After spending the last two years fighting wars over space, engaging in large scale battles over territory, assets and imaginary boundaries, pummeling POS Towers into submission, defending systems, fighting for a scrap of land to call your own and all the other things that go into the insanity we call Alliance life... not having those things around makes for an interesting turn. I don't know what else to call it, so I'll borrow from the best and call it "Don't Panic" syndrome.
Most Alliances are extremely frenetic beasts, always on guard and ready to spring into action to defend, aggress or otherwise move. And not only in a battle context, but in so many other ways. I can't tell you how many days in my Eve career I spent helping put up POS Towers, escorting mining operations, defending Care Bears, running supplies, or otherwise engaging in the "business" of an Alliance.
This then is at the heart of what was driving me crazy. Since, even though I just came from NPC space, the frenetic there was building a new Alliance - this has none of that. This is chill. Relax. Let's get some dudes together and go kill something, or not. And I am starting to like this groove, the swing of having nothing more to worry about than fighting. Oh sure, we have some things to deal with that cannot be avoided, but generally speaking the attitude is clearly, Don't Panic.
The other heartening thing is the level of competence around us. This is no slam on anyone, but I've never been around a group of people that know what they are doing more than those I've been flying with lately. Not a core group of people, but everyone. I have yet to hear a stupid question on comms, or hear of someone doing something retarded in fleet, or an FC who likes to warp us to the enemy gate at zero when we're flying Scorpions! (You know who you are!)
In fact it made me think, just how many of my deaths have been caused by the incompetence of others? How many times have I raced to rescue someone who got caught, or a ratter who got jumped, or a miner who got pointed, or flown with an FC who didn't know the difference between transversal and gate aggro? Countless. And obviously, these are choices I made to be in those situations and I am not bemoaning my history here or those that accounted for those moments, but they are those moments and that cannot be denied.
I'm digging it. I'm starting to feel really good about this decision. I've swallowed the chill pill and I'm kicking it.
Dude.