Diary of a Pod Pilot

Message from EON Magazine: Free shipping

Myrhial Arkenath — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:16:31 +0000

As a special 9th Birthday anniversary of EVE Online EON Magazine are giving free shipping away to any orders made on the EON Store. That is free shipping to anywhere in the world. The offer will last through Monday 7th.

Message from EON Magazine: EON Magazine #027‏

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:49:18 +0000

EON Magazine #027 Cover

In Dust 514 We Trust

Chemical Brothers-inspired headlines abound as we at last get some shoot-in-face time with CCP’s first console game, DUST 514. With 12 pages devoted to the PS3 shooter, we first follow the adventures of Team Haggis, winner of the inaugural Dust tournament, before procrastinating over the game’s lengthy feature list and the implications the release will have for EVE Online, New Eden and the wider universe of games. The parallel journey into a familiar world starts here!

Assault Ship Testflight

Having repackaged the Tier-3 battlecruisers, EON’s chief test pilot Kirith Kodachi fits and flies out another batch of Crucible vessels – EVE’s venerable assault ships. Between them these heavy-hitting frigates have received, thanks to January’s 1.1 release, the most eagerly-approved upgrades since the word ‘iteration’ was invented. All eight ships are given the full Testflight treatment in one of the biggest round-ups in EON history.

CSM6 In Review

Seleene, the latest to head the Council of Stellar Management, looks back over the events of the last 12 months from the above-and-behind view reserved for the privileged members of EVE’s player-elected council. He takes us through the record-breaking vote a year ago, into meetings with CCP, past the so-called Summer of Rage and occupation of Jita and through the redemptive expansion known as Crucible. It’s been quite a journey.

Understanding Time Dilation

Just as there’s more to time travel than a DeLorean and 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, Time Dilation is more than just a slo-mo switch the developers casually throw when the hamsters get tired. To understand TiDi we must understand the nature of lag itself, which is actually best illustrated by visiting the bar and getting some beers in.

Plus

The Eve News 24 Story
The Ammatar Mandate
CCP Diagoras & Flying Scotsman
Machariel worship
The Fall & Rise of Ushra’Khan
Profiled: Odyssey Inc, DUST Uni and Lollipops for Rancors
Making the most of exploration
Postcards from the Edge
Teh Lighter Side of EVE

Blog banter 35: Public perception, or what the eyes see and the ears hear the mind believes

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:58:27 +0000

This month’s Blog Banter is an amalgamation of several suggestions made by CCP Nullarbor, Rundle Allnighter (Lost in EVE), Bagehi (EN24) and others.

“Now approaching its tenth year, the EVE Online player community has matured into an intricate and multi-faceted society viewed with envy by other game developers, but is frequently regarded with suspicion by the wider gaming community. Is this perception deserved? Should “The Nation of EVE” be concerned by its public identity and if so how might that be improved? What influence will the integration of the DUST 514 community have on this culture in the future?”

Having played several MMOs, MUDs and other online games, of different styles and genres, I’ve been exposed to some very diverse communities. And while there is both merit and fault to be found in all, EVE’s community is one of those I really enjoy being part of in my own way.

More than with other communities, it is also one of the two — World of Warcraft being the other one — where I have further engaged in the form of player meetups, and the only one for which I have gone to its official convention. Not something I had thought would happen when I started out in EVE to have something to do aside from playing WoW.

What makes EVE’s community tick in my oppinion is that CCP cares for it, and overall has seen players as contributors to the experience rather than clients who pay a fee each month to enjoy a product. Our oppinion matters and is heard, which makes it people want to share theirs.

This is further enhanced by the fact that EVE is the kind of game where to get ahead, you need to take the risk of playing with others, and it can be a very rewarding experience even on small scale. Risk / reward isn’t just a way of balancing the game, it’s at the very core of what the game is all about.

Of course, EVE has its history of dark tales, stories of betrayal and theft. If you really do not like the fact that this could happen to you then this isn’t the game for you, there are other games who cater to that and neither can they be expected to change their ways because an EVE player would want them to be just like EVE. You might be able to get by in highsec, but even then you have to accept that you need to take a certain set of precautions or sooner or later the inevitable may happen. But heh, space is supposed to be cold and harsh, and the realness of this adds to the charm of the game. It’s not some simulated or storyline stuff. It’s done by real people, who can be a ‘space villain’ if that’s what they want to be.

The EVE community is also very diverse, meaning that if you don’t like certain parts of it, it is both ok and possible to ignore those. You don’t want to play in the ‘endgame’ that is sov space? You don’t have to. Because it’s neither the only nor the real ‘endgame’. And you change your mind tomorrow? That’s fine, you can, without having to restart from scratch.

I’ve heard complaints in the past that the EVE community is a bunch of elitist jerks, and there is a certain truth in that. I no longer follow the official forums closely, but when I started out I felt that even in the newbie forums beginning players were looked down upon. Luckily that has changed, and I think groups such as EVE University, OUCH and Agony Unleashed have contributed to that in addition to the efforts of CCP to lower the curve by doing away with frustrations. My personal belief is that a game should be hard because it provides a challenge, not because it’s tedious, cumbersome, and the interface seems designed to work against you. I’m glad that is something CCP seems to also agree upon. Much love for all the developers who have contributed to the efforts done in this field.

As for Dust 514, its community will be a mixed bag of new players but also of EVE veterans looking for a new or additional way to play the game. Some people fear the unflux of ‘console kiddies’, but I doubt those will be the kind that sticks around. And even if not, I do not believe we should bar the door for these kinds of players, we can certainly learn from them, not to mention teach them a thing or two. If we’re not careful, they might become so damn good at it and beat us at our own game. So a little humbleness and retaining an open mind is certainly in order. After all, for things unavoidable, the best way to deal with it is to accept and make the best of it.

Lastly, this banter came with a rather amusing bonus question: “What single button would you recommend be included on an EVE-specific keyboard?”. In honour of CCP Soundwave, I believe there should be an orbital bombardment button. On a less comical note, probably buttons for functions that are commonly used, things like opening your skill sheet or fitting window. While these all have ctrl or alt + something keybinding, sometimes there is additional convenience in just pressing one button.

Fanfest 2012 review – Part two

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:34:53 +0000

Friday: Fanfest day 2

While I really like trading and creating stuff, and in any game I play I usually at some point get rich by playing the economy one way or another, I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed to attend the State of the Economy presentation. However, Ship Balancing was not to be missed, because EVE is about the spaceships! Sadly this isn’t on Youtube either (yet?), but there has been a dev blog which mostly covers what it was about. As I saw it but didn’t fully process it before I set off to Iceland, it was nice to hear what is in store here. Making all the ships useful, as they should be! It’ll be a great deal easier to understand and makes way for a lot more variety without adding ships that nobody will ever use. Currently only half the ships in the game really gets used, that’s just such a total waste, especially since some have really nice designs. What more delighted me is that the lore got some attention here and that T2 ships will fit in with manufacturers that suit their roles. It’s some shuffling here and there but it is little details like that which make my roleplayer heart beat faster.

Lag is nobody’s friend and CCP Veritas had lots of graphs to show again how it, or at least the server kind, is being dealt with. While that fight is not totally over with, focus seems to be shifting towards the client now. Actually being able to use brackets without slowdowns? Being able to run multiple clients without having to give up all the eye candy? Faster dealing with crashes? Yes please, make it so.

Then it was time for Factional Warfare. While not something I have ever participated in other than shooting the fuck out of the Militias back with Operation Bold Harvest, it’s been something that I’ve always kept an eye on. Especially because way back when CCP actually mentioned pirate faction warfare, and that is something I hope to see before I retire from the game. While last year was still an outright denial for it ever happening, this year it was said that it could be implemented as the system does account for more than a two-way fight, the issue just seems to be they first off want to fix up the current issues, and secondly they’re not quite sure how to make it all work. I may elaborate on my thoughts in a future post, but basically since the pirate factions form 2 blocs, you could have a 3-3 split just like Amarr + Caldari are opposing Gallente + Minmatar. And then make it so that all pirates are open targets to the Empires and reverse.

The proposed changes in the FW presentation are a bit of a shocker, and some things like cyno jamming or datacores being moved over to militia LP stores to me seem unrealistic to be implemented as they are presented here. I do however like the idea of a sov-lite kind of playstyle, the only downside being that only the Empire factions get to enjoy it. I suppose us pirate roleplayers will have to be content with playing mercs or infiltration for now, or simply opt for other non-FW styles of play. However, it is good to see that this is being iterated on, because it means people in lowsec, and that is relevant to my interests.

The Brave New Module presentation was a bit spoiled by not being led by the most engaging speaker, but I never realized modules had been intended to be like cards and the addition of new decks in Magic The Gathering. This is quite interesting however, not only because I have been making my ISK as of late by producing the (new) Tech 2 modules, but also because of how it affects tactics in both PVP and PVE. Finally drone damage modules! And webber drones of all sizes. And salvage drones make a return! And so much other interesting things. The plans for using alternative methods of seeding them into the game made me frown a bit though, I can see it work for those that are totally new like tactical warp, but drone damage should in my oppinion be the same as weapon damage modules and thus be a standard blueprint. However, as at the end there is talk of phasing modules in and out of the game, maybe buying blueprints and growing a large researched library is going to become a thing of the past? I can think of some unhappy industrialists though as some spent years growing a perfect catalogue which is invaluable due to the many years of research applied on them.

And then, of course, the EVE keynote. With the painfulness of the ‘failure’ of Incarna, and the 20% layoffs still fresh in mind, this was bound to be interesting, and the right approach was taken. Generally speaking, this entire Fanfest has been one of restoring faith and celebrating that EVE did not fall over and die. Loads of things that came up at the start here were basically fast repetitions of presentations already attended. But then, what is this? No, not the new stealth bombers, although those are mighty pretty as well. I’m talking about the missile launchers visibly on ships. Squeeh! Happy Caldari pilot at last. I recall talking about that with CCP Masterplan last year and he said with the old system it was just not possible, and it may or may not be with the new. So, I am quite happy to see that the new system does allow for this, and I hope eventually we will see all the high slot modules visible.

Being given a free Fanfest ticket, as a perk for being a fansite, I decided to end the day by making my way over to the Fansites & Apps roundtable. Unfortunately, it was the App developers that took over the conversation and I felt pretty lonely and awkward as a blogger amongst them. Gladly, I have a background as a programmer so I could at least follow the conversation, but I’ll be mailing CCP Alice some things as I just didn’t get around saying what I wanted to say. A bit meh, as there were several other roundtables I understand were more suited for this tech talk that happened, but then again with so many apps and so many new possibilities for apps, I can’t hold it against those developing them to be all fired up about it.

Being a little tired by now and having lost track of most people, I missed out on the quiz show, but caught up with Verone who was assisting CCP during Fanfest and really deserves props for all the effort he is putting in. We managed to get everyone together and went out for dinner and then secured ourselves a few tables at Islenski Barinn before the pub crawlers poured in.

Saturday: Fanfest Day 3

Ugh, even 11:00 is too early at this time of the week, so I got in at the end of Growing EVE’s infrastructure and the first proper presentation of the day for me was War Declarations. Wars are going to get a lot of love, and seem to be moving from a griefing tool into a proper thing. I really like that mercenaries will get a proper way to offer assistance. The war statistics are also very nice, and I hope in future this can be expanded upon for all corporate killmails, as it would make an ingame killboard possible which would let a corporation see how well it is doing.

The game design panel wasn’t much interesting other than Diedra Vaal shaking things up with the first question, though I believe somewhere in there someone asked about pirate faction warfare again. Not sure, and can’t immediately find it. As the next thing was the art panel, which I assumed wouldn’t bring much new (skimming over it, I feel I was right), I wandered over to the EVE vs the Real World presentation. This had caught my attention because it was an actual player presentation, and it was about security theories (political sociology). While normally I’d have been able to keep up with this easily, I struggled to keep up, but was none the less intrigued by this subject which I knew a little about and how it applies in EVE Online.

Next up was the World of Darkness presentation, which I was happy to see getting some attention still. While I’ve only lightly dabbled in the WoD setting, or more specifically I have played Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, it is a setting that captured my imagination long after. The game itself wasn’t that spectacular, and I didn’t know back then it was part of a greater setting, but it left a lasting impression. I do plan to look more into it in the future, as the Grand Masquerade seems like an event I’d like to attend at least once just because it seems so very cool. What mostly intrigued me about the presentation was the talk of a player politics system, with elected positions and city leaders. While they drew the connection to EVE Online, in my mind I immediately linked it to the text games Lusternia and Aetolia, both by Iron Realms Entertainment, which I have enjoyed dabbling in during the last few years. I do wonder if the WoD team is at all aware of the existance of these games and how studying their political system could be useful to develop an even better player politics system.

Bittersweet as usual, the last presentation of the day was CCP Presents, where we got to see a glimpse of what the future may hold. Got a bit scary when that fire alarm went off, but the new launcher and further work on EVE voice is something that bodes well, even though I currently skip the damn thing to get the Steam overlay on the main client. Tessellation looks pretty sexy, and nice to see what more is coming for Dust 514 — eSports and PVE and MTACs and non-temperate planets, oh my — but of course it is the EVE stuff that intrigued me the most. Ring mining sounds like it could be a lot of fun, not to mention finally allow the ‘common player’ to take part in the moon mineral game. And modular POSes, ooh, I like building stuff, even though at times I bitterly hate taking care of my ‘space tamagochi’, as the POS gets so lovingly called. The new UI seems like it could work out really well, especially loving the camera close-up view and prettier explosions. What nearly had me jump out of my chair though was using avatar gameplay and combine that with exploring the insides of abandoned installations. If they put that in, and it will be as awesome as it sounds, I am so going to be all over that. I’ve always wanted the exploration system of EVE to be more interesting, but this just totally blew me away. And then, it could not have ended better, the story of Templar One turned into a new game trailer. Around the one minute mark it dawned on me what I was looking at. That’s just so cleverly done!

Gathering everyone up again, we went for dinner and then to prepare for the party. It was alright at first, but after HAM had performed and we retreated to the Fanfest lounge, it quickly grew terribly boring. We sat there quite a while until eventually enough people were bored enough that we packed up and left for the hotel. Settling down there was a lot better and we had a lovely evening, sitting around and talking. Keith Neilson, CCP Masterplan and some other folks dropped by as well.

Sunday: Brunch and Blue Lagoon

As per tradition, there was the Brunch on Sunday, this year at the Vox Restaurant at the Reykjavik Hilton. So many delicious foods!

With our tummies filled, we went over to the Blue Lagoon, which was a first for me. Quite nervous about this, I admit, I’m not a good swimmer and the etiquette at these kind of places always kinda worries me, I don’t want to shock people but neither do I want to come off as too prude. However, it turns out that for the women at least, it’s really quite relaxed, everyone just stripped down, headed for the showers wrapped in their towels, put swimming gear on after, and went outside. Ah, it was so nice to just soak for a few hours in the hot water, even though I had to make a bit of a detour through the shallower ends of the water to keep up with people. For once, being small really wasn’t handy! But later on taking up a little corner of the sauna, I was quite happy with my small frame again. What I really liked was that you could just use your bracelet to buy drinks, so I had a slushy. Kind of handy, this hot water, when it didn’t melt fast enough to keep drinking I just dipped the bottom in the water for a while.

After the Blue Lagoon, it was quite late already when we finally got home. Some people got pizza, but I was still quite full from the brunch, so I started to pack my things up and watched another movie, before we all headed downstairs and sat together the final few hours, joined by the excellent folks from Rote Kapelle. As my flight was late, and we had Damir Delon to take us back, I stayed up into the wee hours with the people who had early morning flights.

Monday: Travel again

It’s never fun to say goodbye, but good things have to end someday. This whole week felt like it just blazed past. Adrian Schultze, Lacrimae, Stranger (who had flown in just for the party and the events on Sunday!), that guy from Rote Kapelle who I never asked for his character name and me all were on the same plane, together with Diedra Vaal and his girlfriend. Once landed in Copenhagen, our party soon started to break up as everyone headed on to their final flights.

What a week it had been. Props to the Veto guys for letting me hang out with them again, so nice to meet some new people again, and see many old faces once more. While I was really fearful this fanfest would be marred by the layoffs and the negative events this summer, I must say I am feeling very optimistic again now. It wasn’t quite the same as the previous years, and I fear it may never be again, but it was very nice in a different sort of way. Big thanks also to CCP for providing the fansites with free tickets again this year, it does help in me being there and writing about all of this now.

Fanfest 2012 review – Part one

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:28:26 +0000

Since I still do not own a laptop, or an iPad which seems much more convenient for these types of things, I’m writing this all well after the events. I’ve been more sloppy in my note taking this year, so sorry if I forgot anything obvious. Also, I’m only writing this now, as I needed some downtime after returning home. It’s like one of those vacations after which you need another vacation because they were so intense. Loved every minute of it though, and want to go back right now. Only a year and less than a month to go!

Tuesday: Travel, settling in and kicking things off

Started off with a delayed departure, which left me little time to change flights in Copenhagen. I was supposed to meet Adrian Schultze there, but we only met up once in Keflavik airport. A friend of his, Damir Delon, was kind enough to give us and the other arrivals — Mashie Saldana and Eomar — a ride over to Room with a View, the apartment hotel where the ‘Veto blob’ traditionally stays at.

After settling in we went to the Kex hostel for food and drinks. Really nice place, love the atmosphere and the food is great as well. There was a live jazz band playing, but as it was just too loud and erratic, we settled for something a little more quiet and had a nice night of drinking and socializing at Islenski Barinn (my favourite!).

Wednesday: Lazy day, chilli and beer

Ouch, alcohol resistance has greatly suffered under the fact I don’t tend to drink — save the occasional glass of wine with food — unless I go out / am with friends, and that had been a while again. No real hangover, but slept in until past noon. After enjoying a few hours of doing nothing (read: reading on my Kindle) I decided it was a good day to go and stock up on groceries, so Eomar and me went shopping.

Having paid attention, I knew about the awesome that is Skyr, and decided this was going to be my breakfast for the rest of the week. Excellent idea. Seriously, if you have not yet tried it, do it next time you’re there, or consider splurging on export stuff (US and Scandinavia gets it). It’s a kind of yoghurt, with a different texture and taste, and I think it may just have overtaken Greek yoghurt for me. Too bad it’s not yet quite as popular that it is available where I live.

In retrospect, it is good that I decided to relax and catch up on sleep, because a busy schedule was ahead in the evening. We returned to Kex for a big chilli dinner, and after that attended the beer monologues, an entertaining and informative show about beer, which of course included sampling beers. Learned that Iceland has some really fine white beer (Einstök Ölgerð), which the host managed to tell us is something that originates from Belgium (whoo!). Right up my alley, this beer stuff.

Having done our cultural duty, we set off for the Celtic Cross to join in on the #tweetfleetmeet. Tweeps represent! It was packed again, though unlike last year, we didn’t drink the bar empty. At least I think we didn’t. The end is a bit blurry again. I do remember talking to some Goonfleet people, alas didn’t manage to get a squeeky bee again. However, I did hug the lovely CCP Punkturis. I think she even knew who I was. Mission succesful there. Noticed Diana Dial from EveTimeCodes around as well, though I didn’t properly say hello to her. Probably a lot of other people as well. May order a t-shirt for next year, in order to properly stand out.

Thurday: Fanfest day 1

Since things started later on in the day, and people needed whiskey, Jinx Denton drove us to a shopping mall, after which we went for hamburgers. The important things sorted — food and drink, that is — we set off to Harpa.

What an excellent location! It does really look like a station, except with too much glass to actually work out in space. The downside of the new venue being so new is that decoration was limited, from what I heard being due to Harpa not knowing how big this was going to be and thus not wanting to risk damage that decoration may leave to the property. Considering the theme was going to be Minmatar, I can imagine they wouldn’t be amused by fake rust everywhere.

The first presentation I attended was Crimewatch. Not just because CCP Masterplan had insisted on Veto — which by extension includes me — attendance the day before, but also because this stuff is really interesting to me. While I’ve been laying low on the piracy due to various reasons, any changes to this are a must-know in my book, not only for when shooting other people but because they form the very backbone of stability within the game. Turn it off and you will have complete anarchy within minutes, I’m sure. Very interesting to get an insight in the current workings, and after seeing what a mess it is, I am pretty amazed it just works and so well too. I like the simplified flagging system, buying sec status, simplified travelling rules (so no more need for -1.9 to go into Jita, just be above -5) and of course UI improvements. I suppose sec status to +10 through ‘anti-pirating’ is also worth mentioning, as this could lead to it becoming a proper playstyle.

Then I moved over to the Crucible Roundup. Since there is no recording of this, the specifics escape me (I probably did some tweets about it, but :effort: to dig those back up), but suffice to say it was indeed a great expansion that came at the right time, and that it is a trend they want to continue on with. Also, CCP Soundwave mentioned how he rage-implemented the corp bookmarks. Later on during Fanfest, he did get called out for that, as it can be seen as developer favouritism. I personally think it is a tale that might have better gone untold, but it sure is a handy feature to have.

Since another CCPer, GM Radiance to be precise, insisted on attendance, I made my way over to the Ladies with Laz0rs roundtable. Got to meet up with Sindel Pellion, who I know from the #tweetfleet, but didn’t manage to catch at the Celtic Cross the day before. Also was nice to see Matariki Rain there, who I know from roleplay and blogging, as well as Tsumei Meyren, CEO of GIRL. Everyone got a chance to introduce themselves and talk a little about what they do in the game, which was nice to see how very diverse it gets, and how both old players as well as very new ones were attending. The general oppinion was that ‘women on the internet’ is slowly but surely becoming more accepted, although some still had horror stories to share, and others admitted that they sometimes took advantage of the situation. It is EVE after all, so if people want to give you ISK for that, why not.

And then, the Dust 514 keynote! I can see myself sitting on the first row, which while a bit of a strain on the neck was the best spot to be seated at that time. Especially because of seeing this. Hate or love what CCP is doing, but the whole orbital bombardment is just way cool. For me, and possibly for many others, that was the time where it really dawned on me that barriers are being broken here. It is one thing to have something like EVE Gate or the API to use other devices to interact with EVE, but these are two distinct games sharing one world. I got goosebumps.

Excited by what we had seen, we went out for dinner, passing on the Alliance panel. With the whole ‘Mittanigate’ incident, kind of glad I weren’t there, although that really spun way more out of control than it should have gotten, but was correctly addressed by CCP in the end. Most of the guys went for whale and other seafood, but I joined the smaller group that opted for Kex instead. I know it is totally acceptable in Iceland, and I tried a small sampling last year, but I wanted something a bit less controversial (by my ethics) on my dinner plate.

As there were two more days to go, the evening was spent leisurely watching movies and enjoying the drinks we had bought. Whiskey for the guys, and gin & tonic for me, as even after trying the quality stuff it seems I just ain’t a whiskey person.

