11/23/2010

9/04/2010

Post delayed

Dear friends,

I am alive and well. This month's report is delayed due to the nature of its content. Not sure if I want a full writeup as it will most probably hurt my profits. Apart from the loss of a 1.5b Tengu, all is fine.

See you soon.

8/09/2010

iPhone wallpapers: Incursus & Tengu

Two more wallpapers for iPhone and iPod users. Due to the high contrast of apple screens, images look a tad brighter on monitors.


When setting above wallpaper, move it down a few pixels to fit right below the status bar. That way the clock won't cover the planet when you unlock.


This baby will stay on my front screen for a long time to come. More Tengu wallpapers with different subsystem layouts will be available in the near future.

Enjoy.

8/05/2010

Monthly Progress Report

July was as languid as the weather though I doubt capsuleers ever experience seasonal changes in our pods. The corporation that hired me turned out to be a more of a loose social gathering than a group put together for a purpose. The folks in Australia proved to be formidable conversationalists and were around when I was online thanks to the proximity in time zone. All save one or two, devoted their effort to running missions. Since it is more profitable to solo missions in high security space we only saw each other when someone requested assistance.

Rather than wait for a corp ops I decided to organize one myself. I gathered those online for a new challenge. An epic arc seemed like the perfect choice to break the dull routine. It piqued everyone’s interest and soon there were five pilots in my fleet. We warped to the Impetus beacon in Dodixie; however our grand adventure ended before it even began, as none of us had the standing to access the agent. For my lack of preparation and stupidity, I paid everyone a few million ISK to compensate for their lost time.

Returning to my hangar, I hopped into my Imicus which had two Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade rigs, geared for probing. Within an hour of roaming, I discovered my first wormhole entrance in Sharuveil, a low sec system in Gallente sovereignty. When I mentioned my finding in the corp channel I received hesitant replies. Solarius, a regular at our public channel, asked to be invited when I told him it was a class 3 wormhole. Soon he was clearing each anomaly in his shiny Paladin, flawlessly making his move like a chess grandmaster would, knowing exactly where to be after each trigger. I remained cloaked at a safe distance cheering at him. When we got out, he generously shared a portion of the loot which turned out to be quite sizable. At the time the prospect of WH hunting felt far more lucrative than repetitive missions.


Later on I tried to reenact the short but intense WH operation. One corp mate brought his Drake, the other a Hurricane, and I my Dominix. It soon became clear that the three of us combined could not match the graceful performance of one man. In fact we were barely able to clear one site. The Drake pilot told me he had to refit heavy missile launchers because his HAM Drake was constantly webbed. Meanwhile our Hurricane pilot was caught up fitting his ship as he couldn’t really decide how he wanted to tank his ship. I wasn’t any brighter using my drones for DPS. By the time I lost my third drone, the Drake returned only to leave again shortly to pick up an AB. In hindsight, it could have been disastrous had another pilot entered and jumped on us. After this incident my WH exploration came to a halt. I had to find a new platform, be it missiles or lasers.

My miner alt, who I logged into once a day for PI, was ready to pilot a Hulk, but due to poor timing his new found ability coincided with Hulkageddon 3. So instead for two days I took out my Imicus to probe down Hulks that were mining in gravimetric sites and those bold enough to brave asteroid belts, subsequently delivering intel to those hungry for miners’ blood. Watching suicide gankers explode in front of my eyes was worth waiting for however it quickly bored me.

In the closing days of July, the corp withered and waned due to lack of leadership. The CEO had left to try out another game leaving his employees in the dark. None of us were delegated any roles to utilize the POS that had been anchored weeks ago. It was only natural that no one knew which direction the corp was headed. The disillusioned scattered away and finding myself alone in the channel became more frequent. I tendered my resignation.


My next stunt was the trade hub marathon. Only it wasn’t margin trading that I was involved in. I jumped around Jita, Amarr, Dodixie and Rens spamming the local channel with a linked ad that led to my thread in the character bazaar. On the ninth day, I bought a Caldari pilot with 14 million SP.


I had briefly considered the Rattlesnake as Dax Jr's next ship before delaying cross training in order to allow his Gallente skills to mature. Since he can comfortably handle level 4 missions, he's taking time off to train learning skills to 5/4 which is nearing completion. Unless asked to fly assault ships, Dax will most likely continue building on drone skills.


David Vendetta is a combat pilot with virtually no wasted points. Previous owners have kept him pure Caldari. For unknown reasons he's never seen combat despite his capability to field a wide array of PvP ships. Currently he's on a two-week Tengu plan, which will be followed by Falcon/ECM skills.


