AFK (or The Emporer's New Clothes)

I'm taking a breather from the blogs.  Occasionally, I get caught up in some of the debates and Tom-Foolery of the ongoing drama in EVE.  When that happens, I find myself becoming disenchanted.  Case-in-point:  The new wardec mechanic, the "Forever War" and Goonswarm's tantrum. 

First, regarding the wardec mechanic, CCP should consider abandoning it. In 3-1/2 years that I've been playing EVE, CCP hasn't touched it.  In null-sec, the mechanic is silly; a player or a corporation can shoot whomever they please without consequence.  Also, a wardec has no bearing on sovereignty.  So why would a null-sec corp or alliance even bother?  (Besides, in keeping with the storyline, CONCORD has no interest in maintaining the peace in the outer reaches).  In hi-sec, there are various ways to circumvent the mechanic (and I suspect this will always be the case).  In low-sec .... meh ... who really goes out there anyway?  (Yes, I know you FW types are out there, but does a wardec really mean anything to you outside of what you're doing in FW?)

CCP hopes to re-invigorate the wardec mechanic by changing the rules a bit.  On the one hand, the changes make it a little more difficult to dodge a wardec.  On the other, the changes will attempt to make professional mercenaries more legitimate while throwing a token defense strategy to the little corps who either can't defend themselves are aren't interested in combat.  BUT there are exploits: 1) "The Forever War" (which is already being 'fixed' (I'll get back to that),  2) The extortion exploit where a mercenary alt corp decs another corp and then offers their services to fix the problem (I don't think we've seen that yet, but its coming), 3)  ???  (I'm sure someone who's more creative and sinister than I am can figure out something).  A targeted corp has two options:  surrender and thereby make themselves a bigger target two weeks out, or pay the extortion fees to hire that merc corp to combat the evil alts.  A couple of other options exist also, but they're not new:  corp jumping or station vacations.  So ya, CCP didn't really 'fix' anything and the wardec mechanic is and will be as broken next winter as it is today.

Second, regarding "The Forever War", my hat is off to Jade Constantine for figuring this one out!  For those of you who don't already know, under the current wardec mechanic introduced in the Inferno expansion, a targeted corp can declare a war 'mutual' thereby preventing the aggressor from withdrawing the wardec.  Then, the targeted corp can hire as many mercenary corps (or non-mercenary corps, for that matter) to join the war.  If the aggressor is an interesting enough target, Goonswarm for instance, mercenaries may end up paying the defending corp to be an ally in the war.  In summary, you have a permanent wardec that the aggressor can't escape and a business opportunity selling access to that war.

The strategy is absolutely brilliant!  It gives the 'home-field' advantage back to the defender and forces the bully corps to think twice about engaging a seemingly helpless mining outfit. 

Unfortunately, CCP doesn't see it that way and promised to 'fix' the mechanic in the next patch (thereby creating the illusion that they were colluding with Goonswarm, a ... ahem ... victim of this exploit, to change a mechanic to favor the largest alliance in the game - more later).  But what CCP fails to see is that Jade's idea is yet another example of emergent game play.  The mechanic isn't broken at all: an unlikely confluence of events within the game has developed where this mechanic has become useful to beat back the tyranny of an evil empire. 

Let me make this point perfectly clear: Jade's war with Goonswarm is an unusual circumstance that is not likely to be duplicated again.  Under normal circumstances, a war just isn't interesting enough for dozens of corps to offer their assistance and even pay for the privilege to do so.  Even in this situation, the involved parties are likely to get bored sometime shy of 'forever' and the parties will workout their differences.  The mechanic isn't broken; the Goons were just a little shortsighted.

Finally, regarding the Goons ....  (yawn).  Nevermind.  Can't be bothered to write anymore about them.  Nor can I be bothered to read any more about them, whether its in the forums or on the other blogs.

