Old dog and new tricks

Eve is the deepest, and most complex, MMO currently available.

I think it's safe to assume that most Eve players would agree with the above statement, and for many new players (or non-players) this can be the factor that either stops them playing, or from even trying the game. However, for myself and many (if not most) Eve players it is that depth that keeps us playing.

Even after 2.5 years of playing, I still find myself learning new things, for example I only recently learnt to set drone aggression, instead of manually updating their targets every minute to avoid them attacking the wrong rats. More importantly though, it was the fact I learnt this from a player who is both half my RL and character age.

Also there is also entire areas of industry that I have never attempted, such as research, invention, reactions, boosters, etc. Also I have not tried exploration, and amazingly only ever run one (non-mission) Plex.

Factional warfare provides both high sec dwellers an opportunity to try out PvP, and for 0.0 pilots a way to do some PvP, without the huge risks.

Yet still, you sometimes find yourself listening to some idiot who says "I've done it all, there's nothing left to do....". Now admittedly a comment like this out of the mouth of a 5 year veteran would possibly be accurate, but in truth they wouldn't say it. No, the individual that normally claims to have done anything is usually only a year or so old...

There is simply no way anyone with only one character can have done it all, and to claim you have just shows how little you know.

Ah well, if they leave, at least if they leave that's one less idiot to fly with.

There is always something else in Eve to try, and that is what keeps so many players playing. Proof of that is as clear as the near constant increase in player numbers since Eve was released.

The only thing I have become more sure of, the longer I've played Eve, is that there is so much more to experience in Eve, than I probably will ever get to try...... and that is a good thing!

It allows specialisation and in particular it allows the possibility that a younger player may be able to "teach an old dog new tricks", just like one did with me.

~WTM

PS I still haven't had the chance to fly Kahamahl in FW again, instead RL, my 0.0 alliance, and Guitar Hero (a new non-mmo addition) have conspired to keep him on ice. However the training continues....

Weeeeeeeeeee

The hiatus is now officially over.

In the space of two short days my addiction is back, and I'm mainlining as much PvP as I can.

My alliance has once again let lose the dogs of war (someone REALLY annoyed the leader of my alliance), and once again I find myself in a carrier in a hostile system (or jumping back and forth to get stront for the sieging dreads).

When the first days hostilities came to a temporary stop (damn Dread pilots needing to sleep, where's your commitment?), I found myself sitting thinking... "but... but I need more PvP?!"

5 minutes later..... Kahamahl was x'd up and heading out for the first time into the field of war called "Black Rise" in a Thorax.

The first Thorax didn't last long, and I was quickly back in Villore, buying a new ship to replace the one I just lost (congrats Victoria Ehr), before heading back out.

I quickly got the hang of using the Thorax (damn it seems slow after my Stiletto/Crow/Taranis), and indeed got to have a lot of fun over the following hours either chasing (or running from) our enemy, the Caldari scum (the irony being that over half my characters are Caldari).

Even taking breaks (to go back to the alliance war), I still managed to get a total of four kills over the 6 hours on that first day; two battleships, and two battle cruisers. I was pretty happy with my first attempt.

So what did I learn from my first experience in FW:

1. It's fun, there's no sovereignty to worry about (no, faction sov does not count)
2. There are good FCs leading FW fleets, and there are bad ones as well.
3. People signed up with factions aren't as homogeneous as you'd expect (I saw a lot of drakes, Crows, Ravens, and even a vulture for example, in the Gallente fleet).
4. It's fun, there is always something happening it seems, and 'nearly' everyone has the right attitude.
5. Fleets seem to be light on Battleships (at least when I was trying it out).
6. Plenty of experienced pilots participating -I flew with people that I have flown with (and against) before on both sides.
7. The scale of the "battle field" is nice and small (no 100 jump journeys)
8. It's as cheap, or as expensive as you want to make it (you will lose ships, but who cares, you can control how much you spend).
9. Caldari Faction pilots are too rich for their own good - I mean seriously Faction ships in PvP???? - Hookbill pilot, I'm looking at you....
10. Did I mention it's fun??

As for the Thorax... well I am enjoying it, it is a good fun ship, very capable in small gangs (as I'd read/heard before), and is a good choice "so far" for FW, for me. However I am already starting to look into my next choice, and using Evemon are planning for a Brutix before moving on to the Gallente Battleships...

As a small aside, boy is it a pain to fit a ship when your fitting skills are rubbish, compared to what you are used to.

Unfortunately, after that first stint, the war back in 0.0 ramped up, and I had to concentrate back on that for the rest of the weekend (at least it felt like that). Though on a positive note I did get 20 kills in my carrier in a single lag free engagement on a POS over an hour - which was a blast.

I really do need to make some isk over the next day or so, I have ships to buy/replace, new fighters (damn manned POS guns), POS to fuel, etc...

But my trade alt does have 300m spare, and that could buy a bunch of Thorax's, and some Brutix's...... hmmmmmmm

~WTM