So, today I did a little more PvP training with our corp's FC. He's really good. I learned stuff about faction ammo I never knew (and didn't even know enough to know that I didn't know it), and a lot more. In addition, I was on for a while tonight chatting with our corp's CEO.
He asked me if I was ok on ships and ISK. I thought I was. I still have most of what I brought with me, though I did spend several million on outfitting the Tristans. He apparently felt differently and gave me two shiny new Thoraxes to fit, and 100 million ISK, just to have if I need it. Needless to say, fitting the Thoraxes won't be a problem financially. I only have to worry about whether I have the skills to fit what I want.
Of course I'll do what I have to. If I can't use the Tech 2 version of something I'll run the Tech 1. In the meantime, though, I think I'm going to be very busy as far as skill training goes over the next few weeks at least. I keep discovering skills I haven't trained which would suddenly be really useful to have.
It's interesting...I've just gotten back into EvE (it's only been just over a month now), and I'm already out in 0.0 with a new corp, and Dominion and all of the changes it will bring are less than 24 hours away now. It seems hard to believe that in terms of actual forward career progress in this game I've probably done more in the last couple of weeks than I did during the last four or five months I was in-game before I left in '07.
Most of all, I'm looking forward to getting some real PvP experience. In all of the time I've been playing EvE until now, I've participated in exactly one PvP kill in 0.0, which was during an Agony Unleashed basic PvP course.
Tomorrow I need to fit those Thoraxes, though. I want those babies up and running asap.
Showing posts with label Thorax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thorax. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Cruisin'
So, I'm doing Level 2 missions now. I'm still tweaking the Thorax's fit, but so far it's been very effective. I've got five Hammerhead I's in the bay which usually take out most of the ships I come up against, and my four active 200mm Scout Cannons easily take out whatever might get through.
One thing I do plan to do is to start seeking out certain corps I have really high standing with to make the best mission rewards. I'd actually forgotten about taking standings into account when looking for missions until I started looking through my LP point totals. I discovered that I still have a lot of unused LP, but I also saw that there are certain corps I earned a heck of a lot of LP from. That reminded me of why I used to seek out certain agents and corps to run missions for in the first place.
I guess I relearn something "new" almost every time I log in these days. The more stuff I do that I haven't done in a couple of years, the more I remember about how I did it in the past. The more "new" things I try, the better I become as a player.
The last few days have been tough, though. Because of what I do in RL, every time there's a major election, especially one in New Jersey, I end up disappearing from the online world for a few days. This last election was no different (though I certainly wished for a different victor), and so I've been in-game maybe a grand total of two hours since the day before the election (Tuesday).
I'm hoping to put in more time in-game now that the election is over...frankly, a little break from reality would be kinda nice right about now...
One thing I do plan to do is to start seeking out certain corps I have really high standing with to make the best mission rewards. I'd actually forgotten about taking standings into account when looking for missions until I started looking through my LP point totals. I discovered that I still have a lot of unused LP, but I also saw that there are certain corps I earned a heck of a lot of LP from. That reminded me of why I used to seek out certain agents and corps to run missions for in the first place.
I guess I relearn something "new" almost every time I log in these days. The more stuff I do that I haven't done in a couple of years, the more I remember about how I did it in the past. The more "new" things I try, the better I become as a player.
The last few days have been tough, though. Because of what I do in RL, every time there's a major election, especially one in New Jersey, I end up disappearing from the online world for a few days. This last election was no different (though I certainly wished for a different victor), and so I've been in-game maybe a grand total of two hours since the day before the election (Tuesday).
I'm hoping to put in more time in-game now that the election is over...frankly, a little break from reality would be kinda nice right about now...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Now I'm Really Back
Why? Because you know you're not truly an EvE pilot until you've had a ship blown out from under you at least once.
I guess I got cocky. I'd been having no trouble with the level 3 mission I was doing other than having to warp out and run my reppers for a few minutes every so often as the damage I was taking became too much. I was holding my own as far as tanking goes, and then I think (I'm not certain, it's been a while) I was warp scrambled, which I was totally unprepared for. I had no idea how or if I could break free and went down pretty quickly after that.
Fortunately, I'd already earned enough with the 'Rax that along with the insurance payout it was a simple matter to put another one in space, but this time I went back to the blaster-rax configuration, and I'm going to stick with Level 2 missions for a while to build up some ISK. Once I have that, I'll start the process of fitting and insuring the Mrym.
While most of the basics of how to play EvE have come back to me quickly, I'm finding that I'm remembering and rediscovering combat strategies as they become useful. Sometimes, it's dumb stuff like remembering to load my weapons or buy ammo before I head into a combat zone, other times it's realizing during or after the fact that I should have played a certain scenario a different way or that there were relevant factors that I'd forgotten to take into account before engaging because it's been so long.
One thing's for sure, once I'm ready to join a player-run corp again, maybe even before that, I'm going to want to refresh my combat skills a bit. There's a number of ways I could go with this.
I did take an Agony Unleashed PvP course a couple of years ago, and I know that their policy at the time was that any course taken which was paid for once can be retaken for free. If that's still their policy I think I'll be retaking that course and maybe even one or two more if I can afford them. I may not remember everything I learned after not using it for a couple of years, but I do remember it was a great experience and one I'm certainly interested in repeating.
There's also EvE University, my old alma mater. They offer some great classes including the basic basics, and the teachers and the students are awesome. I'll be proud to fly with them anytime, anywhere. Yet, at the same time, if my intent is to eventually head into 0.0 (and it is) that may not be the best way to go.
There are also many other corps which offer PvP and other training to their members. I'd expect that some are competent and reliable in doing so and some are not. The truth is I don't know. What I do know is my positive experience with the two corps above. One entails joining a corp perhaps earlier than I'd intended, and the other entails coming up with the needed ships and equipment (some of which I may still have from the last time I did the course), and possibly tuition in order to take the course.
I really don't know what I'm going to do just yet, but before I make that decision I want to be in better financial shape than I am now. I know I'll probably become antsy later, but right now I'm mainly just enjoying being back in EvE, reestablishing myself, and going through the process of fully getting back to where I was in this game in terms of understanding the finer points and how to use them to my advantage. Two years is a long time, and there's been some changes I have to get used to.
The way I'm doing that is by flying these missions, remembering and rediscovering exactly what I can and can't do in combat, what solution applies to what problem. Relearning how to fit my ships has been an adventure as well, but I'm quickly becoming better at it as time goes on. I recognize my mistakes quickly, and I'm rapidly relearning how to correct them. BattleClinic has been a help with this, but I've come to understand that it's caveat emptor with BC loadouts. Some are awesome, but others don't quite meet that standard. I got burned like that for a few thousand ISK by trying out a loadout that looked great in theory but didn't really cut it in actual combat.
I'm also finding where the holes are in my skill training and I've set about plugging them. There aren't a lot of places where I haven't already trained the skills to what I need for what I'm doing right now, but there are a few and more pop up on occasion as I experiment with different loadouts. Now that I'm able to log in again, my skill que is kept full at all times. Currently I'm training Propulsion Jamming IV, which I need in order to run a Tech II Stasis Webifier. This is something I need to do a lot more research on as far as figuring out what skills I should be training now over the long term. As I get more of these holes filled, more and more of the most useful still-trainable skills I have will require major lengths of time to train them to the next level.
Before that becomes a major issue, I want to have a plan, an outline at least, of what skills I want/need to invest time in training. There's still a little while to go before that will become critical, but if I keep that skill que filled 24/7 I don't think it'll be all that long.
And so, here we go again. I pick myself up, dust myself off, and head right back out there, hopefully with a better plan this time. This, in a nutshell, is EvE, and perhaps a big reason why so many of us can't help but keep on coming back for more.
I guess I got cocky. I'd been having no trouble with the level 3 mission I was doing other than having to warp out and run my reppers for a few minutes every so often as the damage I was taking became too much. I was holding my own as far as tanking goes, and then I think (I'm not certain, it's been a while) I was warp scrambled, which I was totally unprepared for. I had no idea how or if I could break free and went down pretty quickly after that.
Fortunately, I'd already earned enough with the 'Rax that along with the insurance payout it was a simple matter to put another one in space, but this time I went back to the blaster-rax configuration, and I'm going to stick with Level 2 missions for a while to build up some ISK. Once I have that, I'll start the process of fitting and insuring the Mrym.
While most of the basics of how to play EvE have come back to me quickly, I'm finding that I'm remembering and rediscovering combat strategies as they become useful. Sometimes, it's dumb stuff like remembering to load my weapons or buy ammo before I head into a combat zone, other times it's realizing during or after the fact that I should have played a certain scenario a different way or that there were relevant factors that I'd forgotten to take into account before engaging because it's been so long.
One thing's for sure, once I'm ready to join a player-run corp again, maybe even before that, I'm going to want to refresh my combat skills a bit. There's a number of ways I could go with this.
I did take an Agony Unleashed PvP course a couple of years ago, and I know that their policy at the time was that any course taken which was paid for once can be retaken for free. If that's still their policy I think I'll be retaking that course and maybe even one or two more if I can afford them. I may not remember everything I learned after not using it for a couple of years, but I do remember it was a great experience and one I'm certainly interested in repeating.
There's also EvE University, my old alma mater. They offer some great classes including the basic basics, and the teachers and the students are awesome. I'll be proud to fly with them anytime, anywhere. Yet, at the same time, if my intent is to eventually head into 0.0 (and it is) that may not be the best way to go.
There are also many other corps which offer PvP and other training to their members. I'd expect that some are competent and reliable in doing so and some are not. The truth is I don't know. What I do know is my positive experience with the two corps above. One entails joining a corp perhaps earlier than I'd intended, and the other entails coming up with the needed ships and equipment (some of which I may still have from the last time I did the course), and possibly tuition in order to take the course.
I really don't know what I'm going to do just yet, but before I make that decision I want to be in better financial shape than I am now. I know I'll probably become antsy later, but right now I'm mainly just enjoying being back in EvE, reestablishing myself, and going through the process of fully getting back to where I was in this game in terms of understanding the finer points and how to use them to my advantage. Two years is a long time, and there's been some changes I have to get used to.
The way I'm doing that is by flying these missions, remembering and rediscovering exactly what I can and can't do in combat, what solution applies to what problem. Relearning how to fit my ships has been an adventure as well, but I'm quickly becoming better at it as time goes on. I recognize my mistakes quickly, and I'm rapidly relearning how to correct them. BattleClinic has been a help with this, but I've come to understand that it's caveat emptor with BC loadouts. Some are awesome, but others don't quite meet that standard. I got burned like that for a few thousand ISK by trying out a loadout that looked great in theory but didn't really cut it in actual combat.