Which brings me to where I started.  I started this blog after the Incarna release when the Jita Riots were taking place.  CCP abruptly changed their attitude, but only subtly changed their direction.  Yes, its true, they seem to be concentrating on FIS:  we saw some re-configured frigates and a few new modules, we saw some changes to FW mechanics (I'm really not sure how succesful those mechanics have been, but I have seen a little more FW activity), we saw a new crime-watch mechanic (has this been implemented yet?  I really haven't noticed)  and we saw a new war-dec mechanic (which is in the process of being nerfed as I type this).  (We also saw a whole bunch of great changes to graphics and UI, but those don't affect game play - nonetheless they do make the experience more immersive and enjoyable).  Titans are still broken, though.  POS's are still broken.  Corp management is still broken.  Player Stations are still not destructible, sov mechanics are still meaningless, PVE content is stale...

BUT WE ARE GETTING NEW CLOTHES!  During Fanfest, CCP also suggested that they would dedicate considerable resources to making the game prettier. AURUM is apparently back as well.  Also, was I the only one that saw the WoD trailer? (Awesome, btw, but I was under the impression they laid-off that part of the staff.)

So ya. I'm running out of things to say.  More importantly, I'm losing interest.  I am enjoying the game for what it has to offer, but I am increasingly aware that the game is stagnant and there just isn't a whole lot to say about a stagnant game.  I read Selene's blog about the CSM summit (Part 1 and Part 2) earlier this month and was slightly encouraged at the prospect of player generated missions (Contracts associated with completing specific tasks). If CCP manages to implement even a fraction of those things, perhaps there's hope. 

Thanks for reading, all.  O7



Final word:  60 Tristans down, 1 solo kill and lots of assists.  After Inferno, Tristans are completely useless.  Hopefully they see some love in the Winter.  Tristan project on hold (again).  I'm loving the new Incursus.  Rifter is not the top dog anymore.

100 Tristans

So this project didn't go where I thought it would.  That happens sometimes.  Sometimes a project takes you someplace you didn't expect.  Sometimes, when you think you've given up on a project, it has a way of spontaneously taking a life of its own.

No solo kills, yet.  But since I've joined R-V-B, I've participated in 145 kills and most of those have been in my trusty Tristan.  145 kills worth 3.89b isk and I've lost 18 ships 15 of which were tristans.

My first Tristan loss was to Sir Horace.  I foolishly thought my little tristan could take on a thrasher.  I turned the microwarp on and headed toward my target, being careful to approach at an angle.  My shields were gone in the first volley.  My armor took three volleys and before I could break off, my hull disappeared. My blasters didn't even scratch his paint.

My second loss was to a Kestrel.  That was humiliating.  Also demoralizing.  Two losses in and I was already losing hope.  I took my Tristan out to blow up a Titan and ended up on this kill. (Scroll down.  Keep going....  your almost there.  Yup down there.  At the bottom.  Thats me!).  Shortly after that, I wrote this.  A turning point, at last. 

In the course of a month, I've learned that:

a) In a solo frigate vs. destroyer, unless your very lucky, the destroyer wins. 

b)  If your guns aren't on, you're not contributing damage.  When an FC calls primary, and your flying a blaster tristan, if the target isn't already in your optimal then choose another target. 

bi)  You have a role in fleet.  If you're in a Tristan, you're not really contributing a whole heck of a lot of DPS; your job is to secure the next target and soften them up a bit.  You're not so much ignoring your FC as much as you're anticipating his next command.  (just don't let him catch you on any solo kills during the fleet fight!)

c)  Its ok to warp off the field when you get to armor (if you can).  You're doing the fleet a favor by surviving just a little longer. 

d) Its not ok to warp of the field if you have point on the secondary (or tertiary) target, especially if its a shiny target, even if you're in structure.

e) Overheat your guns early.  If you're in a frigate, keep them hot; you're going to die early and there's no point in saving them.

f)  Get through the demoralizing first few losses. More importantly, don't let the enemy in your head.

Also:  Frigates are cheap(ish).  They make your efficiency look really amazing if you manage to do nothing more than get a point on a more expensive ship.

Moving on ...

Ok, the drama surrounding the closing of Fanfest seems to have subsided a bit. It is really unfortunate that the last event detracted so much attention from some of the real issues presented at fanfest. Leave it to the drama queens to figure out how to upstage CCP at their own event - and thats the last word from me on that.

Here's what I took out of Fanfest 2012:

• EVE has matured and CCP can let the players take over some of the NPC functions that were necessary early on in the game. (maybe we ought to re-think that?)
   
