this. Still, it does give me a bit more breathing space...and possibly more Eve time in the coming days. Hell, I might just jump in for a while today!
It's only been a few days, but I'm already missing Eve and I'm anxious to get started on fitting my new ship. I've decided that what I'm going to do in order to make sure I can fully fit the Myrmidon and at least have something left over in order to insure it is that I'm going to buy everything I need (unless of course I've got it lying around somewhere) except for what I already have in the Thorax. Once I've done that and have everything in the same place, I'll strip the Thorax and use the components to finish fitting the Myrmidon. I've got some fairly nice stuff in there...four 250mm Compressed Coils and a tech II armor repper, for example...and if I tried to just purchase everything I need I'd probably pretty much wipe myself out financially.
I'll still have my fully-fitted Catalyst as a backup should I manage to get myself blown up again. Sure, it's not as good as having a fully-fitted Thorax available if I need it, but as time goes on I'll be able to afford to re-fit that ship as a backup as well.
So, as you can see, I've made my decision. Now, I'm anxious to get started on putting it into effect. Hopefully, that'll start later today.
And then, after all that, when the Thorax is stripped and the Myrmidon is finally ready to fly, I'll still have one more question to answer:
Should I change the name of this blog?
It's only been a few days, but I'm already missing Eve and I'm anxious to get started on fitting my new ship. I've decided that what I'm going to do in order to make sure I can fully fit the Myrmidon and at least have something left over in order to insure it is that I'm going to buy everything I need (unless of course I've got it lying around somewhere) except for what I already have in the Thorax. Once I've done that and have everything in the same place, I'll strip the Thorax and use the components to finish fitting the Myrmidon. I've got some fairly nice stuff in there...four 250mm Compressed Coils and a tech II armor repper, for example...and if I tried to just purchase everything I need I'd probably pretty much wipe myself out financially.
I'll still have my fully-fitted Catalyst as a backup should I manage to get myself blown up again. Sure, it's not as good as having a fully-fitted Thorax available if I need it, but as time goes on I'll be able to afford to re-fit that ship as a backup as well.
So, as you can see, I've made my decision. Now, I'm anxious to get started on putting it into effect. Hopefully, that'll start later today.
And then, after all that, when the Thorax is stripped and the Myrmidon is finally ready to fly, I'll still have one more question to answer:
Should I change the name of this blog?
Thursday, March 8, 2007
A Temporary Diversion...
...yeah, that inconvenient ol' RL strikes again. It's just a few days before the start of a new professional situation, and the demands of preparing for that are seriously cutting into my Eve playing time. Actually, I haven't logged in for just over two days...there's just been too much to do to be able to take the time.
Honestly, it may be like this for the next several days, so if you don't see the same regularity of posts you've become used to, don't worry...it won't be forever. The fact that I also get the bonus of extra time to consider how I want to proceed on the fitting of my Myrmidon is a welcome benefit though.
This new RL position is a very new and exciting experience for me, and I'm taking the time to savor it and give it all the attention it requires, and it's where I expect my attentions will be chiefly focused over the next several days. Hopefully, I'll find some time to jump into Eve during this period, but right now, just four days before the big day, there's just no way to guarantee, or even just expect, that I'm going to have a lot of time for Eve over the next several days.
Here's yet another thing I love about this game: I can do exactly what I'm doing now, not play regularly or at all for a while, but I can come back, log on, and pick up right where I left off. I don't feel like I'm hurting my character or missing out on anything by having to take a few days off. And, because I'm able to focus on what I need to focus on right now, without having to worry about regularly logging in or playing to "maintain" my character (other than making sure my skill trainings are set), I'll be able to enjoy the playtime I will have available even more. For me, this is just one more reason why Eve is the perfect game.
So, you might not see another post here for a few days...or you might. I don't know...everything depends on time...
Honestly, it may be like this for the next several days, so if you don't see the same regularity of posts you've become used to, don't worry...it won't be forever. The fact that I also get the bonus of extra time to consider how I want to proceed on the fitting of my Myrmidon is a welcome benefit though.
This new RL position is a very new and exciting experience for me, and I'm taking the time to savor it and give it all the attention it requires, and it's where I expect my attentions will be chiefly focused over the next several days. Hopefully, I'll find some time to jump into Eve during this period, but right now, just four days before the big day, there's just no way to guarantee, or even just expect, that I'm going to have a lot of time for Eve over the next several days.
Here's yet another thing I love about this game: I can do exactly what I'm doing now, not play regularly or at all for a while, but I can come back, log on, and pick up right where I left off. I don't feel like I'm hurting my character or missing out on anything by having to take a few days off. And, because I'm able to focus on what I need to focus on right now, without having to worry about regularly logging in or playing to "maintain" my character (other than making sure my skill trainings are set), I'll be able to enjoy the playtime I will have available even more. For me, this is just one more reason why Eve is the perfect game.
So, you might not see another post here for a few days...or you might. I don't know...everything depends on time...
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Taking the Plunge...
...yep, I finally just got tired of waiting and just did it: Last night, I bought my Myrmidon.
That's all I've done so far, mind you. After buying the ship, I have a little more than 7 million ISK left, so I'm currently deciding whether to purchase a full fitting of guns and other modules for the Myrmidon from scratch or to strip my Thorax of all that expensive ordinance I have in there and use it to hopefully help me to conserve enough of that 7 mil to buy the best stuff I can run in all those extra slots I now have to play with. Of course, there's always the other option, which is to just keep running missions in the Thorax as I slowly but surely fit my Myrmidon the way I want it, piece by piece.
I'm really not sure what I'm going to do here. I haven't even logged in yet today, mainly because I know that in order to get anything done I need to decide what I'm doing next...and y'know, I just realized that I never bothered to check and see how much it's going to cost to insure this thing. Hmmm...maybe some more Thorax mission running is in order before the Myrmidon sees space? Clearly, I have more research to do.
That's all I've done so far, mind you. After buying the ship, I have a little more than 7 million ISK left, so I'm currently deciding whether to purchase a full fitting of guns and other modules for the Myrmidon from scratch or to strip my Thorax of all that expensive ordinance I have in there and use it to hopefully help me to conserve enough of that 7 mil to buy the best stuff I can run in all those extra slots I now have to play with. Of course, there's always the other option, which is to just keep running missions in the Thorax as I slowly but surely fit my Myrmidon the way I want it, piece by piece.
I'm really not sure what I'm going to do here. I haven't even logged in yet today, mainly because I know that in order to get anything done I need to decide what I'm doing next...and y'know, I just realized that I never bothered to check and see how much it's going to cost to insure this thing. Hmmm...maybe some more Thorax mission running is in order before the Myrmidon sees space? Clearly, I have more research to do.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
What's So Great About Eve Anyway?
Recently, I was on a radio show (actually I was hosting it) talking about MMOG's and one of the things I said on the air was that I believe that the Eve playerbase is generally more mature, and therefore probably less prone to certain negative aspects of player socialization. In addition, though, I also think there's more to it than just a chronological age difference.
Eve, as everyone who plays it seriously knows, is not an especially easy or a particularly accessible game, not if you really want to get to what most players consider "the good stuff". Getting to that point takes a lot of time and hard work, and that's something that a lot of younger MMOG players, more seeking a thrill of the moment rather than a hard-won victory, just aren't going to be willing to do. In a way, this is a bad thing for CCP and Eve, for no other reason than simple economics: the less people who find Eve accessible and compelling, the less subscription income for CCP, and thus, the less money is available to be invested back into the game itself as opposed to into the company to keep it running. At the same time, however, it's a great thing for both the game and the playerbase. Those who do stick around are serious, hardcore, and loyal, including many like myself, who've just fallen in love with the game and are far less wrapped up in actually being able to rule the New Eden star cluster than they are in just having a great time trying.
My own experience with this game and its players clearly bears this theory out. I've met some pretty terrific people in this game in just the couple of months I've been playing it. The friendliness, generosity, and kindness of the vast majority of the people I've encountered in Eve thus far is overwhelming, and quite a bit more positive than in other games and other social circles. Even when there's been disagreement the tone has remained civil and reasoned.