Breaking the silence and preparing for Fanfest

Myrhial Arkenath — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:38:01 +0000

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Yeah, I really dropped the ball as of late, although I’m more correct if I say several things made me drop the ball. I’ve had my share of computer problems, eventually resolved by buying a retired graphics card from a friend, which ended up replacing a card given to my by another friend to replace the initial card I had. At least each new card was an upgrade, so I have future-proofed my machine for a while again. Meanwhile my media account expired at the start of March, which I only noticed several days in. Suddenly two EVE accounts to fund, which is pretty rough if you can’t properly run the game. There has been a gaming backlog building up because not a great many things ran for very long before I crashed due to overheating. And then there are various real life issues that piled on top of that. Ugh!

As that goes with the main figure missing, things have been on the decline for both PRETA and PRELI. The latter has seen most of its directors step down due to time constraints or feeling the need to move on. The former, well, pretty much the same. Also, I feel my age is starting to show. In August, I will hit the five year mark, and most of that has been spent by being a CEO. I suppose I kinda burned myself out as well trying to run two corporations who both needed a lot of effort. I feel we did really well with PRETA, this last summer. Despite the state of the game we had some good months in Curse. With PRELI, we did really well the last few months. But as it goes, what goes up has to got to fall again. I’m not the only one stuck in a rut, I feel corp members are in the same kind of state. There have been some that have really tried to turn things around, but when you try to motivate people who don’t really want to be motivated you don’t really get anywhere.

So, where is this all going? Well, in a few days, I am leaving to the beautiful country of Iceland to attend Fanfest. This will be an excellent week of seeing people, being amongst the first to see all the new things that are in store for us, but also a week to clear my head and take some distance from everything in another environment.

I suspect, just like last year did, I will find inspiration again. But I’m also prepared for that to not happen again. I know that Fanfest is always that most critical time of the year, it’s like a push in the back that puts you back into speed and keeps you rolling along. And if that does’t happen, well, that is a clear sign that nothing else is likely to do it either. Hence, I have put off any decisions regarding my future in EVE, as well as the future of the corporations and alliance under my lead, until after I get back home. I’ve got some things left that I want to do, but without anything new I’m unsure how much time is left in that.

That is the beauty of EVE though, it’s such a massive game something is always left for you to do, and unlike other games there is not the block of having to, for example, level up a new class. Granted, more and more MMOs are offering class changes, knowing probably that someone who has played for many years and is tired of their class may not always want to restart from scratch. But in EVE, this is something that doesn’t need to cost a thing, especially for an older character like mine who has access to a lot of ships and skills, with an alt that covers the rest.

If I keep playing, I hope to maintain this blog. I’ve not participated in the last two blog banters, purely because the topics didn’t interest me. I haven’t tried the new NPE, and my CSM votes are mostly based on the vote matcher and who happened to capture my attention without spamming my evemail box. But that meant I had nothing else to write about for a month. I suppose some Fanfest posts are going to make up for that though! I also hope I can remain on the Blog Pack, at least for now, as I am one of the longest listed blogs on there now and I don’t really want to break my record streak just yet. However, should I just not play and write enough, I’m fine with being removed and simply take pride in how long I have kept at it.

So, that’s the state for things. I’ve not quit, and at worst I will become extremely casual or take a break, but I’m hoping Inferno will have some goodies that will keep me going. I have a few PLEX now that will get me through that, and I’m sure I can make more in that time. Or pay my subscription with cash again, as I did for Myrhial to get the account active again. I know I could have asked for some time to plug in a PLEX, but well, the only one I had left at that time I’ve donated to the office tour. Those children need the money more than I do, really. Plus, if I win, I get to rave at the devs about pirate stuff, how awesome would that be right?

Well, that’s it for now. Back to finishing up things that need to be done before I leave. To those who are also going, see you there, hope to meet some of you again this year! And to those not going, there is always the live stream.

Search and rescue, Angel style

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:31:41 +0000

I’ve been enjoying doing some legal agent work as of late, and I’d gotten an especially tempting offer from the Amarr Empire to go after a Nation trail running through their ranks. It’d involve a lot of combat versus Nation ships. Ah, if there is something I love, it’s turning them into scrap. So, I enlisted the help of Faber Demaunier, who’s always eager to salvage the battlefield after I’m done, and we went on our way.

Things went well, and as days proceeded, we were making good progress. We’d just ‘retrieved’ an important individual after dealing with the guards, and I was feeling fairly tired. So I hailed the crew and told them I was going to take a rest and so should they. Faber likewise took a rest, and good for her she did so outside of the battlefield. What happened while I was asleep — with all systems muted, because I was too tired to mute only selective communications and other interruptions — is that a backup wave of guards suddenly warped in on my location and opened fire.

Well crap. Not only do I awaken about half an hour later to see my camera drones showing a pod and I get to feel the awful pain in my brain coupled with the loss of a Tengu hull, there’s also this person on board who didn’t have access to the crew escape pods. It was also required for her to be dropped off alive in order to get paid and she’s vital to pursue this trail further. Luckily, a quick scan of the wreckage shows she’s in there somewhere and doing well enough. But I cannot get her out in a mere pod, and the guards will fire on anything bigger.

After informing the Ghosts presently awake about the ordeal, who quickly start to plan a SAR (search and rescue) operation, I decide to take my chance as they get over here and see if I can snatch the lady in a shuttle. Nice plan, but as soon as I slowed down the fragile craft literally evaporated around me. These guys were good with their beam lasers. Not good enough for plan B however.

Velarra asked where I had left the Basilisk previously used to support anti-incursion fleets with. Amarr, I responded, which was pretty near by. So with Nehebkau having his Machariel ready, and Velarra also being a star logistics pilot, we decided that what is good enough to survive the advanced technology of Nation incursions is probably good enough to fend off some overzealous bodyguards. Velarra ended up calling in a friend for aid, so we had a nice triangle formation going.

And we were right. The field was soon cleared and the captive recaptured. Deciding to waste no further time I flew her straight back in my Basilisk, while Faber recovered the remnants of my wreck together with the rest of the spoils.

As for the trail? That’s all been dealt with, as Jev North was kind enough to loan me a new Tengu she’d not be using for a while yet. Naturally, I’ve made arrangements to get her a replacement. While I had hoped to profit from this undertaking, at least the work paid off a good part of the loss, and I’ve learned that next time when there is no station to dock at, powering down at a safespot is not such a crazy idea even when operating in high security space.

To the rescue

Thoughts on Templar One

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:22:39 +0000

This post is going to assume you have read the book, and thus will contain spoilers. If you’re not done reading and don’t want spoilers, bookmark and come back later. For those not owning the book, there is an excellent quick summary in the first post of this thread.

Despite the great skepticism of the RP community, I decided to get the book so I could judge for myself, as I find the RP community often shoots things down because it simply doesn’t suit them and damned if you dare to think differently! Perhaps a bit exaggerated and certainly generalized, but mention Empyrean Age or Tony Gonzales and people start throwing a hissy fit. Granted, I had gripes with that book, but it’s not a bad book by itself. I see it as an author’s first attempt at writing a full novel in a well-established universe, and falling into certain plot traps.

What seemed to annoy people about EA is that the information provided did us no good, yet it has consequences. I think Templar One did better in that it provided more information for the day to day use. Yet, I don’t mind learning more about what goes on behind the scenes, even if it can’t be taken in character. Personally, I liked the insights provided on the Roden Shipyards – Serpentis relationship, as well as the inner workings of Mordu’s Legion. Also, more information on Ishukone, for whom I’ve always had a bit of a personal weakness. For faction loyalists, these are solid cornerstones, since while you can’t directly quote these facts they do give you a general outline of what the faction does, and thus what kind of storyline arcs you could come up with.

I’m pretty sure a great deal of Amarrian roleplayers are pissed off however at how their faction is portrayed, but frankly, I feel it had to be done. I do think it makes a lot of sense for Amarrians, in character, to be in denial or try to spin it. That’s what Amarrians do. But the OOC hate? Meh. It’s EVE Online, you can’t honestly believe your faction is the good guys. Maybe you play a good guy, and that’s your full right, but just like in the real world, there is corruption within all groups, and you will risk being judged for that. You’re just a facet of a faction, so where exactly is your right to say that “TonyG is ruining everything”. It’s not ruining it, it’s revealing a different take than was previously established or assumed. It doesn’t invalidate your take on it, or undo your work.

The whole Sleepers / Jove / Enheduanni / Architects thing is starting to make a lot more sense now. I know this is the focal point of a lot of hate, and it did indeed seem very much up and out there. Now however, it is starting to make more sense. It’s becoming more ingrained into everything. I think what a lot of people dislike is that it seems very much like fantasy and breaks with how the backstory once was very tangible and accessible. EVE was epic because of the shades of gray and the human conflict, and suddenly there’s this ‘alien’ stuff. Except it isn’t that alien, at all. Jove messed with their DNA, and the Sleepers with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and cryonics. But when you look back, they once were both very ‘human’, and I’ve always thought of them as the warning sign of what capsuleers and their technology could bring on. After all, history tends to repeat itself.

What I do miss is game changes based on the novel. Official news posts we could use as storyline hooks, maybe some missions too. There has been a player attempt, but that is hardly believable for other characters, especially since the news source is a sensationalist outlet. I hope we’ll see them closer to the DUST launch, but you can kinda expect as soon as a book is released that people will be all over it, as well have questions on what to do with all this new knowledge.

Unfortunately, I don’t have immediate access to my copy of Empyrean Age, and I did feel that the characters weren’t always sufficiently explained. I also feel that sometimes, a bit more information on who’s who again would have been nice. Granted, I read the book in several small chunks before bedtime, so a second read together with linked material like the Ruthless novella might be in order.

All in all, I had fun reading the book, and I now feel that DUST and EVE will make sense together.

Blog banter 32: The problem is in the middle

Myrhial Arkenath — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:08:11 +0000

This month’s Blog Banter comes from Drackarn of Sand, Cider and Spaceships. He has foolishly chosen to poke the hornet’s nest that is the non-consensual PvP debate. Whilst you read his question, I’ll be finding a safe place to hide.

“A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons’ Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships, there were calls for an “opt out of PvP” option.

Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?”

No. NO. ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY NO opting out of PvP or buffing CONCORD. But neither do I feel that we should move strongly into the other direction and take things away from highsec. Instead, I feel what we really need is improvements to the middle ground of lowsec and NPC nullsec.

First, some numbers, with thanks to CCP Diagoras who’s Twitter is an excellent source of statistics porn. Have a look at this sexy pie chart. That’s a lot of people living in highsec. But see how nullsec is second in that? Well, that to me confirms that people like safe space. Highsec is safest by mechanics, and nullsec by what players can do to secure it. I’m assuming that most of nullsec here is sov space, as there is way more of that, and that from personal experience the population numbers I see in NPC nullsec are kind of like lowsec.

Ok, so why do people like safe space? I thought we had this thing of risk versus reward. Indeed, we do, but there is something else to factor in. It’s called effort versus reward. Ever hear people talking about how they pulled a billion in a day out of a C5 wormhole? That seems like something everyone should be doing then, right, because it pays so much that it justifies the risk. Except lots and lots of people prefer to cling to what is often dismissed as safer alternatives. I don’t believe they’re being chosen only because they are safer. I feel that ease of doing them plays a part too.

Ok, so what makes something easy to do and why do players prefer that? Well, a lot of MMO players are in fact quite casual, either because they do not have a lot of time, or because they’re not around that long yet. So they’re not going to want to deal with the logistics of a C5 wormhole when they can get something nearly as good by pugging through incursions, or running missions. Neither are players going to prefer living in other areas of space which simply do not offer the tools to secure them properly. Hence, sov space is a natural option for someone who’s been around a while. Nullsec is the highest reward versus risk versus ease. You can very well get away with logging in a few hours a week and be a productive asset to an industrial group out there. I do believe this can also happen in wormhole space, and I suspect the population there will creep up, but afaik there are in the end more good sov systems than there are higher end wormhole systems.

Now, I am directly opposed to opt-out of PVP, because one thing should always remain true in EVE: Safest does not equal 100% guaranteed safety. If someone really wants, they can screw you over. Even if you are a pure highsec dweller that almost never undocks. You will have to move sometime. Or you will be running market or industry stuff, and market pvp is a very viable option. I can’t think of a scenario where you can not get back to a player, unless they enjoy paying for spinning their ship all day. I believe this lack of total safety is needed, and would change the game entirely if it were removed, because it would break the pvp sandbox. Right now if someone is an asshat, you can always make them pay for being one. It also forces players to have a certain level of ‘smarts’, else they for example get scammed, which in my opinion breeds a better experience for all. It’s like a “you have to be this tall” sign on a rollercoaster ride so everyone can have the wild experience they want, except in EVE, the sign is missing and you find out first hand what happens if you are not tall enough yet!

Highsec fundamentally is fine in my book. A safest area of space. A starting point. A place to go and rest. Or somewhere to do what you enjoy doing when you like the safest option. It’s much needed for many things in its current form and will always be needed. I also believe nullsec and w-space are fine, and are given ample attention. Actually, instead of talking what is fine, let’s talk about what isn’t fine: lowsec, and NPC nullsec.

When looking at that chart, one would think that the safety of space actually goes highsec > nullsec > lowsec > w-space. While the intended idea seems to be highsec > lowsec > nullsec > w-space. And that is how the game is balanced for in terms of rewards. But in terms of ease, well, the former seems almost true, and it has largely to do with the fact that lowsec neither gives players the tools to keep themselves safe, nor does it help you with safekeeping. There, I said it. But Myrhial, there are gate guns and sec status! Surely they- No, stop right there. Nobody pirating in lowsec really gives a damn. There are plenty of ways around what little NPC protection there is, and there are no ways to go around policing yourself. At least in NPC nullsec, you can put up bubbles and camp someone in perfectly. Where as lowsec station camps will always be subject to locking times.

So what do I propose? Either more mechanical safety in lowsec, or give players more tools. And since this is a sandbox, I’m biased towards the latter. Or we could have a mix of both. You see, lowsec systems still have sovereignty. So I’ve always found it curious there is no faction police defending it. Sure, CONCORD not being there because they are way smaller than the four Empires combined, totally making sense. The CONCORD penalty is too hard for lowsec. But faction police intervening when a lawful citizen is under attack? Would make perfect sense to me. Make them tankable. Heck maybe even go as far as if you are -5.00 with a faction, you can still go to their lowsec space, but you lose out on faction police support. And maybe make it so that if you attack someone in lowsec, you take a standing hit with the faction that owns it. As for giving players power in lowsec, faction standings could come into play here as well, give players all kinds of perks like I proposed for NPC nullsec (see link in next paragraph). Or do something like sov lite. NPCs keep sov but share it with a group claiming the system. I’m sure there are other, possibly even better ways of going about this.

As for NPC nullsec, I’ve written about this during the 30th banter, so I’ll leave that article to do the explaining. Again you can see here that I’d like for standings to matter more. Lots of people say they hate grinding for standings, but honestly, if they gave more rewards, I’m sure they’d be more appreciated and better maintained too. Also, a big step was already taken into the right direction by lowering mission requirements. Now all we need is better newbie program education on pirate standings and how they matter, as well as perhaps more things like the SoE arc, where shooting pirates does not give you standings hits to them. Or just other ways for newbies that want to be pirate supporters one day to survive and thrive without needing to resort to missions for easy ISK.

Still alive, and fighting the good fight

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:31:43 +0000

For those who keep an eye on the movements of large alliances, you may be well aware of what has taken place in and around Curse the last few months. What many do not know however, is what becomes of the smaller local groups when things temporarily heat up. In this case, we were luckily. Instead of staying and dealing with it, we were able to strike two targets with one bullet. Stay alive through it all, and come out richer and more experienced.

I’m sure you are wondering how we pulled that off now. Well, it is quite simple. For months on end, the Nation has been doing strategic invasions in several locations at once. While no accurate algorithm predicts where exactly they will strike next, the incursions always include several Empire constellations. While fighting back these incursions has never been a top priority for the Cartel, keeping them at bay is obviously preferred. If not because nobody would like to see them actually succeed in their seemingly endless effort, then because of the proximity of Nation ‘homeland’ to Curse. While there is no evidence Curse is a desired target — else the Cartel would probably care a great deal more! — it is still close by and could become one as Nation gains a bigger foothold.

Thus, here we are, in Empire space. I can tell you, it took some time adjusting. It’s so crowded! And this false sense of security. Not to mention CONCORD everywhere. Nothing is sweeter than the irony of being paid by them to fight back the Nation. As if shooting those creeps wasn’t a reward in itself yet. Still, I won’t lie, my wallet can do with some padding now that providing the market of New Eden with Dramiels is temporarily out of the question.

This has also given me the opportunity to tie up many lose ends. Cashing in on Loyalty Points was especially sweet with the review of hybrid weaponry, causing the price of its ammo to spike. Not to mention Caldari hulls are now more than ever a solid choice to take into combat. Hah, I’m going to have trouble choosing between my options at this rate.

I’ve also visited research I started up months ago, netting me with a hangar full of datacores. Not the ‘ISK printer’ it once was, but still a nice boost to liquidity, or personal stock, depending on if you have a use for them.

And then there is mission work. When I left Empire space behind to first join Ghost Festival, things were a whole lot different. And having connections is useful, you never know when you end up needing them. Although the payouts for incursions, not to mention being used to the payouts in Curse, make the rewards seem a whole lot slimmer. I wonder what Empire agents make of that. Will the corporations consider paying out more? And how will that affect ‘pirate’ missions? Will even more be paid to keep that competitive edge? Time will show, I suppose. Unless CONCORD runs out of ISK first. But for once, we hope that they don’t.

Before I sign off, I just wanted to make record of the New Years dinner we had at The Skyhook. Alliance and friends only, but we had some others join us for the afterparty. Or so I’ve been told. I quietly slipped out as I had other matters to attend to. Still, we all had a great time, and it’s gotten me thinking about having a public event at The Skyhook again. It’s been entirely too long since we had another party, and despite how we don’t really advertise the place, there are visitors a plenty. Got to do something with all that. Stay tuned, and ideas are always welcome in my evemail inbox.

Blog Banter 31: One does not simply review EVE, but can certainly make a decent try

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:26:16 +0000

Welcome to the thirty-first EVE Blog Banter, a community conversation between anyone and everyone with an interest in discussing EVE Online. For more information on how this works, check out this link.

“As any games journalist would probably tell you, a true and complete review of a Massively Multiplayer Online game is impossible. MMOs are vast, forever evolving entities with too much content for a single reviewer to produce a fair and accurate review. However, a collection of dedicated bloggers and EVE players (past and present) with a wide range of experience in various aspects of the game might be able to pull it off.

This special ‘End of Year’ Blog Banter edition aims to be a crowd-sourced game review. Using your gaming knowledge and experience, join the community in writing a fair and qualified review of EVE Online: Crucible. This can be presented in any manner of your choosing, but will ideally include some kind of scoring system.

With each Blog Banter participant reviewing the areas of EVE Online in which they specialise, the result should be a Metacritic-esque and accurate review by the people who know best.”

Before we start the actual review, I’d like to mention that I was recently interviewed by a friend (link is in Dutch) for an assignment about internet journalism. Since I’m a blogger who’s been at it for several years, and generate a nice bit of traffic for something quite niche, I was more than happy to answer some questions. The very first question is “What is EVE Online all about?”. As I tweeted while writing my response, one does not simply describe EVE, because it’s massive even for an MMORPG. Unlike the general and as close as possible to neutral introduction given in the interview, here I will try to captivate EVE as close to my experience as possible.

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EVE Online is one of two MMORPGs that for me became a life style. Unlike the other game, World of Warcraft, which I played in a competitive fashion and where I engaged in large timesinks such as raiding and the collecting of achievements, it was the social aspect that gripped me and pulled me in. Not to say that World of Warcraft did not have this, as the last guild I was part of has many out-of-game meetups and landed me friends who continue to care even though I’ve long gone. It’s more that this is an integrated part of the gameplay for me when it comes to EVE. From the things I do ingame, as a CEO, alliance executor and Angel Cartel loyalist to using Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well as writing this blog for an enhanced social and community experience. And then there is, on top of that, attending Fanfest as well as other player meetups which takes the game right into meatspace.

You see, EVE Online is a “sandbox” MMORPG, where as World of Warcraft as well as the majority of others are “theme park” MMORPGs. The latter means there is a mostly-set leveling path, with areas for each level bracket, quests that lead to more quests so you can quest for quests, and a tier system of equipment. You’re constantly fed with objectives that yield rewards, which are then used to get other rewards and so on. EVE however only has this in very limited quantities, and most of it is optional in one way or another. Don’t feel like doing missions? Well, there’s a ton of other ways to get rich, which draw on a variety of skills and go beyond the scope of what the game offers. You like mining asteroids? You can do just that. You’d rather use your skill as an artist? Well, some do just that and are well loved by the community for it.

The concept of leveling is done away with as well, and while you might not shine from day one, there are those who have challenged this concept and scored great results. Time put into the game is also not required for success, as skills you select will train while you’re logged out. Within days (or even less), you can be a tackler for a fleet, pinning down targets while they’re getting shot down. Also within days, you can be a trader, a salvager, start your first missions or become rich by tricking a careless player with a clever scam.

Scamming, I say? That’s right, EVE Online offers a lot more freedom into what you can and can’t do within the rules of the game, which is a make or break for many players. While some argue it promotes what is called griefing in other games, and that we must all be a big bunch of sad jerks who thrive on the misery of others, actually those scenarios are really a minority. While there is always a risk, and EVE at its core is all about the risk versus the reward, clever players can protect themselves. Not putting all your eggs in one basket, checking that contract really does offer a faction ship and not just a regular hull, not making yourself a target by openly linking your various billions worth ship fitting, doing a background check on who you let in your corporation ect. Some of you may feel this is a drag, that it makes play into work, and then indeed EVE may not be the game for you. But others are thrill seekers, or enjoy that risky things bring such large rewards they are unheard of in all of MMORPG history up until now. And then I don’t just mean some of the record scams, but also iconic players like Chribba, who’s services to the community are living proof that being a good guy in a universe ruled by the shades of grey is very well possible. And then not just by roleplaying a white knight.

Ah yes, roleplay, we’ve got that covered too. There’s a large variety of channels, player-run forums, an official forum section, and the brand new and totally shiny fiction portal which is part of the EVElopedia overhaul (yep, we’re even covered on having a wiki). There’s a few books, and of course the live events, where some players — including me — were recently welcomed into the ranks of those digitalized into prime fiction. And then there’s players shaping the game beyond what could be foreseen, such as the Jita riots leaving a permanent mark with the monument being replaced by a destroyed model.

So is it all sunshine and rainbows? There are features that need to be iterated on desperately, and there are interfaces which are still horrible. And sooner or later, despite all the many things you can do, you can reach the point where the game holds little to nothing new. It’s also a game that has less staff and less funds than some of the large titles out there, which comes with it’s own unique drawbacks. Overconfidence as well as a bursting economic bubble meant that broadening the game from just internet spaceships to dressup dolls online resulted into have to reduce what bases were covered. It happens. It’s a business like any other and sometimes wrong calls are made. But for what it is worth, EVE has proven to be surprisingly resilient thanks to the many people who were, and those who continue to be, so driven to make this game a winner.

