Well no, I didn't get a kill mail or loose a ship. I did manage to brown streak a Pilgrim. Here's the story of how a neutral Mammoth pilot got a really good laugh:
So, I decide to do a bit of exploration in the area I'm hanging in high sec. Hummm, 2 wormholes in the same system. Must be a Saturday. So I switch to my cloaky Loki. Warp to and take a look at the first one. Nope running out of time. Probably not a good idea. So I warp to the next one. Humm, time left but the hole is abused. As I sit there cloaked about 3500m off the wormhole, a Mammoth warps up and jumps!
Decloak. Jump!
And this is where the predictible script departs into keystone cops land. I spot only one ship on the overview and I: aproach->target->point->f1. Then I notice it's targeting me back? That's when the ship type registers: Pilgrim. Then my initial volley slams into it. Bang no more shields! While my artillery are cycling, he jumps out. I do believe I managed to panic him quite effectively. Unfortunately he took the wormhole with him.
Doh!
So now I'm sitting dumb and vulnerable without a quick exit. My wormhole reactions kick in. Cloak and move off the spot in case he has friends on the way. While my brain is still in "evasive action" mode, the Mammoth uncloaks and warps to his tower. This is where my time away from EVE shows. I did not react fast enough to lock and tackle the Mammoth.
Stupid rust!
So then the conversation in local starts up. The Mammoth pilot thought I was with the Pilgrim. And I thought the Pilgrim was with the Mammoth pilot. Lord knows what the Pilgrim pilot thought. So we had a good chuckle at the keystone cops routine and I inquired whether that wormhole that just went poof was the static.
"Um... please tell me that was your high sec static..."
"yea it was"
"Oh good"
Of course now my course of action is clear: Scan my way back out to high sec. Shouldn't be too much of a challenge. While I was scanning the center of the system, my friendly Mammoth pilot mentions some combat probes and a Buzzard on scan. I comment that he probably had a good laugh at what happened, then settle in to find my way out while the Mammoth pilot logs out at his POS.
The scanning down of the exit (of course, it's the last one I check), got my scanning skills knocked back in shape rather quickly. Getting the old D-scan habits back in shape and what not.
So eventually I get myself back to k-space and start chugging back to base, with little to show except for that all important experience and no ship losses to show for my mistakes (bonus!).
Later on in the weekend I managed to get out all the way to Vale of the Silent in order to un-snafu a manufacturing slot that was stuck in F-D49D. Kind of quiet there. Only ran into 1 bubble camp with no campers and another gate that had a sling bubble that didn't interfere with my travel plans as I approached the gate from a different celestial than was intended. Manufacturing slot un-stuck.
BPC and stuff trashed (just 35 x 10mn Afterburner I's so don't freak out - just not worth the hassle of selling to the Russians or Raiden.) so it doesn't clutter up my assets.
I also had a quick convo with my CEO about future plans and the fact I would not be coming back down to 0.0 until I built up the isk and got myself a suitcase carrier. Not to mention I need to get at least one alt account re-subbed for the cyno alt.
Slowly waking up after a summer's break.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Pardon the dusting
Hey all (or hey the 3 who still have links to this blog)! As those paying attention to my comings and goings know, I've been logging in quite a bit for very short stays lately. And although there's not much in the way of industrial changes in EVE, there are quite a few new fixes and what not coming in the next patch. This leaves me with an important decision coming up. Do I get active in EVE again or not?
As you all (or the 3 of you as the case may be) know I un-subbed my alts and moved all my assets back to high sec in order to skill flip wait out the fall and see what the winter brought. As my post about destroyers indicates, I am still paying attention to what goes on development wise. I still say CCP is in full blown panic, knee jerk reaction mode, but it looks like some long standing issues are getting some love. I feel sorry for the CCP employes who got the axe over the summer but "Pride goeth before the fall". And the little guys pay the price.