I no longer intend to keep my third toon. He is to be sold in the coming months.

Once again I am looking for a corp to join. If you're familiar with WH corps, please let me know. Thanks.

7/05/2010

Tidy up

A mission runner’s “you reap what you sow” would roughly translate to “you loot what you wreck.” By June I managed to hoard 824 items in two solar systems. When I opened my hangar or assets tab lag was noticeable, getting worse after each mission. Thalis Malu, who was listening to my predicament, uttered the one line that changed everything forever. [insert image of light bulb here] [playback sound effect of angel choir]

[ 2010.06.04 ] Thalis Malu > I keep all my items in station cans
[ 2010.06.04 ] Dax Jr > what are station cans?
[ 2010.06.04 ] Thalis Malu > Ship Equip\Deployable\Cargo Containers
[ 2010.06.04 ] Thalis Malu > Station Container

Following his instruction I opened the market interface to find several station containers for sale at 10,000 ISK in Ignebaener. Shortly thereafter I moved back to Auvergne where even more items where sprawled about. But I had to pay over tens times the price for one because systems near trading hubs have inflated tags on them. I bought fourteen and began sorting them:


A station container has 1,000,000 m3 capacity so unless you're a hardcore miner space won't be an issue. Note that they were designed for corporate hangars, to serve as audit log secure containers. This means every time an item is moved the transaction will be logged. The initial setting will lock down anything dropped into them for security reasons. To use these cans with ease, a pilot needs to tweak the configuration.


Right clicking on a station container will bring up a contextual menu like above. Choose configure container and check on 'unlocked.' I doubt people will need passwords for personal hangars but it's never a bad idea to set one for expensive deadspace modules. Rest assured, even in the worst case you'll get hacked but those Chelms' will be safe.


Dominion patch enabled players to view the contents of station cans in their assets tab but search isn't available yet. You will have to open each container to move items into them, which I think could be improved if one could drop items directly on the icons. This could get annoying when you have over a dozen to manage. I think fourteen is a bit excessive because it requires so much clicking.

How do you manage your inventory?

7/04/2010

Monthly Progress Report

June had been a rollercoaster ride in many aspects of the game and real life. Suffice to say that I’ve been overwhelmed by reading which, at this stage, takes priority over writing. In-game Dax became the archetypal carebear devoting most of his time grinding missions, salvaging wrecks, and sometimes snooping around markets for a better deal. My browser’s default website has been replaced to EVE-survival’s MissionReports from EVE Gate, which further attests to my carebear status. The discovery of new channels, namely eve-bloggers where fan meets celebrity, was a pleasant surprise. HelpMyMission channel is as entertaining as it is helpful so if you’re running missions and need a hand or want a whacky bunch of humorists to cure your boredom, drop by.

Joining a player run corporation was a big step forward in Dax Jr.’s online life that also took away a good chunk of my attention away from posting. When I finally decided to move out of the NPC corp, numerous personnel officers and sometimes CEOs offered to take me in. However it soon became clear that due to time zone issues, I’d be online alone if I were to join these wonderful corps. That was when I met admiral darkhammer, the CEO of Dark Forge Enterprise, formerly Dark Forge Enterprises. He promised me plenty of kangaroos(Aussies) and the like(Kiwis). Wormhole exploration or null sec access wasn’t immediately available but instead the corp would start from the bottom up.

In the first week my alt tagged along others to mine in a gravimetric site while Dax Jr. participated in level 4 mission fleets. Membership ebbed and flowed but darkhammer dismissed it as a natural process. I was more concerned about the lack of communication and inactivity as a group. The frigate tournament dissolved quietly when people enlisted in the ladder left the corp, leaving me as the victor to claim an Imperial Slicer. New players who joined as miners turned into born-again mission runners when they found out that they could make more money by running missions. Mining ops came to a halt. Questions were raised as some grew impatient of the direction things were going. No one, save a few who were involved in setting up a POS, knew what was going on. It so happens that a few days prior to this inquisition darkhammer bought the service of a player with high faction standing to anchor the POS. Everyone realized then that two leaders were solely responsible for financing this project. The delegation of roles or building corp infrastructure had been put off until after the corp had transitioned to a new entity that owns a POS. It finally happened this week and it’s only the beginning. We will need to acquire blueprints, fuels, various modules for our structure, and more importantly new talent to help the corp grow. Had I joined a mature corp, I would never have known this process firsthand.

Dax Jr. traveled to Minmatar space last month to claim modules bought off contracts. Other than that movement was limited to mission objective systems.