• Inferno will be about war. As such, CCP is revisiting the war and crimewatch mechanics.
   
• Ships will be rebalanced with emphasis on their roles and the skill tree will have to be re-worked to accomplish that.
   
• World of Darkness is still being worked on and it will be dark!
   
• Dust 514 is imminent.
   
• Faction warfare will get some attention; the sovereignty mechanics will be brought in line with those of null-sec.
   
• CCP has an opportunity to update the graphics in EVE, but it will require one year from a dedicated team and might delay other projects.
   
• Between the sheets ... erm lines:  CCP is getting very cozy with Sony and Nvidia.  (Threesomes are fun especially when you're in the middle!  Be careful of jealousy though.)

I'm going to go back and review some of the fanfest videos over the next few days to see if there was anything really interesting there.  We really need to get back to FIS or even WIS and move away from the distraction of the last few days.

Jita will burn! (Wait, let me get my popcorn!)

When I got home from work this evening I saw the devblog.  It wasn't surprising.  I was prepared to move on and relegate this whole affair to the dust bin.  But then I read The Mittani's statement on EN24.

ROFL!!!! Poor Mittani!  Best tears ever!

I was entirely prepared to change my opinion of the poor bastard.

"Yet for CЅM7 I am going to refuse to accept the Chairmanship when CSM7 takes office‚ but not because of our enemіes trying to use my Fanfest fuckup for ingame political advantage."  Is the master of the metagame really complaining about his enemies tactics?

"Why did the shitstorm break out on Monday, when I was drunk on Thursday night? The hard fact is this: the gaming media hates CCP after the Incarna incidents..."  When you can't point the finger at yourself, the "media" is the next most obvious choice.  Read the entire paragraph here.  Is The Mittani taking credit for Crucible?  I was there.  The Mittani was conspicuously absent.

"As the profile of the CSM has raised due to Vile Rat and my successes on the Council‚ pressure has іncreased on CЅM members – and particularly the Chair – to be ‘upstanding citizens’ in Eve Online itself. An ‘upstanding citizen’ cannot lead Goonswarm."  That didn't stop him last year.  Not sure that anything has changed.  Oh Wait!  He got drunk!

"...but after what I’ve seen over the past few months and now at Fanfest, it is clear that I can either lead the CЅM or lead Goonswarm. "  Read:  "I didn't want that seat anyway"

" We need to get Razor a new home. "  How magnanimous of our dear (ex) chairman to give RAZOR a new home. 

"Jita will burn."  I'm going to get in my stealth bomber and head to 4-4 for the fireworks.  Can't wait to watch all those goonies get popped by the gate guns! Popcorn is already in the microwave.  Mittens is only 9 months late to the Jita Riots.  Someone should tell him its over.

Backed into a Corner

I've never cared for "The Mittani", his antics, or his alliance.  This post isn't about him.

The CSM chairman, a representative of the 'hardcore' EVE player base, publicly advocated the harassment of player that professed to being suicidal.  Whether or not the player was actually suicidal is not important.  The chairman realized his mistake and wrote and apology, and that's also irrelevant.

The terms of the EULA are pretty clear when it comes to harassment and when the MOST visible player in EVE violates those rules, CCP has a few options:

a) Ignore the infraction and be accused of selective enforcement of the EULA.  This option weakens CCP's authority to enforce their rules and makes the EULA a meaningless agreement.

b) Enforce the EULA without comment, as it would with any other player.  The problem here is that the chairman is a very public figure and the incident was very widely publicized.  A discreet response by CCP would do nothing to quell the controversy outside of the EVE community.  Also, the EULA would be damaged because the perception would be that CCP does nothing to enforce the EULA (even if they actually did).

c)  CCP makes a very strong statement in a very public way by enforcing the EULA with a disciplinary action even more severe than what would ordinarily be considered for such a violation.  This preserves their moral authority, maintains the integrity of the EULA, and shows CCP's intolerance for that particular behavior.

d)  The chairman resigns which saves himself the embarrassment of being the object of disciplinary action, saves CCP from having to make a tough decision, reinforces the EULA, and possibly earns him a bit of respect (and possibly loses respect from like minded members within his alliance).

