Here Be Monsters

So, running incursions on one character is fun and all, but I need something slightly different with the other character. Thus, I’d like to try wormholes or FW… I’ve only been in to / through a WH once or twice, but probably can adapt easy enough..

The other option is to try factional warfare. I have 8.6 standings with Minmatar, and 8.08 with Gallente so that puts me on that side. No chance to fight for the other side. Still pondering about this one..

So, if you run a WH corp in a C3 or higher, and you can use a 84m SP combat pilot, drop me a comment and we can talk

Last night I eventually get some time to Eve, so I fire up the Incursion character and x up. Get grabbed in to a fleet with a FC I fly with a lot lately. It’s a good night and we soon have a Mach, 2 x Vindi’s, Navy Geddon, Navy Mega, some Legions and 2 x Oneiros (and me in the cap stable Guardian).

We’re running VG’s, and everyone is chilling, doing their shit. One Vindi somehow gets to about half armor before all my reps cycle on him, the Oni pilots either lagging or slow, but soon he is full armor and life is good, and the isk flowing. Even the loggi’s run Warrior II’s, which we assign to the drone bunny.

Then, one of the Oni pilots makes a fatal mistake. He clicks ‘attack’ instead of ‘assist’ on the drone bunny. Concord shows up, and boom goes the Loggi. Luckily near everything drops, so its only a hull and rigs loss. Lesson learned.

To avoid this I usually enter the site, lock and orbit anchor first. Next I lock up the other loggi’s. Thirdly I lock up the Vindicator assigned to me, and run two remote sebo’s on him. Once all this is fine, I launch drones and make sure I assign them to the drone bunny. Then it’s watching for armor broadcasts and repping people while getting the remote rep cycles right etc. And you people thought being a loggi was easy

When I left Eve 2 years ago, I kept both my characters, and sold a 3rd off. The one character is now in a quiet corp running Incursions when I can get in a fleet, and the other…well he is homeless.

So I’ve been pondering what to do with him. I’ve had a offer to join a old corp I was part of, but they’re in drone lands and I’m not sure I was to trek out there again. We’re talking 4 cyno relays from empire to the home station. That’s farking far!!

So last night I’m in the recruitment part of the Eve-O forums, checking out some corps. Had considered trying wormhole life for a bit, but do I reallllyy want to run a d-scan every few seconds? Then I saw a post that caught my attention. 0.0 corp looking for PVP/PVE characters, and they live in Wicked Creek. So, Wicked Creek is cool, I used to live close by in Great Wildlands. Then I nearly choked on my coffee. Ideal characters should have no more than 30mill SP.

Why would anyone cap the amount of SP that a toon can have? Both my toons have 80m and 82m sp respectively. That allows for them to have very specialised roles, but they’re also both very competent at what they do, aka Loggi V+support skills, or Recon V, with all the proper support skills.

So, I replied and decided to give it a skip

Incursions are fun, I have to admit. The problem is, armor seems a whole lot less popular than shield, but every few nights I’m able to get in to a fleet. The last few nights I’ve been flying with a particular FC, and we get along well enough. I like his style of doing things, and I hope he slowly is seeing the value in a logi pilot he can rely on. One night we had two Oneiros, and one Guardian. Not the ideal setup for Vanguards. He gave me a Guardian to fly, which had a bit of a odd configuration, and last night I flew it again.

Problem was, last night we had a Abaddon in fleet. It’s a good ship, one of my favourites, but they are cap hungry if you don’t have high skills, and this pilot didn’t. The Guardian was unusual, being a 4/2 setup, but running two dead-space MEDIUM remote cap transfers, four Large t2 remote reps (not ‘Solace’). Mids were two remote sebo’s for the webbing Vindi, and the lows two True Sansha cap relays, two deadspace EANMs, and a 1600mm plate. Where I usually use t2 rep drones, he has t2 Warriors in the bay, to assign to the drone bunny.

There was some concern about capping out, but with two different 3% implants and good skills (my logistics toon has nearly 80m sp), I was able to keep both the cap transfers on the Abaddon, and by cycling the repairers keep both the remote sebo’s on the Vindi and rep anything without causing one of the combat ships to sweat.It took some micro-management to do everything, as I was squad leader as well. Land, orbit anchor, rep tank, then lock up Vindo, remote sebo him, lock up the other logi’s, then deploy drones and assign to drone bunny. It was enjoyable though and made some good isk

The Abaddon pilot needs a bit more training to get it cap stable (which is quite possible unless he is using Tachyon’s), but it was interesting running a different fit Guardian, especially without another cap transfer coming in

..the one weekend where I had ample time to run incursions, especially on Sunday, they all were either in 0.0, or in low sec. Being the uber-faggoty-carebear that I am, I wasn’t risking my Guardian in low-sec.