My initial plan was to finish primary skills but the queue took twists and turns to suit my needs because Dax Jr. is the only playable character. Mechanic V just got completed and by tomorrow he will train Thermodynamics. I am still debating on when I should finish the rank 1 learning skills which were left off at IV. I find piloting the Dominix to be boring and am considering cross training Caldari. Dax is expected to suffer from my whims for a few more months before he finally settles on a long term plan.


The industry alt will be able to fly Hulks by Monday. Perfect timing for Hulkageddon III. This one will have to stay docked during the entire event and work on other skills until the coast is clear.


Then there’s the third alt. My obsession for learning skills lead me to create him. He’s going straight for 5/4 learning with a full set of +4 implants in his brain. I still have another month before I set a career path, but he’s most likely to fly Amarr combat ships.


Real life is expected to get even busier in July but I will try to post more often, as things are picking up speed in EVE. If you are interested in joining our corp, please contact me or leave a message and I’ll get back to you.

6/26/2010

iClone v1.3.0 review

The latest version of iClone is available. At the time of writing, iClone is the only app that utilizes full API in a comprehensive, albeit slightly slow, flow. Core functionality remains much the same from the previous versions, however, the map is the perhaps the defining feature of this update. It's fair to say that this update isn't a mere face-lift, as I'll note my impressions below.


The front page has changed for the better, and the refresh button has been placed adequately near the bottom. No more rummaging into menus to hit that. It took me 1 minute 50 seconds for the update to complete after manually executing refresh under the following conditions: a) home WiFi network, b) one account, full API, c) character had access to corp wallet. Not bad considering the massive amounts of data it is updating since the user has room to access other functions while the app continues to feed new information.


The crown jewel of iClone v1.3.0 is no doubt the map. I am quite sure every EVE player who owns an iPhone or iPod will appreciate this huge upgrade. I find myself exploring the grand universe when I'm offline, imagining where I'll be in the near future. Furthermore it eliminates the frustration one faces when trying to use dotlan EVE maps on the tiny safari browser.


Station services are displayed when a system is selected. Follow the arrow to see even more information about the system.


Some of you might notice that v1.3.0 has asteroid belts and ice belts mixed up. The developer seems aware of this. Having the statistics available is also a plus. As you can see on the screenshot, I'm carebearing in high sec so we don't see much PvP in this sector.


I haven't tested the item database extensively enough to comment on improvements at this point. Few items were prone to crash the app in the past, which the developer claims is now fixed. The database itself is cleaned up so I'm adding another point to that. Descriptions still need to be taken care of, such as 'br' tags showing up, on Dominix Navy Issue. Please help the developer by posting your findings on his forum or twitter

The assets menu is not displaying modules correctly. Even though I've placed most of my items in Station Containers, they are shown in multiple tabs, which is hard to keep track of. I am confident this will be addressed in the next version.

Overall, this is a powerful application to have in one's pocket for any avid EVE fan. The size has been slightly increased to 253.1MB. Stability has improved as I have not experienced any shutdowns. I would like for the character sheet UI to get a revamp as I still find Capsuleer to be more appealing to check on my skills queue.

6/24/2010

Bugs: Catalyst hungry for attention?




At first glance it's just a Dominix, or is it?


The Catalyst simply refuses to go away.


The problem seems consistent as it happens from time to time. Apparently this particular ship is bugged. Here's a funny video that shows how this little destroyer behaves in space. Another clip with awesome music. Sometimes it stetches itself out to infinity. This is an interesting ship indeed.

You can find more under the search keyword "eve online catalyst bug" on google.

The scam

Three weeks had gone by since my last update. Time really flies. During this brief hiatus I lost a good chunk of my savings to a scammer, which, in turn fueled me to grind level 4’s even harder to make up for my loss. Thanks to CCP extending the downtime it finally seems like the appropriate moment to reflect upon the past.

What happened? It all began when Dax Jr. decided to test out a fitting for his Tristan ahead of a frigate tournament organized by former fellow corp pilot, Marckis. I say former because a few days ago he left after announcing he was ‘bored.’ What corp? Good question. I joined a corporation named The Dark Forge Enterprises, a laid back 45 man strong high sec corporation that doesn’t specialize in anything… yet. More about the corp in a later post. So there I was in Dodixie to collect a small ancillary current router that I purchased minutes ago.

Before I continue, you, the reader, must be made aware of the fact that I have a certain acquaintance that sends group mails at times offering to buy minerals, and at other listing items for sale. When I saw my mailbox blinking, I thought it was he. Below is a common scam in EVE that unfortunate people, like me, fall for.

So conveniently alphabetical… wasn’t too late to notice.

