The EVE Rumor-mill is buzzing with the news that the powerful alliance Band of Brothers has been infiltrated by Goonfleet and disbanded.
Check out the post over at Massively and the audio file released explaining what has happened.
Posts Tagged ‘EVE Online’
BOB no more?
Thursday, February 5th, 2009Moving Day
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
I mentioned in a previous post that I had a real life friend who is playing EVE. He is still getting his feet wet but seems to really enjoy the potential that EVE has. In an effort to be able to fly with him more often I am moving back to Gallente space today.
In truth, I need to be over there anyway. I’m Gallente and other than easy access to Jita, I can’t think of a reason to remain in The Forge now that I am no longer in the University.
Spent most of my time online yesterday tearing down my POS in order to move it. I made at least a dozen trips to and fro through low-sec without incident. I guess I just had good luck. Almost without fail I find myself having to crash through a gate camp or two.
I don’t mind moving. I get to get our my Obelisk and justify that Billion or so ISK I dropped on that puppy.
Why EVE Online can’t hold some players
Monday, January 12th, 2009I have been playing off and on for just over a year now and I seen most of my friends start and then stop playing EVE. Currently, out of six of my RL friends who played WoW with me, only one still has an active EVE account and he only recently started playing so the jury is still out on him.
Now I’ve been playing EVE or long enough to recognize the limitless options a player has as to how to play the game. True to the sandbox nature of EVE, you can do whatever you like. This is a great feature to tout but is it also a drawback? Possibly, but I think the biggest drawback of sandbox games is the lack of story driven content.
Before you drag me out back and hang me, let me explain. I LOVE the way EVE allows for me to do anything I want so long as I’m willing to get the skills for it. But what about the new player, who has just started the game and really has no direction. Sure the tutorial gets them familiar with the interface but there really is nothing telling that user why they should do any of the myriad of options available to them.
Right… Right, they should do some research on the internet. Good point. This is a fine solution for you and me. Because we are still playing the game we have proven that we are willing to do the research and learn what to do. But if EVE is to continue to grow, don’t they need to begin capturing those players who aren’t willing to spend as much time reading as they do playing? I think we may be reaching critical mass in regards to player who are willing to face the learning curve that EVE presents.
What I have witnessed is that EVE will chew up and spit out most players who approach the game without someone inside to show they the ropes. I think that as much as half of those that have someone to help them still will not survive the drag that is being a new player in EVE where you wait weeks for skills to train with little more to do than run repetitive missions or shoot rocks.
I think about games like World of Warcraft. WoW has a grind that will eat your soul, but why do so many people play it? Because playing through WoW for the first time doesn’t feel like a grind. Every zone is unique and each has compelling quest lines that keep the player interested. Even if the player is driving to get to max level as fast as they can so they can raid/PVP with their friends. The game is still fun the first time through.
I think CCP needs to implement an optional, story line epic that would serve to educate the player while making the game fun for them while they train for whatever their short term goal is. This would capture those players that just won’t research and aren’t going to sit around waiting for their skill points to get up high enough to do something other than shoot hi-sec rats.
Last thoughts. I realize that the mission system in EVE is such that repetitively cranking out the same mission is unavoidable, but please, for the love of God, add some more missions. I’m so tired of running the same mission 3 and 4 times in the same night.
EVE Blogs and A New Beginning
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009If you came here from my old blog or rather, my personal blog, welcome. This is the new home for all things EVE in my life. Now before you go ahead and click on to the next site that talks about EVE or maybe some other topic you find infinitely more interesting, let me tell you about what I’m doing with EVE Blogs.
EVE Blogs will not just be a boring blog about my manufacturing, industrial and hauling exploits. Oh no, it’s much, much more. It will be a boring site about the exploits of numerous EVE pilots with career paths from all walks of a podders life. If you are an EVE player and don’t have a blog but want one or perhaps you have a blog but might want to move it to a community where other likeminded bloggers coexist, check out the How to join page.
Now on to my latest exploits. As you know, I’ve recently left EVE University and struck out on my own. I’ve joined up with a couple other pilots, Nefertiti Ram and Bustacapho, both who will have sites here on EVE Blogs. Our career paths might be different but as an industrialist who wants to have a low-sec presence, you have to have some shady friends.
To that end I have established a POS in low-sec finally and my manufacturing operation is underway as of last night. Nothing too exciting, ammo for my POS guns, but it’s a start. I hope to be cranking out some modules early next week after a bit of research.
That is about it for now. Fly safe.
Business as Usual
Sunday, December 28th, 2008So the holiday week brought a few new things. I finally got back into the UNI after spending a couple weeks out to avoid all the wars. This meant a trek from Gallente space to Korsiki. I think I’ll call this home for a while. The proximity to Jita is nice and I’m just far enough off the beaten path that I don’t have to worry much about the yahoo’s that frequent the trade routes in this area.
Last night I finally had enough ISK to purchase my Obelisk. This is exciting because I no longer have to take the best price for my ore/minerals in the system I mine it in. I can now haul about 750,000 m3 to where ever the good prices are. My mining skills are getting up there now. I’m only a week or two from maxing my solo yield potential. Then my focus turns to production. I have to admit I’m looking forward to getting into something new.
My alt character has been missioning like crazy for the Federation Navy and now has access to level III missions but I don’t dare try one. I’m still working on the skills to survive a level II mission.
And so it goes.