I'm also finding where the holes are in my skill training and I've set about plugging them. There aren't a lot of places where I haven't already trained the skills to what I need for what I'm doing right now, but there are a few and more pop up on occasion as I experiment with different loadouts. Now that I'm able to log in again, my skill que is kept full at all times. Currently I'm training Propulsion Jamming IV, which I need in order to run a Tech II Stasis Webifier. This is something I need to do a lot more research on as far as figuring out what skills I should be training now over the long term. As I get more of these holes filled, more and more of the most useful still-trainable skills I have will require major lengths of time to train them to the next level.
Before that becomes a major issue, I want to have a plan, an outline at least, of what skills I want/need to invest time in training. There's still a little while to go before that will become critical, but if I keep that skill que filled 24/7 I don't think it'll be all that long.
And so, here we go again. I pick myself up, dust myself off, and head right back out there, hopefully with a better plan this time. This, in a nutshell, is EvE, and perhaps a big reason why so many of us can't help but keep on coming back for more.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Riding The Rails
So I've installed five 200mm Scout I Accelerator Cannons on the Thorax but I can only keep four online at once unless I want to unfit or turn off components I don't want to do without. I've got a fit I'm not entirely thrilled with but that I think will allow me to do far more damage from a distance than I have been. The blasters are lethal from short range but virtually useless from a distance. Closing to a useful blaster range on a mission like this one just isn't a really great idea, especially not when I'm using drones.
Of course, right now, this is all theory, albeit theory based on experience (and a hell of a lot of destroyed ships a couple of years ago). Last night it was late so I bought the guns, went to get them, installed them, flew back to the system where the mission I'm working on is, docked, and logged out. The rails will get their first test a little later today when I log in. I strongly suspect that four railguns will do in this mission and others like it what five blasters can't.
Of course, right now, this is all theory, albeit theory based on experience (and a hell of a lot of destroyed ships a couple of years ago). Last night it was late so I bought the guns, went to get them, installed them, flew back to the system where the mission I'm working on is, docked, and logged out. The rails will get their first test a little later today when I log in. I strongly suspect that four railguns will do in this mission and others like it what five blasters can't.
Settling Back In
It didn't take long. Today I did a few missions and I think I've found my "sweet spot" as far as mission level goes, Level 3, at least for now. I'm doing one right now that requires me to go in, launch my drones, take out a few ships, and then call back my drones and beat it out of there before I take too much damage. It's one of those missions that's just tough enough to be challenging without being ridiculous. I've already blown the time bonus so I'm taking my time with it. It's worth the time because it's about half a mil as a mission reward, a lot more than I've been making on lower level missions.
I've got Electronics IV training right now, soon followed by Drone Interfacing V, which I just discovered I only have about a day and a half of training left on. Apparently I started training this a long time ago and never finished for some reason. I also discovered a million and a half ISK in my corporate wallet.
One thing I'm seriously considering is refitting the 'Rax with railguns. The blasters were great in the early levels, but now I think I need something with a bit more range. Plus, in reviewing my skills, I realized that I have a Level IV Medium Railgun Specialization.
Anyway, I think I'm done with EvE today. I put in a good 4-5 hours, more than I usually play in one day. I'm sure I'll spend some time in-game tomorrow as well. It's amazing how easily and how quickly I've reinserted EvE into my life. Two years, my ass....feels more like two weeks. If it wasn't for all the changes you can actually see, I'd swear I'm just pretty much picking up from where I left off (minus a hell of a lot of stuff I gave away).
On the other hand, I may just go in-game for a bit and see how much a set of medium rails will run me.
I've got Electronics IV training right now, soon followed by Drone Interfacing V, which I just discovered I only have about a day and a half of training left on. Apparently I started training this a long time ago and never finished for some reason. I also discovered a million and a half ISK in my corporate wallet.
One thing I'm seriously considering is refitting the 'Rax with railguns. The blasters were great in the early levels, but now I think I need something with a bit more range. Plus, in reviewing my skills, I realized that I have a Level IV Medium Railgun Specialization.
Anyway, I think I'm done with EvE today. I put in a good 4-5 hours, more than I usually play in one day. I'm sure I'll spend some time in-game tomorrow as well. It's amazing how easily and how quickly I've reinserted EvE into my life. Two years, my ass....feels more like two weeks. If it wasn't for all the changes you can actually see, I'd swear I'm just pretty much picking up from where I left off (minus a hell of a lot of stuff I gave away).
On the other hand, I may just go in-game for a bit and see how much a set of medium rails will run me.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Thorax Rides Again
Yep I did it. Made myself a Blaster-rax this time. I haven't really given it a good workout yet, but I've done one easy mission so quickly I barely had to turn on my weapons. Next I go up a level and see how that goes, and I'll keep nudging my way upward until things start getting dangerous. I'm still tweaking the fit a bit but so far it's pretty rockin'.
When I logged in earlier, I checked and discovered that it would have taken me more ISK than I had left to insure the Myrm at Platinum level. My choice, therefore, really wasn't a choice at all. There's no frakking way I'm taking a Mrym out on missions without insuring it first, no matter how well-armed it is. And of course even if I did have enough for the insurance I had nothing to outfit it with.
I was able to buy, fit, and insure the Thorax for less than half what it would have cost just to insure the Myrm. Sure, it'll take me a little longer to get the Myrm in space by doing it this way, but that's ok. When I'm done I'll have two well-armed ships, not just one.
Oh yeah, and I went to visit Caldari Prime tonight since it's the closest Empyrean Age-relevant system to where I'm doing missions. Definitely the planet is different, and I think the station is different from the last time I saw it as well. I'll hit some others in my travels as time goes on. Interesting...
It's good to be back. :)
When I logged in earlier, I checked and discovered that it would have taken me more ISK than I had left to insure the Myrm at Platinum level. My choice, therefore, really wasn't a choice at all. There's no frakking way I'm taking a Mrym out on missions without insuring it first, no matter how well-armed it is. And of course even if I did have enough for the insurance I had nothing to outfit it with.
I was able to buy, fit, and insure the Thorax for less than half what it would have cost just to insure the Myrm. Sure, it'll take me a little longer to get the Myrm in space by doing it this way, but that's ok. When I'm done I'll have two well-armed ships, not just one.
Oh yeah, and I went to visit Caldari Prime tonight since it's the closest Empyrean Age-relevant system to where I'm doing missions. Definitely the planet is different, and I think the station is different from the last time I saw it as well. I'll hit some others in my travels as time goes on. Interesting...
It's good to be back. :)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tick, Tick, Tick...
I just spoke to my guy at Geek Squad. If all goes as expected, I'll be picking my PC up tonight. I hope so...I'm almost finished with Empyrean Age and it feels like I've watched every video and listened to every podcast.
It turns out my instincts were right to have him fix it rather than try to do it myself. I'll get more details later I'm sure, but I already know that the problem was waaay out of my league as far the technical skill required to fix it. Once again it is proven: No one, and I mean no one, can fuck up a PC like Microsoft.
I've passed on Fallen Earth Bloggers to the one other blogger who was writing for it. He's the sole blogger there at the moment but I hope others will join him there soon. It's a good game, created by a good company, and played by good people. They deserve success and I hope it comes for them.
I'm still thinking a lot about what I want to do as far as a ship goes once I can log in again. I'm leaning toward the Thorax idea, but I want to take some time checking out the market and the cost of insurance to see exactly what I'm dealing with before I make any decisions.
Until it's time for me to call James in around six hours I'm pretty much just marking time as far as EvE goes. Hopefully, later tonight that'll all be over.
It turns out my instincts were right to have him fix it rather than try to do it myself. I'll get more details later I'm sure, but I already know that the problem was waaay out of my league as far the technical skill required to fix it. Once again it is proven: No one, and I mean no one, can fuck up a PC like Microsoft.
I've passed on Fallen Earth Bloggers to the one other blogger who was writing for it. He's the sole blogger there at the moment but I hope others will join him there soon. It's a good game, created by a good company, and played by good people. They deserve success and I hope it comes for them.
I'm still thinking a lot about what I want to do as far as a ship goes once I can log in again. I'm leaning toward the Thorax idea, but I want to take some time checking out the market and the cost of insurance to see exactly what I'm dealing with before I make any decisions.
Until it's time for me to call James in around six hours I'm pretty much just marking time as far as EvE goes. Hopefully, later tonight that'll all be over.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Two Years Is A Long Time...Or Not
In real life, a lot can change in two years. In gaming life, life-milestone-level changes usually occur much more frequently than in real life. In gaming, two years can be a lifetime.
When I first returned to EvE, I was surprised that more hadn't noticeably changed in-game during the time I was gone. Sure the graphics were better and the game played smoother, but I also had a fast new gaming PC. Aside from the ability to overheat systems and epic mission arcs, there didn't seem to be much in regards to gameplay that I hadn't seen before (though obviously there are many areas of the game where I would not be in a position to notice if changes had been made).
What I learned after I'd fully come back to EvE and began doing "catch-up" research was that there are major developments planned for the very near future, some of which I fully expect will change the way a lot of people play this game in fundamental ways. Imagine, for example, a Fleet Commander who directs the defense of an outpost from his cell phone while waiting to board a flight in RL, or a corp CEO who can approve requests and allocate resources for his corp on his lunch break.
The truth is that this ability probably won't change the way I play EvE all that much. I have no intention of going the same route as before, and I don't use my own cell phone for much other than making and taking actual phone calls. I've never tried to text anyone, though I think I have gotten a couple. It's hysterical. I'm a total PC power user, but I'm a complete and utter incompetent when it comes to doing things with my cell phone other than handling phone calls.
Nevertheless, the ability to be able to interact with EvE and not actually be in-game would be a very useful tool in other ways. Wouldn't it be great to be able to update your skill que from outside the game? I'd be loving that ability right about now. I have no idea if players will gain this ability with New Eden, but considering how much time I spend online but out of EvE it's definitely on my personal wish list.
Also, Walking In Stations/Ambulation/Incarna. This was being talked about before I left. In fact, it was the feature story of one of the issues of EON I bought during my time in-game, #7 I think it was. It's now clearly just on the horizon and that's very exciting to me. I've always thought of EvE as a game where the social aspects needed a lot more love than they've historically gotten from CCP, and I'm excited to see that being addressed with this and New Eden.