It all seems to fit with the generally higher-than-average positive tone of player interaction that
just seems to be a part of the overall personality of the community of Eve players. World of Warcraft has about a bazillion times more players than Eve does, but one thing I doubt it'll ever have is the high quality of its playerbase and player interactions.
Now of course, I've never played World of Warcraft, but I have heard plenty about it and I have played Everquest. Having done my bit with medieval sword-slashing and magic-casting in that game, I've really felt no need since to repeat the experience. And now, why would I? I've found my game.
Funny how things work out, isn't it? The first time I played Eve, I played for a few days and then I moved on...it took a year until I decided to take another look and was hooked the second time. I've always wondered how many players came or came back to Eve after trying and becoming bored with another MMOG first...
What's so great about Eve? Two things:
1. The game.
2. The people who play it.
Eve, as everyone who plays it seriously knows, is not an especially easy or a particularly accessible game, not if you really want to get to what most players consider "the good stuff". Getting to that point takes a lot of time and hard work, and that's something that a lot of younger MMOG players, more seeking a thrill of the moment rather than a hard-won victory, just aren't going to be willing to do. In a way, this is a bad thing for CCP and Eve, for no other reason than simple economics: the less people who find Eve accessible and compelling, the less subscription income for CCP, and thus, the less money is available to be invested back into the game itself as opposed to into the company to keep it running. At the same time, however, it's a great thing for both the game and the playerbase. Those who do stick around are serious, hardcore, and loyal, including many like myself, who've just fallen in love with the game and are far less wrapped up in actually being able to rule the New Eden star cluster than they are in just having a great time trying.
My own experience with this game and its players clearly bears this theory out. I've met some pretty terrific people in this game in just the couple of months I've been playing it. The friendliness, generosity, and kindness of the vast majority of the people I've encountered in Eve thus far is overwhelming, and quite a bit more positive than in other games and other social circles. Even when there's been disagreement the tone has remained civil and reasoned.
It all seems to fit with the generally higher-than-average positive tone of player interaction that
just seems to be a part of the overall personality of the community of Eve players. World of Warcraft has about a bazillion times more players than Eve does, but one thing I doubt it'll ever have is the high quality of its playerbase and player interactions.
Now of course, I've never played World of Warcraft, but I have heard plenty about it and I have played Everquest. Having done my bit with medieval sword-slashing and magic-casting in that game, I've really felt no need since to repeat the experience. And now, why would I? I've found my game.
Funny how things work out, isn't it? The first time I played Eve, I played for a few days and then I moved on...it took a year until I decided to take another look and was hooked the second time. I've always wondered how many players came or came back to Eve after trying and becoming bored with another MMOG first...
What's so great about Eve? Two things:
1. The game.
2. The people who play it.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Decisions, Decisions...
Yesterday when I logged in, Lucas Malbranque found me and asked if I'd like some help on my mission...he had a newly fitted ship he wanted to try. Together, we took on the last part of "Human Cattle", easing through it with nary a problem. Best of all was the great conversation...Lucas really knows Eve and his advice is invaluable to me. And, on top of all that, he left me enough ISK as a parting gift to easily purchase my Myrmidon!
Afterward I quickly called up the market panel to see the current prices, but as I was checking and discovering that yes, I could buy a Myrmidon now if I wanted to, it might be smarter to invest in the advanced learning skillbooks Lucas recommended I get first. On the other hand, were I to buy both of the books he recommended, I'd be only able to afford to buy, but not properly fit or insure, a Myrmidon. Hmmm....what to do, what to do?
Discretion, I've decided, is the better part of common sense in this case. I scrolled all the way down the panel and found the Clarity skillbook, priced at a little over four million ISK, and bought it. I've now just finished training that up to Level 3, and after I log in later I'll go buy and start training the other one (I can't think of the actual name of the skill just now. :/). I look at it this way: Since these skills allow me to train other skills faster, that's gotta be a useful advantage when I'm ready to move up to a Battlecruiser. It's worth the extra time running missions in a Cruiser to help ensure that I won't have to worry about it later.
Given how time is so artfully used to control progress in Eve, it's not a far stretch to imagine that a good rule of thumb to follow is that the longer you take to prepare for something in this game, the more likely you are to be successful at it. Therefore, I'm taking the more time-consuming but probably safer route of training these skills up and then recouping the ISK I'm spending to get them by just continuing to do what I've been doing for the last few days, before I take that plunge and get my Myrmidon.
In any case, this is now an entirely different prospect than it was just a day or two ago...I suspect things will begin to get more interesting in this game for me starting very soon.
Afterward I quickly called up the market panel to see the current prices, but as I was checking and discovering that yes, I could buy a Myrmidon now if I wanted to, it might be smarter to invest in the advanced learning skillbooks Lucas recommended I get first. On the other hand, were I to buy both of the books he recommended, I'd be only able to afford to buy, but not properly fit or insure, a Myrmidon. Hmmm....what to do, what to do?
Discretion, I've decided, is the better part of common sense in this case. I scrolled all the way down the panel and found the Clarity skillbook, priced at a little over four million ISK, and bought it. I've now just finished training that up to Level 3, and after I log in later I'll go buy and start training the other one (I can't think of the actual name of the skill just now. :/). I look at it this way: Since these skills allow me to train other skills faster, that's gotta be a useful advantage when I'm ready to move up to a Battlecruiser. It's worth the extra time running missions in a Cruiser to help ensure that I won't have to worry about it later.
Given how time is so artfully used to control progress in Eve, it's not a far stretch to imagine that a good rule of thumb to follow is that the longer you take to prepare for something in this game, the more likely you are to be successful at it. Therefore, I'm taking the more time-consuming but probably safer route of training these skills up and then recouping the ISK I'm spending to get them by just continuing to do what I've been doing for the last few days, before I take that plunge and get my Myrmidon.
In any case, this is now an entirely different prospect than it was just a day or two ago...I suspect things will begin to get more interesting in this game for me starting very soon.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Cruisin'
Yeah, I'm still making a pile on those level two missions, inching ever closer to that Myrmidon price tag...
I played some yesterday, but it was also a very big day for me RL careerwise. It was just officially announced that a new online media venture I'm a part of is getting ready to launch in about a week and a half. It's going to mean that I'm finally going to be taking something I've been doing as an amateur for about five years and beginning to do it professionally. This is a classic "big break" situation, and of course I'm very excited. This announcement also means that my workload will be increasing significantly in the very near future, and as it does, I'll likely have at least a little less time for Eve, at least for a while, until the newness wears off and everyone involved finds their own niche in doing their part to make this thing work. Very exciting, but also quite irrelevant to playing Eve other than its demands on my free time, so let's move on.
I pulled in something in the neighborhood of 2.5 million ISK yesterday running missions, and if I'd forced myself to stay awake another half hour I probably could have upped that by close to another mil, but sleep once again overwhelmed greed, so I'll finish what I was doing when I log in later, but I know I've missed the time bonus. Oh well...better than pushing it too far and dozing off at an inopportune moment.
I know I shouldn't jinx it by saying anything, but I haven't lost a ship in a while....not since I started using armor hardeners the way the BoB guys showed me. I've come fairly close a few times, but never so close that I didn't have the time to warp out safely. Part of it is the armor hardeners, and part of it is also that I'm improving in terms of keeping everything moving along...maneuvering, targeting ships, launching drones (I still forget sometimes, but I'm getting better), keeping the right modules active, all that stuff...and so I'm getting through these Level 2 missions more and more quickly.
Also, by the time I finally get my Myrmidon and have her fitted out and ready to fly, I'll have plenty of Level 3 agents at all levels available to me. I trained up my social skills a while ago, so certain corps that I have a high standing with are already offering me high-level Level 3 agents...needless to say, right now I just put them in People and Places and move on. Considering how much trouble I had with a mission from a -17 Level 3 agent, I'm guessing that taking on one from a +16 probably wouldn't be the smartest move while I'm still flying a Thorax...call it a hunch. ;)
The next few weeks will be interesting ones for me, both in and out of Eve. Funny how it seems like just as I'm heading toward entering a new level of play in this game, I'm also entering a new level in my RL career. Of course, certain aspects just don't compare. I've been playing Eve for all of two months, but I've been working toward this RL career move for about five years.
