Gen: PVP, Incarna, RAGE etc etc

Evening readers,

First the “boring” stuff.

So Incarna was released yesterday and #tweetfleet has been full of mixed reviews, comments and general ranting. For me I logged in walked around for 30 seconds and then turned off the station environment. Walking in stations is nice but it’s not why I play the game. I play to fly spaceships and shoot stuff, the fact that you might be forced to have station environments on in the future is a slight worry, not because my computer can’t handle it more because for me it’s not a big part of the game. In fact one corp member from ABADD has cancelled his subs due to his computer not being able to handle it. It would be nice if CCP would make it an optional part of the Eve client for those that want it.

The new “store” where you can buy vanity items is another area that seems to have upset lots of people. CCP aren’t forcing you to buy anything from it so I am ignoring it and will continue to do so. If CCP (and there is a “leaked” document about this) decide to introduce more micro transactions, such as buying skills etc etc I again will ignore it. Yes some people will pay the ISK/££ to do so but for me I’m sure I can find people to shoot and things to build that will keep me removed from that whole area.

Since Incarna there has been lots of other bloggers sharing their thoughts and opinions so if you want to get a more “rounded” view I suggest you take the time to read them. I’m also surprised by the number of bloggers who have either declared they are quitting or that they will if CCP doesn’t do something to fix things. I guess everyone plays the game for their own reasons, does my lack of concern/worry/rage mean I don’t care about Eve?? Of course not if I didn’t care I wouldn’t pay my subs each month nor would I write this blog to share my experiences.

Now for the more fun stuff…

Miura Bull (CEO of the Black Rebels) has started doing a series of articles on the members of the Black Rebels, this is a Q&A piece where we, the humble pilots of the Rebels get to share a bit more about ourselves. You can read the first one here. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Miura, since joining the corp and then him kindly linking me on his blog I’ve received a nice uplift in blog traffic..

As I’ve mentioned before work has been very busy of late, lots of days and nights working, in fact as I write this I’m at work (it’s 4am) supporting some projects going in. This means with new expansions etc etc I’ve not been in-game much. I did manage to get an hour tonight and managed to grab a couple of kills. First off was a Moa cruiser which I followed around the belts in Arnon (now a Black Rebel hunting ground), and looted one of his wrecks. It always seems to take them ages to decide to shoot the red ship orbiting them or not.

The second kill was a bit more of a “risk” for me, I decided to take on a Harpy assault frigate in my Rifter, the pilot was around the same age as me so I thought why not. The outcome was Rifter 1 Harpy 0, the fight was over quite quick to be honest (I fly a Wolf and the tank keeps on going), if you fly a lot of frigates make sure you pack the right ammo (might blog about that at a later date). His shields went down quick (so did mine) thanks to my RF EMP rounds and I only had to run my armour repairer for a couple of cycles before he went bang.

Skillwise I’ve been training some more of the support skills, it’s surprising when you fly the same ship a lot the difference some skills can make to the performance of your ship. I’ve topped up some rigging skills over the last week and I’ve noticed the benefit. Over the next few weeks/months I am going to try and finish up my Elite Core competency skills and some tanking/ganking skills. Will be nice to see the impact that has on my Rifter..

Fly crazy, try not to bump into the station walls too much and play Eve the way you want. If you can’t quit but can I have your stuff??

Durz

PS Thanks to whoever put a bounty back on my head..

PVP: You wanted more action..

So over the last week my RL job has kept me busy working full days and then back in at night for extra project work. The net result means that I haven’t really had time for a lot of Eve and when I have I’ve been too tired to login.

My earlier post this week which included a Poll showed that most of my readers liked the blog the way it is but some (well 2) wanted more action.. For those that voted thank you, for those that wanted more action please see below:

Last night I logged in for a bit before going back to work and to my surprise discovered Arnon local was populated with a fair number of other Black Rebel pilots. We decided to fleet up and go around the belts flipping everything in sight. The plan was simple but we were hoping for some action (either solo or fleet), unfortunately we lost a thrasher and a rifter to a Blackbird pilot and I was only able to sit (no aggro i.e. wasn’t red to me) and watch the sloooow fight (blackbirds + ecm = long time to die).

On a plus point though (and before the losses on our side) I warped off to a belt to find another rifter pilot (pilot name) who seemed to be in the mood for some 1v1, I dropped a can and we started the dance of death (makes you dizzy watching after a while), he didn’t seem keen to engage and I was getting bored so I found a nearby wreck of his and collected the modules with the full intention of returning them to him.. What happened next was a total surprise to me (honest it was), he started shooting at me. I like Rifter vs Rifter combat it’s all down to skills, fittings and luck when it’s the same ship.

My shields disappeared quickly (yes it still freaks me out) and my armour repairer kicked into life ready for the incoming damage. Much to my surprise there wasn’t that much incoming damage, not compared to what my AC’s where dishing out hot rounds of RF Fusion into my target. His Rifter soon popped, gf’s were exchanged and it seems my “friend” was surprised how quick I went through his armour.. Not sure myself but I’m not going to complain.