The only way I could get back was to get him kicked out of his then corp. Some lessons: a) trade hubs are the playground for scammers ranging from mail spammers to ponzi schemers, b) never use direct trade with anyone, the only exception being your alts, and c) scamming is a part of the game so shame on you for giving away your assets. Read the crime & punishment forum or at least ask an experienced player in corp channel for advice before undertaking any impromptu transaction. I’m now the butt of every Dominix Navy Issue jokes in the corp thanks to the incident.

The Tristan I was spinning in the station while I lost my money managed to destroy three frigates in row. Marckis, who organized the event, left without a word leaving me as the only pilot with a winning record. The tournament isn’t going forward, and I doubt it will, given the eagerness of getting it done, or the lack of it.

6/03/2010

A journey to the center of the world

Every so often Nimestre Ressier, the internal security agent, sends capsuleers to Lisbaetanne under the cover of private contract to take care of sensitive matters the bureaucracy conveniently outsource. Lisbaetanne... no. Plunging into the playground of outlaws isn't worth the reward he promises. Just having declined a confrontation with religious fanatics, Dax Jr. was in no position to turn down a job, at least not right away. The agents like to bite more than they can chew, losing track of their dealings. In no less than four hours Nimestre won't even remember that Dax refused to cooperate. Why won't they plug in a memory implant like everyone else?

Dax slipped out of the station in his shuttle for he had a yearning to visit EVE gate. It was Thalis Malu, a friend at the University of Caille, who reminded him of what he had been putting off all this time. The navigation computer plotted out a course to the center of the known universe. He will have to make twenty one jumps through dangerous territory. This wasn't any ordinary landmark and through the years pirates have ambushed those on their pilgrimage to New Eden. Thus he made the switch to a clean clone, not out of reverence to the site he was about to visit but simply to avoid the loss of a full set of augmentations.

As expected pirate gangs roamed low security space but none came in the way of Dax. And there it was...


At first he thought he was staring at a sun. That billboard gave away its identity along with pilgrimage cargoes that littered the skies like constellations.


They say no ship can survive the storm surrounding the gate but Dax decided he'd take his chances. However no entity, not even the gate itself appeared on the overview as rumor has it that agents of Jove cloaked everything in its proximity. After hours of flight it became clear that the gate cannot be reached in sub warp speed.


Dax jettisoned a cargo, leaving his mark in New Eden.

6/02/2010

Monthly Progress Report

In dramatic last minute negotiations, Dax Jr. reached a deal with Federation Intelligence Office, finally earning the right to install jump clones in any of their stations. To the outside world the FIO seemed to be deeply critical of Dax Jr.'s decision to revert to level 3 missions, but in reality their ranking officials had caught word on his excursions to Caldari sovereignty. Even though Dax Jr. was there helping other privateers take down Serpentis strongholds, he was to never again aid the sworn enemy of the Federation. Taking into account his services to the Office, no punitive sanctions would be imposed but they have stated that his travels will be monitored as a safety measure.

"We know where you've been Dax!"

Dax Jr. is refining his combat skills to effectively pilot the Dominix. Standard training regimen was briefly interrupted in order to handle a spike in the need for high volume transport. This month he is expected to complete the set of primary skills that have been put on hold after reaching IV.


My alt is working his way toward the Hulk. Until I find a corp, he will stay hidden from public view, in the relative safety of mission deadspace pockets that are filled with dozens of asteroids. Two jet cans, or 55,000 m3 cargo space, will ensure continued mining while Dax Jr. runs missions and goes about his business.


Dax Jr. has barely been able to spread butter on his bread. Income is low and slow. The miner alt spends more time offline. Since none are them are engaging in market orders, the station hangar capacity is put to the test on how much it can stock as loot, salvage, and ore are senselessly piling up.

I feel that I am ready to join a player-run corp, to be a part of something bigger than myself. Those generous with their time and attention extended their offer but it seems timezone is what matters most. I am based in GMT+9 which narrows my choice to either a AU/NZ corp or a large organization that hires global talents. If you want me in your corporation feel free to contact me in game or leave a comment below.

6/01/2010

Salvaging, Catalyst fitting

Time to revisit the Catalyst. Had I known then what I do now the destroyer would have received some love but unless I want to fly an Eris, which is highly unlikely, this particular vessel will only face the aftermath of conflicts. Yet the Catalyst has overcome its status as a giveaway ship because they make one of the best salvagers.


For those just starting out, I would suggest blitzing the lower level missions and ignoring salvaging and even looting. Instead find the niche that leads to a win-win scenario. Often times a mission runner will ask salvage hungry newbies to tag along level 4 missions, or vice versa. The salvager gains a sizable sum of ISK per hour from wrecks, a small portion of bounties, standing with the corp and agent. In return you split the proceeds to a prearranged ratio and everybody goes home happy.