I will point out that the dev production since REALLY pointed out how much EVE development has suffered with CCP's concentration split between the two other games. I hope for their sakes they can get DUST out the door without an entire year's delay (Me has PS3, me want BETA). While I'm on the subject. Allow me to point out something to the absolute IDIOTS in charge of the Nex store. It is not that Incarna will eventually be useful to EVE. It can be. The way you introduced it and marketed it, however... What drugs were you on? I also fail to see why you guys were so attached to introducing a horribly flawed secondary micro transaction system when you already had possibly one of the best micro transaction systems in gaming (talking about PLEX here - would someone please explain to Hilmar that PLEX IS Micro transactions even without the NeX). Your players are far from stupid and they WILL call your bluff. 8% reduction in subscriptions (the number I've heard somewhere) since the high point should point out the true cost of these miss steps to your game and hence your company.
Meanwhile let's get back to the decision point. Here's my current situation: RHI basically imploded and left Cascade Imminent [FAIL]. Yaxi is rebuilding it and has joined Cascade Probable while he does this. I'm still in RHI, but my previous experience with 0.0 life has left me with the issues that unless a corp/alliance is prepared to support non-cap pilots properly, living in 0.0 is not only rather difficult but actually costs more than it brings in. Definitely compared to life in wormhole space. So, I'm currently rather leery of that since I still don't have even a suitcase carrier.
So the question is: has CCP done enough with it's winter patch to address things and justify coming back. And if I do, my choices are: Stay with RHI and give another crack to 0.0 where my options are severely restricted or go and do something else that will build up my isk total as opposed to drain it.
As you all (or the 3 of you as the case may be) know I un-subbed my alts and moved all my assets back to high sec in order to skill flip wait out the fall and see what the winter brought. As my post about destroyers indicates, I am still paying attention to what goes on development wise. I still say CCP is in full blown panic, knee jerk reaction mode, but it looks like some long standing issues are getting some love. I feel sorry for the CCP employes who got the axe over the summer but "Pride goeth before the fall". And the little guys pay the price.
I will point out that the dev production since REALLY pointed out how much EVE development has suffered with CCP's concentration split between the two other games. I hope for their sakes they can get DUST out the door without an entire year's delay (Me has PS3, me want BETA). While I'm on the subject. Allow me to point out something to the absolute IDIOTS in charge of the Nex store. It is not that Incarna will eventually be useful to EVE. It can be. The way you introduced it and marketed it, however... What drugs were you on? I also fail to see why you guys were so attached to introducing a horribly flawed secondary micro transaction system when you already had possibly one of the best micro transaction systems in gaming (talking about PLEX here - would someone please explain to Hilmar that PLEX IS Micro transactions even without the NeX). Your players are far from stupid and they WILL call your bluff. 8% reduction in subscriptions (the number I've heard somewhere) since the high point should point out the true cost of these miss steps to your game and hence your company.
Meanwhile let's get back to the decision point. Here's my current situation: RHI basically imploded and left Cascade Imminent [FAIL]. Yaxi is rebuilding it and has joined Cascade Probable while he does this. I'm still in RHI, but my previous experience with 0.0 life has left me with the issues that unless a corp/alliance is prepared to support non-cap pilots properly, living in 0.0 is not only rather difficult but actually costs more than it brings in. Definitely compared to life in wormhole space. So, I'm currently rather leery of that since I still don't have even a suitcase carrier.
So the question is: has CCP done enough with it's winter patch to address things and justify coming back. And if I do, my choices are: Stay with RHI and give another crack to 0.0 where my options are severely restricted or go and do something else that will build up my isk total as opposed to drain it.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The destroyer pilot in me acquired a shark-like grin
Don't know how FUD this one is but if it turns out to be true...
EVE NEWS24 had an article called "Raw Intel: Coming Soon". In it there was the following little gem:
- Destroyers (T1 and T2) lost their ROF penalty. And the horrible cruiser-sized sig radius has dropped to a frigate-sized radius. Like it should be.
Lord, the grin I got was downright terrifying... I hope this comes true.
If this comes true, expect a resurgence of Thrasher wolf packs in low sec.
If this turns out to be on the books for winter for real, color me interested for this winter's patch.
EVE NEWS24 had an article called "Raw Intel: Coming Soon". In it there was the following little gem:
- Destroyers (T1 and T2) lost their ROF penalty. And the horrible cruiser-sized sig radius has dropped to a frigate-sized radius. Like it should be.