I logged soon after that, although it seems some people in Arnon like posting my whereabouts in local, it’s not like i have a bounty anymore so don’t know what that’s about..

This morning after getting a couple of hours sleep I decided to login and update my skill queue for Durzo but decided that I might as well take my rifter out to see “morning” to the locals. I landed at a belt and was targeted by a Retriever (in fact it was 2 retrievers in the end for some reason), I looted a wreck and he warped off back to Sisters of Eve station. I hung around in the belt just in case someone wanted to play. Soon enough the retriever pilot warped back in a Merlin, locked me up and started shooting.. I think he was probably surprised at how much RF Emp rounds actually hurt Caldari ships the fight didn’t last long, one more kill for me. What happened next though still confuses me.

During the “fight” there was a Caracal in the belt who had earlier targeted me but then dropped his lock. Once the Merlin had popped the Caracal locked me up again and started firing missiles my way.. Now bear in mind the Merlin pilot was in a NPC corp I’m not sure what the Caracal pilot was expecting to happen next.. However we all know what happened next.. CONCORD.. I helped a little by pointing him and managed to get the final blow..

So what had meant to start as a quick fly around turned into a good 30 minutes of random PVP.. Yes I’m still loving it, yes I’m still learning but that’s all part of the fun..

Fly it like a Rifter
Durz

Gen: I haz fans…

Evening readers,

I’ve noticed that the last couple of weeks while causing mischief in Arnon and surrounding areas that my blog traffic has increased, I think this is down to people clicking on the link in Durzo’s bio. This has been kind of been confirmed when tonight after logging in to move down to a new staging area I had a private convo from someone in Arnon.. Now I suspected it was either a victim.. I mean fellow pvper, but it turned out it was someone who read my blog while I was wandering around the belts and just wanted to say hi and that he liked my blog.. (awesome..).

Now a 1 off “like your blog” is good for me, but then I noticed one of the other channels I am in was flashing and again it was someone I’ve never met or shot at saying how much he liked my blog.

Now as some of you know I write this blog more for my own enjoyment than anything else but I like getting feedback (good or bad) about what other people think, so I’ve created a little poll to see what people think about my blog. Feel free to vote and if you ever feel this blog could be better or want to see something specific let me know, I’m always open to new ideas and I want my readers to look forward to my next post.

Fly safe/crazy/badly/however you want.
Durz

Gen: Pirates, War Dec’s and stuff

So it’s been a busy few weeks for me in Eve, between the PVPing in Arnon and the never relenting war dec’s against the Alliance things have been ticking along.

So I’ve decided rather than boring you with tales of every kill or loss I will keep let you know about the “interesting” ones and please feel to keep checking my killboard..

For me the most interesting was in Arnon, upon arriving in a belt there was a Cane and Rifter from the same corp ratting, myself flying my trusty rifter decided to loot a wreck and see what happens.. guess what.. the Rifter and the Cane both go read and the game is on.. The rifter soon died to my AC’s of doom and the Cane sucked my cap dry while trying to hit me. To be honest it was slow going and I think the Cane pilot got bored and warped out, which is a shame because I was desperate to get that kill.. Oddly though on the Rifter killmail the Cane pilot was listed as doing damage, not sure how he explained that to his CEO..

Durzo Smith, after flying solo for a while has joined the Black Rebel Rifter Club, which is a small group of PVPers that love rifter hulls (who can blame them) and basically operate on a “no stress” culture. For me this is ideal, it gives me people to talk to (and they are a nice bunch) and allows me to PVP in any way I chose, whether it’s going -10 or just making a nuisance of myself in high sec. Currently I like my ability to travel through most of hi sec but that might change if I get bored.. and the corp has its first “tour” coming up soon which should be a blast.. literally..

The one thing that surprises me is the level of cross communication between pirates (yes the Black Rebel’s are pirates), upon joining the corp (after losing a punisher to the CEO Miura Bull) I joined all the other in-game channels only to find a lot of other pirates I had heard about or met in one shape or form. I suppose for me it was a surprise at this kind of co-operation but then I’m still new..

On the same subject Marc Scaurus from Sinners has written a cool blog post called “So you wanna join a pirate corp“, so if you are new to Eve or want to get your Yarr on go have a look, or just go look anyway..

Abaddon Innovations is still plodding along, we are currently on our second war dec in the last 2 weeks so it makes it hard to do much other than spin ships in station or the odd bit of early morning mining. The Alliance now has a new PVP Director a gentleman called Taridark who is leading the Alliance in all things PVP. I have to give the guy create he does a great job at organising the troops and looking at the Alliance KB tonight has had some success in fighting off the Merc’s who are currently war dec’ing us.

That’s all from me at the moment, have fun, be safe and don’t for the love of God jet can mine, it’s just stupid and lets people like me blow your ships up..

Durz