A typical Catalyst fit for salvaging would look like this:

  • Lows
    • Expanded Cargohold II x3
  • Mids
    • Cap Recharger II
    • 1MN Afterburner I
  • Highs
    • Small Tractor Beam I x3
    • Salvager I x5
  • Rigs
    • Small Capacitor Control Circuit I x3 (or Small Salvage Tackle I)
Cap recharge intensive fit is for people like me who are lazy, unwilling to stagger modules when capacitor runs low, or those who wish to transform their Catalysts from/to other roles. Small Salvage Tackle I rigs will improve the chance to successfully salvage a wreck by 10% so if you want more tractor beams in the high slots, these rigs will compensate by increasing your chances.

Further reading: EVElopedia has a detailed salvaging guide.

5/30/2010

Multiboxing

The person who knows how will always have a job. The person who knows why will always be his boss.

Earlier this month I sent myself a 21 day trial invite to exploit the benefits of running multiple accounts, a practice that is considered a norm to many. Multiboxing isn't new to online games but why is this prevalent in EVE?

EVE's advancement mechanic limits skill training to one character at a time even though three can exist in a single account. Each career takes a considerable amount of time to develop so one has the choice of either waiting for months to perform a role effectively or creating a new character to reach that goal faster. This extends to meta gaming as well. Devious capsuleers would, for whatever their motive, plot behind enemies or unsuspecting victims by assuming a new identity.

Success in New Eden can always be measured in terms of ISK value. The majority of activities capulseers engage in revolve around generating revenue be it mining, trading, or ransoming; the list can go on as long as one's imagination. Mission runners like to talk about how much they've made in an hour. Some are rumored to have reached nirvana after picking up consecutive faction loots. Even in PvP, apart from the outcome of the battlefield or a campaign's going forward, he or she who is able to cause others more loss is considered to have done a better job. My current goal is to build a stable cash cow who will supply game time coupons for all the accounts that I might own in the future and allow Dax Jr. to concentrate on his battles once he is ready to join a warring alliance.

In the first couple of weeks the alt, who will not be named at this time, saw no action nor heard from anyone other than Dax Jr., who wired money for basic attribute implants and advanced learning skills. He was sometimes seen talking with tutorial agents at Trossere and even befriended two of them. But he mostly kept to himself. One day he abruptly left for Dodixie and later emerged in a Retriever.

Dax Jr. patiently awaits to haul ore. 

It soon became clear why private corps ran regular mining ops. Gaining access to the more valuable ores with logistics support and a security detail were obvious. One defining factor I failed to see was EVE's fleet bonus system, a party buff in traditional MMO, which, when applied to mining makes a lone miner far less competitive. A booster who is fully trained and equipped in Mining Foreman provides up to +29% more yield to everyone in the fleet. Add to that a full array of skilled refiners, manufacturers and traders who can lend a helping hand. I suppose it's time for me to join a corp.

For those who are interested or planning on mining, be sure to read Halada's <The Complete Miner's Guide>.

5/24/2010

iPhone wallpapers

Here are some wallpapers for your iPhone.They're all flying in one direction because of the unlock slider.

I do have other compositions in mind which will be available upon request.

Fly safe.
 






Level 3, Myrmidon fitting

University of Calle's mysterious doorbell dashing expert, Blaster Babe, donated a hefty sum to Dax Jr. 'for being a good person,' adding I should buy something fancy. Since one of my current goals is to raise standing with Federation Intelligence Office to 8.0 for jump clones, the natural choice was upgrading the Vexor to a battlecruiser class ship.

In honor of Blaster Babe, I shall name all my Myrmidons after her(him).


My first BB Myrmidon burnt brightly when it got stuck in an asteroid during a mission. Dax Jr. got bored with railguns at the time and loaded six blasters which was ultimately the undoing of the ship as it got swarmed by rats while trying to fire blasters at short range. Note: do not use blasters for missions unless flying a Proteus. In hind sight, I should have petitioned the loss for reimbursement: the ship kept bumping into the asteroid while accelerating to warp and I wasn't able to manually stop it because 'the ship was engaged in warp.' Another note: avoid collidable objects unless flying a Proteus.

I've experimented with various fittings but settled for below setup.