So, I guess I've picked a good time to get back into EvE. It's a little more than a month before the next major expansion, and more major improvements are planned for soon thereafter. Best of all, thanks to both fortunate happenstance and the generosity of a reader, getting back into the game is proving less difficult than I'd anticipated. Of course, one thing that will help immensely in reaching that goal is getting my PC back from the Geek Squad (I expect it tomorrow or Fri. the latest). It's just a little bit difficult to make any progress unless you can actually log into the game.
In the meantime, I'm just checking out whatever looks interesting and EvE-related. There are some nice fittings for Myrmidons on the BattleClinic EvE site. Most of them are so expensive I could never afford them, but I can already see where some judicious cost-cutting could be employed to tweak a few of these loadouts into affordability range.
I also have another idea that I'm toying with for when I'm able to log in again. Right now, all I've done is purchased and assembled my new Myrmidon. I haven't fit or insured it yet, and as a result I still have about 20 million left. I'm strongly considering taking that 20 mil, buying a Thorax for around 5, insuring and fitting it out sweetly with most of the rest.
Then, once I have my tricked-out Thorax ready to go, I spend some time doing missions with it to fund fitting the Myrm with some really nice stuff. I'm not saying that's my definite plan yet, but I am giving it serious consideration. Hey, at least it would finally justify the title of this blog again.
The reason I'm considering this is because A) I need a well-fit battlecruiser if I'm to progress and get back to where I was in this game before I left, and B) if I take what I have and insure and fit the Myrm with it, I won't be able to fit it as well as I'd like. If I go with the Thorax, not only can I really trick it out because the insurance and fitting costs are substantially lower, but after I'd used it to earn what I need to fit the Myrm I'll still have that ship in case I need it. My previous adventures in EvE have proved to me that a well-armed Thorax can prove very convenient to have around sometimes.
I don't know what I'm going to do yet, and I probably have at least 24 hours still to think about it.
When I first returned to EvE, I was surprised that more hadn't noticeably changed in-game during the time I was gone. Sure the graphics were better and the game played smoother, but I also had a fast new gaming PC. Aside from the ability to overheat systems and epic mission arcs, there didn't seem to be much in regards to gameplay that I hadn't seen before (though obviously there are many areas of the game where I would not be in a position to notice if changes had been made).
What I learned after I'd fully come back to EvE and began doing "catch-up" research was that there are major developments planned for the very near future, some of which I fully expect will change the way a lot of people play this game in fundamental ways. Imagine, for example, a Fleet Commander who directs the defense of an outpost from his cell phone while waiting to board a flight in RL, or a corp CEO who can approve requests and allocate resources for his corp on his lunch break.
The truth is that this ability probably won't change the way I play EvE all that much. I have no intention of going the same route as before, and I don't use my own cell phone for much other than making and taking actual phone calls. I've never tried to text anyone, though I think I have gotten a couple. It's hysterical. I'm a total PC power user, but I'm a complete and utter incompetent when it comes to doing things with my cell phone other than handling phone calls.
Nevertheless, the ability to be able to interact with EvE and not actually be in-game would be a very useful tool in other ways. Wouldn't it be great to be able to update your skill que from outside the game? I'd be loving that ability right about now. I have no idea if players will gain this ability with New Eden, but considering how much time I spend online but out of EvE it's definitely on my personal wish list.
Also, Walking In Stations/Ambulation/Incarna. This was being talked about before I left. In fact, it was the feature story of one of the issues of EON I bought during my time in-game, #7 I think it was. It's now clearly just on the horizon and that's very exciting to me. I've always thought of EvE as a game where the social aspects needed a lot more love than they've historically gotten from CCP, and I'm excited to see that being addressed with this and New Eden.
So, I guess I've picked a good time to get back into EvE. It's a little more than a month before the next major expansion, and more major improvements are planned for soon thereafter. Best of all, thanks to both fortunate happenstance and the generosity of a reader, getting back into the game is proving less difficult than I'd anticipated. Of course, one thing that will help immensely in reaching that goal is getting my PC back from the Geek Squad (I expect it tomorrow or Fri. the latest). It's just a little bit difficult to make any progress unless you can actually log into the game.
In the meantime, I'm just checking out whatever looks interesting and EvE-related. There are some nice fittings for Myrmidons on the BattleClinic EvE site. Most of them are so expensive I could never afford them, but I can already see where some judicious cost-cutting could be employed to tweak a few of these loadouts into affordability range.
I also have another idea that I'm toying with for when I'm able to log in again. Right now, all I've done is purchased and assembled my new Myrmidon. I haven't fit or insured it yet, and as a result I still have about 20 million left. I'm strongly considering taking that 20 mil, buying a Thorax for around 5, insuring and fitting it out sweetly with most of the rest.
Then, once I have my tricked-out Thorax ready to go, I spend some time doing missions with it to fund fitting the Myrm with some really nice stuff. I'm not saying that's my definite plan yet, but I am giving it serious consideration. Hey, at least it would finally justify the title of this blog again.
The reason I'm considering this is because A) I need a well-fit battlecruiser if I'm to progress and get back to where I was in this game before I left, and B) if I take what I have and insure and fit the Myrm with it, I won't be able to fit it as well as I'd like. If I go with the Thorax, not only can I really trick it out because the insurance and fitting costs are substantially lower, but after I'd used it to earn what I need to fit the Myrm I'll still have that ship in case I need it. My previous adventures in EvE have proved to me that a well-armed Thorax can prove very convenient to have around sometimes.
I don't know what I'm going to do yet, and I probably have at least 24 hours still to think about it.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
That Was Quick...
...and if this isn't a classic case of pilot stupidity, I don't know what is.
I was doing another Level 2 mission in the Thorax tonight, and I learned a valuable lesson I'd expect every EvE player who occasionally has drink or three now and then probably does sooner or later.
It was one of those missions where you just fly in and kill NPC's until you get to a big. powerful fleet and then fly away. I was a bit slow on the uptake and didn't fly away fast enough.
Whoops.
Yeah I think it took about five missiles, maybe six. How utterly stupid...I literally walked right into it and didn't realize what I was doing until it was too late. Bye Bye Thorax...for now.
I will replace it eventually...just not right now. I have bigger concerns. We're waiting for an ore delivery, one that will contain what Nealla and I need to build some stuff to sell and ourselves a couple of Dominixes to fly. It's late, no word, and we need it. Hard to believe it was only a few weeks ago that all I really had to worry about was my own character's issues. Being a Director, even of as small a corp as we still are, is different, very different.
And yes, I was flying while intoxicated. Totally my own fault, of course. I knew I was wasted and I did a mission anyway. Funny thing is, I kicked major ass through all of the ships I was actually supposed to kill, it was only when I got to close to the ships I was supposed to run away from that I was blastified. If I'd just stopped when I was supposed to I'd have been fine.
The insurance payment put me back over 100 million for the first time since I bought my first Dommie. I don't care. I'd rather have the ship back, and not just because it was worth more than the insurance payoff. For more on that, read the previous post.
I've still got my Destroyer, but that's the last thing bigger than a frig I own right now. I've been intentionally waiting to do something here because if that ore comes through I want to put more of my resources into fitting the Dommie I'll get from that rather than having to pay full retail. If it doesn't happen in a reasonable period of time, though, I'm going to have to do some thinking about whether I want to just say "Fuck it!" and buy the minerals on the open market, even though it'll cost more that way.
Now, though, I have to answer the question: What exactly is a reasonable period of time to continue waiting?
This is one of the ways that business in EvE is very different than business in the real world. In the real world, your business partners don't suddenly disappear for extended periods without notice...at least, not usually anyway. So many lower-level suppliers small corps depend on seem to be little more than single-person operations, that when that one person doesn't log on for a while it can throw the plans of those who depend on them out of synch for while. On the other hand, the price is right and how much aggravation is that worth? While the economy of EvE may share many characteristics with reality, actually doing business in EvE can obviously be an entirely different animal in some ways.
Tonight, I am a pod and I will stay a pod.
Tomorrow, I've got some thinking to do.
I was doing another Level 2 mission in the Thorax tonight, and I learned a valuable lesson I'd expect every EvE player who occasionally has drink or three now and then probably does sooner or later.
It was one of those missions where you just fly in and kill NPC's until you get to a big. powerful fleet and then fly away. I was a bit slow on the uptake and didn't fly away fast enough.
Whoops.
Yeah I think it took about five missiles, maybe six. How utterly stupid...I literally walked right into it and didn't realize what I was doing until it was too late. Bye Bye Thorax...for now.
I will replace it eventually...just not right now. I have bigger concerns. We're waiting for an ore delivery, one that will contain what Nealla and I need to build some stuff to sell and ourselves a couple of Dominixes to fly. It's late, no word, and we need it. Hard to believe it was only a few weeks ago that all I really had to worry about was my own character's issues. Being a Director, even of as small a corp as we still are, is different, very different.
And yes, I was flying while intoxicated. Totally my own fault, of course. I knew I was wasted and I did a mission anyway. Funny thing is, I kicked major ass through all of the ships I was actually supposed to kill, it was only when I got to close to the ships I was supposed to run away from that I was blastified. If I'd just stopped when I was supposed to I'd have been fine.
The insurance payment put me back over 100 million for the first time since I bought my first Dommie. I don't care. I'd rather have the ship back, and not just because it was worth more than the insurance payoff. For more on that, read the previous post.
I've still got my Destroyer, but that's the last thing bigger than a frig I own right now. I've been intentionally waiting to do something here because if that ore comes through I want to put more of my resources into fitting the Dommie I'll get from that rather than having to pay full retail. If it doesn't happen in a reasonable period of time, though, I'm going to have to do some thinking about whether I want to just say "Fuck it!" and buy the minerals on the open market, even though it'll cost more that way.
Now, though, I have to answer the question: What exactly is a reasonable period of time to continue waiting?
This is one of the ways that business in EvE is very different than business in the real world. In the real world, your business partners don't suddenly disappear for extended periods without notice...at least, not usually anyway. So many lower-level suppliers small corps depend on seem to be little more than single-person operations, that when that one person doesn't log on for a while it can throw the plans of those who depend on them out of synch for while. On the other hand, the price is right and how much aggravation is that worth? While the economy of EvE may share many characteristics with reality, actually doing business in EvE can obviously be an entirely different animal in some ways.
Tonight, I am a pod and I will stay a pod.
