Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Other “Stuff”

This is just a quick note before a longer post detailing some commentary stemming from the capital rebalance.  I was away for the weekend, and was really feeling the lack of a laptop that can sustain an Eve client.  I read a lot of the news coming out of Vegas on my phone… great for reading, not so great for taking notes.

I very nearly went to Eve Vegas this year.  Ultimately, we decided to pursue buying a house instead.  But, listening to the fun folks were having was very much a bittersweet experience of what could have been.  We’re eyeing Fanfest 2017, though.  Fingers crossed.  You may have the opportunity to tell me exactly what you think in person!

In the past couple days, I bought, outfitted, then sold again a couple Thanatoses (unrelated to the capital rebalance details, though).  I tried something with them, but changed my mind and sold them for a slight profit.  I’ve run a good number of Blood Raider sites to loot enough accelerators to keep my skill training boosted.  And I tallied my earnings from market trading, albeit primarily through PLEX trading: 3.6 billion profit and one PLEX for my account off of a 28 PLEX principle.  Not bad.

And, in so doing, I’ve actually found a little enjoyment for something I never thought I would… PvE.  Those Blood Raider sites really are a lot of fun, particularly when someone drops on you.  Is it just me, or have pilots who typically don’t PvP been finding themselves fighting other players in those sites?

I haven’t been able to do a lot of PvP, with most of my couple hours a day clogged up with the “stuff” you need to do to enable your PvP and keep the cash flow positive.  The things we do for enjoyment…

6 comments:

  1. One of my goals in EVE is to get better at solo PVP. It's hard to find that 1v1 fight, where the other player isn't either boosted or bait, so I don't really find myself PVPing all that much. Add to that a touch of risk aversion in the face of a meagre income stream.

    But the Blood Raider sites have exposed done wonders for my PvP experiences. I haven't managed to kill anyone yet, because they (or I) usually try to escape before ship loss. The one fight that ended in an explosion saw me losing a beam Confessor to an Atron (I suspect it was boosted), and I have to say that was a little embarrassing. But I was surprised by how much I learned just replaying the engagement in my head. Other encounters have included Gnoses, Tengus, Svipuls and even a Machariel. I ran quite quickly from that one, mainly because I had no idea what they do or how to fight one.

    CCP have managed to do a number of things with these sites. They've provided people with:
    - a highly coveted boost to skill training
    - an isk generation opportunity
    - a reason to travel and explore new systems, and
    - a contained PvP arena of sorts.

    I think it's a brilliant move, and I'd love to see more endeavors like this. I suspect Factional Warfare was meant to do something similar, but I find the FW Complex mechanic isn't as elegant a solution.

    Kudos, CCP!

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    1. I completely agree. I'd add another achievement as well: they've managed to test a concept for a post-attribute world, giving them some ground to stand on to give players choices in accelerating their training the way we do with learning implants and attribute remaps now.

      As a side effect, though, get ready for more microtransactions in the form of buying boosters with PLEX, isk, or aurum, all of which will make the PLEX price increase over time.

      In a game that struggles to blend opportunities for PvP with the opportunities to PvE, these blood raider sites are a great step with a rich set of learnings they can take away to iterate on.

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  2. I have been chasing the Raider sites in hisec out of curiosity and TBH a desire not to lose any ships right at this time... cash is low and my corp is... hell, I don't know what's going on but it aint us... so all that very lucrative Sleeper lewts I usually live off of simply aint happening ATM...

    So I'm boofing around hisec in Amarr space and I have not had ONE measley implant drop yet... I have multiple copies of the damn SKIN, but not an implant in sight... are they low and null only drops or somesuch?

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    1. I can't confirm or deny. Personally, I've found only one in high-sec, and nothing dropped in them (I also had the uncomfortable and frustrating experience of having a player warp in on my site and me be unable to kill him to drive him off... a problem). All of my drops have come in low-sec, where I sometimes receive both a standard and advanced accelerator in the same site. Low has been very lucrative. In fact, I'd say maybe 9 out of 10 dropped something.

      And based on the location and sheet quantity of contracts, I'm guessing null is pretty productive as well.

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    2. Interestingly, I've had better luck with accelerators in low-sec Blood Raider sites than those found in wormholes.

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    3. I've had 4 drop in high-sec. 3 +10's and 1 +12. Ran a WH with 9 sites in it and got one every second site or so. The drop rate seems better in the WH, but I can't say for sure.

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