Level 3 mission fitting:

  • Lows
    • Meta Adaptive Nano Membrane
    • Meta Mission Specific Hardener (switch EM/Kinetic)
    • Meta Thermic Hardener
    • Medium Armor Repairer II x2
    • Damage Control II
  • Mids
    • 10MN Afterburner I
    • Cap Recharger II x4
  • Highs
    • Drone Link Augmentor I
    • Meta 200mm Railgun x5
  • Rigs
    • Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
    • Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I x2
  • Drones
    • Hammerhead II x5
    • Hobgoblin II x5
    • Valkyrie II x5
Even with low skills, this setup will run cap stable meaning all the modules, including two armor repairers, can be turned on during the entire mission. With moderate kiting it is over tanked but better safe than sorry. For certain mercenary missions in which rats pour all types of damage, fitting an Explosive Hardener is advised. Stacking two meta Adaptive Nano Membranes is encouraged for those with decent Armor Compensation skills which in turn allows for the replacement of a DCU.

Gallente mission runners will find that a number of faction ships, such as Amarr, take longer to bring down. This is because hybrid ammos and Gallente drones only deal kinetic and thermal damage. Amarr Drone Specialization enables EM damage drones while Minmatar Drone Specialization provides access to explosive damage drones. Use them accordingly as you do for armor protection.

Looting and salvaging should be delegated to a Catalyst in order to save time.

Running level 4 missions is possible with the addition of Ogres but it can take hours to complete a single mission therefore it is better to either blitz them or grind level 3's until getting the Dominix.

Long live Blaster Babe!

5/05/2010

Improve your in-game browser legibility

As you all know, and as I recently found out, our in-game web browser is based on Google Chrome. CCP have yet to allow Chrome extensions or restoring video playback(nothing like staring at a blank youtube page wondering why you don't get any response). As to the former, the game has an outdated user interface with no room for customization such as user mods - however the developers are tweaking the browser once in a while. The latter isn't a big issue and I'm sure people can alt-tab or watch videos when they're done playing rather than risk the client crashing which is another tech issue I do not wish to elaborate. Such a day may never come but I'd like to keep my fingers crossed for an overhaul.

Today's tip will ease your sensitive eyes by smoothing out the jagged fonts of the Chrome browser. Install ClearType Tuner PowerToy for XP. Note that this also works for Vista even though it says it won't. There's a built-in ClearType tuner for Windows 7 so don't bother with the download if you're using the latest version of Windows. Mac OS? Tried Quartz? (apologetically shrugs)

Surf reckless.


5/04/2010

Tyrannis Trailer @ IGN Video


Source: IGN Video: EVE Online: Tyrannis PC Games Trailer - Debut Trailer

Heavy emphasis on creation. Planetary interaction will be the hype for the next six months but I doubt Dax Jr. can get a bite out of any planet out there. Not any time soon. Industrial folks will get some loving in the latest expansion along with those determined to protect their interest. CCP are quite fond of Titans as every trailer nowadays features one or even two from each faction. Many things to look forward to indeed.

5/03/2010

Player donation leads to acts of good will

Communities are the lifeblood of massively multiplayer online games and their growth directly translates to longevity of a game. In this respect, Star Trek Online is a bold experiment as it remains to be seen how long an instanced single mode game could continue business charging monthly fees. Every other MMO offers its players a community be it a guild, clan, or in EVE a corp. Because it's a standard business model, individuals must be motivated to form a collective group.

There was a game called Asheron's Call which featured a unique allegiance system. Each player could swear oath to and serve as a vassal of a patron for whatever dole the master had at his or her disposal. In return the patron received a percentage of the vassal's experience points which meant that there were numerous pyramid schemes for free leveling at someone else's expense. Patrons actively sought out vassals because it gave an immediate benefit to everyone within the experience chain. This isn't the typical comradely virtual society a person would expect, but it is a fine example nonetheless.

For MMO whose end game centralizes on PvP, joining a corp is equivalent to enlisting in a military arm.  The corp recruits a grunt raising headcount, while the grunt gains security and access to multiplayer operations. An individual's value is judged by the abilities he or she can bring to the table whether they are a skill set in combat, productivity, or a certain amount of assets. The talk of friendship or kinship is a masquerade for vested interest. Such is rare and precious that if one were to be found, it would be truly valuable.

In EVE, players are bound to a corp at any given time. Newcomers are assigned to NPC corps that are filled with other newbies or alts of veterans. Normally there are about 300 people in my NPC corp channel most of whom are friendly and trying to be helpful. We even have role players who claim they are agents from the Caldari State, admonishing us to defect. In case you're wondering about the wonderful channel I often mention, it is the University of Caille based in Sinq Laison. Often time novices would seek answers here as it is easier to get attention than the rookie help channel.  Recently I got acquainted with two lively groups in various time zones, and when a topic that piques my interest is brought up I simply dock my ship and chat for a good hour or two.