It's also interesting how both this career move and my progress in Eve seem to call up the same emotions within me, like that the anxious nervousness of not knowing what's around the next corner but desperately wanting to find out or the determination to succeed. It seems that Eve's corollaries to real life don't end at just the obvious, what you have to actually do in order to succeed, but also include, for me at least, how it makes you feel doing it.
Of course, there's the big difference, the one that truly matters above all others: One is a game, the other is reality. Still, both cause the mind to fly toward the future, to a place where all the hard work begins to pay off, a place where new opportunities and new adventures beckon. It's a place I've been heading towards for a while, a place which now doesn't seem quite as far away as it used to.
Ok, clearly I'm having difficulty separating my musings on Eve from my musings on RL events right now, so I'm just going to bag it for today, probably get some play time in later, and try posting again tomorrow or the day after.
In some ways, this game can be just a little too realistic...
I played some yesterday, but it was also a very big day for me RL careerwise. It was just officially announced that a new online media venture I'm a part of is getting ready to launch in about a week and a half. It's going to mean that I'm finally going to be taking something I've been doing as an amateur for about five years and beginning to do it professionally. This is a classic "big break" situation, and of course I'm very excited. This announcement also means that my workload will be increasing significantly in the very near future, and as it does, I'll likely have at least a little less time for Eve, at least for a while, until the newness wears off and everyone involved finds their own niche in doing their part to make this thing work. Very exciting, but also quite irrelevant to playing Eve other than its demands on my free time, so let's move on.
I pulled in something in the neighborhood of 2.5 million ISK yesterday running missions, and if I'd forced myself to stay awake another half hour I probably could have upped that by close to another mil, but sleep once again overwhelmed greed, so I'll finish what I was doing when I log in later, but I know I've missed the time bonus. Oh well...better than pushing it too far and dozing off at an inopportune moment.
I know I shouldn't jinx it by saying anything, but I haven't lost a ship in a while....not since I started using armor hardeners the way the BoB guys showed me. I've come fairly close a few times, but never so close that I didn't have the time to warp out safely. Part of it is the armor hardeners, and part of it is also that I'm improving in terms of keeping everything moving along...maneuvering, targeting ships, launching drones (I still forget sometimes, but I'm getting better), keeping the right modules active, all that stuff...and so I'm getting through these Level 2 missions more and more quickly.
Also, by the time I finally get my Myrmidon and have her fitted out and ready to fly, I'll have plenty of Level 3 agents at all levels available to me. I trained up my social skills a while ago, so certain corps that I have a high standing with are already offering me high-level Level 3 agents...needless to say, right now I just put them in People and Places and move on. Considering how much trouble I had with a mission from a -17 Level 3 agent, I'm guessing that taking on one from a +16 probably wouldn't be the smartest move while I'm still flying a Thorax...call it a hunch. ;)
The next few weeks will be interesting ones for me, both in and out of Eve. Funny how it seems like just as I'm heading toward entering a new level of play in this game, I'm also entering a new level in my RL career. Of course, certain aspects just don't compare. I've been playing Eve for all of two months, but I've been working toward this RL career move for about five years.
It's also interesting how both this career move and my progress in Eve seem to call up the same emotions within me, like that the anxious nervousness of not knowing what's around the next corner but desperately wanting to find out or the determination to succeed. It seems that Eve's corollaries to real life don't end at just the obvious, what you have to actually do in order to succeed, but also include, for me at least, how it makes you feel doing it.
Of course, there's the big difference, the one that truly matters above all others: One is a game, the other is reality. Still, both cause the mind to fly toward the future, to a place where all the hard work begins to pay off, a place where new opportunities and new adventures beckon. It's a place I've been heading towards for a while, a place which now doesn't seem quite as far away as it used to.
Ok, clearly I'm having difficulty separating my musings on Eve from my musings on RL events right now, so I'm just going to bag it for today, probably get some play time in later, and try posting again tomorrow or the day after.
In some ways, this game can be just a little too realistic...
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
The Comfort Zone...
I played Eve a lot of yesterday...probably the single biggest ISK-making day since I've been playing...even if you don't count another timely and generous donation.
Yep, I'm now about 2/3 of the way to my Myrmidon, thanks to Davin Intaki, a really nice guy from T-GRADS. I found a very nice surprise waiting for me when I logged in yesterday, so I sent Davin a thank you note and he found me in-game. He invited me to something that I'd really like to do someday but don't think I'm ready for just yet...a trip to the Eve gate. I know it's a dangerous trip, so I want to wait until I can fly something I can afford to lose, and which could at least theoretically could survive a pirate attack long enough to get the hell out with my pod intact. One day I'll have the skills and the hardware to say "Oh yeah? Fuck you, pirate...chew on this....", but until I reach that point discretion is definitely the better part of common sense.
I blasted my way through about five missions yesterday, including a repeat of "Human Cattle", the one I was having so much trouble with when I met the BoB guys. This time, I got through it in time to collect the time bonus...a hell of a difference.
Today, I dunno...I've got a pretty full RL day ahead of me, so I don't know if I'll get any Eve in today. Maybe, if I'm lucky, an hour or two in-between appointments, but today is my big "deal with RL" day...for some reason, a lot of important things seem to fall on Wednesdays.
Still, right now I'm feeling like I'm back to making real headway toward my goals in this game, and that makes me all the more excited and anxious to get back out there asap.
There's actually more I'd like to write right now, but I just don't have the time...perhaps later, but certainly tomorrow.
Yep, I'm now about 2/3 of the way to my Myrmidon, thanks to Davin Intaki, a really nice guy from T-GRADS. I found a very nice surprise waiting for me when I logged in yesterday, so I sent Davin a thank you note and he found me in-game. He invited me to something that I'd really like to do someday but don't think I'm ready for just yet...a trip to the Eve gate. I know it's a dangerous trip, so I want to wait until I can fly something I can afford to lose, and which could at least theoretically could survive a pirate attack long enough to get the hell out with my pod intact. One day I'll have the skills and the hardware to say "Oh yeah? Fuck you, pirate...chew on this....", but until I reach that point discretion is definitely the better part of common sense.
I blasted my way through about five missions yesterday, including a repeat of "Human Cattle", the one I was having so much trouble with when I met the BoB guys. This time, I got through it in time to collect the time bonus...a hell of a difference.
Today, I dunno...I've got a pretty full RL day ahead of me, so I don't know if I'll get any Eve in today. Maybe, if I'm lucky, an hour or two in-between appointments, but today is my big "deal with RL" day...for some reason, a lot of important things seem to fall on Wednesdays.
Still, right now I'm feeling like I'm back to making real headway toward my goals in this game, and that makes me all the more excited and anxious to get back out there asap.
There's actually more I'd like to write right now, but I just don't have the time...perhaps later, but certainly tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
/me <3 Armor Hardeners
Yep, I beat it...and, in fact, pretty easily once I had the appropriate armor hardeners installed for the damage I was taking. One thing I've had to get used to in the last day or so is following the one part of the advice of the BoB guys: To be an armor tanker, not a shield tanker.
This was slightly difficult to get used to at first. Instinctively, I'm prone to wanting to prevent as much of my indicators from going red as possible, including the outer layer. Being an armor tanker, though, I don't even go in with a shield booster anymore. When I take enough hits to lose the shield, I turn on the hardeners and my tech-2 armor repper and I have enough resistance to stay in the fight much longer than I did before, making clearing deadspace rooms full of NPC pirates a far easier proposition than it was before.
The other nice thing, of course, is that now that I'm off that mission and onto others is that I'm whipping through these level two's pretty easily. I'm still a bit hesitant right now, but once I've gotten more well-versed in the effective use of these hardeners (thanks to a timely donation, I now have two for each damage type), I might even try to go back to that ultra-low-level 3 mission I almost got instantly vaporized on the first time I tried it and give it another shot. Not just yet, though...there's more I want to learn and practice before I try something like that.