To end on a positive note, one amazingly cool feature, and I forgot this in the interview I did, is that EVE is single sharded. There’s no servers per region, or multiple servers to pick from while you have friends scattered all across them. Just one server, with zones of increasing lawlessness, and that’s it. Sometimes, this isn’t so nice, because if the server goes down, well, it’s not like you can hop to your alt on the other server. It also creates unique challenges for lag. But this is something that the developers embrace and strive to perfect, with massive leaps being made where other MMORPGs can draw lessons from.

In short, EVE Online is a pretty amazing and unique game with its own quirks and challenges. It’s got something for nearly everybody, and if it doesn’t, well who knows, maybe at some point it will. You’ll never know if you never try.

Assuming Direct Control – Thoughts on how to improve the EVE UI [Guest post]

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:43:00 +0000

I’m pleased to introduce the first ever guest post on my blog, and I hope it may spark those of you who have a great idea, but don’t want to set up a blog just for it, to consider doing them as a guest post as well. Though any kind of topic goes, as long as it makes for an interesting read. If you enjoyed reading this, consider subscribing to his recently founded blog The Goblin’s Cave. Feedback to this guest post is especially welcome. Now without further ado, here’s Northern Goblin‘s (ingame Caellach Marellus) post about ideas on how to improve EVE’s user interface.

Hi, I’m Northern Goblin. My first experience with video games came when I was three, sat on my older brother’s knee playing “Oh Mummy” on his ZX Spectrum, and I’ve been a gamer ever since. I’ve started playing EVE back in July 2009 on my main character, Caellach Marellus (picking up an alt or two along the way). After trying out different aspects of the game I’ve found myself leaning strongly towards the Carebear side, whether that’s farming L4 Missions, doing W-Space Exploration or mining on my Hulk alt. Outside of EVE I enjoy playing various genres of games, I won’t go into listing details but they all share a similarity, as soon as I start playing any game I customise the UI looks and control system as much as the game allows me, till I’ve a setup that best suits me. While EVE’s UI allows me to do what I need to, at times the interaction can be cumbersome, or the amount of screen space required to run an effective UI excessive.

I’ve spoken several times with Myrhial on this subject to the point where she twisted my arm (Myrhial: Lies and slander!) and said that I should write a guest blog about it. After initially saying yes, I ummed and ahh’d a little more when CCP Punkturis said on Twitter that if I wrote it she’d read it. A member of CCP’s UI team promises to read my first guest post, on a subject that she spends every day working with? No pressure there >.>

However, this is a subject of great personal interest, so I handled my nerves with a big cup of Chamomile tea and got to writing, enjoy!

Disclaimer

I would like to say at this point that if anyone from CCP does read this, I hope this article doesn’t come across as too critical or harsh of something you personally feel may be a great feature and works perfectly. There are lots of great things about the EVE UI (especially after Crucible where many changes have come in and enhanced the gaming experience) and this post is merely one person’s thoughts on how to further improve them.

I suppose I should say for those who read this and wonder by the end of it “How come he never mentioned x? That totally needs fixing!” Chances are I haven’t been involved as much in that side of gaming to really pay any attention or notice it. However while these suggestions have their roots in one carebear’s gaming, many will hopefully be of interest to people who play other aspects of EVE.

What is a UI?

User Interfaces (or UI’s) have become a key part in modern day gaming, the level of interaction and control that the system gives the player has become as important as elements such as graphics and NPC Artificial Intelligence (or AI). A game with great graphics, storyline and AI can be ruined by a terrible and/or clunky interface, which the user finds overly frustrating and/or completely non rewarding.

It’s also a constantly changing and evolving element, that developers seek to improve on with every subsequent title release, or in MMO’s as future content patches are released. A personal example would to compare the UI in the classic RTS Dune 2 and compare it to the remake Dune 2000, and then compare that to a modern RTS such as Starcraft 2. Many elements improve, allowing for better control of buildings, units, the camera and other command abilities. However there is always one important constant, the interaction is still simple to learn and understand for the first time gamer. In the later games in the comparison however, for more advanced players, the UI accommodates for more manual control style gameplay.

Some games have the option to mod the UI, allowing players to change (to various degrees on game to game) not only what the UI can allow them to do, but also what it displays, how it displays it, and even the UI artwork in general. This leads to whole sub communities within a game dedicated to creating custom UI programs allowing players more choice. This is one of the things I wish CCP would do, allow giving players the chance to create custom UIs. However I can see their reasons for deciding against it, putting aside the insane amount of time and resources this would require (which can be spent far better on doing many other things to improve the game) not every game is coded to support custom modification, also it can also lead to loopholes where programs are created that go against the ToU which ruins the gameplay of others.

Freeing up space … in Space.

First point I’d like to make is that the UI in general covers far too much of the game screen. This is more of a problem on smaller screens and laptops, but still somewhat of a gripe with bigger monitors. The biggest criminals to this I feel are the chat windows, Directional Scanner and Overview. Admittedly the UI scaling option that’s come into Crucible (huge thanks for that by the way <3) has resolved this to some degree, but there are other things that can clear up screen space to see the game (which is a huge must do, now that space is 20% cooler!).

Seperate the directional scanner from the rest of the scanning UI

The D-Scanner is pretty much useful to everyone, in null and lowsec it’s an essential tool. In highsec it’s a notification that you’re going to have a ninja salvager or loot thief drop into your mission (or if you fly shiny stuff, gank fleets) or if you see a Destroyer fleet on scan, it’s time to align that Hulk out of the belt.

The scanning UI however is larger than the D-Scan requires it to be (Range/Degree and a Scan button can be fit into something the width of the minimal settings for the Overview or Cargo Hold). Separating it and allowing it to be shrunk further than the current scanning window allows it to fit better in the overall UI.

The Overview needs a sidescroll as well as a vertical scroll

Unless you have the Overview go 1/3rd of the way into your screen it’s not possible for some players to have all the information available that they require, unless you crush it into a small unreadable mush which serves little purpose. Personally when I’m gaming I want as much necessary information available to me at any one time, yet as it stands the Overview is so stretched out that it covers half the buttons on my ship modules when I fly my Noctis. (Which then means placing modules on the second bar, which then means it’s no longer a cycle of F1 to F8 unless I reconfigure my general UI every time I swap ships, which really isn’t viable.)

A simple option to cycle through various information tabs (and allowing the player to choose them and the order of appearance) would be a step in reining in the size of the Overview.

Also on a related note, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t pair the Overview with the selected target interface bar, if there are people who don’t I apologise and your the first I know of. I would like to see an option to condense this into the Overview tab, with simply the target’s name and the command buttons on a single line. Removing the graphic and border space would free up more space for a longer Overview without taking up space for other things.

Furthermore, this option could extend to the following other UI’s. Fleet watch, Drones and Cargo Bay (and the D-Scanner if you do separate the two) Removing the borders creates more window space for text and information.

The chat UI is clunky and has been for the longest time

I’m lucky to only have ten or so channels over two tabs. I’ve had several thoughts here but the concept I liked the most is being able to have a set of pre-defined chat groups that you can customise dependent on situation. All channels that aren’t in that group are hidden completely, however each channel can have a set of customised notification keywords (such as your character name or nickname) and should they flash up in a channel a red light on the chat’s top bar lights up, clicking it pops the channel which triggered the notification up. So if you’re docked up somewhere and RPing and a channel you’ve hidden suddenly requires your immediate attention, you’ll know about it.

Keybinding (Also known as push button, recieve bacon)

I’m keybind obsessive, and most of my early PvE experience in EVE was flying Drone Ships. These two things do not go together well, so I’d like to propose the following changes:

The option to keybind the launching of specific Drone groups (further more on this point. Right clicking the “Drones in Dronebay” bar should give you a list of Drone groups as well as the generic “Launch Drones” command)
A keybind option to set Mining Drones to mine repeatedly the current target Asteroid. Not sure why this one doesn’t already exist, and my Hulk alt would love you for it.
Keybinds to recall individual Drones, their number going in the order they’re displayed in the “Drones in Space” UI. When a single Drone is being shot having to fiddle with the right click dropdown menus is annoying, recalling all Drones is even worse, especially when they’re Heavy Drones.

General Quality of Life suggestions

A few QoL improvements I’d really love to see:

The option to link things in Secured Containers from the Personal Assets UI. The number of times I’ve wanted to link people RP related items that I keep in a Container just to keep my Homebase Station Hangar clean and can’t because I’m not in that Station is frustrating.
Overheating needs to be visibly clearer, as does the amount of damage currently taken by each module. The Green light and Red ring are both on the squinty side when trying to see, especially on smaller monitors.
I’d like alternative layout choices for the ship HUD (HP and Velocity), preferably with horizontal bars, offering larger text within the bar itself, displaying the Shield/Armour/Structure current/total amounts and the current HP in %. There are various HUD’s used for showing “health” amounts and other similar factors in various genres of gaming, I encourage CCP to try experimenting with them as the current HUD personally feels both small and ugly.
Previewing Ship Information (such as inspecting a ship in space or on the Market) should offer you the choice of the default specs of a hull, and in brackets the specifications with the skills you’ve learned (Cap size, HP amounts, Velocity etc.)
The LP store to save specific filters for next time you visit. I’m not sure if it’s already intended to do this as it loads a “preset” setting when I next open it, but it certainly doesn’t seem to work. Personally I use a lot of Faction Ammo, I buy or make the T1 and convert from the LP store. Having to open the ammo filter every time to save scrolling through skillbooks and implants gets tedious.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, feedback and opinions are welcome, as well as suggestions of your own from your own gaming experience.

And lastly a big thank you to Myrhial for letting me take up some of her webspace, and motivating me into writing this in the first place.

Northern Goblin.

Visit to Arek’Jaalan Site One: Antiquus

Myrhial Arkenath — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:01:36 +0000

For those of you who cannot make it here in person, or who’d like a look before making the trip, I’ve documented my visit to Arek’Jaalan Site One: Antiquus in Eram with a series of camera drone captures.

Welcome message upon warping to the site.

The main station and residences, with the archives and research offices in the background.

A closer look at the research offices.

The residential area.

Doing things I'm not allowed to do, as usual.

The collection of documents obtained at Site One.

My name on the contributors listing, now forever a part of New Eden's history.

Message from EON Magazine: Thanksgiving & Black Friday sale

Myrhial Arkenath — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:50:22 +0000

Here’s a little something from EON that my readers may want to take advantage of:

Our friends at EON have a Massive 50% off Blowout Sale to celebrate Thanksgiving & Black Friday.

They’ve cut the price of EVERYTHING!

So you can buy an EON subscription at HALF PRICE, an EVE Survival Pack at HALF PRICE or a full Poster Bundle at HALF PRICE. You can even buy the complete collection of every copy of EON ever produced for HALF PRICE (they were already at half price for the bundle deal, so that makes them all a gargantuan 75% off if you buy the Complete Collection).
Yep, that’s right – everything from EON is half price. They’ve never done a deal this good before…

You must apply Coupon Code EONBF50 at checkout to get the discount. Oh, and the deal won’t last long apparently, so you’d best be quick if you want to bag a bargain.

Click here to go straight to the store – http://store.eveonline.com/EON-Magazine-C7.aspx

Blog Banter 30: NPC nullsec non-Dev Blog

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:22:35 +0000

This month’s Banter lets us play Dev-for-a-day, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t have ideas for EVE? My idea wouldn’t be a new one, but rather, I’d start on implementing my favorite part of the 0.0 design goals, namely those for NPC space.

“With the Winter expansion possibly being named ‘Crucible’, it certainly is a melting pot of refinements and tweaks aimed at making the EVE experience smoother and more wholesome. If the developers suddenly found themselves some spare resources and approached you for an additional feature to include before release, what single concept would you pitch them and how would you implement it?

For bonus points, the one thing lacking from this “patchwork” of iterations is a cohesive storyline to package “The Crucible” together. How could this expansion be marketed to potential new customers?”

As it doesn’t state how much room there is for an additional feature, I’ll take this in the broadest sense possible. While I do have experience with project management through my real life career, I’ve never seen a line of EVE code, so if a dev reads this and faints, I’m very sorry to overestimate what you can do. Consider it a compliment as my faith in your implementation skills is that strong! Likely though, this is food for several expansions.

The most basic thing, and I’ve submitted this for the “little things” thread (#littlethings hashtag on Twitter) would be that I’d like to see pirate NPC standings matter (“Owners should matter” from the design goals). This has so far always been the case for Empire factions, and was implemented into Factional Warfare as well, yet sadly does not hold true for the rats we face in missions, belts, anomalies, complexes, and on gates. As I’ve been told the framework is in place, I’m assuming unless there is legacy code involved, that this isn’t that hard to implement. Person has x standing with faction? Rat doesn’t engage unless fired upon. Simple.

What this enables is that people living in NPC nullsec and actively dedicating time to getting their standings fixed — as they are so often ruined from highsec missioning, which is something the majority of starting players will one way or another engage in — have an edge against those living in the region purely to run complex after complex and run their standings into the ground. To give an example, dedicated Curse inhabitants would be able to go into a complex, not get rat aggro, and have a much easier time to take down the capsuleer that is running said complex. This would, to a certain extent, discourage alliances who are using the region as a staging point from messing with the locals. From my experience, these big alliances know they could easily take down the usually smaller NPC nullsec dwelling groups, so making it a challenge on them is justified. It’s not quite an equal to reinforcing your system in sov space, but it’s a start. And, as a major bonus point, it implements roleplay without being intrusive or grating on those who don’t really enjoy the ‘R’ in ‘MMORPG’.

Building upon this, I’d expand the benefits that come with standings (“Local connections yield benefits” from the design goals). Some things already get cheaper, such as tax on refining. But there is loads of room for expansion here. How about less rent for an office, so that rent metagaming — making offices so expensive to rent your enemy will be forced to drop theirs — becomes less of a risk. Or how about cheaper repairs? Perhaps cheaper clones? One thing is though, if NPC nullsec gets this, I feel it would only be fair that this is implemented across the board.

One thing that is not in the design goals, but which could easily be a feature, would be that enemy rats would show up in belts, anomalies and complexes. We have this with rogue drones already, but I find it strange there is never a single Sansha to be seen in Curse, despite Catch being right next door. Now the Cartel is pretty awesome but if Kuvakei can drop his forces left and right in Empire space, I don’t think a few Sansha anomalies and complexes would be so strange. This would come with the added bonus that NPC nullsec dwellers suddenly have more choice than to run missions, which could be a huge draw for players. Sometimes we only have a little time available a day, or players are too young to be running level 4 missions, and they already fly small ships due flying a solo Battleship — because STRACS are a rather large investment — through nullsec being a generally bad idea. Expanding that, Empire rats could also be added, for those of us who really like tags and nuking their Empire standings into oblivion. But it gets a bit harder to make that really attractive unless they do not give standings penalties, or alternatively raise pirate faction standings with the faction controlling the region.

The rest of the design goals are too large to be just features, yet of course I’d love to see them as well. “Collective admin” could be tied in with letting corporations and alliances declare themselves officially loyal to an NPC faction. Just like Factional Warfare. And that then can be combined with letting alliances as a whole into that. Unlike Factional Warfare however, sovereignty of systems shouldn’t be able to be contested, although doing such may lead to finally seeing a form of pirate-FW. But it would likely clash with the “Safeish haven” and “Targeted” design goals. There are lots of options available here though, and I really hope that in the future pirate factions will be elevated to the same level of seriousness as the Empire factions are. And maybe make more of the other little factions matters too.

A last and entirely new idea, which would fit the “Safeish haven” and “Targeted” design goals, is to make NPC nullsec a hybrid highsec / nullsec, where engaging a pirate faction loyalist results in NPC support arriving on the field. This is a bold and absolute overhaul and is likely to send some people into a screaming fit of rage, but it would be sort of neat. It would, of course, only happen when being in that faction’s home region. But imagine how it would change the landscape. It would need a lot of balancing though, because it made be too little risk and too much reward. But with the added logistics that nullsec brings and the fact that it still functions as nullsec — thus, no CONCORD, only pirate faction police forces — it could create a truly new type of space. And this is something that EVE has not seen for ages.

For bonus points, I’d like to think of Crucible as a Neocom software update. It fits why space suddenly looks a whole lot better, why we have a new font, and even why there is time dilation. Expanding upon that, I can see the various NPC corporations in EVE using this wonderful advancement in technology to release new ships, advances in POS fuel technology, additional modules, due the old Neocom just not making them possible. As for better looking ships, well, their design teams were just twiddling their thumbs and needed to be put to work.

This storyline could be specifically used for new players by marketing it in the way that EVE is sprinting to catch up and overtake other MMO’s. See WoW which slowly is upgrading it graphics, but has yet to see an 100% overhaul of the initial looks. Fairly sure EVE is close to 100% when looking at the first final release. And since this expansion is about listening to the player base, it could also stress that bit. Because — forgetting the faults made in the past here — I’ve never been part of another MMO where players had this much impact. And EVE went way beyond the usual with changing the Jita monument. That’s not just listening, that’s honoring your players, which is why lots of us love EVE and even started to play it, and this would be a great trend to continue building upon.

EVE bloggers guide to social media

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:03:55 +0000

As a follow-up to the Bloggers guide to EVE-related sponsored ads, here’s another guide for those wishing to get the best out of and for their blog. In this one, I will elaborate on the various social media networks that EVE players seem to most commonly use, and how you can use them to connect with your readers and gain additional exposure.

Twitter

This is something that anyone can engage in, and I’d really recommend it. The Tweetfleet is a chatty bunch, and several EVE / DUST devs are on there too. We are furthermore joined by well-known faces such as Chribba, and CSM members like The Mittani, Whitetree and Trebor. Great place to stay in contact with the former EVE employees too.

Twitter is really quite easy to use. You can directly reply to people, or mention them in your tweets by putting @username in them. Hashtags are used to create search lists on topics. In addition to #tweetfleet and #eveonline, there are situational ones like the current #littlethings for suggestions on how Team BFF can improve our collective quality of life once more. These hashtags are not set in stone, so you can make up your own for personal us. They are also sometimes used it jest, or to express emotions.

For bloggers that use WordPress, I recommend using Twitter Tools to tweet upon posting. It’s got more features, but I use it only for that. Pro-tip: Enable the optional module to include hashtags. Other software may have plugins too. Worst case you can stick it on Twitter manually.

To get the best Twitter experience, I’ve found that the default interface is sometimes a bit too limited. I’m using Tweetdeck on PC & Android. Other OS / browsers / phones have tools as well, and Windows has several more alternatives to this.

Facebook

With the pages feature, you can make a page for your blog without cluttering up your friend list. You will need an existing user account to create one, however you can totally bolt down the security of it. I’d discourage the creation of fictional profiles as this is technically breaking the Terms of Service. If this is enforced is unclear. It is possibly a grey zone as long as you don’t engage in spam or friend farming. But even those seem to require being reported before they get banned. Still, you are warned, I am not responsible if you get blocked.

With a tool like RSS graffiti, you can pull your posts from RSS. I’ve found this one a bit annoying to set up, but it works like a charm, and is used by a lot of big sites.

Other than that, your readers can like your blog, share your content easily, recommend it to friends, and you can use Facebook as your page and have additional status updates. Handy to inform people of that new blog skin or ask if anyone has suggestions and feedback.

Google+

A worthy addition or alternative — depending on personal taste — to your social networks and a currently seemingly favorite of the Tweetfleet / EVE as a whole. In some ways superior than Facebook, yet in other ways a little behind. [For those really wishing to know, my biggest gripe is that you cannot change who can see what you shared unless you delete and repost it, while ironically Facebook -- who pretty much copied the circles interface -- do allow this.] The nice thing about Google+ is that it allows fictional profiles. Possibly because they realized it is a drag to enforce, and anyone can be a fake profile on the internet anyway. Possibly why this is being adopted so well by the EVE community on there.

Recently, this network got pages as well, which integrate really well. There is, sadly, no way yet that I know of to do RSS pulls to them, so you will have to manually post it. I assume it is only a matter of time before we get this though. If anyone knows any current automation tricks, leave a comment, please.

One thing where Twitter and Google+ cross over is that it has hashtags. And, you guessed it, #tweetfleet and #eveonline are on there. You can save them as searches and interact through them if you don’t want to add people to circles. To promote your page and your blog, remember to include these when linking your blog posts.

Not 100% social media, but worth mentioning anyhow. I’ve only recently taken to this, out of a fear for the trolls / internet tough guys. I was pleasantly surprised at how it’s surprisingly constructive and positive. I’m staying well within the EVE sub-reddit however, so your mileage may vary if you venture beyond.

Being a place to share interesting links, I’d recommend bloggers to share the best of their posts here. General EVE guides, for example. Not everyone may appreciate that you post every last blog post to there, even if you think your latest roam report it really interesting. And while there are moderators on patrol, people can still downvote you all they like.

It is probably also nice that you do more than just push content on there. While Twitter may be forgiving of that, and Reddit does not explicitly forbid it, it’s generally frowned upon in communities because users are forced to ignore you if you are perceived as over-posting. Besides, it’s really just as simple as voting on the shared things, and voice some comments if you feel particularly inclined to speak up. Social media, after all, is about connecting.

SiSi preview: New nebulae

Myrhial Arkenath — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:44:34 +0000

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is an entire gallery to feast your eyes upon. I’ve made a nice tour from Curse to Great Wildlands, Molden Heath, Etherium Reach, The Forge, Metropolis, Heimatar, Derelik and back into Curse. It’s pretty hard to tell which regions you are looking at, so I’ll abstain from that until someone gets their cartography on.

I’ve also snuck in a picture of the new Crow paintjob at the end, because the new KK paint is possibly the most awesome thing ever. In fact, all the Caldari paints are, even T1 looks kickass with the logos now. Together with the hybrid changes, that makes me very happy!

Bloggers guide to EVE-related sponsored ads

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:46:51 +0000

I’ve decided to write this guide as I’ve been expanding the sponsor section of the blog. With sponsored ads I mean any kinds of ads that give you something (game time, money, ect.) for either displaying them, or when a sale is made through them. I’ll expand upon the various EVE-related options, their gains, and their requirements. Note that this is about sponsored ads, so advertising your corp or alliance, or the blog pack, or products of bloggers like Roc’s latest CD, all fall outside of the scope of this guide.

I’ll warn you in advance that you should not expect these ads to pay you enough that you can quit your day job. However, depending on the size of your blog, earning a PLEX per month is possible. For me it takes several months to get that high, but the big blogs out there certainly could get it done.

Another advantage of having these is that you can ask your readers / friends / corp and alliance members to use the ads to make their purchases, earning you a little in the process. That said, if you enjoyed this guide and need time codes, EON Magazine, or a new trial account, feel free to use the sidebar ads!