To be honest, I am genuinely surprised and pleased at the maturity of my interlocutors. This isn't even a player run corp in which each member is filtered to match the tone of the larger group. It may just be my luck, but no one brings this up when listing the merits of EVE. I admit, some local channels are obscene but it's all part of the game.

Yesterday a couple of hours before the server downtime, veteran players in their secondary accounts were entertaining us with their gimmicks. Excerpts:

Blaster Babe > I am deep in null space running for my life this is exciting
Lord Exave > haha using what ship
Blaster Babe > atron
Blaster Babe > with cloak
Lord Exave > haha nice
Lord Exave > so what are u doing in there
Blaster Babe > I am shooting things
Blaster Babe > I found a tower and I shot it
Blaster Babe > it had no bubble
Blaster Babe > so it didnt attack back
Dax Jr > a tower? PoS?
Blaster Babe > these moris of mihi people dont seem to be friendly
Blaster Babe > I keep waving hello and they never anwser
Dax Jr > will you shoot them down as well?
Dax Jr > in your atron?
Blaster Babe > I shot at an offline pos
Blaster Babe > maybe it upset them
Blaster Babe > 08:11:26 Combat Civilian Light Electron Blaster hits Minmatar Control Tower Small for 4 damage
Dax Jr > massive hit!
Trevyn Allenco > it's super effective!
Blaster Babe > wont they get a mail that I am attacking them?
Blaster Babe > its like doorbell dashing
Dax Jr > when they see that you've done 4 points of damage, I'm sure they would cower in fear
Blaster Babe > bing bong bing bong then run away
Blaster Babe > oh I found a captial ship maintence array its so big

Then I began my rant on learning skills and once again met with positive feedback. :)