If there's any one thing about Eve, outside of the game design itself, that distinguishes it from other MMO's it's the maturity level of the players. The young smacktalker is the exception, not the rule in Eve. Yesterday, I just happened to be watching corp chat for a few minutes ( I think I was sitting outside a station running my reppers after a deadspace run), I saw someone start a conversation in which some of the players compared their ages...one or two were in their twenties but the vast majority were older, most in their thirties or forties, one I think even mentioned he was in his fifties with college age kids.
That's not to say there aren't some terrific people in other MMO's. One pleasant memory I have of Everquest is some of the people I interacted with when I played. I belonged to a terrific guild with a very generous and helpful leader...but there were also plenty of people who didn't fit that mold. In Eve, I've found a more challenging and less forgiving game, but also a player community that's more welcoming, more helpful, more mature-minded, and just more intellectual in general.
It occurs to me that the overall Eve story would make a pretty cool sci-fi movie...in fact, I'm frankly amazed it hasn't already happened yet. Talk about a movie that, by the very nature of the source material and its storyline continually evolving and progressing forward, would absolutely demand a sequel...and another...and another...maybe a series on the Sci-Fi Channel? Can you imagine the special effects budget for that one?
Personally, I suspect that the reason why the playerbase in Eve is more mature than in other MMO's is the same reason why they haven't gotten around to making a movie yet: Eve is something you have to proactively be willing to get into and immerse yourself in. The world of Eve doesn't conform itself to your desires as much as you conform your desires to be able see them realized in Eve. Eve doesn't come to you, you have to come to it. Epic battles there may be, but this is not the universe of Luke Skywalker or Captain Kirk, this is a much colder and darker place, less forgiving, less accessible, but for a certain kind of person absolutely fascinating and riveting.
So, in a little while I think I'll jump into Eve and enjoy both some good gaming and some good company.
This was slightly difficult to get used to at first. Instinctively, I'm prone to wanting to prevent as much of my indicators from going red as possible, including the outer layer. Being an armor tanker, though, I don't even go in with a shield booster anymore. When I take enough hits to lose the shield, I turn on the hardeners and my tech-2 armor repper and I have enough resistance to stay in the fight much longer than I did before, making clearing deadspace rooms full of NPC pirates a far easier proposition than it was before.
The other nice thing, of course, is that now that I'm off that mission and onto others is that I'm whipping through these level two's pretty easily. I'm still a bit hesitant right now, but once I've gotten more well-versed in the effective use of these hardeners (thanks to a timely donation, I now have two for each damage type), I might even try to go back to that ultra-low-level 3 mission I almost got instantly vaporized on the first time I tried it and give it another shot. Not just yet, though...there's more I want to learn and practice before I try something like that.
If there's any one thing about Eve, outside of the game design itself, that distinguishes it from other MMO's it's the maturity level of the players. The young smacktalker is the exception, not the rule in Eve. Yesterday, I just happened to be watching corp chat for a few minutes ( I think I was sitting outside a station running my reppers after a deadspace run), I saw someone start a conversation in which some of the players compared their ages...one or two were in their twenties but the vast majority were older, most in their thirties or forties, one I think even mentioned he was in his fifties with college age kids.
That's not to say there aren't some terrific people in other MMO's. One pleasant memory I have of Everquest is some of the people I interacted with when I played. I belonged to a terrific guild with a very generous and helpful leader...but there were also plenty of people who didn't fit that mold. In Eve, I've found a more challenging and less forgiving game, but also a player community that's more welcoming, more helpful, more mature-minded, and just more intellectual in general.
It occurs to me that the overall Eve story would make a pretty cool sci-fi movie...in fact, I'm frankly amazed it hasn't already happened yet. Talk about a movie that, by the very nature of the source material and its storyline continually evolving and progressing forward, would absolutely demand a sequel...and another...and another...maybe a series on the Sci-Fi Channel? Can you imagine the special effects budget for that one?
Personally, I suspect that the reason why the playerbase in Eve is more mature than in other MMO's is the same reason why they haven't gotten around to making a movie yet: Eve is something you have to proactively be willing to get into and immerse yourself in. The world of Eve doesn't conform itself to your desires as much as you conform your desires to be able see them realized in Eve. Eve doesn't come to you, you have to come to it. Epic battles there may be, but this is not the universe of Luke Skywalker or Captain Kirk, this is a much colder and darker place, less forgiving, less accessible, but for a certain kind of person absolutely fascinating and riveting.
So, in a little while I think I'll jump into Eve and enjoy both some good gaming and some good company.
Monday, February 26, 2007
...And Have You Met BoB?
Well, I have now...sort of.
I was in the GLBTA channel yesterday, chatting with a few people while I prepared for and then eventually tried to finish the final part of a five-part mission that was proving pretty tough. I'd gotten through the first room once the day before, but it had taken me so many runs to do that by the time I'd cleared it and made it to the second room it was time for bed. Yesterday, the entire mission had been reset and I was having the same problem.
I mentioned this in the channel and a couple of the guys in there gave me some excellent advice about my fitting and a more effective way to use armor hardeners, which I've only just begun using recently. One of them gave me a donation to cover the costs of the hardeners. Terrific guys, very willing to help out a noob in need.
The interesting part came a little later when one of the guys noticed a bug in the little indicators in the chat window. For some, including me, it had indicated we had a negative status with ourselves. Yet, when I logged out for a minute and then back in, the negative indicator on my own character went away, but it remained for two of these guys I was talking to, and I was curious as to why. One of them said something like "A lot of people have a negative status with BoB these days...". I commented that it was interesting because I'm a member of Eve-Uni and I doubted that most of the members of our corp, who are noobs or relative noobs, could ever pose even the slightest threat to BoB. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say for some reason because within about five seconds both of these guys disappeared from the channel, as far as I know yet to return.
If I broke some unwritten wartime protocol here, I still haven't a clue what it might be. The first major war in Eve since I've been playing has broken out, but since I've had virtually zero Eve wartime experience, I suspect I may have broken some sort of taboo. On the other hand, considering how often I've heard the charge thrown around on the forums in recent times, it's possible these guys might think me a spy from an opposing alliance.
Me, a spy? Yeah right...I'm going to be infiltrating BoB through GLBTA, while still getting my ass blown out of space by level 2 NPC pirates on a regular basis. Yeah...uh-huh. What would be the point in trying such a thing? It's not like BoB is going to suddenly decide they need to recruit a pilot with two months experience, who still learning to fit and operate her ship to best effect, so, if I actually were a spy, how would it gain me anything to try to hook up with BoB using a character at my level? If I were really a spy, wouldn't I create an alt that was far more well-skilled and better equipped than I actually am, in order to hopefully entice BoB to bring me into the fold as a fighter?
I can understand the lack of trust...this sort of thing has happened before. Yet, I have to wonder if any attempt at infiltration or spying in Eve has ever been attempted so ineptly as what it seems I might be suspected of here. In addition, I've been so open and so public about my playing Eve and even the name of my character, that I can't imagine anyone who really thinks this through seriously believes I could be an alt spy. Of course, then there's the other question: Were I truly a spy, what exactly would I gain by chatting up BoB members in GLBTA? When you really think about it, you realize it makes no sense at all, especially when you consider this question:
If I truly were a spy, why on Earth (or any other planet), would I be writing a blog like this one? Seems to me that probably one of the very worst things for a spy to do would be to promote their in-game identity publicly, as I have in the course of promoting this blog on the Eve-Uni and E-O forums.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope these guys just suddenly had something else to do and vanished from the channel for that reason. These things have a way of getting out of hand and don't always jibe with common sense or even basic rationality.
In any case, I owe those BoB guys a debt. Their help was invaluable, and their advice was excellent. I'm a much more effective fighter as the result of their council, and a big reason why I hope they really don't suspect me of being a spy is that I'd like to be able to call upon their advice again in the future when I encounter them.
And just in case those guys, anyone else from BoB, or just anyone involved in the current great war is reading this, I'll spell it out right here:
I do not support BoB.
I am not opposed to BoB.
I don't know enough about BoB or any other major alliance to judge them as good, bad, or otherwise. I'll leave such judgments to those more qualified to make them.