Lord, the grin I got was downright terrifying... I hope this comes true.
If this comes true, expect a resurgence of Thrasher wolf packs in low sec.
If this turns out to be on the books for winter for real, color me interested for this winter's patch.
Monday, October 24, 2011
The cynical in me
Well now, CCP's latest moves are filling me with concern. Rumblings from various reporting sources like Massively, fill me with trepidation for the future of EVE online. This is having all the hallmarks of a knee-jerk reaction. Which can best be described by removing the word "knee".
With the burn rate issues and what not, I can see why CCP needed to cut employees. This was one of those "Get shit under control" where their burn rate HAD to start matching their income from EVE rate. Sucky though this is it HAD to be done or CCP goes under.
As distressing as it is for the employees, I can see why WoD got put on the back burner and CCP is concentrating on pushing out DUST and re-focusing on EVE. They had lost sight of where their bread was buttered. They are paying the price. The problem is now what? If, as Brendan reports there were no changes at the executive level and the entirety of the critical decisions came directly from Hilmar, then fine, he wants to fix things, he deserves a chance. However if Hilmar was not personally 100% responsible for those decisions, then some of the executives below Hilmar should have also gotten the axe. This has not happened. I suspect that this means that the same guys who have LOST what the player base considers the vision of EVE online to be are still in control of the decision making levers.
Combine this with the squeeky wheels in 0.0 and you have a recipe for some very dangerous changes coming up. I suspect that CCP could easily break high sec to the point where there is a mass exodus of carebears from the game. The sad/amusing thing is that since these executives don't understand the thought processes of carebears they could easily do this by accident thinking they were improving things. We'll need to pay close attention to subscriber numbers. Theoretically, by addressing the FiS issues and working on some FiS content, CCP could turn things around since there is still no real competition in their Space Sandbox segment of MMOdom. If players regain confidence in CCP, it should at least stem the outflow of players. Oh! and incidentally, 8% of your subscriber base is not "just a few disgruntled players" - you idiot, it's the start of a mass exodus. You need to start treating it as such. Then there are all the carebears who weren't really affected by this summer's fun. Fuck that up and you'll see a silent bleed and welcome to the NGE incident you're currently trying to avoid.
Oh, incidentally, congratulations on finally introducing battlecruiser to the game for the first time (at best all existing "battlecruiser" class vessels are simply what most people would call "heavy cruisers"). That still feels like a panicky "fuck, what can we deliver for the winter expansion to pander to the players?", but at least we're getting real battlecruisers out of it.
CCP needs to start thinking less in 6 month cycles and more with proper long term planning with staged deliveries matching up with those 6 month cycles. I have a suspicion that all the good work CCP Greyscale did over the summer ruminating on long term changes to the FiS side of thing just got thrown out with the bath water and the rush to show something for the winter expansion. This does not augur well for thought out changes.
Still waiting for the winter patch itself before making any decisions about coming getting active or un-subbing my main.
With the burn rate issues and what not, I can see why CCP needed to cut employees. This was one of those "Get shit under control" where their burn rate HAD to start matching their income from EVE rate. Sucky though this is it HAD to be done or CCP goes under.
As distressing as it is for the employees, I can see why WoD got put on the back burner and CCP is concentrating on pushing out DUST and re-focusing on EVE. They had lost sight of where their bread was buttered. They are paying the price. The problem is now what? If, as Brendan reports there were no changes at the executive level and the entirety of the critical decisions came directly from Hilmar, then fine, he wants to fix things, he deserves a chance. However if Hilmar was not personally 100% responsible for those decisions, then some of the executives below Hilmar should have also gotten the axe. This has not happened. I suspect that this means that the same guys who have LOST what the player base considers the vision of EVE online to be are still in control of the decision making levers.