Really, option A and option B are not realistic options for CCP.  Option D is not something CCP can do (and might not be enough of a response if the typical response to this violation is to ban the account).  Option C is really the only option CCP has.  CCP has to defend its EULA and has to send a very strong message beyond EVE-O forums that harassment won't be tolerated. 

Whether or not "The Mittani" had any malicious intent and whether or not the subject of his 'joke' took it serious, CCP has an image to maintain and and EULA to enforce.  CCP wants to promote EVE's 'hardcore' image and has two products that will rely on this hardcore reputation to be successful.  CCP has to draw a line with respect to acceptable behavior and be willing to enforce their EULA or else face the possibility that the next violation might be more widely publicized and more tragic.

EDIT:  An anonomous poster pointed out that the EULA gives CCP discretion about how to deal with bad behavior and that the TOS absolves CCP of responsibility from players' bad behavior.  (Sorta lke a legal 'dec shield' I suppose).  No matter.  I stand by my assertion.  Bad publicity will force CCP to address the situation.  Nice call, Anon.  CCP apparently doesn't take responsibility for fostering bad behavior.

Feedback

You've all heard it before:  when you transmit a signal into a receiver from which the original signal originated and the signal gets retransmitted - over and over again.  If the original signal gets re-broadcasted at exactly the same amplitude, you hear an echo.  If the original signal is dampened, the signal echos, but fades with each cycle.  If the signal is amplified, you can create all kinds of problems (blown speakers, for example).

There is a special type of feedback; one in which the original signal matches the harmonic frequency of the transmitter.  The result is a harmonic oscillation.  The linked example is the result of 25 mph wind that caused the Tacoma bridge to swing back and forth at its harmonic frequency.  Its also important to realize that the bridge regularly withstood much higher wind speeds.  Here is another example of a harmonic oscillation.  In this case, the rotors of the helicopter are spinning at exactly the same harmonic frequency of the helicopter's body.  Ironically, the rotors were spinning within the normal operating speed of the helicopter, so you can imagine how scary it is to throttle this vehicle through that specific range of rotor speed.

There is a social analogy to this phenomena.  If one person, lets call him Hilmar, says something that provokes a response from another person, lets call him Pod Pilot.  Pod Pilot's response matches Hilmar's harmonic oscillation and Hilmar's response matches Pod Pilot's harmonic oscillation, the system amplifies itself until the two participants annihilate each other.  This doesn't even have to be a heated exchange. Even a small feedback loop can create a catastrophic event (bridges should be able to withstand a 25 mph wind).

I watched a small portion of Fanfest this morning.  If CCP doesn't pay more attention to the unintended consequences of their game design, they'll find themselves in this destructive feedback loop.  I'm not going to offer specifics because CCP didn't offer any specifics, but I'm starting to suspect that Incarna will be the first cycle in the feedback loop.

Why do we PVP?

Corelin, author of Mad Haberdashers, posed a very timely question:  What is the point of PVP?

Corelin explains that in other games, PVP is rewarded with money, increased skill and access to better items.  EVE is very different in this respect; aside from the occasional loot drop, the reward for PVP in EVE is bragging rights.  I suppose there is also the satisfaction of executing a well planned strategy, or optimizing a fit for a particular role within a strategy, but the bottom line is that PVP in EVE is almost entirely about the ego boost.

Truenig1ght suggested that I listen to some podcasts by Kil2 and Sar Caid (Truen1ght, do you have a link to Sar Caid?).  I listened to all 8 of Kil2's recordings in one sitting.  Episode 2 (?) had an interesting discussion about the motivation for fighting, and specifically, what to do to counter loss fatigue.  (My words, not theirs).  This was a particularly timely episode, having lost 5 Tristans and a Bestower full of frigates and modules.  By Saturday night, one day after joining RVB, I was starting to doubt the wisdom of my decision and my motivation for playing EVE at all.

Any of my friends will tell you that I am not an ego driven person at all.  I get no satisfaction from external recognition of my achievements.  In fact, my friends often get annoyed with me for not mentioning milestones.  Needless to say, having my name at the top of the list on a Titan kill has no allure to me whatsoever.