Thus far, at least, the current war does not affect me in any way...how could it? I've never been out of empire space, only a few times even outside of Gallente space. To reuse what I think is an apt analogy, for me to offer opinions on this war, who's right or who's wrong, who cheated or who didn't, or anything in relation to any of the surrounding events, would have all the credibility of a sandlot baseball player offering her opinion on steroid use in Major League Baseball. Maybe by the time the next major war rolls around, I'll have enough time in and experience with this game where I can speak intelligently on such subjects, but certainly not at this point, and so I've resolved to keep my mouth shut on that particular topic...for now, at least.
Now, thanks to that great and timely assistance, I'm ready to head back into deadspace and finally complete the last part of that mission. After I take care of a few things, I think I'm going to do just that. I'll let ya know how it goes...
I was in the GLBTA channel yesterday, chatting with a few people while I prepared for and then eventually tried to finish the final part of a five-part mission that was proving pretty tough. I'd gotten through the first room once the day before, but it had taken me so many runs to do that by the time I'd cleared it and made it to the second room it was time for bed. Yesterday, the entire mission had been reset and I was having the same problem.
I mentioned this in the channel and a couple of the guys in there gave me some excellent advice about my fitting and a more effective way to use armor hardeners, which I've only just begun using recently. One of them gave me a donation to cover the costs of the hardeners. Terrific guys, very willing to help out a noob in need.
The interesting part came a little later when one of the guys noticed a bug in the little indicators in the chat window. For some, including me, it had indicated we had a negative status with ourselves. Yet, when I logged out for a minute and then back in, the negative indicator on my own character went away, but it remained for two of these guys I was talking to, and I was curious as to why. One of them said something like "A lot of people have a negative status with BoB these days...". I commented that it was interesting because I'm a member of Eve-Uni and I doubted that most of the members of our corp, who are noobs or relative noobs, could ever pose even the slightest threat to BoB. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say for some reason because within about five seconds both of these guys disappeared from the channel, as far as I know yet to return.
If I broke some unwritten wartime protocol here, I still haven't a clue what it might be. The first major war in Eve since I've been playing has broken out, but since I've had virtually zero Eve wartime experience, I suspect I may have broken some sort of taboo. On the other hand, considering how often I've heard the charge thrown around on the forums in recent times, it's possible these guys might think me a spy from an opposing alliance.
Me, a spy? Yeah right...I'm going to be infiltrating BoB through GLBTA, while still getting my ass blown out of space by level 2 NPC pirates on a regular basis. Yeah...uh-huh. What would be the point in trying such a thing? It's not like BoB is going to suddenly decide they need to recruit a pilot with two months experience, who still learning to fit and operate her ship to best effect, so, if I actually were a spy, how would it gain me anything to try to hook up with BoB using a character at my level? If I were really a spy, wouldn't I create an alt that was far more well-skilled and better equipped than I actually am, in order to hopefully entice BoB to bring me into the fold as a fighter?
I can understand the lack of trust...this sort of thing has happened before. Yet, I have to wonder if any attempt at infiltration or spying in Eve has ever been attempted so ineptly as what it seems I might be suspected of here. In addition, I've been so open and so public about my playing Eve and even the name of my character, that I can't imagine anyone who really thinks this through seriously believes I could be an alt spy. Of course, then there's the other question: Were I truly a spy, what exactly would I gain by chatting up BoB members in GLBTA? When you really think about it, you realize it makes no sense at all, especially when you consider this question:
If I truly were a spy, why on Earth (or any other planet), would I be writing a blog like this one? Seems to me that probably one of the very worst things for a spy to do would be to promote their in-game identity publicly, as I have in the course of promoting this blog on the Eve-Uni and E-O forums.
I hope I'm wrong. I hope these guys just suddenly had something else to do and vanished from the channel for that reason. These things have a way of getting out of hand and don't always jibe with common sense or even basic rationality.
In any case, I owe those BoB guys a debt. Their help was invaluable, and their advice was excellent. I'm a much more effective fighter as the result of their council, and a big reason why I hope they really don't suspect me of being a spy is that I'd like to be able to call upon their advice again in the future when I encounter them.
And just in case those guys, anyone else from BoB, or just anyone involved in the current great war is reading this, I'll spell it out right here:
I do not support BoB.
I am not opposed to BoB.
I don't know enough about BoB or any other major alliance to judge them as good, bad, or otherwise. I'll leave such judgments to those more qualified to make them.
Thus far, at least, the current war does not affect me in any way...how could it? I've never been out of empire space, only a few times even outside of Gallente space. To reuse what I think is an apt analogy, for me to offer opinions on this war, who's right or who's wrong, who cheated or who didn't, or anything in relation to any of the surrounding events, would have all the credibility of a sandlot baseball player offering her opinion on steroid use in Major League Baseball. Maybe by the time the next major war rolls around, I'll have enough time in and experience with this game where I can speak intelligently on such subjects, but certainly not at this point, and so I've resolved to keep my mouth shut on that particular topic...for now, at least.
Now, thanks to that great and timely assistance, I'm ready to head back into deadspace and finally complete the last part of that mission. After I take care of a few things, I think I'm going to do just that. I'll let ya know how it goes...
Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Spaces In-Between
As artful a method of controlling player progress through time may be, there are times when it's just a complete and totally unnecessary pain in the ass. This is one of those times. There are certain missions I've drawn in this game that seem specifically created to take up as much time as possible. I'm doing one of those now.
In order to reach the actual combat area, I first have to warp to an area with a warp gate and then fly about 25km to get within the 2500m activation range. That's a few minutes at the 207/ms my Thorax manages. Once I do that, I'm warped into the first room of this mission, which I finished last night. Then, I need to cover another 50km or so to the next gate before getting to where the action is. Once there, I now have a new set of ships to deal with...since I did completely clear the first room and the wrecks timed out and vanished after a couple of hours, I'm hoping that I won't need to clear that room again today when I go in there. All in all, it takes probably around ten minutes or so just to reach the combat area right now, and I can only last in the kill zone just so long before I have to warp out and repair damage, so it's ten minutes, and then another ten minutes on the next run, and another...
I've already missed the time bonus reward on this one, but I'll get a quarter mil when I finish it. My mission here is to make it as far as a fleet of battleships and then warp out....here's hoping they're in the next room.
I've already got a storyline mission lined up after this one, and it's one I've successfully done before with a Celestis. That one will likely be easy money once I've gotten this one done.
It's Sunday. No work, no errands to run, no social schedule, and it's cold outside. I think I'm gonna make myself a nice, steaming hot pot of coffee, and then go blow away some Amarr frigates.
In order to reach the actual combat area, I first have to warp to an area with a warp gate and then fly about 25km to get within the 2500m activation range. That's a few minutes at the 207/ms my Thorax manages. Once I do that, I'm warped into the first room of this mission, which I finished last night. Then, I need to cover another 50km or so to the next gate before getting to where the action is. Once there, I now have a new set of ships to deal with...since I did completely clear the first room and the wrecks timed out and vanished after a couple of hours, I'm hoping that I won't need to clear that room again today when I go in there. All in all, it takes probably around ten minutes or so just to reach the combat area right now, and I can only last in the kill zone just so long before I have to warp out and repair damage, so it's ten minutes, and then another ten minutes on the next run, and another...
I've already missed the time bonus reward on this one, but I'll get a quarter mil when I finish it. My mission here is to make it as far as a fleet of battleships and then warp out....here's hoping they're in the next room.
I've already got a storyline mission lined up after this one, and it's one I've successfully done before with a Celestis. That one will likely be easy money once I've gotten this one done.
It's Sunday. No work, no errands to run, no social schedule, and it's cold outside. I think I'm gonna make myself a nice, steaming hot pot of coffee, and then go blow away some Amarr frigates.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
"You're Gonna Make It After All..."
A little while ago, I read back the new description I just added to the title of this blog and thought to myself, "It sounds like you're the interstellar Mary Tyler Moore." Yeah, well, ok...I kind of feel like that right now, anyway. If I am, though, then I haven't even reached the beginning of Mary's show yet, when she heads out to the big city to make it on her own. No, by that kind of storyline I'm still in college (literally if you consider what corporation I'm a member of), still going to school, working blue collar part-time jobs, and preparing for that big day.