Combine this with the squeeky wheels in 0.0 and you have a recipe for some very dangerous changes coming up. I suspect that CCP could easily break high sec to the point where there is a mass exodus of carebears from the game. The sad/amusing thing is that since these executives don't understand the thought processes of carebears they could easily do this by accident thinking they were improving things. We'll need to pay close attention to subscriber numbers. Theoretically, by addressing the FiS issues and working on some FiS content, CCP could turn things around since there is still no real competition in their Space Sandbox segment of MMOdom. If players regain confidence in CCP, it should at least stem the outflow of players. Oh! and incidentally, 8% of your subscriber base is not "just a few disgruntled players" - you idiot, it's the start of a mass exodus. You need to start treating it as such. Then there are all the carebears who weren't really affected by this summer's fun. Fuck that up and you'll see a silent bleed and welcome to the NGE incident you're currently trying to avoid.
Oh, incidentally, congratulations on finally introducing battlecruiser to the game for the first time (at best all existing "battlecruiser" class vessels are simply what most people would call "heavy cruisers"). That still feels like a panicky "fuck, what can we deliver for the winter expansion to pander to the players?", but at least we're getting real battlecruisers out of it.
CCP needs to start thinking less in 6 month cycles and more with proper long term planning with staged deliveries matching up with those 6 month cycles. I have a suspicion that all the good work CCP Greyscale did over the summer ruminating on long term changes to the FiS side of thing just got thrown out with the bath water and the rush to show something for the winter expansion. This does not augur well for thought out changes.
Still waiting for the winter patch itself before making any decisions about coming getting active or un-subbing my main.
Monday, October 3, 2011
And I pass 70mil SP
Apparently (according to EVE gate) I passed the 70mil SP mark over the weekend. I'm currently skilling through Drone Interfacing 5. It's one of the pre-requisites for Carriers. Once all the pre-requisites are done, I'm probably not going to pick up Capital Ships and Minmatar Carrier right away (pricy), and once all the pre-requisites are done, I'll probably finish off Frigate Construction 5 (want to be able to build my own Wolves/Jaguars) and then work on all the Amarr tree (get Lazorz skillz and then make sure frigate/cruiser/BS are at 5) followed by the Caldari tree.
I thought about command ships, but since I already have T3 unlocked (and fairly well skilled up) the price difference between a T2 equiped T3 and a T2 equipped Command ship is not that much, I figured it can wait until I get my leadership skills in place first. As a grunt in a 0.0 alliance (well the corp isn't at this moment in time, but it will be again in the future), the flexibility to fly the "flavor of the month" fleet fits is probably a higher priority than getting in command ships. So getting Amarr/Caldari up to snuff on the sub-cap arena is called for.
Bombers seem to be cyclically popular so I'll probably max out some skills in that arena at some time.
I thought about command ships, but since I already have T3 unlocked (and fairly well skilled up) the price difference between a T2 equiped T3 and a T2 equipped Command ship is not that much, I figured it can wait until I get my leadership skills in place first. As a grunt in a 0.0 alliance (well the corp isn't at this moment in time, but it will be again in the future), the flexibility to fly the "flavor of the month" fleet fits is probably a higher priority than getting in command ships. So getting Amarr/Caldari up to snuff on the sub-cap arena is called for.
Bombers seem to be cyclically popular so I'll probably max out some skills in that arena at some time.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
The Mittani searches for meaning.
Still on break here. But I still follow the perambulations of EVE Online. In this vein I like to read The Mittani's column in Ten Ton Hammer. Issue 65, we find Mittens waxing philosophical. When you start comparing EVE to Orwell and Huxley, it's time to step back and take a deep breath. And although EVE is certainly a lesson in the darker side of human nature, it is, in the end, entertainment. Admittedly, stronger entertainment than you will find just about anywhere else once you play it at the level alliance leaders play it. But theoretically entertainment none the less.
But like strong drugs, liquor or any other generator of strong emotions, you would be well served by the old saw: "Everything in moderation and moderation in everything". Turning to philosophy to "find the meaning of it all" is a surefire sign that the deep end is approaching.
Instead of Orwell or Huxley, Mittens may want to look up Nietzsche instead.
""He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you"
Dude, once your CSM term is up, or earlier if necessary - take a break. Preferably before we're reading about you in the newspaper.