Tomorrow, I've got some thinking to do.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The Thorax: It Ain't Just Any Old Ship
Sometimes, you never know how good it can be until you actually see it for yourself.
A couple of days ago, a friend upgraded my computer for me. In doing so, I went from a 1 gigabyte processor to a 2.5 gig and substantially more RAM. Last night, I took EvE for a test run with it for the first time. When I upgraded from a 660 mhz to a 1 gig about a year ago, I thought it was a major improvement. I had no idea.
Not only is flying through space an altogether smoother, less jittery experience overall now, but things like making choices from right-click menus and, most importantly, targeting are now lightning-fast. It might seem like a minor thing in theory, but in practice it can make all the difference in the world, and, as I discovered last night, quite literally the difference between life and death.
I was doing a few Level 2 missions in the Thorax just to test out the new processor. I drew one of those missions where you fly toward a target and at some point as you approach it NPCs pop out of nowhere and start pounding on you. Usually, I get to the point where the NPCs appear, warp out, and then warp back in at a range that enables me to take them out from a longer range than I usually find myself at when they appear. This time, with my enhanced targeting ability and responsiveness, I felt I could stay and take them out on the first try, so I targeted some ships, released my drones and went after them.
After the first few ships were gone, I decided that I was taking too much damage and it was time to warp out and regroup. I didn't think I'd have enough time to call back my Hammerheads and I knew I had a decent supply of them back at my staging station, so I tried to warp out immediately, but found myself with an unanticipated problem.
I was too close to the ruined starbase that had been my original fly-to target and the Thorax was swinging back and forth, trying to align itself to warp out as I continued to get tagged by nearby ships. It quickly became apparent that I was going nowhere fast. My shield was just about gone, but my drones were still popping ships at a fairly decent rate. At this point, I concluded that this was going to probably be the last flight of my Thorax no matter what I did, so I figured I might as well take out as many NPCs as I could, that if I were going to go down anyway, I was going to go down fighting.
I turned on my hardeners, targeted some more ships, and then my armor repper and cap recharger as the damage level started to get into my armor. By this time, the Thorax had somehow shimmied its way into the body of the starbase itself, and I was certain I was a goner. Yet, I was managing to keep my armor up enough that I felt it was worth trying to manually maneuver the ship toward the one area around me where open space was still visible, assuming I had nothing to lose by trying.
The Thorax began to realign and slowly made its way toward the opening as I continued targeting, my guns and drones continuing to take out NPCs. My armor was now almost gone, but I was still doing plenty of damage, and for the first time since I'd gotten into trouble, I had the slightest glimmer of hope that I might actually survive this. Then, just as my armor was no more and I was beginning to take hull damage, I suddenly broke free and found myself in open space.
A check of my overview told me that I'd taken out all of the NPC ships and only a few stationary guns remained, but they were still hitting, taking small chunks out of my hull each time. While getting myself to a safe distance away from the starbase in order to ensure that I wouldn't get entrapped in it again, I called back my drones. A few seconds later, my drones safely aboard, I again tried warping out. Just as my hull integrity fell below a third, the warp drive kicked in and I found myself streaking out of the area, ship and drones intact.
Whew. A narrow escape to be sure, but my adventure wasn't over just yet.
I arrived at my staging station with smoke and fire streaming, docked, fit a hull repper, and undocked again. Just after I finished repairing my armor and was still orbiting the station, waiting for the hull repper to finish, I noticed that the hull repair seemed to be taking an unusually long time to do its job. I was sitting there trying to figure out what the problem might be when all of a sudden, my screen went black.
At first, I thought it might just be that some other program on my computer which might have caused it, as has happened many times in the past, but this was different. The screen stayed black for far longer than usual when this kind of thing happens, and when it came back to my desktop, the icon for the client wasn't there. It had been a while since I'd had EvE completely crash to desktop on me, but even before the client automatically rebooted itself I knew that was what had happened. When I took a look at the client, though, I saw something I'd never seen before.
The server status message said "PROXY NOT CONNECTED". I'd never seen this before, so I tried to log in anyway. When I did, a message popup window appeared, saying "Proxy not connected to sol server.". I had no idea what this meant, other than that I was unable to log back in, so I immediately went to the E-O forums and found a thread already going, in which players who seem to have far more experience in this particular variety of server issue had written that we'd been the victims of a node crash.
Of course, I was not happy. My Thorax was still circling a starbase with a fiery trail behind it with its hull repper going. Anyone who came upon it before the repper had almost finished would instantly know that it would be easy pickings. As we waited for the server to be restarted, several of us who'd been in-game at that very late (or very early) hour continued posting in the thread, really doing little more than keeping each other entertained while we waited to get back in-game. Finally, at about a quarter after three AM eastern, the server came back up, and I logged back in to discover that my fears hadn't been entirely unfounded.
When I got back in-game, the first thing I noticed was that the Thorax wasn't orbiting the station where I left it, but was simply floating in space, about 45 AU from where I'd last seen it. The second thing I noticed was that a chunk of my armor, which I'd already finished repping before the node crash, was gone. While I didn't see it and chances are I'll never know for sure, the evidence seems to indicate that the Thorax was, in fact, attacked while I was unable to log in and had automatically warped itself out of the area to avoid being destroyed.
In all honesty, I wasn't really all that worried about losing the Thorax in monetary terms. Chances are, I'd have about broken even with the insurance payment. It was really more of an emotional thing. I'd just successfully piloted that ship through one of the narrowest escapes I've ever had in this game and losing it because of a node crash would have felt like an especially cheap and unfair end for a ship I've been through so much with. Of all the ships I've flown in EvE thus far, it's the one that's survived the longest by far, has the most battle scars, and been the one I've flown during some of my most memorable in-game moments.
So many firsts for me in this game have come while flying the Thorax, it would probably be impossible to try to list or even remember them all, but I think of that ship with the same kind of fondness you might have for a favorite car or pair of jeans. It's certainly not the most powerful ship I've ever flown, nor has it made me anywhere near the amount of ISK I made flying all those Myrmidons, but it's still a viable, useful ship, and I have such an intimate familiarity with it and its capabilities that sometimes it seems that if that Thorax is capable of doing something, I'm able to squeeze every erg of potential power out of it to get the job done. There's a reason why I went back to using the name of that ship in the title of this blog and kept it even though I've had several other ships since, and it's not just because I like the way it sounds.
For those wondering when I'll get back into a Dommie again and what's taking so long, the answer is "soon". There's a good reason, but it's not one I really feel comfortable talking about here just yet. In the meantime, I'm happy taking the Thorax out on some Level 2 missions, getting more familiar with how the game runs with this new, much faster processor, and training up some skills I've needed to get done for a while now.
One thing that was especially nice to see in the Alliance Tournament was being able to watch Star Fraction defeat the formerly undefeatable BoB...with ten Thoraxes! From my perspective, seeing BoB suffer its very first-ever Alliance Tournament loss at the hands of an underdog team of SF pilots was truly great to see. Seeing it happen at the hands of a fleet of Thoraxes...well, after that I can believe that just about anything's possible when you're flying one of these babies.
Til next time, fly safe.
A couple of days ago, a friend upgraded my computer for me. In doing so, I went from a 1 gigabyte processor to a 2.5 gig and substantially more RAM. Last night, I took EvE for a test run with it for the first time. When I upgraded from a 660 mhz to a 1 gig about a year ago, I thought it was a major improvement. I had no idea.
Not only is flying through space an altogether smoother, less jittery experience overall now, but things like making choices from right-click menus and, most importantly, targeting are now lightning-fast. It might seem like a minor thing in theory, but in practice it can make all the difference in the world, and, as I discovered last night, quite literally the difference between life and death.
I was doing a few Level 2 missions in the Thorax just to test out the new processor. I drew one of those missions where you fly toward a target and at some point as you approach it NPCs pop out of nowhere and start pounding on you. Usually, I get to the point where the NPCs appear, warp out, and then warp back in at a range that enables me to take them out from a longer range than I usually find myself at when they appear. This time, with my enhanced targeting ability and responsiveness, I felt I could stay and take them out on the first try, so I targeted some ships, released my drones and went after them.
After the first few ships were gone, I decided that I was taking too much damage and it was time to warp out and regroup. I didn't think I'd have enough time to call back my Hammerheads and I knew I had a decent supply of them back at my staging station, so I tried to warp out immediately, but found myself with an unanticipated problem.
I was too close to the ruined starbase that had been my original fly-to target and the Thorax was swinging back and forth, trying to align itself to warp out as I continued to get tagged by nearby ships. It quickly became apparent that I was going nowhere fast. My shield was just about gone, but my drones were still popping ships at a fairly decent rate. At this point, I concluded that this was going to probably be the last flight of my Thorax no matter what I did, so I figured I might as well take out as many NPCs as I could, that if I were going to go down anyway, I was going to go down fighting.
I turned on my hardeners, targeted some more ships, and then my armor repper and cap recharger as the damage level started to get into my armor. By this time, the Thorax had somehow shimmied its way into the body of the starbase itself, and I was certain I was a goner. Yet, I was managing to keep my armor up enough that I felt it was worth trying to manually maneuver the ship toward the one area around me where open space was still visible, assuming I had nothing to lose by trying.
The Thorax began to realign and slowly made its way toward the opening as I continued targeting, my guns and drones continuing to take out NPCs. My armor was now almost gone, but I was still doing plenty of damage, and for the first time since I'd gotten into trouble, I had the slightest glimmer of hope that I might actually survive this. Then, just as my armor was no more and I was beginning to take hull damage, I suddenly broke free and found myself in open space.
A check of my overview told me that I'd taken out all of the NPC ships and only a few stationary guns remained, but they were still hitting, taking small chunks out of my hull each time. While getting myself to a safe distance away from the starbase in order to ensure that I wouldn't get entrapped in it again, I called back my drones. A few seconds later, my drones safely aboard, I again tried warping out. Just as my hull integrity fell below a third, the warp drive kicked in and I found myself streaking out of the area, ship and drones intact.
Whew. A narrow escape to be sure, but my adventure wasn't over just yet.
I arrived at my staging station with smoke and fire streaming, docked, fit a hull repper, and undocked again. Just after I finished repairing my armor and was still orbiting the station, waiting for the hull repper to finish, I noticed that the hull repair seemed to be taking an unusually long time to do its job. I was sitting there trying to figure out what the problem might be when all of a sudden, my screen went black.