Dax Jr > the eleven learning skills are a real turn off
Dax Jr > 1. you train the learning skills for a couple of weeks and do nothing 2. you skip the learning skills and find out that you've gimped your toon
Adran Malu > Well you haven't gimped yourself unless you completly skip them. You just learned some things slighly slower
Dax Jr > come 1.6mil SP bonus, and no. it becomes a serious issue
Adran Malu > Key thing to do is priority the learning skills, but keep learning enough skills to keep the game intersting nd fun
Amber Khouri > impossible
Dax Jr > takes about 9 days and 1.5mil to train learning skills 4/4 with half the time. takes months to train without bonus
Adran Malu > No it doesnt
Amber Khouri > yes it does
Dax Jr > EVEMon says so
Blaster Babe > do learning
Adran Malu > I did it fine on my main
Amber Khouri > it does, I've done it a few times
Blaster Babe > do it all the way to level 5 and 4 for advanced
Amber Khouri > 4/4 is plenty
Blaster Babe > and remap for what you are going for combat or industry
Dax Jr > I'd prefer 4/4 except charisma
Amber Khouri > do 5/4 later
Blaster Babe > yeah the 5 in advanced dont help
Amber Khouri > do charisma
Blaster Babe > get cybernetics up to level 1 so you can use plus 3 implants
Blaster Babe > dont do charisma unless you are a trading alt
Adran Malu > Charisma helps with missions
Blaster Babe > or tradiing main
Amber Khouri > the lvl advanced gives an extra point in the attribute like all the rest but it takes too long
Blaster Babe > no really
Amber Khouri > lagg fest here
Blaster Babe > yeah I guess if you are going to mission alot you might do it but I would do it after I got my ship and weapons and all the rest done
Amber Khouri > cough*
Adran Malu > Right but the thing to remember here is that as a newbie with not much to do, sitting around in a station not actually playing for weeks on end because youre training learning and everyone shoves it down your throat = newbie quits.
Dax Jr > yeah. basically EVE has players paying for subscription for a certain amount of time without the player actually having to play the game
Dax Jr > pay, play EVE Offline
Blaster Babe > thats there goal get your money and never have you log in
Adran Malu > Right, and thats lame when youre new
Dax Jr > 'cause you can't do anything
Dax Jr > you want to, but it says you have to train some new skill, which you can't 'cause you're busy training learning. :P
Adran Malu > When you have an alt or some such training only Learning skills first is easy since you can go back to your main and actually play while you alt bakes
Blaster Babe > this is true
Blaster Babe > I am an alt of a main of alt of main's alt
Adran Malu > lol
Adran Malu > Im just an alt
Adran Malu > Training learning :P
Dax Jr > it works that way. this is my main.
Amber Khouri > I'm glad somebody has a main :D
Blaster Babe > wait wait let me be the first
Blaster Babe > Can I has your stuff?
Dax Jr > hmm?
Blaster Babe > its an eve joke
Blaster Babe > when ever someone complains about eve
Blaster Babe > you say... Can I has your stuff please?
Dax Jr > oh, you expect them to quit and leave their loot?
Blaster Babe > sure sure
Dax Jr > haha
Dax Jr > cute
Adran Malu > rage quitters fill the forums every time a new exp pack comes out
Adran Malu > as is the general MMO rule.
Blaster Babe > oh come on they have removed more fun out of this game then added in the last few years
Amber Khouri > this game makes you rageQuit
Ozzborg > lol why. dont adapt to change?
Blaster Babe > but its still the best game i have ever played
Amber Khouri > it can be a little harsh at times
Adran Malu > cause man! change is the devils work!
Dax Jr > this game reminds me too much of Ultima Online
Blaster Babe > I have adapted and adapted and adapted
Adran Malu > i like pushing a hoop around with a stick, fuck all this shit
Amber Khouri > same theory as UO
Blaster Babe > can I has your stuff?
Dax Jr > I expect CCP to announce officially sanctioned macros at some point for $15
Ozzborg > much the same grind
Adran Malu > lol
Dax Jr > maybe more :P they're a hungry bunch.
Ozzborg > i can never figure out macs
Adran Malu > nah, they'd be a strain on the server.
Blaster Babe > oh go to the drone region
Blaster Babe > all you see is macro ratters
Dax Jr > when a dev sees the opportunity to monetize on a certain function, they will do it at some point
Blaster Babe > its why zydrine is low now
Blaster Babe > the macro rat build super caps
Dax Jr > only the official CCP macro will have a dedicated server to handle the load. easy enough.
Adran Malu > oh no shit, never been out that way. Im a mission runner and wormhole explore. stay out of null for the most part
Blaster Babe > at least they fixed the POS exploit after only 5 years
Amber Khouri > no point goin to nul unless you are joining a nullsec alliance
Adran Malu > exactly
Blaster Babe > people made trillions of isk
Blaster Babe > for free
Dax Jr > tranquility isn't a single shard. technically, it's dozens of servers put in parallel
Amber Khouri > just get camped at every second gate into 0.0
Blaster Babe > 120 blades or more
Amber Khouri > nodes
Blaster Babe > running off military grade SSD's
Amber Khouri > Hamsters
Adran Malu > heh
Amber Khouri > the little wheels, DT is to feed em
Riser Mae > Are the hamsters military grade, too?
Adran Malu > lmao
Dax Jr > don't get me wrong, I like EVE Online very much.
Amber Khouri > they need a few more hamsters tho
Dax Jr > some people can't see others criticizing their game... extreme fanboiism
Amber Khouri > you know, to help the lag
Amber Khouri > Dax, fuck em if they dont like it!
Adran Malu > its the holy grail of mmos imo. only one thats managed to hold my attention for this long other than shadowbane.
Dax Jr > ahhhh shadowbane. haven't seen anyone mention it in ages
Adran Malu > o/\o
Dax Jr > o7
Amber Khouri > Jita is packed :P
Amber Khouri > man, it's overrun
Dax Jr > someone throw smartbombs in Jita for me. I'll even pay you
Adran Malu > lol

Adran Malu was generous in sharing his thoughts and time. We talked about machinima, Incarna, and the great scams of EVE, all of which I plan to cover in future posts.

When the servers were online again, I noticed that my wallet was blinking. My agent must have procrastinated and forgot to transfer the rewards. Still the balance wasn't right. So I checked the latest transactions.


My patron donated money with a Minmatar character. Before sending him a thank you letter, I wanted to make his gift worthwhile by doing meaningful things. Only I had no idea. Well, since he seemed pleased with my blog it was obvious I should post something about it. But what if he wished to remain anonymous? Then the answer came to me. I shall return the favor by helping fellow newbies overcome obstacles, although not in a financial way. Dax Jr. became an ambassador of good will. Sort of.

There is always someone in the middle of the newbie epic arc stuck at a bottleneck. Out of a total of 50 missions in eight chapters, seven chapters are quite easy and doable in frigates. Then there's the nasty spike in difficulty at chapter eight. Kritsan Parthus is in a neut battlecruiser which seems out of place when taking into account the string of 45 missions that leads to him. The logical choice is to either board a larger ship or find help. That's when I come into the picture. For one fellow corp mate, I kill Kritsan and wrap it up by killing Dagan as well. For the next guy who is waiting in private chat I take out a patch of drones. It was getting late but I felt this wasn't enough. There was someone who had trouble with a level 1 mission so off I went. Helping others was a reward in itself, and I hope to continue my volunteer work on the sideline.

Thanks again, anonymous donor. You have made a difference.