If you read yesterday's post then you saw some can-flipper call Rixx a "famous blob pilot" during our chat in local, after I defeated his can-flipping with Ana's Impel. I admit this kinda, sorta hurt my feelings a bit. If you were a pilot in Providence during the CVA/LFA days you'd understand. We were always being labeled as "blobbers" like it was the worst thing in the universe. As if we were the only ones showing up in force or something. Believe me, having flown solo thru enemy space a million times, they are just as likely to blob as anyone.
Having said that, being involved with the Alliance since the beginning of my career, I did fly in gangs and fleets a lot. It was necessary though. There is very little solo work to be done in zero because no one, NO ONE, travels alone. If a red seems to be alone, he isn't. Engage him and find out for yourself, he'll have five buddies in cloaked sb waiting to alpha you, or a cyno will light up, or 15 BS on the other side of the gate will jump in. Zero is not low-sec.
I admit there are a few "blob" kills on my killboard that I am not proud of, but much much less than most. I generally avoided whoring kill mails, but sometimes they could not be avoided. Like the time it took 138 of us to kill a Drake. Although if you notice I was in my Falcon jamming things on that kill. Like I said, I'm not exactly 'proud' of those types of kills, but I am also not ashamed of them either, they are sometimes necessary. Or they just happen. Not my fault some idiot warps directly into our gate camp.
So what is a Blob? In my opinion a Blob is 20 or more ships engaged in killing a single ship. I don't care who you are you can't survive that (usually). But proving if something is a Blob or not is difficult from just a kill mail. Just because a kill has 20+ pilots on it doesn't make it a Blob. Most likely that was just one kill during a fleet action. And since fleets generally involve 20 or more ships, you begin to see the problem.
I was curious, so I went through my kill mails and compiled the following statistics.
Solo Kills - 24 (5%)
Small Gang(2-5 pilots) - 53 (12%)
Large Gang(5-10 pilots) - 88 (19%)
Small Fleet(10-20 pilots) - 148 (32%)
Large Fleet(20+ pilots) - 150 (32%)
I have been in a lot of large fleets, but those numbers also include sov actions in which I was in fleets numbering over 400 ships. In fairness I included those as well. So I'm not sure this qualifies me as a "famous blob pilot" or not. I suppose that would be up to the individual. I certainly know many other pilots who are deserving of that title than myself, but I also know that depends on your perspective. In the final analysis I don't care one way or the other.
I would like to have more solo kills. But honestly, anymore it seems like anyone flying alone has warp core stabs on. This has happened so many times lately, but that is the subject of another post.
PS: I am the first to admit when I am wrong. As Logan pointed out in the comments, it is possible that he meant "famous BLOG pilot" and not "famous BLOB pilot". Funny, I don't think of myself that way and the thought never even occurred to me. Still, the post is valid either way so it stays up.
Having said that, being involved with the Alliance since the beginning of my career, I did fly in gangs and fleets a lot. It was necessary though. There is very little solo work to be done in zero because no one, NO ONE, travels alone. If a red seems to be alone, he isn't. Engage him and find out for yourself, he'll have five buddies in cloaked sb waiting to alpha you, or a cyno will light up, or 15 BS on the other side of the gate will jump in. Zero is not low-sec.
I admit there are a few "blob" kills on my killboard that I am not proud of, but much much less than most. I generally avoided whoring kill mails, but sometimes they could not be avoided. Like the time it took 138 of us to kill a Drake. Although if you notice I was in my Falcon jamming things on that kill. Like I said, I'm not exactly 'proud' of those types of kills, but I am also not ashamed of them either, they are sometimes necessary. Or they just happen. Not my fault some idiot warps directly into our gate camp.
So what is a Blob? In my opinion a Blob is 20 or more ships engaged in killing a single ship. I don't care who you are you can't survive that (usually). But proving if something is a Blob or not is difficult from just a kill mail. Just because a kill has 20+ pilots on it doesn't make it a Blob. Most likely that was just one kill during a fleet action. And since fleets generally involve 20 or more ships, you begin to see the problem.
I was curious, so I went through my kill mails and compiled the following statistics.
Solo Kills - 24 (5%)
Small Gang(2-5 pilots) - 53 (12%)
Large Gang(5-10 pilots) - 88 (19%)
Small Fleet(10-20 pilots) - 148 (32%)
Large Fleet(20+ pilots) - 150 (32%)
I have been in a lot of large fleets, but those numbers also include sov actions in which I was in fleets numbering over 400 ships. In fairness I included those as well. So I'm not sure this qualifies me as a "famous blob pilot" or not. I suppose that would be up to the individual. I certainly know many other pilots who are deserving of that title than myself, but I also know that depends on your perspective. In the final analysis I don't care one way or the other.
I would like to have more solo kills. But honestly, anymore it seems like anyone flying alone has warp core stabs on. This has happened so many times lately, but that is the subject of another post.
PS: I am the first to admit when I am wrong. As Logan pointed out in the comments, it is possible that he meant "famous BLOG pilot" and not "famous BLOB pilot". Funny, I don't think of myself that way and the thought never even occurred to me. Still, the post is valid either way so it stays up.