For those of you having doubts about ads, if you don’t like them, simply don’t do them. All but the last method listed here are direct endorsements though, either for a product or a service, which is far from the evil methods that some bloggers sadly fall for. They should also, except for the last, not be included per default in ad blockers.

EVE Online affiliate program

The EVE Online Affiliate program offers a variety of graphical and flash banners as well as text links that advertise EVE trial accounts. For each trial account that converts into a full account, you receive $10, once you have 100 conversions your payout rises to $15 and at 200 you get the max payout of $20 per converted account from there on. Payout happens through Paypal or by check. While most of your readers will probably already have an account, they may very well want a second one, but that means their friends have to have buddy invites left. Also, don’t underestimate the number of interested people who look at blogs to see if EVE may be something for them. New players are the lifeblood of the game, so if you want to directly support EVE — considering that you are a blogger, you probably will — this is a great option to do so.

EON Magazine

There is no explicit mention of this on their website except a post some months ago. Not sure about the reason for this, ~~but I do know that this deal is still running~~ and it is possible this is no longer a valid option. This was the first sponsored ad I’ve ever displayed, and probably the more guaranteed and generous deal you will find. For simply displaying one of their banners, and from time to time relaying some news related to EON, you get a free subscription to the maganize. If you’re looking to save a bit of money each month but don’t want to give up on all your goodies, this is the option for you. Perfect win-win deal.

Shattered Crystal

Shattered Crystal is one of the two GTC resellers I advertise for, although they also sell some other EVE products like a 30 day starter pack and the commissioned officer edition (new account + Cerebral Accelerator implant). If you’re thinking of advertising for them as well, please use this link, as I will get some love for referring you to them. Payouts are 5% of the sold product, and are paid through Paypal, check or affiliate credits. There is also the option to list your blog, corporation, alliance or other relevant groups so that people without your banner link can still choose to support you when they make a purchase if they select you from the list of options.

EVETimeCode.com

The second GTC reseller I advertise for, who specialize in just this product. They are also very involved in the EVE community. They use an existing affiliate program called shareasale.com (sponsored link), and also offer 5% of the sold product. Payment goes through check or direct deposit (if available in your country).

Google AdSense

I’ve no first-hand experience with this as you need a landline to confirm your account, and I don’t have that anymore. Worth a mention however as with this guide you can block out a ton of ISK sellers and bots right from the start. It’s less direct control, but you can block and allow as you see fit. No idea on the payouts but I know for methods you can choose paypal and check, and possibly others too. The biggest disadvantage of this is that it tends to be standard included in adblockers, so if users run those they will not see and be able to click on them.

Know any other options that were not listed yet? Please leave a comment and they’ll be added if deemed relevant.

Dev blog discussion: Player-owned customs office

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:35:39 +0000

~~Time for the daring effort of reviewing information a day after it is released, rather than wait and see~~. Now that the game is still running despite the layoffs, time to finally write out this PI dev blog review. The blog addresses an overhaul of planetary interaction, in particular making it a lot more player-controlled. To talk about this subject, I am going to split it up into two main pieces, the aspect of taxation and letting corporations run them as services, and then the aspect of building and destroying customs offices. Lastly I’ll touch on the interface changes which are a bit overshadowed by the big changes, but more than welcome for anyone who’s run PI for a while!

Taxation and corporate control

When taken on its own, I really like the idea that corporations get to own certain planets and be the boss of them. It creates business opportunities — renting rights, perks to share with allies, ect. — and puts the sandbox in our hands. It also immersion-wise shows that capsuleers really don’t care that much — generalization, results may vary — about baseliners (= non-capsuleers aka “humans”). It also matures PI from a simple game within the game to the seriousness of moon mining.

Player-owned customs offices

This is the bit where I start to frown, despite trying my best to not be a bitter vet who assumes the worst. I’m not opposed to changes, as you can tell from the last paragraph, but I also know — partially first-hand, partially from sources that dabble in it — what a gigantic headache moon mining is. Not to mention POS maintenance. And of course also being on the other hand of the chain and shooting at POSes. So then when I read that players get something quite similar, except it also seems to lack any means of being able to defend itself, I get worried.

Let’s look at this from the perspectives of Alliance A and Corporation B. The former hold a firm presence in some systems in which they are already exploiting a few lovely moons. The latter is a bunch of casual players who like to dabble in some less attractive nearby systems. For Alliance A, it is a nice bonus to not have to fuel the customs offices, but considering they’re already doing it for the moon POSes, it wouldn’t really be that much extra work. Corporation B however is very glad, because they simply don’t have the man-power or time to go babysit assets in space.

Corporation B is more at risk when it comes to the destructible asset, because they can’t handle an overwhelming force coming in and destroying their structures. They can try and be really annoying about it, make it so that their opponents no longer consider it worth the trouble, but it also does not take that much trouble to take down a customs office unlike a death-star or dick-star POS. So if Alliance A says “nice planets, we’ll take them” they can very much do just that.

Now Corporation B has one ace up their sleeve. Being pissed at Alliance A for taking planets, they can go to those of Alliance A and batter on them, especially if they can be around when activity is low. Since the structures can’t defend themselves they can fire freely upon them. And since they aren’t too hard to destroy, well, a simple bomber fleet would probably suffice. Not that it is bad for big alliances to have to be just as fearful as small corporations, but I can see this turn into a very lame eye-for-an-eye game leaving both blind.

I understand — yet do not fully agree — the desire of CCP for corporations to band together and form alliances and have these alliances battle it out, but I don’t quite see this work out in practice. You do not motivate people to work together because else they can’t have anything, you motivate players by giving them clear promise that putting in extra time and effort grants tangible rewards (when done right, of course). I’m convinced it is part of why a lot of players are content to stay in highsec, and why I will not be surprised if this means that PI will mostly be done in highsec now. Sure, it generates less income, but it is a lot safer, a lot less tedious, and it probably still nets some good profit because prices will skyrocket. I’m sure there will be some groups that become dedicated to PI, and rake in ISK, but somehow it seems to be the groups who are already not hurting for ISK.

It’s an incredible fine line to walk, and I hope it works out well. I’m willing to accept that I can’t have my lowsec planets anymore, but it doesn’t really make players happy to get more “work” in their game.

UI improvements

This is something I really want to see more off, and could form a redeeming factor for the destructible part. Import / export streamlining is nice, less clicky is good.

But there is still a bit of math involved in planning out planets and avoiding bottlenecks, which gets harder and harder as you go up in tiers. What I’d really like to see is some kind of overview of calculator, OR give us a planet API which can be loaded into existing tools so we can see what our current structures are doing. Some simple things, like having an extractor display which theoretically would be the best number of tier 1 factories to connect, and have those factories display the same for higher tiers, would be real nice. There’s a lot more that can be done in order to make the experience an easier ride, but especially the first I consider an essential. While EVE HQ now has a PI tool, and there was one before I’ve enjoyed using, they take more clicking and tweaking at times than just eyeballing it and optimizing your planets on the fly.

Summary

Yay for letting players control planets, yay for UI improvements, but lots more that could be done to make the PI experience friendlier to the users. Biggest worry being how PI is going to become another thing that belongs into the hands of the big and mighty, and then not because of teamwork but because of being unappealingly difficult to a non-hardcore audience.

No related posts.

Thoughts and feelings on the CCP layoffs

Myrhial Arkenath — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:20:30 +0000

So, I was making a bit of a start on a post on the recent dev blog about PI, but instead I’ve opted for a topic change, because this honestly is higher on my care list right now. Yes, I am talking about the layoffs at CCP. If you didn’t read it already and just felt your heart skip a beat — my initial reaction when I saw a tweet linking it — please go and read up. Now when you’re up to speed, I’ll go over some quotes from the article.

At CCP we have been working hard to expand the gaming landscape by applying the knowledge and expertise we’ve built up with EVE Online to create a new experience within the EVE Universe in DUST 514, as well as a new video game franchise in World of Darkness.

During the last few months, as evidenced by our interaction with the community, we made some missteps on that journey.

As we reexamine our outward relations, we are also taking time to reevaluate our internal goals. In doing so, we have come to the conclusion that we are attempting too many things for a company our size. Developing EVE expansions, DUST 514 and World of Darkness has stretched our resources too thin.

Emphasis mine. Not to say “I told you so”, and it should really be “we, the community, told you so” because I’m sure not alone in this sentiment (thank goodness!). That is as close I’ll go to saying it as well, because today is a black day where gloating is not in order, nor is that sentence meant to be read as gloating. Things have not been going well, we’ve felt it, and numbers have shown it eventually. This may have all worked well a few years ago, in a better economy, yet even then it already seemed like something you’d want at least two whole companies for. I think that even industry behemoth Blizzard wouldn’t chance to do this had they the staff size of CCP. I’ve always had high respect for CCP for being unconventional, but you have to keep your feet on the ground and pick priorities and be realistic about what you can and cannot do.

Rather than allowing this to persist, we have made the decision to sharpen our focus. Sadly, this means reducing our staff. We estimate that around twenty percent of global positions will be affected by this process. These will be predominantly in our Atlanta, GA office, although select positions in our Reykjavik, Iceland office will be affected.

We are very sad to lose some of our talented and dedicated colleagues to this necessary process. Naturally we are making every effort within our means to help them find alternative employment. Decisions like these are difficult for all those involved and extraordinarily sad for all of those whose lives are affected.

This makes sense, for lack of a better word, when you read on further that WoD is getting the biggest cut. But at least one CCP’er — the lovely CCP Fallout — tweeted what looks to be a goodbye. This makes me sad, she was a great community representative and did so much for us. I’ve seen her help players over Twitter without probably even needing to do it as part of her job. Not to mention I adore her for being a proper cat lady. I had a bad feeling already a while ago when CCP Zymurgist — who is also lovely, don’t get me wrong! — took over the community mailings that us fansites get. I had hoped this meant Fallout had either been shuffled to another team, or was on vacation, or maybe even sought to leave of her own accord. While the latter is of course still possible, and would have been sad news none the less, it just hits me personally because despite all CCP staff being a crucial part to the whole, one does grow fond of particular individuals. And with CCP recruiting for their player base, there are a few CCPers I know from before they were on the staff, and who’d I be especially sad for if they got laid off, because I know they enjoy their job a lot. Yes, no job is perfect, and they likely have off-days too, but motivated individuals who do their work other than for the money, are rare and should be treasured. Thus, it is a shame when a mix of economical weather and company decisions makes it that they have to move on. I’m crossing my fingers and toes here, but with 20% staff layoffs, chances are others I know (better) may turn out to be hit as well.

Following this reorganization, we must do a better job by focusing on these priorities:

For the immediate future, our mission is to enrich the vast EVE Universe by strengthening the continuous development of EVE Online while preparing to bring DUST 514 to market on the PS3. We do this in order to realize our ambitious and challenging plan of joining the two in a cross-platform, truly massive online world.

World of Darkness will continue development with a significantly reduced team. This team will continue to iterate and expand on the gameplay and systems they have designed. We will also redeploy creative teams in Atlanta to support the launch of DUST 514.

This will enable us to accelerate timeframes for new features and increase our ability to respond to community needs. The fruits of this realignment will be seen as early as this winter with the upcoming EVE Online expansions and the launch of DUST 514 private trials.

I know it is not feasible, but personally, I’d have rather had WoD than DUST. Of course, I am a biased non-PS3 owner who isn’t really looking forward to having to buy a console if I want to play a console game that links into my favorite MMO. I think some WoD fans may rejoice a bit as they weren’t too happy with certain aspects of the game thus far, but things like perma-death and all really had me interested. Money has to be made however, there is a deal with Sony which can’t just be broken, and who knows maybe DUST will really start new trends and hopefully bring CCP the funds to continue doing great things. Time will tell.

This will enable us to accelerate timeframes for new features and increase our ability to respond to community needs. The fruits of this realignment will be seen as early as this winter with the upcoming EVE Online expansions and the launch of DUST 514 private trials.

I am glad CCP came to their senses before it is too late, and they business-wise made a hard but sound decision here, but I hope it will be worth it. I didn’t get around writing that PI blog today, and I hope that is just an isolated thing I don’t agree with, but more on that soon. There are some good changes coming, finally all the racial quarters are ready to be implemented, we’re getting user-friendliness in the form of a new font, cap ship issues are getting addressed in what I as the person either getting hotdropped or shooting at them feels is fair without trying to be too biased about it, so it’s not all bad and we shouldn’t let this spoil the game because then it will indeed have all been for nothing. Some goodies, like the return of ship spinning as an integrated part of the experience rather than just an alternative, are already deployed, too. Yet, I remain critical, both in the positive and negative sense, and I hope to continue to be able to write about EVE in months from now, and would be especially delighted if I could write something (mostly) positive then and look back upon this as a though medicine that saved the patient rather than the beginning of the end.

First, EVE Online is in good health. Our subscriber numbers are higher today than they were a year ago. Unlike many other MMO’s on the market, we have continued to grow year-on-year since launch in 2003. However, over the past two months, our subscribers have gone down from their peak this summer. We attribute this to our own mistakes and poor communications with our players. We are correcting that now.

Second, World of Darkness lives on. Its concepts are revolutionary. CCP continues to believe that it will alter the landscape of the MMO as significantly as EVE has done but we need more time to continue to develop them before dedicating the substantial resources required to bring this experience to market.

As an innovator in the industry, CCP has never shied away from tough decisions, remaining agile to allow for shifts in production, technology and gaming trends since even before the launch of EVE Online. While our decision to refocus is a solemn one, it will benefit our players through a renewed commitment to the EVE Universe and its fans.

Honest words, despite the positive let’s-not-cause-panic wrapping around it. I am glad that CCP continues to recognize this has been the worst summer ever — both my own experience and official numbers confirm this — and that they are learning from it. I’m going to start repeating myself at this point, so for now I’ll go back to being glued to Twitter, and carry those that worked hard and now have to move on within my thoughts. I am grateful for the work they did, and I wish them the very best in what their future brings. One door closes and another opens, I am sure of it.

Addition: And there goes CCP MaidenSteel. Having known her as a player and remaining good friends until this day, here is where it really felt like a kick in the guts. I can say for certain she gave her very best for that job, and I know the struggle she made to get there. My heart goes out to her, as she is such a talented writer. Bah, this makes today even sadder than it already was.

Blog Banter 29: Immersion in EVE

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:44:45 +0000

Time for another blog banter. This time, Seismic Stan has something a little less political for us to discuss. This is a topic that is straight up my alley, since being a roleplayer means you really get into the game and your character, through acting out what your experience rather than through controlling a character from a third-person perspective.

EVE Online is renowned for it’s depth. Its backstory, gameplay and social aspects are all qualities that draw players in. What does immersion in EVE Online mean to you?

I think the biggest immersion factor for EVE Online is that every action has a reaction, or the freedom to get one. We see this in security status, standings that drop when others go up, and the fact that scamming, theft and suicide ganking are not banned as they are in more “friendly” MMO’s. Likewise, players have the tools and freedom to strike back against this. And there is the playerrun market, which just like the real market reacts to what large groups of players do. A recent example of that is the new Goonfleet campaign in highsec. Isotope prices — which are the main target — are going up, and PLEX seems to be following in this due to market panic. That’s stuff that makes EVE feel real, because it is real. Yes, there is some form of control, exploits and bots are not allowed (and for good reasons), but you can really ruin or make a players day, and someone else can affect you just the same.

A close second immersion factor for EVE is roleplay as a whole. We might at times feel the backstory progresses slowly or not at all, but it has some dynamic to it and has been build upon since the game release. Yes, in the early days players had a much larger impact, but this is far easier to manage with a smaller playerbase. Still, live events have started again and players shape these events. As admitted by CCP Dropbear at Fanfest 2011, the events don’t always pan out as foreseen either. It might seem like all part of the plan on the outside, but that is only because you don’t see behind the scenes. Also, I was initially critical about the recent Arek’Jaalan event arc, but after deciding to give it a try to test the validity of my beliefs I can now say that credit is given where it is due and that nobody likes drama, and that when it threatens the event it is dealt with, where if players can or want to do it they are always given the preference, which stick true to the principle of the sandbox.

There are some other minor and sometimes subtle ways where immersion happens, sometimes without us even realizing it. Have you ever tried looking up characters from the backstory ingame? Prominent figures, such as Heth, lead the corporations they belong to. And they were even given unique sculpted models rather than the random generator that created the mission agents. It wasn’t there right of the get-go, and that sparked such an outrage, and it is lovely to see that this was taken seriously enough to step in and give the important figures the care they deserve.

Now, Incarna was a bit of a lackluster expansion, and the drama surrounding CCP in the last few months really didn’t do it much good, but I think the Captain’s Quarters balcony is a stroke of sheer genius. We already had a sense of scale in the way that flying a frigate next to a battleship, not to mention something as huge as a titan, makes you feel really small. Old artwork showed us that frigates were already bigger than large commercial airplanes, but now we can stand next to our frigates and see them tower above us. Yes, the sense of scale is a bit skewed because larger ships go further back into the hangar, but you have to realize that hangar is way larger than your little hangout spot.

A last thing that a friend mentioned when I asked around for inspiration is the warning noises on the interface. What, a user-friendly — the ear-friendliness of it being debatable, but it sure makes you pay attention! — UI feature that adds to immersion? Why yes, indeed. We all know warning noises from the real world, if an alarm starts there usually is a reason for it. And yes, there is no sound in space, and EVE has some game mechanics that don’t simulate space as it would work when it is real, but when you regard the game and the interface as a simulation that your character sees to make sense of what is going around him or her, much alike to augmented reality, the pieces quickly fall in place. And that is how you can best explain the Neocom (name of the UI framework) in an in character way. Arguably, science fiction MMO’s have an easier time with this than fantasy MMO’s due to technology being a way to explain a lot, but nothing wrong with getting the most out of what you have. After all, fantasy MMO’s tend to be high magic universes, where magic can explain a lot too! I’m not of the opinion that every last bit of game mechanic should be able to be explained in character, that’s a foolish pursuit as it never totally works, but the less substitution or not mentioning has to happen, the more immersive everything will feel as it all comes naturally.

A’J: MRID – Interview with Julianus Soter

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:02:36 +0000

Julianus Soter, capsuleer license image

Following the interview with Rhavas, I took the opportunity to interview another member of the Multidisciplinary division of Arek’Jaalan, Julianus Soter. Similar as to the previous publication, we take a look at the man and the division he works in. We also cover Project Trinity, which falls under his lead, and how this contributes to its division and A’J as a whole.

Please start off with a short introduction of yourself and your capsuleer background, Corporations, alliances and other organizations that had a significant impact or where you held a position can be incorporated too.
I was born and raised on the surface of Gallente Prime, educated in the public school system, and selected for capsuleer training. Initially I was recruited from the Center for Advanced Studies capsuleer pool into Strix Armaments and Defence, which provided the basis for my capsuleer training and involvement in the Federation’s border territories.

After leaving this corporation, joined Stellar Legion alliance, Flying Tigers corporation as a diplomatic officer. My experience in 0.0 would then translate to the paramilitary organization FOOM (The Dead Parrot Shoppe Inc.) within the BRUCE (Brutally Clever Empire) alliance.

Following the Seyllin Incident, I decided to redirect my efforts towards research of w-space, and founded the Synenose Accord, which is still in operation today, to host and provide data for the Seyllin Conferences, publicly held scientific meetings that capsuleers were invited to attend to present research on the Sleepers, Talocan, and w-space as a whole.

I would then return to Federation space in interest of preserving the Federal Frontier for astropolitical stability, founding the Moira corporation to do so. During the operation of this paramilitary organization, intelligence was transmitted to the Synenose Accord, and thus to me, of the imminent Sansha threat. I dedicated Moira to the destruction of this threat.

What is Project Trinity?
Project Trinity is a multidisciplinary effort to test the hypothesis that the Jovian Trinary Data fragment Moira Corporation possesses from the Admiral Ouria incident in Stain is in any way related to the Trinary Hub facilities in class 4 w-space, and additionally, the Trinary Data located within Professor Burreau‘s abandoned Helios-class frigate that was destroyed this year.

Why was the project set up, what is the background story or motivation?
The implications of any possible relationship between the Jovians and the Sleepers and/or Talocan are tremendous. It would point towards a more significant anthropological link between the various branches of Humanity, but may also very well uncover the curious mystery of why the Seyllin event occured in the first place.

What are the aims of the project?
Our goals with Project Trinity are the complete resolution, either confirmation, or otherwise, of the Trinity Hypothesis, regarding the Sleeper/Talocan/Jove link.

Who works on the projects? Where other divisions than the Multidisciplinary involved?
At the moment, only the Multidisciplinary division is involved in the project, and of that division, only Moira corporation has assets deployed in space. Numerous pilots have aided in discussions and review of the theory behind the project, however.

How does the project work, what activities do those involved take part in, what methods and tools were used? / What location(s) did the project take place in?
Moira corporation constructed a starbase within class four space, with sophisticated defence systems and infrastructure required to maintain a long-term Blind, for observation and field operations purposes, within w-space. Class four space was chosen as it is the natural home of the Trinary Hub facilities, and thus, is our focus for the context of this project.

Combat reconnaissance teams were dispatched to scour the areas of space around Trinity Base, to locate Trinary hubs and collect sufficient data for the project through data extraction,s signals analaysis, and other advanced investigative methods. Combat forces were required to prevent attacks from Sleepers and other capsuleers.

Is the project still running or finished?
Trinity Base is still operational, however, the project is on standby pending review by Dr. Tukoss.

Are more people needed, and if so how can they get involved?
If Dr. Tukoss indicates additional study is required, then more personnel may be deployed.

What does this project mean to A’J as a whole? What was its impact or significance in the greater whole?
Resolving the issue of the relationship between the Jovians and their possible involvement of w-space would solve one link of the larger w-space mystery. It might stimulate additional hypotheses regarding the true nature of the Sleepers and Talocan, their current ‘absensce’ and whether or not the Jovians played a larger role in the Seyllin Incident.

Where there any problems or incidents in the project, or in A’J as a whole that affected the project?
The project is facing turnaround delays due to Eifyr and Co. work backlog.

Any other notable facts or additions regarding the project?
The project successfully assembled data from a Trinary Hub facility, and we feel that there is a good possibility the Trinary Hubs and Jovian Trinary Data are indeed related.

As you also work on the Security division, what does your job cosist of there?
The Security division is as of this time defunct, as the channel operators of the Division were disbarred from the larger Arek’Jaalan project, and no new channel operators were appointed.

How can readers interested best get involved in future work done by the Multidisciplinary or Security division, or A’J as a whole?
Multidisciplinary is always looking for open-minded pilots with the initiative to seek out solutions to challenging problems.

A’J: MRID – Interview with Rhavas

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:18:40 +0000

Rhavas, capsuleer license image

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of the capsuleers active in the Multidisciplinary division of Arek’Jaalan (hereafter referred to as A’J), Rhavas. In this article we take a look at him, the division he is active in, and two of the projects under his lead. He also lets us in a little on what goes on in Arek’Jaalan as a whole, and how those interested can become involved.