Since I began playing Eve, I've often thought about how long it would be before I'd be comfortable heading into 0.0 for the first time. I know it's where I eventually want to find myself in this game, but I also know that it's probably going to be at least a little while before I'm ready for 0.0...or before 0.0 is ready for me. Chances are, I'll probably make my first venture into 0.0 space in the course of joining a corporation with an established base there. This seems highly likely given what I've heard from other pilots as to how they were recruited to low-sec corps and made their own first forays into 0.0.
I am, at heart, an explorer. For me, there's just no better, more satisfying vacation than getting in my car and driving a very long distance, preferably well out of state. Playing Eve helps me satisfy those instincts when I can't get in the car and disappear for a while (which is generally most of the time), and more and more I find myself looking for excuses to go to places in Eve I've never been to. The only time I've ever done such a thing in this game without a valid reason was my trip to Jita. As I wrote earlier, I do want to make a trip to Korsiki and Eve-Uni HQ, but since it's twentysomething jumps each way, I don't expect I'll be doing it until I have a specific reason to go...but I do hope it'll be soon.
In my last post, I wrote that the Eve-Uni folks aren't the only terrific people I've met in this game. Now, I'm gonna be a little careful here because when I started this blog I made a promise to myself that I was going to keep this about Eve and avoid RL issues that don't directly relate to the game and the players. I write and talk about these issues enough in RL and in other media I create or participate in creating, so there's little or no need to for me to again bring them up here.
The group of folks I'm talking about find each other on an in-game channel called "GLBTA". These initials stand for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Accepting. These are folks, connected by a common bond of difference, who come to meet and connect with others like themselves. It's a terrific and very welcoming place to spend some time, and I find myself doing so regularly. The group is small, but there's a comfort level and a familiarity in that channel that I really enjoy when I'm playing. I used to be one of those who always had the chat window minimized on-screen...now, I've actually, I kid you not, actively carried on conversations in chat while blowing away Serpentis spies (or somesuch) in deadspace at the same time. The fact that I'm a pretty fast typist helps, a lot.
I tend to try to keep up with the corp chat and GLBTA while I'm in-game, with occasional checks of alliance and local. On the other hand, should I be heading into low-sec, I'm trained totally on local from the time I enter to the time I exit. Doing so has provided a timely alert that saved my butt at least twice. When I'm docked, I follow whatever's active.
I'm sure by now you're wondering if I'm one of those letters, G, L, B, T, or A. Well, I'm obviously A for accepting, but does the rest really matter? If I were to tell you, for example, that not one but two, or even three, of those letters applied to me, would it make a difference to you, as a reader of this blog, as a player of this game?
No, I'm not going to tell you. If you really want to know, with enough digging you can probably find the answer in plenty of places online...it's just not going to come from me. Because when all is said and done, it's not about the answer, it's about the question.
Since I began playing Eve, I've often thought about how long it would be before I'd be comfortable heading into 0.0 for the first time. I know it's where I eventually want to find myself in this game, but I also know that it's probably going to be at least a little while before I'm ready for 0.0...or before 0.0 is ready for me. Chances are, I'll probably make my first venture into 0.0 space in the course of joining a corporation with an established base there. This seems highly likely given what I've heard from other pilots as to how they were recruited to low-sec corps and made their own first forays into 0.0.
I am, at heart, an explorer. For me, there's just no better, more satisfying vacation than getting in my car and driving a very long distance, preferably well out of state. Playing Eve helps me satisfy those instincts when I can't get in the car and disappear for a while (which is generally most of the time), and more and more I find myself looking for excuses to go to places in Eve I've never been to. The only time I've ever done such a thing in this game without a valid reason was my trip to Jita. As I wrote earlier, I do want to make a trip to Korsiki and Eve-Uni HQ, but since it's twentysomething jumps each way, I don't expect I'll be doing it until I have a specific reason to go...but I do hope it'll be soon.
In my last post, I wrote that the Eve-Uni folks aren't the only terrific people I've met in this game. Now, I'm gonna be a little careful here because when I started this blog I made a promise to myself that I was going to keep this about Eve and avoid RL issues that don't directly relate to the game and the players. I write and talk about these issues enough in RL and in other media I create or participate in creating, so there's little or no need to for me to again bring them up here.
The group of folks I'm talking about find each other on an in-game channel called "GLBTA". These initials stand for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Accepting. These are folks, connected by a common bond of difference, who come to meet and connect with others like themselves. It's a terrific and very welcoming place to spend some time, and I find myself doing so regularly. The group is small, but there's a comfort level and a familiarity in that channel that I really enjoy when I'm playing. I used to be one of those who always had the chat window minimized on-screen...now, I've actually, I kid you not, actively carried on conversations in chat while blowing away Serpentis spies (or somesuch) in deadspace at the same time. The fact that I'm a pretty fast typist helps, a lot.
I tend to try to keep up with the corp chat and GLBTA while I'm in-game, with occasional checks of alliance and local. On the other hand, should I be heading into low-sec, I'm trained totally on local from the time I enter to the time I exit. Doing so has provided a timely alert that saved my butt at least twice. When I'm docked, I follow whatever's active.
I'm sure by now you're wondering if I'm one of those letters, G, L, B, T, or A. Well, I'm obviously A for accepting, but does the rest really matter? If I were to tell you, for example, that not one but two, or even three, of those letters applied to me, would it make a difference to you, as a reader of this blog, as a player of this game?
No, I'm not going to tell you. If you really want to know, with enough digging you can probably find the answer in plenty of places online...it's just not going to come from me. Because when all is said and done, it's not about the answer, it's about the question.
Sweet!
Yesterday was a tense and busy day, but today I got to really unwind and spent most of the day playing Eve and finishing about five missions. It's slow but steady going, and I'm doing pretty well. It's weird...except for "Blockade", I seem to plow through level two missions pretty easily for the most part. One thing I do need to remember to do is launch my drones. I'm seriously considering training up my Drone skill to level 5, but I'm just not sure I want to take a week of time when I could be training probably several other things to do it....not sure it's really worth it just to be able to put 5 instead of 4 drones in space at the same time. Hmmmmm...I'll have to give that some thought.
It's nice to see the wallet beginning to fatten again. :)
I've been giving some thought to what kind of corp I'd be interested in working for when the time comes, as it eventually will, for me to leave E-Uni. Today, someone from one pretty well-known corp told me that their corp HQ was moving to 0.0 but once they were settled they'll be looking for new pilots and to look them up when I was ready. I'm sure I'll do exactly that, but I'm also sure that they won't be the only corp I'll be looking into.
Several corps interest me, but none truly intrigues me as much as the Star Fraction. I find their political philosophy interesting, although I haven't really worked out how much of it I agree with yet. Their brand of cosmic anarchy is something that I'll admit does my aging punker heart good to see. They seem to piss off a lot of establishment types...kind of reminds me of my late teens and early twenties. Would I actually join Star Fraction? In all honesty, I don't know. I'm not yet skilled or proficient enough a fighter that it's a question I have to answer immediately. Still, when I saw news of SF thumbing their noses at the conservatives recently, I couldn't help smiling.
Well, whatever...right now, I've very happy in Eve-Uni...there's a lot I still need to learn, and the people there are terrific. They're not the only terrific people I've met in this game so far, though. Perhaps I'll talk about them a little next time.
For now, it's late...g'nite.
It's nice to see the wallet beginning to fatten again. :)
I've been giving some thought to what kind of corp I'd be interested in working for when the time comes, as it eventually will, for me to leave E-Uni. Today, someone from one pretty well-known corp told me that their corp HQ was moving to 0.0 but once they were settled they'll be looking for new pilots and to look them up when I was ready. I'm sure I'll do exactly that, but I'm also sure that they won't be the only corp I'll be looking into.