But like strong drugs, liquor or any other generator of strong emotions, you would be well served by the old saw: "Everything in moderation and moderation in everything". Turning to philosophy to "find the meaning of it all" is a surefire sign that the deep end is approaching.
Instead of Orwell or Huxley, Mittens may want to look up Nietzsche instead.
""He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you"
Dude, once your CSM term is up, or earlier if necessary - take a break. Preferably before we're reading about you in the newspaper.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Just in case you guys didn't clue in
I've decide to take a pretty significant break from EVE. I will still skill flip my main account and work on my alt accounts until their subscriptions run out. But for all intents and purposes I'm not active.
My reasons are, naturally, complex after 4 years in game. But a good part of it is the dis-enchantment due to the supposed direction CCP has been hinting EVE will be going. The problem with EVE is that because of it's support of greifing (I'm not talking about PvP - I'm talking pure griefing here) mechanics, most players develop a love hate relationship with EVE. The problem CCP has got is that it is very easy through miss-management, to tip the balance from love to hate causing all sorts of problems. There are features of EVE that make it totally unique. These are very desirable features amongst the player base. There are aslo plenty of features that detract from the game. These we put up with in order to play a game with those desirable features. A lot of these are also the reason that as popular as EVE is it will always remain a niche game and probably never crack the 1mil subscriber mark. The desirable features are such that it could easily do so with if wasn't saddled down with the irritants.
For me personally it was the "out of touch with reality" indicators that the price of stuff on the noble exchange imply. Also the evident desire to cut out EVE's industralists from new content. As well as rublings that wormhole space is not considered 0.0 enough to allow for the ABC's to be located there (whut?). All of this combined leads me to believe there's a chance EVE will start evolving in a direction I don't want to follow. Which gets me down. Which makes me dis-inclined to play EVE for now.
Don't get me wrong - the technical side of EVE keeps getting better and better. But the game design side of things is looking more and more like it's going to be making some fundamental game breaking changes (from my point of view) down the road.
We'll see. For now I'm putting my main into a skill flipping mode and going to play some other games to clear my mind. I'll probably re-examine the issue after the winter expansion and make a decision of whether it's worth continuing to skill flip or weather it'll be simply better to unsubscribe altogether. The development timeline however indicate that it might only be worth coming back in a year or two.
In advance to any meme queries: No, you can't have my stuff or my characters (everyone I've met who sold off his main lived to regret it later).
My reasons are, naturally, complex after 4 years in game. But a good part of it is the dis-enchantment due to the supposed direction CCP has been hinting EVE will be going. The problem with EVE is that because of it's support of greifing (I'm not talking about PvP - I'm talking pure griefing here) mechanics, most players develop a love hate relationship with EVE. The problem CCP has got is that it is very easy through miss-management, to tip the balance from love to hate causing all sorts of problems. There are features of EVE that make it totally unique. These are very desirable features amongst the player base. There are aslo plenty of features that detract from the game. These we put up with in order to play a game with those desirable features. A lot of these are also the reason that as popular as EVE is it will always remain a niche game and probably never crack the 1mil subscriber mark. The desirable features are such that it could easily do so with if wasn't saddled down with the irritants.
For me personally it was the "out of touch with reality" indicators that the price of stuff on the noble exchange imply. Also the evident desire to cut out EVE's industralists from new content. As well as rublings that wormhole space is not considered 0.0 enough to allow for the ABC's to be located there (whut?). All of this combined leads me to believe there's a chance EVE will start evolving in a direction I don't want to follow. Which gets me down. Which makes me dis-inclined to play EVE for now.
Don't get me wrong - the technical side of EVE keeps getting better and better. But the game design side of things is looking more and more like it's going to be making some fundamental game breaking changes (from my point of view) down the road.
We'll see. For now I'm putting my main into a skill flipping mode and going to play some other games to clear my mind. I'll probably re-examine the issue after the winter expansion and make a decision of whether it's worth continuing to skill flip or weather it'll be simply better to unsubscribe altogether. The development timeline however indicate that it might only be worth coming back in a year or two.
In advance to any meme queries: No, you can't have my stuff or my characters (everyone I've met who sold off his main lived to regret it later).
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