Please start off with a short introduction of yourself and your capsuleer background, Corporations, alliances and other organizations that had a significant impact or where you held a position can be incorporated too.
I graduated from the Republic Military School and didn’t join up with a corporation right away. Instead I spent a great deal of time exploring New Eden, particularly visiting the shattered planets that were the legacy of what would later be known as the Seyllin Incident. I was briefly with a small military corporation called Lupus Vires in Derelik, which folded a few months later. Free again, I worked with Boundless Creation scientists for a while again on exploration but eventually the project took on a life of its own, and eventually led to the Shattered Planets Datacore. After most of my exploration was done, I spent nearly a year at Eve University, where I flew as a Lieutenant (jg) in the Ivy League Navy as a scout and combat pilot. I left there and now am a member of the Corporation of Noble Sentiments, headquartered in Essence. I am an active research with Arek’Jaalan, primarily on the Multidisciplinary division but collaborating with the Talocan Technology and Sleeper Technology groups as well.

What is Project Tesseract and Project Catapult? (Hereafter “the project” refers to either)
Both are specific projects under the Arek’Jaalan Multidisciplinary division that deal with wormhole chemistry, physics and navigation.

Why was the project set up, what is the background story or motivation?
I set up these two in particular because I have two major interests in this arena, and those two interests tie directly to these two projects.

The first is simply a hunger to understand – what happened, what drove it, what it means, and how to control such unbelievable forces. In my travels and studies I have determined that Isogen-5 is potentially a force for unholy destruction but also awe-inspiring creation. It is a source of energy unlike anything we can truly comprehend in current New Eden technology, and the potential impacts to us if we could harness it are almost impossible to contemplate.

The second is, simply put, space is big. Another thing my travels have taught me is that, even with the wonders of warp and gate technology, it simply takes an inordinate amount of time to get anywhere beyond your immediate environs. I have a passion to bring rapid travel over huge distances to the masses of the capsuleer population.

What are the aims of the project?
Project Tesseract is, at some level, simply the porting over and updating of all the knowledge I incorporated into the Shattered Planets Datacore. It is about the Seyllin Incident’s causes and effects, the A0 Blue stars, the shattered planets, and the mysterious isotope known as Isogen-5 that appears to have been intimately tied to that event. It is a direct outgrowth of my desire to understand the uses of and implications of the energy that created the wormholes.

Project Catapult is an in-depth investigation of the Sansha capability to create point-to-point wormholes with a goal of understanding and if possible duplicating the capability. It is a direct outgrowth of my desire to understand how all capsuleers might take advantage of such capability.

Who works on the projects? Where other divisions than the Multidisciplinary involved?
Multidisciplinary is sort of a strange division. We are at some level the “et cetera” of Arek’Jaalan. While most of our projects focus on astronavigation, there are other wildly different efforts as well, including reviews of Trinary data structures (used by the Jove and Sleepers) and cloning and mind transfer investigations. In the astronavigational projects, we work heavily with other teams, particularly Sleeper Tech and Talocan Tech.

How does the project work, what activities do those involved take part in, what methods and tools were used?
Right now, Tesseract is largely a placeholder for me to move information to when I can find the time, and will hopefully spur new capsuleer-led ideas and explorations to fill in the blanks that I have.

Catapult requires a significant amount of capsuleer assistance in using photography drones to capture sky pictures for comparison of nebulae with the Sansha wormholes, as well as attempting to reverse engineer or acquire the Sansha technology that currently exists.

One of the biggest challenges that Arek’Jaalan faces is that we are heavily dependent on the scientists from Eifyr assisting Dr. Tukoss to give us solid analyses of the numerous captures that we bring back for processing, and unfortunately they are far behind schedule given that our efforts are at some level “not their day job”. They have their business to see to first and can only provide us with so much processing time.

What location(s) did the project take place in?
Both involve almost the entirety of New Eden in their scope. To narrow it a little, Tesseract is focused on the nine shattered planet systems, the three echo systems, the Eve gate and the wormholes themselves, where Catapult is almost literally a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack. We think the source of the Sansha wormholes is somewhere in Stain but the preponderance of the evidence thus far suggests otherwise.

Is the project still running or finished?
Tesseract has a great deal of time already invested but has a lot of “restarting” work to do.

Catapult is underway right now.

Are more people needed, and if so how can they get involved?
Tesseract mostly needs skilled archivist assistance, and time and patience from the same. It involves a lot of culling through months worth of travel data from myself and others and distillation of that data down to current facts that others can then use to expand what we know about this critical potentiality.

Catapult needs capsuleer assistance immediately, and we’ll take as much as we can get, particularly pilots living in or willing to go to Stain. Our immediate goal is to localize the Sansha launching system and attempt to track down the source ship or station. This means nebular captures from almost every known constellation in New Eden, which is a great deal of work.

What does this project mean to A’J as a whole? What was its impact or significance in the greater whole?
I suppose you’d have to ask Dr. Tukoss for the official answer to that question, but I’m one of the more “applied science” people on the project, and to me while there is much to discover in the broad scope of the initiative, the most interesting pieces are the ones in which we can determine how to use the technology that was apparently commonplace to these ancient societies. I find their archaeology fascinating, and the Rogue Drones amazing to watch evolve, but I think that the understanding and application of the ancient technology is what could really move the capsuleer world forward. It’s the glue that holds everything else together.

Where there any problems or incidents in the project, or in A’J as a whole that affected the project?
I think what the Arek’Jaalan initiative has suffered from most is some of the well-publicized political conflicts between Sansha and Empire loyalists. This seems to have calmed somewhat in recent weeks, so I am hopeful that we will pull together on these efforts. I will admit that I was very surprised to get almost no feedback either within the project or from the Intergalactic Summit members when I proposed and looked for assistance on Project Catapult. I expected a firestorm. For our part, we want to work with anyone who will help. We’re about results, not politics.

Any other notable facts or additions regarding the project?
Other parts of the Multidisciplinary effort are coming along very well. Mark726 has turned in a report on Project Compass, which is trying to determine the localization relationship of New Eden to the Wormhole clusters. Julianus Soter’s efforts around Project Trinity are bringing in impressive results. Project Atlas, the mapping of wormhole space, has a lot of energy behind it from various groups but concrete results have not yet come to light – we are hoping to see some soon.

How can readers interested best get involved in future work done by the Multidisciplinary division, or A’J as a whole?
The best thing to do is to read the division information pages, join the Arek’Jaalan mailing list and the Arek’Jaalan fluid router discussion channel and start asking questions!

Blog Banter 28: CCP, the CSM, and the future

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:44:41 +0000

With CrazyKinux recently retiring his blog and hanging up his coat as the “blogfather”, several cornerstones of the blogging community were relocated to a new home. Rixx Javix took it upon himself to maintain the Blog Pack, and now Seismic Stan stepped up to keep the Blog Banters going. That makes Blog Banter 28 the first set up by our new host, and right off the bat we’re getting a very hot topic to discuss:

In recent months, the relationship between CCP and it’s customers has been the subject of some controversy. The player-elected Council of Stellar Management has played a key role in these events, but not for the first time they are finding CCP difficult to deal with. What effect will CCP’s recent strategies have on the future of EVE Online and it’s player-base? What part can and should the CSM play in shaping that future? How best can EVE Online’s continued health and growth be assured?

For those of you who aren’t too sure what this about now — didn’t CCP give us a dev blog in which an accord was reached? — you best read Seismic Stan’s post, as it has a good amount of resources, before continuing on. All read up, or know exactly what this is about? Good, here we go then.

First off, this Banter is a bit on the late side. One of the reasons being my dad getting remarried at the end of the week, so I’ve been out and about to get everything ready for myself, from a dress to makeup to dropping by the tanning salon. The other reason, however, ties in perfectly with this topic. My motivation for EVE seem to have hit an all time low. From experience I know that summer is a terrible period in online gaming, because even the most die-hard players cannot say no to ~~sunshine~~ ~~outdoor activities~~ a nice BBQ. But this summer has been particularly bad, and then not just because most days were filled with rain, though that may have made made have rubbed in the issue a bit extra. There is a big loss of faith in CCP amongst my alliance members, myself included, and that results in activity dwindling. “I just don’t feel like internet spaceships anymore”, several people told me. Others simply filed an absence due to work, real life, or plain out lack of motivation. And sure, some of them will be truthful, there are jobs that are just not able to combine well with gaming, especially if you also have a family and social life to maintain, but if you really like a game you will find the time to play it, believe me. Currently Ghost Festival has about half its members on some kind of leave, and even the core players who are on every day are spending less time logged in on average. And this is a trend I only see continuing unless something is done about the cause.

Normally, I’d not post those numbers, because they don’t exactly help recruitment along. Or people will conclude that I must simply be failing as a CEO / Co-Executor. Well, I can tell you with confidence that this is not the case, or at least what mistakes I am making are not at the core of the problem. I’ve prodded enough members who I know are frank in their judgement and asked them, so unless everyone is out to kiss my behind or dead afraid of me, I think I did my homework right.

I have been discussing the issue to great length in the last few days, and there are certain things that keep returning. First off is the fact that we are a niche corporation / alliance. In fact, just slapping roleplay on anything already cuts your recruitment pool quite a bit, unless you take a really light approach to it, which on a sidenote is the only way to continue going if you reach a particular size like CVA or U’K. Then there is the fact we live out in 0.0, and then not the sov kind, but the NPC kind. That’s right, we’re a roleplaying alliance that bases out of Curse, you know that region most people know as the place alliances go to die, or use as a staging point, or grumble about because it requires an extra cyno to get from here to there. Welcome to niche play.

However, recruitment is not really the issue, we’re overall seeing a decrease in applications made but nothing that we didn’t see every summer already. Nor do people cite any particular issues with how we operate. Yes, we have a new neighbor that lost their sov and is now running around the neighborhood like they own it, but that’s something we’ve seen before. And it’s quite certainly going to be temporary, because alliances who consciously decide to live in Curse are few and between. It’s also my experience that once a sov player, always a sov player, which explains why losing sov can be a killing blow. It’s kinda hard to go back from there. This is just Curse being Curse and we’ve learned to deal with the eb and flow and carve our own path through that.

When going over what I will call “annoyances” like a former sov holder or the unprobable nerf or the summer activity slump, when digging in deeper, the core of the problem seems to be there is a whole lot of uncertainty going on which traces back to the current state of the game. The drama may have well passed, but it still lingers in the back of everyone’s minds. This ranges from performance issues with Incarna — though the recent patch that fixed load times and system temperatures has done a lot, but we did lose people due to not being able to replace hardware — to the NeX prices to there still being only one CQ to patches that patch patches which are fixing patches that broke patches (I feel for QA here) to the stagnant nature of flying in space. And even though we were presented a nice dev blog with 0.0 design guidelines which I wrote about previously, these are only guidelines, and long term at that, meaning that for the time being we have to make the best of what we do have. Fair enough, people knew when they joined what we do, and that would be quite alright, if only people were still motivated to do it. Not to mention that the things that Incarna brought are not things that will keep players entertained all day.

Ok, let me show you some numbers, which you may have seen over at Jester’s Trek and in The Mittani’s Kugutsumen announcement. Unlike the latter, I will link both images, as I feel they must be viewed together to really understand what is going on. Not that I disagree with what Mittens is saying, on the contrary, I just want to broaden the scope a bit to make the point even clearer.

The first image is a total view, going from 2006 over to 2011, with the red lines being the changing of the year. It’s rather obvious, but I’ll state it extra that means that summer sits halfway in between those red lines. More on that later. The second image is a view of the current half-and-a-bit year. Now, go ahead and compare the two. See how summer is nearly always offset by an expansion releasing, except in 2009 where timing was a bit awkward but where the winter expansion made well up for it. See how Tyrannis shook up last summer. And most importantly, see what didn’t happen right after Incarna. Now ok, the graph doesn’t a whole lot further after Incarna, but if you look at how soon spikes in activity occur after a patch, it should have to have been visible on this chart!

Looking at the second image then, we can see much higher the impact certain things have. What were the only spikes for Incarna? The riots and uproar, and then the time around where some positive dev blogs appeared. Fun fact for the readers, of all the blog posts I made in the last year, the one I did where I called out EN24 on creating / feeding the mass hysteria received double the amount of views any other post this year did. Yes, most of my writing is as niche as my alliance is, and I assume my readers are people interested in some way in that niche, so either that post must have broken me out of the usual niche (pretty sure it did!) or my usual readers must care a great deal for post-Incarna woes. Likely a mix of both, especially taking into account all posts on Incarna have been doing really well.

I’m not conjuring up these conclusions out of thin air, and neither is it a sentiment trapped within the borders of the usual crowd I play with. Three CSM members have written or blogged about this (Mittens, Seleene, Trebor) and likely more have forum posted, but I avoid the forums like the plague. Yes even the fancy new ones ain’t doing it for me, which shows that design isn’t everything (even though I secretly am fond of the like button). The fact that CCP has messed up, and that the aftermath of that is being felt and has a negative impact on the game, is a reality. And it is one that must not be ignored.

So, to answer the first banter questions, I feel CCP’s recent strategies have a negative impact on the playerbase. As for the CSM, I used to once have faith in the process, but what with CSM members have been revealing about the missing emergency minutes, and Seleene’s account of it, I think Mittens and his (unintended?) media campaign are going to have a much bigger effect. I’m a fan of playing things by the book when they can be done, but right now, I feel a revolution might be more in order. CCP may say that things are going as they should, but honestly, I don’t think they mean what they say. Yes, decisions were made in a past in a very different era (see Iceland’s role in the banking bubble), and it may be hard to let go of great visions that indeed would be truly great when achieved. The question however is if this is still feasible? I have great ideas that would be truly great when achieved for Ghost Festival and Naraka too. It’d be amazing to create the equivalent of what CVA had with Providence, but for Angel roleplayers. But I know damn well enough that such an idea is foolish to chase when you are at a stage where you realistically can only support small gang roams and mission running.

The kicker is that the investments have already been made, that DUST is going to release, that the WoD MMO is being developed, and that we now have Incarna. And yes, sometimes you have to force certain concepts down people’s throats because they will lead to greatness in the future. But that means you have to be able to cope with the losses of those who will simply not take it. And that is just bad when likely your business strategy was built upon numbers from previous years which looked a whole lot more optimistic and may today be a lot more forgiving if not everyone was a lot more prudent about their expenses.

I am of the opinion that at the end of the day, while a company owns a game and is thus entitled to do with it as it pleases, it is still a good idea to develop what players really want. And the Incarna numbers show that either players did not want this, or rather so far it’s been very lackluster. And that is a sentiment I share. While I like my CQ, certainly now it runs smoothly so I don’t have to stare at the dreaded door, I’d have been a lot happier with new things to keep me going through the summer. They’d have given a distraction, and something to work with other players on. Instead we got something we can all bitch about. And that’s a poor ground to build or maintain a corporation on.

So what about the future? My plan is to stick around and do all those things I’ve never really had or made time for before. If EVE is really “dying” then why not make the best of it while it lasts? That should fill up the time until the winter, where I expect / hope / pray that we will see good things again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for any changes that will improve our situation in Curse, be it directly or indirectly. I’ll take what I can get. Maybe by then CCP manages to restore the faith of players, but that is going to mean that first off this current mess needs to see a definite end (at the very least, the minutes have to be released in a way that the CSM is pleased), and that a move forward must be made. We got a bunch of optimistic dev blogs, but it’s high time we get to see establishments, contraband, and some starting details on 0.0. And what if winter doesn’t bring anything good? Well, we’ll see about it then. There’s SWTOR, GW2 and D3 on the horizon, and maybe it is time for a change of scenery. But damn, that’s not how I’d want it to be. I would like EVE to be part of my gaming diet then, instead of dropped. Though if it happens, I suppose at least I’ll be ready for it.

Arek’Jaalan: MRID publication deal

Myrhial Arkenath — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:56:10 +0000

As has appeared on the Arek’Jaalan mailing list today:

“Today, Arek’jaalan representatives from the Media Relations and Information Dissemination group have secured a deal with Myrhial Arkenath, Co-Executor of Naraka., to utilize her well-known public logs as a publisher of scientific and theoretical information on behalf of Arek’jaalan. We hope to use this to our advantage in order to spread knowledge of the project to wider parts of the cluster.”

I’ve been watching the project from afar, having always had an interest in science, but my CEO duties coming first place has meant my ability to explore it, or the AJ project, are limited. After some helpful feedback from Hilen Tukoss and a few other sources, I figured I can help science in many more ways than field work, and combine it with things I already love to do, like writing. And thanks to Myxx and Anslo, this is now possible. I hope that you, dear readers, will find this just as interesting as I do. And if you really do, and aren’t involved yet, I urge you to look at the various divisions and seek to get involved where your passion lies.

Nation incursion in New Caldari

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:33:37 +0000

I don’t usually go this far out of my way when I see an incursion report, but this time it was different. The location, for starters, happened to be right where I keep a clone with stronger implants. It’s a convenient location to jump to and disappear into the masses while transporting planetside or simply somewhere in Empire space that will take me away from home for a good while. Nobody asks questions here. There’s so many people, and the people who may ask questions simply look the other way. And they know they won’t get found out either, because nobody is going to check records that appear clear as day.

But I digress. Yesterday I decided to respond to some intel that Nation may strike at New Caldari, which came from a pretty reliable source. So after pulling some strings I got myself set up with a Dramiel, while Velarra, who happened to be nearby as well, met me in system in a Hawk. Not the best ships for a response fleet, I realized afterwards, but better than nothing.

When I arrived from the pickup location, jumping through the Jita gate back into New Caldari, there was an absolutely mind-blowing amount of Sansha battleships on the gate. Several wormholes had opened nearby from which they all poured out. It didn’t take long before the fighting began. Knowing full well that my Dramiel wouldn’t be a match for the battleships I waited, until frigate reinforcements came through. Those perished quite easily under the firepower of the smaller defense force.

The various wormholes through which Nation ships entered the system

Sansha opening fire upon capsuleer defence force

A closer look at the defence fleet

The defence fleet from another angle

A shot from the back of the Nation fleet

After a good hour of fighting wave after wave, eventually seeing the ordinary hulls replaced by the newer technology used in “regular” incursions, Citizen Astur decided to take on us capsuleers in the Revenant mothership. What a frightening piece of technology. Not only is it massive in scale, and adorned with the spikes they so love, but the whole form of it is just plain … well, creepy. It’s almost like they took the organic design that the Jove were known for, and then twisted it. It makes the Nightmare hull look almost friendly. Hah, and to think if I obtained one more skill book, I could in theory interface with one. The idea sends shivers down my spine. I’ve once interfaced with a Nightmare hull, just to see it from the eyes of the camera drones, and I just felt constantly disturbed. I’ve been assured it is supposed to be safe, but I’m still not totally convinced.

My dramiel had no trouble staying out of harms way. Activating the afterburner I circled around and around trying my best to shoot where it hurts. I’ve still got a ways to go in terms of perfecting my skill with Cartel ships, but all in all I wasn’t doing too bad. Right up until the very end where Citizen Astur aimed the weapon systems at me. Shields slowly but surely started to drop, and having the ship on loan, I decided to retreat from the scene. A bit of a moot point afterwards as the moment I left the scene the hull started to explode. Ah well, no Sansha podding for me then.

Firing freely upon the Revenant mothership

Outtake from the combat log

As soon as the attack had came, as soon peace returned to the system. Or well, the bulk of capsuleers returned to their daily activities, with some staying behind to discuss the events on the local channel. Realizing I was in a rather pricy hull, and do still carry a small bounty, I decided to dock up and reship into a harmlessly looking Ibis, to go and collect some skill books I had long wanted before taking some station-side rest.

OOC: Here are some bonus screenshots, as this was in fact a demonstration of live events at PAX. I gathered these from Twitter. Would be really nice if there was a recording if this too, because I’m mighty curious about audience reaction and what was commentated about. Not to mention I’m curious if the getting shot at in the end was intentional or not (hi Dropbear!).

Photo provided by @CCP_TonyG

Photo provided by @mread

Design goals through the eyes of an NPC nullsec dweller

Myrhial Arkenath — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:55:00 +0000

Bah, summer is so busy, I’m way behind on writing about interesting dev blogs. The recent design goals for nullsec development however are just too great to pass on. If only because they are right up my alley. Or well, some of them at least. Let’s have a look, shall we?

Mining

I have a mining alt, and I’ve played bait miner as Myrhial before (that’s -still- a running gag within the alliance), so I can totally talk about this subject. I started my alt, Faber Demaunier, as a mining alt because I liked the idea of semi-passive income. Sometimes, even missions are just too much effort, or time does not allow for it, and then breaking out a Hulk and munching roids in a belt can still give you at least some income, where as doing nothing gets you nothing.

Mining for income currently is pretty crappy, even down in nullsec. So I totally agree on making it more profitable. Few people really do it because they like it, because it is boring as hell. In fact, I’d love to see the profession overhauled. Make it more fun and engaging to do. Reward people for being there rather than dragging ore to a can / Orca every so often. Giving mining a purpose could help also, but still, I can imagine in most cases ways around it. May just be simpler to import ore from somewhere else. As for investing in mining, I have no doubt that will be done, if income and purpose are addressed.

Removing ice is interesting, but there is the risk of mining turning into a dead profession in high sec if you take too much away. If some things are moved to lowsec, it may boost that area a little, but to be honest there is much more still to be addressed before lowsec is fine. Considering we keep seeing iterations on nullsec, I do hope this will get some love too. Not to mention factional warfare! But I disgress.

Industry

Considering that is what Faber does most of the time now, I have something to say here too. For one, I’d totally move her down to nullsec if it were worth my while. However, right now, operating out of highsec with a POS to copy and invent at is just way better, because the only way to get things like moon minerals is to go to Rens and buy them there. Or Jita for large bulk orders. I like the idea of being self-sufficient but it is not just the low end stuff that is a problem. It’s that there isn’t a market for anything down in Curse. If anything, low end stuff is in abundance due to mission loot refining.

That also has me a tad worried when they say that T2 will move down to nulsec. Prices are already high, losing a Recon or a HAC puts a good dent in my wallet at least. Good point on the hidden costs and being lucrative, but eh, unless all resources are available this will drive T2 building into the niche of pure industry corporations and alliances with sov enough to have a good moon network, or work with suppliers. They did note they want it accessible to all, but I see a lot of contradictions on this subject.

Movement and logistics

Power to the small and mobile gangs I say. Nothing quite has a whole region dock the hell up when some big alliance rolls a big ass fleet through it. And if they like, they can chase your little roaming gang around too. Which is pretty stupid, bigger ships running after smaller ones and keeping up. Not to mention they large group can just easily roll about wherever the hell they want. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good fight, but there is no getting a good fight out of a large blob when you’re a tiny little fleet. I want to be fighting other tiny fleets, or picking of targets of medium fleets, not get run into the group by yet another blob. As for the rest, well, I don’t have too much to say about that.