So I spent this weekend thinking about this question.  The fact of the matter is that EVE has taught me so much about so many things.  I incorporate my online experiences into my RL experiences almost daily.  At the moment, I can offer no specifics - maybe that's a post for another time.  The bottom line is that every move I've made in EVE has resulted in a learning situation with practical RL applications. I expect PVP will have similarly useful results.

The lesson I learned this week is about persistence and motivation.  Learning something new is rarely easy.  You have to deal with a lot of people who are out there who take pleasure in obstructing your path.  Occasionally, you have to have to step back and ask yourself, what is it that you want to achieve?  Also, how much do you want to invest in the effort to achieve it? 

Now, imagine yourself in a Tristan and the FC has called the cruiser sitting within your point range primary. Shortly after you've aggressed the target, your overview starts blinking yellow, then red and damage reports start flashing on the screen.  Instinct tells you to align and GTFO.  You start thinking about how much of a pain in the ass its going to be to get another frigate out of Jita and how long you'll have to spend shooting at red crosses to pay for (another) loss.  Then, just as your low armor alarm goes off, the cruiser pops!  In an instant, you align to a tactical, pray that no one is scrambling you, and warp out with a trail of fire behind you.  All of the previously flashing red boxes disappear.  You collect your wits, take the kill in for a moment while aligning back to the newly primaried target, and do it again.

Yes, I lost another Tristan.  Yes, I'll have to spend 15 minutes ratting to pay for it.  No, no one even remembered who tackled that cruiser and no, no kill mails in my combat log (my name was at the bottom of the list of participants).  Victory?  Hardly!  But I STAYED, I TANKED, and the target was DESTROYED!

Now, back to RL.  Think of all of those moments, when you face a task - especially the little annoying ones:  the visit to the in-laws, fixing a leaking faucet, an oil change.  Now imagine crossing those things off your list:  No more wife agro, no more damage leaking into structure, no more blinking lights on your dashboard.  Victory? (!!!)

Red Vs. Blue

I've spent the last few days thinking about what to do next in EVE.  I've done wormholes, I've done exploration.  I've done so many missions and incursions that the rats know me by name (incidentally, yellow box in rat speak means 'hello' and red box means lets play - they're very enthusiastic about playing, but their games are too simple now).  Mining, industry and marketing have no appeal to me (though I briefly played with planetary interaction when it was first introduced).

PVP is an aspect of the game that has been somewhat elusive to me.  I've gone on solo ventures, small fleet roams, lol roams, bombing runs, and blob engagements.  But the kill mails aren't frequent enough to reinforce my killing instincts and the loss mails are very discouraging.

I recently attempted to correct this with my plans to fly Tristans until I got 10 kill mails.  But I don't have a long enough attention span to hunt for the solo rifter in Ammamake. Also, Poetic Stanziel's experience with a similar objective made me re-think the objective.  (Tristans, despite the buff to hybrid turrets, are hampered by the fact that they can only fit two blasters; the two missile launcher hardpoints don't really supplement the damage enough to make this a killer frigate.)

My character is quickly approaching 50m skill points.  For the past two years, I've concentrated my skill plan on combat skills.  I have nearly perfect tank skills, nearly perfect fitting skills, and I can fly every sub cap ship in the game (except command ships).  I can use all t2 medium guns, t2 medium launchers are just a few days away (though Level 5 of a few important missile support skills are still a few weeks away).  36m of my 50m skill points are combat related.  This toon should be a much better fighter with a much more impressive kill board.

I came up with a number of different options while considering my next endeavors, but becoming a better combat pilot is the first step to all of the things I want to do in EVE. This evening, I put in an application for Red Federation.  Let's see where this takes me.

What's next ...

A little while back, a couple of friends of mine invited me to join a small worm hole corp.  Initially, we were staged in a C3 with static low sec and C4 exits.  My two friends, bless their hearts, couldn't fly T3 cruisers yet and barely had the support skills to fly battleships. Needless to say, we didn't do too many ops until one of the two other, more experienced corpmates logged in.

While doing my nightly probing, I came across an unoccupied C5.  Not having much experience in WHs, I dismissed it as unimportant; our corp was too small and too inexperienced to have much use for it.  It turns out, the WH was a Pulsar and for my ignorance, I was awarded with "This Missing Link" medal; it was well deserved.

