Mystic Worlds

EVE Online: Locked-n-Loaded

I’m an organization and planning freak.  Before I can really get going with anything, I must have a plan.  EVE Online (EO) is a playground for people with that kind of approach to things.  I completed my move to Arnon Sisters of EVE  (SOE) station.  I started doing missions with the local NPCs and began my first Story Arc Mission.  I like these arc missions.  They provide a cohesive story that links the activity together more like the traditional quest chains found in fantasy MMOs.

When Tipa gets her mining operation under way, I’m going to be her security / wing-man.  We’re not anticipating PVP.   I will mostly be there to deal with the rats and do salvaging.  Regardless, one of my personal concerns was that I don’t have a lot of combat experience.  When I was flying frigates, I had to pay attention during missions.  I jumped from frigate to cruiser while still doing level 1 missions.  I could do nothing but launch my drones and complete a mission.  It’s that’s simple in a Vexor.

EVE Online: Back in Space

On the heels of a horrible week at work, every week seems worst than the one before, I’m just hanging in there trying to maintain a shred of sanity and integrity.  The general effect is that I am very grouchy, distant and need considerably more alone time.  I got my writing workshop assignments done but not nearly as much as I’d hoped.  I spent some time gaming to relax.  Feeling considerably less sociable, which is a stretch, since I’m not highly social in the first place, there was no better place to be than in the darkness of deep space.

I was alone, yet not, in a way that is only achievable in multi-player virtual worlds.  As an aside, I believe the “alone but not” is one reason for players who solo MMOs.  We’re not trying to pee in your cornflakes.  We just want to be among you while doing our own thing.   EVE Online is a wonderful place to be when I’m feeling this way.  It’s dark and thematically superb at delivering on the fantasy that you’re part of a civilization making its home in the cosmos.  Popping into a brightly colored over animated environment with flashy pixilated entities bobbing everywhere would have been sensory overload and could have pushed me over the edge.  *Smile*

EVE Online: Cleaning House before the Storm

I completed my self-imposed house cleaning in EVE.  I had a mass of inventory that needed review – ship modules I’ve saved but outgrown, salvage that needed to be divided into keep for future production opportunities or reprocess for the components and items that should be sold on the market for cash.

It took a couple of sessions but I got it all done.  I also finalized my entry level Faction Warfare ship fitting for the Tristan.  I made changes based on the cost of items and missing training skills.  All in all, I’m pleased wit the fitting and think the new Save Fitting options are fabulous.  Of course the proof is in the pudding.  I won’t know how well this build performs for me until I see it in action a few times.

EVE: Skill Queue Less Helpful than I’d Hoped

The Skill Training Queue (STQ) features introduced with the Apocrypha expansion pack aren’t proving nearly as useful as I’d hoped.  It is great for kicking off the early levels of skill training that take a few hours here and there.  However, it does absolutely nothing for skills that are longer than 1-day and complete during off hours – nada.  You’re still stuck with a skill finishing in the middle of the night or during the business day, when you aren’t able to start the next skill you’d like to train.  Basically, you’re still tied to queuing up things you may not really want yet but will fit into the 1-day STQ restriction or starting a longer skill you don’t want yet either, in order to always have “something” training if you're going to be away from the game for a few days.  *Yawn* 

While I understand CCP’s concerns about not wanting to encourage more AFK training-only players, it hasn’t changed player behavior all these years.  This is an aspect of how some players manage their characters and quite frankly, as long as they’re subscribed it shouldn’t matter. Making skill training a pain in my ass doesn’t make me log in and play any more than I normally would. It just makes me annoyed.

EVE: Friends in Unusual Places

Last week work thwarted my efforts to game and get a significant amount of writing done.  When the weekend arrived, the weather decided to have its way with me too.  It stormed most of Friday and Saturday, taking the Internet down in the process.  *sigh*   As a result, I’m behind in posting a few things and lagging in achieving some of my progression goals in Runes of Magic.  Before the interruptions, I met two very nice players in two distinctly different games.  

I had popped on EVE Online to queue up more training related to my upcoming PVP adventure.  Just as I was about to leave I received a private message.  I almost didn’t accept.  Gold farmers have whispered me in the past.  I’m glad I accepted this time.

The message was from a long time EVE player who also reads my blog.  That immediately brought a smile to my face.  The fact that he would be able to reach me in game is because EVE only has a single game shard so anyone who plays EVE, can hook up with anyone else.  I swear all MMOs need to figure out how to do this.  There’s no, “Too bad you’re not on my server,” worries with EVE.