Exploration

If I ever retire as CEO and don’t do it because I am moving on from EVE, I’d love to explore more. Or heck, I could see it as something for Faber to do. I’ve always loved the idea of going around space and explore all these interesting sites. It’s why I love COSMOS, and why I follow the few good travel blogs the EVE blogging community has. The thing is indeed that right now for nullsec exploration you need a strong enough ship. Nothing wrong with group content through plexes, but still, the nomadic lifestyle does have a certain draw to it. And that does not mix well with big ships. I don’t mind neeeding a ship or two to get the job done, though a single exploration platform could be interesting as well. It would also add to immersion and give this feeling of a sci-fi movie, where an exploration ship travels through the void in search for its next adventure. Hah, I bet that would keep me writing too!

PVE

Solo stuff? Hell yeah. It breaks my heart when during spells of low activity, be it on the alliance side, or on a players personal side, people go back to highsec to earn income, because it may be their only option, especially when hostiles or neutrals are prodding around our home.

Risk / reward balancing is a no-brainer too. The Cartel and Serpentis LP stores do that for us, two missions and you have a Dramiel blueprint, which is 40 mil profit after what you pay the LP store, is pretty damn sweet (please do not all apply for the PRETA at once now you’ve seen these numbers!). And the Daredevil, while less popular, gives even more profit per. Even with the upcoming Dramiel nerf, these things are bound to stay in demand. But that’s pirate space. Sov space doesn’t have that shiny stuff, not unless you murder a ton of Angel rats (boo, hiss!). I’ve been informed that income there is pretty solid though, but still, this is how it always should be, not something situational due to FOTM. They may be less awesome, but other pirate factions deserve love too.

For ship classes, I absolutely fucking LOVE the epic arc. It’s so much fun to mission in an Assault Frigate or Interceptor. Whoo! Not even thinking about the sexy faction standings and rewards, I’m totally raving about it. So yes, please god yes, more of this good stuff. It’d be even more kickass because when in slightly hostile territory, now that the era of the unprobable Tengu is mostly over (RIP), that there are alternatives to being a sitting duck in a battleship.

As for rewarding groups, yes, you totally should. Because while I like to make a little ISK on my own when nobody else is about, it’s just tons more fun to get everyone on Teamspeak and go shoot some stuff and spread the standings and ISK love around.

NPC nullsec

Oh! Totally my section, this! Safety? Well, there’s a reason sov holders who get their asses kicked tend to often roll into Curse, and then not just because it is that pesky thing inbetween you need to put staging POSes in. Besides, being a sov holder isn’t for everyone, but some of us do like the mechanics of nullsec. Even though we will cuss about bubbles at times!

Owners should indeed matter. Right now, other that station benefits, and mission access, there isn’t really that much of a drive to serve the Angel cause when in Curse. Same thing with story, unless you run the missions, you won’t get much of it. Also, I wouldn’t mind that my high standings would suddenly get me benefits. I took risk to get them this high (corps at 9, faction just a smidge below 8), and since public standings showing has been nuked, I’m not feeling so special anymore. Not to mention that logically it would make sense for the Angels to be all nice to us. Not just because of roleplay, but also because of taking that and putting it to practice. It would be nice if my pilots had some incentive to work for the Cartel other than to make me happy or fill their wallets.

Collective admin sounds intriguing. Right now, another group may very well be almost as good Angel loyalists as us, doing a ton of missions too, but unless they want a NAP or become allies, you’ll just be shooting at each other. And while it is nice to have some targets next door, I do think it is a bit weird to fire on other “would totally be loyalists if they wanted to roleplay it” groups. Not to mention that I won’t say no to something that would give those of us who are here to stay a little edge against those who come here to bittervet about losing their sov or just farm Dramiel prints for income.

Also, unless I dreamt it, I could have sworn there was something written in this section about NPC rats no longer firing upon the loyalists. But since I can’t see it, please CCP, pretty please with sugar on top can we have this? I’ll have your babies if you make this come true. I mean, it’s so totally unfair that Factional Warfare has this (so you do have the mechanics) and we don’t get it. It’s no fun when you have to tell another group you fly with you can’t shoot the damn gate rats because you’re friends with them. Also, it’d make my nice and high standings feel more rewarding. But do please put public standings showing in again. Because I’d love that back too. But if I had one wish, not having rats fire upon you past a certain amount of faction standings would be quite lovely! Please?

In the same line with that, it’s all fine and dandy that you have NPC rats of the sov holding faction, but it’d be nice if it were more of a split. Sansha space isn’t too far out. Send some toasters into our space, as exploration options and in the belts. Yes, I know, we have rogue drones, but ugh I hate cleaning up drone poo, there are no bounties, and no faction loot! Yuck. May even send in some Empire rats, like you have in the missions. I did not want those Gallente and Minmatar standings anyway, nor those CONCORD standings. Oh wait, I’ve in fact done enough DED blockades to totally nuke that past Diplomacy V, and the others aren’t too far off either.

Small combat

This is our style of combat. And I agree with all the points outlined. There should be a valid alternative to the blob, and it should be fun too. I really love guerrilla warfare. And it would be quite interesting to take this beyond our home region and go poke around the nearby sov to stir up some trouble and get some good fights.

Large combat

Probably not something I’ll ever have much to say about. I’d love to be in some for the epic scale of it all, but I don’t like being a number. I do agree it should be fun for those who like to do it, and make them feel less of a number in the process too.

Small-holding

Oh look, a polite term for renting. I guess some people do take offense to it when you call them renters or pets. Which I always find funny, because it’s a pretty smart strategy, but well some egos are only satisfied with the best I guess.

I’ve pondered with the idea of renting in the past, and should we ever grow to the size of being able to support a single system, or well rather see the risk diminished that Big Bad Alliance decides they want all the pie, I wouldn’t mind dabbling into it. Having a system that says Naraka. on it and claim it for the Cartel, that’d be pretty nifty. Sadly, it brings all kinds of headache, and not enough benefits. So if that were to change for the better, who knows. Maybe we could do it just for a little while, and always have a home in Curse to return to. I think that would be pretty cool.

Territory and Conquest

Lalala, skipping right over this. Or well, mostly. I’ll just add that I don’t think this is it for me. Nor do I have the illusion that suddenly there will be a massive interest in joining an Angel Cartel roleplaying alliance. I think CVA and U’K (did they ever have sov? I think so?) are bound to stay pretty unique in that regard. Would it be cool to have? Sure. But still, even if I poured all my heart into it and could make it work, right now, the whole sov game just doesn’t appeal to me. Too much work involved, too big a risk to lose it all, and rats easily jump ship when things go bad. No, I rather keep my smaller alliance, where we are all friends and on the same page, and here to stay.

Intel

Ah, the game within the game. I love intel. Knowing who is who and being able to predict them by the knowledge you hold, or use that against outsiders. It’s fun for me. And I’m blessed with like-minded individuals in the alliance. We’ve got a good enough framework set up for it, but with Curse being ever-changing, we sure know about keeping info up to date. I’d like it if this could become almost a mini-profession, but I’d also appreciate it if it didn’t keep me doing paperwork so much. It’s the second worst after diplomacy at times. And I like to have time to actually shoot at stuff!

Home

Considering that I plan to stay in nullsec and preferably in Curse forever (strong word, but still, this is what I’ve always wanted) and keep it playing a major role in what we do, yes, making things feel like home is to be encouraged. Could help with people running back off to lowsec or highsec as well.

Blog Banter 30: NPC nullsec non-Dev Blog

Arek’Jaalan: Feedback from the silent camp

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:56:03 +0000

Disclaimer: While this article focuses on the negative, I’d like start off starting that a whole I feel Arek’jaalan is a wonderful thing to have, and so are live events as a whole. I understand that lots of time goes into this, that CCP employees have limited time available due to sometimes being on two or three projects, and that neutrality and an all-inclusive approach must be taken at all times which is a lesson that was learned the hard way in the past.

Good, now that is over, I briefly mentioned my woes on Facebook regarding A’J, but I decided that writing it all out would take quite a bit of space so I’ve gone for the blog post format instead. The point of this article is to list what irks me, both so that CCP can take that feedback and use it in future live event arcs, as well as it will hopefully help me to discover if some of these issue are perhaps not just a personal problem for which there are easy solutions. After all, even while a few others around me have expressed these concerns, that does not mean it goes for a majority of people.

Information overload

This is a double-edged sword for sure. On the one hand, if not enough people participate, then this might be the last arc we see, because players would appear as not to care or be interested. On the other hand however, the massive flood of mailing list posts, IGS posts, Backstage feedback, Tweets, and what not makes it that things are being discussed everywhere and at such a speed that I am frankly intimidated by it and have effectively given up on even trying to comprehend what is going on. “Sadly”, this is largely player-run, and where as something that is entirely driven by CCP can be slowed down or made easier to comprehend or get into, the unlimited creativity and enthusiasm of players is something which cannot nor should ever be culled.

EVElopedia is being used to bring structure to the chaos and chronicle everything both for current use as an archive as well as a recording for the future. I’ve gone through it and it has helped me grasp the key points of what is happening. But it is always lagging behind on what is happening right now. Also, it’s quite a big thing in itself already. I sat down and spent over an hour going through everything. And that does not include the archives.

Time investment

It’s summer vacation. For some that means tons of time. For others, including me, it is probably the busiest time of the year. Again, double-edged. But we see this trend throughout the whole year, and it’s prevalent in all things roleplay. Those able to invest the most time are effectively “the winners”. Their names pop up left and right and others quickly turn to them as authority figures, no matter the quality of their contribution. Again, this is something I find rather intimidating. I know I can make a worthwhile contribution. But I cannot say today how much time I will have available tomorrow, next week, or for the coming month, making it pretty hard to contribute. Not to mention that each new hook or plot seems quickly swarmed by those who are online all the time (seriously, I swear some people live on an half hour nap during DT). So why then would one even bother to get involved if it’s a race or a fight of the strongest?

No clear starting point and general vagueness

I found out about A’J a few days after it started, as the IGS tends to be so full of hollow crap it takes a fair amount of willpower to open it and skim it for the gems. Alright, fine, I decided to suck it up and go into the channel, say hello, join in the conversation, see what’s what. And I had fun. I even got to the point where I was actively influencing a topic with my character’s personal agenda in mind. And I got an actor reply to a mail I had sent out quite a while ago. Fantastic! And then I went on a four days vacation.

Four days! That’s nothing, you’d think. Well, seems a lot can happen in four days. Divisions were set up, multiple investigations had happened, there’s something with item donations, and I believe even a first meeting had taken place. Damn. The kicker is, this shouldn’t be a bad thing. It should be a good thing that things keep rolling and that you could join in again on them. Except, practically, that’s not quite how it went.

I tried, but I can’t for the life of me get an answer to the simple question of “Ok, what is going on and where can I help out?”. I get vague responses, a lot of not knowing but not wanting to admit it, or am being plain out ignored. Ok, fine, I roleplay a Cartel loyalist, that a Matari loyalist will not tell me in character what is going on is something I can still comprehend. But it’s the general vagueness that bothers me. And I’m not quite sure either what is causing it.

I’m tempted to put some blame on the metagame. Roleplay is taken beyond the usual limits. Nothing new there. It feels like this whole thing is used by some to battle out grudges and dislikes. If Party A says yes we must say no, and we must spread lies and slander on them to undermine their credibility, and if Party B happens to be bigger / more active and the general populace likes them, they’re also inclined to win in this. Ugh. If there is one thing that drains my motivation like a fleet of Curses would gobble up cap, it’s that. I’ll be way over there doing something I actually enjoy, rather than fight your bitterness. We’re not in highschool anymore, and I refuse to participate in something that is basically the popularity contest all over again.

Conclusion

While I love the fact live events are back, I’ve always regretted not being able to participate much in them, now that a big arc is unfolding there are a variety of things that stop me, and others, from getting into them. I’d rather stay in the background where I don’t have to deal with those that I’d prefer not to work with (IC or OOC), but it feels like the loud parties on the foreground are the ones who rule the scene. There is also a lot of vagueness happening making it hard to get (back) into the arc. It might all be a personal problem, or a matter of perspective, but it is still demotivating. Lots of information and perceived needed time investment are scary, and while probably not intended or desires, are also factors that cannot be avoided in a player-run environment. In short, it makes me a little sad, because it looks like all factions are going to get attention, yet my growing apathy may very well result in missing out on some Cartel goodies. Not to mention that there is so much other potential I am already missing out on. And I refuse to simply give up without a fight.

Ideas, suggestions and feedback to this would very much appreciated.

Addendum: I’ve in the meanwhile spoke to a few people who’ve given me some good advice, and reminded me that smart people see past the facades and drama, and don’t tend to like the loud-mouths either. So I’ll keep at it, because giving up means never winning. I had a good rant, then slept on it, and decided in the morning that this is still worth publishing. Responses are still very much welcome.

No related posts.

Diary of a Pod Pilot spotlight on Voices from the Void Podcast!

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:09:58 +0000

What a pleasant surprise when it was brought to my attention yesterday that this blog is featured on Episode 14 of the Voices from the Void podcast, and all that thanks to my last post where I highlighted the WGoE interview by Literia. Start about 15 minutes in to hear what they have to say. And for those who were paying attention last time, yes, I’ve gone and gotten myself interviewed for the women-only channel. Are you a woman and still not in it? Come and join me. The interview was a short and painless experience, and I had a giggle at WI.’s public TS channel names.

I’ll admit, as of late my writing has been only sporadic, and then also only out of character, something which I promise to remedy soon. The thing is that my real life situation has undergone some significant changes, including a rather impromptu decision to move countries, and there is at present still a lot of uncertainty left. And it’s not just the blog, Twitter and forum activity have also suffered. Though on the upside, my ingame activity is quite high for how things are at the moment. There is a lot going on in the corp and alliance, so much even that I don’t even have the time to really get into the Arek’Jalaan storyline arc. Good god, people do, chat and write a lot. It’s bordering on scary for some. Remember to eat, sleep, go outside, socialize and exercise, alright?

As for the feedback given through the podcast, I agree, I like to do diverse writing as it keeps things interesting and I have various ways to go about presenting a topic. And for those who only prefer one method, they can simply filter blog posts by category or even tags.

Perhaps now is a good time to ask the readers what you think of this blog? What do you like, dislike, miss or feel I should get rid of? No promises it will happen, but I like to actually hear more than “I like your blog”. Be honest and frank, I’ll love you all the more for it.

Literia interviewed on Voices from the Void podcast, talks about WGoE and roleplay

Literia interviewed on Voices from the Void podcast, talks about WGoE and roleplay

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:57:10 +0000

Just a little update to notify everyone that our very own Literia — ok, she is in DOUMA, but they are in Naraka., so she’s totally ours! — got interviewed on the Voices from the Void podcast, regarding Women Gamers of EVE and what it is like to be a woman in EVE. She also talks about how she got into the game, into roleplay, some of her background before EVE, gives a good idea of just what DOUMA and Naraka. does, and touches upon the subject of live events. Interested? Have a listen. It’s also convinced me to give WGoE a try after so many others (Mynxee, Laedy, and I’m sure I’m forgetting others here) have nudged me to get in there. Expect to see me there by next week.

Diary of a Pod Pilot spotlight on Voices from the Void Podcast!

EVE is Real, my perspective

Myrhial Arkenath — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:29:19 +0000

Submissions are open for the EVE is Real contest. I must say this is a brilliant turnaround from the drama we’ve been having lately regarding NeX, the Incarna rollout and CCP’s poor communication skills. Time to focus on what makes us all play internet spaceships to begin with and all the things CCP in fact does right. Or I should say the EVE community, and CCP seems quite prepared with this initiative to celebrate its greatest marketing tool, namely us.

For my submission I’ve selected something that was not made by me, but rather something that really got my EVE carreer rolling. The Angel Cartel (Push Eject) by Kyoko Sakoda, aka that recruitment trailer everyone loves. And damn right that they do, it’s an excellent piece of work, even now. For those of you who’ve never seen it before, I’ve included it at the end of this post.

So why does this make EVE real for me? Well, this trailer reminds me of the time when my time in Apex Unlimited was coming to an end and I spent a good while on my own before finally taking the plunge. And from there on, for those who’ve been following Myrhial’s / my story since the beginning I slowly rolled into the position where I am now, CEO of Ghost Festival, Executor of Naraka. and the person who took us from Derelik to the Amarr FW area, over to Goinard, and now finally into Curse. My, it’s been one hell of a ride and we’re still going, with so much more to come.

And that’s what really makes EVE real for me, the fact that every day the work I put in matters to many people, and that they keep amazing me with their input, and that through all these years there’s been so much I’ve gotten out of the game that goes beyond the limits of what is virtual. Just look at my interview at Fanfest, or just Fanfest as a whole, my blog of course, the tweetfleet, and the RP community. And there is so much more I am sure I am missing out on.

The funny fact is that Monoclegate, for lack of a better word, really made me realize that if EVE were to die there would be so much I’d end up missing. So much that is being taken almost for granted, and so much things that haven’t been realized yet. I seriously hope that time won’t come soon, but it is also a good reminder that we should not be scared and live our lives here and now, both the real and the virtual ones. Cut the crap and focus on what really matters. And don’t wait until tomorrow with what you can already do today.

No related posts.

Message from EON Magazine: EON issue #024

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:46:01 +0000

EON issue #024 is out, so here’s a list of what’s inside, for those of you who might not already have a subscription or are still waiting for their copy to arrive. The crew stuff really interests me, as well as the interview with TonyG. Lots of goodies under the other features as well.

EON Magazine #024 cover

CREW CONTROL
Ship crews have long been on the wish-list for players and developers alike, yet it has taken CCP years just to release the numbers. We look at how ideas for ship crews have been put forward, ask what the issues have been that have stopped crews being a feature of EVE’s combat mechanic and ponder how, if ever, New Eden’s silent NPC majority might have a say as to how battles are played out in the future.

BACK THROUGH THE WORMHOLE
We go back to the dark days of bank bail-outs to see how impending financial armageddon urged CCP to take a fearless attitude to EVE expansions. The result was fan-favourite Apocrypha, the expansion that opened EVE to wormholes, the persistent mystery and threat of the Sleepers, and the future promise of Tech-III ships.

BEYOND THE BEYOND
Continuing the wormhole theme this issue, Lex Starwalker brings us a guide to living in w-space, we have the second instalment of Pottsey’s exhaustive compendium of Sleeper theories and in our regular Tesflight round-up, Kirith Kodachi gathers together some of New Eden’s most successful wormholers, who reveal the ships and fittings they wouldn’t leave home without.

THE WRITE STUFF
With a third EVE novel being readied for the autumn, we tackle author Tony Gonzales to talk about his career as an EVE fan and a CCP Developer. We ask how The Empyrean Age came about and how Templar One will hopefully lead us into a universe where EVE capsuleer and DUST mercenary must share the spoils of war.

PLUS
* All you need to know about the Guristas
* In Crowd with CCP Sreegs and CCP Explorer
* Profiles of Red vs Blue, Phoenix Propulsion Labs and Masuat’aa Matari
* The rise and fall of Dusk and Dawn
* How to get your mates playing and loving EVE
* CSM6 – the first weeks in office
* The 0.0 Report…and all the latest news and events

Bittersweet Incarna #2: Mass hysteria and the media

Myrhial Arkenath — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:54:55 +0000

In the wake of the email leak by EN24, I want to highlight onto one point that I already touched upon in my previous article: Quoting out of context and sensationalism are making things a whole lot worse than they should have been. Let me start by outlining two real world examples that are important to know before I elaborate on this.

People jumping off of buildings to end their life. It’s a most horrific way to choose to go, as it leaves many innocents who happen to be around possibly scarred for life. What is less known however is that when the person considering the suicide is discovered, for example standing at the edge of a roof contemplating the decision, or just so caught up in fear he can neither go back nor go forward, there is a phenomena that keeps repeating itself: The gathered crowd may start to cheer on the person and encourage them to go ahead with the act. WTF, you think, who in their right minds would do that? Well, the truth is, many of us who feel we are very rational thinkers outside of crowds can get caught up into the anonymous power state that a crowd brings. When waiting for a time, often not allowed to leave because this could jeopardize a possible rescue operation already underway, irritation can reach new heights and people may resort to the only “solution” they see. And people have this thing for doing what the rest of them around them is doing, because only few like to be the outlier. This is what can cause a crowd to force a person to do something that later on, when the act has been done, and the crowd disperses, they feel very guilty and wrong about. Luckily, experienced teams know of this phenomena and will split up and remove a crowd to keep this from even starting.

Another example is that of sensationalized TV. You take something, and you leave out some details, or you make use of the flaws and uncertainty, and you put it on screen. I don’t even have to give examples because it happens all the time, even on the most reputable of news stations. Or, a related case, that of the reports on the EHEC bacteria, causes misinformation or acts not being thought fully through to result in major damage. Just look how many vegetable farmers are now in money problems because someone said “oh it was a cucumber” and the next day we blamed something else. I kept buying cucumbers all through it, because the ones suspected were of Spanish origin, and the ones at my local store happen to come from Dutch soil. So why would I suddenly stop eating cucumbers, if we’re not even remotely sure that’s what causing it, and the whole infection is so isolated to an area quite a ways away from me? Because the news said so? Because everyone went “OMG cucumbers will kill you”? Bah, I can still think and decide for myself, you know!

Ok, why are these examples important? Because I feel that EN24 is deliberately blowing the whole situation out of proportions for the sake of more readers, and people are following into the trend. Now, there is a chance they didn’t remove pieces from the newsletter. And they did say they are not 100% sure of the validity of the email. But they are still publishing their articles in an very anti-CCP way. They could have handled this very differently. They could have urged for calm, or rationalized upon what was written, but instead they continue to feed into the hysteria that is gripping our beloved internet spaceships game and the belief that “EVE is dying, so we best all quit right now”. Of course, there is also the chance that they too are in turn getting sucked up into this hysteria wave. But this is not what should be happening to a news site. Imagine the bigger and respected sources like Massively or Kotaku to do this. I’d instantly take them out of my daily reads. Because true or not true, that is not what you should be doing. You should keep an objective and neutral stance, consider all possibilities and most of all urge for calm.

That is what I want to ask of the EVE community as well. Calm the fuck down. The world is not ending. As for EVE, we will just have to wait and see. And if you really must go and quit, well, I’ll take your stuff. I’ll be here another while until we have a final verdict. And should it be all bad, well, then I’ll pass your stuff on to the next generation. But honestly, unless at this time you really mind some people are spending a stupid amount of ISK on a monocle, EVE is still very much the same as it used to be. And if they ISK of a few is going to keep the company afloat, well why the hell not? Again, as outlined in my previous post, as long as CCP only sells vanity, which at this time is the case, I don’t see any particular reasons to panic.

Bittersweet Incarna: My thoughts on the expansion and more

Myrhial Arkenath — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 01:15:21 +0000

Is this satirical image just the work of a bitter vet, or does it really mark the "beginning of the end"?

Well, damn.

That is pretty much my summarized feelings on the release of Incarna and the days after. This sure isn’t how I had imagined -the- expansion to be. Although, to be fair, Incarna is just an expansion, and I should really adopt the term “Walking in Stations” for the bigger picture. Wouldn’t suggest using that for an expansion name though!