Shortly after, we found another class 5 and took up residence.  Our two green pilots had just acquired skills to fly a T3 cruiser (but not yet the skills to use T2 guns) and I thought it was a little premature to move into a C5.  My objections were duly noted and dismissed and we managed to set up shop just before christmas.  And then.....well, you can only probe so many anomolies before you start to go crazy.

January came....and went.  It was obvious someone was fueling the POS, but I never saw it happen.  My buddies are from U.S. east coast tz while i'm out here on the west coast.  That's never really been a problem because our work schedules were synched.  Occasionally, I saw my CEO who gave me a hard time about podding myself back to K-space; but I dismissed his complaints; I don't pay a subscription to track down wh's and anomolies that no one will use anyway.  After a sufficiently respectful amount of time passed, and as soon as I found a reasonably safe way out of the WH, I droped corp roles and started looking for the next thing.

I've been doing incursions since, but its only really a past time.  Incursions are the best PVE in EVE, but after you've run them a few weeks, like all of the other PVE, it become predictable and routine.

So now what? 

CSM 7 Vote

I intended to research the candidates and comment on my research here.  As the number of candidates increased I realized that wasn't realistic.  I did manage to read most of the candidate statements on EVE-O forums.  That is about as much research as I did on most of the candidates.  If the candidate's statement didn't have any clearly defined objectives, I moved on to the next post.  Surprisingly, there were quite a number of CSM6 delegates included in that group.  I also passed up any post with herd's of alliance mates supporting the candidate and paid closer attention to posts that were spammed by the alliance mates of the candidates opponents.

My three favorite candidates were Two-Step, Hans Jagerblitzen, and Mintrolio.  After all the research and all the reading, my decision boiled down to:

• Who will be hardest working:  TWO-STEP. I followed the dev blogs and the csm posts through out the riots last summer.  Two-Step was clearly out in front doing exactly what he was elected to do.  The others were silent, added token comments, or were outright condescending toward the player base.
• Who will represent the interests that I care most about in EVE:  This one was a tougher question to answer.  HANS JAGERBLITZEN wrote a very lengthy manifesto and I read every page of it in one sitting.  Many of his ideas are similar to my own and I even caught myself abandoning some of my own wishlist items in favor of his.  Not that any of this makes a bit of difference because the Developers will do what they need to do.  It was nice to see a vision that so closely matched my own.  TWO-STEP also qualified as a candidate who would represent my interests well, but he wasn't quite the clear cut match that Jagerblitzen was.
• Who will provide the most comic relief:  Really, this was an afterthought.  But it also occured to me that sometimes the issues the CSM and CCP deal with are far too serious.  MINTROLIO reminds me that this is, afterall, a game and his style would go a long way to difusing some of the tension.

In the end, I cast both of my votes for HANS JAGERBLITZEN because I feel very strongly that he has some very useful ideas, communicates those ideas very well, and listens closely to what people have to say.  Those are very important qualities in a candidate.  TWO-STEP did not receive my votes, and for that I am very sorry.  TWO-STEP deserves to be re-elected and I happily endorse his candidacy.  MINTROLIO, keep poasting pleez.

Vote for HANS JAGERBLITZEN HERE

Vote for TWO-STEP HERE.

Good Luck to all the candidates, but especially Hans and Two-Step.

EDIT:  I read some of the other blogs and forum posts prior to, during, and after writing this post.  This will be an exciting election!  It seems that EVE players have awoken to the importance of CSM - no doubt in response to events over last summer.  I'm particularly excited to see the support Hans Jagerblitzen has and Poetic Stanziel made a good observation:  with the number of votes being cast in this election, the bloc candidates aren't automatically assured a seat.  Candidates must have an appeal beyond their block.  That is very good news indeed for candidates like Hans, and must be a little frightening to The Mittani.

Also, CCP should be paying very close attention to this election.  The enthusiasm for the elections and who the players are voting for should send a very strong signal to CCP that they need to listen to their customers more attentively and to the aspects of the game that need attention.  If this election doesn't provide an outline for next summer's expansion, CCP will have missed the message (AGAIN).