At first, I thought it might just be that some other program on my computer which might have caused it, as has happened many times in the past, but this was different. The screen stayed black for far longer than usual when this kind of thing happens, and when it came back to my desktop, the icon for the client wasn't there. It had been a while since I'd had EvE completely crash to desktop on me, but even before the client automatically rebooted itself I knew that was what had happened. When I took a look at the client, though, I saw something I'd never seen before.
The server status message said "PROXY NOT CONNECTED". I'd never seen this before, so I tried to log in anyway. When I did, a message popup window appeared, saying "Proxy not connected to sol server.". I had no idea what this meant, other than that I was unable to log back in, so I immediately went to the E-O forums and found a thread already going, in which players who seem to have far more experience in this particular variety of server issue had written that we'd been the victims of a node crash.
Of course, I was not happy. My Thorax was still circling a starbase with a fiery trail behind it with its hull repper going. Anyone who came upon it before the repper had almost finished would instantly know that it would be easy pickings. As we waited for the server to be restarted, several of us who'd been in-game at that very late (or very early) hour continued posting in the thread, really doing little more than keeping each other entertained while we waited to get back in-game. Finally, at about a quarter after three AM eastern, the server came back up, and I logged back in to discover that my fears hadn't been entirely unfounded.
When I got back in-game, the first thing I noticed was that the Thorax wasn't orbiting the station where I left it, but was simply floating in space, about 45 AU from where I'd last seen it. The second thing I noticed was that a chunk of my armor, which I'd already finished repping before the node crash, was gone. While I didn't see it and chances are I'll never know for sure, the evidence seems to indicate that the Thorax was, in fact, attacked while I was unable to log in and had automatically warped itself out of the area to avoid being destroyed.
In all honesty, I wasn't really all that worried about losing the Thorax in monetary terms. Chances are, I'd have about broken even with the insurance payment. It was really more of an emotional thing. I'd just successfully piloted that ship through one of the narrowest escapes I've ever had in this game and losing it because of a node crash would have felt like an especially cheap and unfair end for a ship I've been through so much with. Of all the ships I've flown in EvE thus far, it's the one that's survived the longest by far, has the most battle scars, and been the one I've flown during some of my most memorable in-game moments.
So many firsts for me in this game have come while flying the Thorax, it would probably be impossible to try to list or even remember them all, but I think of that ship with the same kind of fondness you might have for a favorite car or pair of jeans. It's certainly not the most powerful ship I've ever flown, nor has it made me anywhere near the amount of ISK I made flying all those Myrmidons, but it's still a viable, useful ship, and I have such an intimate familiarity with it and its capabilities that sometimes it seems that if that Thorax is capable of doing something, I'm able to squeeze every erg of potential power out of it to get the job done. There's a reason why I went back to using the name of that ship in the title of this blog and kept it even though I've had several other ships since, and it's not just because I like the way it sounds.
For those wondering when I'll get back into a Dommie again and what's taking so long, the answer is "soon". There's a good reason, but it's not one I really feel comfortable talking about here just yet. In the meantime, I'm happy taking the Thorax out on some Level 2 missions, getting more familiar with how the game runs with this new, much faster processor, and training up some skills I've needed to get done for a while now.
One thing that was especially nice to see in the Alliance Tournament was being able to watch Star Fraction defeat the formerly undefeatable BoB...with ten Thoraxes! From my perspective, seeing BoB suffer its very first-ever Alliance Tournament loss at the hands of an underdog team of SF pilots was truly great to see. Seeing it happen at the hands of a fleet of Thoraxes...well, after that I can believe that just about anything's possible when you're flying one of these babies.
Til next time, fly safe.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Late For Class...
...even though I didn't know I was going to be attending one until literally minutes before it happened.
I've had incredibly bad luck in terms of E-Uni class scheduling, but that's not the Uni's fault, it's my own personal fucked up schedule that's really the culprit. I just happened to be bitching about it in corp chat earlier and as luck would have it, a class I needed just happened to be about to start, a basic Tackling and Scouting 101 with Acacia Incana. While I do have some very minimal experience in these skills which I got during the class I took with Agony Unleashed a while back, this was something I really needed since so many other classes build on what's taught in this and other basic classes. The problem was that since the class was literally starting in just minutes, I had no time to pick up one of my tackling frigs. I ended up doing the class in my Thorax, and while it was great fun being a target and playing what amounted to "Interstellar Tag", I didn't get a chance to actually practice what was being taught. I learned what I needed to learn from this class, but because I was in the Thorax I really didn't a chance to actually practice it. Not a big deal, but I do think I'll retake it when I can.
In addition, I also learned a couple of important things that weren't in the class curriculum. For one thing, always check your overview settings after a patch. After the Revelations II patch, I lost all of my overview presets, and apparently after this latest one I lost about half of them, which I'd just painstakingly reconstructed about a week ago. Not only do I use the settings recommended in Romble's mp3 class, but I also keep the setting I learned in the readings for the AU class I took as well. The AU setup is slightly different from Romble's and I find it useful in certain situations. Just after the class began, I discovered that most of the Romble settings were gone, and certain settings from the AU setup had vanished as well. Fortuantely, I've now set these up from scratch a few times so I was able to fill the gaps as the class progressed by switching between the settings I still had and doing a few tweaks on the fly. Now, I know the first thing I have to do when I log in again is recreate these yet again. Ah well, I guess I can just think of it as practice.
The other thing I learned was something I should have known, that for me, someone who's done live radio online for over five years, should be filed under "Duh!". Of course, these classes require Teamspeak which I have and know how to use. At the beginning of the class I was having a lot of trouble hearing what was said clearly, and for some insane reason it didn't occur to me that the reason I was having so much trouble was because I wasn't using my headphones, I had the audio coming through my computer speakers. Normally this isn't much of a problem, but the room my computer is in is not the most effectively cooled by the AC, so I usually have a fan going when the weather is warm. The fan isn't really very loud, but it does make that "whooshing" sound fans do, creating a kind of low-level background "white noise". I'm so used to it I barely notice it most of the time, but it does effectively mask a certain amount of whatever audio I happen to be listening to. As a result, it was much harder to follow the conversation than it should have been, and silly me just chalked it up to less-than-optimum TS sound. This made perfect sense since Acacia's British accent led me to believe it was simply the distance that degraded the audio. Once I plugged in my headphones, though, it was like night and day, and I didn't have a problem again. DUH!
Pretty damn lame for my first class with the Uni, but despite the shaky start I'm looking forward to much more. One thing that kinda sucks is that I changed my email on the Ivy League message board and apparently my account has been put on inactive status for some reason. I think I'm supposed to get an email of some sort to reactivate it, but it hasn't arrived yet. If I don't get it by tomorrow when I check, I'll jump in-game and see if I can get someone in the Uni to help me get it working again. Until it is, I can't find out when the next classes I want to take will be held. I totally understand the need for security, but this is really a major pain. I'm getting notices about people posting in threads I'm tracking but I can't read them because until this is fixed I can't log in...grrrr...
Another interesting and cool thing I learned tonight is another of my Eve-Uni peeps is a reader of this blog (Hi Dee! :)). I also discovered that some of my classmates and Acacia didn't know I write one so I guess I'll have to post a link once I finally get back into the site. I do keep track of the amount of traffic this blog gets, and I've noticed that it's been slowly but steadily rising. Of course, like all bloggers, I love it when I see more people reading, and when I see people commenting here and in-game. It's a big reason why I spend as much time as I do on it, besides the fact that it combines two of my favorite pastimes, EvE and writing. Just knowing people are reading and enjoying it makes something that already gives me a great amount of pleasure and satisfaction even better.
Alright, enough for now. Til next time, fly safe.
I've had incredibly bad luck in terms of E-Uni class scheduling, but that's not the Uni's fault, it's my own personal fucked up schedule that's really the culprit. I just happened to be bitching about it in corp chat earlier and as luck would have it, a class I needed just happened to be about to start, a basic Tackling and Scouting 101 with Acacia Incana. While I do have some very minimal experience in these skills which I got during the class I took with Agony Unleashed a while back, this was something I really needed since so many other classes build on what's taught in this and other basic classes. The problem was that since the class was literally starting in just minutes, I had no time to pick up one of my tackling frigs. I ended up doing the class in my Thorax, and while it was great fun being a target and playing what amounted to "Interstellar Tag", I didn't get a chance to actually practice what was being taught. I learned what I needed to learn from this class, but because I was in the Thorax I really didn't a chance to actually practice it. Not a big deal, but I do think I'll retake it when I can.
In addition, I also learned a couple of important things that weren't in the class curriculum. For one thing, always check your overview settings after a patch. After the Revelations II patch, I lost all of my overview presets, and apparently after this latest one I lost about half of them, which I'd just painstakingly reconstructed about a week ago. Not only do I use the settings recommended in Romble's mp3 class, but I also keep the setting I learned in the readings for the AU class I took as well. The AU setup is slightly different from Romble's and I find it useful in certain situations. Just after the class began, I discovered that most of the Romble settings were gone, and certain settings from the AU setup had vanished as well. Fortuantely, I've now set these up from scratch a few times so I was able to fill the gaps as the class progressed by switching between the settings I still had and doing a few tweaks on the fly. Now, I know the first thing I have to do when I log in again is recreate these yet again. Ah well, I guess I can just think of it as practice.
The other thing I learned was something I should have known, that for me, someone who's done live radio online for over five years, should be filed under "Duh!". Of course, these classes require Teamspeak which I have and know how to use. At the beginning of the class I was having a lot of trouble hearing what was said clearly, and for some insane reason it didn't occur to me that the reason I was having so much trouble was because I wasn't using my headphones, I had the audio coming through my computer speakers. Normally this isn't much of a problem, but the room my computer is in is not the most effectively cooled by the AC, so I usually have a fan going when the weather is warm. The fan isn't really very loud, but it does make that "whooshing" sound fans do, creating a kind of low-level background "white noise". I'm so used to it I barely notice it most of the time, but it does effectively mask a certain amount of whatever audio I happen to be listening to. As a result, it was much harder to follow the conversation than it should have been, and silly me just chalked it up to less-than-optimum TS sound. This made perfect sense since Acacia's British accent led me to believe it was simply the distance that degraded the audio. Once I plugged in my headphones, though, it was like night and day, and I didn't have a problem again. DUH!