But I digress. We have gotten some pretty awesome stuff. New turret models. Holy hell are they nice or what? ….what do you mean you’ve not even looked at them? Yes, sadly, the whole awesomeness has been gone obscured by the gigantic clusterfuck – for lack of better words – that has been the last few days.

It started with the release day. Fair enough, server down some longer, extra optional patch, whatever. CCP is handling things. Not even other MMO companies run out perfect patch cycles all the time. We’re the EVE community, so we suck it up and we deal with it (and spam Tweetfleet while waiting). But uh oh, what is this! I log in and hello there performance lag. Yep, should have known better really, CQ as it was did not run smoothly on SiSi, and likewise does not on TQ. I admit I hadn’t been on the test server in a while, because I’ve been busy way over my ears lately, but this isn’t quite what I’d expect from a finished product. Fair enough, some tuning and tinkering done, take off SLI, and I have two client running at 20-30 FPS. Q9600 and 9800 GX2, so not bad for something a little dated, eh? Maybe we’ll see a performance patch if everyone is indeed having such terrible issues. Until then, suck it up and keep going!

Oh yes, new clothes! Let’s go to the Noble Exchange- JUMPING JESUS ON A POGO STICK you want how much for a monocle? *faint* So ok, I did see those prices on the test server. And I did notice you got three PLEX to work with. But never did it occur to me that the pricing they had on there would be anywhere remotely near the real deal.

So I get to thinking, maybe it is because I am poor, or maybe it is because these are exclusive items, even though it really sucks that they not moving with your jump clone (for the price, even when exclusive, they should go on all clones). But I’m not the only one who’s going “WTF MACRO-TRANSACTIONS?!?!”. Well meh. Ok, maybe if enough people dislike it the prices will go down, or we’ll see some other changes. If everyone disliking boycots it, CCP will be forced to lower prices, right? That’s how how them evil marketing dudes, who are probably behind all these shenanigans, work, right? Riiiiight?

So, by that point I was already a bit miffed. So I pull up a turret ship in my hangar and go watch it spin to console myself with. Except there are a lot of poor suckers out there who cannot do that. And what did you give them? No, not the hangar view, like was requested, you gave them a door to stare at. Ok, fine, so it’s a nice door. But I don’t think someone thought it through that this can also be seen as pretty damn insulting or slap-in-the-face. Staring at a closed door. That’s just taunting people. And at this point, you’re taunting players who are about to overheat as bad as their video cards.

And sure enough, when the first video cards fall, so go the first player subscriptions. The former I am still apt to write off on user error, a card under heavy stress should not melt unless your system is not ready to be under stress. And no, I don’t care it runs Crysis 2 fine and you don’t have heat issues. Because Crysis 2 is probably properly fine-tuned, just asks for very high specs to squeeze out pretties + performance.

But moving on. Now here is where things got bad. Like really bad. Because someone thought it was a good idea to leak “Fearless”, CCP’s internal newsletter. EVE News 24 claims they had it for a while already, yet what we get from them is a version that is missing a few vital pages, like the clause saying that these are not CCP’s views. Good going, you wanted to get a community that is already grumbling to grab the pitchforks and torches and go on an all out revolution? This here is exactly how you do it. Now, I am not saying EN24 is alone in this (even though I find they really thrive on sensationalism). Someone on the inside did decide to leak this. Not sure with what intentions, but without the whole context, which we only got in a devblog late today, this newsletter can really be seen as something different than it really is. So whoever is responsible either did this knowing what it could unchain or did it to warn us of what might just be but did not realize we lack context. Not that it really matters. Ever since it’s seen daylight it’s spread like a wildfire and left a trail of destruction and emo in its wake.

I’ll ~~quickly~~ state my personal opinion here, it is my blog after all: I do not feel that straight PLEX to ship / ammo / modules is a good idea, as it takes industrialists out of the equation. I’m neutral on the idea of selling faction standings. If you have them, you still need to make them work for you, and well, faction boosting services did really die when CCP had to go and break the displaying of them My opinion on clothes and other vanity articles is found earlier, I couldn’t care less, because I can just not buy them. So my personal biggest gripe is the potentially taking both the sandbox and the economy away from the player. And if that were to happen, that is where the line is for me. I love creating things, even knowing someone will sooner or later blow it up. I love the idea that the hull I dropped off to the market today might tomorrow be the one that turns the tides of battle somewhere. It pleases me to see the market go wild with speculation, even more when I can profit from it. But I will not stand for it being taken away so someone can pull out their credit card, buy a GTC, get two PLEX, and turn it instantly into whatever the hell they fancy flying today. The PLEX should always go to another player in turn for the ship that you wanted and they have for sale. We, the players, make the EVE market. Not the EVE marketing department.

Good, now that’s off my chest, let’s see at what it is doing to everyone else. Or actually, wait, let’s not do that. Last morning, after taking an hesitant look at Twitter, I just had to close it. I couldn’t bear it anymore. It’s damn everywhere all the damn time. Everyone is going crazy. Now, this morning we did not have the dev blog yet, so people were riled up that is was taking a while. Fair enough, I am a veteran EVE player, and I had plenty to do yesterday, so suck it up and keep going. Taken care of everything and log back in during the evening. Oh. My. God. My entire alliance chat, our public chat, every other OOC channel I’m part off, it’s all on fire about the newsletter and the content and EVE IS DYING and RAEGQUIT and EMO and WAAAAAAH. Goodness.

And then my good friend Casiella tells me he’s leaving EVE. Now I am a pretty sentimental person, I can cry over a movie, so no surprise that a little tear ran down my cheek when he told me. Because it’s just so damn sad. He’s one of the most awesome bloggers out there, he covers interesting topics both of what is hot in EVE as well as personal ideas and views. And always written in such a way there’s never really one word too many, or you get bored halfway wondering what the point is. Well, fuck, it sucked to see other bloggers and tweeters throw down the hat but it sure as hell sucks even more when all this recent herp-derp saps the energy out of someone who days ago was sharing the awesome ideas he had for a future within EVE.

And he’s not alone. Well, granted, most people are still up on the fence. Wait a little longer, see what CCP brings. Or let subscription lapse and take a break. And they are not alone. I, too, am up on the fence. Now I admit I am on a short fuse as of late, but even then. I am finding myself with suddenly a lot less willpower to log in and get things done. Just now when everything is going so well. I have notes on my desk scribbled with ideas and all I need to do is turn them into forum posts so we can begin working on them as an alliance. But guess what. This whole combined clusterfuck has shaken my faith.

Now I know this could all end well. I can ask people in our channels to lay off the issue and remain calm. It seems absurd to me that CCP would pour proverbial concrete over the sandbox and take the sandcastles away from the players. But I also notice a recurring trend where CCP seems to be in monetary trouble. Asking $99 for third-party licensing, so-called because a contract needs a monetary charge to be bound? Ridiculous prices for clothing? Even the mere consideration of selling “game advantages”? Now I might be seeing patterns where there are none, it’s human to search for patterns in everything and it can be a true curse, but what if I’m right? We know that Dust requires a heavy money investment, and that Iceland got hit pretty damn hard by the credit crunch. So what if that is at the root of this all? Money? It sounds so simple, and even if I am wrong, it’s probably still a deciding factor somewhere. CCP is needing money for something. And the usual ways are not sufficient.

But I will say this: Having spent a fair bit of my game time trading, one of the core principles I learned is that many small profits can make you rich, yet one bad investment can bankrupt you. Buyers too, are pretty naive. Feed us several small chucks, and we’re likely to buy more, due to the feeling of free will. Yet ask someone to drop down one big sum, and the same person will suddenly be far more hesitant. Dear CCP, if you really need money, why did you not do something else. Raise everyone’s subscription by one euro, perhaps even for just one month. Or give us many cheap clothes to buy. They didn’t even need to be all that fancy. Perhaps faction t-shirt, or replicas from the EVE store. I bet you they’d have sold. You’d have gotten your ISK. I was fully planning on buying clothes for my character. But right now I’m just not even sure I want to anymore.

Yep, that sounds pretty emo too, but that’s how I am feeling right now. I see my alliance members being sad, upset, angry, or any combination. And depending on what you decide somewhere in the future, as we are not being given any more guarantees anymore, I may or may not lose them over something that is completely outside of my power. If I make a shitty call, or if I am not careful and recruit a bad apple, it will be my fault that things implode. If others decide to raze us to the ground, it will be their fault and I can accept that, as that is what makes EVE into the game it is. But when you, the company I’ve held in such high admiration for being bold and defiant, for saying bring it on to the larger studios, and for proving an experience which is until this day wholly unique, do this, well, that stings. Because it is you, really, who has the power to decide if EVE lives or dies. And we, the community, might be critical, and really would you want it any other way? But now, you are pushing us over the edge, and people are responding. Attacking the Caldari memorial, moving from trade hub to trade hub to protest, because even threadnaughts will not do any longer. No, I am not saying it is all right and justified, some people are taking it too far, a community representative should not get spammed on Twitter for example (leave CCP Fallout alone, she’s a dear <3 and the rest of the Tweeting employees for that matter). But I am saying that we, your community, are worried and afraid. Because this reminds us of something in which Sony too was involved, and it ain’t too hard to point at Dust then.

So, in conclusion, I too feel struck by recent events. I keep hoping, but I also worry. I care about my favorite pastime. Because as you said it, EVE is real. I think a whole lot of things could already have been done better. But unless you deliver what I and many others consider the final blow with taking the sandbox away from us, I will be here to see how things work out, and perhaps in a few months we will laugh about this. But let it be said, that should it come to a point where I see so many people leave there is hardly an alliance left to run, or I look at my friends list and all the people who I really cared for are gone, well, then I will leave too and a small miracle will need to take place to ever gain me back. Because I’m not the kind of person to half-ass things. It’s all or nothing. Please prove me wrong and make internet spaceships into the glorious vision it could be

PS: You know what is really damn ironic? Check Valnurana’s bio ingame. When I created her to be my trader, way before she’d be the alliance holder, I had just seen Wall Steet and admired the character that is Gordon Gecko, wanted to do some light roleplay with her inspired on that. Yet with the whole newsletter thing, those words and the whole movie reference feels pretty damn bad all of a sudden.

Alliance Tournament IX: Finals

Myrhial Arkenath — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:55:34 +0000

Finals day! Again, bolded are winners and underlined are my guesses for the contests. Big congrats to Morwen Lagann on winning the G-19 keyboard!

15:00 The Kadeshi vs. Perihelion Alliance: Minmatar rush with Machariels versus Tengu kite team.
15:20 DarkSide. vs. Pandemic Legion: Amarr rush team versus Tengu / Guristas rush team. The latter rushed right in and got their asses handed.
15:40 Black Legion vs. P0wer 0f Tw0: Proteus / Loki with Guardian support versus Kite team with Nighthawk support (no logistics). Kite team got kited by Loki long range webs and brought to its knees.
16:00 White Noise. vs. Outbreak.: Shield team versus ECM with rush Tengus.
16:20 Wildly Inappropriate. vs. Paisti Syndicate: Minmatar rush versus ECM. WI was able to make a lot of the ECM fall, but Paisti was the stronger opponent in a superior setup.
16:40 Negative Ten. vs. HYDRA RELOADED: Recon mixbag versus ECM with rush Tengus.
17:00 B A N E vs. WE FORM VOLTRON: Gallente damage verus Minmatar rush. Flawless victory for Voltron.
17:20 SOLAR FLEET vs. RAZOR Alliance: Kiting with damps versus anti rush Amarr team.

BREAK

18:20 Perihelion Alliancevs. DarkSide.: Minmatar rush versus Amarr rush team from previous match. Excellent target calling from Darkside.
18:40 Black Legion vs. Outbreak.: Tengu/ Guristas rush versus Minmatar rush team.
19:00 Paisti Syndicate vs. HYDRA RELOADED: ECM / Minmatar versus Minmatar with damp and Bhaalgorn as flagship.
19:20 WE FORM VOLTRON vs. RAZOR Alliance: Caldari with Curse and Huginns versus Gallente rush with logistics. Long game! Shame of the boundary violations for Voltron. Razor beat what should have been their counter with style.
20:00 DarkSide. vs. Outbreak.: Legion / Blood raider / Curse setup for the third time, versus Minmatar rush.
20:30 HYDRA RELOADED vs. RAZOR Alliance: Minmatar rush versus Minmatar / Curse rush. Curses are pretty deadly for Hydra. Hydra opted to take out Logistics first and then take on the Curses. Top piloting!
21:30 Outbreak. vs. HYDRA RELOADED: Minmatar rush versus Gallente rush with damps. Game was totally engineered. Too bad, but that’s just EVE at its finest I guess.

We had a ton of people lined up in the Skyhook for the finals too: Black Arcturus, Aria Jenneth, Vincent Pryce, Literia, Mikael Angelo, Lt Graham, Nikita Alterana, Victoria Stecker, Kimochi Rendar, Esna Pitoojee, Jekaterine, Mike Azariah, Kyoko Sakoda and Jekaterine.

Big thanks for CCP for setting this up, lots of lols were had, and I really loved that the devs came on and answered (hard) questions.

Alliance Tournament IX: Group matches – Day 3

Myrhial Arkenath — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:03:26 +0000

Slightly simpler blog format today as some of my favorites are actually just not having a chance at going to the finals anymore, and I also managed to miss the start due to being busy with other urgent business. Bolded are winners, underlined are votes I made for the forum contest.

15:00 The G0dfathers vs. Wildly Inappropriate: Missed this! Appearantly it was a Loki kite team what sweeped up a Gallente rush team.
15:20 The Kadeshi vs. Get Off My Lawn: Just for fun loss.
15:40 Vanguard Imperium vs. Paisti Syndicate: Vanguard Amarr setup, as they knew they didn’t really have a chance anymore.
16:00 Perihelion Alliance vs. Sev3rance: Minmatar versus Proteus team. Early mistake but a beautiful recovery.
16:20 Against ALL Authorities vs. DarkSide.: Fail, fail and more fail on -A-’s side. Intentional stalling, I bet. Sore losers
16:40 Negative Ten vs. Raiden: HAM Legions versus ECM team. Very nice ECM counter. LOL @ Raiden offering 20 bil for self-destruct.
17:00 Pandemic Legion vs. HYDRA RELOADED: Amarr (Heavy Pulse Laser ECM counter) versus Minmatar rush team. The latter had an easy time to take the ECM counter down.
17:20 Ushra’Khan vs. Unaffiliated: U’K can’t win anymore but brings a fantastic brawl setup. Entertaining watch.

BREAK

18:20 Black Legion vs. B A N E: Minmatar rush team versus armor BS team. Looked like B A N E couldn’t care less about the game.
18:40 Lack of Imagination vs. Nulli Secunda: Sentry Domis and armor Nighthawks versus a beautiful Amarr team.
19:00 WE FORM VOLTRON vs. The R0NIN: Minmatar rush team versus Myrmidon /Curse Gallente / Amarr mix team.
19:20 Aggravated Assault.. vs. POWER OF TWO: Handicap team versus Tengu kite team.
19:40 RvB – Red Federation vs. SOLAR FLEET: Caldari kite sans Logistics, versus Minmatar rush. Not at all the team RvB was expecting. They edged very closely to a win however, but alas lost by two (!) points.
20:00 White Noise vs. Babylon 5..: Minmatar rush team versus Battleship fail team.
20:20 RAZOR Alliance vs. Outbreak: T1 BS brawl versus something else brawly. Outbreak gave the win to RAZOR. That just annoyed the hell out of me. Silly metagaming.
20:40 Circle-of-Two vs. Wild Boars: Wild Boars opted for a 50 point handicap but the previous game changed the metagame around. So ships opted to just form a conga line instead.

We also had a ton of people watching the matches @ The Skyhook again: Jekaterine, Morwen Lagann, Mikael Angelo, Kimochi Rendar, Victoria Stecker, Sognec El’Kendan, Kyoko Sakoda, Dograzor and Deadrow. We’ll be there for the finals, so if you’re a roleplayer don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity.

Alliance Tournament IX: Group Matches – Day 2

Myrhial Arkenath — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:16:30 +0000

As promised yesterday, for day 2 I have a slightly more detailed review of what I made of the matches. The legend for the table below is as follows: Bold = winners, underlined = my votes on the contests, and italics = my preferred and / or expected winners. Just like yesterday I sadly did not win anything.

15:00	RAZOR Alliance	vs.	Wild Boars
15:20	Circle-of-Two	vs.	Outbreak
15:40	*RvB – Red Federation*	vs.	Babylon 5..
16:00	White Noise	vs.	SOLAR FLEET
16:20	WE FORM VOLTRON	vs.	POWER OF TWO
16:40	Aggravated Assault..	vs.	The R0NIN
17:00	Black Legion	vs.	Nulli Secunda
17:20	Lack of Imagination	vs.	B A N E
BREAK
18:20	Pandemic Legion	vs.	Unaffiliated
18:40	Ushra’Khan	vs.	HYDRA RELOADED
19:00	*Against ALL Authorities*	vs.	Raiden.
19:20	Negative Ten	vs.	DarkSide.
19:40	*Vanguard Imperium*	vs.	Sev3rance
20:00	Perihelion Alliance	vs.	*Paisti Syndicate*
20:20	The G0dfathers	vs.	Get Off My Lawn
20:40	The Kadeshi	vs.	Wildly Inappropriate

15:00: Setup looks like something from yesterday’s PL match, but with more Rook. About equally boring to watch. It’s sure working for them though, so not a bad decision. Wild Boars could have been deadly against other setups.
15:20: Should have listened to my gut feeling. Circle-of-Two really got rushed down.
15:40: ECM!!! from RvB. Babylon 5 is kinda short on ships, hoping for handicap win I think. Got risky about halfway, but luckily RvB won. Mistakes made on both sides, however. Did Babylon have ECCM?
16:00: Two close-quarter setups, Keres losses made the match. Smart kiting happening.
16:20: Gallente rush team! Whoo! Exciting match!
16:40: ECM versus damps. Taking out Curse first is a good idea, but Rook fail cascade. Proteus has sensor subsystems. That’s one sure way to beat the ECM-cookiecutter.
17:00: Minmatar rushteam. ’nuff said
17:20: B A N E looked superior right from the start, and proved that to be right.
18:20: ECM setup again for PL, Unaffiliated goes with damage. Flawless victory for PL.
18:40: Arty setup by Hydra, seems to be a good counter for the ECM-heavy setup of U’K. Learned from last match, but faced a counter once again.
19:00: Bombers getting popped by the Sleipnirs, Minmatar superior damage output.
19:20: ECM versus ECM, Darkside. won the initial jamming round and did actually bring some damage.
19:40: Amarr setup versus Tengu / ECM / support DPS. Stalemate. Then a slow but steady victory for Vanguard Imperium, except Severance takes a point win at the end with knocking out a Paladin.
20:00: Another Amarr setup versus ECM / Minmatar damage.
20:20: Rushteam versus Tengu kite team. Sabers on both sides dying.
20:40: Blaster versus Blaster team. Kadeshi was the stronger one.

The Skyhook saw a bunch more guests than yesterday, and I even managed to pull in a few people from the Tweetfleet. Here’s a full list of attendees who all came and watched the AT in character: Aria Jenneth, Morwen Lagann, Kimochi Rendar, Jekaterine, Usagi Tsukino, Logan Fyreite, Mikael Angelo, Black Arcturus, Literia and Deadrow. Some of them, like Literia, were very spirited about the matches which made it all the more fun.

Morwen Lagann and Black Arcturus are now also on Twitter, so go ahead and follow them!

All in all, I must say this was a very enjoyable weekend, and I look forward to the next one.

Alliance Tournament IX: Group Matches – Day 1

Myrhial Arkenath — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 22:21:49 +0000

Having only followed it from a distance during the previous installments, I decided to get in on the hype this year and watch the televised matches now that time allows me. I also participated in the official contests being run on the forums, Twitter and Facebook, though so far haven’t won any prizes. My votes looked like this, bold are the winners and underlined are what I had voted for:

Perihelion Alliance vs. Vanguard Imperium

Negative Ten vs. Against ALL Authorities

Unaffiliated vs. HYDRA RELOADED

Nulli Secunda vs. B A N E

Babylon 5.. vs. SOLAR FLEET

Wild Boars vs. Outbreak

Memorable matches are RvB – Red Federation versus White Noise. I was so crossing my fingers for that Baahlgorn to die. Shame RvB lost a Tengu to boundary violation, that could have been a win. The hero Tengu at the end was awesome!

I also really loved the Hero Machariel of Circle-of-Two, was pretty certain drones would not finish it off but it go so close.

What really made this day for me though was that around the U’K match (poor bastards got jammed so badly, I felt bad for them!) Aria and Nausea started to watch the Tournament in character in The Skyhook, and around the next match I joined them there. Later on Kyoko joined us for a little while too. Great roleplaying fun, I’d never quite done something like that, closest would be the discussion of live events. It looks like we will be there again tomorrow, so other roleplayers, experienced or not, and no matter if you know us or not, are very welcome to join in. Let’s have a blast with this!

For a detailed view of what I made of the other matches, best follow me on Twitter, as I am avidly participating in the conversation there. Might do a report on all matches tomorrow, we’ll see what time allows for. For now, I am going to kick back at The Skyhook a little longer before bedtime and enjoy me some well-deserved RP. I’ve been working way hard on alliance matters lately!

Mobile goodness

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:35:19 +0000

I’ve installed the WordPress Mobile Pack in order to make blog reading quite a bit friendlier on our mobile visitors. Not seeing a great many in Google Analytics (about 3% of the traffic) but perhaps that just is because the desktop theme is quite terrible on mobile browsers. Casiella suggested a mobile theme in the past, and now that I have my own smartphone I actually enjoy keeping up with comments or draft a quick post outline while on the road. The theme is one of the default ones, perhaps at some points I’ll add something prettier.

For more mobile browsing goodness the Naraka forums have also been pimped out with phpBB Mobile, which while still under development does the trick quite well (new posts cannot be made yet, and mobile / desktop switching is a little tedious). Depending on user feedback I may get rid of it again and just offer a mobile theme + a theme switcher, as I’ve seen on other forums.

Please leave a comment if you’ve used the new mobile version of this site to let me know what you think of it!

No related posts.

SiSi preview: Captain’s Quarters

Myrhial Arkenath — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:42:08 +0000

As a follow-up to this post, I hopped on SiSi to go and take a look at the more finished results, as Incarna is hitting on June 21th! Yes, I know, some of you don’t really feel that CQ equals Incarna, but it’s a pretty damn nice start.

Sticky shadows graphics glitch

I’m logged on a few minutes and already breaking things! The shadow layer sticks to the screen, as if burned in. Tabbing out fixes it. Hope this one will be eliminated in the final release, even though the fix is not too bad, it’s pretty freaky to watch.