So I mined. In high sec. And I mined Veldspar, Scordite and some Pyrox. Then I discovered Trit is now over 5isk a unit. Hello near 100 mill isk for a few hours mindless boredom. While idling away in the Hulk and Mammoth, I watched Dredd and The Bourne Legacy. Dredd was cool, shot here in South Africa. The Bourne Legacy was not that great. Good, but not great.

Last night after putting the spawn to bed, it was time for some Eve again. I was hoping to get in to a simple Vanguard fleet again, and saw some of the people I’d flown with the night before in the TDF channel. I x’d up with my logistics fit, but nothing was happening. So I watched a bit of a movie, and 20mins later, a FC started forming a Assault fleet, and I got the invite as soon as I posted my details again. In fleet were two or three people I’d flown with the nights before, so we greeted each other, but before we could go in to the sites, the Incursion was finished.

Headed to the next one that spawned and it took a while for everyone to get together. This was my first Assault site so I was a little worried, but we got 7 logistics together (FC took an extra logistics as about 1/2 of the fleet had not done Assaults before, and two of the logistics only had lvl IV). I was using my standard 4/2 logistics fitting (2 Energy Transfers / 4 Remote Reps). First site went well, and I ended up sending perma-cap to one other logistics and the FC who was running a Bhaalgorn.

In total we ran three sites, and for some reason the NPC’s really took a liking to my Logistics. In all three sites I was hammered along with one Tempest Fleet issue. The logistics team were on the ball and kept me going without worrying. I was jammed several times and would just do a “break break, <char name> jammed, logistics cap chain will be down for a bit”. Don’t panic, just interrupt the conversation on TS with the proper term / etiquette, describe the problem and ask for help. We had one panic moment when a normal T1 BS (Armageddon) got primaried and went to 66% hull before we could put enough rep on him. Personally I overloaded the rack for a few cycles to make sure the player was surviving. That incident made me understand how fragile a normal tier BS can be, especially if its only T2 fit, and I was suddenly glad I had some pimp’ish gear on the Guardian.

At the end of the third Assault site, a few of us had to leave and the FC thanked us, and made it known we’d be welcome to fly with them again. So far so good. I haven’t cocked up in a fleet yet, I still have my stupidly expensive Guardian and I’ve made some good isk. The other thing is that I’m really enjoying flying with other people and doing stuff again. I want to start thinking of getting my main back in to 0.0 for some pew pew, but for now I’m really enjoying the incursions.

I finally sent my Msc thesis off to the university on the 19th of December 2012, had a good break over the festive season and then decided the urge to Eve was just too much. As per my previous post I was keen to try out some Incursions, so I resubbed both my characters, one being a 80m sp carrier / triage / logistics pilot.

In one or two of the channels I was pointed to The Ditanian Fleet, and they quickly helped me with a Guardian fit. Expensive but with the right skills the resists are quite high, and its what Incursion FC’s look for. I had one skill (for t2 rigs) missing, and took a leap of faith when someone offer to fit them for me. I wasn’t scammed (yay?) so I was ready for the staging area.

As I got to one site last night the incursion ended and I ended up heading 8 jumps further. My mic wasn’t working, but I got in to a fleet with a fairly competent FC who wasn’t getting too frustrated at me (I could listen to TS3, just not talk). The fleet was running Vanguard sites and with two other Guardians we had a good cap chain and I quickly caught the gist of things. Having flown Guardian’s in 0.0 before I just needed to find my groove back a bit, but within 20mins I had the tags sorted, the orbit sorted, my watchlist and broadcasts etc. Somehow I’ve always liked playing logistics. I don’t mind the role, even though there is a bit of a responsibility on your shoulders. Screw up and someone could lose a very expensive asset!

Once the three logistics got our groove on, I was in fleet for about 1.5hrs and only once did a BS go to half armor, which had the pilot worrying a little, but we got him back to 100% quickly. I lost count how many sites we did, but it was around 8 to 9mins per site, sometimes longer when a dps ship left and we had to wait for someone on the waiting list to join. The FC’s major frustration was the lack of t3′s to deal with the smaller stuff as a drone buddy. I was jammed badly once, messing up the cap chain, but we got through it without issue luckily.

I really enjoyed the experience, made some good money, and hope that my performance in the fleet made me some friends which will allow me to get in to fleets a bit easier. One thing I can say is that all the years I spent fighting in 0.0 has finally paid of for something in high-sec *lol*

Over the last few weeks as I’m slowly finishing my Msc thesis and getting ready for hand-in on the 19th of December, I am left with the strange urge to return to Eve-Online. To do what, I do not know, but I kept my two fairly high skilled characters when I quit a year ago, and have a little isk left. Starting and making good isk should not be too difficult.

The main issue I have is what will I do when I return? I spoke to a few people, and some are still in the same areas they were in years ago, doing the same old shit. I would love to get back in to mining and industry, but with mining and mineral prices still shitty, I doubt I will be able to make that work even if I still have my Rorqual (mothballed for years now).