Pretty damn lame for my first class with the Uni, but despite the shaky start I'm looking forward to much more. One thing that kinda sucks is that I changed my email on the Ivy League message board and apparently my account has been put on inactive status for some reason. I think I'm supposed to get an email of some sort to reactivate it, but it hasn't arrived yet. If I don't get it by tomorrow when I check, I'll jump in-game and see if I can get someone in the Uni to help me get it working again. Until it is, I can't find out when the next classes I want to take will be held. I totally understand the need for security, but this is really a major pain. I'm getting notices about people posting in threads I'm tracking but I can't read them because until this is fixed I can't log in...grrrr...
Another interesting and cool thing I learned tonight is another of my Eve-Uni peeps is a reader of this blog (Hi Dee! :)). I also discovered that some of my classmates and Acacia didn't know I write one so I guess I'll have to post a link once I finally get back into the site. I do keep track of the amount of traffic this blog gets, and I've noticed that it's been slowly but steadily rising. Of course, like all bloggers, I love it when I see more people reading, and when I see people commenting here and in-game. It's a big reason why I spend as much time as I do on it, besides the fact that it combines two of my favorite pastimes, EvE and writing. Just knowing people are reading and enjoying it makes something that already gives me a great amount of pleasure and satisfaction even better.
Alright, enough for now. Til next time, fly safe.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Ramping Up...
...it's actually getting easier.
Using some of the techniques I've learned in the reading for the Agony Unleashed Basic PvP Class, I've significantly increased speed and the number of the NPC mission ships I've been taking out. Of course, not all of these methods translate as effectively to PvE as they do to PvP, but many do and I've definitely noticed a difference. I've still got well over a week before my class, but I have a feeling (read: hope) that I'll be back to flying a battlecruiser and Level 3 missions before then.
Also, in a few hours, I'll finish training Medium Hybrid Turret V. This is a good thing as it not only gives me a little more advantage in combat just in general but also opens other skills I've wanted to train, such as those that will enable me to use Advanced ammo.
Right now, though, I will admit that I'm having a lot more fun flying Level 2 missions in a Thorax again than I expected to, even though I am looking forward to getting back to where I was a few weeks ago. I guess it's always more fun when you kick more ass and I seem to be doing that more and more all the time now. It just seems to be getting more and more fun to play this game.
Cool.
Using some of the techniques I've learned in the reading for the Agony Unleashed Basic PvP Class, I've significantly increased speed and the number of the NPC mission ships I've been taking out. Of course, not all of these methods translate as effectively to PvE as they do to PvP, but many do and I've definitely noticed a difference. I've still got well over a week before my class, but I have a feeling (read: hope) that I'll be back to flying a battlecruiser and Level 3 missions before then.
Also, in a few hours, I'll finish training Medium Hybrid Turret V. This is a good thing as it not only gives me a little more advantage in combat just in general but also opens other skills I've wanted to train, such as those that will enable me to use Advanced ammo.
Right now, though, I will admit that I'm having a lot more fun flying Level 2 missions in a Thorax again than I expected to, even though I am looking forward to getting back to where I was a few weeks ago. I guess it's always more fun when you kick more ass and I seem to be doing that more and more all the time now. It just seems to be getting more and more fun to play this game.
Cool.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Cruisin'...
The last few days in EVE have been exceptionally flawless technically, even if I did lose another Thorax. In fact, it was a miscalculation on my part, an inaccurate assessment of my survival risks. Getting another Thorax fitted, ready to run missions, and insured at Bronze Level basically wiped me out financially, so I've been running Level 2 missions and I'll probably continue to for a while. In the meantime, however, my three AU Basic PvP Class-ready frigs and all the extra mods I bought for them are still sitting at the staging station, waiting for the next time the class will be held, in slightly less than two weeks. Of course, this time I'll be ready, my net connection will be ready, and I won't be living on pain medication...all of which are very good things.
I had an interesting in-game conversation earlier today with someone who's a pirate, but who I don't think is a Privateer about the pros and cons of the recent wardec nerf. This person apparently feels it's going to hurt the game, while I feel what CCP did was exactly the opposite, an action taken to protect the game and its accessibility to new players. To be honest, I really don't want to get back into this topic full-bore as I think I've covered it and stated my opinion pretty well, but I will say this. something else I've said here before, but which I don't think enough players understand is key here:
First and foremost, EVE is not a game, but entertainment media, a commercial product which is intended to make a profit for the company that creates it, CCP. If EVE succeeds in this, it will continue to grow and improve...if not, it will wither and die. This has nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, to do with the actual quality of the game or how much we love it as players. It has everything to do with basic economic reality: If it sells, it lives, and if it doesn't, it dies.
In this way, it's really no different from the business I'm in, or trying to be in, anyway. As regular readers have probably picked up from my references, I'm a radio talk show host. The kind of show I do is very specialized, especially intended for a specific kind of listener but also designed to be accessible to everyone who cares to take the time to listen. In order for me to be successful in doing this professionally, I need three things:
First, I need to be good. In fact, I need to be better than most. I am.
Second, I need someone in the business who thinks I'm good enough to hire. That, I've got.
The third part is harder: a media company that's willing to take a chance on funding a genre of radio that's largely untested in the commercial market. Finding that is the job of the guy who will be my boss, and it's finding the right business partner that's what's really taking the time here.
To translate this into EVE terms, let's start with this reality that every professional mediamaker of any stripe understands:
Media consumers are unbelievably fickle. The average gamer (online or otherwise), properly motivated, will be just as quick to bail on any given game they lose interest in as the average radio listener will be to bail on any given show that they find boring or less interesting than another. The real difference here, if there can honestly be said to be one, is only in the amount of time it takes for the consumer to "change the channel". The way to combat this is in radio is the very same as it is in gaming: Generating and maintaining a high level of consumer loyalty.
I remember a conversation I once had with a radio professional about getting myself hired in the business, at a major radio provider. He told me something that proved to be right on the money, that his company would be happy to put me on the air as a guest on their shows because I'm damn good, but he doubted that they'd ever offer me a real job because I was just too different from everything that had gone before...in other words, as a guest I was attractive because I was new and interesting (not to mention free to the company), but they'd never actually hire me, because I was TOO new and interesting. How fucked up is that?
This kind of thing definitely applies to EVE as well. Many people download the trial, but how many actually subscribe as a result and how many decide for themselves that EVE just isn't for them, that it's just TOO new and different to actually invest money in? When one looks at the playerbase of WoW and compares it against EVE's, it's pretty clear that EVE caters to a playerbase as specialized as the listenerbase which my show and network do, with much the same results. It doesn't take a game with almost 35 times the playerbase as EVE's to tell me what I've known for years: Media which strays less from the familiar, the tried and true, will be more successful than that which breaks new ground.
So how does a host like me or a game like EVE, both of which break new ground in our respective fields, develop loyal consumer bases? First, we gotta get them to the door...things like free trials and active mainstream and guerrilla promotional activities help with that. Once we got 'em at the door though, we gotta keep 'em there.
For me, as for EVE, you either like what you get or you don't. You like, you stay, you don't, you leave and move on...if enough people stay, it's a success, if not...
In both cases, it all happens early. Chances are, you'll know if you like me and my radio show after just a little while of listening, and a similar amount of time is needed for a new player to figure out if EVE is for them or not. That's why, just as it's critical for me to make my show as accessible to someone who's never heard it before as it is to someone who listens every week, so too does EVE need to be as accessible and fun to play for someone who's been playing for two hours as it is for someone who's been playing for two years. Different play styles, different reasons for listening, sure, but it all has to meet in the middle to accomplish the key goal of both: entertainment...without that, neither can succeed.
That's why CCP needed to do what they did to the wardecs, to protect the game and keep it interesting and fun for players of all skill and experience levels. It's not just good for the game, it's absolutely essential for its continued survival. To all you PvP purists complaining about this, I ask you to consider this question and answer it honestly, whether publicly or just for yourself:
Which would you rather have: A game that has safe, protected areas for new players to learn the game or a game which loses money and eventually goes under, rendering all players equal in the complete and total loss of a pastime we all love?
I know what my answer to that question is, and I hope yours is much the same.
I had an interesting in-game conversation earlier today with someone who's a pirate, but who I don't think is a Privateer about the pros and cons of the recent wardec nerf. This person apparently feels it's going to hurt the game, while I feel what CCP did was exactly the opposite, an action taken to protect the game and its accessibility to new players. To be honest, I really don't want to get back into this topic full-bore as I think I've covered it and stated my opinion pretty well, but I will say this. something else I've said here before, but which I don't think enough players understand is key here:
First and foremost, EVE is not a game, but entertainment media, a commercial product which is intended to make a profit for the company that creates it, CCP. If EVE succeeds in this, it will continue to grow and improve...if not, it will wither and die. This has nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, to do with the actual quality of the game or how much we love it as players. It has everything to do with basic economic reality: If it sells, it lives, and if it doesn't, it dies.
In this way, it's really no different from the business I'm in, or trying to be in, anyway. As regular readers have probably picked up from my references, I'm a radio talk show host. The kind of show I do is very specialized, especially intended for a specific kind of listener but also designed to be accessible to everyone who cares to take the time to listen. In order for me to be successful in doing this professionally, I need three things:
First, I need to be good. In fact, I need to be better than most. I am.
Second, I need someone in the business who thinks I'm good enough to hire. That, I've got.
The third part is harder: a media company that's willing to take a chance on funding a genre of radio that's largely untested in the commercial market. Finding that is the job of the guy who will be my boss, and it's finding the right business partner that's what's really taking the time here.
To translate this into EVE terms, let's start with this reality that every professional mediamaker of any stripe understands:
Media consumers are unbelievably fickle. The average gamer (online or otherwise), properly motivated, will be just as quick to bail on any given game they lose interest in as the average radio listener will be to bail on any given show that they find boring or less interesting than another. The real difference here, if there can honestly be said to be one, is only in the amount of time it takes for the consumer to "change the channel". The way to combat this is in radio is the very same as it is in gaming: Generating and maintaining a high level of consumer loyalty.
I remember a conversation I once had with a radio professional about getting myself hired in the business, at a major radio provider. He told me something that proved to be right on the money, that his company would be happy to put me on the air as a guest on their shows because I'm damn good, but he doubted that they'd ever offer me a real job because I was just too different from everything that had gone before...in other words, as a guest I was attractive because I was new and interesting (not to mention free to the company), but they'd never actually hire me, because I was TOO new and interesting. How fucked up is that?