Several corps interest me, but none truly intrigues me as much as the Star Fraction. I find their political philosophy interesting, although I haven't really worked out how much of it I agree with yet. Their brand of cosmic anarchy is something that I'll admit does my aging punker heart good to see. They seem to piss off a lot of establishment types...kind of reminds me of my late teens and early twenties. Would I actually join Star Fraction? In all honesty, I don't know. I'm not yet skilled or proficient enough a fighter that it's a question I have to answer immediately. Still, when I saw news of SF thumbing their noses at the conservatives recently, I couldn't help smiling.
Well, whatever...right now, I've very happy in Eve-Uni...there's a lot I still need to learn, and the people there are terrific. They're not the only terrific people I've met in this game so far, though. Perhaps I'll talk about them a little next time.
For now, it's late...g'nite.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Back In The Saddle
Around ten last night, after I was done doing something that required all of my attention and computer resources, I fired up EveMon just to check how close I was to having to change my skill training. I was still kind of busy so I really didn't give it my full attention, but after I saw I still had an hour to go and just as I was closing the program window, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my ISK total didn't look right. I knew I had less than a million, but it seemed that EveMon was telling me that I had over ten mil. Since I knew that certain stats in EveMon, such as ISK, update less frequently than others, I assumed it just hadn't updated recently and didn't really think too much about it, once again focusing on other things. A little later on, though, I realized that even if that were true, ten million-something ISK still didn't sound right. Upon firing up Eve, I discovered the truth.
The first thing I did, of course, was check my wallet. A mouseover on the Neocom told me that yes, indeed, I had well over ten million. A check of recent transactions gave me the answer I was looking for: A fellow Eve player and reader of this blog (I don't know how this person feels about being ID'd so until I do, I'll err on the side of caution and keep them anonymous) made a wonderfully sweet and generous gesture and donated ten million ISK to the Myrmidon Fund.
Now, thanks to this totally unexpected, greatly appreciated, and perfectly timed surprise, I'm back to pretty much exactly where I was before I lost my first Thorax. I finished fitting the new ship last night, but got started a little late (Thursdays are always extra-busy for me) and so I didn't get a chance to take on any missions...that starts today.
Sometimes in this game it can be tough to balance risk with boredom. In other words, if I want to absolutely sure I'll be safe, I can take on lower level missions. Sure, they pay less, but what I've got fit on this ship will plow through them easily. On the other hand they also pay far less and therefore would require a much longer time overall to earn the same amount of ISK and probably be pretty boring. The alternative, of course, is to take some risks and go for the bigger rewards. In fact, a lot of this game seems built on fostering exactly that kind of in-game behavior: taking risks and going for the big prize. It makes a lot of sense...after all, how much does a reward really matter if you didn't have to work your tail off to get it? On the other hand, when you take risks sometimes you come out on the losing end. Now flying my twenty-first purchased ship, christened Blackheart XXI, that's one lesson I've learned very well.
I've decided that at some point soon, when there's a class or some other reason to do it, I want to take an excursion to Korsiki, where Eve University HQ is located. I've never been there but it seems that a lot of what goes on with E-Uni happens there. I did make one of these "field trips" out of Gallente space about two weeks ago to go check out Jita. At first, I kept hearing people constantly refer to it but I had no idea what it actually was....a corporation, a planet, and alliance...I had no clue for weeks until I asked and found it's a system in Caldari space where Eve has developed its very own black market. I can't really tell you exactly why, but for some reason I had to go and see what the big deal was, so I set off on a thirteen-jump route through Gallente and Caldari space to Jita.
When I got there, the first thing I noticed was that there were over five hundred pilots in local. I clicked to the channel to find what seemed more like an auction than a discussion. I quickly got the idea of what was going on there, so I docked somewhere and just watched the channel for a while, knowing I had nowhere near enough ISK to even think about participating in one of these deals. The fun part of this little field trip was when I decided it was time to get back to home space.
I undocked and headed for the Kisogo gate (this was before the last patch when it was still there) and experienced something new when I tried to jump: I had to wait my turn. Understandable, I suppose, given the amount of traffic that gate must see, but still unexpected and jarring the first time. Traffic continued to be slow for the next two systems in my route back to Gallente space, but once I'd gotten past that it was smooth sailing all the way home, as I wondered if my trip to Jita had really accomplished anything other than consuming an hour and a half of my time.
I almost made the trip to Korsiki to see the recent "Frigate Smashup" event, but unfortunately, as I'd feared, I couldn't make it to my computer that day for any length of time until it was almost over. I hope they do another one of these things soon...it sure sounded like a lot of fun on corp chat.
So, yes, I'm back in the saddle and ready to rock...and in just a little while, I'm gonna log into Eve and zap me some bad guys! :)
The first thing I did, of course, was check my wallet. A mouseover on the Neocom told me that yes, indeed, I had well over ten million. A check of recent transactions gave me the answer I was looking for: A fellow Eve player and reader of this blog (I don't know how this person feels about being ID'd so until I do, I'll err on the side of caution and keep them anonymous) made a wonderfully sweet and generous gesture and donated ten million ISK to the Myrmidon Fund.
Now, thanks to this totally unexpected, greatly appreciated, and perfectly timed surprise, I'm back to pretty much exactly where I was before I lost my first Thorax. I finished fitting the new ship last night, but got started a little late (Thursdays are always extra-busy for me) and so I didn't get a chance to take on any missions...that starts today.
Sometimes in this game it can be tough to balance risk with boredom. In other words, if I want to absolutely sure I'll be safe, I can take on lower level missions. Sure, they pay less, but what I've got fit on this ship will plow through them easily. On the other hand they also pay far less and therefore would require a much longer time overall to earn the same amount of ISK and probably be pretty boring. The alternative, of course, is to take some risks and go for the bigger rewards. In fact, a lot of this game seems built on fostering exactly that kind of in-game behavior: taking risks and going for the big prize. It makes a lot of sense...after all, how much does a reward really matter if you didn't have to work your tail off to get it? On the other hand, when you take risks sometimes you come out on the losing end. Now flying my twenty-first purchased ship, christened Blackheart XXI, that's one lesson I've learned very well.
I've decided that at some point soon, when there's a class or some other reason to do it, I want to take an excursion to Korsiki, where Eve University HQ is located. I've never been there but it seems that a lot of what goes on with E-Uni happens there. I did make one of these "field trips" out of Gallente space about two weeks ago to go check out Jita. At first, I kept hearing people constantly refer to it but I had no idea what it actually was....a corporation, a planet, and alliance...I had no clue for weeks until I asked and found it's a system in Caldari space where Eve has developed its very own black market. I can't really tell you exactly why, but for some reason I had to go and see what the big deal was, so I set off on a thirteen-jump route through Gallente and Caldari space to Jita.
When I got there, the first thing I noticed was that there were over five hundred pilots in local. I clicked to the channel to find what seemed more like an auction than a discussion. I quickly got the idea of what was going on there, so I docked somewhere and just watched the channel for a while, knowing I had nowhere near enough ISK to even think about participating in one of these deals. The fun part of this little field trip was when I decided it was time to get back to home space.
I undocked and headed for the Kisogo gate (this was before the last patch when it was still there) and experienced something new when I tried to jump: I had to wait my turn. Understandable, I suppose, given the amount of traffic that gate must see, but still unexpected and jarring the first time. Traffic continued to be slow for the next two systems in my route back to Gallente space, but once I'd gotten past that it was smooth sailing all the way home, as I wondered if my trip to Jita had really accomplished anything other than consuming an hour and a half of my time.
I almost made the trip to Korsiki to see the recent "Frigate Smashup" event, but unfortunately, as I'd feared, I couldn't make it to my computer that day for any length of time until it was almost over. I hope they do another one of these things soon...it sure sounded like a lot of fun on corp chat.
So, yes, I'm back in the saddle and ready to rock...and in just a little while, I'm gonna log into Eve and zap me some bad guys! :)
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Grrrr...
Another one...fucking space dust.
This makes the third Thorax I've lost since I've been flying them. Better, I suppose, than the seven or eight Celestis' I lost before I figured out that they're shit for flying missions above low-end second level. I've got a pretty good fitting worked out for the Thorax that seems to pretty easily plow through just about everything in second level missions...except for one stupid mission, that damn "Blockade".