Then I wondered if I should not look in to maybe doing some incursions, but apparently that is being controlled by one group, and gankings are fairly frequent due to the high ship requirements (faction BS with ‘stuff’). I suppose I could get in to one of the fleets easy enough since one of my pilots is a really good logistics pilot (Loggi V and triage pilot), and when I flew with No Mercy I regularly flew in a Guardian, so I know how to roll in a Logistics ship in a combat situation.

With 0.0 being fairly static at the moment, and without the isk to go all apeshit on combat, I’m left wondering if I’m not going to find myself in a situation where I’m bored again within days should I resubscribe.. Thoughts / Comments?

..to find that as much as Eve has changed over the last four or five months that I haven’t been subscribed..it hasn’t changed much. I renewed one of my accounts, after a friend said that the game is now ‘cool again’ and that CCP has definitely changed a lot of stuff. Sure, engine trails are back, and I looked at the tier 3 BC’s, but apart from that, what has really changed?  I logged in, found my Tengu as I left it, opened the mission agent, declined shit missions until I got Gurista Extrav, and proceeded to do it. The one person I knew that was online had wife-aggro, and left minutes later. So I ran the mission, as I did the last months before quitting, docked, handed it in, and logged off.

My question, with all the changes, all the promises, all the improvements..has Eve changed? Tonight I’ll hop back on, see if I can make contact with my mate and possibly get to 0.0 for some ratting and then pvp. If this doesn’t work out, what else is there to keep me in Eve? I need serious suggestions, as I don’t have much assets left (I gave away 18bn before I quit), so I need to probably either make isk via incursions or ratting, and I probably need to join a corp that doesn’t have its head in its ass..

Oh and what a let-down to discover none of the new tier 3 BC’s have a drone bay…

** Correction, I have just been told the Talos does have a drone bay on the #tweetfleet (I just scanned over the ships, so it’s entirely my fault for missing it). Thanks Liang Nuren for pointing it out to me

I’ve been reading Jester’s Trek with some fascination the last few weeks. @RipardTeg is one of the better bloggers that I follow in Eve, and from the start I would like to say I have great respect for his blog, and for his writings. Now with that out the way, I need to comment on parts of the posts the man has made the last few days.

Everyone and their dog has read the Eurogamer interview with CCP’s Hilmar. A lot of the people, including Jester, seems to feel that the apologies of Hilmar are real and that he is proverbially falling on his sword. I don’t agree. I’m more on the side Trebor of the CSM’s view on the matter. Those that made the shitty decisions are not the ones who are taking the fall.

One particular part of the interview that has me worried, and that is the basis of this uneasy feeling I personally have, is regarding this part of the interview, where Hilar states: But some of my concerns right now relate to whether the CSM is maybe focused on a particular aspect of the game and I’m starting to get feedback from players that they worry the CSM is too pre-occupied by a certain playstyle. 

I’ll admit, previously the CSM has been seen as a paper tiger, almost helpless in getting CCP to pay attention to changes that were desperately needed in the game. How many times did I see the question on the #tweetfleet “Hey, can someone actually list anything the CSM has accomplished?” during the CSM election time. Seeing this, The Mitanni (whom you may loathe or love) stepped in, manipulated the votes, and started getting the ball rolling to save ‘Flying in Space”.. as he himself writes here, CCP cares about two things, their subscription numbers, and their media image. Without being able to directly influence the subscription numbers, they went after the media image.

So, to cut a long story short, I suspect Hilmar doesn’t quite like the current CSM, because they weren’t a paper tiger. They hit where it hurt most. Did this possibly force his change of direction, and thus the CSM will pay the price in the long run. Will there be a CSM 7? I don’t know, but I will be watching this space to see the answer.

Looking at the hype around the winter expansion, we can see that CCP is really going all out to try and appease the masses that are still subscribed, and enticing those like me that have let their subs lapse. New ships, and a list of items that have been asked for for years are suddenly being paid attention to. The bloggers like Jester are all really happy to see this happen, and I’m glad for them. My concern is just the last statement Hilmar made in the interview.

Hilmar Pétursson: We are back in the spaceship business.

Why did you leave it in the first place, and when will you leave it again? I don’t share Jester’s optimism. I suspect the players of Eve will get a really good winter expansion, and then the rot will set in again. Twelve months from now, there probably won’t be a CSM, the numbers will have climbed, and suddenly dwindled again as players realise it was a once off ruse to get them back in the game again. Why do I say this? I myself (and note, I don’t speak for anyone but me here), held on for over a year hoping that CCP would fix the game before letting my subs lapse. I paid for three accounts, hoping each patch note would bring fixes to problems. They didn’t. It took me a year to realise that the problems weren’t getting attention. Now those problems and issues are being paid attention to. Those who renew subscriptions again, might hang on (and give CCP a breather) for another 12 to 18 months before lapsing subs when CCP fails them yet again.

…but how long before Hilmar steps out of the spaceship business again? 18 months? Or much sooner based on the above?