EVE Blog-o-sphere
Monday, December 22nd, 2008One thing I enjoy about EVE is that the community, both in and out of game, is huge and spirited. There is a long list of blogs on the subject that I think any new player or prospective player should take a look at. You can learn a great deal about the different ways to play the game as well as the many dangers that you’ll face in your first few weeks and months as a pod-pilot.
The best list of blogs you’ll find is CrazyKinux’s Blogroll, where you’ll find this blog along with nearly 150 others. The list is constantly changing as new bloggers come online so check it out often.
It looks like my little blog will be mentioned in the next micro warp cast as well so be sure to check that out.
Keep an eye out for a hi-sec Player Owned Structure (POS) guide that I’m working on for all you nubs (like me) who are interested in having your own POS in Empire space.
EVE Online: Mining, Industry and War
Thursday, December 18th, 2008One of the most exciting elements of EVE Online is the very robust player corporation system and the subsequent war system. A player corporation can declare war on any other player corporation simply by paying 50 million ISK (ISK is the currency in EVE) to CONCORDE, the policing agency in the EVE Universe. Once war is declared a week long period of CONCORDE free battle ensues where any player in either corp can attack the other corps players without any CONCORDE involvement.
My main character, Arkanis VonBerra, is in the player corporation EVE University (E-UNI). E-UNI is just about the coolest idea I’ve come across in EVE. The name really says it all. EVE University is a corporation setup to help new players learn the game. As I’ve mentioned before, EVE has a steep learning curve so this is a wonderful service to provide for new players. However, because E-UNI is a corporation populated by new players it is also a frequent target for war declarations by pirate corporations who want to pad their kill boards.
Currently E-UNI has just entered the second week of the current war and I believe the seventh week out of the last eight of continuous wars. Now for the folks that dig the pew-pew, this is very exciting but for people like myself who get more excited about mining and market manipulation it’s kind of a drag. During wars, E-UNI halts all mining ops and mission running and control rolls to Silentbrick who manages their military fleet.
This sort of griefing — and it is griefing although not illegal in the game — is very stifling for E-UNI because it keeps them from running any sort of meaningful class schedule. I think in the long run a revamp of the war system will be needed to make wars in high-sec more relevant but until then E-UNI must carry on.
MMO-tastic
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008Let me start out by saying that this post is about EVE Online. I might touch on other games but what I really want to talk about is EVE.
So Wrath of the Lich King was released a couple of months ago and even though I had all but quit WoW I had to give it a try. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was mightily impressed by the latest Blizzard offering. They have really rethought what makes the grind compelling and frankly even though I zipped through the first two zones as fast as I could, I never felt like I was grinding. I was experiencing a storyline.
What they didn’t fix was the end game. Fix might not be the right word. I’m not foolish enough to say that the end game of WoW is broken but it simply isn’t suitable for my lifestyle. I get to sit down in front of the computer each night at about 8pm. Depending on my other duties I am able to play video games for some or all of that time but I need to get up and take care of the baby if he wakes up. No guild is going to put up with a player going AFK for a few minutes every hour in a raid. (Sadly, on his bad nights, the kid wakes up that often.) So that leaves PvP which I find boring as hell in WoW. So there is no viable end game that I can participate in. When I realized this I canceled my account.
So what was there to do? Well I had dabbled in EVE several months ago and many things about the game appealed to me. At the time, Aiden hadn’t been born yet and I was still raiding so in the end I canceled EVE and just played WoW. Now that WoW is out of the way I have reupped my account for EVE and man have I been having a good time.
It’s just a brilliant game. I should warn you that much of what appeals to me might not appeal to you. The economy is player driven and VERY complex. CCP, the producer of EVE, recently hired a real world economist to help them manage and balance the economy. There are hundreds of ships available for you to fly, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Some have industrial purposes such as mining and hauling while others are gargantuan capital vessels intended for besieging space stations.
What really makes EVE stand out is that as a player you can do pretty much anything you want. That means you can be a miner, a hauler, a mission runner, a pirate, a business mogul, etc. The limits are far reaching and I think that there really is something here for everyone. The only fault – and I hate using the word fault – is that there is a steep learning curve for this game. Getting your head around everything would take months or dedicated play. The upside is that you are forced to choose something to focus on and get good at.
I haven’t really scratched the surface on what a great game this is but suffice it to say that I think ANYONE can enjoy this game if they tried it. If you are tired of fantasy based MMOs and want something a little more sci-fi, I recommend you give this one a try.
I’ll be posting more over the next few days about my experiences in the game so keep an eye out.
Leaving EVE University
Saturday, January 5th, 2008Last night, after nearly a year in the University, I finally said goodbye and struck out on my own.
I learned a remarkable amount for my time in the UNI about the basic mechanics of EVE but also about the harsh reality of war. I would like to mention a special thanks to Dee Carson, recently departed Director of Operations, and to Jen Loo, Irdalth Delrar, Lyris Nairn, Sumerio Rayej and a host of others who helped me learn about mining, trade and POS management.
So, where to now? Well I didn’t go far. I started my own small corp to hopefully grow into a large and prosperous industrial power. I also have the desire for some YARR. We’ll see how that pans out.
Foremost however I will be committing to some Manufacturing and hopefully some moon mining eventually. Both have intrigued me for a very long time but only now am I free to really give either a try.
Farewell, Eve University. You’ll always be blue to me.