Needless to say, the first thing I did when I docked was tell my agent where to put this stupid mission. Then, I set about putting yet another Thorax together. I'll put the finishing touches on it later, and I've got just about enough to ISK pull it off.
I'm already well under a million ISK right now and by the time I'm done, I'll be lucky if I still have a half a mil left. Insurance? Forget it...if I'm lucky, maybe I'll be able to afford one of the middle grades until I can get a few missions done and have some more ISK to play with.
Funny thing is, I am pissed off, but I'm not angry. What's the difference? I'm pissed off, in other words extremely annoyed, that I've lost yet another ship, in large part due to lag. At the same time, however, I knew I was taking a risk when I did it and I did it anyway, so can I really completely blame lag? Maybe, maybe not...either way, the Myrmidon Fund starts from scratch again...sigh.
If I do ok and complete several missions, I'll have myself a little nestegg again...if I get my ship shot out from under me again before that happens, I'm in deep shit...I'll be back to flying a destroyer for another week or two, again.
I really should train up my mining skills, but I really hate mining and thus far have successfully avoided having to do any since the tutorial. That's not a streak I really want to break, to be honest.
Tonight, I'm busy until around 11, so maybe then I'll see what I've got when I put it all together and hopefully take her out for a spin.
This makes the third Thorax I've lost since I've been flying them. Better, I suppose, than the seven or eight Celestis' I lost before I figured out that they're shit for flying missions above low-end second level. I've got a pretty good fitting worked out for the Thorax that seems to pretty easily plow through just about everything in second level missions...except for one stupid mission, that damn "Blockade".
Needless to say, the first thing I did when I docked was tell my agent where to put this stupid mission. Then, I set about putting yet another Thorax together. I'll put the finishing touches on it later, and I've got just about enough to ISK pull it off.
I'm already well under a million ISK right now and by the time I'm done, I'll be lucky if I still have a half a mil left. Insurance? Forget it...if I'm lucky, maybe I'll be able to afford one of the middle grades until I can get a few missions done and have some more ISK to play with.
Funny thing is, I am pissed off, but I'm not angry. What's the difference? I'm pissed off, in other words extremely annoyed, that I've lost yet another ship, in large part due to lag. At the same time, however, I knew I was taking a risk when I did it and I did it anyway, so can I really completely blame lag? Maybe, maybe not...either way, the Myrmidon Fund starts from scratch again...sigh.
If I do ok and complete several missions, I'll have myself a little nestegg again...if I get my ship shot out from under me again before that happens, I'm in deep shit...I'll be back to flying a destroyer for another week or two, again.
I really should train up my mining skills, but I really hate mining and thus far have successfully avoided having to do any since the tutorial. That's not a streak I really want to break, to be honest.
Tonight, I'm busy until around 11, so maybe then I'll see what I've got when I put it all together and hopefully take her out for a spin.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Just One of Those Days
While I did manage to get in one run a little earlier, it's just been one thing after another today, with not much time to really sit down, fire up Eve, and try to blow away some bad guys. Now, here it is, coming up on 8pm here on the east coast, and I'm thinking about making a few runs right after I finish this post...but I also remember what happened last night around this time in terms of lag. Nevertheless, I'm sure I'll be giving it a try shortly as common sense and patience have never been two of my most practiced virtues.
Earlier today, I posted a notice about starting this blog on the official Eve forums. It's been interesting to watch the notice sink lower and lower on the forum throughout the day until just now, when it was hovering just above the bottom of the second page of "EVE General Discussion", I bumped it back to the top. Now, I refresh the page every so often and watch the number of reads rise. Amazing how busy the Eve official forums are...I've been a member of some pretty popular ones, but nothing even close to this. I try to keep up with certain topics, but sometimes it seems like the only way to really keep track of the discussion would be to give up playing Eve and just read the forums...
One my favorite Internet radio shows is on right now, but after it's over, at 11, I think it'll be time to go rack up some bounties...
Earlier today, I posted a notice about starting this blog on the official Eve forums. It's been interesting to watch the notice sink lower and lower on the forum throughout the day until just now, when it was hovering just above the bottom of the second page of "EVE General Discussion", I bumped it back to the top. Now, I refresh the page every so often and watch the number of reads rise. Amazing how busy the Eve official forums are...I've been a member of some pretty popular ones, but nothing even close to this. I try to keep up with certain topics, but sometimes it seems like the only way to really keep track of the discussion would be to give up playing Eve and just read the forums...
One my favorite Internet radio shows is on right now, but after it's over, at 11, I think it'll be time to go rack up some bounties...
A Change In Plan
I did end up going back to try to finish the Vylade mission last night. It's the "Blockade" mission, the one where nearby pirate gangs keep dropping in to join the fun...in other words, just as you start making headway, fifteen or twenty more ships show up. I must have made at least ten runs with my new Thorax, making headway each time, but never seeming to run out of NPCs, until finally, once again the need to sleep overwhelmed the need to finish the mission and it was time to bag it.
As I wrote in my last post, I'd intended to bail out of the mission if I wasn't able to finish it last night, but during my last few sorties into deadspace I realized that I was taking out more ships each time. Also, once I'd docked for the night and checked my wallet, I also realized that I'm making a fairly nice chunk of change doing it, so I decided that it's worth at least one more try.
I'm hoping things will be easier today...Eve seemed a little, well, funky, all day yesterday. Extreme lag, along with little weirdnesses such as my suddenly being unable to lock onto ships that are indicated as being well within my range, and ships I've already locked onto suddenly unlocking as if they've gone out of range. I strongly suspect that it's the distances indicated on the overview rather than the actual distances that are inaccurate because generally when this happens it seems that while I can't hit them, they can't hit me, either. Another funky little weirdness was that the counter on the front of the Eve client when you log in indicated that there were 25,600 players pretty much all night long. I can't wait for that damn patch next Tuesday, which I believe is supposed to fix this stuff...when this shit happens, it makes combat much harder and survival that much less likely.
I suppose that this, too, is a good thing. The more handicaps I have to deal with as I learn to become a better combat pilot, the stronger and more skilled I'll be when those handicaps are eliminated or lessened...but shit, six more days of this crap? Sigh...
It's ok...I'm not complaining too loudly. Every time this mission resets, I go in there and make myself another nice pile of ISK. Eventually, I think in a few days, if I don't actually finish the mission I'll have failed it, but considering how much I'm making in bounties, it's a risk worth taking.
I'll probably jump into the game in a little while, after I take care of a few RL responsibilities, and add a little more to the Myrmideon Fund.
As I wrote in my last post, I'd intended to bail out of the mission if I wasn't able to finish it last night, but during my last few sorties into deadspace I realized that I was taking out more ships each time. Also, once I'd docked for the night and checked my wallet, I also realized that I'm making a fairly nice chunk of change doing it, so I decided that it's worth at least one more try.
I'm hoping things will be easier today...Eve seemed a little, well, funky, all day yesterday. Extreme lag, along with little weirdnesses such as my suddenly being unable to lock onto ships that are indicated as being well within my range, and ships I've already locked onto suddenly unlocking as if they've gone out of range. I strongly suspect that it's the distances indicated on the overview rather than the actual distances that are inaccurate because generally when this happens it seems that while I can't hit them, they can't hit me, either. Another funky little weirdness was that the counter on the front of the Eve client when you log in indicated that there were 25,600 players pretty much all night long. I can't wait for that damn patch next Tuesday, which I believe is supposed to fix this stuff...when this shit happens, it makes combat much harder and survival that much less likely.
I suppose that this, too, is a good thing. The more handicaps I have to deal with as I learn to become a better combat pilot, the stronger and more skilled I'll be when those handicaps are eliminated or lessened...but shit, six more days of this crap? Sigh...
It's ok...I'm not complaining too loudly. Every time this mission resets, I go in there and make myself another nice pile of ISK. Eventually, I think in a few days, if I don't actually finish the mission I'll have failed it, but considering how much I'm making in bounties, it's a risk worth taking.
I'll probably jump into the game in a little while, after I take care of a few RL responsibilities, and add a little more to the Myrmideon Fund.
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