EVE Online: Fat Man PVP Setup

Reading the BattleClinic and EVE Online forums I found common themes in the suggestions for equipping the Tristan for PVP.  The updated version of EVEMon let me open a suggested fitting and listed the skills I needed to configure a Tristan in that manner. I added those to the list of skills I keep in the EVE Online Notepad, which helps me keep things organized.  I added a few of the core skills I wanted to have regardless of equipping the Tristan and used the Skill Queue to get my training underway.

I’ve never fitted a ship explicitly for PVP before so comments and suggestions are welcomed.  Specifically, I have questions about the two items with red comments. If there are more cost effective options, I’d appreciate knowing them since it goes without saying that I’m going to lose ships. 

Before even engaging in any actual Faction Warfare combat the first thing that comes to mind is that the is an "all expenses on you" trip.  You have to have ships, ship components, ammunition and insurance, all of which cost ISK.  The 10 million ISK in training not included, a single decently fitted Tristan is going to run around 300K + insurance per ship.  You have to be engaged in income generating activities in addition to PVP, to foot that sort of bill in an on-going capacity.

EVE Online: Education is Expensive. Even in a Virtual World

I’ve started working on my plan to join EVE Online Faction Warfare (FW) as my return to space adventure.  FW was supposed to lower the bar for getting players engaged in PVP.  I’m about to see how well it works.  My methodical mind won’t allow me to jump in headfirst.  No, I must have a plan and strategy.

The Plan

My plan is a three-pronged approach.  First, I need to plug up a few holes in my skill training.  I’ve had an account off and on for several years and am bumping up against having 4 million skill points.  Yet I’m still a neophyte in EVE.  When I re-subscribed a few months ago, just how many holes became evident from a couple of conversations and an in-game rendezvous with Letrange.  I’d been taking care of the obvious while also squeezing in production training.  I recently stopped that production training to focus on rounding out my combat skills.  Namely, I need certain skills to fit my PVP ship of choice, the Tristan.  This brings me to my second priority, equipping “The Fat Man” as best I can for FW PVP. 

EVE Online - Why Casual is Difficult when not Consistent

Responding to a post on Ardwulf's Lair about EVE, my comment brought up another topic that I feel is interesting to discuss some more - expanding EVE's passive game via out-of game-web client tools.  You'll see my comment did tie into the original posting and his thoughts of going jumping back into EVE Online.  I didn't derail his post.  *Smile*  I'd like to continue the conversation about what I think will add RTS-like options to EVE Online.

my comment there...

I didn't quite buy Karen's impressions that the antics they pulled in EQ1 were in any way near the possibilities and consequences of what takes place in EVE Online on a daily basis.  Espionage or not, the most you could do was cause guild drama and interrupt encounters.  Pfft.  Every game has guild drama of epic proportions.  That’s old news now and NOTHING – no sort of guild drama in another game can equal the impact of a huge corporation being broken in EVE, unless it leaks into real life and people end up on Cops.  In my mind, the two cannot be compared. 

EVE Online: Joining Faction Warfare

While the blog has been flooded with Runes of Magic posts, I’m still subscribed to EVE Online (EO).  I’ve kept my training going but switched gears. I was training to do some basic production in order to get my crafting fix on.  With no other full featured MMO in my diet, I had to get crafting somewhere.

Things have changed a bit since I re-subscribed to EO.  A couple of weeks later I gave Runes of Magic a try and have been there ever since.  It is my Free-2-Play EQ2/WOW/LOTRO fantasy alternative.  It’s enough of what I like with options of opting out of things I don’t like or find entertaining.  Having built my crafting workshop in ROM that's where I’m getting my crafting-fix satisfied these days.

It Takes a Plan to Play EVE Online

Without proper planning you won’t get very far in EVE Online (EO).  At the very least, your experience will be fraught with frustration and disappointment.  The unique real-time/off-line no holds-barred skill training, can be as daunting as it is liberating.  Many players like to think that EO is where real men and real women go to game. That sentiment may or may not be true.  It is however, where players who like to tinker, craft and fondle spreadsheets can dwell in the relative safety of 1.0 space.  Whatever your flavor of EO gaming, you’re nothing without a skill training plan.

The most popular and as far as I know the ONLY, offline skill planning tool, is EVEMon (EM).  EM serves two purposes.  It can be used to determine what skills are required to utilize certain equipment – ships, weapons, ship enhancements, etc.  It’s also used to simply create your training plan – one that matches the activity you’d like to be able to perform, and identifies the prerequisite training.  After you’ve specified the equipment you want to use and gotten the skill list or the activity you’re looking to perform and have your skill list, EM will provide suggestions for executing the training plan in the most efficient manner.