This kind of thing definitely applies to EVE as well. Many people download the trial, but how many actually subscribe as a result and how many decide for themselves that EVE just isn't for them, that it's just TOO new and different to actually invest money in? When one looks at the playerbase of WoW and compares it against EVE's, it's pretty clear that EVE caters to a playerbase as specialized as the listenerbase which my show and network do, with much the same results. It doesn't take a game with almost 35 times the playerbase as EVE's to tell me what I've known for years: Media which strays less from the familiar, the tried and true, will be more successful than that which breaks new ground.
So how does a host like me or a game like EVE, both of which break new ground in our respective fields, develop loyal consumer bases? First, we gotta get them to the door...things like free trials and active mainstream and guerrilla promotional activities help with that. Once we got 'em at the door though, we gotta keep 'em there.
For me, as for EVE, you either like what you get or you don't. You like, you stay, you don't, you leave and move on...if enough people stay, it's a success, if not...
In both cases, it all happens early. Chances are, you'll know if you like me and my radio show after just a little while of listening, and a similar amount of time is needed for a new player to figure out if EVE is for them or not. That's why, just as it's critical for me to make my show as accessible to someone who's never heard it before as it is to someone who listens every week, so too does EVE need to be as accessible and fun to play for someone who's been playing for two hours as it is for someone who's been playing for two years. Different play styles, different reasons for listening, sure, but it all has to meet in the middle to accomplish the key goal of both: entertainment...without that, neither can succeed.
That's why CCP needed to do what they did to the wardecs, to protect the game and keep it interesting and fun for players of all skill and experience levels. It's not just good for the game, it's absolutely essential for its continued survival. To all you PvP purists complaining about this, I ask you to consider this question and answer it honestly, whether publicly or just for yourself:
Which would you rather have: A game that has safe, protected areas for new players to learn the game or a game which loses money and eventually goes under, rendering all players equal in the complete and total loss of a pastime we all love?
I know what my answer to that question is, and I hope yours is much the same.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Drugs In Space, Part 3
I think I've come to an absolutely unquestionable, inescapable conclusion about EVE: Combat on pain medication = extremely high likelyhood of getting blown up. I mean, I usually last at least 24 hours before I lose a brand-new fucking ship...just wish I could have afforded the platinum insurance.
Ah well...looks like it's back to a Cruiser for a while. My shiny-new Brutix bit the big one because I got warp scrambled and couldn't escape. It was the first time this has ever happened to me...I thought NPC's didn't warp-scramble until Level 4...perhaps a lovely new surprise that came with this latest patch? Fortunately, I did insure it, but I could only afford the standard level.
So, I guess at some point I'll jump in-game and figure out what I'm going to do with the 17 mil or so I've got as far as try to go earn a little ISK.
Those nostalgic for those halcyon days when the title of this blog actually matched its URL may get their heart's desire...for a while, anyway.
Ah well...looks like it's back to a Cruiser for a while. My shiny-new Brutix bit the big one because I got warp scrambled and couldn't escape. It was the first time this has ever happened to me...I thought NPC's didn't warp-scramble until Level 4...perhaps a lovely new surprise that came with this latest patch? Fortunately, I did insure it, but I could only afford the standard level.
So, I guess at some point I'll jump in-game and figure out what I'm going to do with the 17 mil or so I've got as far as try to go earn a little ISK.
Those nostalgic for those halcyon days when the title of this blog actually matched its URL may get their heart's desire...for a while, anyway.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Another First...
...though an unwanted one. For the very first time since I've been playing this game, over three months now, I've been podded.
Yeah I know, hard to believe I actually lasted three months plus in this game without getting podded, but it's true. Sure, I've had my ship blown out from under me plenty of times, but it's always been NPCs, and NPCs never pod.
Right now, I'm at a very odd point in the game, a point where I just feel it's the right time to blog. I think you'll understand better as I go on here. Ok, here's the situation:
I'm in Duripant, my starting system and home of my first clone. I've literally just been podded. I don't even have a ship avatar representing me yet because I haven't activated my Velator. I have about 24 million ISK, which is roughly 2/3 of what I need to put another Myrmidon in space. That is what I want to to do, but I'll need to figure out what the best route to that goal will be.
I could, of course, take the possibly easier route, buy a Brutix and just put together the ISK to finance another Myrmidon from scratch by doing level three missions. Possibly easier...but also possibly more dangerous, depending on the missions I pull. It's also a new ship I'd have to learn.
On the other hand, I could refit the Thorax quite nicely and then go blastify level two missions for a while until I build up enough ISK to put a Myrmidon back in space.
Decisions, decisions...
It's really sad that this game not only hasn't rid itself of griefers, but they've now formed alliances and call themselves Privateers. There was no reason for them to pod me...I had nothing worth anything except my ship, and of course, they waited to attack until I'd come back from a mission combat run, making me an easy kill. Never let it be said these people were actually looking for a challenge or anything. While I suppose it might just have been an unlucky coincidence for me that they struck when they did, it certainly did seem extremely well-timed, if you know what I mean.
Just when I'm convinced that the players of Eve are truly a higher class in and of ourselves, this happens and I'm forced to say "Maybe not so much.". The person who podded me clearly was interested only killing me, not in anything they would get from my wreck, that's for sure. I got the killmail, too. I mean, you gotta wonder about an alliance that regularly declares war on a school, anyway.
Where is the honor? Where is the sense of fair play? What value is there, really, in victory just for victory's sake, without purposeful gain? Pirates, real ones, are after cargo, not death.
Pathetic.
Yeah I know, hard to believe I actually lasted three months plus in this game without getting podded, but it's true. Sure, I've had my ship blown out from under me plenty of times, but it's always been NPCs, and NPCs never pod.
Right now, I'm at a very odd point in the game, a point where I just feel it's the right time to blog. I think you'll understand better as I go on here. Ok, here's the situation:
I'm in Duripant, my starting system and home of my first clone. I've literally just been podded. I don't even have a ship avatar representing me yet because I haven't activated my Velator. I have about 24 million ISK, which is roughly 2/3 of what I need to put another Myrmidon in space. That is what I want to to do, but I'll need to figure out what the best route to that goal will be.
I could, of course, take the possibly easier route, buy a Brutix and just put together the ISK to finance another Myrmidon from scratch by doing level three missions. Possibly easier...but also possibly more dangerous, depending on the missions I pull. It's also a new ship I'd have to learn.
On the other hand, I could refit the Thorax quite nicely and then go blastify level two missions for a while until I build up enough ISK to put a Myrmidon back in space.
Decisions, decisions...
It's really sad that this game not only hasn't rid itself of griefers, but they've now formed alliances and call themselves Privateers. There was no reason for them to pod me...I had nothing worth anything except my ship, and of course, they waited to attack until I'd come back from a mission combat run, making me an easy kill. Never let it be said these people were actually looking for a challenge or anything. While I suppose it might just have been an unlucky coincidence for me that they struck when they did, it certainly did seem extremely well-timed, if you know what I mean.
Just when I'm convinced that the players of Eve are truly a higher class in and of ourselves, this happens and I'm forced to say "Maybe not so much.". The person who podded me clearly was interested only killing me, not in anything they would get from my wreck, that's for sure. I got the killmail, too. I mean, you gotta wonder about an alliance that regularly declares war on a school, anyway.
Where is the honor? Where is the sense of fair play? What value is there, really, in victory just for victory's sake, without purposeful gain? Pirates, real ones, are after cargo, not death.
Pathetic.
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.
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! :)
Monday, February 19, 2007
Why I Play Eve
Hi and welcome.
I'm a relative newbie Eve-Online player (coming up on two months now), one who's fallen in love with this game so completely that I just shelled out for a year's subscription just a few weeks ago...that's how sure I am that I'm going to continue playing. I'm also probably a bit different than most people playing this game. For reasons I may or may not eventually go into here, I'm fairly well-known in certain circles outside of the game itself, and the fact that I play Eve and the name of my character are known as well. So, if you're one of those who found this blog and knows the connection between my Eve and RL personae, that's fine. If you've got no clue and to you I'm just another Eve player, that's cool, too.
I'm a writer, and Eve has given me many ideas in terms of subject matter, so much so that I'm going to be trying some of them out here, separate and apart from my regular personal blog. Some of what you read will concern my in-game experiences, some will be relevant to some aspect of Eve which inspired it, and some...who knows? I'm not to paint myself into a corner in terms of content so keep reading and we'll see how it goes...
Today, I am a pod...again.
It's ok, I deserved it, forgetting to activate my armor hardener and armor repair modules until it was too late. My Thorax was pounded into space dust and the lag didn't help, either. Call it a hunch but I have a feeling this particular level 2 mission will be far easier to complete if I attempt it around midnight or 1am eastern, when only about half the number of players are on
as are usually on during the day and early evening.
This is a damn hard game. No, I don't mean difficult, I mean hard. You fuck up, it costs you, sometimes a lot. Sometimes, a lot of times, it costs you even when you do everything right except be in the wrong place at the wrong time. When you're on the losing end, you have to pick yourself up and work your way back up to where you were before...and the wealthier and more powerful you become, the easier it is to weather the losses. In some ways this game is so much like real life it's scary.
I used to play Everquest...it was the first MMOG I ever played. During the six months or so I played EQ, I found myself constantly repeating certain things over and over in order to reach certain places and items. After a while it became more about what items I was able to acquire or how high a level I had managed to achieve rather than just about the enjoyment of the game itself. In EQ, I followed a path pretty clearly marked out for players and it wasn't that long before I found it boring...too much like all those Dungeons and Dragons-style games before it to truly prove a unique experience. After a time, I moved on.
The next thing I found was Second Life. I found the concept interesting, but the software was simply too much for my computer at the time to handle. I moved on (While my current computer could probably handle SL without a problem, I've been too busy with other things to try it since I got it. Maybe soon).
Then, about a year ago, I ran across Eve. I signed up for a trial account, did the tutorial, and headed out into the great, vast universe...and got my ass shot into smithereens by gate campers, over and over and over and over...to the point where this, too, started getting boring. Add to that the fact that the game itself barely ran on my computer and after about a week I decided it wasn't worth it and again moved on.
After that, it was Pogo, GameTap, anything that seemed a good candidate for satisfying my gaming instinct. Nothing held my interest for all that long and most of the decent games one could buy had system requirements far in excess of my little 660mhz...
Then, my best friend Robyn told me that her Dad was getting a new computer and I could have his old one, which is almost twice as fast as what I had. One of the first things that immediately came to mind upon hearing this was that now I'd be able to play some of the more demanding games I'd been wanting to try. Yet, by the time Robyn had gotten the thing up and running, I'd already become involved with Eve again.