Archon hovering happily in dock

Let’s take a look at the biggest ship I own. Looks like it was built right inside of the station, and nobody thought what would happen if I’d like to undock with it. I hope the ceiling opens or something, because awesome as it is to see, from an immersion point of view this is interesting to explain.

Docked Tengu, for scale comparison

The Tengu looks a little less silly when docked. I do wonder if the Archon was scaled down to fit in the station, because seeing both undocked the latter looked smaller next to the carrier.

Even the smallest hulls are impressive on the new display

Here’s another snap, of a Crow this time. This shows really well that even frigates are humbling to the individual pilot, as prime fiction does outline them to be as big as a jumbo-jet.

Oh hey, so that's where my undock button went!

Just because it has become a running gag that my undock button is broken or lost when I am finding myself lost under a pile of CEO work again!

My pod in dock, waiting for its pilot

Ok, I really love how they added the pod to the station interior. Shame you cannot walk all the way up to it, but that’s just a gorgeous detail!

Ship spinning is now automated, so capsuleers can chill on the sofa and watch TV.

The screens are now actually showing information and are interactive. I hope in the future we get to customize them. I didn’t find the market ticker option yet, hope that is still coming. What I’d really love though is being able to watch EVE related movies (trailers, fan work) on the screen.

Myrhial admiring her pretty self in the mirror

Caldari dresses. Oh god yes! This is exactly the kind of stuff I envision Myrhial to be wearing. Can’t wait for the uniform style stuff from the Aurium store either. I have this dreadful feeling though that soon all my ship funds is going to be poured into vanity items.

I'm a sucker for details like that.

No, this picture was not an ass-shot, look up! It’s a small detail, but things like that just really complete the feel for me.

Front shot to show off pretty Caldari outfit

I can’t get over how awesome my character looks, sorry! Please continue to the next picture.

Epic Arc warning

I really love how the screen shows all kinds of useful informative tidbits. There is also sovereignty info, incursion warnings, a warning from Aura when you do not have a skill trained, certificates that are available, market data, and blurbs of in character news. Yep, I’m totally happy to give up ship spinning for this.

Wonder what it says.

One last thing I noticed, there is something written on what I assume is the door locking mechanism. I tried to zoom in as well as I could, but I can’t seem to read what it says. Anyone have a clue?

Blog banter #26: EVE shines, and not just visually

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:45:13 +0000

Welcome to the twenty-sixth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week or so to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month’s topic was proposed by @KatiaSae of the much praised “To Boldly Go” blog. Katia asks: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As an astrophotographer, I’ve found it in the stars and planets of New Eden. Where have you found it? Perhaps you’ve found beauty in the ships we fly? Maybe it’s the sight of profits being added to your bottom line? Or maybe it’s the pilot portraits you see in the comm channels? Where ever you’ve found it, write about it and post an image.” Don’t be afraid go beyond the simple visual aspects of EVE as well. Is the EVE Community in itself a thing of beauty? What makes EVE the game, the world, the Community, so appealing to you?

I well remember the first time I visited the EVE Online website after a friend talked me into trying it. I went to look for screenshots and was amazed by what I saw. Such pretty space! It was the expansion before Trinity, so ships still looked rather bad, but I didn’t even mind that. The UI also immediately captured my attention. Damn, this looks complicated, will I be able to get good at this? I feared it would be like a flight simulator but thank god it wasn’t so bad.

When we got the Trinity expansion, and in more recent times a new Scorpion model, EVE improved upon its looks. And the option to have anti-alias without tinkering with your card settings should not be forgotten either. In the future we are in for a treat as well: New turret models, new nebulae, and let’s not forget Incarna, of which we already got the character creator! Let’s face it, we all love our beautiful new selves, and soon we get to walk around our very own quarters. When it comes to looks, EVE sure keeps pleasing with the eye-candy.

But looks are not everything. I find beauty in the interaction between people as well, and the community. There might be a bad case of the Bitter Veteran Syndrome at times, and the forums can be a cesspit, but the blogging community, Tweetfleet and roleplay community are examples that spring to mind of how despite all this we players band together and build EVE outside of the game.

Beauty too lies in the ways how people make the sandbox work for themselves. There’s a vibrant market, which goes beyond the buying and selling on market and contracts. Services of all kinds are offered. Signatures, hosting, wormhole locations, standings services, jump clones, training, you name it, we got it and if we don’t someone will likely make it.

And then there are interesting corporate / alliance ideas. Mercenary groups, corporations that live exclusively in w-space, all the roleplay concepts ect. And let’s not forget the propaganda material that comes with this. Everyone knows Goonswarm’s Little Bees song, and there is a plethora of recruitment videos and graphics some of which the originality and amount of work involved is just staggering. And this is what really makes EVE shine. Because let’s be honest, after a year or two of playing, you can be done with it, if you went and tried a bit of everything. But it is the community that makes people stay for far longer, and try far more than they’d ever done alone, or even would have just known about.

Fanfest 2011: Interview with EVE TV

Myrhial Arkenath — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:33:29 +0000

This is me being interviewed by the lovely StevieSG from EVE TV at Fanfest 2011. Note how I got the URL wrong at the end, but as you’re viewing the blog that should not be an issue, you have the correct one in your address bar.

Those now thinking that they were also interviewed and would like to obtain theirs, simply contact Stevie about it and she will get you yours. May want to do it before the end of the month though, as she is moving on to another project. We will miss you Stevie! <3

Duality sneak preview: Captain’s Quarters

Myrhial Arkenath — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:55:07 +0000

As announced in the latest dev blog, Captain’s Quarters (CQ) are now available for testing, alongside with the New Player Experience (NPE). This post is going to focus just on me squealing over finally being able to run around as my character and my take on the initial-still-very-much-under-development hands-on experience.

Can you find the button?

This is the first thing in the room that caught my attention. A nice big holoscreen displaying useful tidbits of information, well expect there was not much sov information to be shown. Not sure if that’s because we’re in NPC space here, or there just ain’t sov on Duality. There seems to be incursions though!

A larger view of your home

Here’s a bit of a larger view. Do ignore the textures still missing and the lack of light sources here and there. At least you’re not exposed to the flickering of shadows. The screen on your left is the corporation center, or recruitment for those still looking for a corporation. The one on the right takes you to PI.

Sitting down on the sofa, ignore that she is actually floating in front of it

Closer look at the sofa and table. The little holoscreen is the agent finder, unfortunately not yet available. One of those features that pique my interest. I expect some sorts of eve-agents equivalent. The thing on the right opens fitting and hangar, and is what will contain a little ship model. Not sure if that is working already or just broken for STRAC’s.

Tengu looks terribly small from way over here

Speaking of STRAC’s, that lump of metal way over there is my Tengu. Looks weird from way over here. Didn’t have any other ships on hand to swap out to though.

"Goodness, this is all quite impressing", Myrhial thinks to herself.

And that’s Myrhial, looking impressed and a little confused as well. I don’t blame here, it is a lot to take in.

At this point, there is only one direct wishI have to express: Add strafing as well as mouse turning, please. The current movement feels very counter-intuitive and clunky. With such realistic models we need fluidity to go with it. An option to run wouldn’t be bad either. If only because walking up and down the bridge takes a bit, and might discourage people from using the CQ interface when needing to remain combat-ready.

Message from EON Magazine: ISK 3.0 Guide

Myrhial Arkenath — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:40:20 +0000

Your manual to riches

As most of you know, we released the ISK 3.0 Guide in February as a free download – to huge critical acclaim. [ISK = Industrial-Sized Knowledgebase]. This is the exhaustive manual, which EVE has been crying out for since 2003!

Since the release of that free PDF edition, we’ve been inundated with requests for a printed version, a physical product you can hold, pick up and refer to either AFK or while playing the game. We’ve listened, and we’ve responded.
So here it is; ISK Volume 1 as a physical product is now available to pre-order. This monumental near 400 page wiro-bound volume covers everything there is to know about EVE – whether you’re on a 14-day trail account or you’re an experienced long-termer. As a special offer for the early birds among you, there’s even a $5 discount for all pre-orders; in order to receive the discount you MUST apply the code ISK305. If you don’t see the discount being applied immediately, check again before completing your order.
The pre-order period (and therefore the $5 discount) lasts until April 14th. Click here and we’ll take you right along to the Store…

PS: This offer is now extended to Friday 22nd April. I failed to put this up in time, good thing Allen Grey from EON Magazine sent me a reminder. Apologies for that!

Gallente Independent Progression Alternative gala evening

Myrhial Arkenath — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:25:47 +0000

All guests were dressed in proper gala fashion

When Gallente throw a party, you’re usually in for a treat, so when the Gallente Independent Progression Alternative sent an invitation my way I relayed it over our network and made plans to attend myself. Should have known that a political gala implies a more dull nature however. In fact it ended up being more dreary than anything I’ve ever been to. The food was excellent however, and the setting of the Crux Agora altogether interesting enough to keep me around for the larger part of the event.

I believe that the different expectations of what this event could have been may have also ruined the result. Lots of capsuleers meeting up in an asteroid belt nextdoor to Old Man Star? It could have been a clever trap had someone brought some smartbombs, or an opportunity for those opposing the Gallente to show their dislike and undertake a suicide mission. Or perhaps I’m just thinking this through too much.

Sadly enough I had to tune in stationside as I am no longer welcome in the Federation. Looks like working for the Cartel I might have shot down just a little too many of their forces. Their problem though, the Federate Navy has no business in Curse, and you are not getting away with the excuse of diplomatic relations when you come in and mess with Angel business. But I suppose once in a while they have to make it seem like they are doing something, rather than not dealing with Cartel influence within the Federation itself. Not that you’ll hear me complain about that.

Speaking of influence, there sure is some irony in the fact that the larger part of the guests, among which some of the most vocal, were actually aligned with one or another “pirate” faction. Of which then the number of Angels and Serpentis loyalists put the representation of the Guristas and Sansha bloc(s) to shame. Wonder what’s the word on that now anyway, are they or are they not in bed with each other? There’s just no information coming out of Venal… Anyway, I decided to silently blend into the background. Let others do the talking for a change. Noticed Marcus did not care much for it either and left even sooner than I did. I would blame it on our Caldari heritage, but then again Nethys was leading the conversation with our host.

I stopped by The Skyhook when I couldn’t stand staying any longer. Noticed Morgane Lysander had the same idea. When I went to order a cup of tea Morwen walked in as well, whom I had not seen in ages, so she came up to me and we exchanged greetings. Kimochi arrived some moments later and tried say hello to me too, but alas I had to leave the establishment to respond to an urgent Neocom call and related business which took up the remainder of the night.

No related posts.

Guide: Easy re-positioning of a character portrait to the former pose

Myrhial Arkenath — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:44:39 +0000

Credits for this guide go to Velarra, who initially instructed me on this. I just decided to write it out and publish it because some of you might still find it helpful. Instruction filepaths are for Windows Vista and I assume Windows 7 as well, and assume that your client resides on the C: drive. Users of other OS’s will need to investigate the correct paths for themselves, sorry!

Ingame, click the character you want to start with and do ‘capture portrait’. This will appear under ‘C:\Users\\Documents\EVE\capture\Portraits’ (for both TQ and SiSi clients, beware of overwrite!). If you are porting a portrait between TQ and SiSi I suggest you make guideline screenshots of the sliders and settings. These are found in the screenshot folder under ‘C:\Users\\Documents\EVE\capture\Screenshots’.
Enter character creation, re-sculpt or re-customization, whichever applies. Sculpt, dress and decorate to your liking and press ‘next’.
Open a second explorer window and head to ‘C:\Users\\AppData\Local\CCP\EVE\c_program_files_ccp_eve_tranquility\cache\Pictures\Portraits’. This is the folder where the game saves the snaps if you use the four portrait boxes in portrait mode. You might find some old shots here. Either save them somewhere if you want them, or clear out the folder for now.
Copy the capture from step 1 to the folder from step 3.
Open the image from step 4 and start tilting / turning / zooming ingame until you feel it somewhat looks like your old portrait again. You can use Windows Photogallery, or another image viewer that will allow you to switch back and forth between images rapidly.
Hit the snapshot option ingame, and you will see a second picture appear in the folder, this being what you just captured ingame. If you are using Windows Photogallery, then press next to go to your new portrait draft. Sometimes it might not realize a new image was added, if so close Photogallery and simply open the new image.
Uh oh, it probably still differs a bit! Click back and forth rapidly and you can see the character “jump”, giving a good indication of what you need to change still.
Keeping the drafted image open (this is important for Windows Photogallery, because it will only refresh the image when it is opened, not when you take a snapshot when viewing the old image), make your adjustments and take another snapshot in the same slot as you used before. If done correctly, the image in Windows Photogallery will refresh.
Click back and forth again, you should be closer to the desired result now. A small tip here is use certain points in the background image as a landmark. Was the shoulder covering it, or not at all. Did the head reach up that high? If all else fails hold some fingers against the screen to “mark” the distance. Remember to clean icky finger stains from screen afterwards.
Keep repeating step 8 and 9 until both images look the same, or close enough.
Happy with your new portrait? Hit finalize and return to the game.
Soon your friends and enemies will likely be jealous on how you were able to customize without losing your old pose. Either laugh in their faces, or link them to this guide to enlighten them how you did it.

Incursion 1.4: Faber gets her nano-tattoo back

Myrhial Arkenath — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:01:55 +0000

Nano-tatoo love

Yay hurrah for Incursion 1.4 and all the goodies it brings, though the first thing I did after logging on was giving Faber her beloved nano tattoos back. I also fiddled a little with piercings, but felt that made the image just too busy. So that is how she is going to look for a while, at least until I decide to next play with her portrait again.

I am so in love with the character recreation option. Everything was remembered except I had to turn and tilt the entire character back into position, and zoom in / out a few times to get the right distance back. However, and I had a little rave about this, clicking back and forth between customization and portrait remembers ALL settings. Unfortunately the turning and tilting has to be done again upon each re-customization, which I am not sure if it is a bug, or if the data for that is not remembered, or if that just wasn’t finished in time. I do hope that at some point all settings will be remembered. But this is a big step ahead already.

Also, for those of you who are really enthusiastic about the character creator, I noticed a few thin-band tank tops added to the clothing collection. Sweet, more choice! I cannot wait however until we get collections, right now many characters still look very similar in fashion. But well, good things come to those who wait, right?

As for the piercing option, I have to nitpick slightly about the diamonds and other gem studs. They look rather plastic / cheap under hard light, soft light seems to combat it a little. I know those textures are just hard to make them look realistic, but that put me off a little. Some of the other studs on the other hand are really damn well designed. Good on you, Minmatar and other piercing enthusiasts.

Fanfest 2011 review – The days after

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:25:25 +0000

Day 6-7: Sunday and Monday: R&R and the journey home

Time for rest and recuperation to nourish our tired bodies and souls. So we headed to the “tower by the penis mall” (you know a country is small when you can give a cab driver directions like that and they take you to the right spot) for brunch. Felt like we were trolling the place, it was all fancy pants and we rolled in there with our newly mohawked people, gamer shirts and hungover looks. Food was amazing though and resulted in a second foodcoma that week.

We ran rather late however and I decided to skip out on spending just two hours at the Blue Lagoon in favor of getting some hours of sleep. Which turned out to be an excellent plan as in the evening when everyone returned the drinking and partying was picked up again. So instead of going to bed and not getting sleep anyway worrying that I might not wake up for the taxi that would arrive at 5 AM (I am an incredibly sound sleeper) I just stayed up and chatted with people for one last time. Which gave me a chance to meet old Apex Unlimited alliancemate Gorion Wassenar. And enjoyed Jank’s pancakes one last day (3 AM and semi-drunk really is the best time to make them). By the time the taxi arrived to take a group of us to the airport everyone finally went to bed.

The journey back home was smooth sailing all the way, real nice flying weather. Vince was not so lucky, his flight was cancelled resulting in a 10 hour wait. At least they got him a dayroom. Had my usual fight with security again, even though this time I had taken off my shoes they still gave my bag a full search. Not the coins this time, which I had already taken out, but I forgot to take out one adapter which was hard to find in a black bag. Chatted a little with Leon while waiting at my gate and ended up participating in an anonymous airport survey at Stockholm airport, and was totally knackered when I finally ended up in Schiphol again, despite getting some good sleep on both planes. Luckily my boyfriend was there to pick me up and drive me home after getting dinner at the Burger King. Nomnom junk food. I stayed up a little longer hugging my cat who was trying to fake not having missed me (he was cranky all week for me not being there, such a drama queen really) and chatting with the alliance. Couldn’t focus for shit though and called it an early night, only to wake up like over 12 hours later.

All in all I had a really wonderful time, I really miss the people, I so want to go to the next Fanfest again, and I want to give a big shoutout to all the people I met up with and really made this the best Fanfest till date. For those who did not go this year, seriously, go next year if you can make it. It is so much more than just some presentations.

Fanfest 2011 review – Saturday

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:04:22 +0000

Day 5: Saturday: Fanfest day 3

Started off the day with the GM panel, since having done customer support as part of my old job means I am opinionated on it. Handdrawn slides best slides too, helped turn a rather boring subject into something entertaining. I also recalled my idea of putting it on the website news if for some reason customer support will be delayed or unavailable, which was received positively. Waiting a whole week for a reply is slightly less frustrating after all if you know there is a reason for it. Was also neat to get some insight into automated reimbursements, and all the tracking that is involved with that.

After meeting up with Roc again and giving him the hug he asked for I went over to watch the PVP finals. I never find it that interesting, same reason I tend to not even bother with the Alliance tournaments, shooting is a thousand times more interesting than watching shooting. Luckily the Pandemic Legion team, which had a surprising amount of Goons in it, entertained the crowd with a rainbow laser team and even took the third place home with that.

Gigaer also wanted a hug after this, and together with Roc and him I went over to the live events presentation. This was really very interesting, not just to hear about how they work but how they have to run off a shoestring budget and how they tackled that many dev hax commands no longer worked. Funny too to hear how things not always go as planned, like faction warfare groups favoring to shoot each other instead of the Sansha, and how they rolled with player content like Seriphin’s family abduction leading to the well-known Slave Heavenbound character. I can only say respect after this, to run into so many problems and yet delivering an awesome job. I regret staying away from them as I was always fearful of player favoritism. And since we were promised there would be more focus on all the factions in the future I plan to totally get involved and have a blast with it.

And now came the highlight of the Fanfest: CCP presents. I ended up somewhere in the very back though as there simply weren’t enough seats reserved, but in the end that actually played out better as watching the grand screen did not involve me having to strain my neck looking up. There was so much sexy in one presentation and various times I ended up squealing like a proper fangirl. New turret effects! And the EVE Forever vision trailer. Ohgod! That last one was so good they ended up playing it a second time. Being a tech junkie I did also enjoy nvidia showing off the goodies they are selling to CCP and how CCP creates a demand for them. Nice.

In the downtime before the party we went and got ourselves fixed with some yummy asian food. The start of the party was really nice, Roxor and Permaband are made of win and the PartyZone Allstars played some good tunes to dance to. The party was then opened to outsiders and that is where it went downhill for me. The room quickly became too packed and the mood suffered. FM Belfast wasn’t really my thing but I stayed since Booka Shade sounded like a good close to the evening. Unfortunately a little incident took place shortly after they took the stage. A guy before we ended up standing on my feet and when I gave him a polite nudge he turned around and groped me, which the lady with him thought to be quite hilarious. It was so unexpected, random and downright embarrassing I ended up leaving with the people who were with me following and helping me calm down again. Seriously, I’ve done my share of going out and never before have I experienced that. Even when going out during other evenings at the bar the mood was generally good. I’m not the only one who feels negative about it though, many others echoed similar sentiments or tweeted them. Stories went around about people doing coke on the dancefloor, and someone witnessed security having to handcuff and remove a guy. Not to mention it got so overcrowded we were no longer allowed on the platform were Veto was sitting and some that went out for a smoke were not even allowed inside anymore. That’s such a sharp contrast with how the EVE community is and I hope next year the party will be closed again. I rather have some less famous artists and a good time than this.

Fanfest 2011 review – Friday

Myrhial Arkenath — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:22:39 +0000

Day 4: Friday: Fanfest day 2

Friday started off with the Women in EVE roundtable, which Shae, Lacrimae and me attended to represent the yarr. Across the table from me was Kayleigh Jamieson, whom I was supposed to deliver a hug to at Fanfest on behalf of Jude Kopenhagen. Mission completed. The general tone at the roundtable is one I agree with: “Don’t treat us special, we are gamers first and women second.”. Interesting point made however that overly sexual references are bad though. But I think the scope of that is broader than male / female. It can also come across badly to GLBT community. At the end of the roundtable a picture was made of all us female gamers (can anyone get me a link to this if they got it?) and from the pictures I saw from the previous year I think the turnout broke the old record again. Well done ladies.

After the roundtable I hit up the Captains Quarters presentation, because seeing new goodies on a bigger screen is always worth it. Ship spinning seriously got buffed, as soon as this is on SiSi I want to go and play with it. I’m curious as well how the revamped NPE will end up being like. And that agent finder thing sounds nifty too. People are worried this is small stuff, but this really is a lot of the foundation ground work on which everything else will be built. We also got to see little bits of what establishments will be like, which is what corporations will run, and where you can meet up with everyone (think current day bar channels), and of course they will include branding to show that this bar is yours. Captain Quarters eventually also will be able to be customized, in a first rollout we will get fixed environments however.

While waiting for the Keynote to start I watched Lacrimae get her Guristas logo tattoo. Badass! Contemplating getting an Angel Cartel logo done next year. The artists knew what they were doing, and the logo in itself is beautiful enough that even when no longer playing EVE it is something worth keeping.

The keynote as always was pretty interesting. Numbers were shown on growth, the war versus lag, and the expanding workforce. The miscommunication debacle was admitted to, and CCP itself can have a laugh about it, which is why I hold such high respect for them. A lot of companies would attempt to cover it up or plain out deny it. We were also given a peek at things to come like the 3D UI we see in the trailers (omg yes), the improved EVE font (FUCK YEAH), removal of agent quality (which impacts several areas of the game, yet might just lead to agents per system becoming the new hub criteria) and corp logos on ships (wheeeeee!). Team BFF had some more little changes like a clear difference in BPO and BPC coming was hinted at in their last dev blog as a blueprint change and implant hotplugging rather than having to pause training. All good stuff, and maybe not as fancy as new stuff, but it makes me very happy because some new features I might not really interact with but these kinda things you run into no matter what you do.

And then it was time for the famous beer quiz. Managed to get myself a front row spot there, and of course a beer. So many laughs were had my tummy ached near the end. J4M Z took the honors of helping out with the salsa dancing round, helping claim another victory for the winning team this year.

In the evening it was time to dine out in style at The Fishmarket. So much good food, there was a total foodcoma after over three hours of feasting. Mixed feelings on getting served whale at some point though, as they are an endangered species, but there was the assurance the meat did not came from illegal whale catching. And well, if it is already dead and on your plate there isn’t much you can do about it still. It tasted really good, but I wouldn’t have ordered it myself if I could help it. Sea Shepherd still gets my support.