A few days before Robyn had come over to set up the new machine and transfer all my files over, I'd dropped by the Eve-Online website to take a look at where the game had gone in the year or so since I'd played it. I noticed that there had been several updates, including the introduction of an anti-gate-camper "Warp to 0" ability that I found especially appealing. Even though my new hardware wasn't yet online, I decided to sign up for a trial account, download the client, and see if Eve was better the second time around.
It was...in just about every way imaginable. The game ran much more smoothly this time than a year previously, and I quickly found many new things within to appreciate and enjoy. Clearly, the people who create this game had been busy. Once the new computer was working and Eve ran almost flawlessly, I was hooked.
After about a week and a half of playing the free trial, I started running into the problem of needing or wanting skills that were blocked from being trained on trial accounts. This was actually kind of surprise at first, but in reality makes perfect sense as a way of limiting progress and content within the game for those who aren't paying customers without limiting their ability to use the tools that are within their reach to truly get an idea of what Eve is about before plunking down their cash for a subscription or time code.
This kind of inventive thinking is one of the things that most appeals to me about this game and the way it's designed. The more you play Eve, the more you understand the level of thought and attention to detail that has gone into every aspect of this game. Progress in Eve isn't tracked by attainment of levels or possession of certain items as much as it's regulated by time and money. In Eve, many of the things you can do require you to spend a certain amount of real time in order to complete them. In addition, many also require significant sums of ISK, which can be attained through various activities in the game...essentially, if you want something and you don't have the money for it, you can go to work and earn the money...or start your own company and have others work with and for you.
Being slightly less than two months into the game gives me a perspective unlike that which you can read on Eve's official forums. It seems that in the most well-read areas of the forum it's the hardcore PvP'ers who dominate the conversation. On the other hand, the forum of the corporation I belong to, Eve University, seems to offer a consistent voice to a much more diverse collection of posters. Funny thing is, the first conversation I've gotten into over there was not only started by me, but has little to do with Eve itself.
So, why do I play Eve, really? Why not Second Life, or World of Warcraft, or...? Some of the reasons are easy...others, less so. If you understand Eve and you knew me, you'd know the answer. The easy answer is that I'm a total sci-fi geek and I like blowing things up. The harder answer is that I'm a student of culture and, in my experience thus far, Eve is certainly a culture unique unto itself in many ways.
In the real world, a lot of what I do is tied up with real world problems, social issues, politics, and the media. In Eve, I find myself in an artificial reality that is at the same time both like and completely unlike the real one. To make headway, one has to work and study, but to truly attain power and influence one has to get political. The guns and the warp drives are just one part of the game...the people and how they interact with each other are what truly determine the course of events in Eve, just like in the real world.
In truth, for me to comment on the political happenings, the wars and such, of this game at this point would be pointless. Right now, I'm just a second level mission runner who's got to learn to bail a little earlier from skirmishes than she'd really like to in order to keep her ship one piece (insurance is a really, really wonderful thing...don't undock without it). I can't tell you if developers helped Band of Brothers to an unfair advantage...I wouldn't even hazard a guess. In truth, I couldn't care less. From my perspective, it matters about as much to me as an Eve pilot as Jayson Blair committing plagiarism in the New York Times matters to me as a journalist, which is to say not at all. I love the game, just as I love to write, and if some people get ahead by cheating that sucks, but it's not going to stop me from doing something I enjoy.
So now you see a little sampling of what you can expect to read here in the future, and there's much more to come. I doubt I'll be heading off in a shuttle to go explore 0.0 space on a whim...I'm much too cautious and prone to preplanning for something like that. That's not what this blog is going to be about. This is just the ramblings of one of the many denizens of Eve with a story to tell...just a girl and her Thorax.
Stick around...it's just getting started.
I'm a relative newbie Eve-Online player (coming up on two months now), one who's fallen in love with this game so completely that I just shelled out for a year's subscription just a few weeks ago...that's how sure I am that I'm going to continue playing. I'm also probably a bit different than most people playing this game. For reasons I may or may not eventually go into here, I'm fairly well-known in certain circles outside of the game itself, and the fact that I play Eve and the name of my character are known as well. So, if you're one of those who found this blog and knows the connection between my Eve and RL personae, that's fine. If you've got no clue and to you I'm just another Eve player, that's cool, too.
I'm a writer, and Eve has given me many ideas in terms of subject matter, so much so that I'm going to be trying some of them out here, separate and apart from my regular personal blog. Some of what you read will concern my in-game experiences, some will be relevant to some aspect of Eve which inspired it, and some...who knows? I'm not to paint myself into a corner in terms of content so keep reading and we'll see how it goes...
Today, I am a pod...again.
It's ok, I deserved it, forgetting to activate my armor hardener and armor repair modules until it was too late. My Thorax was pounded into space dust and the lag didn't help, either. Call it a hunch but I have a feeling this particular level 2 mission will be far easier to complete if I attempt it around midnight or 1am eastern, when only about half the number of players are on
as are usually on during the day and early evening.
This is a damn hard game. No, I don't mean difficult, I mean hard. You fuck up, it costs you, sometimes a lot. Sometimes, a lot of times, it costs you even when you do everything right except be in the wrong place at the wrong time. When you're on the losing end, you have to pick yourself up and work your way back up to where you were before...and the wealthier and more powerful you become, the easier it is to weather the losses. In some ways this game is so much like real life it's scary.
I used to play Everquest...it was the first MMOG I ever played. During the six months or so I played EQ, I found myself constantly repeating certain things over and over in order to reach certain places and items. After a while it became more about what items I was able to acquire or how high a level I had managed to achieve rather than just about the enjoyment of the game itself. In EQ, I followed a path pretty clearly marked out for players and it wasn't that long before I found it boring...too much like all those Dungeons and Dragons-style games before it to truly prove a unique experience. After a time, I moved on.
The next thing I found was Second Life. I found the concept interesting, but the software was simply too much for my computer at the time to handle. I moved on (While my current computer could probably handle SL without a problem, I've been too busy with other things to try it since I got it. Maybe soon).
Then, about a year ago, I ran across Eve. I signed up for a trial account, did the tutorial, and headed out into the great, vast universe...and got my ass shot into smithereens by gate campers, over and over and over and over...to the point where this, too, started getting boring. Add to that the fact that the game itself barely ran on my computer and after about a week I decided it wasn't worth it and again moved on.
After that, it was Pogo, GameTap, anything that seemed a good candidate for satisfying my gaming instinct. Nothing held my interest for all that long and most of the decent games one could buy had system requirements far in excess of my little 660mhz...
Then, my best friend Robyn told me that her Dad was getting a new computer and I could have his old one, which is almost twice as fast as what I had. One of the first things that immediately came to mind upon hearing this was that now I'd be able to play some of the more demanding games I'd been wanting to try. Yet, by the time Robyn had gotten the thing up and running, I'd already become involved with Eve again.
A few days before Robyn had come over to set up the new machine and transfer all my files over, I'd dropped by the Eve-Online website to take a look at where the game had gone in the year or so since I'd played it. I noticed that there had been several updates, including the introduction of an anti-gate-camper "Warp to 0" ability that I found especially appealing. Even though my new hardware wasn't yet online, I decided to sign up for a trial account, download the client, and see if Eve was better the second time around.
It was...in just about every way imaginable. The game ran much more smoothly this time than a year previously, and I quickly found many new things within to appreciate and enjoy. Clearly, the people who create this game had been busy. Once the new computer was working and Eve ran almost flawlessly, I was hooked.
After about a week and a half of playing the free trial, I started running into the problem of needing or wanting skills that were blocked from being trained on trial accounts. This was actually kind of surprise at first, but in reality makes perfect sense as a way of limiting progress and content within the game for those who aren't paying customers without limiting their ability to use the tools that are within their reach to truly get an idea of what Eve is about before plunking down their cash for a subscription or time code.
This kind of inventive thinking is one of the things that most appeals to me about this game and the way it's designed. The more you play Eve, the more you understand the level of thought and attention to detail that has gone into every aspect of this game. Progress in Eve isn't tracked by attainment of levels or possession of certain items as much as it's regulated by time and money. In Eve, many of the things you can do require you to spend a certain amount of real time in order to complete them. In addition, many also require significant sums of ISK, which can be attained through various activities in the game...essentially, if you want something and you don't have the money for it, you can go to work and earn the money...or start your own company and have others work with and for you.
Being slightly less than two months into the game gives me a perspective unlike that which you can read on Eve's official forums. It seems that in the most well-read areas of the forum it's the hardcore PvP'ers who dominate the conversation. On the other hand, the forum of the corporation I belong to, Eve University, seems to offer a consistent voice to a much more diverse collection of posters. Funny thing is, the first conversation I've gotten into over there was not only started by me, but has little to do with Eve itself.
So, why do I play Eve, really? Why not Second Life, or World of Warcraft, or...? Some of the reasons are easy...others, less so. If you understand Eve and you knew me, you'd know the answer. The easy answer is that I'm a total sci-fi geek and I like blowing things up. The harder answer is that I'm a student of culture and, in my experience thus far, Eve is certainly a culture unique unto itself in many ways.
In the real world, a lot of what I do is tied up with real world problems, social issues, politics, and the media. In Eve, I find myself in an artificial reality that is at the same time both like and completely unlike the real one. To make headway, one has to work and study, but to truly attain power and influence one has to get political. The guns and the warp drives are just one part of the game...the people and how they interact with each other are what truly determine the course of events in Eve, just like in the real world.
In truth, for me to comment on the political happenings, the wars and such, of this game at this point would be pointless. Right now, I'm just a second level mission runner who's got to learn to bail a little earlier from skirmishes than she'd really like to in order to keep her ship one piece (insurance is a really, really wonderful thing...don't undock without it). I can't tell you if developers helped Band of Brothers to an unfair advantage...I wouldn't even hazard a guess. In truth, I couldn't care less. From my perspective, it matters about as much to me as an Eve pilot as Jayson Blair committing plagiarism in the New York Times matters to me as a journalist, which is to say not at all. I love the game, just as I love to write, and if some people get ahead by cheating that sucks, but it's not going to stop me from doing something I enjoy.
So now you see a little sampling of what you can expect to read here in the future, and there's much more to come. I doubt I'll be heading off in a shuttle to go explore 0.0 space on a whim...I'm much too cautious and prone to preplanning for something like that. That's not what this blog is going to be about. This is just the ramblings of one of the many denizens of Eve with a story to tell...just a girl and her Thorax.
Stick around...it's just getting started.
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